Inevitablue

Thanks for your replies guys. I found an article where a dog died on the way home from a swim at the beach. Acute salt water toxicity. The dog had been swimming all morning

Very true! The woman sounds like she can be a bully. On a general note, sometimes these people when re educated can be a great voice for your cause. If only she put such effort into the sale of puppies / kittens in pet shops! That's in a perfect world though

Agreed, horrid behaviour. But if you want to affect change then you have to be prepared for passionate reactions. You have to be the bigger person and at least try to get your message out.

No excuses for her aggressiveness either, but just remember that some people are very passionate about what they believe/know. Education is the key, and her ideas don't automatically class her as a bogan (perhaps her behaviour does though!) I'm sure the Japanese think there is nothing wrong with harpooning whales, yet for those educated on sustainability and humane slaughter think the complete opposite. When your in the minority educating others is always a steeper hill to climb.

I recommend calmly telling her they aren't illegal (are they?) then spend 2 min explaining its a refined tool for communicating with your dog, no different to a horse rider wearing spurs. Would she rather you damage your dogs neck yanking away on a check chain, same way some people thump their poor horses sides? Ask her if your dog looked happy and content. If she is still ranting, then walk away. You tried to do your bit at educating the general public... I do think using the collar at a highly populated off leash dog area is inviting uneducated people to have a go. I'd get a cover for it if you don't want uneducated reactions.

Each morning my dog swims at the beach, and being an ACD she likes to chase the waves. Now she does this with an open mouth so is invariably ingesting some salt water. She vomits the salt water up within 10 min and is physically fine. I think she must be learning to not swallow the water, as the amount coming back up is becoming quite minimal. So, one of those things I have to weigh up the pros and cons. She absolutely loves it, and it's part of the reason I live here, daily beach walks. I know milk acts like a stomach lining protector. What do you think of my idea to give her a drink of puppy milk prior to our walk? Could it be of any benefit? She has never had diarrhea from it, so I gather it's not passing as far as her kidneys.

If it helps, mine were not slimy after about 2 wet/ dry cycles.

If your throwing a ball and take too long to actually throw it, will she bark then, as if saying 'hurry up!'? If she does, get her worked up and each time she barks say 'speak' and throw the ball. The ball is the reward so the only way to get it thrown is to 'speak'. I will say that mine became more vocal after teaching them to bark on command

Bulk buying for you! I suppose mine are so not foody, they struggle to eat 2/3 of the recommended amount, yet still maintain condition. I will say when I fed dry food I had much more food driven dogs (as in always looking for food), these dogs on raw seem satiated. I have to crack out the pastrami or honey smoked ham to use for training.

Imagine buying 5kg, then extending it with water to make around 10kg. Then each day it makes up around 30% of the dogs diet. I mix half roo with half chicken to make it cost effective too. Where I buy the meat chicken mince is a quarter of the price of roo.

Shouldn't cost that much! Unless you looked at the Skin variety. It's $156 for 15kg at my local place, for the puppy variety. That's enough for 5 months supply for my two ACD's.

I just missed the delivery guy....and it's not at the post office, I have to arrange another delivery from the 'XL Parcel Delivery Service'

I'm jealous...cows Hopefully we will be rounding up some sheep in 2 weeks time. My girl, who is now 12 months hasnt seen sheep since she got her PT 5 months ago. I really hope she doesn't go at them!

My deaf ACD was a barker....often it's the deaf ones that make the most noise Once he is crate trained and out of his fear period I would also try a citronella collar on him. Made my girl think twice about barking.

I love my local post office then :D Mine didn't ship until the 19th Dec so I will be waiting for awhile yet.

Why didn't you receive a card in the mail. My Post office will use a first notification then a second notification that I have a parcel waiting. Isn't that standard protocol? I'd be more pi**ed with your local post office!

and for some more cutie patootie photos! His name is Zac and he is almost 5 months old.

She is at the vet waiting for her owners to return the call

Yep, they are Willowpark cattle dogs. Half brother/ sister. Vet opens in 30 min so hopefully her owners get the call they have been waiting for.

Very true! Not so much that the others have been mean, just not as engaging as this one. Maybe she had been loose for a few days and is craving some attention.

Check out how much she has made herself at home! If she isn't chipped she will be at Sydney Dogs and Cats Home if anyone wants a seriously nice dog ;)

I so hope she is chipped. An awesome dog. Fantastic dog communication skills, well mannered, very sooky, no food aggression towards us or my dogs. Made herself at home on the lounge

One of the nicest Sibe's Ive ever met. Extremely affectionate, focused and well mannered. Think she has fit right in!!

Hi, I'm on the ACD Society of NSW committee,and Steve from K9Pro wrote this for us, as we get LOTS of emails asking for advice with young ACD's. There might be some helpful stuff in it (the links didn't cross post, but the link info is all on his website) The Australian Cattle Dog These are commonly and energetic, robust and no nonsense dog that can make a great companion, working or sport dog but can also have problematic behaviours if not raised, trained, exercised and socialised correctly, but this is very much like any dog of the herding breeds. This breed can be a great guard dog as they have natural territorial behaviour but of course this guarding behaviour needs to be in balance, not over encouraged or ignored. Those who want a social friendly dog will do well to encourage a lot of positive socialisation around the home with people arriving. The most common reasons for this breed to be brought to me for a behaviour consult are: - Aggression towards people and dogs Nipping children who run and scream Destructiveness Barking All of the above are generally a result of the dog in drive overload, poor socialisation and or generally poor to no training the correct behaviours before the undesirable behaviours manifest. This is the key problem with have with dogs in our communities today; we get puppies and don’t put enough time into educating them, which in turn leads to more time, effort and money being spent on rehabilitating them. There is a lot to raising a puppy so I am not going to try and cover all those steps here, but I have listed some tips below that everyone should consider employing when they get a new ACD. The Triangle of Temptation (link) A simple feeding program that has incredible power, it is designed to look like you just have the dog sit before feeding but it is much more than that. Great for teaching impulse control, training markers, gaining and regaining respect and many more benefits. The NILIF Program (link) NILIF stands for Nothing In Life Is Free, this is a program that helps your dog understand the value of the life that you give him. House training your dog (link) teaching a dog not to toilet in your home is a must, you may not intend to keep your dog inside your home, but if your dog is sick or injured, he may need to be inside at some stage, this is a very wise move to make. The Behavioural Interrupter (link) This is a great little tool I teach all my dogs, it has value for the life of the dog and it is super easy to teach. Great for interrupting your dog from doing something you don’t want it to without screaming no all the time. Ten reasons to crate train your dog (link) I am a big fan of crate training, again even if you don’t want to have your dog inside, a dog that sustains a leg injury will need to be kept from exercise. The crate is ideal for this and many other things. The Puppy Development Calendar (link) this is the “bible” to refer to when you get a pup, it can help predict temperament changes in your pup as it develops and helps you prepare for them. The Importance of Play (link) A great article to read so you can see why playing is necessary for a dog. We have a website (link) with over 200 training and behaviour articles that are free to read and or download, our online shop has the highest quality dog training equipment you will find and our service is great! We also have a very active Facebook page (link) and Discussion forum (link) we welcome you to join and say hello! K9 Pro provides a full behaviour consult service, obedience training from pet to competitor and Distance Learning Packages as well, if you have a problem with your dog, or don’t but don’t want to have a problem, we can surely help. I hope your enjoy your Australian Cattle Dog, wether you get a puppy or an older dog from rescue, these are a very fun dog to own with great capabilities and can offer you years of loving companionship!

Lol....she doesn't fit in does she! Lovely dog though... Off to the vets to get scanned tomorrow morning.