piper

Yep, In fact I remember someone saying that at a seminar I went to years ago. Talking about some breeds in the US and popular sire syndrome - everyone using an imported dog young and the dog and his progeny going on to have hassles as they aged and it being near impossible to find lines clear of that dog 5 years down the track. They went on to say that they think it better to only use them a few times while young and then when they reach double figures if they are healthy and able to do the deed. and the progeny from the litters they sired when they were young are healthy then they are a good contributor to the gene pool so let them be used a few more times.

PME, I think your cynicism is correct!! Either that or the person genuinely misheard the breeder and it is a tri blue merle.

Congratulations Weasels!!! We trialled last weekend and Piper got a pass in advanced on A course ducks towards her herding champ but missed high in tril by half a point which is a bugger as they need high in trial from advanced at the moment to get their herding champ. Jazz gained a pass on inter A course ducks and I think it might be her title. Thrilled with her work as she hasn't been on ducks at all since before her litter and they are 13 months old now. And of course as I dont care if she wins or not as I don't need it, she got High In Trial. I actually never really care about High in Trial, just how my dogs work but to get Champ Piper needs it. There is a proposal to remove it from the requirements but at 11.5 years old I am just not sure if we will have the extra time needed as it would also need extra passes. I also had Jazz on intermediate sheep for our first attempt. Not a pass but I didnt expect it. I was happy though as she got the sheep to the mouth of the Y twice. I have discovered that turning the direction of movement while driving is lacking. I can get her to hold the line now (and couldnt get that only a couple of months ago) so now need to work on geting her to change their path without bringing them back. I also need to remember to keep calm and quiet - I forgot and raised my voice with her, she paniced and defaulted to what she knows which is bringing stock to me. I only worked that bit out when training yesterday, amazing how she could respond instantly to a whispered "wait" when 20m away but say it with force and she rushes around to the head of the sheep and turns them back. Yesterdays training excitement was Jazz's daughter. Aretha hasn't had much stock exposure or training and we had her doing PT type stuff yesterday with ease. She was a bit close to begin with but I think that was a bit of stress at going into a bigger space, as she realised she had them under control she relaxed and dropped back off of them. Got her to turf them into the paddock at the end of our training and then decided to see if she could collect them. Well we estimate it was 75m that she went to collect them quietly and calmly. She even had to work hard to keep them away from a strong draw and get them back to her handler who was probably 50m away. I thought she might struggle or hold them on the fence or something, but nope - she worked it out beautifully.

Could it be ring worm?? I know it appears as round flaky spots on people and as a fungal infection is easily spread. Here we go - just found this link http://www.dogchatforum.com/ringworm-in-dogs.htm

The first few days with my guys I reluctantly but after multiple suggestions used baby farex cereal mixed in with puppy formula. I guess it just made it less messy as it made it a bit thicker and probably took a bit longer to digest.

Ah ok, younger than I thought. I had been going to say I introduced a little bit of solids at 3 weeks, not much and just before I went to bed. It seemed to help get them through the night and was suggested to me as nights were really unsettled. Fingers crossed things improve tonight.

How old are they now LOTG? I used fenugreek tea for Jazz and also made the Leerburg puppy milk formula for pups but never needed it so gave it to Jazz. Not sure if it helped with milk supply but at least I knew she was getting plenty of high quality fluids and then I fed her ridiculous quantities of high quality food and had proplan puppy out for her almost constantly (until the pups were able to get out of the box)

Have fun and give us stuck at home lots of updates. It certainly looks and sounds like it will be an amazing event. Wish I was there, even if only to watch.

I had always wondered if I could use the stone but thought it might get too hot too quickly?

BC Crazy, you use the sanding drum with the sanding bands on it. I have never had an issue with the hair getting caught and I usually trim hair after doing nails, I just make sure the way I hold it that most of the hair is out of the way.

It was my first liter so I have no comment if it is normal or not. They were all like that to start with, I had a friend who is a vet nurse there and she didn't mention anything about. Jazz whelped the 9 herself, none really needed any help to get going (just the last unexpected 1 I had to swing a couple of times) and all fed easily and were strong and active. They were vet checked the next morning (first born would have been about 13 hours at that point and the last pup about 5 hours) by a repro specialist and there was no concern with them at that stage so I never really thought anything of the colour and like you just thought it was normal. My guys all thrived, they did not drop any weight after birth or anything.

Hmm well that may explain it - we had 9 in the box so plenty of body heat going on in there.

Sandgrubber - your number 3 is something I discovered too and wish I had known. I was paranoid with a late May litter of letting them get cold and when on night 2 or 3 they were really unsettled and I tried everything I thought I must have the room too cold so I turned the heater up and they got more unsettled. A fw friends said take them out of the box and somewhere a bit cooler and see if the y settle - they are probably too warm. Bingo!! Heater turned off after that and only use the heat lamp over the box and never had issues with them clumping up like they were cold or being really whingy and unsettled again (well not until they were older and they just wanted OUT, lol) I did however have a bitch that didn't want the others anywhere near her or the other pups and would only relax t toilet if the others were outside too. She never had a go but if they came near the baby gate to her room she would stand sideways across the doorway so they couldn't even see in and was very much on edge about it.

