brintey

I show and breed Leos. They are a relatively active giant breed, and once grown they like long walks. some even do agility. In my experience, the girls are more active than the boys. I've never had trouble fitting a giant breed in the car either. Five of them in the car maybe ????

What about the BCs though? Colours that are allowed in other countries, but not here for some reason? And Kelpies, colours that occur in working Kelpies and have from the beginning, but not included in the standard?

Hi Kavik,

When my family first started in pedigree border collies in NSW, only black and white and black, white and tan were in the standard. It was very rare to see the tris then, let alone any other colour. Then chocolate (bb) was allowed in and blue (dd) and the old time breeders (from the 50s and 60s) were fine with this as a few of these occasionally popped up. Only once "sable" as it was colloquially known then (ee red) started to become common in some lines and pressure was put on for them to be shown did the old time breeders really kick up a fuss, as they said the lighter shades of ee made the white markings indistinguishable, and the lighter colour overall made it hard to distinguish the dog in the flock when working the flock from a distance.

This is the only reason I have heard 'against' a particular colour in BCs. I dont know how much truth there is in this, but interestingly a lot of LGDs - who bond with flocks rather than scare them into moving - are white or earthy wolf grey colours and blend in quite well.

I'd like to import a Landseer ECT. Still researching breeders and lines at the moment!

In my breed most of the enquiries are for the boys.. They are bigger and more spectacular looking, and tend to be more laid back.

Another vote for the Les Poochs. I use the red one (mat breaker) on heavy spay coats and the purple on the show dogs. I have Giant fluffies... Leos and Pyrs... and a Leo owner who is a groomer put me on to them. Seriously they are the best piece of gear in my kit.

Currently have five.. Well, three and a half as one of my Pyrs is co owned with Espinay and I reckon Amethyst greyhound counts as a cat! I have these numbers as I'm a regular show exhibitor so I'm out most weekends with three of them, and doing training and conditioning with them on week nights. Four is my ideal.

I know they are shown in NSW. Pretty sure they are 'legal' - not on the restricted breeds list.

The wonderful Denise Wigney from GAP did my assessment, it was at St Ives Showground and it took an hour or so from memory. She is very experienced with greyhounds!

Hi HazyWal, when I did the greenhound assessment it didnt cost that much, I think about $40 for the collar and the assessment was a $50 donation to GAP NSW. It might be worth saving up for, for Stan at least?

I think its just me Jules... for some reason I keep thinking of that horror movie character Chucky when I see the human clothes on the dogs! That said some of those dog Halloween costumes you see on Facebook are really creative.

I dont use it but Im not offended by it - I find human-like clothes on dogs far creepier. Of course dogs arent children. However to me they are family and I'll happily refer to them as my family or my family members.

I always describe dog showing to my non-show friends as dressing up in a mother-of-the-bride suit and running around a paddock!

When my hobby was the SES and the RFS, I had to wear a uniform. I look at dog show dressing the same way.

We used Sires on Ice to import frozen semen from the UK. They are aligned with UK Clone over there who took the semen in England, the UK owners and breeders gave them a glowing review. From our end Sires on Ice came through for us in the end but they were very slow with their communication. Good luck with your importing!

Good luck D-mentias I hope they are accepted onto the sporting register soon!

Dogs NSW's members education course. karen Hedberg and Marilyn Gill were especially good!

I'd love to see the ANKC do something similar with Koolies and Murray River Curly Coats to preserve the breeds. It's a shame the ANKC registry seems to be percieved as all about showing.

The Leonberger Association will be there, and there will probably also be a rogue Newfy and Pyr at the stand. Sorry to hear no whippets, what a shame

if your vet uses VetPath in WA to run the titres it is cheaper. Ive been doing three puppy shots, a yearly booster and then titres for a few years now. The dogs who have passed have been 13, 13, 11 and 12...not bad for large and giant breeds. The titres have always shwon adequate immunity and ive never needed to revaccinate.

I think of small as being chihuahua to kelpie/beagle/stafford size, medium at that size to say a lab, golden, GSD and big from that size to Irish Wolfhound. Or from 1-20kg small, 20-40kg medium, 40-100kg big. I had border collies growing up so they are pretty much my idea of medium, have Leos and Pyrs now so they are my definition of big.

Showdog I have no idea why half the LGDs are in working and half in Utility, but the Pyrs, Anatolians and Central Asians are all in Utility so they are in good company. Probably makes more sense as they are closer to guardians than herders.

I would recommend a male Leonberger. Large, don't drool, and the males in particular are more laid-back. You would want to meet the parents first to make sure of the temperament and let the breeder know what you are planning on so they can keep an eye out for a suitable pup.

I have just had my first litter of Leonbergers, so I know this is anecdotal and only true for me.

My girl had a litter of seven puppies. Like others I had time off work to devote myself full time to raising the litter (exhausting but rewarding!). One of the things I observed was that at about five and a half, six weeks it was like a little switch went off and suddenly everyone was very interested in playing with everyone else, nipping, wrestling, sharing chicken wings. They still all loved their one on one time but were happiest with their brothers and sisters.

At about seven and half, eight weeks it was like another little switch went off and suddenly everyone was very interested in me, vying for my attention and wanting to get up close and personal. Siblings no longer had the same appeal and human visitors would be enthusiastically mobbed! So even though it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to the puppies at eight weeks, it was the right time for them, they craved individual one-on-one attention and direction from me and I just couldn’t give them what they needed.

That said I if I had a small litter I could have kept two puppies on for longer, just would have been harder work for me to make sure they got the individual attention and training.

My Leos and Pyrs get a lot of comments, people following us, people stopping their cars in the middle of the road to point and stare. The best has been while down in Melbourne a couple of years ago for a show. My friend and I went out for coffee with our 3 Leos. A whole coachload of asian tourists stopped and they all had their photos taken with the dogs! They treated them as if they were some sort of wild lion or tiger though... they would stand behind us and tentatively giggle, snake a hand out for a quick pat when the dog wasnt looking and then smile at each other like theyd been incredibly brave!

In my area Baulkham Hills/Castle Hill we have lots of small, pet shop style crossbreeds and oodles, and the odd purebred which is popular with bybs, ie pugs, cavs, beagles, staffies, goldies, coloured border collies and chocolate labs. However at our local obedience there is a more even mix with more purebreds, large and medium sized dogs and rescue dogs.

Me too and I am very happy with it!