dasha

I have sheep dog trialling dogs. Colour is not important so long as they cast, bring sheep, are biddable, have presence,natural ability, strength and are well bred, I feel a superficial trait is hardly another thing to put on the wish list. Having said that, I don't like white border collies and always said I wouldn't own one as they generally need to be very strong on sheep being white. However, I recently bought a white bitch and while she doesn't have the personality I usually like in a dog, she has so far won me a trial and been in top ten or there abouts in others. And every trial I go to, I get multiple offers to buy her........ Go figure Just does to show, don't judge a book by its cover. And like other triallers say, A good dog is never a bad colour. If it can go win a trial and work all day, it could be purple and it wouldn't matter.

Good point Pax. Interesting point bought up by a few people. If you want to tug to create a bond with your dog because a thrown toy in not interactive..... why throw the toy. If the dog wants it, offer it and the game is then to try to beat you to it. Kavik, in some of your things you have said you can't use food. Why is that. Why would any dog sport not allow people to reward their dog with food after a run?

Thanks for that Staranias. My dogs are high drive working dogs so they already have good prey drive so I do enjoy developing it to be able to use it, however I do have one that is definatley a food dog and so I will leave her as a food dog as I can't really see the point in trying to change from what she wants as a primary motivator. I guess that was my point, to see if people have a dog that prefers food over play, why they wouldn't mainly develop that initial natural drive. I think trainers should be skilled enough to be able to use different methods of reward to suit the dog, not try to mould the dog into liking something YOU think it should if you get what I mean. Anyway, thanks for the replies people. Keep them coming

Thanks for the responses. I understand the usefulness of having multiple reinforces, but in order for it to be a reinforcer, the dog needs to feel reinforced by it in order to increase the likelihood of the dog repeating the behaviour. Like I said, I know there are some dogs and situations that tug is more appropriate than food and vice versa. One of my dogs LOVES food and is primarily rewarded with food. At times, she feels playful and will offer a toy for a game. Sometimes it is a light tug, sometimes its just the "see if you can touch it" game. She gives great results with food but is NOT rewarded by play as a reward as she doesn't find it rewarding. One of my other dogs LOVES toys. She loves to tug, catch, fetch, or simply parade it and try to get me to get it off her.Each dog has its own preferred game. I feel as a handler, the reward for the dog should be what the dog wants. So it gets varied then anyway. I let my dog decide the way it wants to use the toy. The pups are getting their food drive increased at present as well as their tug games. One in particular is not toy interested yet. He just wants to please and get attention but does love his food too. Food can be varied. It can sometimes be some tasty meat chunks, other times a kibble, cheese, schmacko or whatever is around. You can jackpot for good performance and vary the presentation of the food to increase your reinforcers for a food motivated dog.

I have this question mainly as a general conversation. I have noticed the past threads with people feeling that they NEED their dog to play tug, they NEED to find the best toy for the dog and train the dog to like Tug over food. I am curious as to why, if you had a dog that had GREAT food drive, why you wouldn't use that as the dogs primary reward. However some people then feel the need to use food to train dog to accept tug a higher value reward. Hasn't the dog already shown you what it would prefer in life and as a trainer, shouldn't you be able to use the best motivator for the dog rather than the best motivator for the handler. I understand that some high drive dogs naturally love a game of tug, but there are some dogs that would turn inside out for food and no matter how full they are, will still work for the chance to get the little piece of food that may be on offer. I think there are benefits of using food over tug in a lot of instances no matter what sport you want to do or result you want. If anyone wants to explain why they feel tug is so important that they would try to chnage what the dog actually values, I would be interested to hear.

Thanks Janba. Does NSW uni do the CL test too?

Hi there, I am looking at DNA testing my Border collies for TNS. Am wondering if anyone could answer any of my questions. 1.Which lab would be the best to send the bloods to. 2. How much is the testing 3. Roughly how long do the results take to come back Any info would be greatly appreciated.

No Bedazzled, definately not !!!!

I usually use a rolled up face washer but vary it as much as possible. Sometimes just a single washer rolled up and taped, sometimes 2 rolled and taped, sometimes little torpedo ones that are folded in half before rolling and sometimes join a few together and have a star or something so when they win it they can pull it apart and kill it. Then throw in washing machine and ready to go next time.

All the stations are on leased land and the leases expire. It will be one big purpose built station. It will not be the current one expanded.

That is correct Oakway. There will only be 1 quarantine station in the country and it will be in Vic somewhere. Although the daily rate increased, it didn't actually increase the quarantine stay costs by much at all. Other costs were then not charged but just absorbed into the daily cost, such as the pick up fees and other airline charges. So although per day it increased, overall it didn't change much. EI had nothing to do with the increase in dog/cat fees. It was happening before that. It was just chance that they came in around the same time

Well its a shame that dog people think that way about the job quarantine do. It is the same people that whinge their dogs has to stay 30 days that will do the biggest jumping up and down when Rabies is introduced or another exotic disease because it will affect what then happens with dogs all over the country...... ho hum

Reading the info already provided, it would be a lot less ahssle and stress on the dog to just fly direct to Aus. Just pick flights that are the most direct to get here rather than the ones that go all over the place. As long as the rabies RNATT test is done more than 150 days prior to export and the correct blood tests are done within 30 days of export and are negative, there will be no problems and it will only be a 30 day stay.

Well done for the whole weekend. Very good results. The weavers looked like they were in fast forward they were so fast

Great result. That is such a top effort. Very big congratulations.

I chose a 2 syllable name "Cricket" however she also gets called 'Victor trumper" and that is long. They all get multiple nicknames anyway so name her whatever you like.

If my dogs are off lead, they just have to stick to the footpaths - not cross the road. And if they are up ahead and I stay stop they are to stop where they are untill I release. I usually only stop them if a car is coming. And recall if asked. The pups are only just learning the whole walking thing so they are allowed to sniff and look around. They are on leads and they just have to walk/run nicely- no pulling, lagging and don't step in front of my feet (or they will get stepped on or accidently kicked) I don't walk around them. It is their job to pay attention to what I am doing. They are also learning little recalls and sits while out on walks. But they can do whatever they can within the range of the lead.

Coonhound Harrier

I don't think a Boxer would be an ideal dog in the heat personally. depending of course on what it is you actually want to do with the dog.

Working Border Collie. Short coated. Registered with working dog papers. They come a lot larger than people think in certian lines and not the regular colours. You can get a range of colour combinations. Got drive but a good brain. Hot weather tolerant. Just not quite 30 kg

I am almost thinking I would like to do agility again...... now I just need to get fit again.

If you want the details of Inevetablue's, PM me and I can give you their phone number

Was going to suggest Catahoula but then remembered the pedigree thing. So I agree with the Dobe suggestions for now

Erskine Park has a Stock Dog Club that trains on Sundays. (Unless there are other trials on) You could always pop down there for a look and ask around.

There are people around in Sydney that will do it. Are you specifically looking to do ANKC trials or other sheep dog sports? What type of dog do you have? Are you a member of a Club yet and just want individual help or would you consider joining a club?