DeltaCharlie

The major side effects associated with seizure meds are usually more long-term concerns, such as liver damage etc which would actually be less of a concern in an old dog than it is in a younger dog. The medication levels can be adjusted to suit the dog and minimise the immediate side-effects (lethargy etc). You may find that medicated her will actually improve her quality of life, while the seizures themselves are painless, god only knows what damage is occurring when they happen. Good luck :)

Ours were put on them a few weeks before we moved from Canberra so it wasn't a problem (no ticks there). I would be hesitant to use advantix regularly while also using a collar, that is a lot of chemical to put into their system and is advised against. I would go with a permoxin spray before I would be using advantix with a collar.

Yes, the scalibor collars work differently, more like advantix, which is why it takes 2 weeks to be covered in the first place. Scalibor collars are also supposed to be safe from 8-weeks of age. Boost is nearly 10 weeks and will have one put on in the near future. She has advantix on at the moment (which I was a little concerned about on such a young pup) and there have been no issues.

I wouldn't feel comfortable answering as I don't know the science. We have still been changing every 3 months but this is our first year living in a tick area. Maybe contact caliber? They will be able I advise you better :)

Ours swim in the ocean or bay, so we take it off and put it straight on as soon as we get back to the car (so dogs are still wet). If they splash around in the duck pond or kiddy pool at home we leave them on, they are supposed to be fine with getting wet (just not good for aquatic life). The big advantage to the scalibor collars is that they are not as dangerous if injested. Fuze has managed to eat 2 of hers somehow, and the worst that has happened is a slightly runny poo that night (only chewed them, didn't swallow anything substantial that we can tell). When we asked about it we were told that the side effects seem to be much less with them than with the preventic (which can make a dog quite ill apparently).

We use scalibor collars on all ours, they don't get bathed although they do swim regularly :)

We use scalibor tick collars all year round and tick check daily.

If you haven't made a claim then petplan will refund it. If you have made a claim, then of course you need to keep paying. You made a 12month commitment to them and petplan have honoured your claim based on that commitment.

We have a few of the aldi ones, required a $2 Telstra SIM in them but gives u detailed information about location and you can send a message to the number (the Telstra number from the SIM) and it will send you a satellite image of the location straight to your phone. Battery lasts 72 hrs from memory, possibly more.

Depends on the job the dog is performing and how stubborn or flighty the mob is (and the number too). Sometimes a voice can be useful to get a mob moving, Huntaways were bred specifically for their voice (amongst other things) and they use it to move their stock. While they don't resemble the typical image of a BC anymore, they are still used for a similar purpose so the voice cannot be that detrimental. Many other breeds use their voice too. A dog working cattle will find its voice to be an asset, maybe not on a small flock of light sheep. A good dog will know when it should and shouldn't use its voice, but then a good dog will also understand the difference between performance sports and sheepwork :) Ours may be incredibly vocal and over the top in agility and play, but they become entirely different dogs on sheep. They aren't stupid and work out quickly that doing everything at a hundred miles an hour is not going to work very well in the paddock. Retrieving is a whole different kettle of fish though. I shared a property for 6 years with someone who had working labs. Some of hers were vocal and over the top excited, there was no real incentive while retrieving for the dog to calm down or go slower (unlike a dog working sheep) so she was often worried that they would do themselves an injury by running too fast through a ditch etc. I don't remember hers ever barking on the retrieve though, they certainly did when the agility equipment came out though and walking to the line for a retrieve :)

As far as agility goes, I think most people are only concerned if the barking is detrimental to the performance. Some dogs start barking on course and bark their brains right out their mouths (I heard someone recently refer to it as "leaking drive" LOL), these dogs are no longer capable of thinking and working as a team. On the flip side though, there are some dogs that bark or squeal the entire way around a course but are clearly thinking and responding appropriately and the barking is not an issue. The owner of a high drive BC girl who squeals her way around a course once said to me that she is more than happy to allow it, as it acts as a release of tension for the dog. She worries about what would happen if she stopped the barking and the dog had to keep that excitement and tension bottled up inside, she expects that to be more detrimental, which made sense to me. I have 2 young dogs that squeal and carry on like pork chops going to the ring (but never bark on course). I discourage it with my male, Whip, as once he starts the barking and carrying on before a run I no longer have a brain to work with on course. Keeping him calm pre-run seems to give me a much more workable dog on course. Treats etc don't work with him once he is in that state of arousal, they just fall off his tongue. I need to ensure he doesn't reach that point in the first place so we now walk to the ring on a halti, do lots of obedience type work while waiting for our turn, or I insist on a liedown and he is not allowed to get up. My baby girl, Shock is incredibly vocal before a run, while I do my best to keep her quiet for the sake of the other competitors (it really is a horrible barkscream noise she makes), it seems to have no impact on her run. She can be carrying on and screaming and as soon as I put her at the start she is all business. Head is engaged, mind is thinking clearly, she is ready to work. I think it depends on the dog.

Well, our agility dogs spent the day in their runs etc today even though I was home from work for the day. I did get them out periodically to spend time with them and we all slept in together this morning, but for the most part I have kept their usual routine the same. I find it causes them more heartache if I suddenly change the routine and spend all day with them, then leave them alone the following day. They cope perfectly fine with it, I personally don't think it is healthy to teach a dog that it can be with you every waking minute. It sounds like you are doing a great job, I think our dogs would love to come and live with you!

