BillieNZ

Pays to remember that just like in BCs there are show & working line labs. A field bred lab is very different to the obese pet up the road

Only ever heard it called baling twine...

Neat post! I look forward to attending a stock trial one day, but I think agility will definitely win at facebook here... All the under 30's will see to that! Are there many young people involved in stock trials in the States? From what I have seen here it's predominantly 30+ year old men (of which we don't have many in agility)

I write "spaniel x" or "poodle x" on my class intakes too, and at the boarding kennel I worked at. I call a Lab x Rottie a Lab x, so why not a Lab x Poodle? Would love to see a BC/Rat terrier though... I looove the look of ratties, lots of them look like my Elsie - we don't get them in NZ I seriously love all of the Border collie/terrier mixes that I have met, but I certainly wouldn't pay hundreds of dollars for one... Luckily there always seems to be accidental terrier/collie mixes being given away should I ever need another! No one tell the farmers they could be making money off their accidents though please I do think there is a place for cross breeding such as in the example above. In New Zealand pig dogs are a common mix that is bred, my sister owns a dog bred for the purpose of feral pig hunting who is one of the sweetest dogs around. They used to commonly be ridgeback/bully breed/lab mixes (which is what my sister's dog is), but now there are a lot more greyhound/collie/bully breed mixes as the pigs are getting faster. Pig dog puppies are given away or sold (rarely for over $100) with the breeders often keeping 2-3 from the litter.

Collar mania do amazing custom collars! My link For leather I like Lizard Leather and Paco collars

There are a number of gold BCs doing agility here, we always joke about them being ditzy blondes. I'm not sure if they are all related, but they are all similar crazy fast hurdle bashers.

Elsie gets bathed pretty regularly She is always covered in poop... cat poop, duck poop, chicken poop, regular bird poop... We use a gentle shampoo that doesn't have a smell, just enough to get that greasy green poop out of her fur! Luckily mud just falls off once it's dry. I think she smells lovely, and she is so soft and glossy. My partner (and one of our room mates) who has never had dogs before was worried about our house smelling like dog, but they will let her climb all over them and they don't think she smells at all. Our house probably does smell like dog to people that don't own dogs, but who gives a stuff? People tell me all the time that their breed doesn't smell, or their dog doesn't smell like dog... It's usually not true, all animals (and people for that matter) smell, you are just accustomed to it! Working in a very large boarding kennels for years I was always being told "oh my dog doesn't smell because it's such and such breed, or eats such and such food"... Sorry, they all do smell like dog, which is luckily a smell I like (as long as it's not too strong or wet!)

We do a really fun "silent night" course at our club's end of year/Christmas function. On course you can't say anything, or clap/click/stomp etc, everyone is always so surprised when the dogs go clear for the most part!

Found this last night, thought you guys might be interested. Hope you can watch these videos outside of New Zealand! - From New Zealand Sheep Dog Trial Association Straight Hunt Long Head Zig Zag Hunt Short Head and Yard

Hmmm I'm not too sure - I made a very quick switch (i.e. straight onto Pro Plan) as she had pretty bad diarrhoea on Orijen and I thought things couldn't get much worse. Her stool was pretty solid from them onwards and have not had any problems since.

Yes it's purina - I wouldn't feed any of the other pruina brands though, just pro plan. Elsie gets chicken and rice, but we're shifting her onto pro plan performance (also chicken based). Lamb based kibble makes her fart... Seriously this dog just needs to sniff lamb and she gets the most horrendous farts LOL. I would love to feed a kibble like orijen or acana, but they just don't agree with her and spending that much money to give her diarrhoea is pointless A lot of agility people I know feed pro plan, so I gave that a go and she looks great. Feed raw too for a bit of variation.

Elsie (BC x) gets 50/50 raw/kibble. We tried orijen but that gave her runs, acana gave soft poop too... Limited in our kibble range over here, so she is on pro plan now and doing fantastically. For raw she gets some prepackaged (K9 natural), and some things I buy from butchers (chicken necks/frames/hearts/livers, rabbit mince, venison bones and beef offal and bones). Lamb and pork can make her have pretty stinky farts, so we tend to avoid it for the most part. We're vegetarians at my house, so don't have a big freezer to store loads of meat, it's on my to-do list!

