Rehabbing an Aggressive Australian Shepherd

After the ASCA sheepdog herding trial, my husband Matt and I took the two Border collies and Decker to the beach. Roland, my herding friend, met us there with his Border collie, Jessie. I was able to totally relax with Decker, and he had a great time chasing the girls down the beach, playing in the water. We walked up the beach some to an area that a small river runs into the ocean. Ah, fresh water.All of us humans threw lots of sticks into the water for the dogs to chase and then play tug-o …

Decker had a bath in our new Booster Bath we got a few months ago. He needed to have his hair washed to look his best for the sheepdog herding trial. This bath works great for bathing the dogs instead of using our bathtub. I don't get hair all over the place, or have a dog jump out when I am not looking, or break my back while bathing multiple dogs. The three-point restraint system holds the dog in the tub so they can't jump out, the footing surface has a rough texture so traction is maintai …

I had a new dog to train in sheepdog herding today. A tenacious Queensland Heeler was my new upstart. Her given name of Honey, was not as sweet as her name led me to believe.About a month ago, Honey had come for her very first lesson/herding instinct test. She did well that day, and she was sent home with one of my dog crates to aid in her potty training. Apparently the other dog living in the same home as Honey's, was lazy and going to the bathroom in the house. This was confusing Honey. …

The boy has sure changed for the better in the last month or so. Lots of people have been commenting to me "He has sure changed!” I thought that a test was in order, to make sure that he has changed like I had been told and been suspecting for a while.I was in need of some chicken feed for the chickens and salt for the sheep, so I went to the local feed store. The girls were in the cab with me and Decker was in the back of the pick up, as usual, which has the camper shell on it. As the feed …

We (the dogs and I) caught and killed a ground squirrel. I have been fighting them for several weeks. This year, they have been digging under the slab of the barn. That can do a lot of permanent damage to the foundation. One squirrel dug under the footing by my horse's stall and I couldn’t bait because of the danger to the horse.Then he started digging on the other side of the barn, so I put this rather large stepping-stone and placed it on the hole. Two days later, the squirrel had moved t …