Poor Pebbles probably wonders what's going on, not only finding out that pigs & horses are a part of every day life around here she's been taken for two 15km walks , don't think walks were part of her previous life, I'm not game to tell her they're only going to get longer. She's also comes down the street with us, JC, Izzi & me, for coffee, me not the dogs, & learning that barging past me for her food "just don't happen around here", this morning she sat before being told , every thing must be so different & she's only been here a week . Gotta give it to her though she's a quick learner & has settled in well. I'll get some photos soon so you can all see what a sweety Pebbles is.

yes need pic's lots of pic's please how old is pebbles now? 15kms i would be hideing under te bed lol you must be fit i think 15klms would just about kill me.

I only do a 3km walk, 15km wow! And that is only a short walk for you absolutely amazing. I am building up my walk to a 6km walk slowly getting there. Pebbles sounds lovely, will look forward to seeing pictures of the georgeous girl. She sounds like a quick leaner with the sit before she gets fed.

My girls do it now my only by hand signals, I sometimes torture them by walking away while they are in the wait mode before I give them the eat signal. Talk about drool puddles. lol.

Would love to see some photos of the pig herding too please. I hope that is not asking for too much.

I might let a pen of pigs out & set up a photo, but will put photos of the girls on asap, i'm in training for a 100km charity walk, JC did 60 of it with me last year, at 10yo, so we'll see what the three of them can do this year.
I'll bring Pebbles to your place Ceejay & we can have a drool off, yuck, she's the first dog i've owned that drools, don't know where she gets that much spit from LOL.

Got any pics yet???? Wanna see the puppy!!!!

Izzi just telling us that we said don't eat the horse poo, We didn't say nothin' about rolling in it..
Pebbles just relaxing as she settles in to long walks and no manicured lawns. They did 21kms the other day in training for the 100kms walk in Oct.
Will get some pig working shots later Bluedog.. Pebbles was born 25July 07 and Izzi is 26Aug 07
Bill

They both look quite stunning, don't they.

Love the horse poo! There is a garden up the street with horse poo in it and on Paxy's first walk she decided that it was sooooo interesting!!

Love Pebbles - just gorgeous!! Love her markings!! How are her paws holding up to the long walks?

Pebbles feet seem to be coping, she's not stiff or foot sore at all & because she's real good at coming back she's off lead every where except on the main roads, only JC is off lead for the whole walk . When we got back from Thursdays walk all the dogs collapsed into snoring heaps for a couple of hours but after that Pebbles & Izzi were booring around like mad things again, don't think Pebbles is home sick at all & she's settled into her new life very well.

What a lovely pair, Pebbles is a very pretty girl any wonder you couldn't resist. Considering how close they are in age it will be interesting to see them develop and what you see as differences between the breeds. I am one of those who believe the the koolie is infact an ancestor of the Australian Shepherd. Also one of our forum members is a very successful Aussie breeder, trainer and judge and I'm sure she would be interested to see what differences and likenesses are if you don't mind keeping us informed?

The only difference I've noticed at the moment is that Pebbles is wary of people & Izzi loves everyone, but Pebbles wasn't worried about us & didn't even look back when we led her away, but we've only had her 2 weeks.
Now everyone I've got a shocking confession to make. You probably think my dogs have a wonderful life with us BUT here's a photo to show how bad they have it & I'm sure some one should call the RSPCA . Ok how many of you out there miss treat your dogs like this, sleeping on the lounge, c'mon fess up

That's terrible, don't you have any control of your animals??????????????
LOL

Paxy has just discovered she can jump onto the couch!!! She does want to treat it like a jungle gym and has managed to fall off both ends once head first and once bottom first!!! Hard landing as we have tiles on the floor but it hasn't stopped her. She even had a 5 min nap this morning on the couch. Son thought it was cute and put a blanket on her!! Just as well my OH didn't see!!!

We're going to the dogsssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh dear I must really mistreat my two they are up on the couch and bed!! Izzy my kelpie x even insists on using the couch pillows. I love the photos of your dogs dogz6 absolutely beautiful dogs, including the one of Izzi thoroughly enjoying the perfume of horse poo. I love the aussie shepherds that was another consideration when I was looking for a puppy. You must be so proud of them.

My two at the moment are covered in red clay. We visited our new block today and their is a drain and because they had been hunting quail in the grass they were hot and thirsty. Ceejay came out all brown with no white markings and Izzy was black and brown, well in fact they still are! But they had an absolute ball.

I guess I must confess as well that my crew are quite at home on the furniture.

That has been my experience with Aussies, that a lot of them aren't really interested in ppl outside their own family. Although I think they're a bit less that way now rather than when they first came Australia.

