ShadyLady

:BIG: I like it

Ive got 8 doggies and no I dont have a sled . Seven of them are working dogs and one is a pet/house dog I am lucky enough to be home with my dogs every day 8)

If you cant get involved in a club or something why not tricks :o Something that uses up all that mental power ! If not try setting up a bit of agility course in your backyard (assuming of course you have a backyard ) My first dog when I left home was a kelpie x and I used to take her to the kiddies playground and take her over the equipment I taught her to climb the ladders and go down the slide It also gave me a chance to work on sits and stays . I'd be inclinde to work on the biting habit first though as that is something that can get really out of control there are some great posts on the subject :lol:

Some of my koolies do it too blk when they are working stock .Its kind of like a stalking thing and generally they are showing eye at the same time :lol:

Blk gotta say Im pretty happy about the no bears (other than koalas) in Australia god knows weve got enough dangerous critters as it is .My friends brother was attacked by a shark hes got scars from his belly to his toes he was a very lucky bloke .He was out surfing alone and got attacked he poked it in the eyes to get it to let him go , got to shore and drove himself to hospital I saw a heap of photos of the car afterwards and there was blood everywhere :-?

Marble , I dont have ACDs but I do have a working breed and yes a lot of people dont start working dogs till they are 12months old sometimes this is to do with the safety of the dog (getting attacked by livestock) and sometimes it just a maturity thing .With trialing a lot of people dont start a dog (compete that is ) until they are two years old because they learn to take advantage of the fact they are in public and can get away with bad habits !! Dont forget also and I am sure a lot of people will agree 5 -12 weeks is the optimuim training time to get a pup started with basic obedience and they seem to click off and on till about 9 -10 months old and then all of a sudden they hit the terrible teenage Ive found it to be about 12 -18 months they start not listening to commands that they had done perfectly for the past 12 months but so long as you recognize this for what it is and dont put to much training pressure on them at this time it will pass Personally Ive found it tends to settle down at around 2yrs old but this really depends on the dog .You said your dog showed the apologetic look this is probably a future example of her mature nature so dont give up hope its coming!! :lol:

I know what you mean all the girls tend to get in rythm and cycle together which is handy for trialling as were not allowed to compete when the girls are after a bit!! I was just commenting that it is a very hard thing to do following so many lines (breeding that is ) and unless I was passionate about a breed I could not do it .I dont actually consider myself a breeder as I only breed when I want a couple of pups myself it would be at tops every two years sometimes longer infact if I could get what I wanted I wouldnt breed at all . I have a reasonable good dog and have had people ask me to use him as a sire but unless the bitch is a quality worker and the people know what they are talking about I wont do it my motto is quality not quanitity :lol:

Well which pup do I pick :o Well Ill tell you about Millie I used to do koolie rescues (till we had a nasty bout of kennel cough go through my poor doggies) I heard from a friend of a friend that a guy had a koolie bitch and was going to shoot her unless he found a home for her so I called him up he said come and get her so I did .You wouldnt believe the place there were dog runs that I thought at first had a dirt floor turns out it was poo 3 inches no less totally disguisting . Millie was 12 months old at the time she had no social skills no obedience Im not sure he ever let her out though he claims he used to run them up and down the road behind the car . :x She hadnt any shots or anything and her teeth were half rotten. I called into the vets on the way home for a check up (didnt want to get her shots straight away as she'd never been to the vets ) had to muzzel her for the sake of the vet , took her home and had her inside with me for the rest of the day .My husband turned up that night walked in the door and Millie was going to kill him (he was built very similar to her previous owner ) he had to lay on the floor and be submissive before she'd even go near him finally they made friends. To cut a long story short we decided that Millie would never pass the requirements for rehoming (social skills dog aggression ect) so we kept her ourselves I slowly have introduced herding and obedience to her life and although it takes a lot of work everytime she acheives something new Im so pleased for her She did her first trial a while back (herding ) and got a very respectable 79/100 (and she didnt bite the judge!!) P.S Thats her picture on the left

Bullygirl sounds like he's jealous my hubby get the same way at times because the dogs wont listen to him when Im around .If you can try to create a bonding situation with hubby and Lector (love the name by the way) Do you walk the dog ? Mabey you could fake an injury and make hubby do it so he gets a taste of the dog responding to him It sounds very much like he needs time alone with the dog to help him bond up (hubby that is ) Encourage him to interact with the dog perhaps even get him to feed him although if hubby knows what you are trying to do he may resist :lol: Good luck anyway and let us know how you go and remember the dog can probably sense the resentment from hubby and dont forget to put yourself in hubbys shoes (dont want a divorce now) how would you feel if the roles were reversed

Reed puppy what is your point :agrue:

Another option to the poo is chilli/curry powder it can be put on the ground and when he gets it on his nose it will teach him that it is unpleasant to dig it worked for my sisters kelpie so it might be worth a try its one of Dr harrys solutions :lol:

