Perry's Mum

Poor Gary - I hope he will be able to have another dog.

My doctor, who is lovely, has asked if I know of anyone who could look after her dog in Canberra next week while she has to go to Victoria - being school holidays the kennels are full. It is a small mutt which is used to being inside. Please PM me if you have any ideas.

I absolutely agree about the size and weight limit in much supposedly pet friendly accommodation - in my experience small dogs are much noisier than large ones if that is what they are worried about.

Some Koolies are also born with natural bob tails.

I would not do it because I think each new dog deserv es its own name and a clean sheet in terms of expectations. I know someone who is called the same name as her elder sister who died as a baby and she does not mind at all.

I have used Prednisone for myself rather than my dog and it was fantastic for the relief of arthritic pain - I had not realised how much pain I lived with until I took that for a while - made life much pleasanter.

Another possibility is people who travel a lot for work and don't feel that they can be home enough to have their own dog but would love to live with one.

We have two places left for a one day beginners sheepdog school for Koolies, Border Collies and Kelpies on Sunday 3 July. Cost is $65. School is held on a very large working property and the trainer is the manager, Brad Pellow who is very experienced as both a trainer and a sheep and working dog trialler. PM me if you are interested.

I have a supply I am taking to the next Koolie Club sheepdog school - if anyone wants some they are $50 for 10 including postage anywhere in Australia - all money goes to Koolie Rescue.

There is an 8 year old Koolie Kelpie cross in the non urgent rescues - ideal for life on a property, chases cats so would probablly happily chase rabbits, and he would be happiest with a man since his previous owner has recently died. He is already desexed and trained so is ready to go and is likely to live an active life for another 10 years.

I use balls for Perry - we spend at least an hour most days with me throwing and her fetching. I am sure she thinks it is my favourite game and is kindly indulging me by bringing the ball back.

Perry is short for Dame Perignon and she is certainly full of bubbles and gets up peoples' noses.

Perry would not cope with a kennel either. I cannot leave her for more than 3 days without her becoming depressed and stopping eating although I have only ever left her at home with a friend she knows well. I have just had to accept that since she is my only family here I cannot go off tearing around the world like I used to. Nowadays we just have short trips together and that actually suits both of us.

It does look nice but it does not often snow that far down. We went to the edge of the National Park last year and went higher than BimbleGumbie and although it was cold there was no actual snow except up in the mountains.

I have white sheets and doona covers - Perry has never shown any interest in sleeping on my bed. She does not try and get on the furniture either - she has a clear idea in her head that good dogs do not go on the furniture and barks at me to tell me off if I try and encourage her to join me on the couch.

When it comes to problem solving skills it is hard to go past a koolie. My last rescue worked out how to remove the lock from her crate in less than 5 minutes and open the door and come and find me.

I have a double coated Koolie who does not have a doggie smell - she gets bathed once a month and is fed home cooked food. Shedding, however, is another matter - she is getting her winter coat at the moment and there is fur everywhere.

Koolies are the cutest pups and none of these belonged to me: Dance Slate Moon with her litter mates Zac at 4 months Specks Taffy

She sounds as though she might be the kind of dog who would like balls - I managed to hurt both my back and knee badly when I first got Perry who was a very active young Koolie - we got through it by teaching her to play fetch - gives her lots of exercise and she still (7 years later) prefers that to walks. I started with throwing a ball backwards and forwards with a friend and then we purposely dropped it and rewarded her when she brought it back - she got the idea very quickly and then throwing the ball for her to fetch became its own reward.

I go to one of the more expensive vets in Canberra and they always offer blood tests as an extra but strongly recommend them for older dogs. I have always had them done. I had a rescue speyed two weeks ago and paid $90 for the blood test. They never ask about extra pain relief or fluids and when I have they just say anything the animal needs they consider essential is covered in the price.

My neighbours have a boxer x border collie - looks like a boxer but with border collie markings - came from a pound and has the nicest temperament.

The Koolie Club is also doing DNA testing of all Koolies and some other herding breeds.

Amber is now the proud wearer of four medals for her service in Afghanistan:

Biozet detergent and then blot with a shammy.