B-Q

Like others have said, I think it varies breed to breed. Quinn's temperament is great in some ways, she's reserved with strangers, very watchful of me, active. She's easy to take anywhere and incredibly intelligent although her biggest vice is that she can be incredibly shy with other dogs and to an extent people, she hates being held onto by any strangers.

What area of Qld are you in? Would it be worth joining some sort of IPO/Shutzhund club for the obediance stuff? I'll admit I love the sport but don't know much about it but I like the amount of importance they place on obedience and thought it would a cool thing to do with Quinn even though we will never progress past that. I'd also recommend getting to go see the Steve Courteny's training day in September if you can make it, I took Quinn to the seminar in Febuary and even though she's naturally a drivey dog, the change in her I have seen since then has been incredible. I learnt heaps. Hopefully someone can provide some more info, I'm not that savvy. But I adore Chase (have a soft spot for him since his emergency) and I'd love to see him get working.

*puts up hand* im available plus raz and quin got on really well You should be coming up north to train at Suncoast with me then. I've never seen Quinn take to another dog like Razzle so I reckon she'd love to see him again.

I just wish I had an area like that to take my dogs. I'd love to start biking with Quinn in a few months but theres nowhere around here that would work.

I feel for you. None of my friends are really dog people. but my family are, I'm the craziest one but my mum loves coming along to all Quinn's training, she reckons she gets a real blast out of watching us work together. And I'm so grateful I have people to vent about and talk dog issues with, BYBing, rescue, dog laws, BSL, training etc and we can all discuss it. I am looking forward to meeting some more people really into training though, people I can spend time with that enjoy dogs as much as I do.

I feel like this with my sisters dog Mac. She's lovely and I adore her but there is no connection between us. Luckily she's my sisters, not mine. I know its not because she's not my dog, I had a very strong bond with my mothers cattle dog mix.

We board ours. We make it clear they are only to be put out with each other. We use a place in Woodford, its over an hour to get there but they are good, they happily boarded the 4 we used to have and actually listened to us regarding which of our dogs could run together and which wern't to be run together, all to not meet strange dogs and Harry could be a bit HR but adored all the staff at the kennels. Only people apart from family he ever warmed up to actually.

We always had mixes growing up, mostly working breed or staffy mixes. About 6 years ago when I first got interested in dogs I adored Kelpies, I loved their drive and energy. About 4 years ago I relised I was keen on working Border Collies. It took a while for the right time to arrive but I am now the proud owner of a 10 month old smooth coat border collie and couldn't be happier with her. Everything I throw at her she just takes in her stride, she loves to learn and constantly tries her hardest. I am in total awe of her intensity and drive, she's like nothing I've ever experienced and I can't imagine having anything else for quite a while. (Except maybe a kelpie or two.)

I wanted to but I don't have the money at the moment. Annoying, it looked really good, next time.

I try to, I'm a vego and hate a lot about our current food system. I try to go local yoghurt, free range egss, free range chicken for treats but usually we feed them scrap meat like frames, necks, soup bones, offcuts, offal. I figure they are the leftovers and noone is going to kill an animal for the leftovers.

Yeah, I gotta say just use a leash, if its annoying to hold onto it then get something to loop it around your waist? Buster is always leashed these days, even in areas where I know I can trust him, he has DA and eventhough I can recall him if I see a dog and leash him I want a leg to stand on if we are ever int he position of having a dog rush him offleash then atleast I am completely in the right. I also don't let Quinn offleash except in leash free designated areas, I don't want to lose a dog to one silly mistake that was easily avoided.

With Quinn I would stop everytime she put tension on the lead and wait for her to make it slack. I would take every oppurtunity to C&T when she wasn't pulling but was distracted. You could teach them to catch a treat and just throw it down to them.

