Aha! I think I finally figured out how to post to the forum :-)
My name is Penny Nalder, I live near Wellington, New Zealand, and have 3 Welsh Springers, Sherry (nearly 12) Quinn (almost 9) and Ashley (5yo)who I have all competed in Agility with, up to Senior level in Ashley's case, and they all have ADX titles.
I am looking for another agility dog, as the two older ones are retired, and Ash is now almost middle aged!
The Koolie sounds like a good choice, from the research I've done, having speed, intelligence, a strong drive to work, etc. that I am looking for in my next agility dog
While I have plenty of experience in training the gundog mentality, I've never worked closely with a herding dog, and was hoping to get some insight from you all into what it's like living and working with a Koolie.
Full Version: Hello from New Zealand
koolies - Coolies, One of the friendliest places on the Net... > The KCA (A Registered & Licensed Club: Lic # A0040475D) > Welcome All Forum Members
Welcome to the forum PennyGreat to get to know someone from across the ditch! We have several forum members who are experienced with koolies in obedience and agility and I am sure they will be only to willing to give you some tips. Keep asking questions, they just love talking koolies!!
Hi! Welcome to the forum!
I don't do agility/obedience (plan to but just too busy) but I train trickwork & other things with my guys & I can say once you understand how a Koolie thinks, which is quite simple compared to other breeds, they are the most delightful animal to work with.
The assortment of Koolies I have that I work with all have 1 trait, they are a soft natured dog that likes it's task to be described in blunt/direct black & white, to be praised when doing the right thing but told when it's not & given a moment to process it then try again, once the Koolie gets an understanding in it's head of what you want you are away & he'll give you 200% providing he knows it's appreciated & rewarded. They aren't a dog that gets distracted or bored when they understand the task & really like progress & challenges, the bigger part of your life your Koolie is the harder he'll try for you.
Hope that helps from my training experience.
I don't do agility/obedience (plan to but just too busy) but I train trickwork & other things with my guys & I can say once you understand how a Koolie thinks, which is quite simple compared to other breeds, they are the most delightful animal to work with.
The assortment of Koolies I have that I work with all have 1 trait, they are a soft natured dog that likes it's task to be described in blunt/direct black & white, to be praised when doing the right thing but told when it's not & given a moment to process it then try again, once the Koolie gets an understanding in it's head of what you want you are away & he'll give you 200% providing he knows it's appreciated & rewarded. They aren't a dog that gets distracted or bored when they understand the task & really like progress & challenges, the bigger part of your life your Koolie is the harder he'll try for you.
Hope that helps from my training experience.
Hi Penny
Welcome to the forum.
I have a border collie Inka and a coolie called Xena and I have just got a blue merle tri girl called Gabby (boy is she noisy)I have only had her for a week. I do both obedience and agility with my two girls. The coolies are easy to train and dont seem to forget what they have been taught. In agility Xena seems to read my body and knows where I want her to go where as the border I need to show her. I clicker train and play train and use food. Both of my girls pass quite regularly and with good scores. We just had a two day competition and I had 24 runs over the weekend with both my girls and had 15 qualies so I am quite proud of them. Your guys come over to SA and competed at the Nationals. Dont know if you go to there club but the Dewits Karen and Peter I think there names are and Fiona and another guy I think his name is Leo and he ran two brillliant miniture schnauzers which we ended up calling schnitzels. They ran brilliantly and did pretty good when they were here
cheers
Danni
Welcome to the forum.
I have a border collie Inka and a coolie called Xena and I have just got a blue merle tri girl called Gabby (boy is she noisy)I have only had her for a week. I do both obedience and agility with my two girls. The coolies are easy to train and dont seem to forget what they have been taught. In agility Xena seems to read my body and knows where I want her to go where as the border I need to show her. I clicker train and play train and use food. Both of my girls pass quite regularly and with good scores. We just had a two day competition and I had 24 runs over the weekend with both my girls and had 15 qualies so I am quite proud of them. Your guys come over to SA and competed at the Nationals. Dont know if you go to there club but the Dewits Karen and Peter I think there names are and Fiona and another guy I think his name is Leo and he ran two brillliant miniture schnauzers which we ended up calling schnitzels. They ran brilliantly and did pretty good when they were here
cheers
Danni
Hey welcome Penny, great to see you made it.I have posted your questions in Community Corner, so everyone have a read and post your opinions that's what we are here for to help the lady.
