Janba

Coat colour and conformation are less important for working dogs. Conformation to a standard is also not a criteria but if the dog has bad conformation faults it is less likely to be a sound worker. The dog that is an excellent working specimen is the dog works very well at what it is bred for, wins trials etc. Selecting a working stud dog is no different to selecting one for the show dogs, you pick a dog that is an excellent worker and is strong where your bitch is weak in their working ability as for comformation you would select an excellent conformed dog who compliments you bitches faults. The main difference is that the selection is based on working ability and soundness not a comformation standard. Breeding for working ability and breeding for showing are not all that different in there criteria. One you are trying to breed the dog that fits the standard perfectly and the other trying to breed the dog that works perfectly.

Please comment Sway. I hope they sre tears for the dogs but fear the worse.

Even after 20 years of successful showing and breeding, Jane will still not know all there is to learn. Novice breeders realise they know nothing. After about 3 or 4 years they think they know everything. If they stick with breeding, a few years later they will start to realise how much they still have to learn. If you are a truly dedicated breeder you never stop learning. Its is not just the breeding you are doing now but what is planned in the future that matters. I have just swapped a service fee for a pup that won't be born for another 18 months - all going well. The mating I will do with that bitch pup 2 years + after that is where I want to go with my dogs. The other breeder, who I respect, also agrees it is a good breeding plan and on paper looks very good for what we are aiming to produce. I learn am learning so much from breeders here and overseas about lines etc in relation to what i want from my chosen breed.

Bettering the breed, depending on the breed isn't always about winning conformation. It can also be about dogs that perform really well at what they are meant to do. Is a border collie who has who would rather kill sheep than herd them a good example of his breed even if his conformation is good? I have a dog that would never win at conformation, mainly on his colour and markings, his coat and his prick ears (I didn't tape them ) but his colour etc are still within standard just not fashionable. I recieve a enquiries about him because he will put the working ability back.

He's marking the bitch as his. My entire dog has only tried to pee on another dog once and that was on a bitch who wasn't quite ready to serve. I let him know this wasn't acceptable and he didn't try it again and he hasn't tried it since. It didn't put him of the act a couple of days later.

What about just using a stick? A stick might work - I have been a bit slack and put it in the "too hard basket" lately but if I ever hope to 3 sheep trial him I will have to have a teach it. I haven't found in the driving that I have been doing for herding that it is a problem as I can arc him back.

Sounds like she isn't confident in her ability to control the sheep if she is putting them onto the fence line to hold them. She needs to learn to back off lighter sheep. Sheep have a distance that they are comfortable with the dog being at. When the dog comes closer they will move, too close they will run. Imagine a circle round the sheep. When the dog is outside that circle the sheep stay relatively still, when the dog is on the line they move away quietly, when the dog comes inside the circle they move away fasyer and are harder to control. What you need to do is keep Poppy at the distance where the sheep will move quietly along but not too fast. This distance depends on the sheep and the strength of the dog so varies dog to dog and sheep to sheep.. This is easier said than done

We try to teach the reverse in a race if possible, we look to have a sheep in a headbale at the end of the race. We have the dog on a long rope, we will ask them to walk in, so they walk towards the sheep and then we ask them to back off (or whatever your reverse command is) and then with a garden rake well either tap it infront of them or push them gentle so that they step backwards. We keep them on the rope so that they are always looking forward, and cant turn away. If you dont have a race we still do the same method, even with out sheep. Have them on the rope. Ask them to walk in then use the rake to push them backwards as you say the reverse command. (Not sure if that made sense, it is easier to talk about it in person or demonstrate!! ) Thats basically what I have been doing and also trying in the hallway at home. He is frightened of the rake (not from my use of it but from another person training a dog near him) which doesn't help. I have 2 non herding dogs who back up beautifully and the one I need to do it doesn't.

Are you talking about bringing the sheep along behind you or taking the sheep away from you? As for training sides it is as cry123 says. You need to teach the dog to balance, side commands, stop etc in a round yard or small yard. Once the commands are well established it shouldn't matter where the dog is or how far you want them to move they should obey. Its no different to teaching a dog a sit command. Once it knows the command the dog should sit when you ask it no matter where it is. The reverse is the command I am having trouble with. Cole is very resistant to it. There is nothing physically the matter with him he just hates walking backwards.

I started by just reinforcing the top of the cast. Leaving Cole on the fencline just above the level of the sheep and me standing near the sheep so when I sent him his arc would take him above the sheep. Then when i sent him I was in a position to kick him out. I gradually moved back to towards the start peg but still sent him from part way round. When he was doing that OK i moved him down the fence line with me still at the handlers post and had someone up the top to kick him out if needed and just kept repeating this till hopefully it has become habit. ETA Cole is a fast caster and quite forceful on his sheep so needs to be deep at the top or they run.