Buster doesn't care what I'm doing unless he thinks he might get a treat then he's busy getting in the way. Quinn CAN NOT handle being left out. I'm trying to work on it by taking the crate out into the yard and putting her away to do some work with Buster, she can generally deal with watching me treat him with food but she flips out if another dog is playing tug. I don't know how to curb this, I don't know if it will get easier for her with age but she's gotta learn to deal with other dogs being around and tugging, I can't trust her offleash if there is a chance she will see another dog tugging or she'll be off and jumping around them barking and wanting to be in on it. Its her only flaw and its a doozy for a dog I'm getting into agility.

I think its fine so long as you are aware of your dogs needs and make them a priority. I would happily live with my two in an apartment considering their excercise requirements. (8 year old kelpie mix and a 10 month old working border collie) but they would both need to get out twice a day without fail and my young girl would need a good couple of hours offleash a day but it could be done. The thing that would stop me would be Buster's DA, close living would be hard with him.

My preference for my next dog will depend on the dynamics of my current dogs. I picked a girl this time because I knew Buster would get on better with her. I'd prefer a boy next time but it would depend on which dog had the right temperament. My next dog will be for pet and sports and I prefer males just because I like thier attitude more, I hate how bitchy bitches are, I adore Quinn but she's so full of herself.

Shar Pei X cattle dog. Odd dog, long legged and tall but with a sharpei nose and ears all on a blue body. ' One of my managers has just gotten a cav X cattle dog pup. Cute but odd looking.

Ordered a couple aswell, I really wanted a mat for Quinn's crate I could take to training. She has a gorgeous mat now but it leopard print and so soft I don't want her diving into it with muddy paws.

If you havn't been before the beginners day is on teh Saturday if that works better for you.

Hey. Just thought i'd put this up here. I just got an email to say he's thinking about cancelling this sundays training days at woodford because not a lot of people have signed up. I took Quinn to the beginners day 5 months ago and have watched her mature and now I'm really excited to see her on sheep again. Eric was great, Quinn is so shy and he was really kind to her and didn't push her too far, she's a completly different dog these days and I'd love to see if she's anymore switched on now. I thought I'd put the link up here for anyone thats interested in going along this weekend. http://www.workingsheepdogshow.com/upcoming_training.php

I think it depends on the dogs. Whn I was younger we had a bull arab mix called Sophie, at 45kg she looked so off with our 5kg Malt X, Daisy. They were inseparable and adored each other. When we got Mac Sophie tolerate her and they never had an issue but the'y wernt as close as Sophie and Daisy. Now we have Quinn aswell but Sophie has passed on. Mac and Quinn are funny together. Mac hasn't got great dog social skills, we think she was taken from her mum wayyy too young and she is geenrally happy to sit at the bottom rung on the ladder, give up any resource and get out of the way for anyone. Quinn and her arn't very close, Quinn stays true to her "bitch" title. She's snarky and will take any chance to get it over Mac. I was worried about it a couple of months ago but this was just as Mac was oming on heat and its settled down since. They are both pretty balanced together, Quinn is a pig over food she's crated to be fed otherwise she'd start hings with Mac but they get on well in most situations. Our next dog will be female aswell.

LOL. Loved it.

Yep, sounds just like that, only muffled by distance.

Theres not a lot of dense population out the way its coming from, its mostly smallish farm blocks (10-15 acres) as far as I know. It does make sense it could a greys though if there are trainers around here, wish Quinn would get used to it though and at the same time learn that dogs on youtube arn't really in the house and car horns on TV arn't cars at the gate.

I'm struggling with the same thing with Buster, he's been to the vet a couple of times about it and they think its a flea allergy, so just a couple of bites can make his super itchy. I advantix him every 3 weeks instead of every 4 now, wash him every 2 weeks with sensitive skin shampoo and have added flax seed oil to his diet and its helped drastically.

Its not a problem, we've just always been really curious as to what it was. Because they always sound like they're in a shed, we guessed greyhounds but didn't know if it would be because there arn't any hreyhound tracks around here as far as I know, no reason they couldn't travel with them thats all.