dot me not

I haven't had the experience with dogs, but I do have a friend that gelded her horse then suddenly decided that she wanted a foal from him. (kinda weird thinking) They bred her mare approx 2 weeks after he was gelded and she did deliver a foal the next year. Any time we geld a horse here Fran (my vet) always reminds us to keep him away from open mares for at least 30 days because they are still fertile for a time. I just don't know if horses and dogs are the same or similar.

I know many people who have not had their dogs on preventative in years, feed raw and do not vaccinate. All of these dogs test negative year after year, And even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then, thanks to luck. Those dogs have been negative because they have been lucky enough to not meet the right mosquito. Their diet and living conditions have absolutely nothing to do with it. Are you actually aware of how a dog is actually treated for heartworms (if you want to talk about toxic chemicals)? Have you ever actually seen a heart taken from a dog that died with them? I've seen several dogs die during treatment and I can tell you, it ain't pretty. For your dog's sakes, I hope your luck continues.

Some border collies are sensitive to ivermectin products. Probably best to use one of the other varieties of HW prevention. I think that the injectable, Proheart 6 is a cousin to ivermectin and would be cautious about it as well. There was a good thread on here about proheart 6 a couple of months ago but I don't know if it's still available. Might try to do a search.

There is a new all stockdog board started by Bill G. Here is the link if you'd like to check it out: www.kensmuir.com/forums

Interesting read... Have copied the info and will run it by my vet next time I talk with her and see what her response is. Thanks for the link.

Found this online when I did a search for lamb creep feeders, it was on some type of email list: "You can make a quick & dirty creep feeder out of a standard 16-foot welded hog or stock panel. Use a boltcutter or hacksaw to cut two 6-inch by 18-inch openings in the panel, cover the rough edges with duct tape or a length of split garden hose, then bend the panel into a semi-circle and fasten to a wall of the barn. You may need a couple of anchors to hold the center section down. Put a small feeder inside and maybe a bright light over it, add a little leafy alfalfa hay, and show the lambs where the goodies are." I can make one of these very easily since I have a panel or two laying around here. Rather than fastening to a barn wall, I would be hooking them up to a couple of fence posts then driving another t-post in the center to hold down the front. Still haven't found out what the standard age for weaning is, though. I may be worrying about a creep feeder when I could go ahead and just wean the cuties anyway. They range in age from 8 weeks down to 5 weeks and are eating well with their mamas, just probably not getting a whole lot with moms pushing them outa the way.

Just realized what I wrote sounded kind of weird. I don't want to work the lambs with the pups, I want the mamas for that.

Does anyone have reccomendations on creep feeding lambs, like what type of feeder? Also, at what age do you routinely wean? I want to get these guys off their mamas asap so I have extra sheep to work the pups on.

Now, he is so devoted I can't move without tripping over him. Yep, that's it! And Red is so intent on watching which direction I'm going he has frequently knocked over buckets, boxes and even a wheelbarrow! He'll be running forward while looking backward at me! Too comical...

Gosh Bill, your two sound just like my two, Hannah and Jae. I just posted some please help questions about Hannah in the training section. Any pointers welcomed.... Jae sounds just exactly like your Molly even down to size (Jae is 29 pounds and 16 months old). She's the one I ran over last fall and she's had two major leg surgeries since. One thing after another has come up but this week I decided for sure it's TIME to go to work. Yesterday, she was trying to stare the sheep into submission (lotta eye on this girl). Today the light bulb came on and she went out there and balanced them perfectly to me. I called her off several times and let her have a fresh go and she'd hit that balance point straight away every time. She was just wonderful! I didn't have to move arms, stick or anything! (And that's a real departure from Hannah!!LOL) Jae's also quite slinky and stylish. So much so that you don't even notice that one rear leg is quite a bit shorter than the other. When we were through for the day I even let her bring the sheep from the roundpen to their regular pasture which wasn't very far away, but still out in the wide open spaces. She just calmly kept them to me and waited patiently while I fiddled with the gate to let them in. Now, tomorrow all hell may break loose but today sure was nice! It leaves me looking forward to more.

