mixeduppup

Have you tried telling him to be quiet when he barks, distracting him with a loud clap or "ah"?

My kelpie bitch just came out of a month long fear period, she was shying away from everyone and would only let me touch her. She's now back to being her friendly self just slightly more serious than her previous puppy self. I didn't do much, just kept up with her usual routine and let her work through it.

As I said my dogs are regulars at the vet anyway and vets have a tendency to do a check up when really they're just saying "hi" :) :D plus I don't vaccinate every year

I take my guys to friends farms with lots of working dogs and I also temp care pound dogs

I was wondering about the 'guardian demons' thing as well. Shouldn't they stay "ever watchful but not overtly aggressive" in public? Quote taken from a friend who has a few out the road and uses them for guarding.

Oh well. I might do a call around the other vets and compare prices. It will be a bit of an extra drive but maybe worth it.

Oh poo! I'm just looking at the C3 at the moment and then I can just get the intranasal one for kc as needed.

I have friends at the vet so my dogs pop in to see them all the time any way, so I'm not too concerned about annual check ups. I'm also training to be a vet nurse so I check all their heart rates, temps etc all the time :laugh:

I'm looking at a cheaper way to vaccinate my dogs as my vet charges a lot for a vaccine and I want a more economical way. Someone suggested buying them online. Does anyone know where I can get them online and what price I would be looking at? I'm currently paying $82 per vaccination for my dogs.

I was not talking about merely training only. If a dog heads down to the back fence trying to get away from the hose or a broom, then they have "issues". If they take off aggressively at every teen male that come sin the gate, it is an "issue". Etc. It takes much more than the usual "training" to break them from steam train pulling.... all that is not what you can term "training" in the normal sense. I never had a pup with any of those "issues" - as I call them. Maybe you would prefer the term "remedial training" if you want to argue semantics? The things you are referring to could simply bf lack of socialization which falls into training, not necessarily abuse or bad handling.

One of my dogs is fantastic in real farm work but I'm pretty sure she'd never win a trial. The other is great for both.

So I've grown up with the saying that a dog with a dry nose is not as healthy as a dog with a wet nose. I don't believe this but I know people who do. Can people confirm that it is just a myth, or is there an element of truth to it?

I'd hardly call the need for training "issues". If that's the case then all dogs have "issues"

oh yes, yes indeed and the chronic bad teeth that so many have. If not for their (usually pet owners) doing everything they could, how many would loose those teeth at an early age rendering them unable to hold their prey when they caught it. That's if they could eat enough food to keep them in peak condition. My heart dog Sam would walk away from his meals when his teeth hurt. I have to agree that negating conformation purely for working instinct is dangerous. You end up with a dog with great instinct but a body that won't let it perform properly.

I got an older poundy and then got a pup 2 months later, it was heaps of fun! :laugh:

I don't dispute that and of course conformation is important but the WKC seems to be more lenient in that area as it is made for working kelpies and adherence to a perfect type in lieu of working ability and/or functionality wouldn't make sense.

Working instinct is much more important in the WKC than conformation or type. I see a variety of WKC reg kelpies all shapes and sizes, bred for different environments, work and stock types. One type of dog would not be as useful as multiple types have proven to be.

A lot of yard dogs with huge titles don't actually do any real farm work. Yep. And the fact that a dog will or won't chase a plastic bag says nothing about its ability to course game. Is that how they test dogs for lure coursing? the lure is a plastic bag oh, I didn't know that. I figured it would be a fake rabbit or something. You learn something new every day still no real test of the dogs hunting ability, some won't chase a fake anything, or even a real skin. They will however chase proper live game. Same with some yard dogs, they'll work in a competition setting but you get them working for real and they choke.

A lot of yard dogs with huge titles don't actually do any real farm work. Yep. And the fact that a dog will or won't chase a plastic bag says nothing about its ability to course game. Is that how they test dogs for lure coursing? the lure is a plastic bag oh, I didn't know that. I figured it would be a fake rabbit or something. You learn something new every day

A lot of yard dogs with huge titles don't actually do any real farm work. Yep. And the fact that a dog will or won't chase a plastic bag says nothing about its ability to course game. Is that how they test dogs for lure coursing?

A lot of yard dogs with huge titles don't actually do any real farm work.

I know some wonderful bench kelpies that perform well in a lot of areas.. I just like my WKC kelpies, I like the variety of types and the colours are less restrictive :D what are the extra colours you can get in a working line kelpie? The standard has 7. I like white on the red and tan. Also it's harder to find the red and tans and black and tan in bench, most seem to breed to solids. Which I understand as they'd go better in conformation classes I would imagine. so are there more colours or not? You said the colours are less restrictive and and only mention you like a red tri. I like the white chest, I'm not a fan of bi colour or solids. That being said I own a b&T with no white currently, it's more the variety of types I like.

I know some wonderful bench kelpies that perform well in a lot of areas.. I just like my WKC kelpies, I like the variety of types and the colours are less restrictive :D what are the extra colours you can get in a working line kelpie? The standard has 7. I like white on the red and tan. Also it's harder to find the red and tans and black and tan in bench, most seem to breed to solids. Which I understand as they'd go better in conformation classes I would imagine.

I know some wonderful bench kelpies that perform well in a lot of areas.. I just like my WKC kelpies, I like the variety of types and the colours are less restrictive :D

I think it pays to remember that without the "show lines" many of the working breeds would have tiny gene pools and be unsuitable as pets. I appreciate that for some people that doesn't matter but it does to me. You can be passionate about your dog of choice without heaping shit on other people's. Exactly. I believe that working and show lines work in tandem, without one the other would probably suffer to some degree. I believe that some breeds have missed the mark and bred out all the functionality for its original purpose, but what we have to remember is not every dog breed has its original job available anymore and their soul area of existence is for the arena and pet homes. Different lines for different people and no trashing what others have worked very hard to create, just because it's not your thing. :)