Do you mean like this? I can't get it to insert here but this should be set to public. This was a few hours after birth. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150187562089051&set=a.10150187561759051.317924.700954050&type=3&permPage=1 By 24 hours they were not so bright: http://www.facebook....pe=3&permPage=1

My theory is if they are young, fit and healthy and have access to suitable places to get out of the wind then they should cope fine with regulating their own body temperature. Old, injured or unwell and I decided on a case by case basis. The arthritic beagle gets a coat on but only on cold, damp days and not every day, just those where it is particularly cold and damp/wet or she seems particularly stiff in the morning. The border collies - I do have 1 coat in border collie size and have used it on Piper maybe a dozen times, most recently when she had hurt her back and it was a really cold day. I figured being outside in the cold all day would have been more harm than good. She doesn't like the coat going on though. And Jazz, most definitely no - I battle to get her to grow a good coat anyway so the last thing I would want to do is rug her up. She still comes into the young, fit and healthy category :)

Ruralpug, I agree - I was horrified when I picked Jazz up as a baby that they did not ask for any ID at all. I got there before her fight and said I was waiting on a pu from Sydney. I dont think i ever even said the breed, when they came in they just handed her over to me. They were more worried that I opened the crate in the building and she might pee on the floor than who was and if I had the right pup. Also when I flew to Sydney for the Border Collie Nationals there were quite a few Border Collies coming in from all around the country. At the time we arrived to pick ours up there were at least another 2 groups waiting and they did not ask for ID at all, could have picked myself a new dog had I wanted!

I think this is the 1, or close enough to :) And it came with lots of attachments. http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_ozito-rotary-tool-kit-including-42pce-accessories-kit_5792.aspx?filter=categoryname--Rotary+Tools&page=2 edited to put correct link in.

I couldn't justify the price of a dremel either so I bought a generic version one at Bunnings for about $40. I had looked at pedi paws but reviews I found indicate it was not very powerful.

I am trialling 4 right now and it just prompted me to download 4.1 last night so I guess when I next use it I will see how different it is :)

Oh no, what torture - to have to come in here and keep seeing new pics. How could you do that to us!! lol. As usual the pics are fantastic. I love the vertical school of fish, very cool perspective and must be amazing to be there while a group like that go swimming past.

Hmm probably not a lot of options out there You would be easier to get to our upcoming training day near Gawler than the place near Melbourne that I posted. You could try the SA Working Sheepdog Assoc and the Vic equivalent. I know with the SA group they run training days at various locations for members. Not sure how open they are to a variety of breeds though, although I believe someone was going with a Belgian Shepherd to 1 of the SA groups.

Well it is so against their instinct. Piper never got the hang of it - always did it grudgingly and I used to joke that she swore at me every time I asked her to do it. You should see the daggers she would shoot me when we switched to driving. I didn't handle Jazz well today which didn't help. I forgot that I am to totally break her off the stock after the fetch to bring her in fo the drive. And then break her off the drive before sending her to fetch. And because I forgot that, she starte creeping around as I wasn't making it very clear which exercise we were doing. Must remember that next time... It isn't exactly a golden rule but it is certainly 1 that helped her to switch her frame of mind so taking her to a new environment, giving her less sheep and an obstacle and forgetting to do that were too many changes for her brain to deal with at once. Some of her yard work today I was thrilled with. She hates yard work, it means going close - and as you can see she is not an in close kind of dog.

Riddick, whereabouts in Vic are you? I think you are talking of the Greg Prince clinics which I would love to get to. But there are other options in Vic. We have had these ladies to SA for a couple of clinics, they do well with a wide variety of dogs: http://www.herdingtraining.com/

Pimp away :) He really will be a lot of fun and should do well. The bit you saw of Jazz was crappy work from her. LOL. We are working on driving and it blows her brain to pieces to think I wish to break the golden rule and NOT bring the sheep to me. She is getting there but she gets so far and has an "I cant handle this" moment and does something daft. I was quite pleased though as that was a big improvement on what we had and the first time I had taken it to a different environment and also near an obstacle. I don't think I shard this little clip here, this is what Jazz does best and would happily do all day:

Well I think it was a successful day. Not as many doing the tests as we normally get but plenty came over for a try. And all 8 or 9 that did go on and do their Instinct Tests passed easily. Reverend Jo - your boy is a little star in the making. Nice work!!! We are all looking forward to seeing him in action at the training day when we can really get down to business. I was pleased with the bits Jazz did too, some lovely calm stuff on both the mob and groups of 3. Had a bit of a go doing a drive to an obstacle. Not perfect but getting there and she did a good job of hat we were wanting to achieve which was to condition the stock to being worked off their own grounds in a calm manner. I think we had a few people bitten by the herding bug today and some different breeds out too which I always love to see. There was even a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier that tried out on ducks. I was pleased with the bits Jazz did too, some lovely calm stuff on both the mob and groups of 3. Had a bit of a go doing a drive to an obstacle. Not perfect but getting there and she did a good job of what we were wanting to achieve which was to condition the stock to being worked off their own grounds in a calm manner.I have to say I am buggered now though, these days while fun are long and tiring. I started setting up at 8am and got back in the car at 5pm and did not sit down once all day. I think it would have been interesting to wear my pedometer and see just how far I walked. I know I easily made 10000 steps today!