dasha

GT the import documents rely on the human word............we all know that the human race is not honest in its entirety. If you took a pup to the vet for its needles, the receptionist asked what breed, you say what it is or what you think it should be and voila, its now documented that it is now that breed. Happens in pounds hundreds of times a day. "Its a Boxer x I was told" clearly when it grows it is a german shep X but by now its already registerd as boxer x. Simple

How long is a piece of string? No-one would really know the answer to that. You only aren't supposed to Import them. There was already pitbulls here before this rule came in so there was already pitbulls breeding here. There is more registries around that can give pedigrees than just the AKC BTW. Doesn't mean a dog is any less purebred or pedigreed just because the AKC doesn't issue the papers. I think there are a lot of curious people but unfortunately the real answer will never be known IMO

I feed my working and growing dogs Advance. They do well on it. The sheep dogs also seem to have more fuel in their tanks too. When I was feeding a different brand, they seemed to run out of puff and strength. My older pet dogs get fed whatever other food I have. If I win some food, they get that. They are happy with any food so they don't seem to mind. They also get bones, table scraps and stuff when available. I had a dog here for a few weeks and she was on Bonnie and I swear, she pooped out more than went in. It really made me NOT want to switch from Advance

I have seen and had to deal with quite a few of them. As much as I love the look of them and think there are a truly impressive looking animal, I would never recommend one for the average owner or esp for a backyard. ALL of the ones I have had to deal with have been imports and have been very difficult to handle and extremely unpredictable. This, combined with their huge muscle and size have made them dogs I would consider to be very cautious of. I am certainly not saying that they are all like that, but they are a breed that is designed to protect, attack and deter strangers. The other thing with these dogs is their immense power. They can be 70 kg of pure strength and I don't think the average person would physically be able to restrain that if needed. I really hope they do not become a trend as if people can't control the general smaller breeds of dog, I certainly wouldn't be sure I would trust Joe Blow walking one down the street. I think that for the dogs own family, you would feel very safe having one around as I do believe they are very loyal to their family and good with people they know.

My pups have been outside with out mum since about 6 weeks old. They are short haired Border Collies. They are fine. They have a bed of sawdust to curl up in to get warm. They are 11 weeks old now and aren't all in with each other all the time and they are fine. They have blankets, hay and beds if they want. One does get to go in the shed with the adult dogs though as he is too noisy playing in the night. :D

I will prob be there at the sheep dog rings for Sat and Sun

If this neighbour is over so often maybe get him to help you with the training. That way the dog can benefit and so can the neighbour when he sees the results. He may then not be so ignorant of your training methods. In regards to other people disciplining my dogs, I don't have a problem with it. Not everyone (doggy or not) enjoys a dog jumping all over them or body slamming them with excitement. If my dogs did that and someone put a knee up or slapped then for it, no problem.... the dog shouldn't behave like that IMO and I should have stopped it. I don;t expect others to put up with rudeness if they don't like it. Besides its good of the dogs get an unexpected corection for it so they learn what appropriate approach method is. Thats why pups get bitten when they rudely introduce themselves to dogs........its only the othe dogs teaching them manners generally. Manner lessons have to come from people as well as dogs.

Is it a one way trip for the dog or is it a temporary stay. Will they be returning back to Australia at any point.

My 6 week old Border Collie pups were 4.8 kg. But they have a lot of bone and were quite heavy set. I think that it is hard to go on just a weight. Pictures would give a much better idea of if his weight is ok.

I thought it was a great effort too. I am even more impressed by the structure of those dogs. More of the old style, agile sound types they had 17 years ago. Prob would have to alter that performance for the modern day shep.

