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SmoothieGirl

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Everything posted by SmoothieGirl

  1. And here I was worried about maybe adding a Rotti to the Collie clan one day. Well you've given me hope everyone. I LOVE the pics btw. I also never realised just how cute Aussie Terriers were :D
  2. Ren is my first boy and while I love girls and their independence, I'm quite bowled over by his loyalty to me. I have a complex relationship with Bronte, very situational and environmental and it was similar with my other bitch. With Ren its real simple, what's black is black and what's white is white. Most of all I love the fact that wherever I am in the house, Ren is no more than a few metres away - velcro dog!
  3. Great work Gayle!!! I'm thinking about entered the VHA trial, but I'm not sure yet. I might come and offer morale support even if I don't trial.
  4. He is really growing up, but hanging on to that super cute factor. Love the pics. Edit - Can't type.
  5. Um, sort of. I think the smaller area helped with her not getting too silly. There was a draw, but to a gate flat in the fence on the long side, between the panel and No.4. In her first run we lost them going towards the Y, or was it just after, and they shot over there. She couldn't get them back without me, but as soon as I gave them 'me' as a safe option she was fine. No problem really in her second run, although she did give them a bit of a pop and a telling off when then went past the gate. She was sort of saying, 'keep the hell going, my mum hasn't stopped yet so no dilly dallying.' She read them well, but they probably didn't need the full extent of the telling she gave them. Her first run was just over 7mins long, her second flew by and was just nearly 3 and a half minutes. I felt like we had barely got in there and it was over with, it was quite forward moving.
  6. Right well its been a mixed year for me and my two. I have done quite a bit of obed training with Bronte, but won't get her into a Novice ring until next year, as I have a lot of family and travel commitments for the rest of 2011. I'm also planning to pick up on the tracking with her next year too. But today she did just complete the final legs on her Herding Started title and after paperwork has a new name - Nauglamir Bronte N Gold CCD HSAs. As for the yet to be chosen and named puppy, well he has had a cracker two weeks. He got Puppy of Breed and Reserve Challenge Dog at the Royal Melb Show and today passed his Instinct Certificate and then went beyond my goals and gained both legs of his Herding Test title. He will have a name change to Foxbell First Romance HT. To his friends he's known as Ren. He has had quite a bit of obed training too and hopefully will see a CCD ring next year, he has buckets of talent, but he anticipates all the time, so I just need to settle him a bit more.
  7. Good day at the Scottish Breeds Herding trial today. Bronte passed her final two legs of her Herding Started A (sheep) title and will now be known as Nauglamir Bronte N Gold CCD HSAs. And my nine and a half month pup Ren, passed his Instinct Certificate and his two Herding Tests, so he will be known as Foxbell First Romance HT. Paperwork pending of course. Some of the early work wasn't pretty, but Bronte did quite a nice second run and it was quick too, felt like we were barely in there. She wasn't rushing to much, but it was just a much clearer sweeping run. Ren and I need to work on recall off the stock, he gets a bit worried that they will take off if he leaves them, so he doesn't recall well. Given that he has a bang on recall everywhere else, it was just a bit frustrating. Long line recall work off stock over the summer me thinks!!!
  8. Silver Eagle do them too. http://www.coolweave.com.au/
  9. How on earth are they going to find a minature Maltese, irrespective of colour. It can't stand any taller than a Smurf figurine.
  10. We have similar in the parks in my area too. Very handy. In the off leash park my dogs even know exactly where they are.
  11. A dog wandering off to eat poo can also be a sign that the dog is stressed about something. Like if you are teaching something new and the dog has a bit of a brain fart, it might 'change' the subject because it doesn't like the new rules. Once these dogs accept the new rules of the game, so to speak, they will usually stop and switch back on. Basically it can be an avoidance signal.
  12. What SM said. Basically she wouldn't hold point of balance, but creep up alongside the sheep and that would turn their heads and they would change direction and shoot off back to the draw.