Some of your questions maybe slightly different, only because I lost your first email.
You can post them again if you like.
I know you are just going to love being here and getting to know our Koolie Community.
Hi Penny, WELCOME
You are going to love it here, everyone is so friendly and helpful!!!!
I need to get my mum onto the forum, she and my dad have a Koolie X (Border Collie) that they train in agility as he doesn't like being touched by people he doesn't know therefore is no good in the higher levels of obedience. Merlin loves agility and just seems to "get" what he needs to do. He loves it too which makes it all the better! I would say that they are a great breed for a lot of dog sports (from what I have seen) Besides that they just make the best additions to your family!!!!
You are going to love it here, everyone is so friendly and helpful!!!!
I need to get my mum onto the forum, she and my dad have a Koolie X (Border Collie) that they train in agility as he doesn't like being touched by people he doesn't know therefore is no good in the higher levels of obedience. Merlin loves agility and just seems to "get" what he needs to do. He loves it too which makes it all the better! I would say that they are a great breed for a lot of dog sports (from what I have seen) Besides that they just make the best additions to your family!!!!
Hi Penny
Welcome to the forum. You could not get a better companion than a Koolie. Tjukurpa gave me a rescue Koolie 3 1/2 years ago and she has been a revelation to me. I have never met such a clever dog, she is bright, hard working, obsessed with whatever she sees as work (chasing balls and herding sheep) but at home switches off to be a quiet well tempered dog who gets on well with people, including children. I am sure there are photos of Perry around in the forum - just look for the beautiful long coat blue merle girl. As long as you give them lots of physical and mental exercise you will be right. There is a Koolie here in Canberra - Kellie - who is doing very well at agility.
Perry and I are thinking of moving to New Zealand - to Christchurch - because we like a cooler climate. We could start up a New Zealand branch of the Koolie Club.
Welcome to the forum. You could not get a better companion than a Koolie. Tjukurpa gave me a rescue Koolie 3 1/2 years ago and she has been a revelation to me. I have never met such a clever dog, she is bright, hard working, obsessed with whatever she sees as work (chasing balls and herding sheep) but at home switches off to be a quiet well tempered dog who gets on well with people, including children. I am sure there are photos of Perry around in the forum - just look for the beautiful long coat blue merle girl. As long as you give them lots of physical and mental exercise you will be right. There is a Koolie here in Canberra - Kellie - who is doing very well at agility.
Perry and I are thinking of moving to New Zealand - to Christchurch - because we like a cooler climate. We could start up a New Zealand branch of the Koolie Club.
I have put bits of reply in the message. I tried to change the text colour to make it easier to see but it wouldn't do it. :-(
Hi! Welcome to the forum!
I don't do agility/obedience (plan to but just too busy) but I train trickwork & other things with my guys & I can say once you understand how a Koolie thinks, which is quite simple compared to other breeds, they are the most delightful animal to work with.
I love teaching my dogs tricks, although I haven't taught Ashley any where near as many as I taught Sherry. I use clicker training and food luring to teach tricks. Sherry knows wave, bark, beg, weave legs, spin left and right, back in a circle, shake, hi five, roll over, play dead, (although it's the livliest dead dog I ever saw - tail goes all the time) and crawl. and some others I can't think of at the moment. Ash knows most of those, and Quinn is not the sharpest tool in the shed, and knows about half of them.
...dog that likes it's task to be described in blunt/direct black & white, to be praised when doing the right thing but told when it's not & given a moment to process it then try again,
I believe the more black and white you can be, the better any dog will pick up what's wanted. :-) A lot of it is in knowing exactly what you want BEFORE you start training.
once the Koolie gets an understanding in it's head of what you want you are away & he'll give you 200% providing he knows it's appreciated & rewarded.
That's good. I always feel sorry for dogs whose owners don't appreciate what they do for them. they talk to friends after a run, without so much as a pat for the dog! I tend to give a huge patting and game or rush to the treat box I have hidden somewhere near the ring, and have to go later and find what my time etc are!
They aren't a dog that gets distracted
Excellent!
or bored
again, Excellent!
when they understand the task & really like progress & challenges, the bigger part of your life your Koolie is the harder he'll try for you.
My dogs basically are my life. They are my main hobby, followed by gardening and Archery.
Hope that helps from my training experience.
