Dogablog - July 2009

27th July

We had a great weekend, it was very busy. Lucy is getting the hang of showing which is great. A little bit more training and she should be on auto pilot going on to be a handlers dream. The judge had a good hard look at her on the weekend. She is great example of a Border Collie plus she is demonstrating all of the instincts for working stock which is what Border Collies are known. We had a great time socializing with the Sproles girls, Alison and Maree. We're looking forward to the Ekka again this year.

22nd July

Working Dog Survey
(If this links fail to open when you click on them, then right click on the link above and select "save link") If you a PDF reader download  Foxit PDF Reader (Faster load times).

Contribute your knowledge about working dogs in Australia. Your information will be collated along with that other respondents to provide an overview of the working dog sector.

If your dogs work in private industry, government, service, sport or is in training then you'll need to take this survey, it's anonymous and should take about 10-15 minutes to complete.

This survey doesn't seem to have a deadline date attached to it.

Once completed the survey can be saved, attached to an email and returned to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

21st July

Herding Tip

The words Drop and Stop sound the same, so you can use either. Calm behavior is always the best. Practice teaching your dog to drop and stay immediately once the command has been is given. Say the command only once. Once you have mastered this whilst the dog is on the lead, practice this with the lead off your dog. You can practice this at feeding time, cause making your dog work for its food is a good habit. Later try placing your dog on a stay then recall your dog. When the dog is half way coming to you. Command it to drop. Once you have mastered this exercise this will help you greatly when herding. When you want your dog to stop in a certain position.

When you spend time observing other working dogs, you will notice that the dogs that listen to their handler and are obedient. This forms a firm working foundation between the handler and the working dog. In a competition that might be all that is needed to give you the edge at winning.

20th July

Herding
I was coming home from a herding event the other day and saw a Border Collie in a paddock who was a few metre's away observing a horse. It was not chasing the horse but calmly sitting there watching the horse as it was grazing.
Allow your dog time to spend with stock so that it learns how to work stock. There is a debate about when is the best time to introduce your dogs to stock. Some say 6 months and older because a dog can handle being knocked around by stock if something like that happens, plus they are mature enough to handle the pressure that comes with handling stock. Some people have found that at that age it takes longer for their dog to switch on. The other side says that to start them younger. We prefer to let our dogs observe stock from an early age, though careful that they are safe from harm during that time. Allowing their instincts to surface in a natural way with supervision.

19th July

We had a great weekend. It just went too quickly. Had a relaxing time on the weekend by lining the fence with clading on our side. The dogs were curious about what we were doing. The nail gun did not deter them in anyways either which is good cause sometime the noise can send some dogs off in fright. Maybe cause we were busy and ignored it the dogs accepted that it was nothing to fear.

17th July

Grand CH Borbern Mastrs Aprentice HSAs "Rex" has achieved his HSAs(Herding Started A course sheep) qualification and Panda achieved reserve high in trial at the Border Collie Club of Qld herding trial on the weekend. It was a very busy weekend with Ellie doing all of the instinct tests on Sunday. Overall it was a great weekend.

14th July

I have found an intriguing website that inspired me. When in the UK I'd like to go on a Shepherds Walk which are presented from a Shepherds perspective, these walks are throughout Northumberland, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders. What a wonderful way to enhance ones herding and Border Collie experience, to explore the places where the Border Collie breed originated.

12th July 2009

Warrego Highway hidden speed cameras

Thought this might be useful information for you.
New hidden speed cameras have become operational at Blacksoil and Haigslea.
Also in about a week another one becomes operational at Minden.

These new hidden speed cameras look like information boards telling you to slow down.
They take photos across both lanes from 200 metres away.

11th July 2009

Fab news Rex qualified at The Border Collie Club of Qld herding event today in his A Course. Panda got reserve in High in Trial 2nd weekend running in a row.

1st July 2009

The Pet Postcard Project. Each card basically raises enough money to buy a pound of food. You create and supply the postcards to the Pet Postcard Project. You can use your own design and images of your pets. This is a brilliant concept for supporting your favourite shelter. I wonder if they're doing something like this in Australia?