indi_dog

Congratulations! Pleeeease tell me the ground was less muddy I thought I was gonna break my leg at the state trials

Congrats!! Geez I was cranky at work today I hate missing out!!! I see we are still working with five sheepies too Nice photos

See you there Tadpole! In the meantime, if you can't get out with some stock before the Instinct Test, you can practise in the backyard with a long line and a rake. Use the rake to direct Abbie in a clockwise direction, and then get her going in the opposite direction by placing the rake in front of her to turn her. Then she'll know that the rake is for directing her and not just for raking leaves lol. Get her to stop a couple of times, and recall back to you. A couple of dolers have put some videos of themselves up here herding, if you want to see an example of how the rake is used. Do a search for herding and you will probably be able to find a couple. It feels really silly to be chasing a dog around with a rake, but on the day it's one less thing to worry about it you're already used to directing Abbie with the rake, and she knows the rake isn't something to be worried about. Instinct Tests are usually pretty quick, so you might not even have to worry too much about the rake but I like being over-prepared lol I was pretty relieved I had put in a lot of practise before the state trials considering what those sheepies were like!!!!!

dammit I filled my form out wrong I'm getting really used to this

You can download a copy of the rules here: http://www.badsa.org.au/ankc_herding_rules.pdf I think you get a copy of the entry form when you get your stuff back from the VCA? It looks like a long white piece of paper. VCA affiliated clubs usually sell blank books of them too I believe. I just made copies of my blank one after I filled the dogs details in because I'm too lazy to keep filling the things in ;) Technically, before doing an Instinct Test your dog must have had livestock exposure. In saying that, there are plenty of people who do an Instinct Test without any ;) Remember, you will need to show the judge you can stop Abbie and recall her away from the sheep on a long line. If you have seen Indi on sheepies you can see how damn hard it is to stop some dogs ARGHH!! There are regular herding workshops run at Four Paws Training, and Kate also runs training days too if you want to get Abbie working some sheepies :rolleyes: They're always heaps of fun!

Oh Lordy, that was the hardest part, filling out the silly forms :rolleyes: Everyone made fun of me for ages because I kept getting them wrong ;) ;) I'll send you a pm tomorrow, as I'm off now Bwa ha ha I rang the VCA so many times about filling out the stupid form they stopped answering their phone, and I had to get a friend to help me!!!!!!!

Hey Tadpole, To enter I just use the normal obedience etc entry form, cross out all the other disciplines (obedience, tracking etc) and write "herding". Next to it I write what days I want to enter and what test I am going for. Then just complete the rest of the form the normal way you would for any other trial, and post it off with your cheque. If you get really stuck let Kate know you want to enter (her details are on the schedule that you can download from the Aussie Shep website). I think they're running 2 Instinct tests under 2 different judges on the day, you should enter both as you'll need 2 passes (unless you've already got a pass lol) Have you and Abbie been out with the sheepies before? Let me know if you need a copy of the rules, Kate also does some training days too if you're interested.

I put my entry in for the Aussie Shepherd herding trial Monday Morning :rolleyes: I reeeeally want to get started on training for Pre Trial. MrsD I saw the photo, I am insanely jealous she is such a cutie bum!!

Yaay!!! I'm so jealous of Twiggy's new owners

No I'd love to go to the VHA trial but I'm an idiot and I work on Saturdays (which is the day they are doing the tests). I'm always cranky at work on a Saturday when I know I'm missing out too. I so can't wait to do a pre trial test in the big kids paddock

superminty you will have to get Cash to share with Indi the secret of stopping!!!!! I can't keep up with her, I was so sweaty and stinky just from those few minutes in the yard. Rosie looked like she was having a ball on Sunday, she's such a pretty girl. Congrats on the pass! It looked tough out there with those silly sheepies who would run through one chute and then run straight back to the gate to wait to be let out. Is anyone going to the Aussie Shepherd herding trial in September? I'm going to try and get my second Herding Test pass, I could have tried for the pass on Sunday but the ground was atrocious. I felt sorry for the people with the Old English Sheepdogs, their dogs were COVERED in mud. wolfgirl Indi says thankyou to Pearl she must have told Pearl that I never feed her

Wolfgirl They're my very first cool looking sashes too :rolleyes: Congrats to Superminty and Cash, he is such a spunky kelpie

We got one of our Herding Test passes today yeah :rolleyes: And we got some pretty most Promising Border Collie and Promising Dog sashes for the test class too. I had lots of trouble with those sheepies today, they were pretty fast!!! And could the ground get any more boggy in the yard, my boots were getting sucked off my feet

I know it works on my Border - I don't get mud "dread locks" between her feet, especially if the mud is very tacky, and the mud that does get caught between the pads is very easy to get out (rather than trying to pull it out of fur)

Toe blade are smaller for easy manouverability am I right? Would they be considered an easy/safe blade to use for the beginner? I'm shaving the insides of Indi's pads as she does herding and tends to get mud build up in between her toes which bothers her. The groomer who showed me how to do feet took about 10 seconds for one foot. I reckon it took me 10 minutes to do the same. Can I ask a dumb question - the purpose of a snap on comb is for a smoother finish or for leaving extra length? I've not really had a chance to play with it yet (and I really can't experiment on Indi's coat).