Bullygirl do some research find out how to read your dog (if your unsure) becareful that your dog doesnt just see you as an Alpha and the other members lower than itself on the pecking order and techniqually you shouldnt have any problems just remember knowledge is power

Hazel in regards to the trash can try putting something yuk around where she grabs the bin I use Vicks (for colds) but Ive heard of people using chili powder in a paste and smearing it round the edges ( its also good for digging put it in the dirty ) I guess curry powder might do the same Good luck

Well said mei mei although I think one more thing you could do is as your child gets older educate her to be compassionate and to know the warning signs with body language ect so any future encounters with other dogs as well as your own will make her safe as well after all you only get one shot at it :lol:

Joni , if your prepared to put effort into training the dog then I dont see why it cant be done I think j/russels get their anti social reputation because they have small dog syndrome (think they are bigger than they really are and try to prove it ) my sister has two jack russels and a kelpie and they get along fine it would of course depend on the dogs involved As far as small animals she doesnt have any problems and she has free roaming chickens and cats :lol:

Rowie koolie is the actual name of my breed sometimes they are known as german coolies (although they are not german) they are an Australia breed believe to be descendants of a merle colored border collie its also alledged that the Aussie Sheperd is a descendant of koolies . There are records dating back for 180 yrs mentioning the breed in Australia but is it still not well known in Australia . It is believed that the german immigrants were fond of this breed (or strain) and that is how they became known as german coolies and the coolie part is thought to come from the heavy german accent actually meaning collie a german friend of mine confirms that is what it would sound like so this is my theory about them . A description of them is medium size generally merle colored (although there are solids ) quite often with one or two blue eyes their coats are generally short although you will find some with medium /long coats they are not favoured by farmers as the coat is a pain in the neck :x [img]http://sites.centralpets.com/mammals/koolie/kooliedogs/mate3.jpg[/img] Hers one of my babies Mate doing his thing !! he was only 10 months old in this photo

Yes I can see it from your point of veiw I guess Im just crazy about my koolies dont get me wrong I like all dogs but the day I met my first koolie I was hooked and am totally one eyed . Weve just started to get the register organized and up and running what a job :o Im trying to limite it to entering 50 dogs a night !! We will be having our first mock trial sheep day soon cant wait

Had a bit of a look at the web site and some of the bloodlines go back to good well known kelpies (cant say Ive seen them work but i have seen some of their offspring trial ) Futura Ned has a few babies competing and Scanlons line is widely known and admired in kelpie breeders being from a different state though Ive never seen their dogs .I reckon Ive got a picture (not developed yet ) of one of neds babies. As for the breeders question I personally would find it hard to cope with more than one breed . The only reason I breed is supply myself and improve the breed if I did not have this obsession with my koolies I would not feel the need to breed at all . Just my thoughs anyway Hobbit you have more than one breed what are your thoughts? :o

Hey was just wondering what everyone thinks of breeders that breed more than one breed of dog ? I asked this question in another question but am really interested in everyones opinion :o My thoughts are that with the dedication it takes to breed up a really good line how can someone who has more than one breed not come out looking like someone who is just trying to make money (even though we know if done with the dogs best interest you dont make money) Hope my ramblings make sense :lol:

Yes I was thinking that too bensam I know of a few breeders who have two or 3 breeds of dogs (working dogs that is) and there is always a cloud of doubt over whether there dogs are pure bred or not lets face it with working dogs your using them everyday bitch comes into season BAM ! you got a cross bred dog but hey it looks like the mother well call it a heeler . Lets face it the dogs need to be exercised everyday at least with one breed your always concentrating on your next improvement to the breed imagine having to do it 2 or 3 times at once :o

Know what your talking about blk I get it at every trial . My dogs are the only koolies competing in Vic and we are up against kelpies (black and tan red and tan) who to the untrained eye all look pretty much the same and heres my koolies blue merle and white and he rather sticks out .One year I decided to do the highjump (the dog not me) and I was up against labs and kelpies and there was a crowd of people cheering him on it was rather embarrasing when we failed and walked off the arena he got a standing ovation and he didnt even win :oops:

While on the subject of unscroupless breeders what are peoples thoughts on people who breed several breeds at once ? I think to get the best out of a breed and to be devoted to bettering the quality of a dog that people who are breeding more than one breed seem to be in it for more than the love of your dogs it almost puts them up there with puppy mills .Its probably a harsh comparison what do you guys think?

wow Eric you summed it up perfectly I admire your strength and wish you and your wife all the best wouldnt it be great if all us doggie people could adopt just one old dog I always swore if I was going to rescue a dog from a pound it would be an old one :cry:

Mmmmmmmmmmmm dunno :cry:

I own a labx ret and as much as I love her I wouldnt recommend them for everyone .Firstly they take a long time to grow up (2 yrs) they chew dig every thing in sight as puppies and they can be boisterous with smaller children I would also think their weight might become an issue being locked up in an apartment . Another thing to look at is the number of labs in shelters this should suggest they arent quite for everyone . Dont think I dont like them my girl is now 12 yrs old and absolutely perfect but research research.................................................................................................... :lol: