koalathebear

Edited because I was out of sorts when I first posted and it didn't come out the way I intended. I know ... I was saying that it's not against the law but: i.e. even if it was illegal to drive without restraining your dogs, people would still do it. I was just repeating that for some people (like me) it's got nothing to do with the law, it's just about trying to protect my dogs to the extent that I can. As dog lovers, there are LOTS of things we do to protect and safeguard our dogs that go well above and beyond what is mandated by law and have nothing to do with the law so to me, in many instances - it seems almost irrelevant to say that one doesn't do or does something because it is or is not the 'law'. It should all be about what's in the best interests of the dog. I realise that sometimes there are real logistical impediments sometimes. People kept telling me over and over to crate my dog in the car and I kept saying over and over that I couldn't get a crate in the back seat of our car like that - definitely couldn't fit two and it's frustrating to be told to do something when there are good practicable reasons why you can't. For us, we were lucky that we could get the two dogs used to their harnesses - it was a lot of work because our first dog kept releasing himself with his paw . As with most things on this forum, you're never going to get consensus - vaccinations, worming, desexing etc etc etc the list goes on ... It's clear that people fall into two categories - people who restrain their dogs, people who (for various reasons) do not. Both have valid reasons for doing what they do or don't and it's not really possible to 'convince' someone to do something if they're already/not already doing it... I wouldn't have my dogs unrestrained in the back of a car simply because if we brake abruptly or are involved in an accident, they'll go flying and hit the window/windscreen/grill and either break their necks or otherwise be severely injured and given that I've minimised my risks (air bag, seatbelt) I'd never forgive myself if I hadn't given my puppies the maximum chance of survival/protection, too ... I'm not saying other people should agree with me or that my way is the right way, I'm just trying to explain (and defend) my point of view because my dogs have to live (or die as the case may be) with the consequences of my decisions. Sometimes I'm all too conscious of the fact that the life and welfare of my dogs is entirely in my hands. They have no decision-making rights or powers and once I took them into my life, it was my obligation to make sure I did the best I could by them. I decide to put them into a dangerous thing like a car, so I should minimise their risks where I can. There are many things that they don't like and complain about - taking some medicines, getting vaccinated, won't want to be desexed blah blah blah but there are some instances where they can't have their way and I just have to get creative to make sure their interests are safeguarded.

At the end of the day it's personal choice. It's against the law to drink and drive but people still do. It's against the law to text/use a phone and drive but people still do. Making something the law is a motivation for people to do the right thing but at the end of the day, it's up to each individual to make their own decisions about what to do. I guess the tragic thing here is that people are making up their minds for dogs who can't decide for themselves how best to protect themselves in an accident. While it's like a lot of matters where you say, my dog my decision, the sad thing here is that the consequences of the decision don't just affect the owner and the poor dog in person. If dog becomes a dangerous projectile during an accident or is otherwise distracting because it's unrestrained and thereby leads to injury/death of third parties, then other people have to pay the price for the owner's decision. Then again, a lot of the injuries caused by driving offences are like that i.e. third parties affected by the driver's actions. Anyway, I don't think all the shouting in the world doesn't help. For my own part, Elbie totally hated his harness but we persisted It's kind of like if you had a child (or even an unruly adult) who hated his seatbelt with a passion and refused to wear it - I doubt anyone would give in and say: "OK you don't like the seatbelt, you don't have to wear it." Same thing goes for a dog - if Elbie continued to be bonkers about his harness, we'd have to keep working at him until he accepted it. Until then, he wouldn't get to go in the car when it was moving. Like I said before, for us it's not so much a matter of legality as it is a matter of safety and responsibility not only to ourselves but to innocent third parties who could be affected by our actions. I'm always so angry when I hear about drink drivers causing death/injury to innocent third parties and the culpability isn't that much different with the unrestrained dog scenario except that you don't have the excuse of intoxication.

ravenau1: good luck for today!!! We look forward to seeing lots of photos of the Dobelette.

Well the thought is just that right now, a thought. OH has visions of dozens of Foster Failures and being surrounded by dogs for the rest of his life. A horrible thought for him given that he is a Cat Person.

