kelpiekaye

Good stuff, well done :p

Try bark collars. I would also talk to the neighbours before a problem starts. Im a great believer in penning my dogs up when Im not there. The dogs learn that thats when they are of duty and relax eg cant see every bird etc that moves. Good luck

As goldengirl85 says, sounds like his routine so you will have to slowly change it, 4.15am, 4.30am etc. Also maybe feed his evening meal earlier, say 5pm and make sure he has had a poo etc before you put him to bed. My dogs get up at 4.30am as we milk cows but dont mind a sleep in if we get a day off so maybe as he gets older he will learn to hang on longer as well. Good luck

And that's my point - if you are putting clips on youtube to teach people tricks for their dog then you need to be actually teaching the trick properly. Teaching tricks is not about simplifying them but about building the behaviour so that you have a solid trick at the end of the training. I can teach my dog to lure into a bow in about 30 seconds but it will take several more sessions (always a max of a couple of mins when teaching new behaviours) to then add the command word, then increase the bridge and then ask for the behaviour without lure. Why not simplify tricks if the end result is the same. There are many ways to train a dog, different methods work for different dogs and people.

Will do Im always interested in bugs. Ask my mother who had a sleep in my room only to wake up with hundreds of baby Nursery Web spider all over her. They had hatched from a nest I had stashed in my room. I was maybe five at the time

Just out of intrest. I have just returned from NZ where we had a discussion on white tails as there used to be a very high incidence of white tail bites that went bad. There are a lot less now days. The medical profession in the Far North thought it was because people had become immune to them now. I was told once that white tails eat other spiders and this is why they can cause reactions in some people. I like spiders and protect the Huntsman spider in my house but must admit Im not too fond of White Tails. Feel sorry for ladys dog who lost its leg, very unlucky.

A pat or "good dog" can be delivered pretty quick. I find training with food too distracting for my girl but Im lucky she just likes to please me and loves doing everything.

:p Mine would never be that brave.

Well said. It makes you realize how lucky we are to live in our culture.

What is dock dogging? I dont get out much

Congradulations on a beautiful pup.

GREAT IDEA. SHOULD BE PINNED

Yep I know exactly how you feel. Its a great feeling. My girl is blowing me away at the moment as Ive have said in another thread. She got my blue mob of cows in again this morning on her own. I am so proud of her.

I have got Ruff Wear boots for my girl. They are very good quality but I found she would throw one off every now and then. Too expensive to lose. It also pays to put baby sock on first to stop rubbing. If you dont get boots just break your dog in slowly to hard surfaces until their feet harden up and check for cuts etc after walks.

Good on you for helping this dog. You can supplement feed the pups from now on. You can get puppy food. I hand reared two pups once and put them on solids at three weeks and they were fine. Good Luck

I agree with you Scarlet, these animals are better of away from these owners that should never of had them in the first place.

Clever puppy. It is awesome to see them thinking for themselves. Can see why you were pleased. It is one of the only regrets I have with my two - I just can't/don't make the time to work them on stock of any sort. Im lucky that my job is one that Ruby can get involved in. My last Kelpie never worked stock and when we had the oportunity she didnt want to. Ruby is always looking at me and asking a question, tilts her head and thinks for herself and works things out. Im very lucky to have her.

I understand what you are saying. Normaly when I go and get the blue mob I fill up some buckets for calf milk on my way through the vat room. That day I went out earlier than normal and got the milk and then went back milking. Ruby mustve taken that as a signal. You are right though you probably wouldnt want them going off and bringing cows that you dont want. However dairy farming is so routine a smart dog can work it out for themselves mostly. I have no experience training working dogs but Ruby through her own choice has shown a lot of potential. She is what my partner says is a handy dog. She is only a year old and from show breeding. Shes pretty keen on agility too and doing well.

I am most impressed. Good on you both. I once had a beagle and would never of thought it was possible to do what you are doing

Yes it was agood feeling Cheers

So proud of my girl this morning. My partner and I were milking this morning, I went to lock in a row and saw Ruby bringing in the second little herd of lame or treated cows. She normaly brings them in with me. Only one thing Ill have to teach her to open gates, I will be setting the gates up tonight just in case YE HA!!! Shes is getting them everytime now, What a time saver for me, Im so proud of her.

Did you see the posts about the Rat Zapper??? Ratzapper This might be useful in your case What's lepto? Yep, I found the Rat Zapper and am going to look into it. Cheers Lepto, Leptopirosis is a virus that rats carry and spread in their urine. It can cause a dog to become very sick and maybe death. We had it in NZ and vaccinated against it. Im going to talk to my vet about it as soon as I can.

Leptospirosis? In a tropical wet environment they do. Doubtful in your Gippsland Dairy. But try to avoid having water pool in areas where you animals are, diseases like that can be best avoided by keeping everything dry where possible. Where I come from in NZ some rats carried Leptospirosis. I had friends that lost their Dobbie to it. I used to vaccinate my dogs for lepto in NZ but havnt over here as they havnt been involved with rats until being on this farm. I will talk to my local vet about it I think. There are a few wet areas in the dairy

What about Thundercoats that I read about on a thread a while ago? If they do what they claim it may help..