aidannorris

is it only when dogs bark that arent working or is it when dogsbark at all?? my girl doesnt really bark when she is waiting, but goes hammer and tongs when she is a pen

Dandybrush - my two kelpies are like our two kids, i would never let someone lay the smack on them, although i have tried with them for over a year with only positive reinforcement and i only got partial results. i introduced some neg reinforcement and they are now starting to obey. i ran out of training time as i had a baby on the way. i think i may have painted the wrong picture about eric, he is very good at what he does, he does give the dogs positive reinforcement and he doesnt go straight for the 'el smacko' with them. he calls the dog to get focus and then if the dog doesnt focus, there is a gentle yank of the lead, the dogs that i saw him handle never yelped or were scared. i was amazed when i saw a 7 month old kelpie (he did say that he normally doesnt work with them that young)go from whimpering when we were sitting in his shed having a chat about what we want as goals etc to, after a few corrections, sitting by his side looking at him for direction. when we got out into the round pen, he was never agro to the animals but he was firm, i guess because they are his sheep that we are using and he want to protect them as well as teach the dogs and us.

Eric was really good, he is pretty firm with the dogs though. if your used to giving your dog a cuddle on the couch be prepared for some pretty hard yanks on the lead and a few little snaps on the snout. he definently knows his stuff and is good at getting his point across. he seemed to be a trainer for dogs that work though, but i found it enjoyable as did my dog. my kelpie is a gentle dog and doesnt react to stressand yelling and he realised that straight away and trained accordingly whic i found good. woodford is about 45mins inland from caboulture

Hi Guys i was wondering if you could tell me any info about getting into "city herding", i have 2 kelpies and would like to get them into some sport herding for fun and obedience. i have just done the beginner course with one of them with Eric at "working sheep dog show" and she had a ball and was not to bad for a first timer. i would like to do more but have no idea where to start looking. we live near springwood in brisbane and wanted to know if there were any clubs near by. cheers Aidan

Thanks Weasels the only reason i am concerned is that we are due to have a baby any day now and i am trying to sort the barking out. i can normally call her out of the shadow and bird chasing within 2 or 3 calls. eventuall i would like to give her a go at city herding or agility, but we have a long way to go. off lead for a start haha

excuse my naivity, but how do you know if you are the dominant member of the pack? my 2 kelpies both come when are called 1 will come 8 out of 10 times, and the other maybe 9 out of 10 times. when they are being fed they dont eat until i give the command to, they both sit and drop when they are told to, but one of them is, as i said focused on shadows and birds and does back a bit much. what is a flirt pole? when we take them to the park, we use a lunging whip for them to chase, they dont just run off like fools, they play with us by chasing the whip.

its strange, maybe 8 out of 10 times she will come when called, if there is no distractions around she is good as gold, she sits, stays, dances (hind leg walking), crawls etc, but as soon as there is something going else going on. bam. different dog, ie selective hearing. she is very passive towards me, she doesnt seem to be dominating me, but then again this is the first kelpie i have owned. she walks on the lead well and she listens to direction when on the lead and walkking. its like she has OCD towards birs and shaddows. my wife is the only other person who directs her and we have the same training methods, the same comands etc

any advice on types of trick or training? she has good focus, just not on me until it suits her. my 2 are 13 months old.

they a good 30 - 45 mins of hard running. i am trying to mentally exercise her, but its hard due to her always looking for something to chase.

Hi Guys I have a question regarding one of my Kelpies is it possible to "turn them off"? by that I mean, she is so focused and alert all the time, from the time we let her out of the crate, to the time we put her away at night. she chases birds, shadows and noises or is generally just on the go looking for things to chase or bark at. she gets plenty of attention and exercise daily. we have tried the food toys, but she isnt really food motivated. on the other side of the fence, my 2nd kelpie is more of a show kelpie, she is happy at the park or just lying on the back deck, she is very food orientated and acts like the dog in the schmackos add when it comes to treats. any advice?? cheers

Hi Jigsaw I would LOVE to work out the 'off switch' but i dont know how to train that,i have been told that the dogs are in a second 'naughty' stage between 9 - 14 months. I have just started to trian them using a clicker and it seems to be having good results so far, they are putting 2 and 2 together most of the time with it and realising that each click is praise. I have been praising the dogs when they are just sitting and being quiet, and when they are going a bit mental, i call them into a sit and stay position to try to calm them down. Do you click & treat or click & just praise. Normally you would click & treat if you want them to put a high value on the clicker. If I just praised my two BC's when I clicked, they would soon lose interest in what I am trying to teach them. As soon as they realise I have the clicker, their mouths start to water & they will do anything to earn a click. Hi Sheena I do click and treat 99% of the time. One of the dogs will do ANYTHING for a treat and a click, but the other one is a bit like 'meh' when it comes to food treats as she isnt food driven. its driving me crazy trying to find her "thing"

Hi Jigsaw I would LOVE to work out the 'off switch' but i dont know how to train that,i have been told that the dogs are in a second 'naughty' stage between 9 - 14 months. I have just started to trian them using a clicker and it seems to be having good results so far, they are putting 2 and 2 together most of the time with it and realising that each click is praise. I have been praising the dogs when they are just sitting and being quiet, and when they are going a bit mental, i call them into a sit and stay position to try to calm them down.

