wolfie

Hi kazmuzz, I've owned a few Rottweilers and found that they can often have dry coats. While your beautiful rescue looks to have been quite neglected, they also seem to be quite prone to flea and heat dermatitis with copious fur drops and bald spots. I currently have a Belgian Shep who also started having a dry and dreadful coat for her first summer. With a careful BARF diet and Goochy's drops (http://www.goochys.com.au/) her coat condition has improved out of sight. With my Rottie girls I found that they really didn't react well to certain manufactured brands, but thrived with a BARF diet. Good luck with her, they are the most loving of dogs. Wolfie

As most have said, raw is the only way to feed bones! Also with the in between size bones such as a shank, you may want to supervise your dog. Five years ago one of my dogs was killed by a lamb shank. He was a guts and just sucked it down. Two to three days later he was terribly ill and unfortunately was eventually diagnosed too late as suffering from a gastrotestinal obstruction. While I personally would never feed such a bone to any of my dogs again, I do however feed almost every other type known to butchers. The best thing that you can do is know your dog. My current ones are careful, non-rushed eaters, there is less of a risk there. If your dog does bolt food down, check that he does chew his bones.

Kavik, there are some strong arguments for and against teaching a dog sheep commands away from sheep or dry teaching as it can be known. While the stop and recall are essentials and should be pretty solid before putting your dog on sheep, there are many positive style methods for teaching these commands. The directional commands can be hard to teach without sheep. It can be very demotivating for some dogs being jerked around by a lead in a certain direction, then in another. I prefer to train it on sheep, where there is relevance for the dog. Just support the dog around the sheep in one direction, using the command. Here is also a great place to use 'stop', then continue in the same direction. So much goes out the window once the dogs is with the sheep, and like any dog training, just because it knows a command in the backyard or park, doesn't mean it can generalise the behaviour to another setting, particularly one with huge distractions. Very often many commands will have to be retaught.

I agree with superminty and mjk05 in that to describe a dog that has obtained the ANKC herding test certificates as having instinct is wrong. Those tests show that the dog has interest in the sheep and basic obedience with distraction, but instinct is not being tested. Is it possible to have a dog with no real instinct, but who is wonderfully biddable to achieve in 3 sheep and yard dog trials? I read once of a successful 3 sheep trialler who said that he could train a labrador to be a successful yard dog. As important as instinct in a working sheepdog is biddability. If the dog is unable to listen and obey commands which go against its basic instinct, eg getting the dog to work off balance, it isn't much use as a sheepdog. I believe that the ANKC herding trials are a good venue for people with dogs with herding ancestry, but no recent breeding or way of assessing innate ability. It's fantastic to see a dog that has been selectively bred to have a long poofy coat, 'switch on' and start going to the head and fetching them back with no training. The instinct while no doubt inferior to a working sheepdog is still there to a degree. An organisation which provides a venue and outlet for training and competition is great for that dog and handler. No they'll probably never be great at it, nor are many dog and handler teams that trial in obedience and agility. They do it for the team work, challenge and sport; not to be world winners. If that was the case all agility dogs would be small medium size with no tiny ones or giant breeds. Re suitability of dogged sheep for trialling, they are pretty useless at the higher levels of the ANKC courses as well. Sheep are required to be driven away from the handler, which is incredibly hard if they keep rushing back to them to get away from the dog.

Further back in the thread someone posted about 'dogged' sheep and how they are no good for real sheepdog training. Heavy, 'dogged' sheep have their role for many trainers, not just ones doing ANKC herding. 3 sheep triallers often keep a few to start pups on and to give less experienced dogs a more controlled situation. They aren't ideal for all situations, but there certainly are advantages in having some around. I agree that there are huge differences between 3 sheep trialling and ANKC herding, but I don't see that the ANKC can be to the detriment of the sheepdog world at all. A couple of people have said here already that after starting the sport with a less than ideal dog, they went on to purchase, or plan to purchase a dog specifically bred to work sheep. I think that once people get bitten by the sheepdog 'bug' they'll be looking around at all sheepdog sports for potential activities.

Another Australian one that really suits my dogs is Goochy's. Their website http://www.goochys.com.au/ has a run down on its ingredients and benefits.

