Gayle.

Oh this was said in a very friendly, chatty manner, right to my face......listing all the negative points of my dog. But not at a local show, this was at a show in another state I'd driven 15 hours to attend. It didn't scar me at all but it really pissed me off, and what pissed me off more was that my teenage daughter, who had come on the road trip with me, was made to feel our dogs were second rate. They aren't, and one of them went on to win Puppy in Group that very same day, but it definitely isn't the way to welcome someone to your state. I like showing, but I don't do it very regularly as I get sick of it quickly. I have three weekends of shows coming up and after that I'm gonna need a 3 month break to recover! LOL! To be honest, since I've discovered herding, I'm more inclined to spend my money and time on that because like you with obedience, I find herding to be extremely positive and very, very friendly. I've never had anyone say anything negative about my herding dog, only very encouraging and positive things and the same with my handling. I've only ever been made to feel like we belong, not like we have to prove that we're good enough to be there.

Not all breeders are like this, thank goodness. I had a general chat with an interstate breeder on the phone the other night, long term plan is to purchase a show quality puppy (not any time soon), and despite the fact that I'm a "nobody" he was quite open to the idea of selling me something good enough to show, and suggested that if I wanted to breed down the track, he'd be more than happy to talk to me about it and help me out. I wrote about exactly that a few months ago.......I've copied it here because I think this is very apt. When I got my second dog, Dusty, I decided to show her. We entered some dog shows and she won a few small prizes. I loved showing her, I loved her with all my heart and it made me so proud to groom her beautifully and take her in the ring. As she grew up, I realised she was never going to win much but I still loved showing her from time to time. A few months ago, at a dog show, someone told me she wasn't good enough to show. I haven't shown her since. Let's put that into perspective. I drive 2 hours to a show, with my beautiful dog all bathed and groomed. She gets groomed some more before our turn in the ring. We meet with owners of other Australian Shepherds, we socialise, we share lunch, we watch other dogs have their turn in the ring and we head for home sometimes having supported the small businesses at the show grounds by buying food, or dog supplies from the vendors there. Who won? I did, I had a fabulous day out with my dog. She did, she got me to herself for the whole day and a 4 hour round trip in the car. The club holding the dog show did, we paid our entry fee, bought a catalogue and maybe bought some tickets in their raffle. The vendors did too, I possibly spent $20-$50 on their offerings, sometimes more. So, who said my dog isn't good enough to show? She might not be good enough to win, but she has every right to be there having a day out doing what beautiful dogs do. They might not all be winners, but anyone who makes an effort to spend a whole day at a dog event with their best friend comes out a winner at the end of the day.

Bear in mind that there are plenty of other dog activities that are held each weekend all over Australia, that are not exclusive to pedigree dogs but whose numbers are increasing. Herding is going gangbusters in a couple of states; agility and obedience seem to be very well represented; flyball and dances with dogs are gaining in popularity. So it's not dog sports in general that are suffering a lack of numbers, it's pedigree dogs in particular.

My theory is hat it goes deeper than just the show scene. Across the country, there is a general lack of care or pride these days in pedigree dog ownership. It used to be a "badge of honour" to own an animal with a fine pedigree as a family pet, these days the dubious honour seems to belong to who can pay the most money for a generic looking mongrel puppy with a stupid made up game. Dog showing is a fairly negative experience........it's not very friendly, there's not much excitement or appreciation from spectators, it's pretty bitchy and then there's face judging.............but I doubt any of that has changed in recent years, I expect it's always been like that. Look closely at the pedigree dog world in general........the limit register, the purchases of puppies all wrapped and bound with red rape and legalese, the influx of designer dogs foisted on the public..........and these puppies ARE taking places in homes that would formerly have been occupied by pedigree dogs...........and you might see why dog shows aren't as popular as they used to be.

Is it really because of the expense? There are lots of hobbies that are way more expensive than dog shows and yet their numbers don't seem to be dropping off.

I took on Shae when she was 5 years old, she had never had any formal training and had never done any dog activities beyond being a house pet....and she's been easy to train. Attentive, responsive, willing to please and doesn't distract easy. I haven't trained her in obedience, I've been training her in herding, where she has to work off-leash all the time, listen to me and learn and follow my commands, and control her desire to chase the stock. Since Easter, which was her very first time with sheep, she's gained her herding instinct certificate and two titles. Older dogs aren't harder to train than puppies, in fact I think they're easier because their brain has matured and they are more focussed and more settled.