That's a good qualifying rate! you should be proud of them.
I also clicker train, and want a dog with a good strong toy/prey drive so I can use that to train too.
I find dogs will ALWAYS trust your body language over what you say. So often you see in agility the dog go where the body said, regardless of what the mouth said! :-) I have learnt to be very precise in my body language, and very consistant. I very rarely get off course disqualifications with Ashley, as she knows and trusts my body language.
I know the De Wits and Lyn and his "Schnitzels" well, I've trained with them for many years. Dianne with little India, who had the big win is also a friend of mine. :-) I know all the others who went over too, to some degree or other. The agility world in NZ is a fairly small one :-) but getting bigger all the time.
Hi Penny
Welcome to the forum.
I have a border collie Inka and a coolie called Xena and I have just got a blue merle tri girl called Gabby (boy is she noisy)I have only had her for a week. I do both obedience and agility with my two girls. The coolies are easy to train and dont seem to forget what they have been taught. In agility Xena seems to read my body and knows where I want her to go where as the border I need to show her. I clicker train and play train and use food. Both of my girls pass quite regularly and with good scores. We just had a two day competition and I had 24 runs over the weekend with both my girls and had 15 qualies so I am quite proud of them. Your guys come over to SA and competed at the Nationals. Dont know if you go to there club but the Dewits Karen and Peter I think there names are and Fiona and another guy I think his name is Leo and he ran two brillliant miniture schnauzers which we ended up calling schnitzels. They ran brilliantly and did pretty good when they were here
cheers
Danni
QUOTE(mushoz @ Oct 15 2007, 10:27 AM) 
Hi! Welcome to the forum!
I don't do agility/obedience (plan to but just too busy) but I train trickwork & other things with my guys & I can say once you understand how a Koolie thinks, which is quite simple compared to other breeds, they are the most delightful animal to work with.
I love teaching my dogs tricks, although I haven't taught Ashley any where near as many as I taught Sherry. I use clicker training and food luring to teach tricks. Sherry knows wave, bark, beg, weave legs, spin left and right, back in a circle, shake, hi five, roll over, play dead, (although it's the livliest dead dog I ever saw - tail goes all the time) and crawl. and some others I can't think of at the moment. Ash knows most of those, and Quinn is not the sharpest tool in the shed, and knows about half of them.
...dog that likes it's task to be described in blunt/direct black & white, to be praised when doing the right thing but told when it's not & given a moment to process it then try again,
I believe the more black and white you can be, the better any dog will pick up what's wanted. :-) A lot of it is in knowing exactly what you want BEFORE you start training.
once the Koolie gets an understanding in it's head of what you want you are away & he'll give you 200% providing he knows it's appreciated & rewarded.
That's good. I always feel sorry for dogs whose owners don't appreciate what they do for them. they talk to friends after a run, without so much as a pat for the dog! I tend to give a huge patting and game or rush to the treat box I have hidden somewhere near the ring, and have to go later and find what my time etc are!
They aren't a dog that gets distracted
Excellent!
or bored
again, Excellent!
when they understand the task & really like progress & challenges, the bigger part of your life your Koolie is the harder he'll try for you.
My dogs basically are my life. They are my main hobby, followed by gardening and Archery.
Hope that helps from my training experience.
That's a good qualifying rate! you should be proud of them.
I also clicker train, and want a dog with a good strong toy/prey drive so I can use that to train too.
I find dogs will ALWAYS trust your body language over what you say. So often you see in agility the dog go where the body said, regardless of what the mouth said! :-) I have learnt to be very precise in my body language, and very consistant. I very rarely get off course disqualifications with Ashley, as she knows and trusts my body language.
I know the De Wits and Lyn and his "Schnitzels" well, I've trained with them for many years. Dianne with little India, who had the big win is also a friend of mine. :-) I know all the others who went over too, to some degree or other. The agility world in NZ is a fairly small one :-) but getting bigger all the time.
QUOTE(dannimilo @ Oct 15 2007, 01:05 PM)
Hi Penny
Welcome to the forum.