This was the big dilemma for us when we were getting our second dog I really, really wanted to get a dog from rescue but because we wanted to be reasonably certain that the dog would get along with our existing dog, we went with getting a dog from a breeder who knew the temperaments of her dogs very well. The new puppy is everything the breeder said he would be so we are so happy with our decision but when I do see the rescue dogs every week, I still feel quite guilty. I am thinking about possibly fostering in the future so that we can "do our part".

For me it's not so much a legality issue so much as a safety issue for the dog. We have heard so much about what happens to unrestrained 'objects' in a car when the car is involved in a collision or brakes abruptly - all of the rationales in the world kind of go out the window (sometimes literally) if an accident takes place and even small, ostensibly harmless objects can become dangerous projectiles. I know of people who still insist on holding their babies/small children in their arms, not realising that this is going to be tragic if there's an accident. The harnesses aren't ideal and my dogs definitely don't love wearing them, but at least it disperses the restraint points over multiple parts of their body i.e. not just their neck or something and they'll probably just be very uncomfortable (as opposed to dead or horribly injured) if the car stops abruptly. They've learned to live with it although we have to put up with Elbie's occasionally very noisy complaints. People joke that our two dogs are like our children and I suppose we do love them as members of our family and I wouldn't let anyone in our car, let alone children if they weren't adequately seat-belted so I suppose we retain that rule for our dogs, too.

The car harnesses usually have a loop or you can clip them via D clip which then snaps into the seatbelt buckle so that there's a bit of room to move. With Hoover, we've got him used to driving around in the car from day one. With Elbie, we made the mistake of only taking him in the car to go to puppy school - which was fine when he was small, but as he got bigger and didn't like the car, it was harder to restrain him. It took a lot of time and effort to get him to behave in the car. We restrain our dogs in the car because if we have to brake abruptly, we don't want to have to deal with the horrible consequences of our dogs flying into the windscreen. I know a lot of people who think that they can hold onto their babies/children in the car but they don't realise that when there's an accident, it's almost inevitable that you will loosen your grip and the poor thing will go flying. The other option that works for some people (for dogs not children!) is a crate. We haven't been able to use a crate for Elbie because there's just no room in the backseat. Fortunately both dogs are now tethered using car harnesses and they seem ok with that even though Elbie hated his in the beginning.

That's true ... when I first started my new job, I didn't have my security clearance yet so was sitting downstairs with facilities. I was surrounded by people who own dogs so felt 'normal'. Then I moved up to my new section. My boss has two young kids, no dogs. The other member in my team has a 6 month old daughter, no dogs and doesn't like dogs. The third member of my team has a pregnant wife, no dogs and he doesn't like dogs and thinks that they're just dumb animals and thinks I am really, REALLY weird because I take the dogs to obedience and worry about them in thunderstorms. When he heard about the dog birthday party, he just shook his head at me. This is such exciting news. I've been pondering whether or not Hoover might eventually be a good candidate for Delta Therapy dog training. Thing is Kelpies are kind of considered to be boring dogs. No one ever even looks at Hoover when he's around other more exotic doggies so people might be underwhelmed to be visited by such a generic-looking dog. OH and I were at Kippax today doing our shopping and picked up a menu for Pizza Capers. We'll definitely be trying it out. I haven't - we normally have yum cha at Dumpling Inn in Macquarie but I'm open to trying new places. If there are other people who like Yum Cha I can book a table some time. The great thing about Chinese restaurants is that they're usually open during the Christmas shut down period. Gorgeous photo! How long did it take to clean her off after that?? I think I recognise all the doggies. Pepper, Rosie, Jet and ... I forget her name but she's the labradoodle from BDOC, right? I agree! I think we need video proof of Ruby the Destroyer. Yes ... I make cutesy noises at my dogs. During dog class if it's not our turn to do something, I'll usually be sitting there patting and cooing over them. Once I I was stroking Elbie's ears and stroking his head and looked over and saw another handler staring at me quizzically. Yay! Sounds like great progress! I've been loose-lead walking with Elbie back and forth in front of our house again tonight. He goes nowhere until he pays attention and he's now at the point where he's checking back every few moments. It requires treats though so I'm going to see if I can go longer distances without treats. Here's a photo of Elbie in "waiting" mode, waiting for us to throw the ball. Sometimes OH is freaked out because he'll turn around from his computer and see Elbie staring at him in this unnerving fashion. He can stand like this for ages and ages just waiting for someone to play with him.

