Smalahundur

A bit above my dog budget too... I was very lucky with my current one though, got her a year old, great pedigree, and great personality, untrained but talented, for free! Whether we will ever make "open" level is another question

Thanks Julia for putting a bit of perspective on things. (I started wondering if I had embarrassed myself for mentioning the "M" word ). Highest price I heard of here was for the winner of last years Icelandic Nationals, Karven Taff, imported from Wales, 1,2 million isk, which is about 9500 usd. I was there, and saw him run, he looks like he was worth it. Expecting to see a lot of his offspring in the near future.

What makes me wonder is what kind of money are we talking about? I realize its´s an "it depends" question, but could anyone give a ballpark figure for an "Open dog"? Here in Iceland I heard figures for a "trained" dog (not open, I´d call it "started")of between 300 to 400 thousand isk. I figure an open dog to go for a lot more than that.

Thanks for your thorough answer (you too Gloria). I was mainly interested in the ABCA policy in these matters, and how difficult it was to ROM a certain dog.

Julie can probably answer this related question (sheer curiosity as am not living in the US) how difficult is ROM actually? What should the dog demonstrate, talent for working stock obviously, but do you know how this is evaluated?

Oh, like hash brownies...

"Ewetopia", just the name gives me the willies. Also I think the ewes in question have quite a different idea about what "utopia" is...

So, that basically means PETA´s ultimate goal is to put all domesticated animals to sleep. I would try to avoid any discussion with people who hold such extreme views. Amazing how much influence they seem to command in the U.S.

Quote from the article: Will treatment give it a good quality of life, or merely extend it? Cancer treatment for geriatric dogs, including cytostatica, radiotherapy, and bone marrow transplants? Most likely the second with the added misery of the suffering due to the effects of the therapy itself. For me the question is not very difficult. We had to put down a relatively young dog (6 years) due to cancer. She was a great character, we all loved her,but the best thing to do in her situation was to let her go.

Though I am not into agility and therefor didn´t understand a iota of the part about the Q´s, all kinds of M´s, and even a Mach (don´t you measure aircraft speed in that unit?), I think Todd´s Mom nailed it. And apparently your friend is not enjoying her/himself anymore.

For some reason only one photo to see, of a group of sheep apparently worked though there is no dog in the pic. Maybe I need a facebook account? I am one of those ever rarer individuals that has resisted that dark temptation so far....

Ben the dog whisperer? Come on, admit it you are just pulling our leg here...right? Edit, a quick google session and I learned this center, and the "dog whisperer" actually exist. But man, if this is your way of trying to advertize it, you are sure doing a lousy job...

Have fun! No advice (just a little envy)

I politely disagree, the man behind this website has no credentials apart from being able to read the label. He actually says so himself.

Huh? Those animals use said microoganisms to break down cellulose. Mammals, humans and dogs included can and will "efficiently break down plant sources of fat and protein", no other enzymes and metabolic pathways necessary, fat=fat, protein=protein. You don´t need special intestinal flora to digest a handful of peanuts (high in both fat and protein).

Why doesn´t anyone consider glasses...

My oldest dog, a 10 year old Icelandsheepdog/border collie mix has huge double, loosely attached dew claws on his hind feet. Though having taken him on trail rides, sheep gathering trips etc, difficult landscape with the kind of vegetation/surface that is not easy on dogs feet, I have never experienced any trouble with them. My feeling is that it is a cosmetic thing to remove them (especially the ridiculous obligitory removal). Funny thing is that there is an icelandic supersticion that dogs with double dew claws make better stockdogs, you encounter this belief even to this day (amongst the old timers that is). This has had the effect that you find a lot of double dew clawed individuals amongst the Icelandic sheepdogs (Not an expert on the standard, but I think it is allowed, even preferable for this race). Long story short I´d leave them alone.

I beg to differ. I am an absolute newbie at this, as some people here know from reading my posts. I am at the moment struggling to make my dog work for me, he does what he was bred for, working sheep, and does it mainly to please himself. "Working for humans" not some genetic trait unique to the border collie (imo about every kind of working dog is willing to work for the human he´s bonded to) , contrary to their talent for working sheep. This is in my (admittedly pretty limited) experience something you (the handler) have to work for. Of course there is also the distinct possibility that I stink at being a handler .

The attitude of "always blame the dog" is one I encounter alot here in Iceland. Not everybody of course, but I´ve seen a lot of exemples of terrible lack of knowledge of dog training(my wife is a vet). in those cases the horrible or just ineffective methods used lead more often than not resulting in the putting to sleep of the "hopeless/stupid/dangerous etc. etc." dog. By the way a good friend of mine, a local farmer, has three border collies. He knows his stuff, and he is polish

Great pic in that link, the dog´s expression is very clear...

I have some years of experience rounding up free range sheep here in Iceland. Though things are changing dogs haven´t been used as much as you´d expect. And I can tell you it´s the people that stress the the sheep most, sometimes in a really bad way.

Smalahundur is the icelandic term for stockdog.

I´d say the same principles apply that have been discussed in the other "huh" topic. I don´t think this game has anything to do with "herding", bet the dogs enjoy it though.

Hey you shouldn´t tell us newbies that! Well, not that I´m gonna listen, I´ll go ahead anyway, Tauta will probably be started on sheep sometime in the next couple of weeks.

At the moment I´m just concentrating on becoming a little hat...