I gave the 12 month one to Whip (17kg BC) when he was a few months shy of 2 and didn't seem to have much growing left. It was on recommendation of my vet as he was so over the top with stupidity he was at risk of injuring himself. 2.5 years later it finally wore off (aged 4) and he bulked right up and matured immensely. Had I realised just how much more maturing he had left I may have held off a little longer, but it did eventually happen and he is perfectly fine now and how I would expect an entire male BC to be.

the only reason for multiple vaccs in a puppy is that you need to hit the right timeframe for when mum's immunity wears off which can be anytime from about 9-16weeks. If maternal antibodies are present they vacc won't work hence the need to repeat a few times and hope you get it right. An 18month old will have no maternal antibodies so no need for a repeat, 1 vacc is sufficient. edited to fix stupid phone autocorrect.

It depends on the lines and what you want the dog to do. If you want a dog to work sheep (not talking ANKC herding here) then yes, there is a huge divide between them. If you want a dog for agility then you will find suitable lines in both, you just have to do your research. There are huge variances in both as far as size, drive, work ethic etc go so my advice would be to find a breeder who has many dogs already competing so you can gauge what to expect. Some working lines in Australia are much too heavy for agility, but some show lines have too much bone for what I would want in a performance dog too. Some working lines will be less drivey, especially if they have been bred to work particularly light sheep etc, whereas some bred for cattle may be too full on. Same with show, if they have been bred purely for show then they may not have the drive and work ethic you are after, I know many that would rather be couch potatoes. On the flip side though, you get some that go absolutely nuts for doing anything and are really hard to work with as it isn't a useful drive and they can be quite reckless in the wrong hands. I think regardless of whether you decide to go working or show, the most important thing to look for in a future agility dog is good structure and a temperament that you can live with.

It also may be an outsiders perspective :) Out of 9 border collies we only have 3 that are suitable for multi day seminars. Those 3 would just keep going as long as someone put equipment in front of them. The others get offended if we ask them to do something twice, as though they were the ones who made the mistake. Some of ours would keep working but start offering all sorts of bizarre options because the first one must not have been right. We also have a few who would go and lie down and give us the finger, in a manner that screams "get yourself together and then come back and get me when you are ready".

Dogs are pretty adaptable, they handle moves pretty easily (its cats that cause the issues :laugh: ) Some of ours are on their 5th or 6th house now and they just take it all in their stride. Our most recent move was in May of this year and moving 6 hours away meant they just had to come with us. They spent the preceding 30hours in the car pretty much as we had to travel up here to get the keys, sleep the night in the new house (not fenced so they slept in the car/ dog trailer) then travelled back to Canberra the following morning ready to pack the truck. The car was the safest place to keep them while we packed furniture, they then slept in the car again that night and travelled back up again the next morning. Once we arrived we set up some c-crates to contain them temporarily and some were allowed access to the house. They got to have a big swim at the beach the next morning as a reward for all the confinement :D If that didn't unsettle them or cause them stress, I don't know what would :) When I was moving to houses that were an easy distance I would take the dogs with me each time I took a trip between houses, they could check out the new house while I did what I had to do, then came back to the old house with me. That way I wasn't leaving them in a new house unattended while I went back and forth, I think it helped them to settle in. I also like to spend a fair bit of time with them once things have settled down, playing games in the yard etc to make them feel comfortable. It all depends on the dog really, but I have never experienced any problems with it.

They are adjustable/velcro fastening at the front :) Belly band is adjustable too.

Another fan of the chilly buddy coats, we use them on all our dogs for agility and sheepwork. On hot days I have been known to wear them on my hat and it is beautiful and cool under there :laugh:

Love my working line border collies but would never go out of my way to get a kelpie (closest breed in my opinion and bred for a similar purpose). I don't see Aussies as being anything like the border collies and could never imagine wanting to own one. Although given that there are many border collie types I wouldn't touch with a barge pole so certainly couldnt contemplate an entirely different breed :laugh: No offence intended by any comments, everyone has their own particular preferences when it comes to dogs :)

With 11 dogs, we don't have a set of rocks each :) We actually have them in a 2L container that is used to fill all the bowls each day and then refilled ready for the next day :)

We start BC pups on chicken wings (held by us) at about 5-6 weeks of age and they get through it fine :) In answer to the original question, we use slow feeder bowls with a number of our dogs. They are all fed separately in crates so no competition but some of them still insist on eating too fast for our liking. The slow feed bowls work really well and I wouldn't hesitate to use them on any dog. 2 of ours were on slow feed bowls from about 6 weeks, after having Rush at emergency overnight at 4weeks of age for scoffing down more than her share of the puppy tray we don't take chances anymore. There are no cons to using them so it certainly wouldn't hurt. Just be aware that your fellow will have a narrow muzzle so choose a design with narrow gaps. There are some bowls that hardly slow the BCs down because their muzzles are too narrow, so just be aware of that :) I would also discourage running around too much straight after a meal, bloat can still occur in breeds that aren't necessarily prone to it. Even from pups ours are crated for 2hrs after a meal so that everything can settle down and digest.

We are renting at the moment with 11 dogs in a very small area (about 8mx3m) the patches started to appear almost instantly and there were destroying the lawn. have been using the rocks for about 2months now and it is now where near perfect, still get some patches, but heaps better than it was and at least looks green again instead of brown.

Highly recommend Sandra Hassett at the animal medical centre in Phillip. For holistic I would recommend Kate Millhouse at Holistic Paws in Kambah.

We use Scalibor collars too, 1 collar would cover him for the entire time period you have mentioned. We have previously used advantix with interceptor (same as sentinel but not fleas) without issue.