Oh that's really awful. The poor woman and the poor dog. Both our doggies are tethered in the backseat. We try to use a restraint that gives them a little bit of room to move but as we like to have the windows down a little bit for them - we tether them because we notice that Elbie can push the window down. I don't think that there's a law here in the ACT that dogs have to be restrained while driving but I'd never forgive myself if the monsters were killed/injured because I didn't properly restrain them

I think I'd lose my job if I did that. My current job is 9-5.30pm-ish and way better than my previous job which was about 9am to 10pm/11pm/3am ... but still ...

Sorry you won't have a tree ... I hope you have a great time at your 'breeders' You could also pay us a visit :D I haven't had a tree since about 1997 when I moved out of home I always flew home for Christmas so there was no point in having a tree for an empty house. Then the last two Christmases there was no point because OH was flying to Canada. This will be our first Christmas together since 1996 and our first Christmas together in the new house and given he's staying back for such sad reasons, we thought we'd go nuts and have a Big Real Tree. I was looking at Ruby's photo again - I love the way doggy muzzles kind of 'crinkle up' when they're holding things in their mouths. There's something about those crinkles that I find so endearing. wuffles: Our two don't tend to pee against things so we should be fine. When we decorate the tree though, we'll have to put the doggies behind the baby gate otherwise I can foresee Tinsel Poo. Ah ... I wish I could have met her. We see so few Kelpies and I've only seen one other red and tan in Canberra ... Kelpie Ears are adorable ... so alert. There's a photo of a Very intense-looking red and tan in the Kelpie thread which I find pretty amazing - her gaze could stare right through you. Our two are very cuddly and playful though and really not like what you'd expect a Kelpie to be ... although they do have the intelligence that they're supposed to have. I've been making progress with Elbie's loose-leash walking. He's been pulling less - walking at the end of his leash but I've still had problems with his focus so the last few days, I've been making him sit in the driveway and we don't go anywhere until he looks at me. Even then, it's just me walking backwards and having him walk towards me. OH worries that I'm going to get hit by a car. So I do a lot of running backwards and if he tries to charge past me, I block him with my body. This keeps his attention. Then once he's 'attentive', I start walking along the road with him and if he starts to pull, I change direction and say 'this way'. After a bit, he's paying attention and changing directions with me. All of this is just in front of our house and the two houses on either side of us. Then I'll quicken the pace and say: "run run! faster faster!" and then suddenly slow down: "slow slow!" then I'll speed up again. I have no lungs so I find this tiring. It definitely keeps Elbie's attention, though and so he's constantly looking back at me to see what I'm going to do - change direction/speed up/slow down. Tonight I did it with his dinner and we were just trotting back and forth in front of the house. To my embarrassment the neighbour from across the road came out and asked: "How's training going?" I have no idea how long he was out the front staring at us as I ran back and forth with Elbie exclaiming: "run run! faster faster! Slow slow! good boy!" ETA: Hoover lost his first puppy tooth today I have to admit I love his little snapping turtle muppet mouth with its ineffectual baby teeth. Also - he's booked in to be desexed on Friday. We'll drop him off in the morning and pick him up in the evening. I have Guilt. I might have to get OH to drop him off alone because I'll feel bad doing it.

Oh my goodness. He is sooooooooooooo cute I'm not just saying that because I love Kelpies. I'm not a dog trainer and am just speaking from my experience of owning 1.75 Kelpies First of all, like everyone has said - he's still just a little baby and really not up to great distances. It's bad for his health. Don't worry though - as he gets older, like all Kelpies he'll be totally capable of running 20km a day and not getting tired As puppies though, even Kelpies like to sleep and rest a lot. Thank goodness our two don't expect anywhere near that level of exercise and have fit in with our lazy lifestyles. Your puppy probably has slightly negative associations of the leash right now. Kelpies love movement so before you try with the leash again, why not put the leash aside and just run around the backyard with him. Run backwards and have him chase after you. Even without treats, he will probably run towards you. If you make crazy happy sounds, he'll be even more inclined to chase after you. After he gets into the habit of following you, then try it with the leash to see how he goes. Our second puppy was originally a bit Leash Stubborn, particularly if we were leading him out in the rain to toilet Like your pup he'd plonk his but on the ground and just stare at us. You can't really force a Kelpie to do things - you have to persuade them. So motivate him with movement, treats and lots of praise. Good luck! More photos, please and please come and join the Kelpie Subforum. It's not one of the most active threads on the forum but we all adore our Kelpies/Kelpie crosses

