Kavik

At least she stayed sitting - Nitro tends to stand up when he barks :laugh:

Could it be just behavioural? Not all humping is sexual.

Wow some interesting rule changes! I think they got rid of offside while I was playing. The high ball and high stick rules are new for me though - that sounds potentially quite dangerous, especially at the lower levels where they make up for lack of skill with brute strength! Pity about restricting goalies to the circle - OH liked the odd bit of aggressive goalie play lol

OT but where can I find out about the hockey rule changes? OH played hockey for a long time (he was a goalie), I played for a little while after I met OH, but haven't played in ages, interested in developments in the sport.

No, I generally leave the dogs at home. I only take a dog if it has been prearranged as OK, and normally it is visiting doggy friends or occasionally relatives, sometimes for a few days over Christmas. But if I do take the dog, I bring a crate with me.

I'd leave her at home! Similar thing happened to me once when Kaos was young. Took her to OH's family holiday house, and only found out when we got there that another person had brought their dog as well (interestingly, also a GR x Poodle). Their dog and Kaos didn't get along, they kept saying they will sort it out and because Kaos was a bit younger they thought that he would be the 'submissive' one - erm, no he won't! He won't tolerate that sort of behaviour. I was open to swapping when the dogs were out etc so they could both have a run and be safe at other times, but they seemed to have no concept of keeping their dog confined when I asked to have Kaos out. Was very stressful!

Some Kelpies just have floppy ears :) . I know several who have floppy ears, they are related, soft ears are genetic. Breeders of working line dogs value their working ability above ear carriage, so some lines of working Kelpies have floppy/soft ears. If his ear is not standing up now at 18 months, it won't stand up. It won't make him any less of a Kelpie, will give him character :)

The few times I have taken Kaos on sheep I got flustered because I had no idea what to do :laugh: Was told he had a lot of potential. At least agility obstacles don't move :laugh: I haven't put Nitro on sheep yet. That would be very interesting :laugh:

Thanks Vickie :) I don't normally go that far, so hopefully I will be able to come see the sheepdog trial :)

That is very exciting Vickie! I haven't seen a 3 sheep trial before! I will put it in the calendar :) Agility people: I can't get the PDF of next year's calendar to open - are there any clashes with the sheepdog trial?

I don't think you can compare Buzz and Swagger so simply though MRB - they are different dogs! Different dogs, with different temperaments, and SG's skills have improved immensely since (and certainly thanks to ) Buzz, so they have had different training. It was very enlightening to watch the H360 promos where she showed her early handling (90s) compared to today.

Congratulations! That is SO awesome! Go Ziggy!

I think Huskies are probably the most stunning looking breed :) But I enjoy competing in sports, and Huskies are not the ideal choice for agility, and after Diesel I am not keen on that much hair :laugh:

I am dealing with this with my young dog too :) What seems to be helping is to stop when he gets barky and reset and try again. If he is being particularly obnoxious with the barking I will hold his collar until he settles then try again. Once he understands the exercise he is good, it is just while he is working it out that he tends to do the barking. With training together - I have one crated while I work the other one. Need to do more work on having the crated one be quiet

Certainly a lot of variation in working lines! In Kelpies there are some that are heavier, some lighter, some that are quite tall. And similarly differences in temperament as well. People will use and breed what they need to work in the terrain and on the type of stock that they have. This is why researching the breeder and the type of dogs they have is important.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the benefit of breeding working line dogs to show dogs is to ensure the structure and look remain inside the breed standard? To make sure the working dog still looks like a kelpie rather than losing that aesthetic aspect and looking like something else altogether. I am guessing if someone is breeding selectively for working ability and ignoring the coat, colour, size etc then some very different looking dogs may result. (Though I am guessing farmers really wouldn't care what it looks like as long as it does the job) I like to look at a dog and be able to tell straightaway "That is a kelpie, that is a border collie, that is a Rottweiler" rather than looking at a dog and thinking..."Um.. is that a kelpie? Maybe it's a mix?" If you know what I mean. Working line Kelpies still look like Kelpies :) They don't need to be a show dog to have breed type. This is Kaos's breeder. Her dogs are obviously Kelpies :) http://www.avenpart-avenel.com/

It is a pity that there are show lines and working lines, but in some breeds, there is too much of a divide for it to be 'fixed'. With Kelpies, as explained, there are 2 different registries, and not many breeders with dual registration. So already there is a big hurdle. Also there is no incentive to do this. There is no reason why a working Kelpie breeder with WKC registration would want to use an ANKC registered showline Kelpie - there is no benefit to it - why would they want to breed with a dog who has no proven ancestry of working? If they are looking to breed the best working dogs, they should breed with the best working dogs. I can see the benefit to the show dogs - to introduce more instinct and working ability - but there is no benefit to working line dogs in breeding to show dogs. I don't have a problem with the split as long as people are open and honest about what they breed, so that people can source the type that they want.

Working line Kelpies tend to be taller, leggier, leaner than their show counterparts, with less coat, and the common colours are different in working lines than show lines Working line GSD are not as exaggerated, different structure than the show dogs and the common colours are different in the working lines than show lines

Squeeee. There is going to be a thread on this, no? For me, it will be a toss up between: - rough coated JRT, from a specific breeder - w/l ESS - I've admired w/l mals, but doubt I'll have the time, energy or skill for one I promise :) x Bit soon just yet but all the planning coming together now! I'll be waiting for the thread too! :)

I'm not sure yet. Working line Kelpie is the obvious choice, and may well be :laugh: but there are a few others I am eyeing off as well. Depends on what I find out and what is out there. Other candidates are: Koolie Working line Groenendael Working line Malinois Working line BC (has to be the RIGHT one though lol) Working Cocker Spaniel (this maybe later, for a smaller breed that the kids could help out with more)

Do you know if the recorded version will be open for people not in H360? I wasn't able to watch it live.

Thanks for the video Luke - it was impressive! They are quick little dogs! Love the tail always going, so cute! I saw your post in the Cocker pics thread - I am also partial to the solid liver and solid black Cockers. CC - love the video :laugh:

I would then choose a different word for sit. You don't want your cues to sound too similar or it could confuse your dog. You could choose something that has a similar meaning if you wanted to, to make it easier for you to remember. In some of the agility handling systems, they are moving over to repetitive sounds or repeating words instead of single word or single syllable cues. Such as lalalala, or repeating tunnel so it becomes tunnel, tunnel, tunnel. Unlike obedience, in agility you can use whatever cues you like, you can repeat cues, they can be as long or short as you wish, verbal or hand signals.

I'm so sorry Huski, childhood dogs are so special RIP Cherry

The videos I've been watching all look like very happy busy little dogs - their tail is always going!