ABC series . MUSTER DOGS (kelpies) General Chat

I liked that ‘ tale of two tails ‘ .
Funny how with dog history there is a lot of myth rolled in with the fact as stories get passed along and repeated .

I have a pup here 12 weeks old myself .
When i see the coordination the kelpies on the TV show have at that age , it is pretty amazing the way they jump off the four wheel motorbikes and out of vehicles .

My pup is from good hunting dogs known for their good noses , a Bull Arab crossed for purpose .He has some kelpie in him . i got him to protect my other dog from dingoes among other things , and to train as a big game indicating dog after my stumpy tail cattle dog pup died suddenly from something neurological a while ago .

he was weighed by the vet yesterday and is 15 kg already !
So he is a bit of a thumper almost a kelpies weight already .
His feet and legs are huge , I think he is going to be bigger than expected and thats ok , albeit the amount of food .
Thats what happens with cross breeds you can get a throwback , probably the bull arab size ,
his mum was 32 kg and dad 23 kg .
He certainly does not jump off things like that yet !

Well its hardly all work and no play , the first real reason to get a new pup is to be a mate for the other dog and myself .
More like all play and no work at the moment .

Good Luck with your new pup.

Thankyou .
It is different going through it all, the stages of raising and training a pup at different ages of your own life .

it is a relief in a way when the very young part is over , the toilet training , the chewing , and all that business.

especially if you have just been through it , oh and the early vaccination vet bills , microchip and registration !

saying that , aging yourself , it is good to wake up to a busy schedule to keep motivated and moving on too , caring for a pup and building a good lasting bond with all that work .

It was the last episode of Muster dogs on ABC today, the 12 month challenge .

The winner was Frank from Clermont Queensland with
the kelpie named Annie .

What ended up being the most interesting aspect of the experiment , was the personalities of the individual pups , the individual personalities of the trainers , and the matching up of those two.

Frank and Annie from the beginning were the standouts for me .
Franks calm kind nature towards Annie ,how he showed patience and instantly assumed the connection and communication with her .

She was stunning and attentive listening and responding to his every command in the final 12 month challenge of bringing cattle in through a gate from the paddock .

It went to prove this style of kind training.

At the end of this episode, the trainer of the dog who had named it Lucifer and had had a relationship with his pup , where it repeatedly misbehaved not listening to him announced he did not want to keep the dog , which surprised everyone .

When he asked if any of the other trainers there would like to take the dog ,
It was Frank who said yes it was a beautiful dog and he would take it .
He immediately picked up the dog and said ‘what a good dog ‘ .

Fast forward and they showed the dog at home on Franks farm working alongside the other dog Annie , obeying Franks commands well and working terrifically pushing cows up together .

Some of the other trainers went really well also , especially the Dog named Chet .

he had been kicked by a cow getting between the herd and a fence they told last episode and had to build his confidence again .

He was a terrific worker also , his trainer stood out too, as that was her bread and butter day job Chet was well versed at the job .
She had obviously put the time in with his training .

Well thats it , it all went so fast , left me remembering that intensity in those kelpies eyes that let you know its go time with them , and that they are ‘ ON ‘ , I mean FULL ON !

Really looked forward to the episodes and progress of the pups .

Very interesting. I wonder whether naming the dog Lucifer was a clue that he and the dog were not on the same wavelength from the start? Perhaps I'm over sensitive but it sounds like a joke or a tough kid name. I'm glad that Frank was able to show up his attitude to the dog.

Think in the end it showed how projecting his own negative view onto the dog could lead to further trouble .
Not that there was not signs of misbehaving , just that creating a positive path forward with the dog would have worked better .

Being stuck in reacting , instead of responding by creating a new way forward as the leader .

like that naughty kid who has a good teacher who encourages and believes in him/her kinda thing.
I know its easy to be an armchair expert after the fact , though training a puppy myself , I can see they learn at different paces .
And whats seen as naughty really is just natural inclinations most of the time , and when they do begin to ‘ come on board ‘ with you , something just clicks , and your good mates working together .

Don’t think your too sensitive by the way , There is something to be said about the power of words , or “give a dog a bad name “ too .

and in the big scheme of things , your right , evidently it was not meant to be in the end

“ COUNTRY DOGS V’S CITY DOGS “
Muster dogs ABC.

Saw an interview with Frank the Trainer of Annie the kelpie on ABC on tv today . The show was very popular with the ratings it turned out .