Our real Christmas tree was delivered today. Hoover was curious. Elbie thought that it was a monster so went into Full Kelpie Alert Mode along with Kelpie Crouch Video .ravenau1: Cute, cute cute little Dobe puppies. I want to squoosh them - in a good way For the movies, I use Windows Movie Maker - very, very easy - just drag and drop and it's easy to edit clips, split them, add music etc. lilli_star: Very cute photo of Roo. Love the Greedy Look Good luck with the reports!

Hee! I guess it's just what you're used to. We started our Dog Lives with Kelpies/Kelpie-ish dogs so that's what we're used to I know that there are heaps of Kelpies (and Kelpie crosses) in the pound and that there are heaps of people who say Kelpies don't have an off-switch. I've also heard that working line Kelpies are more high energy than bench Kelpies and that Kelpies aren't good for a first time dog owner and so forth … I think we must have been really lucky with our two. Our two Kelpies really aren't what you'd expect! Elbie's quite hyperactive and excitable in new situations but at home, the two are very chilled and relaxed. In a good week, Elbie got a walk every two days – no more than half an hour (Hoover's just started to be taken on proper walks). In a bad week, he'd get maybe 2 walks and sometimes even just one walk a week!!!! We'd play with them in the house or yard but there were days when there was no formal walk. Taking the doggies for a walk or not seems to have no impact on their behaviour. They certainly love and enjoy the walk but in the mornings they're very happy and excited, then they run around in the back yard together and play – they'll sleep and then play and sleep and play as they see fit. In the evenings, they're given training over dinner and will play a bit and then snooze as OH and I do our thing. Night time, they go to sleep at about midnight and don't wake up until the next day. Both chew on their toys but neither are very destructive – a bit of digging but no large holes recently. They leave cables, books and other stuff alone. Both of them know that when they're sent to their dog beds, that it's 'quiet time'.

In other news ... For a while, Elbie's learned that when I'm at my computer, if he puts his head on my knee and looks cute, then he gets kibble. Hoover's learned the trick, too but he never seems to be able to beat Elbie to the prime position We bought lilli_star's soft crate as a second soft crate and we've been using when we got out with the dogs. Rather than tethering them both, we'll pop one of them in the crate to rest/sleep and it's been a terrific purchase. We had to wash the blanket inside so had the crate in the kitchen - it turns out both dogs seem to love sleeping in the crate because it's right in the middle of the kitchen. They go in there to rest all the time Here's Elbie peeking out from the crate's 'door'. And here's a photo of Hoover just because I think that he is cute. We had a nice weekend despite the rain. It was indeed over too quickly but things should be quietening down a lot at work and we'll have Christmas shutdown between Christmas and New Year so that will be a really nice break. For those in Canberra during that time, we should have yum cha/you could come by for Rock Band/cup of tea or coffee/puzzling Let me know. wuffles: thanks for posting about Crusts. I didn't know about it We will definitely try it out. The Ark: Congratulations! I'll definitely be following the photos and cooing over the little Aussie babies. They are such gorgeous dogs ... alas, I really don't think I'd be able to handle an Aussie. I know everyone bags out Kelpies as being too high maintenance but Aussies are positively boisterous by comparison No rain today thankfully! I took both doggies out for a walk - separately because Hoover walks beautifully on a loose leash and I don't want him to be contaminated by Elbie who is getting heaps better but still walks at the end of his leash and frequently lunges whenever he sees people/cars/dogs/magpies By contrast, Hoover is an angel, ignores all distractions and will sniff around but always come back to my side when called. He isn't so good at tricks though It was lovely to see how much the dogs enjoyed being out. This tree is the most exciting thing ever, that patch of grass smells better than anything in the world ... you see their heads turning and staring at everything and you can see that nothing is old hat or boring to them. :p OH used to smile when he'd stand and watch Wee Elbie lying in the yard staring at butterflies and birds with wonderment.

