Minimor
Well-Known Member
In late March we got Kellie, the almost 1 year old Aussie/heeler cross:
She has actually worked out quite well and has learned a lot in the two months we've had her. Initially she acted completely deaf when she was off leash, but now has excellent recall; she has learned to not chase cats and knows she is not supposed to chase horses. She does get reprimanded frequently, because she loves to have the horses chase her, and if they happen to ignore her she gets in their faces trying to get their attention and coax them into chasing her. Likewise the cats--she'll go & stand over a cat in hopes that it will jump at her. It's a little annoying that she has to have the constant supervision when she is loose but overall we like the dog.
Kellie has one major fault as far as we are concerned. She will not bark! She is supposed to let us know when there are intruders present, be they stray dogs, people walking or driving into the yard or predators--foxes or coyotes that may come too close. If someone comes into the yard & is talking, she will bark. If the person does not speak--not a peep out of Kellie. Someone could drive in here & rob us blind and as long as no word was spoken, Kellie would not sound a warning. I even sneaked around the back of the house one night and approached Kellie with a blanket thrown over me. Most dogs we've had have a fit when I've tried this. Kellie? She gave one yip and a couple of whines--nothing that would alert us if we were in the house. The other night the neighbor's yellow lab was here in our yard 3 different times. The only reason we know that is the first time Mom happened to be outside & saw him. Kellie gave one woof. Next time I heard her give one woof, I went to check & sure enough, the lab was back. One "woof" wouldn't wake us up if we were sleeping when the dog came into the yard.
Our old dog Sheba is not well--she has very limited time left and at this point she is unable to bark--there is a problem with her throat. Sheba has been unwell for awhile now, but we never expected her to fail this fast, and I can't tell you how much we miss having her on guard duty here! I wish I could heal her & make her young again.
With Sheba out of commission and Kellie silent, I began to hunt for another dog--one that barks. The city pound had a Shepherd cross that looked promising, but when I went to look the pound keeper wasn't encouraging. The dog was a farm dog, 4 years old, that was owner surrendered due to allergies. He'd had the dog several weeks & she just wasn't friendly--very standoffish and had a tendency to show some fear aggression. I had this feeling that if I could have a chance to spend some time with her we would get along, but that could have been wishful thinking, just because I liked the look of the dog & WANTED her to work. In the end I walked away. A few days later I called the pound just to see if they had any new dogs--they have a website but it's not updated real often. They had a puppy in--a 5 month old GS cross puppy. I raced out to look, and was disappointed when the pup looked nothing like I was expecting. He was actually a Lab cross puppy and guess what? He doesn't bark. Nothing more than a squeak out of him since he's been in the pound. However, the pound/kennel owner said the older Shepherd had come around. He was going to have her euthanized but decided to try one more thing--he'd gone in to put a leash on her, and just like that she was friendly to him. He went & got her for me, and she came right up, sat on my feet & sat up, putting her paws up to me. I opened the truck door & she jumped in--COOL! I paid the $20 adoption fee and $11 rabies vaccine fee & brought her home after a stop at the vet clinic to have the vet give her the rabies shot. She rode on my lap for part of the way home.
she's been here only a couple days & is still settling in, but already she's a good dog--I think she's going to work out just fine. she seems okay with cats, though I'm not sure what she'll do if one runs past her, she might try to chase then. If the cats are just sitting or walking, she ignores them so that's a promising sign. I doubt she's ever seen ponies before--she checked out the one 2 year old filly really well when I took her out to meet the horses--her recall needs work, but that will hopefully come as she gets to know us better. She definitely barks--there won't be too much that gets past this one. She barked when our neighbor was rustling around in our tree line, she barks when a vehicle drives in, and I hope she will bark at foxes, coyotes & stray dogs. The nice part is she doesn't bark excessively--I'd been a little afraid that she'd bark too much and would annoy the neighbors, but that isn't the case. And I think she looks ferocious enough that people will respect her--I like that!
Her name is Lucy, and she is 4 years old. At the pound they called her a German Shepherd cross; when I first saw her I thought perhaps there was collie there, but I wonder if she isn't actually a Belgian Tervuren cross--I think she looks more Belgian than German, though I'm more familiar with the Malinois than the Tervuren. Whatever she is, we like her.
I thought maybe Lucy would teach Kellie to bark, but so far when Lucy barks Kellie just tips her head & looks at her as if to say "what's your problem?"
