koalathebear

Ollie has been with us 7 days now - well, really only six because day one was mostly travel :) He is such a smart, eager to please little dog. When we first got him, he didn't care for the crate much, did not wait for his food and was completely untrained. This isn't surprising because he was dumped by his previous owners at the pound (where he stayed for a month or so) and he was very much a wild, undisciplined pup. Day 7 - and he now sleeps quietly in his crate - goes into it willingly and waits for his food. He now can also sit, drop, spin and shake hands. Check out his waggy tail, smiley face and eager to please eyes? I would love more than anything to keep him but that sort of defeats the purpose of fostering! It is quite heart-breaking for me because I will want to make 100% sure that the home he goes to loves and cares for him the way he deserves - I would NOT want him ending up at the pound again or with a family that would mistreat him. It's funny, I went into fostering a bit terrified and apprehensive about the horror stories I'd heard on DOL but now I find the thing I find most difficult/traumatic is the thought of adopting him out :p

I've just started but my coordinator has been very supportive, too. We can't quarantine so will not take any dog directly from the pound - it has to have been at least two weeks out of the pound. We also cannot handle a dog aggressive dog so it needs to have been temperament tested and friendly with other dogs because our own two dogs come first. This limits the dogs we can take but there are plenty of dogs that we can still take and I couldn't be happier with our first foster - he's delightful and just the sort of dog we wanted. We don't mind how crazy, untrained, high energy and destructive they are - if they're smart, trainable and friendly then we feel like we can offer a lot.

No, his started to depigment this winter. We're applying ointment so the pigment is slooooowly coming back :)

Goes down in a very non-spitzy way :) One of the vets thought he looked quite GSD-ish with his guard hairs. No idea what he is - mostly teddy bear I think.

Cuddlehound? :) Kelpie-ish dogs Snoozing He's doing well. Day 3 and he has learned sit, drop and spin. He is also learning to wait for his food, to toilet in Poo Corner and to sit when having his collar put on.

Thanks! The diet seems to be working - he has become very, very food motivated and eager to learn. He is a very cuddly, fluff ball of a teddy bear with a lovely temperament.

They look a bit offended but they're fine :) We've had a friend's akita stay with us recently and they handled that well and they've handled other dog visitors well. Here's their first encounter with Ollie in case you're interested :) Ollie is overweight so can't keep up with my two very well. He's on a diet now.

Hi there I feel your pain and totally sympathise. I had a similar thing happen with my dog Elbie when he was a puppy. He was a mouthy little monster - complete menace. Thread here. For us the water bottle stopped him but there are a bunch of different things you can try and you just have to find the one that works for you. Maybe there are some suggestions in that thread that can also help you. I found it very upsetting/not helpful when people kept telling me: "But this works for me, it should work for you" :D I have a pair of PJs that still have tiny rips from Elbie's puppy teeth and they make me laugh because he's come so far and stopped being mouthy - thank goodness. My second dog is not mouthy at all so it is sometimes just the luck of the draw. If I'd only had my second dog, I'd be wondering what all the fuss was about but because of Elbie I TOTALLY know what it's like. It doesn't make you a bad owner - it just means that you haven't found out the right thing that works with this puppy yet. I hope you can find a suitable technique soon because it is VERY frustrating when you want to cuddle your cute puppy and all he wants to do is attack you like a demon. :laugh:

Someone has suggested husky mix, too. I do remember seeing a horrible online ad once for 'Australian Huskies' which were apparently Kelpie x Husky. He's a foster - with us to learn manners and some basic obedience :) Out of interest - what was the temperament of the dog you trained with like? Was he quite drivey? Ollie's definitely got Kelpie energy levels and he seems quite trainable - he's picked up on some things quite quickly in only a day but he shows a certain stubbornness that isn't quite Kelpie.

This is Ollie who is supposed to be an 8 month old Kelpie cross. At first blush, I'd assumed he was mixed with a German Shepherd but all of the Kelpie/GSD crosses I've seen tend to have much sharper snouts than Ollie does. My second guess is that he's mixed with something spitzy - husky, malamute or even Swedish Vallhund because of the thickness and texture of his ears and his eye markings. Anyone have any views on what he might be blended with? :) I know we'll never know definitively and it doesn't really matter at the end of the day but I'd be curious to know what people think.

I know! That Aldi dog mattress was brand new! And if we'd got home 5 minutes earlier, we could have saved it He was only a very young pup in that video. Low tech but it worked :laugh: The camera we have has sound now - we wanted to know if they were barking during the day while we were out. It was good to know that they spent a lot of time running, sleeping and chilling - not pining or barking.

We use an IP camera from Compro Technology. It comes with its own software and it's great because it swivels. We had a friend's dog staying with us recently and we put "Kuma Cam" on so that they could log in during the day and see how their doggy was going :) We used it most when we started leaving the dogs alone while we were at work. Then there's software called Blue Iris. It works with any web cam and takes video footage and photos. We had ours set to take a photo every minute or so. Sample below: One day, OH emailed to let me know that the dogs were up to no good. Here is Hoover watching Elbie remove the cover from the Doggy Futon. Then he decided to join in pulling it around :p It kept them entertained for a little while. Finally, OH had had enough and phoned the house. His voice came over the speaker phone onto the answering machine saying: "Leave it! Elbie leave it!" Here you see the dogs' ears all alert before they obediently drop down and leave the futon alone. Hoover: "Do you think that the humans are at home?" Elbie: "Shhhh, pretend to be good." The video footage is particularly hilarious with both dogs stopping dead in their tracks, heads darting around, ears going absolutely crazy as they tried to figure out where the sound of OH's voice was coming from. At one point, Hoover comes hurtling towards the camera as if he thinks the sound is coming from THERE. :laugh: Then when we first got Elbie and he was a little puppy, we filmed him when we ducked out to the shops just using a crappy camera from an XBOX. Video quality wasn't too bad :)

Your explanation makes sense, I could only read the original wording the way you wrote it implying that the Kelpie was more likely to be unfriendly: There are lots of unfriendly Kelpies out there, but unfriendliness isn't a breed trait. Your comment makes more sense now that you have clarified it.

