Mudpups

Thanks for the info Julie! The breeder has been selectively breeding for ten years, so has done some of the work for us in regards to selectively breeding for good shedders (as well as culling difficult sheep/escape artists etc). Some of ours havn't fully shed yet and do have the back blanket, although it is easily lifting off on most of them...ROFL had to do a bit of sheep wrangling to get them in the float, we'd grab one and come away with a handful of hair!) I'm quite looking forward to developing and improving the flock, but we were incredibly lucky to get f6 and f7 ewes - ewes in general are hard to get and anything over f3 is as rare as hens teeth! We decided on dorpers for many reasons - the shedding being a big thing, but also because they are good mothers, flock well, are hardy, not as picky feed wise, generally healthy, and also because their meat is not as fatty as other breeds (hubby has a medical condition that causes major problems if he eats fatty meat/food). I will post photos soon when I get a chance to re-size and upload them, LOL got chores to do now;)

I just had to come and share that we are now the proud owners of a small flock of dorper sheep:) We only have 14 - one pure bred ram, two whether lambs and one ewe lamb that are still on thier mums, and the rest are F6 ewes that have lambed before...so hopefully not going to be too difficult come lambing time. They are not dog broke, but have been reasonably well handled so are not stupid like a bunch of merinos are LOL The lady we bought them from has been breeding them for 10 years and has been extremely helpful answering six million questions (we also drenched them all so we know how to do that when the time comes around again!) Now all I need to do is train myself to work them so I can train my dogs to help

I bought a jade shepherds whistle a couple of weeks ago...I was convinced it was broken but I finally learnt to make loud noises on Christmas day - woohoo! I am getting better at making intentional sounds, and although my dogs think I am nuts, I can whistle my horses in from the back paddock for their dinner:) But Debbie - one and a half years??? I havn't even started my dogs on stock yet...have no idea what sounds to make for stock commands, LOL I am not sure their is hope for me with this thing!

Hi Caroline Whereabouts are you in Australia? We have a few things in common -we have just moved to the country as well (south west WA), only 43 acres though. We've also acquired two more working bred puppies and will be getting some dorpers in the next week or two hopefully...LOL AND...I have just purchased that dvd as well so I am interested in what others have to say about it...so far I have only watched the first ten minutes.

I don't know who owns Doc (or his breeding), but I would like to contact Doug and find out. Is the Mayanup president Andrew Gorton? Nan gave me his contact details, but I am a bit hesitant to call anyone at the moment with harvest going on, so will wait until after Christmas. Both pups are already showing keen interest - LOL in the chickens;) Must go, I think our neighbour has come to collect his sheep!

Thanks everyone:) Its over 40 degrees celcius here today, so the little tackers are flat out sleeping on the kitchen tiles enjoying the air conditioning;) Hiya Sam:) We got these two from someone here in Boyup Brook, their mum (Bonnie) is a working farm dog and their dad is Doug Collop's (Mayanup area) 'Doc' who apparently is from eastern states trial bloodlines. The Mayanup Sheepdog club is not far from us, so I am hoping to see him working next year at a trial or two.

Aww poor baby! Good for you for turning his life around, he looks like a sweetie!

Hi Beth....yeah sometimes life throws you a curve ball...things have settled down really well here now that we are on the farm, LOL the only down side is that our internet connection (reliability, speed and upload/download limits) totally sucks! Lucky I have two new baby bc's to keep me occupied!

I taught Taj to spin by luring him with a treat in a circle a couple of times, with my index finger pointing down and making a circle. After a couple of goes, I'd said 'spin' and the finger circle and didn't treat until he did the spin. Easy peasy. An index finger circle with my finger horizontal to the ground is 'rollover'. Not so sure about the wiping feet bit though;)

Thanks Paula! The pups are settling in really well, and having a ball exploring their new home:) I have some more photos I will put up in the gallery when I get them off my camera.

Its been absolutely ages since I last posted on these forums, although I have popped in to lurk every now and then. Life has kind of taken over and the last 12 months have been pretty much hell, but we have finally moved to the country (43 acres of Pure Heaven), much to Taj and Trinity's delight (we even have a very muddy creek and a winter dam...as good as the swimming pool as far as they are concerned, me I havn't quite got accustomed to the smell of swamp dog yet, but that is better than sheep and horse poo dog!). Taj is now 2.5 years old and just the most incredible dog I have ever had. Trini has just turned two and is the light of hubby's life, stubborn, strong willed but such as sweet girl (with people at least, with dogs she takes a while to defrost from being the Ice Queen and has a rather large personal space). They are both such good dogs, they'll be getting sheep for christmas. About 10 of them:) And because border collies are addictive, we have expanded our family. By two. Taj Trin And because border collies are so addictive...we have expanded our family. By two. Bolt (who is actually my daughter's first puppy) And Zeke (who was too cute to leave behind;) Sweet puppy breath almost makes the interupted nights sleep worth it. Except when they eat horse poo.

My parents 6 year old cattle dog was a constant poop eater (hers and others) but literally stopped overnight when she was switched to raw food. None of my dogs eat dog poop...but cat, chicken and possum poo are considered delicacies "Leave It" and "drop it" are our most frequnetly used commands. Michelle

Ruth, your beautiful tribute has moved me to tears. My deepest sympathy to you and Terry on the loss of such a wonderful companion and family member. RIP Buzz.

Just for interest sake, here are some photos of a working bred australian Koolie (my sisters dog Smudge), and a show bred Aussie. Smudge is my nephew and I am biased, but beauty *AND* brains can be seen in jut one photograph I think;) His ears will probably prick up at some stage, he has recently turned one.

Yup. Next year we are moving to the country:) It can't come soon enough for me, and sheep are definitely on the list:) Michelle