She has actually worked out quite well and has learned a lot in the two months we've had her. Initially she acted completely deaf when she was off leash, but now has excellent recall; she has learned to not chase cats and knows she is not supposed to chase horses. She does get reprimanded frequently, because she loves to have the horses chase her, and if they happen to ignore her she gets in their faces trying to get their attention and coax them into chasing her. Likewise the cats--she'll go & stand over a cat in hopes that it will jump at her. It's a little annoying that she has to have the constant supervision when she is loose but overall we like the dog.
Kellie has one major fault as far as we are concerned. She will not bark! She is supposed to let us know when there are intruders present, be they stray dogs, people walking or driving into the yard or predators--foxes or coyotes that may come too close. If someone comes into the yard & is talking, she will bark. If the person does not speak--not a peep out of Kellie. Someone could drive in here & rob us blind and as long as no word was spoken, Kellie would not sound a warning. I even sneaked around the back of the house one night and approached Kellie with a blanket thrown over me. Most dogs we've had have a fit when I've tried this. Kellie? She gave one yip and a couple of whines--nothing that would alert us if we were in the house. The other night the neighbor's yellow lab was here in our yard 3 different times. The only reason we know that is the first time Mom happened to be outside & saw him. Kellie gave one woof. Next time I heard her give one woof, I went to check & sure enough, the lab was back. One "woof" wouldn't wake us up if we were sleeping when the dog came into the yard.
Our old dog Sheba is not well--she has very limited time left and at this point she is unable to bark--there is a problem with her throat. Sheba has been unwell for awhile now, but we never expected her to fail this fast, and I can't tell you how much we miss having her on guard duty here! I wish I could heal her & make her young again.
With Sheba out of commission and Kellie silent, I began to hunt for another dog--one that barks. The city pound had a Shepherd cross that looked promising, but when I went to look the pound keeper wasn't encouraging. The dog was a farm dog, 4 years old, that was owner surrendered due to allergies. He'd had the dog several weeks & she just wasn't friendly--very standoffish and had a tendency to show some fear aggression. I had this feeling that if I could have a chance to spend some time with her we would get along, but that could have been wishful thinking, just because I liked the look of the dog & WANTED her to work. In the end I walked away. A few days later I called the pound just to see if they had any new dogs--they have a website but it's not updated real often. They had a puppy in--a 5 month old GS cross puppy. I raced out to look, and was disappointed when the pup looked nothing like I was expecting. He was actually a Lab cross puppy and guess what? He doesn't bark. Nothing more than a squeak out of him since he's been in the pound. However, the pound/kennel owner said the older Shepherd had come around. He was going to have her euthanized but decided to try one more thing--he'd gone in to put a leash on her, and just like that she was friendly to him. He went & got her for me, and she came right up, sat on my feet & sat up, putting her paws up to me. I opened the truck door & she jumped in--COOL! I paid the $20 adoption fee and $11 rabies vaccine fee & brought her home after a stop at the vet clinic to have the vet give her the rabies shot. She rode on my lap for part of the way home.
she's been here only a couple days & is still settling in, but already she's a good dog--I think she's going to work out just fine. she seems okay with cats, though I'm not sure what she'll do if one runs past her, she might try to chase then. If the cats are just sitting or walking, she ignores them so that's a promising sign. I doubt she's ever seen ponies before--she checked out the one 2 year old filly really well when I took her out to meet the horses--her recall needs work, but that will hopefully come as she gets to know us better. She definitely barks--there won't be too much that gets past this one. She barked when our neighbor was rustling around in our tree line, she barks when a vehicle drives in, and I hope she will bark at foxes, coyotes & stray dogs. The nice part is she doesn't bark excessively--I'd been a little afraid that she'd bark too much and would annoy the neighbors, but that isn't the case. And I think she looks ferocious enough that people will respect her--I like that!
Her name is Lucy, and she is 4 years old. At the pound they called her a German Shepherd cross; when I first saw her I thought perhaps there was collie there, but I wonder if she isn't actually a Belgian Tervuren cross--I think she looks more Belgian than German, though I'm more familiar with the Malinois than the Tervuren. Whatever she is, we like her.
I thought maybe Lucy would teach Kellie to bark, but so far when Lucy barks Kellie just tips her head & looks at her as if to say "what's your problem?"
