Katie's Going Great Guns

[matilda1]

Hi all, I haven't posted for a while. I have just been too busy.

katie is going great guns and has grown into a lovely young lady.

We thought it was time we popped in and said hello to all our friends on the forum as it has been a while. I am busy reading about what everyone has been up to in the last month.

Here are some new photo's of my little Katie. She's grown so much, and recently we have turned our hand to sheep herding. it's a whole lot of fun.

Oh...we have also rescued a Kelpie from mildura pound last week for katie to play with (and my husband).

She's listed in the recue thread in the urgent section from Mildura.

we are currently eagerly awaiting her arrival.

Hope everyone is well.

[Crazy Daisy]

Wow great photos. She looks like a real sweet heart.

[matilda1]

Thank you.

yes she's my little angel. A really sweet and very loyal dog indeed.

I used to post here when she was really little. She's 6 months old now and has grown into a wonderful companion.

The true 'velcro dog'

[Rach...]

oh my gosh she is gorgeous! definitely grown into a stunning girl

[Niques]

Katie looks like a natural herder! Your signature was always one of my favourites- she's a very beautiful dog!

Can't wait to hear more about your incoming arrival

[matilda1]

thank you so much guys.

She's quite small still, b ut she was the runt of the litter.

How have you been?

[MavericksMission]

Wow! She is gorgeous!

[SmoothieGirl]

She is very very cute.

How is she on sheep, is she a bit full on, or has she learnt yet that they aren't cattle and she needs to be softer?

[matilda1]

Actually the first time we put her in the pen with the sheep she just stayed by my side. We really had to rouse up the sheep in order to get her interesed and confident enough to even follow them.

Katie is a very calm and slightly shy dog. She approaches everything with caution.

The second time she got the idea that she should 'chase them' but everytime she got close enough to touch one she would turn and come back to me.

Now she's a bit too keen and likes to pluck bits of wool from them. We call her the sheep shearer. but she's learning. (she plucks with her front teeth and the lips gently pulled back because she doen't actually want to 'touch' them) very funny to watch.

I can't direct her with the rake yet as she finds this too intimidating, so for now we are just taking it easy and letting her have some fun to gain confidence.

the instructor assures me that she will be quite good but we can't push her too far too soon as we don't want her to stop enjoying it.

i think she'll be quite good in the long run.

We ended up putting an experienced dog in with her, so she could follow her lead. that helped somewhat. She does tend to 'nip' at the heels but it's not a bite by any stretch of the imagination. She's just not like that. She's never even nipped at our heels all through her puppyhood. She's a very calm and quiet Blue heeler who is the real velcro dog and would rather be by my side that anything else.

once she got the hang of it a little bit though she really enjoyed it. Slept for 24 hours straight afterwards and there is nothing nicer than a tired working dog