Dot is one of those dogs that will work for anyone. I have noticed though that when Amy and I are together working dogs Dot gravitates to the person with the stick. Seems she associates the stick with getting to work. (I don't actually have a crook yet. I still work with one of those 4ft fiberglass sticks.)

Shoot, I still freeze up with voice or whistle on (frequent) occaision. But as I'm getting bolder and working further out the whistles are getting easier, for sure. Probably just because I have to use them more. My problem now is still with consistency. You'd think after almost a year I'd be able to make every "wee-hooo" sound the same or at least close. But there are days when two of my "wee-hooo's" in a row sound like they're coming from two different and very intoxicated people.

Hannah is a fiery red tornado. This pup is too fast for me, please help! But I did finally get her to stop circling wildly for a couple of minutes today. My ram tried to take a stand against her and quickly found she has teeth to go with her speed. He'll not be going on strike during her shift! So now for the help part. The first 2 times I took her to the sheep we were out in an approx 2 acre field and she'd just blast on around me and keep circling. Now I have her in a 50 foot roundpen so I can hopefully out maneuver her and keep her to the rear of the sheep. I got the above mentioned 2 minute success there and I was darn proud of it when I caught my breath enough to know I/we had a good moment. I know I'll need to get her back out to a bigger field soon. Just not sure of what to be looking for before I get her there. Should I wait until she's not trying at all to blast around me? Or just until she begins to understand a bit more about my body pressure and be sure to have my running shoes on? She does have a pretty darn reliable recall if things get too hairy (though they haven't been BAD, just FAST) and I have Red to help out. He's helped to start MANY pups in his day and he's really good about it all. Hannah does not yet have a lie down or stand, so I should probably work on that to help slow things down a bit?? I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud. Maybe I'm over analyzing already. I do tend to do that, but there's obviously a lot of fire in Hannah and I want to be very careful to not mess it up. Also, the monthly clinics will be starting up soon so I'll have help there too.

Bill G. writes: A 12' round pen, huh? HeHe... When I got Red I did actually have to use a 12X14 stall to get him to begin working for me. I tried for about 2 weeks to get him to even do a simple gather for me and he'd just RUN. I'd whisper come bye or waaaay to me and he'd hit the hot road back to the house! I had to pull him out from under my truck and car several times. I think he was convinced that his origional owner would come back if only he waited long enough and was loyal enough to her. Finally, out of desperation, I got him in a stall with a couple of sheep (cause I didn't have a bigger pen at the time without going to the regular fields.) I'd whisper come bye and he'd look for the door and when he realized it was closed he'd just hit the floor and look away. I just gently pushed him around with body pressure and soft whispers until he got over his guilt from "working" for someone other than his partner of 9 years. Now the funny thing is, he's just as loyal to me as he was to her. My neice was out here a week ago and wanted to try to work him. OK, fine. Red adores Amy and we thought we'd give it a try. She takes him out there to the field and sends him to the right. He's off like a bullet. Holy Cow, I thought. Ol' Red just may work for Amy. NOT He gathered up those sheep pretty as you please and brought them straight past Amy and up to where I was standing just outside the gate. Amy tried several versions of come bye, away to me, lie down and Dammit Red! All to no avail. But he has seen his previous owner several times at clinics and will very willingly work again for her. I love my dog.

I just today took 4 pups to my "new" roundpen. I found out real quick that it's too small and it's a 50 footer. Works great for horses but there isn't enough room to let things happen with the pups. I need to add several more panels to get some breathing room in there. Jae seemed fine with the closeness but Hannah wants to get off her sheep quite a bit farther but when she'd try there was a fence in her way at every turn. I'll be making a riding ring for the horses this summer and it will be approx 75 X 150. That's still small compared to what you're probably used to working cattle (I do mostly western pleasure). I did try Hannah in an actual 2 acre?? paddock to start with, but she likes to circle at Mach 2 and I'm jut too old and fat to keep up with her for more than a couple or three rounds. I'd try to block her to get her to go the other way and Hell, she'd just hit the speed of light and widen out around me. So unfortunately for the next few outings she's stuck with me in that little roundpen. I'm REALLY green on starting dogs, but I know a woman that works almost exclusively with cattle dogs. She starts hers on dog broke goats because they're more like "mini cows". They don't have the same flocking instinct as sheep, or so I've been told several times.