I have a border collie Inka and a coolie called Xena and I have just got a blue merle tri girl called Gabby (boy is she noisy)I have only had her for a week. I do both obedience and agility with my two girls. The coolies are easy to train and dont seem to forget what they have been taught. In agility Xena seems to read my body and knows where I want her to go where as the border I need to show her. I clicker train and play train and use food. Both of my girls pass quite regularly and with good scores. We just had a two day competition and I had 24 runs over the weekend with both my girls and had 15 qualies so I am quite proud of them. Your guys come over to SA and competed at the Nationals. Dont know if you go to there club but the Dewits Karen and Peter I think there names are and Fiona and another guy I think his name is Leo and he ran two brillliant miniture schnauzers which we ended up calling schnitzels. They ran brilliantly and did pretty good when they were here
cheers
Danni
[quote name='scouserdog' post='4592' date='Oct 16 2007, 04:21 PM']
Hi Penny
[quote]Welcome to the forum. You could not get a better companion than a Koolie. Tjukurpa gave me a rescue Koolie 3 1/2 years ago and she has been a revelation to me. I have never met such a clever dog, she is bright, hard working, obsessed with whatever she sees as work (chasing balls and herding sheep) but at home switches off to be a quiet well tempered dog who gets on well with people, including children.
I am sure there are photos of Perry around in the forum - just look for the beautiful long coat blue merle girl. [/quote]
I will look around for her. :-) I am finding this site a bit difficult to navigate, it's different from any I have come across before, please bear with me if I don't reply quickly, or my reply looks odd, it's probably because I stuffed something up, or couldn't get to the computer, as I'm away from my computer a lot.
I wanna laptop <waahhhh>
[quote]As long as you give them lots of physical and mental exercise you will be right.[/quote]
No worries there, I love taking my dogs out and doing stuff with them.
[quote]There is a Koolie here in Canberra - Kellie - who is doing very well at agility.
Perry and I are thinking of moving to New Zealand - to Christchurch - because we like a cooler climate. We could start up a New Zealand branch of the Koolie Club.[/quote]
Christchurch can have snow in winter on the hills, and be very cold, and can be very hot in summer with hot strong nor' wester winds.
Has some fantastic old exotic trees, brought with the original settlers from Britain and a good number of wonderful established gardens, it's known as the garden city. One of my Welsh pups lives there.
I'm not the best editor but I hope it helps TJ penny's reply's are in blue.
Hi Penny
[quote]Welcome to the forum. You could not get a better companion than a Koolie. Tjukurpa gave me a rescue Koolie 3 1/2 years ago and she has been a revelation to me. I have never met such a clever dog, she is bright, hard working, obsessed with whatever she sees as work (chasing balls and herding sheep) but at home switches off to be a quiet well tempered dog who gets on well with people, including children.
I am sure there are photos of Perry around in the forum - just look for the beautiful long coat blue merle girl. [/quote]
I will look around for her. :-) I am finding this site a bit difficult to navigate, it's different from any I have come across before, please bear with me if I don't reply quickly, or my reply looks odd, it's probably because I stuffed something up, or couldn't get to the computer, as I'm away from my computer a lot.
I wanna laptop <waahhhh>
[quote]As long as you give them lots of physical and mental exercise you will be right.[/quote]
No worries there, I love taking my dogs out and doing stuff with them.
[quote]There is a Koolie here in Canberra - Kellie - who is doing very well at agility.
Perry and I are thinking of moving to New Zealand - to Christchurch - because we like a cooler climate. We could start up a New Zealand branch of the Koolie Club.[/quote]
Christchurch can have snow in winter on the hills, and be very cold, and can be very hot in summer with hot strong nor' wester winds.
Has some fantastic old exotic trees, brought with the original settlers from Britain and a good number of wonderful established gardens, it's known as the garden city. One of my Welsh pups lives there.
I'm not the best editor but I hope it helps TJ penny's reply's are in blue.
Christchurch won't be as hot as Canberra - last year we had lots of days over 35C. It has already been over 30 this Spring and is expected to reach that again this weekend. I am getting old and cannot cope with it - I don't care how cold it gets in winter. Christchurch has another big advantage - it is flat - a very attractive feature for someone with a bad back. There are also lots of sheep which will make Perry a happy dog.
Here are some photos of my lovely Perry:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...og/DSCN0134.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/scouserdog/Perry.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...ramePerry18.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...ramePerry10.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...FramePerry5.jpg
Here are some photos of my lovely Perry:
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...og/DSCN0134.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/scouserdog/Perry.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...ramePerry18.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...ramePerry10.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o285/sc...FramePerry5.jpg
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