Have you contacted the ACTCA office and asked them about the sporting register? If your dog is registered with the Koolie club she may be eligible. If not, and if she's desexed, register her as an associate. You may have to describe her as a kelpie cross, I'm not sure, as the rules don't mention Koolie's, just working dog crosses. There are a fair few Koolie's doing ANKC herding at the moment so there is definately a way to enter her. quote name='Perry's Mum' date='26th Aug 2006 - 09:11 PM' post='1194230'] Perry and I have been going to classes for 15 months now and she is becoming quite good. We started at Echuca and have been to classes in Binalong, Bungendore, Michelago, Bungonia and Uralla. We still have not done the HIC or HIT because I have absolutely no idea how to organise it for a Koolie who lives in the ACT. Can anyone give me any advice please?

Great post Kelpie-i! Having previously been involved in dog rescue and having had many years of instructing at our local obedience club, I've often seen the result of the lack socialisation in dogs and their owners lives. This is not a minor thing or something that you can play catch-up with when the pup is 16 or 20 weeks old - it's too late. Some of owners of these dogs are unprepared or unable to put the time and effort into these dogs, which are then rehomed or destroyed. Often the rehoming is part of a downward spiral in care for the dogs. One's which get into that cycle tend to be rehomed 2 to 3 times into worse environments each time before being surrended to the pound. Wolfie

I'm with wyvernblade on this one. I take my pups out from 8 weeks of age. Socialising is just as important as vaccination. More dogs probably are destroyed or dumped at pounds due to preventable behaviour disorders (commonly caused by lack of early exposure/stress and socialisation) than contract diseases due to not quarantining them for 3 months. I am cautious, I don't take them to dog parks, just friends houses with vaccinated dogs and to the shops to sit in my arms and watch the world go by. I try to get my pups to meet at least one new person a day and hopefully a suitably behaved new dog every 2 or 3 days. If I lived in Western Sydney where parvo is rife I would be incredibly cautious. But I would still get my pup out being exposed to the world.

Hi myszka, is 'bauceron' another term for the Beauceron? If so they were in the first list by bex, Berger de Beauce and Berger de Brie, being the original French names for the closely related Beauceron and Briard.

I second what hapenfox has said, food and lots of it! You want him to continue to see people as a positive thing, if you end up correcting him everytime he sees them and barks, you could end up him seeing people in a very negative way. But don't reward him for the barking, let him know you have the food, really good smelly treats, and distract him and feed when not barking and hopefully also giving you eye contact. Another food distraction could be to use peanut butter. A fingerfull smeared behind his front teeth should be a positive experience and also stop the barking!

Hi I have a different take on this and encourage my pup to mouth. She's 9 months now and is now really gentle with my kids, she mouths, but ever so softly. The dog's mouth is one of its main way of exploring and sensing the world, to inhibit mouthing may cause later problems in teaching your dog to retrieve. Most importantly allowing your dog to mouth helps teach bite inhibition. Your dog learns where the limits are. It's thought that dogs which are never allowed to mouth and bite my have no idea where the limits are and if they do lash out and bite in fear, the bite may be a lot worse than a dog who has been allowed to mouth. Having said that, my dog now considers my skin to be as delicate as a tissue. She barely uses her teeth when taking your hand or arm. This was taught in stages, from reacting to the full on hard bites with a squeal, very quick time out etc. Then gradually over weeks reacting to lesser pressure from her. This gave her a chance to adjust and learn what was acceptable. I've never really punished her from biting or growling. Doing so may just teach a dog to hide its intentions or feelings, which could lead to bites/attacks occuring without warning. If my dogs feel they are going to attack something, I really need to know about it, and a growl is their way of communicating. Your pup growling at the judge may have been fear or as you said resource guarding; another issue altogther. Wolfie

Hi Megs, my ACD had his first epileptic seizure when he was 5 years. He lived until he was 12 years and died of something unrelated to epilepsy. The seizures can be pretty overwhelming, my boy had grand mals, which meant foaming at the mouth, squealing and howling, thrashing around and urinating and defecating. These happened every 2-3 months once he was on medication. He was on phenobarbitone and would have a blood test every 6 months or so to make sure that his medication levels were ok. While distressing to watch, most dogs seem to come out of the seizures ok, without so much as even appearing to have a headache. If they keep recurring or go for more than 5-10 minutes some vets recommend having valium to administer to your dog to sedate it to stop the seizure. One big side effect of the phenobarb is that it really increases appetite. If Eddie goes on to it really watch his weight. My boy turned into an awful food thief and packed on weight without us realising. It took over a year to get back to a good size. Good luck with Eddie. While you wouldn't wish to have a dog with epilepsy it won't stop him doing any activity that you want, be it agility, obedience or just being a great pet! Wolfie