This is Scarlet. We weren't expecting to find that she appears to be a purebred pitbull/Amstaff ... Neither of us had ever met this breed before and having heard all the bad press, I was very surprised at how calm and placid she was. Look how beautiful her eyes are? When we first got there, the carer's border collie had climbed on top of Scarlet (who was on her back), sat on poor Scarlet's face and pee'd on it Scarlet was completely placid through this indignity OH isn't won over but he's not a fan of bull breeds and prefers Kelpies More photos of Scarlet This photo makes me laugh. No idea what song to pick for Scarlet either. I'd like something upbeat for both.

Look at this grin He was a very affectionate dog. No idea what song to pick for his video.

Gorgeous photos wuffles. The more photos the better! This one's my favourite: Again, the colour of Ava's eyes is beautiful and Satch looks so calm and happy We went out today to visit one of Kate's foster carers who has two new rescue dogs in care. OH took photos and I took videos. I haven't made the music videos yet but thought I'd share some of the photos. These were Lucky's pound photos. He's listed as a Kelpie cross. His temperament was very bouncy and happy so he's definitely got Kelpie in there. The happy grin reminds me of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier. OH took the following photos:

Oh man, you must have seen it before I took it down. Reuploading the silent non-baby talk version now. You should see him eating a lamb flap. It is so hilarious as he kind of gnaws on it for ages and ages with his puny baby teeth

Hoover still just has his puppy teeth so it takes him forever to eat lamb flaps. It turns out it takes forever for him to eat one piece of apple with his tiny baby teeth, too. 3 minutes 43 seconds of footage. Yes it's long but there's so funny about the looks Hoover gives the apple piece when it keeps flying out of his mouth. The reason he keeps turning around is that Elbie took about 5 seconds to eat his piece and kept moving impatiently and Hoover kept turning to look at Elbie. Note: temporarily disabled because I left the sound of me cooing over Hoover on the soundtrack Will reupload it in a second ETA: Video reuploaded . Babytalk is goneski

That's so great. Don't forget to post a photo of Shandy in her Delta Gear ;)

Some dogs just don't get along with other dogs! When we first went to Dog School, Elbie got along fine with all the dogs but there was one mini black Schnauzer who seemed to want to kill Elbie every time he saw him. He's fine with him now but back then, Elbie didn't care much for him either. Maybe some dogs just rub each other the wrong way? Both of our dogs are very big on appeasement behaviour. Elbie's head kind of droops and he slinks around very cautiously until he's out of trouble Hoover looks really sad and gives us googoo eyes. betsy: Looks like quite a few of the dogs on this thread including yours have magical door opening powers. It's always hilarious when you enter a room/an area and see Doggie and think: "How did doggie get there????" clastic: ;) Mars has been such an angel the last couple of lessons and you walk sufficiently swiftly! Then again, no one copped it as badly as poor Phil. No wonder he vanished on the way to coffee. He tries so hard with Sian. Also, that photo of Pepper and Unmentionable is hilarious. I am trying to remember if we've ever discovered one of our two with anything they shouldn't. Probably the worst was when LJ Hooker dropped off a bear for us after we bought our house. We knew it wasn't a dog toy so put it aside but one day, we discovered Elbie trying to kill something and we were shocked to discover that it was poor Mr Hooker Bear. Poor, poor Mr Hooker Bear. As if his name wasn't unfortunate enough. Papa Koala says that to me all the time. + sigh.

Wow the rain is just BUCKETING down right now. Our courtyard is flooded!! It's about ankle-deep! We're clearing the drain. Doggies are so not going to want to go out to toilet ... Also, two of my colleagues are so not dog people. They're horrified by how much time I spend on the dogs and one colleague in particular is quite dismissive of dogs. During the Christmas party when it was bucketing down, I said anxiously: "Oh no, my poor puppies" (because I knew that they were outside at that moment), my colleague rolled his eyes and said: "They're JUST dogs." He didn't know he was sitting with 3 dog lovers and dog owners and one of them elbowed him in the ribs and said: "Never say that again!" Ah well. It doesn't change the fact that he thinks I'm bonkers for spending my weekends on my dogs and I think about them so much

Clastic - OH thinks you're teacher's pet :D At least Elbie wasn't toooooo monstrous today

I believe that it was blackmagic dismissing the topic as pointless not poodlefan ... I personally always find these topics interesting.