That's an odd generalisation. Your experience growing doesn't mean that the breed is more likely to be aggressive or unfriendly. I was bitten by a GSD as a child and chased by a few others - doesn't mean I think that the breed tend to be like that generally. As people have pointed out, it's possible that the dogs just weren't socialised with dogs outside of their pack. In any case, there's nothing wrong or strange about a responsible owner taking his dogs (over which he has control) for a walk and preferring that strangers do not interact with them except on his terms. It's possible that in a play setting or in his home they are friendly but perhaps they have reason to be wary of strangers while on a walk. I don't think it has anything to do with breed and I certainly don't think it's 'odd'. What would be odd was if the dogs looked fine but then attacked people for no reason.

Well my two Kelpies would be more than dead, by that measurement. They don't even get a walk every day :p They do do agility once a week and get lots of tricks training and human time. They run around like pork chops at the dog park. Their walks are probably half hour max, sometimes only 15 minutes. In any case, running and walking would not tire my two - they're bred to run 60 km a day :p This is why I find that I like to give them moderate physical exercise and lots of brain-taxing stuff to do.

Happy Birthday to M'sieur Hoover who turns 2 today! I can't believe how time flies. Here he is with his carrot cake (decorated with low fat cream cheese, kibble, carob and honey) as well as his prezzy from his uncle. Honey's not very good for writing with - the honey blob is supposed to be an 'H' :laugh:

I watched it yesterday - it's so sad but so interesting. I loved this clip though: Shows a dog that wasn't doing well in the pound environment and probably would not have been the first choice of many to save, but the rescuer (who was an experienced trainer) took him outside the pound to see how she went and it was just amazing to see the transformation even just from being outside the pound. I have to confess, I wouldn't have gone near the dog that looked so ... grim! For anyone else who hasn't seen it - it is such a good documentary but I did cry buckets in parts.

Trailer Blurb: We're a nation of dog lovers, but unfortunately there are not enough of us to go around. Each year, millions of dogs are abandoned, and more than 4 million are euthanized. This heartfelt documentary explores the conflicted and passionate relationships we have with dogs, inspiring us to rethink how we treat them. Following three separate storylines by different filmmakers, One Nation Under Dog explores the lengths people will go for their furry friends. Three unique perspectives from a trio of award-winning directors power this anthology of stories. Jenny Carchman evokes an unlikely empathy for both dog owners and bite victims, while Amanda Micheli shares the heart-wrenching loss of mourners in a pet bereavement group. Ellen Goosenberg Kent's loving portrait of an accidental rescuer is a quiet, moving study of a selfless life, and her footage inside a puppy mill leaves an indelible mark on one's idea of breeders. Alternating between shocking and inspirational, the film presents a view inside a quiet crisis unfolding under our noses. Has anyone else watched this? It's good but I've been bawling my eyes out. HBO website

Thanks for the info. The irony - my first foster dog was supposed to arrive tomorrow. I've just found out that he was taken to be assessed by the army today and the army are going to take him on a three week trial!! Gadzooks

That's what I assumed but there's usually not a lot of detail about the mechanics (I've seen lots of stuff about other working dogs and explosive detection dogs outside of a war zone but not so much about the ones in a warzone). I'm not trying to be provocative - I just want to find out exactly what is involved. Also, as the articles point out, while the intention is of course not to blow up the dog, the dog's life also serves as another layer of protection for the humans. I found a good video clip on Behind the News of all places :) The dogs look very well looked after.

How does the bomb detection task work? I know for quarantine and drug dogs, they sniff and the ball is the reward afterwards. For the explosive detection - is it the same? Because the army are asking for "ball mad" rather than "super keen smell" to detective the explosives, I have horrific visions of the dog being used to detonate the explosives - which can't possibly be the case. Any idea what the training is and what the bomb detection task actually involves? Also does the dog need to bring the ball back? For instance, my own dog is absolutely crazy about balls and will chase all day and he will run back to you with it but is reluctant to surrender the ball. ETA: Own question answered here. Looks like they alert handler of bomb i.e. don't dig but looks like they are also of use because if the bomb detonates and the dog is killed, then human lives are saved

We still don't know The top half of his nose is all depigmented and because of the cold, it's gone dry and cracked. The vet says it's collie nose so he has an ointment to put on it. It's not cancer and nothing serious - but as he gets older, it might become problematic. I don't think it happens in black and tan Kelpies.

Video definitely works! I've made a bunch, too over here: http://pinterest.com/koalathebear/rescue-dogs/ Quite a few were long-termers and having a music video up really made a difference and they all found homes. Sometimes I had to change the music but we got there in the end :)

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission - Commonwealth statutory authority that administers the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (formerly the Trade Practices Act 1974). It has a bunch of different hats and regulates competition in the market, M&A etc but in the context greytmate is talking about it serves as the consumer protection watchdog: http://www.accc.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/815215 I've never met anyone who went to the ACCC regarding a breeder or a dog rescue so would be interested to hear about anyone who has.

How is Damon today? :) I hope he's going well. I'm also about to become a first time foster carer - submitted my application to AWDRI the day before yesterday and will have my yard checked some time this week! Look forward to following your progress.