koalathebear

She looks VERY focused! Flyball looks like a lot of fun! I'm sticking with agility for now - it's probably the most suited to my two, but flyball is definitely a possibility as it looks exciting and fun. More so than Rally-O which seems like endless heeling which EVERYONE in this household hates

Ha! Who knew? When I phoned earlier in the year, it wasn't possible to make a booking and at that time the website said that they were looking for a Canberra franchisee! :D That's why this year OH is going back to Canada and I am staying at home with the dogs!!! ETA: I didn't know you could reply to old threads!? All of my old ones are locked!

Yup, you should speak with Lawanda. Canberra Critter Care website is here. She's a real sweetheart, does lots of fostering of working dogs (and other dogs) and seems to love what she does. From memory, Don't Fret Pet no longer has a Canberra franchisee and is run remotely.

I was very grateful you took the time to reply to my question! Elbie is doing well on the weave poles but is still to build up speed.

I hope you don't mind but this was the explanation you were kind enough to send me when I was asking you/Vicki about how to do the three pole entry: It has worked very well for my two so thanks again!

Thanks for your replies. I guess it was this post that really piqued my interest: If even top class show and breeding stock are so vulnerable and require so much intervention, doesn't that speak to some sort of fundamental health issue that needs resolving? My two are working line dogs and I don't know anything about French Bulldogs which is why I'm so curious.

That's what I'm getting at. No matter how gorgeous and lovable this breed seems to be, clearly there appear to be certain health issues that need to be resolved for the benefit of the breed, people who breed the dog and people who own the dog so I was wondering what was happening with that or if nothing could be done at all. Extensive health difficulties/extensive health testing/low survival rates should really be ringing alarm bells to try to identify root causes rather than being worn as a badge of honour. Or is the 'rarity' what is also contributing to the demand and high price? By way of example, studies are done about the high mortality rates into Bernese Mountain Dogs and presumably steps are being taken to try to reduce the incidence of cancer. In working line Kelpies with ataxia, breeders are being asked to not cull the affected dogs, but not to breed from them and to provide data for research etc. But if this is being done, why are there still such extensive health issues? What is the root cause? Presumably when you mentioned the 24 hour care required for new pups, that was by ethical breeders breeding fro the best of the best. If one is breeding from the best, why is that extremely high level of intervention required? Not trying to be provocatively - genuinely curious!

This has been a really interesting discussion. Given the rather wide range of potential health problems to which this breed could be prone and the difficulty with successful delivery and then raising a successful litter (supporting chests/breathing etc) - is any research being done about ways to strengthen the breed? For instance, I know that Border Collie breeders contributed and now Kelpie breeders contribute towards research into Cerebellar Abiotrophy in the breed. Given how popular and lovable this breed is, it must surely be a concern that it is comparatively less 'healthy' than a number of other breeds and efforts should be made towards enhancing health and quality of life?

Thanks Vehs, I looked at those two but they seemed to confirm my initial understanding i.e. sign came after a declaration not before it. Section 28 of the Domestic Animals Act 2000 (the Act) provides that: i.e. once a dog is declared dangerous it might need to have a warning sign displayed Section 22 of the Act provides as follows: 22(1) and (2) clearly don't apply. Section 22(4) might at a stretch given that it implies the registrar can consider any factors he/she likes when considering if a dog is dangerous for the purposes of sub-section (3) - but that is still only after the dog has attacked/harassed someone as contemplated by subsection (2). It seems odd that the mere existence of a sign saying "warning beware of the dog" sign could be a criteria for consideration. I'm not fussed because our gates are locked and their barking is vocal enough to let people know their are dogs there, but I can see why my colleague needs a sign up if he's going to be having new tradesmen coming and going during the renovation process and he doens't want them leaving the gate open. ETA: whiskedaway: sounds like a good idea I had a tradesman recently who wanted to jump into our backyard when we ewren't home to examine how far the trees were from the power line for the purposes of a quote. He said he wasn't afraid of Kelpies. Even though I knew our dogs wouldn't bite, I didn't want them to get into the habit of thinking it was ok for strange men to leap into our yard so I asked the tree surgeon to come when we were at home :p