I find clipping the inside of the foot fiddly and somewhat scary - I'd have to get doubles of the blades as it takes me so long they tend to heat up. With scissors - does it matter on the length? I want a pair of short ones for clipping around feet though.

See you there Tadpole. I will be the one telling my dog to calm down, I'm trying to teach her to relax a little around sheepies when she is not working them, but without ruining her enthusiasm (which everyone is warning me about) Fingers crossed it's not swampy out there on the weekend. We're still working on our stop, Indi thinks stop means "oh, if I just creep forward reeeaaaally slowly maybe she won't notice I am moving...."

Hey NicoleL I'm actually west of Melbourne. The other weekend I did a little 2 day pet groomer course in Geelong (through Gordon Tafe). It was the only way I could get my hands on a pair of clippers and just have a go, mind you I was terrified I was going to cut limbs with the clipper. The groomer actually recommended I stay away from skip tooth blades for a while, as they can be a little dangerous in unexperienced hands. I admire a really professional, correct breed clip and that's something I'm aspiring to be able to do one day. poodlefan I didn't even know you could get 70 different blades for clippers

Some time ago I did apply for a job which was basically an apprentice groomer. It was in a great area, lots of work -but- the guy also sold puppies and kittens and I can not work for someone who does that. There are several people on the internet who have week/month long courses but you need lotsa money and lotsa time. I'd love to splash out on a full range of blades, but I want a couple of different, good quality scissors too. Thanks for the list of blades poodlewrangler - it's helping me narrow my list down (I can't get it all at once, I'm going to have to accumulate stuff as I go )

I'm trying reeeeaally hard! A lot of salons usually just get you to sweep dog hair or bath the dogs if you're lucky. Which is great but I feel like I can bath a dog pretty well now, it's the clipping and scissoring part that I'm most interested in. I've been lucky enough to be able to watch a groomer clip and scissor a coulpe of Poodles (feet, face and tail) which was fantastic, and do some amazing scissor work on a show Bichon. I'm hoping that persistence will pay off - there are some courses around that sound great but I just couldn't afford them at the moment. *sigh* Thanks for the tips Poodlewrangler, I don't know if I'd want to play around with a skip tooth blade at the moment though... At the moment, I honestly think I'd give your poor poodles a VERY bad hair day lol!!! With the clippers - I have my "L" plates on so I just need a good starting set. Thanks for the web link, I'll have a squizz.

I have my eye on the Wahl KM-2 Two Speed clippers, what would a good starter set of clipper blades be? At the moment, I'm just trimming the fur out of Indi's paws, and them just neatening them up with scissors. I'm also wanting to get out there and do a few more courses on clipping dogs so I want to build up a good "starting out" set. Ultimately I'm planning my own grooming business, but that's a long ways off yet! For the moment I'm just visiting salons, begging to let me hang around and watch how they work (and clean dog hair, and if I'm lucky I even get to bath dogs ). Once I'm cashed up I'll suss out a good training course.

I have been chasing Indi around the yard working on our STOPPPPP!!!!! Fingers crossed for friendly sheepies! Mrs D - I don't know if I will even be able to speak during HT :D Good luck everyone.

OK I have not obedience trialled yet, well not until I stop embarassing myself at our club's fundays (so, basically NEVER!!) I was asked to come to an obedience judges training day, they basically just needed dogs for the rings. I did tell them I had not much ring experience, but they said hey, don't worry, it's just a training day for us. I had shocking tonsilitis on the day, and I was running a high fever, so stupid me decided to go anyway (or maybe I was delirious). I have no idea what I did out in the ring, but got a narky woman in my face telling me off for apparently talking whilst in the ring (I don't remember doing that, all I remember was being absolutely freezing and wanting to lie down on the ground and just sleep ) I crawled into bed when I got home ;)

So, who is going??? I'm entered on the Sunday for HT, I'd go both days but stupid me decided to work on Saturdays!!! Ohhh I hope the weather is nice, I hated slogging around in that mud at the Border Collie club's herding trial a few weeks back.

Daddy is such a happy guy!! I love the WUFF WUFF sound of his bark lol