Dogs eat poop...............of various species. They will love a leg of lamb

I have a prefix registered with NSW sheepdog workers Inc. I cannot however register my dogs with our states Canine council. So does that me a backyard breeder just because the state canine council doesn't accept working dog pedigrees on their show line registry. The body I am registered with has a code of ethics etc and it designed to promote the function of a dog for the purpose it was bred for rather than to have the look of being able to possibly do the job. So I guess that it can be a very ambigous term 'registered breeder' as it would depend on what hat you wanted to wear

Can you say that any louder for the hard of hearing I read this whole thread and I am sure you had already said that ;)

And I don't think I saw a single reward given other than the clapping and the trainers love for his dogs

http://www.flixxy.com/dog-show.htm Hope it works. It is a really good effort

It will heal up fine whether you take her to the vet or not. Its up to you if you want to spend the money to speed it up. If not just press it back down, wash it and keep it clean and it will be fine. My kelpie had one like that on top of her head where a shep x grabbed her and opened her head up, and she healed fine. My other dog had a way worse cut than that on her thigh and same....you can't even notice it now

You mean you actually take them for a walk and give them what they want after all that inappropriate demanding behaviour!!!!!! I would get up, put them somewhere away from me, (crate or something) and then when they are quiet, put their leads on, if they get excited again, put them back in. Thats just me but I don't let my dogs badger me into giving them what they want..................

Wow they are great pics. It is amazing to see how similar they are. Looks like you got yourself a nice pup

Very cute. Love to see the early instincts coming out.

I have working line short coat Border Collie's.................and I happen to have 3 boy pups left at present. They are 6 weeks old. Their mother is not small by any stretch. She is quite tall and rangey and very agile. Willing to please and keen to work any time.....But only when you ask. Otherwise she follows you around or sits quietly in her pen. Very easy to live with. But when you say any of her working words she switches into serious work mode. Her pups are ALL huge for their age and will not be small by any stretch. They have a lot of bone, are really tough so far and of course cute. The working dogs are pretty tough really. And they are often more agile than the GSD and Lab so more often than not will get out of the way of the others before tehy even realise it moved. The working dogs seem to have eyes in their bums when they need to and have their wits about them. Its self preservation.

Go to a yard dog trial and a 3 sheep trial and see which type you like the best. Ask around the sheep trials and they will be able to give you a better idea of lines that are biddable or hard etc.

What persephone said is pretty mush what I would agree with. I have one of each and did agility with both. The yard type is much tougher in mind and body. But I found I had to be more forceful in my commands and very in control all the time. The good side of that is that she loved it and if she was going the wrong way and I had to YELL at her to turn, she would, and not hold it against you. If she ran to fast on dogwalk and fell off she would bark and just get back on again, no fear at all. the paddock type is WAY more sensitive to my voice, if I raise it in desperate times to make the turn, she would hesitate and then be unsure and seemed offended by it. She is a lot more sensitive, prefers to work smoother and steady rather than the huff and puff yard one. She also didn't like the noises of see saw and was harder to get around fast. All that ssid, the first dog I mentioned is a terrible pet, barks more, jumps over 6ft fences, dug holes and no matter how much corrections she got, she just didn't care. The second dog is a great pet, very placid, great with kids, gentle natured. That does not mean all yard dogs will be good and paddock ones wouldn't either. I have also seen kelpies bred as all rounders be ok as agility dogs too and vice versa. to pick again, I would chose yard or duel purpose WORKING line dogs. I mean real ones where you go to a farm or sheepdog trial and get one from there. I prefer the nutty types though so the paddocky ones I find are too soft for me in general

Most dogs that leave a pound will have a name change. It is only a word association to a dog. Just say the word, when he looks reward him. By about 3 days Krusty will be history and the new name will be his name

I think it is more important to educate people on the importance of training, socialising, having value of their pets, and basically what being a responsible OWNER entails irrespective of whether that pet comes with a pedigree or not. As s flow on from that, people will then see how important it is to get a dog from someone who also values, trains and cares obout their breeding dogs rather than a industry that thinks about the dollars.

Well trained, well socialised and model citizen purebred dogs should be an advertisement in themselves. While there are purebred dogs out there being dog aggressive, high maintenance, harrassing the public and then people see the little mongrel dog being well behaved and friendly and being portrayed in ads and media as a good family pet, people will migrate away from purebreds. Obviously this is a very broad assessment but that is the general drift.