Kavik

RIP Rusky

My dog has great instinct on sheep (not surprising as he is a WKC reg Kelpie) - I on the other hand have no idea what I am supposed to be doing and not quite enough control of him on sheep

I would not let lack of ANKC registration put me off. They can be registered in sporting or associate and do all of the activities she has listed. They certainly do very well in agility and are highly trainable dogs with good temperaments. I do not think as a rule Koolies meet the big and goofy description however. Sleek and sexy maybe! LOL If I were to look at koolies I would be asking for hip scoring on parents and eye exams on the parents and pups. Avoid double merle litters. Make sure they can hear. Double merle litters would be a problem in any breed. Koolie Club breeders would not breed a double merle litter. I am not aware of any Koolies having hip problems. A pup from a Koolie Club breeder is generally under $350. Some are big but I have not met a goofy one, although some do seem to have a definite sense of humour and like to play and tease. Certaionly fun to live with. I have not had an Aussie although I have friends who have a couple and I do not see much difference except tails and price and a guaranteed long coat. I have had a border collie who was a delight also but the koolie has more of an off switch. There is one well known breeder who states on their website they only breed merle to merle and do not breed solid colours. I research Koolies too I looked up this particular breeder because I liked one of their dogs I see at agility. If you are interested in Koolies I would carefully research temperament, there seems to be a lot of variation and not much consistency in the breed (this is the general consensus from talking to as many people with Koolies that I can find)

Have you tried putting something over the gate so he can't see through?

Only slightly OT talking about people with first agility dogs. There is a Staffy x Border Collie at one of my clubs. OMG AMAZING dog! Owner is a first time agility competitor and is doing a fantastic job! This dog makes Kaos look lazy! Her handling is fantastic, and with this dog is has to be, as it is one of those that if you are not spot on with your handling she (I think is a female?) will be on the other side of the ring before you know it! A very high powered dog that is going great guns. It does give you a steep learning curve though if you get one like that!

Me too. It was a red merle (is that the right terminology for Aussies? Was talking to a Border person who said it would be choc merle in Borders). Definitely you want to be able to live with and love the breed for what it is, not just because it is the most popular at sports. While I have had a few people try to convert me to a Border for my next dog, and I know several lovely ones that I like a lot (most from the same breeder), not sure they are really 'me'. I like my pointy sharp featured short haired dogs :p Luckily for me there is not only my current first pick of Kelpie but a couple of other breeds as well that fit my preference and are also great for sports should I decide to try something different

There are also working line Aussies in this country and they bear a very strong resemblance to the working BCs - much lighter and leaner, far more drive. If you're interested in working line BCs for agility, PM Vickie. She'll tell you that unless you are a very good handler, you won't get the best from one. For every one that wins, there will be another barking and spinning in frustration because its handler cannot cue it fast or accurately enough around a course. I think there are easier dogs for a novice handler but I'll defer to Vickie on that. No point in owning the Ferrari of the agility world if you're not capable of driving like Michael Schumacher. I agree with poodlefan. I saw my first working Aussie at my agility club recently. Looked very different to others I have seen, I thought it was a Koolie at first. Over the weekend I did two ANKC agility trials and the opportunity to watch a lot of different dogs and handlers and styles. There are a lot of great dogs (of several top agility breeds) that bark and spin at their handler, including several Border Collies. I think breed is a personal preference thing. Some interesting discussions on the weekend with other competitors about people who had switched breeds to Border Collies from their first preference to be more competitive, and some of them now have the barking and spinning dogs. I think a first time agility competitor can do well with a Border Collie or other top breed you just have to be prepared to put the work in with your training and handling.

I don't plan to do puppy school with my next dogs. The only dog I have who is dog aggressive is the only one I took to puppy classes. I am going to use meeting friend's dogs whose temperament I know and going to training and trials for socialisation. I think well mannered dogs are better than a bunch of random and sometimes rough puppies for teaching good doggy manners and how to meet other dogs properly.

Mine do nose and paw

Don't worry, Kaos was quite the little terror at times when he was a puppy I haven't met Elbie so can't say whether tug games would be good or not dependent on temperament, but I am working hard to try to get Kaos more comfortable tugging when out, and am determined my next dog will tug if I can't get Kaos to! However I'm not sure I would have really encouraged Zoe's tug (she has heaps of drive but not as good nerves) - as when she does tug it is noisy and I'm not sure about it with her. Kaos is not noisy and obviously happy when he does tug.