People need to be aware the it IS possible to get quality pedigree dogs, complete with ongoing breeder support, for a fraction of the cost of an 8 week old puppy. Dogs that are sent back to their breeders because the original owners can no longer care for them are often rehomed at no cost to the new owner. I got a lovely Australian Shepherd girl this way, she came desexed, microchipped, vaccinated and with a very impressive main register pedigree for the cost of the transport from Perth to Melbourne. My son got a gorgeous English Setter, retired from the show ring at 18 months, for $200. There are always good pedigree dogs being retired from the ring or from breeding programs who need caring homes, and they are often at very low, or no cost.

We are looking at something like this for a section of our side fence. One of our dogs has discovered that if he jumps high enough, he can hook his paws over the top of the fence then walk his back paws up it and go over it like a cat.......into the neighbours yard and out onto the street, then he takes himself off for a little sightseeing tour around town. Husband is going to investigate today, as what we've done as prevention hasn't worked......now he's honed his talent, the little bugger just finds somewhere else to escape.

Beautiful Joe is available here: http://www.manybooks.net/titles/saundersetext01beajo10.html in e-reader form. It's in the public domain so available free to anyone as a digital file.

That's probably why lab puppies are made so cute, it's a survival mechanism so their new owners don't kill them! LOL! I've had 3 Aussie Shepherd puppies in our home and never experienced any real destruction beyond a few chewed toys and iPod cables, and a spate of chewed shoes from Isaak when he was about 8 months old and discovered that brand new Rivers shoes taste really good.

I can fit 3 Aussie Shepherds in the back of the X-trail with room for them to lie down comfortably. I'm actually contemplating selling the X-trail next year and getting something new, but the more I look the more I realise what great value the X-trail is.

Which can only be a good thing. And the demand greater than supply, another reason why prices are following an upward trend! I check our local pound website each day and there are always Labs there. Today there were two yellow ones. Last week there was at least one chocolate one and black ones seem to be regular guests of the council.

Aussie Shepherds are around the $800-$1200 mark.....maybe a bit higher from recently imported stock. I think they are a lot less than when they first started appearing in the country back in the 90's. I've heard they were up around $2000 then....they've dropped lower and now seem to be a fairly stable price. I'm surprised labs are so expensive, but then so are staffies and the pounds and shelters are full of them.

A work colleague bought a brand new diesel Ford Territory back in August, had it for a few weeks and it developed an oil leak. After seeing what she went through with Ford to have it repaired and driveable.........7 weeks and Consumer Affairs involvement........I would never ever buy one. The customer service was appalling. Actually, until CA became involved, it was non existent.

Some of these things regarding ethics have been the subject of much conversation between a friend and I recently, because it permeates everything about breeding. When choosing a stud dog for your much loved bitch, is the owner someone you would want to raise on of the resulting puppies? Because that might be part of the deal....a puppy in lieu of a stud fee. If you're the owner of the stud dog, is this the person you want raising the puppies that carry half the gene matter from your lovely boy? Because when it comes down to it, it's not just about choosing the right dog.

It is an interesting subject and the more I get involved with the dog world, the more I think about it, and the more the "ethics" mean to me. There are some things that don't sit particularly well with me, but that's not to say they are unethical or wrong......they just make me go hmmmmmm. One of them is the revolving door of dog ownership. Breed a litter, keep the pick, show it to a title (or maybe not), rehome. Rinse and repeat. Or acquire a breeding bitch, breed a few litters, rehome to another breeder who does the same, move the bitch on for another litter or two.....this particular practice I find no better than puppy farming but it's not because none of the breeders would be large scale breeders and the bitch is cared for "adequately" by each breeder. In these instances there is clearly no bond with the dog, and in the second instance, no concern for the bitches future once the desired litters have been whelped, sorted and sold. Then there is the practice of health testing after the mating has taken place, purely to adhere to the registration requirements for the breed. But, none of these things are wrong, they all fall within the ANKC ethics guidelines and probably aren't what you mean. But they are practices that don't sit particularly well with me.

Her breeders are really pleased. We are her 3rd owners, her first ones neglected her and she had ALL kind of issues by the time she was 18 months old and she was returned to her breeders. She was rehomed to an animal behaviourist as it was felt this was the only person who could help her.......and they did but when they moved overseas, they didn't want to take her and so once again she went back to her breeders after they couldn't find a home for her. The breeders had lots of enquiries about her as she was advertised here in the mature dogs section, but they picked us as her new owners as we already had Aussies and have plenty of space for them, plus we're active doing dog stuff on weekends. They get regular updates via Facebook and were really thrilled when we got our herding titles. Shae is a really gorgeous dog to own, she still has some minor issues and she'll probably have them forever, but I love her with all my heart and I try and protect her from anything that might cause her stress. She's a funny little muppet, loves her toys, loves our other dogs and LOVES chasing a ball. And she loves me beyond just about anything.......I frequently watch TV with her curled up on my lap and Dusty jammed in beside me. Lucky Shae is just a tiny girl!