I can definitely see why ABC classes exist (and I always through they were "anything but collie" classes meaning any sort of collie not just Borders?). In an agility system where you need WINS to graduate through levels, if you have a dog in the same height class as Border Collies (or heading dogs in NZ), there are ALWAYS going to be dogs that are faster than yours. Plain and simple. To get through the lower levels of agility in NZ you only need Q's, but if you want to get into the top classes (where you can earn championship titles) you have to win classes, hence why the upper levels are dominated by Border Collies and Heading dogs. Over here if you have an oddball breed, the chances of you being able to earn an agility championship is pretty slim - you need multiple wins in the top level against at least 15 dogs - that generally means you need to beat at least 15 of the top Border Collies. I think our system is fair, as not just *any* dog should be able to earn a championship, but I can see where ABC handlers are coming from... Knowing that you can't even make it into the top level of the sport if you are a competitive person can't be that fun (and that's why they go out and buy Border Collies!). We have recently split height classes in New Zealand, up until a few years ago all dogs regardless of height were competing equally against each other... At least now little dogs have a chance to graduate up through the levels in the sport without having to face Border Collies (until they get to the top class).

K9 Natural (NZ made) does a freeze dried raw product for travelling. K9 Natural

My little sister's mix breed is a really good example of a dumb-smart dog. She has no motivation for anything, she likes food/cuddles/toys but good luck getting her to do anything for them... Teaching her to do really simple things is incredibly difficult, while my parents Doberman can learn anything you try to teach her very quickly. But, Libby (the mix breed) can do some VERY clever things. She can unlock and open sliding doors, windows and certain gate latches, and her cleverest trick.... Every day she jumps a fence, lets herself into the hen house and puts her head under a chicken that has just laid an egg (and gets pecked in the face for her troubles), gets the egg out and carries it out, jumps back over the fence and drops it on a concrete pad to eat it. So trainable no, but intelligent, I would say yes.

Lizard Leather Collars Paco Collars

We get the whole spoodle, labradoodle thing here too... I teach domestic obedience and in my last class 3/6 dogs were "spoodles"! Thankfully the craze hasn't jumped to other breeds, we don't have doodleman pinchers or border retrievers or something LOL. I have seen a bit of work, not high country stuff apart from on Country Calender (really good TV show about farming in NZ if you can get your hands on some!), but been to some trials before which was very interesting, and I grew up in the country and we had some friends with Huntaways and heading dogs (we just got our Doberman to do our "herding" whih is putting the chickens away at night). Love watching Huntaways work, can't help but feel proud about "our" breed though! See LOADS of heading dogs around in agility, not as many Huntaways though. Have lots of pictures of heading dogs at agility if anyone wants to see Edit to add: Country Calendar

Hahaha, maybe when spring rolls around I'll get you some lush hill photos! Stuck in winter here and it's cold and dark (and there's so much mud everywhere!) Terriers are always plotting something LOL, but really she is a very good girl and rarely puts a foot wrong Her name is Elsie Yeah very interesting shapes/sizes/colours come out of this mix. Interesting personalities too, when Elsie is playing with other dogs she starts off all crazy and makes nasty terrier noises while playing with other dogs, and after an hour or so she switches and starts eyeing them and almost looks like she is trying to herd them (which is very funny when she is playing with a bunch of cattle dogs and BCs and everyone is trying to herd everyone else). The rest of the puppies in Elsie's litter had little jack russell legs, where as Elsie looks like heading dog puppy... All legs! I know a couple more through agility, one of them is a rehome and he looks just like a little fox, he has classic BC markings, is red & white and quite small with a fine point face, erect ears and a big brushy foxtail, so cute! It always makes me giggle a bit hearing the "designer" name for them, Elsie is a mutt through and through hahaha. Lucky to have the best from both parents I think, but she is quite soft which I was surprised about.

Hello all, just thought I should pop in to say what a brilliant, informative forum this is! I have learned a lot about the Border Collie breed reading on here. I am involved in dog sports, and while I have a puppy at the moment I am already thinking ahead to dog number 2 (a few years away still!)... BCs are on my list of course, but also very interested in heading dogs (and Malinois... and Dobermans... sigh so many lovely breeds!). My gorgeous puppy is from a freebie accident litter; a farmer's working BC got knocked up by a cow-hands Jack Russell. She is the BEST dog ever, I am so stupidly in love with her! And now, pictures! Look forward to reading more, and getting to know some of you!