Hi Guys I have got 2 kelpie pups and one of them is going through a stage, well i hope its a stage, of barking. I have been told that if you can teach a dog to bark, then you can also teach them not to bark. the problem that I have is that when she is outside barking at birds, shadows or any out of the ordinary noises, she goes non-stop, then, when i go out to try to get her to 'speak' on command she stops totally and wont bark for anything. how do you teach a dog to bark when she wont bark at anything when i am standing within eye sight? I dont think she is barking for attention because she chases things and i can see her barking from inside. Any advice?

Hi VJB how long does each implant last? and how much does it cost? my pup was leaking before she was desexed

Hi Nikhbet i think that there is a mix up in my questions or reasons, i wouldnt put my dogs through surgery for my grass dying, the reason that I ask about the surgery is that my pup is just one year old and everytime we take her running or she does any exercise, she drips or leaves pools of urine on the deck and as she is normally lying down when she does 'leak', she ends up with urine all over her hind quaters. As for the grass dying, i was asking if anyone knew of an alternate drug to propalin. i hope that clears it up a bit

Has anyone looked into surgical options for incontenent dogs?

ahh sorry i forgot to mention that, she is desexed. she was desexed at 5 months but it happened before she had the surgery. cheers

Hi Guys I have a 1 year old Kelpie pup that wee's herself or drips urine after i have taken her for a run or given her some hard exercise. I have taken her to the vet a number of times over this to try to get a urine sample from her, after about the 4th time we decided that we had to keep her in for a day to syringe a sample straight from her bladder. We did, and it came back with nothing unusual. the vet gave us Propalin to use to try to strengthen the sphincter at the bottom of her bladder and it seemed to work for her. My problem is, I have laid new turf in the last 2 months and her urine since being on the propalin kills the grass to the roots and the vet said that we would have to give the dog the medicine twice a day for the rest of her life. As the dog is only 12 months old, we are looking for an alternative. has anyone heard of this before? cheers Aidan

I have got two 1 year old Kelpie pups, we tried to sleep them outside from about 4 months and the first two nights was all barking at everything. we brought them inside and it stopped, we did have to put them in the bathroom though so they wouldnt rip the house apart. we ended up buying a xxxL crate for them to sleep in, you can get them from ebay and they also have canvas crate covers to suit. this worked well until they started growing and one wanting her own space and the other wanting to cuddle up at night.............dog fight inside a metal crate. this was at about 10 months old. since then we bought two 42 inch canvas crates from online, (i think we paid about $60), so they could have their own space,we kept them inside for about 2 week until they got used to them, then we put them outside and we havent had a drama with them barking since......however...one of them likes to chew things, and decided to chew both zippers of both the crates leaving them pretty useless to secure them. SO, now we have just bought 2x 42 inch metal crates with canvas covers to suit, we sleep them both outstide and dont have a problem with them. i paid about $70 each for the crate and about $30 each for the covers. We have a baby due at the end of Jan and, in the last 2 months, moved the dogs to solely outside dogs and so long as they have a secure place that they can use as a safe place, they seem fine. hope this helps

Thanks for the info, i will have a look at the treat toys and hopefully they will work

We also tried the clam shell and it worked to a certain extent, until they decided to dig under it haha. what do you mean tabout pineapple?

Hi All i was just wanting to know if anyone knows where to get bulk dehydrated beef tendons or similar for my Kelpie pups. I have been getting them from a pet shop recently but with the 2 dogs and the tendons coming in bags of 400g for $10, it works out to be pretty expencive. I am in Brisbane on the south side, or a happy internet shopper cheers Aidan

Hi Guys This is my first post, I have two red and tan Kelpies that have just turned one. They went through a stage of digging at about 5 months of age, i had to replace the lawn a few months ago because of bad existing grass and dirt patches caused by them playing and digging, they stopped digging for a while but i have found a hole through my new grass They both have got multiple toys/chew toys/food dispencing toys similar to kongs that they have worked out how to empty within about 20mins and they both have plenty of attention given to them. I am at a bit of a loss, i give them mental stimulation as well. does anyone know of a hard wearing IQ toys that can be left alone with the dogs during the day while i am at work? My wife is at home with a baby due at the end of Jan. any advice would be great cheers Aidan