working kelpies and blueheelers (Australian cattledogs)

working kelpie ireland

Hi all how are you finding these dogs as workers on irish farms up against the collie

anniehoo

OP there is also a Farming forum where you might get more of a response to your query. If you want to move the thread let me know.

working kelpie ireland

Ok Annie go ahead and move it I just didn't see a good place to put d thread n thanks

Conmaicne Mara

Have a half kelpie half collie here now for a few years. Honestly found the collie a lot more biddable, kelpie is way too headstrong. Might just be the individual dog but spoke to another local man a couple of days ago that had the same opinion of his kelpie.

working kelpie ireland

Some people tend to wait to long to get them working from the age of 4 - 5 months you need to be working them they develop alot faster than a collie when did you start yours

Conmaicne Mara

We bought him partially trained at 8 months of age if I remember right.

working kelpie ireland

Do you remember where he came from and what colour is he

Conmaicne Mara

Yup, previous owner got the bitch from a man local to me. He's black with a white chest, short hair and muscle like a former East German olympian.

working kelpie ireland

Might just be unlucky with this lad they need huge amount of work infront of them to keep they mind on the job

Conmaicne Mara

working kelpie ireland wrote: »

Might just be unlucky with this lad they need huge amount of work infront of them to keep they mind on the job

Dad does be asking me when he'll "calm down", I've my doubts that he will do that. One issue with him is his blinkered focus. In particular on the hill, if a small group of ewes and lambs break away from the main bunch he won't take commands to retrieve them if all he's focused on is the main bunch. I can't remember us having a collie like that, they would look around when stopped and usually bring the strays back. Not so much of an issue on the farm, but can be a real blood pressure issue on the hill gathering

working kelpie ireland

Alot of lads forget to put a good stop on the dog's young and then find that in a case like your own you can't stop the dog to resend him and by the way did you ever run this young dog with a older more experienced dog as this can have the same effect on a young dog What happens is the older dog uses his head and keeps the flock together and the young dog does all d pushing and never gets a chance to figure out how to collect missing sheep I have seen this loads of times old dog spoils the young dog never given him a chance to do the more skilled work . Its always the case in hill dogs always send the older dog first to flock the sheep then send the young one to push them on no need for brains for that