I would do greetings calmly to prevent weeing when greeting you or other people (harder to get other people to be calm about it!). If you are calm about it and don't greet in an overly exciting manner and don't correct him for it (correcting could make it worse) they generally grow out of it themselves. Diesel did this for a little while when he was a puppy and grew out of it on his own.

With things like harnesses and leads - could it be more about restraint? That was one of my issues with Kaos. He didn't like when I first put the collar on him and tried to attack it. The harness was fine (he was older by then and used to straps and stuff) but the restraint in the car was the issue. Because the seat belt can be stretched by the dog he managed to get himself into a nice tangle. Now that I have a different strap for the car which he cannot make longer, he no longer gets tangled or panics. Nail clipping was also an issue, he used to try to bite me. We have resolved all of those issues with time, work and patience. And he is a top agility dog

Does she cut behind you when doing circle work on the flat?

Go Trim! I saw that run - very nice!

Well done Jess! We had a good day at a very busy ADC trial. Qually and 9th place in Novice Jumping - he was a good boy There were a LOT of entries and 1st place ran nearly half of SCT. Novice Agility he again got distracted and decided to visit kids sitting ringside but this time after I went and got him I was able to get him to focus enough to finish the course, so that was an improvement. I also entered RQH Jumping for an extra run. Was a difficult course and I got lost and forgot where I was going

My squeaky doesn't squeak anymore so it's not really a problem

I think the issue surrounding the ecollar was 1) legality and that it is against the COE of the ANKC and the OP may not feel comfortable using it or be well rehearsed in using it and 2) maybe not the best tool to use if the dog is already anxious about out of sight stays. I agree it is much nicer to be able to concentrate on the intricacies of a training exercise than the dog's behaviour (one of mine is dog aggressive and it is so much nicer to be able to spend time on training issues rather than behaviour!). But I don't think it really has anything to do with the thread. Neither does breeding. Most of the people I know who compete in obedience and agility with their dogs don't breed, just train and compete.

OK my achievement today - I got Kaos to go under my hoop for a tug The hoop is what I used to prevent him jumping off contacts while training 2o2o behaviour separately. I decided that since he is giving good reliable tugging in the yard, I am going to try to get him to work for it, and separately work on tugging in new environments (mostly front yard to outside front gate). So I decided to start easy with something I could restrain him by collar with one hand and he could easily see how to get the tug. Next will try tunnel.

The difficulty tugging around food rewards seems a pretty common problem - have talked to a few others at my club who have the same issue. And while you think it shouldn't matter that you are unsure and that he should tug regardless as long as you have a tug - maybe it matters to Eric. I know it matters to Kaos. He will tug if I am relaxed and confident but not if I am unsure. I think as you get more confident in what you are doing, that Eric's confidence will also pick up. Sorry not sure what to suggest to help. My big achievement so far is I can open the front gate and sometimes get Kaos to tug outside the front gate, or if he stops and gets distracted that I can get his attention back on tugging at all

corvus OK I'm no expert as mine won't tug at training at all but maybe you are asking him to do too much or he is confused? Are there situations at training where he will still tug? Maybe go back to only tugging at training for fun, and use other rewards for the actual training part until he is happy tugging again? As this is your first attempt at agility, maybe you are unsure of what you are doing and this is translating to him?

Mine don't get bedding in their kennels anymore as they just destroy it! I agree with putting the kennel close to the back door - they are more likely to use it that way. I have 3 kennels and two trampoline beds under cover. The trampoline beds get the most use followed by the bigger 2 kennels.

Are you sure you're in the right thread Nev? This is not a discussion about qualities needed for breeding (there is another thread on that elsewhere ). This is about working with the dog you have. And mine are also desexed Though I have had people ask to use them

I think because in obedience you are judged as much on what you do (signals etc) as on what the dog does that I am much more nervous about entering obedience than agility. I have had Kaos run out of the ring in agility (did it on the weekend to visit kids sitting ringside in JD ) but that doesn't worry me as much as the prospect of entering Diesel in obedience and have him not walk off with me in the heel exercise.

When I used to walk my previous dog and Zoe together I used to get people asking if they were mother and daughter! They were both crossbreeds from different sources and while the same colour and sort of general build they were not the same breed mix.

The one mock trial I did with Diesel he did not enjoy and lagged heaps. But I was also really nervous, which I'm sure didn't help. I am worried that if I enter him in an obedience trial, I will step off for the heeling pattern and he won't move so I have never worked up the courage to enter him