I thought i would start a little journal type thing for alice to keep you all posted on her progress. (hope this is the right section)
link to original thread http://koolie.net/exons/index.php?showtopic=2558&st=0

Ok so alice arrived with me on friday, i picked her up from brisbane airport. She was quite nervous but still stayed tall and alert, same when we finally got home and over the next two days i slowly introduced her to my crew.
When she first met smokey our cat she dropped to the ground, she looks at him occasionally like she would like to chase him but he saunters up and rubs against her silly cat but she soon looses the idea.

Saturday i took her for a hydrobath (i may be taking over the business so there will be lots of those to come) and by sunday she had really come out of her shell. i let her have her first big free run in the open and she really enjoyed it, come back to me without too much drama.

It appears going through her vet history and after speaking to the vet who rescued her that alices previous owner changed her name quite often. we are sticking with the name alice and she is starting to get the idea.

By monday she had fully worked out she is my dog and im not going anywhere and she seems so so happy. she spent yesterday and today with me working out the paddock and every time i called her she would come bounding up to me with the biggest grin on her face. a dog trainer friend of mine had a little play with her and says she is super intelligent and very trainable.

Today while my 4yo son was walking the house cows up to the yards i decided to let her out and see what she would do. she had met the cows and horses and was curious and unsure but not scared. she trotted along beside the car and i told her to push them up and pointed to them (they were just walking along the track they know where to go anyway) and she bounded over to where my son was, she kept looking at me so i pointed and give the command again and she started weaving behind them and my son. she kept looking to me for reasurrance which is what i love about koolies and accepted it every time i give it to her and kept going. when we got them to the yards i told her that'l do and gave her a huge pat, you could tell she was happy with herself. she quite happily then walked away with us.

i was blown away. i actually text linda to ask if she thinks she had been worked before because that was an awesome first run esp considering i was in the car not with her and she had no other dog to guide her. Linda said that she hadnt though she did enjoy herding her small dogs around lol. She did all that purely on instinct! Considering the really rough last six months or so this girl has had i think she is awesome to have taken on so much in such little time, all in her stride.

sorry people for the essay im just sooo in love with this dog, and would like to share my experiences with her with you all as well. Another big thankyou and kudos to Jackie for breeding such a lovely quality dog.



ive already posted those i will try get some nice ones of her tomorrow

Lovely to hear she's settled in so well. Alice impressed me with her recovery from events which is so important with dogs. After initially being scared by my intimidating appearance in wet weather gear (and who wouldn't be scared of a large blue hooded figure!) she recovered well and took walking in the rain in her stride and was quick to respond to some very basic leash training and coming back to me. I thought this was a great testament to her underlying temperament and breeding despite the fact that she hadn't had a lot of socialisation and had been neglected to some extent.

So well done Jackie and you Bekk!!!

Great first days Bec and Alice (if you didn't guess Alice comes from the Twilight series, Kelsey had three girls Rosalie, Isobel and Alice) I look forward to your new adventures and really hope that we get to catch up at the workshop in September!! Alice's mum Kelsey is a great worker, she is due to have puppies next Wednesday!

You just have to love the natural ability of the Koolies !

well i for one can testify that jackies dogs are handsome smart loving and are great workers, as you all know that i have coopers here and could never part with him he is very loyal to me so much that he will not go to anyone else for a pat which in one way is great nobody would be able to pinch him which i have worried about in the past because so many people (as in cattle farmers) that have just about drooled over him and have asked to buy him from me. in fact i like jackies dogs so much that i am getting one of Kelsy's pups as i was very impressed with her and jackie's Frazzle at our last workshop

We are hoping to attend the workshop.

I was really expecting alot more dramas with her esp with timidness but to date there hasnt really been any. I have done a bit of lead training with her and she responds really quickly when you are concentrating on leading her, but as most the time i am in a hurry to get from point a to point b she is a bugger at pulling, that will be resolved in time though. I took her to town the other day and she didnt do it when my 4yo was leading her but she was pulling real bad on me. she especially loves children, which i like to see in a bitch.

My other half is going out to st george to a station this weekend to take his bull arab for a hunt, he is also taking sonny to help with the mustering and to maybe try him on some goats. will be interesting to see how he goes as sonny is very green also.

i will keep poking her behind the house cows for a while and once she builds up confidence there i might draft some steers out of the beef cattle and give her a run with them, dont like to use cows and calves on green dogs as the tend to be a bit narky and can wreck their confidence. id like to run her with beau my kelpie as he is a pro, but beau is a dirty bugger and keeps trying to jump her he does it to all strange dogs, so will have to work on that also.

Alice was never a timid puppy!! just the opposite she was into everything and was easy to teach puppy tricks (bringing the ball back, roll overs etc) Rosalie her sister was extremely timid as a 5 week old puppy but by the time she was 2 months old she had outgrown it.

oh btw i love the fact she has a twilight name, im a bit of a twilight freak

sleeping with the pups, i have her tied of the night infront of our glass doors on the verandah cause she can see us in the living and lounde room.

if Alice try's to go round the front of the cattle to block LET HER you change place's with her, you go to the front and she will then go to the back that is the way the dogs work normally if you take note of my pic's the dogs are always behind the stock am i am at the front they are bring the stock to me. Dance and Ren both blew me away yesterday Dance did a class A job of getting the sheep out through a very narrow gate through the house yard up the driveway and into the day paddock, apart from the ducks my dogs have done no work since December last year, today i used Ren to get the sheep out of the night paddock and put them into the day paddock and again an A class job from Ren which really blew the socks of me because Ren has always been the clumsy one you know 4 left feet and lanky so i have not done a lot with her in the way of work i have just been waiting for her body to stop growing and catch up with her brain and by the looks of this morning it has finally happened and for doing such a great job Ren gets to stay in the house with me today out of the cold and i mean cold wind

I have a real hard time getting my head around that concept. I can maybe see how it would work in a small yard and we need to set it up so we can do alot more training in a smaller yard, but i cant for the life of me see how i could duck around to the front of the cattle in a paddock situation without upsetting the cattle??? Im a shocker for reading instructions and understanding too i really need to see it in action. Cant wait for the clinic in september.

Well alice has well and truly come out of her shell, she is a huge ball of energy and showing real keen interest on the cattle now, isnt been as careful as she was before, but at the same time she is still super easy to call back. Have been flat out with other things hope to start a bit of a training routine asap. Am looking at getting some damara sheep and having them in the house paddock for training.

Once you do a workshop or two you will definately be sucked in, we just went to the first one to get an idea what to to with the dogs, we had these super keen dogs but know idea what to do with them, we are well and trully hooked now!! and go each year and every year we come home with more skills!!

PS it is really great catching up with other Koolie people as well.

i imagine it will be the same as with the horses jackie im really looking forward to it and suprisingly so is my other half and he normally wont have a bar of any obedience/ dog training clubs, ie he wont support me in my want to join.... meh...... men lol

Alice meeting the pigs for the first time, she has really gone up a notch in confidence which is excellent and is still really willing to please.

so glad to hear that she has come out of her shell, she will make you proud at your first workshop

i dont think i could be any prouder already hey.

Sounds like Alice has settled in! Well done on helping her out and giving her a go!