Kelpie Discussions

Kelpie

The Australian Kelpie is extremely agile and light footed, capable of a lightening start and a quick dead stop. They are an outstanding shepherd dog with strong natural herding and guarding instincts. A loyal companion with an inexhaustible supply of energy and devoted to their duty. Australian Kelpies are considered the best performing medium-sized sheepdog which has made them a favorite of sheep farmers worldwide
Height: 17 - 20 inches
Weight: 25 - 45 lbs.

Colors: Black, black and chestnut, red, red and chestnut, tan, dark chestnut or bluish-gray.
Coat: A close outer coat and short, dense undercoat.

Temperament: Australian Kelpies are keen, responsive, trainable.
With Children: Yes, if raised with them.
With Pets: Will herd other pets.

Watch-dog: High
Guard-dog: High, instinct to guard property is outstanding.

Care and Exercise: The Australian Kelpie needs minimal grooming. Brush their short coat or massage them with a towel. Bathe only when necessary. Daily daily exercise is essential as the Australian Kelpie is a working breed and needs to have a job to do. Free run in an open space would be enjoyable.
Training: Puppies are calm, obedient and learn well.
Learning Rate: High

Activity: Very High
Living Environment: Not suited for city living as they need plenty of room and activity to keep them busy.

Health Issues: Genetic bone disorder, hip dysplasia.

Life Span: 10 - 14 Years
Litter Size: 4 - 7

Country of Origin: Australia
History: Developed in Australia Australian Kelpies are descended from the collie and possibly the dingo. They were the result of a cross between a collie from the north of England and a black and tan female from New South Wales, Australia. Officially recognized as a breed in the 1870's. In Scottish folklore a "kelpie" is a good water spirit in the form of a horse. The writer Robert Louis Stevenson refers to the water kelpie in his famous story "Kidnapped".

Class: Herding

Wow just realised that kelpies had there own thread (yes i know i'm a bit thick!) got all excited but then realised there was little old me on my own :-(
Then I thought what the hey! i'll fill it up with my pics! so here goes.... (some of them have been seen before but I can't resist!)













Me? post to many pics? NEVER

H xx

(psssssst is there anymore kelpie peeps lurking out there?)

Gawd I love Ziggy

When you have had enuff of him, Bodhi has asked me if you'll send him her way for a play date

Ah - 'tis sweet but how can one get enough of the zigg-meister? another pic for you and bodhi



H xx

Loved the actions shots.

thanks sansorella, I love getting good pics of them in action

I have a little Kelpie trivia maybe someone can help me out with.

Does anyone know what the Kelpie population was in England in the 1960's?

My grandad worked as a security gaurd at Seaforth Docks (Liverpool) and he came home one day with this big black dog, I was about 6 or 7 at the time (around 1969-1970), I think at the time, every dog I saw was either a 'mongrel' or a German Shepherd!!! So he told me this was a Kelpie and that there were only 5 in the country, my grandad had a habit of....well, he liked to tell 'interesting stories' so I have always been curious about that. Where there only a few around then or was it another one of his whoppers?

This dog was awesome, he was bigger than mentioned in the profile, Id say he must have been almost as big as a German Shepherd, not as long in the body, thinner legs and smaller ears. The funny thing was, we had a large family, I think on my moms side there are about 20 cousins and my mom had 8 brothers and sisters....apart from grandad there were only 3 of us that werent terrified of the dog, only my youngest aunt and uncle and myself were relaxed around him. My mom said her and my grandad almost had a heart attack when I first saw him, I ran in, threw my arms around him and started rolling around the floor playing with him...he was fine. Fast forward about a year or so to me being about 8, grandad lived 2 houses down from my school so my sister and me would go there after school and mom would pick us up after work, she was mad at me for something one day, she was half way up the hallway yelling at me and I gave the dog the command to 'hold' (she was extremely ticked off that grandad had told me the dogs trigger words to attack!!!) so of course, there she is, pinned against the wall by this snarling dog, he never attempted to bite her....as long as she stayed still and I did tell her that....but she muttering under her breath "your getting a hiding for this when I get you home, your not playing out for the rest of the week....tell him to get off me"...Im thinking..."yeah right!!!! I might only be 8 but do I look daft"....anyway I ran past her to the door and yelled "out" as I went through it, Karl (the dog) just backs off and goes into the living room, calm as anything....mom comes hurling out after me, by this time Im half way home.....she saw the funny side of it....eventually...about 10 years later

The strange thing was whoever trained him, he would only respond to the person that gave the command so when my grandad had told him 'out' he stayed where he was....he did that a couple of times. Fascinating, Ive never seen anyone train a dog to specifically do that before, Ive seen them trained to only accept food from a specific person and respond only to commands that they 'seem' to associate to uniform, like a police or army but not in a situation where the dog is off duty and is with multiple people that it knows well.

Great photos BTW. Nice action shots.

I thought I'd add to this thread since I'm a proud Wroking Kelpie owner.

I also wanted to point out that there are 2 types of Kelpie. A working Kelpie & a Bench/Show Kelpie they are separate breeds & as such have different breed standards.
These are the links if anybody is interested
http://www.wkc.org.au/WKCKelDHTML.html#CHARACTERISTICS%20&%20CONFORMATION

http://www.ankc.org.au/home/breeds_details.asp?bid=133

And because we all love pictures, here are my two
Ding
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Kylie


Hope you enjoy them as much as I do,
Ami

Thank you for posting; very interesting and your dogs are both gorgeous!

Great pics of Ding & Kylie

Didn't realise the Kelpie was a cross breed ?

Great pics and info. I don't believe they are considered a cross breed.

They are a pedigree dog & have been registerd with the WKC since 1965 which have more than 40,000 dogs registered since then. The breed is in existance since the late 1800's

Isn't every dog a cross breed in it's origins?

As I thought, thanks for clearing that up.

No Prob.
Happy to share my enthusiasm for the breed.

Very interesting, I enjoyed reading about them! And of course love all the pics - good looking dogs, they are

Apologies I only said the cross breed thing cause thats the section I was perusing at the time, sorry if it offended anyone.
I love Kelpies

Wanted to put up some more Kelpie Pics.



The little one on the left is not a Kelpie just a WannaBe

Lovely pics Animad.