dogdayz

With my weim he had a long absence from classes due to illness among other issues. I continued to work with him in a one on one environment with a new trainer, experimenting with methods to see what would focus him. It was maybe a year before he returned to classes, and for the first few weeks he played up big time just too interested in every dog around. I just perservered through a few unpleasant no progress weeks, and dropped him right back to beginners, and he has now accustomed himself to class life and works well. As for your boy being a collie, i do believe they dont work well in classes anyway, simply because it bores them so much, making them look for distractions. I have found with skye that she just stopped working in them, and i pulled her out and basically stopped viewing her as an obedience dog. Since then i have just done different activities with her, herding, agility, and i have found her attention to me improved immensely. I returned her to obedience class last week (for other reasons i could not take the weim) and she worked her heart out, even though she had not done an obedience routine in a year. Her old distraction problems were not visible, she showed no inclination to break during free heeling (a previous problem), did her stays without talking etc. Yes she has matured in that year but i believe much is just that she has decided she can have as much fun working with me as running loose with a dog. I have come to the view that obedience is better left till later in life for a collie, until then they just need the basics enough to do some dog sports. My next collie will definitely not do class obedience young, as i do believe the whole routine of it is too repetitive for them. If you want to run him with Skye at some point, i am local to KCC. keep looking for a special food dor him, reserve it only for training. Skye has refused clicker training for the last year, then she discovered smoked chicken and will work for it. as for not using a toy in class, i find that odd even the more old fashioned place i take my dogs accept toys, if thats the owners choosing. It can be a bit distracting to othe dogs if its a squeaky is the only issue i see. As for you getting another dog, the only danger i see, is that you may find you put Duncan aside as too hard, and give your time to the pup. Thats not an insult i found myself doing the same at one point with my dogs.

Little dog has been muzzled at all times, didnt stop it chasing another dog at speed across the training ground but no physical harm done.

I think its seeing the dogs enjoying the outlet for their natural instinct that makes it so addictive. I took my collie rough to a one-day workshop last year, and since then she has been herding almost every week and done her instinct tests. Now she has recovered from her injury she will hopefully trial in july. Apparently the downside i may suffer is when she does tracking trials there are on occasions sheep on the land - i suspect her desire to herd will override the desire to track.

My partners dog has spent his life on supermarket brands and thrived. He switched to coprice (i was buying and only go to the pet supply), and i have to say he is not doing so well, he has lost his shine and also gained a huge amount of weight.

Sounds normal collie to me. wants to be with you and will play with you if you act around, but ultimately they are inherently lazy dogs and if you are not making them play they will choose to doze. I can lend you a weimaraner, who has found the best way to make a collie play is to pull its tail and run away fast.

Only just starting. I spent last weekend at a beginners course (KCC) run by Hastings Dog Club (who are fairly active in that area). Tracking club also runs one each year but it is held near Ballarat. Am now going to train with an experienced person (who knows collies well) over towards Hastings on Tuesday mornings. The best way seems to be to find someone who can accomodate you into their training group. Its an interesting lesson in reading a dogs body language, how it changes as it finds and loses the scent. I handled a cattle dog pup who was fairly calm about it all. Pitied her owner who handled my weim - wasnt ready for the strength/speed that a weim moves when on a mission. The main problem is travel, trials are generally held at a distance and start at 7am, so you travel early hours and are there all day. Most training is done early morning from what i gather, and out of snake season of course.

I do that routinely with vaccinations, and any new medications. Things always seem worse at night, have twice for reasons had emergency trips to vets at night and it is no fun finding who is close by and open. Too many refer you to hospitals out of hours. I keep a list on the fridge of my preferred vets, who has night call, map of nearest major vet centre hospital, who locally keeps anti-venom (amazingly despite being a high risk area some of our local vets dont stock it).

I was looking at backpacks the other day. Do you find the dog is okay with it?

Got it, thanks.

Im with Tess if he doesnt know about ivermectin sensitivity in collies and the alternative preventions then best avoided. He is selling you what he sells, he knows the daily is cheaper through the supermarkets. No idea where you are but Karingal is good, also Monash. Did you ask the breeder?

One of my dogs would completely freak if next to that in the line up - breaking dogs are an expected distraction but not that. yep, we are talking of the same club. Can you PM me the dog and class involved - if i go sunday i will drop mine down a class if necessary to avoid her. Am also looking at an alternative club to attend.

Definitely dont double dose her.

Find a well respected local vet chezzyr. Maybe even a few will answer your question by phone without a consult. It has been long enough for her to become infected but you need to know how high a risk area you are in, and at what stage of the lifecycle any possible infection would be. A good vet will be honest with you whether you need to retest her. As to which medication on another forum of collie owners recently the same question was asked, it appeared most (who answered publicly anyway) were using the daily tablets that Nat uses. As Nat said ultimately its up to you, but whatever you go with i would administer early morning so vets are readily available should a reaction occur.