We have chooks and Shae just wanders amongst them and doesn't bother them at all. I highly doubt she'd be a danger to ducks, I can't wait to see if she actually herds them once they start running. We're really lucky here as Kate and Karen (Double K) are very committed to the herding scene in Vic, and very encouraging of anyone wanting to have a go. it's so different to anything I've ever done with the dogs, it's welcoming and friendly and very down to earth. When I tried obedience, I got told I was hopeless by one of the instructors. That was not encouraging at all for my future in obedience trials. At dog shows, it's nothing to get told your dog is crap and have it's faults listed for everyone to hear. At herding, I get constantly told how wonderful Shae is, how clever she is and how fast I am learning and what a good handler I'm becoming. It makes me want to go back and try harder, do more runs, enter more trials and get more titles.

Kirty, yes, we've been going there since Easter. I train every 3 weeks or so, and usually the weekend before a trial. There's only one more trial this year, which I won't enter as Shae now has her PT title and we're not ready for the next level, but we'll be training for her started title over summer....and hopefully she can try her paw at cattle and ducks. Pretty Miss Emma, I train at Nyora, there are lots of Melbourne folk go there, it's great. Here is their website: http://www.herdingtraining.com/

Shae is actually getting worse, the longer she's with me. It doesn't seem she's worried for herself, she's become very protective of me though. She's fine when she's off lead though, and at the herding training I go to, she gets the opportunity there to mingle with other dogs off lead. It's held on a private farm, of someone who breeds Aussies, and there are always lots of dogs around. I tried agility here with Benson but it was hopeless. Only a few people knew what they were doing and they'd train together and anyone who was new was basically left to their own devices with a few minutes instruction here and there. In the end I gave it up as a complete waste of time. It's held at the local obedience club though, and the rules there are that dogs are always to be on lead except when being trained. Our herding training is held on weekends, we can attend clinics or arrange private lessons, and the instructors are very, very involved with making it a very viable sport here. We are the only state where you can train and trial on three types of stock (sheep, ducks and cattle) and I'm pretty sure we have more trials than any other state throughout the year. it's expensive for me, I have to drive 90 minutes each way to training and almost 2 hours to trial, and the lessons aren't cheap but we're getting so much out of it that it's worth every cent. And Shae loves it. As soon as we turn onto the road to the farm, she stands up in the car and makes all kinds of excited noises! Love that pic, I've seen that look before. Shae stared down a sheep in the trial last week, after she'd penned them and just as I was about to shut the gate and it stomped at her.

My precious ones......Dusty, Ripley, Isaak and Shae.

Hahaha, look at that body language......she's in there and she's going for it! Love it! It never ceases to amaze me how 10 minutes of herding can exhaust them more than hours and hours of walking or running. When I go to training, we do 2 or 3 ten - fifteen minute runs and then sometimes we play a game of "catch" with the sheep (4 or 5 handlers and their dogs all in a paddock together, the first pair picks up the sheep and moves them to the next pair, the dog holds the sheep while the new dog picks them up and moves them to the third pair...etc etc.) And after that session, Shae will sleep like the dead for hours and hours. I had to be fairly careful about what dog activity I chose for Shae.....she doesn't like other dogs near her when she's on lead and she gets very anxious, so anything at an obedience club was out of the question. I took her to an obedience class one day and it just stressed her way too much. At least with herding, I can keep her on lead time to a minimum and limit the exposure to other dogs, and she does all her work off lead, so even if other dogs are close by, she doesn't feel stressed.

Ripley starred in the forums just after we got him. I posted some pics of him playing in the mud with the other dogs. He's such a gorgeous goober, he is my husbands dog and I think they have a bit of a bromance happening.

She thought all her Christmasses had come at once the first time I took her to a herding clinic. It was like slotting the last piece of the puzzle into place, all of a sudden this dog had found her purpose. And for me, it was truly amazing to see that latent instinct kick in at the age of 5. If anyone doubts that working dogs LOVE to do what they were bred for, then watch a herding trial. When Shae is herding sheep, she's 10 feet tall and supersonic.

Australian Shepherds. Four of them. Aged 5, 4, almost 4 and 18 months. Best dogs ever.