Not strictly herding but I have been having trouble with Cole at the top of a 3 sheep cast. He always goes out nice and wide (hits the fenceline and follows it round) but cuts the top short ending up too close to the sheep and they take of. Today at training we seem to have finally got it. Deep at the top of the cast so he could walk in on his sheep to move them and a controlled lift and fetch back to the square. Not just once but several times in a row. I am so pleased with my boy. ETA I was so excited at finally getting the cast right the I did no shedding practice I will never be ready for advanced B

There is a difference between dominant humping and serving a bitch in season. I told my dog off for humpng as a pup as did the other dogs the few times he tried it and it made no difference to his ability to perform. The other thing you don't want to end up with is a stud dog who is so used be allowed to mount anything so he tries whether the bitch is ready or not. Once a pups testis are fully descended and developed there is always the chance that he is fertile. I have heard of BCs siring a litter at 6 months so earlier may be possible too.

The only dog in this household that never tries to exert his authority is the entire male I really think it comes down to the individual dog not the sexual status.

My next dog will be gotten "off a mate" and probably in exchange for a service fee but it will have "papers". I'm not a registered breeder but I don't need to be. Whose papers? Some registries don't require the pup to be registered till its older, they are litter registered instead. I am against the removing of the choice to desex or not. It should be a personal informed decision. Education is the key not legislation.

How would you police bought etc soley as a pet? What happens if someone changes ther mind and decides to show etc? What do you classify as a legitimate breeder? All my dogs were bought as pets first and other purposes second.

There are numerous reasons why non breeders would keep a dog entire. Showing is the main one that would apply to the people on this forum. There are plenty of medical reasons for not desexing till ater i.e allowing a dog to physically mature to stop things like elongation of the long bones, inverted uterus etc. It would also depend on what you classify as a registered breeder. There are plenty of legitimate breeders on other registries than the ANKC i.e the working registries, greyhounds. It is not really a question of mandatory desexing but of responsible ownership.

I have 3 crates for 3 dogs and they all prefer Moss's crate - its the position its in. If one dissappears during the day you usually find them asleep in that crate. As Moss is the only one who sleeps in a crate at night (his choice as he's rarely locked in) I just leave the crates as they are. Try swapping Emmy and Cahrlies crate positions and see what happens.

I think they may be a lost cause. Not because of BSL but because a lot of APBT owners seem to be the breeds worse enemy. Have a look at cases where BSL has been successfully fought such as the ban on GSDs and how that was overturned.

In NSW we regularly have BCs, kelpies, GSDs, beardies, OES, corgis, koolies, Aussies, belgians, rotties and occasionally cattle dogs, shelties, a collie rough, samoyed, a lappie and keeshond and maybe others I can't think of. At one club I train at there is a staffy x kelpie who is good even if he looks more staffy. Our problem in NSW is getting people to trial and the lack of encouragement from some quarters for non traditional trialling breeds. We do have a high number of SR dogs but we also have two 3 sheep based clubs who train most weekends and quite a few of those people have started doing ANKC herding. People also seem to get their tests and not progress to trialling levels and very few progress past started which is a shame in a state that usually has training available every weekend.

I have been to Greg Prince clinics and he is very good. I would like to see a good ISDS style trainer bought out to teach driving and shedding but preferably someone with experience shedding merinos

Colin Webster if he ever does another clinic down there. Congratulations Dova on you titles and HITs

There is an emergency vet at Delhi Rd in Ryde near the M2 junction. It looks like an allergic reaction so you need to watch the throat doesn't swell.

I really want a classically marked black tri border collie with a nice bright tan. I love them. I have the black tri with dull tan and he's anything but classically marked . One day I will get that dog. You can have colour preferences in dogs and as you have to live with the dog thats fine so long as you don't compromise on health. temperament etc.

Mishka I bought sight unseen from the recomendatrions of a breeder whose lines I really like. She was by one of his dogs and she is special girl and probably the last Dally I will own after over 25 years of spotty dogs. She had reasonably success in the breed ring before I got sick of showing, 2 passes at CD under the old rules rules before we both decided obedience trialing was for the birds. Did a bit of tracking and agilty but now just enjoy life together. She helped bring up both my current BC boys and rules them with an iron paw. I don't have pictures of her as a pup on this PC or in photobucket Moss I selected on a modified pupy test and conformation. He is everything his puppy test said he would be - medium - low drive, laid back and a BC of little brain and unfortunately little working instinct which is what I thought I wanted after loosing a very high drive dog aggressive BC . Moss is just a really nice dog who lazes around and hunts possums unsuccessfully and is a dork. I really love him but he isn't really the dog I wanted. Moss is my cuddle on the lounge dog. He's the perfect pet. I saw video and pictures of Cole before I bought him. He was meant to be a bitch pup from a different litter but some how I ended up with him and he was the best pup for me. I adore this dog and have a very special working relationship with him. Moss the first day I saw him. and a typical Moss expression now Cole when I picked him up at the airport and doing what he does best This one because I love it and it is typical of her. Mishka's idea of article indication when tracking (I really thought the rules said sit, drop or stand ?

I have never minded paying a dispensing fee when I go in to pick up tablets without a consult but I do strongly object to the local vets charging a $26 blood taking fee on top of the normal consult (which isn't cheap).