My last post went missing so i will try again. Some collie rough/smooth breeders had their lines tested when free testing was available for ivermectin sensitivity so contact her breeder. Her breeder will also know if she has previously had ivermectin, in which case you will know if she is sensitive I think i have also read that you should not start a dog on preventative if you dont know that dog to be clear - so please check with your breeder whether she was treated previously

Kitkat definitely give it a go. My weim and maybe a dozen other dogs (assorted breeds) spent this weekend at a tracking worshop, having their first goes. They all loved it, much enthusiasm, and amazing to see how quickly they catch on. My collie starts next week.

I was at a tracking weekend so did not see what if anything happened this week. Last week there was no class due to the long weekend. Shall see next week, unless someone else knows.

my collie is prone to weight gain, so she gets a heavy serve of steamed pumpkin, carrot and sweet potato. My weim will also eat this happily, we started it for his digestion issues in fact, but the first couple of times he needed a little honey mixed in to sweeten the taste. I also feed vets-all-natural which is a hydrated grain mix this is mixed with meat when feeding, it seems to fill them up even though the portion doesnt look much, and i just reduce the meat proportion for the collie. i found it hard to get non-sweetened pumpkin in a can, but guess it depends where you live.

Food rewards for Skye but she will not work for the clicker. She respomds best to traditional check chain method to keep her working, else collie boredome sets in. Beck is clicker trained - it seems to concentrate his mind where traditional methods failed to get his attention - mind you it probably helped that he has maldigestion so earning food is a matter of survival to him. Each dog is different, my next dog i hope to start with the clicker, but i suspect i will use a mix that suits the individual at the time.

Hi Kitkat sorry cant help you on the Brissie side of things being in victoria, but i am starting my dogs tracking from next weekend, after many weeks of anticipation. As far as i can see the biggest cost will be the travelling to the trials - certainly in victoria they are hald well away from the city suburbs. To get into the training i have hassled a few people already doing tracking, and found someone willing to help, and am going to a training weekend for beginners where hopefully i will find some people local to me. The weekend is run by one of the local obedience clubs that does tracking -the only one that does around here on any formal basis anyway.

tess settling in okay? Obviously no loss of appetite.

At the club in question everyone is required to pay the annual membership fee to participate, then each time you attend a lesson you pay a small daily fee on top, so in essence all are members and all are equal.

i dont think she is cold chezzyr she just wants company. She was like you said an outside dog but was she at a kennel with other dogs around for company? Perhaps you can have her in your office with you if you crate her initially so she gets used to laying still, bot sure if she was shown but if she was she would be used to crating.

I agree with MM to an extent, certainly my weim was not trustworthy due to fear problems after an attack on him, and i pulled him out of group obedience at that point and went solo to work on the behaviour problem. Once he returned to classes i have been careful to watch for any signs that he is stressed (so far all okay). I certainly never gave him opportunity to bite. I will certainly raise it at the next lesson, Im certain if it was a bigger breed dog something would have been done, being small should not be an excuse. i agree Fido muzzling the dog isnt a solution, i think most of what happened could be avoided if the owner showed more anticipation and dealt with the issue - unfortubnately I am not sure she sees an issue.

The dog was tethered outside for the first incident. The problem is dogs are not allowed in the building where you go to pay your training fee, sign in or pick up newsletters, get a cup of coffee etc. The dogs are tethered outside to rails and posts of the building. Obviously as most people arrive at similar times you get a general congregation. Have to admit this is the part i hate the most. I tether my dog as far as possible from the main group but others will be right at the door. Obviously the dog is out of your sight. Other people are way to relaxed at this point in my opinion, they have their dogs on loose leads and assume all dogs are freindly, let them get close - fine if its is controlled situation with both owners present but not if one is absent - to this point as i said in my earlier post she is not entirely at fault. personally i try to get there before the main rush and move away from the building once i have paid/signed in, but most dont. having said that in this particualr owners case she does not come alone and only one has to sign in, so one person could stay with the dog in reality - she must know it has a problem. Dog was offlead in a class for the second incident. Dog was on lead with accompanying person holding lead for the third incident.

Didnt notice her wearing her badge - too busy watching her dog. Problem with the sticker system is if you have two dogs. For instance when my collie was in white my weim was in beginners, therefore i was wearing a white sticker even though at that time my weim had not qualified for any certificate colour classes. I think vaguely from memory her other dog did make it into white which is the class she was in sunday with this dog. Hopefully the collie will go up, the requirement for white seems to have come down since she last was there, so maybe she will make it into green. The weim has no hope as i wont work him offlead while this dog is present.