Yes Ceejay I am proud of the girls, they have the run of the house. When we're having coffee every one passing comments on them & some times kids want to pat them, at the moment I keep Pebbles back because she's a bit shy & don't want her to feel trapped but JC & Izzi love the attention. I went sand hill climbing today, JC only did it once then watched from the car, Pebbles managed 3 times & joined JC, but Izzi did the full 6 & kept running past me licking my face on the way up, YUCK doggy spit , see told you I torture my dogs. We start dog school tomorrow night & I'm looking forward to it so much I've even enrolled for the beyond basics course, do you think I'm getting ahead of myself a bit we haven't even passed the basics yet. Look at how much I've rattled on here, you should hear me in person i think people cross the street when they see me coming LOL. Ok gone now.

dogz6 - What part of Murray Bridge to you come from?? I lived there from about 1997 to 2000 on Mitchell Avenue, loved the dry weather!!

Hey JackieH,
Just outside the Bridge on the Road to Palmer about 6kms from town. Been here since Easter 93' so if you had coffee at Steamers Dock Cafe in the main street you may well have seen us. Regular haunt on Friday mornings as I have a bucket of long black and Sue will have her Chocolate chip muffin and Chino with the dogs sleeping on their blanket. Talking to anyone who says hello as they pass by. Been there 3hrs some days. Every second Friday for me but make up for that on other days when not working.. It's a tough job but someone has to look after the local economy. Might as well be me,
B.

Don't mind you prattling on acutally I love people that can hold a conversation or even a written one.

Pebbles has very similar attributes to Izzy my Kelpie X she is also timid around new situations and people. Slowly she is getting better, I tend to throw her in the deep end with situations and just watch her. For example yesterday went out to a friends place, who had her mum and friend visiting with dogs also. There were 9 dogs all up, and Izzy went beautifully. Izzy does not like being cornered much either. Now Ceejay just expects everyone to love her and she has the patience of a saint when it comes to puppies and children.

But Izzies progress is going remarkably, my OH said when the real estate agent came in today Izzy barked twice and then came up to the lady. 6 months ago she would have barked like crazy and run away.


Dogz6 you should open up a health farm with the amount of exercise that you do, you could make a little fortune. lol. Or maybe a fat farm for overwieght dogs.

See how can prattle on too!

Dogz6

I was not home much when I was there and only had a couple of dogs my first ACD and a German Shephard. When I was home I walked everywhere we only had one car down there and I never seemed to use it much. We lived at the start of Mitchell Drive with my ex-sister-in-law. My ex was a truck driver so we were away a lot. Previous to that I lived in Adelaide and worked for and with horse transporters Hanns Horse Transport for about 7 years from late 80's. So I spent a lot of time in SA for a while anyway before comeing home to Queensland.

Ceejay I think we all can prattle especially about dogs or horses.

I took my team to Cairns on the weekend to visit a friend in suburbia and together we had 10 dogs zooming around in a normal house yard!! they had a ball... The Koolies are very sociable dogs and enjoy a good game.

10 dogs in a house yard OMG it would have looked like a lost dogs home, when I walk down the street with three dogs people ask if I've got enough & how do I manage them all . That's a good idea Ceejay might start a doggie fat farm, there are lots of lazy people with fat dogs around, poor things, dogs not the owners. After I get off the computer I'm going to give Izzi & Pebbles a bit of mental exercise. I did my first night at dog school last night, with out dogs, & we were given some home work to do before next weeks lesson with dogs. The teacher is nice, she's a level 4 instructor & has cretificates in America & Australia, got lots of work to do with Izzi but I'm sure Alexis can fix me, I know it's the owner that needs training not the dog, you'll all hear how it's going though.

You don't happen to know what the US certification is, do you? CPDT? or a CABI program? I'm toying with the idea of doing one, but don't think you can sit the CPDT exam here. CABI stuff is all online and Deb Millikin who's from SA has been promoting it a lot, so maybe it's that.

What's the homework?

If you look up her web site www.scholarsincollars.com.au it tells all about her credentials & the classes, after having Alexis come here for 2 private sessions I think she can help me a lot & after doing the same thing for so long I'm finding it hard to change my ways & know I need help . The homework this week is targeting, put both hands behind my back, one with food & clicker, then put my empty hand palm first in front of my dogs nose as soon as she touches my palm click & reward, don't say a word very hard for me LOL, then change hands, the other home work's are no snatching food, jumping up, pulling on the lead & coming when called but mine are fine with all those. I've never used a clicker before so there's lots of new stuff for me to learn, but once I get into it I'm not going to want to go to the local dog school, to much jerking & I'm not putting down the volenteers just that they won't try new things. I've been doing the natural stuff with my horses for ages now my dogs can look forward to it as well.

I see, it's CABI.