  13. Great results Nik. Give that Annie girl a cuddle from me. Well have to catch up when the weather is a bit nicer so the girls can romp and Ren can introduce himself.
  14. I'm here, although I'm a bit late. I've been offline for a while and during that time Bronte and I have attempted two trials, with two runs each at HSAs. First trial - disaster. I decided to trust her and give her 'responsibility' for the job, I think I went a little overboard and failed to help her when she needed it. Consequently she split the sheep in both trials and ended up with them in the corner near the pen each time, a massive draw for the sheep. She didn't have enough power to get them out of the corner and I certainly didn't offer her any real help - useless handler. I called both runs as we were going nowhere fast. Second trial was on Saturday, the VHA trial. Horrid, horrid day weather wise, but we had some success. Her first run was really lovely, when she over flanked I asked her to correct and reposition the sheep. Got around the course nicely and in a pretty calm manner. The judge says I lost points as I stopped too much to let her correct, but I'm sorry, trial or no trial, there is only so much rubbish I will let go by, I was happy asking her to correct her errors. Either way we got a really nice pass on 94.5. Her second run started well and then she got to overflanking and in an effort to try and maintain fluidity of the sheep movement I didn't make her correct and the sheep took advantage of that. Found ourselves back in the corner again. This time however she swept them out of the corner really neatly, but then over flanked again and sent them back to the corner again. Press repeat twice and I called the run. She was doing such a good job of fetching them from the corner to me, but I couldn't stop her over flanking. So she didn't lose heart I pull the pin. But we do have a little more to add to our pass brag. Bronte also won Highest Scoring ANKC Registered dog for the weekend. Not bad for a little Smooth Collie that lives in inner suburban Melbourne. Looking foward to our next trial in Oct, hopefully I'll have something in the toolkit by then to prevent the over flanking.
  15. Rottweiler (sp?) or Dobe. They would be my picks anyway. Edit - Ok, just saw the bit about not being overly scary to Joe Public, these two don't fit then. 60% of the people in my former suburb crossed the road to avoid Sasha (Dobe) even when she was play bowing to them. She was weather proof though, great in hot weather, but needed a warm coat in cold weather.
  16. He's magnificent. Enjoy him while you can, before he goes off to training and duty, I'd struggling handing them back, but you are doing a great thing.
  17. Oh Julia, this really isn't what you need so soon after loosing Brock. Bronte, Ren and I are all sending you healing vibes, come on little Amber, we love you.
  18. Happy birthday Atlas. By the way, even though I don't know you, you're my favourite bully, such a handsome man.
  19. Mrs Rusty Bucket you beat me to it. My Collie bitch has herding training and I can call her off stock, they learn to differentiate. She looks at my friend chickens, occasionally follows them, but for the most part ignores them. It all comes down to how they are raised and the expectations you place upon them at pups. Even my pup who has only had a few goes on sheep I can call off both types of stock. Collies also have a very strong understanding between right and wrong as they are highly sensitive to their owners. Its all about the bond and the respect between dog and owner.
  20. Depending upon the lines, it may be at the higher end of the weight scale, but I would suggest a male smooth Collie. The bitches can tend to be a tad more independent, that being said my bitch is a velcro dog, but definitely more independent than my boy. While they do tend to have a herding instinct, its not overly strong unless you develop it and in some its well and truely broken. Same with the prey drive, although I wouldn't say they have a high prey drive on the whole, more low to medium. Most Collies are known for being exceptional with small animals if raised with them, so the prey drive is able to be moulded. Keep in mind the variation within the lines though. Smooths with lots of smooth to smooth matings will be shorter in coat, probably a little lighter in body, but also be a bit more full on. Smooths with some rough to smooth matings in the lines are likely to be a bit quieter in nature and have a looser coat, still short though.