Does anyone know if there have been any new changes to the dangerous dog legislation in the ACT? The reason I ask is that a friend is doing some renovation work and wanted to put up a sign saying that he had dogs in his yard to remind people not to leave the gate open. He says that a friend of his who is a ranger advised him against this as this can be taken as a declaration that you have a dangerous dog!?! My understanding is that the sign is not criteria for a dangerous dog but rather, if you have a dangerous dog, you are required to take certain steps including put up a sign at your premises. Does anyone know if there has been anything new? We have a "beware of the dog" sign for our two. They're not dangerous and I doubt they'd bite anyone but we want to deter random people from leaping in the back (eg ACTEW people) ... We probably don't need it because the dogs bark when people approach anyway so if people can't figure out from THAT there are dogs, they'd be pretty dopey ...

IGA, Supa Barn and Woolworths here in Canberra always have turkey wings. For some reason turkey is cheaper than chicken here in Canberra - mince and wings etc My two gets turkey wings 1-2 times a week and love them. It seems to keep their teeth nice and white and they do excited little wiggles when they know it's turkey wing time

Wouldn't Kelpies be classed together with the Collies though, given that they are essentially descended from the Border Collie?

Gorgeous! I can't believe how fast he is! He's faster than my dog on 12 poles Elbie weaves conscientiously but he puts his head down and weaves with great concentration and is still very slow about it - I'm not sure when he'll speed up. He always looks like he's taking it very seriously and is not as joyous as Ashwyn yet! I also love this 60 weave poles challenge. The dobe is AMAZING and I feel so sorry for the border collie who ends up going backards

I think that it's an interesting idea! My area of interest would be in terms of the different types of body language between breeds. For instance, my two tend to along really well with other working dogs but they are very wary when meeting "large squish faced dogs" - boxers etc. Someone told me that it's because the heavy breathing can come across as quite menacing. For me it would be quite nice to know of the breeds where I might want to structure the introduction a little differently etc. Also, most people assume that 'wagging tail' means happy dog but that isn't always the case etc so there are definitely some basic body language myths that could probably be defused. Not sure if they could decipher my dogs' ear semaphore though - I still find that cryptic

Ziggy is such a gorgeously-happy looking fellow Contrast to my two who are looking evil and demanding in these photos. "Human - entertain us!!!"

Thanks! LM says that you're only supposed to do it when the dog is below threshold i.e. not aroused. My problem is that Elbie gets excited/aroused as soon as he seems another dog so I'm not sure how I would start doing LAT with dogs ... should I stand in the car park at dog school perhaps?

Thanks so much for this information and also the other info corvus. I have bought a copy of Control Unleashed but embarrassingly am still struggling with the basics. Am I supposed to point with my hand at something to 'lure' the dog into looking at it or am I just supposed to wait until the dog looks at something I want it to look at and then click? Thanks!

Thank you! Our two definitely keep us entertained

I know a guy who shaves his poor Kelpie because he says she is stinky Not sure if it helps on the tick front, though.

They have quite a few but the one that springs to mind is when I'm at my computer and Hoover wants to get my attention, he sometimes does his Pig-Nosed Kelpie impersonation.

My pack The black and white is Elbie, our Kelpie/Border Collie cross. He is 20 months old. The red and tan is Hoover, our working line Kelpie. He is 15 months old. In their Drizabone dog coats Sharing a crate even though they each have their own Snuggling With friends

I have two males, a few months apart in terms of age. They're both smart and trainable and get along very well. Very affectionate and people-oriented and get along well with other dogs, too. Elbie's a bit more velcro than Hoover. I didn't have a preference for one gender over the other. Desexing came into it - I thought that the procedure for a dog would be a lot less intrusive than for a bitch and I wasn't sure that we'd be able to take much time off work around desexing time. I'm still happy with my decision because our two are very well-behaved at home - no marking or inappropriate behaviours. When they were younger they occasionally got a bit humpy even after desexing but that seems to have gone away and the humpies only reappear if they get very excited

I forgot about that - we were giggling about how funny Hoover looked in that photo. So goofy

Hoover Mars and Pepper Dogs post-playdate We have video footage of Kuma and Satch but not photos because the big boys tended to hang out near the humans and OH was trying to avoid taking photos of The Humans

The Border Collie siblings Ava and stick Hoover, just chilling Failed attempt at a group photo