Country Dogs

Thanks Piper, I guess I should have said that I don't care where we have to go! I live in the Pilbara region, and I know there will be no training up here, which is why I would be hoping to find something that goes for a few days to a week so I could travel down (or interstate if I have to) to attend a course.

Hi everyone, In the last 6 months or some (maybe even 8 or 9) my Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog, Grace, has had some significant behaviour changes for the worse. I believe I have now come to realise what has triggered these behaviour changes (surprise surpirse it is a bad owner!), but I am looking for some help. Just over a year ago I moved for work, 1400km north of my old town, and my lifestyle changed significantly. In my old job and town, I spent A LOT of time with my dogs, (I have two a small fluffy and a stumpy). We attended at least 2 training clubs, each week, I would take them on outings to play with other dogs and we had a weekly catch up with friends were the humans would eat pizza and drink beer and the dogs would play in the backyard (we would rotate house each week, and it was great for humans and dogs a like!!) plus I would spend time training them and we were getting into agility (Grace was not as keen as Lucy). BUT we had a very active very social life. Now I have moved, my horses are taking up more time than they were previously. However the girls come with me for an off leash run for anywhere from 1 hour to 5 or 6 hours every day. On weekends we are often out at the horses all day and sometimes well into the night. There are plenty of dogs and people and they have a great time. Except when Grace is naughty and then she goes on the chain of shame until she can behave. She is becoming dangerous, as she is snapping more and more at other dogs, horses, and chasing things she shouldn't. So the point of all this is that I am a bad owner who has let my dog's behaviour get to a point where she is becoming dangerous, and to make matters worse I have only just figured out why. She is bored. I thought that with the large amount of physical exercise she is getting this would be enough stimulation, but she needs more mental stimulation. There is no dog training club in my new town so we haven't been attending and I haven't been training her as we spend so much time at the horses. I have neglected my Grace's needs and I need to right this wrong quick smart! SO I am getting to the point now I promise. I need to spend more time training her, which is not a problem, I will spend as much time as she needs every day. BUT I want us to have a purpose, she was not really keen on agility, but I am sure she would be great at herding and I would love to teach her some herding skills. Are there any courses that we can go to, to learn where to start? Are there any books we can read to get us started? As I know nothing about the sport I would love to learn more and teach my girl, to keep her stimulated and happy, but I would love for both of us to be able to go to a course somewhere for a few days or a week to learn more about how to train and get started.

I had thought about that, I need to locate another half shell (they already have one for a paddling pool) for some sand I think. I live in the North west of WA and sometimes these things are hard to find!! Also in the move up here some of the peices to my safety gate went missing, but I will buy another one to stop them from getting on the carpet. So the plan is to crate them at night again, and keep very close eyes on them when I am at home, and treat them like puppies again. Thank you so much for all your help, I love my girls but I'm sick of cleaning up after them. I am most definintly not the best dog trainer!!!

Thanks guys, very helpful. I shall do just that. The bichon is pretty good, she was already completely toilet trained when i got her at 8 weeks old, she was bred by an old lady who was home all day and she would take the pups outside for toileting since they started to walk, so it won't take much to get her back to normal. The stumpy on the other hand is a whole nother kettle of fish. The other difficulty I am having is that I am now in a small unit with only a concrete courtyard, and they dont particularly like to go out there. BUT I take them out twice per day for off leash runs usually for half an hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, and I find they both go when we are out, except Grace, the stumpy doesnt like to poop in public, though she does poop at home, both inside and out!!!!

Hi everyone, this is the first time I have posted, but I am at my wits end and really need some help. I have a stumpy tail cattle dog bitch, she has been desexed and is 15 months old. She is crate trained. I had a lot of trouble house breaking her because when I got her, my housemate at the time, also got a puppy, whom she did not bother to housebreak at all despite it being a small dog who lives inside. This also caused my 3 year old bichon frise to start toiletng in the house, however putting both my dogs in their crates at night put a stop to them peeing and pooing all over the house. They don't go at all in their crates, but she still continued to have accidents (just wees) sometimes, mostly on a weekend when we were home all day, if I didn't hear her at the door (she just bangs on it with het paw and it can be hard to heat if I am watching tv or something). But now I have moved house, and she just thinks the carpet is a toilet, which sets of the bichon to be the same. They kept going I the spare room, so I closed the door (she would even go upstairs instead of to the back door to pee on the carpet). I closed the door to the spare room, so now she is going in the lounge room on the tiles, which she has never done before. I just don't know what to do. If I lock her in her crate she is fine, and I am happy to do that, and in fact am going back to it tonight, but I want to break her of this and have her properly house broken for once and for all. But I just don't know how. Any suggestions and help would be great. Obviously I am doing something wrong.