  21. I spend a lot of money on my dogs, but they are my primary focus and successfully do their job keeping me sane in this crazy world. Most of the money goes into obed/herding training and clinics. They aren't very expensive to feed but they regularly get new toys and bits and pieces. I also spend about about $200 every 10 weeks on Bronte's skin drugs, not to mention a 6 monthly blood test for her. That being said, I'm about to pay for a custom made dog door for a particularly awkward window pane, as Ren is now a bit bigger for the current door and is getting distressed when he has to use it. At the end of the day they are my only vice, and I could be doing more wasteful things with my money, but I choose to do this. Ps. Whats with the time stamp on DOL. Its saying this was posted at 11pm, that's impressive, its 10pm-ish by my clock. Have I time travelled?
  22. Wuffles, some working dogs that are kept active don't really go through a noticeable teenage stage. Bronte was born an adult and Ren looks like a puppy, smells like a puppy, wiggles and sings like a puppy, but but he works and behaves like an adult.
  23. If you want to apply a bit of Australian humour to it, what about Fanta. You could say its short for Fantasy and he could say its short for Fanta Pants (red headed jibe). Edit - As I looked at the post above this one I see Teebs you have a Fanta kitty kat.
  24. Hey there, I assume you mean the process we went through? Firstly we undertook a VERY strict and supervised 6 week (actually it may have been 8 week?) food elimination diet to rule out food allergies, with no change whatsoever. Then they did skin allergy testing, can't remember the technical name, but basically the skin scratch test for about 75 allergens. No reactions to any of the irritants used, she was fine. Based on that, because Skin Barrier Dysfunction has only recently been recognised in dogs (and only in the last five years in humans) they decided to treat her as if she had it. Its much better recognised and understood in the US. Her positive response to treatment has essentially confirmed the diagnosis, although the three dermos at the specialist centre all had the same conclusion based upon her history, syptoms and response to allergy treatment to date. She is on Cyclosporin three times a week, and gets wash in a prescription shampoo once a week, that's it. Within three weeks she was a changed dog, it was remarkable. Cyclosporin is used in humans to manage organ rejection in transplants, and its a pretty safe immuno suppressant, but she does have bloods every six months to monitor her ongoing response to the drugs. Last check she was perfect. The whole process of diagnosis with the canine dermatologists probably took about 6 months, as between the elimination diet and the allergy testing they were trying to reboot her immune system by completely getting rid of her infections, hoping to get a couple of months off cortisone without infection and crossing their fingers that her system would just kick in and she would improve on her own. However she never went more than two weeks without infection. This helped them realise that her skin condition and her immune system were working against each other essentially, hence SBD. I hope my layman description helps.
  25. I haven't voted but my girl kind of fits into this conversation, although none of the survey categories. Bronte is not allergic to anything, however her conditions presents as severe atopic dermatitis. After time spent with canine dermotologists she has been diagnosed and successfully responding to life time treatment of Skin Barrier Dysfunction. Basically SBD is when the skin cells are not properly formed and allow all sorts of environmental irritants in through the skin, which her immune system then attack unsuccessfully, which results in high levels of itching and finally bacterial infections. She's been on her current treatment which is an immuno suppressant, but not from the cortisone family, for about 12 months now and has only had one minor infection and only scratches occasionally. She also gets washed in an anti bacterial shampoo weekly to help her skin battle any infiltration of nasties. Very impressive response given that she used to be constantly itching, had lost about half of her coat and was on cortisone and antibiotics for about a year. Morale to the story, stop guessing. Don't trust your vet to guess either, they only have limited training in this space. It was my vet that suggested the referral after she didn't 'grow out' of her allergy syptoms. Stop spending money changing diets, shampoos and enviromental conditions - all guess work. If your dog has a seemingly allergic response, go and see a canine dermatologist. They are highly skilled, yes a bit expensive, but in the long run, it will save you money and save your dog a lot of distress. Edited - Bronte is desexed and was always going to be desexed, so her condition never factored into the decision.
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