Rehabbing an Aggressive Australian Shepherd

Today my friend Roland came over to socialize his pup again. Decker almost couldn't wait for her to get out of the truck. He kept trying to jump in. All four of the dogs played for quite a while. I was waiting for another friend to come over and join us with her young dog but she never showed up. After the dogs played, I decided to give them sheepdog herding lessons.I sorted out the sheep with Kate and put three non-combative ones in the round pen for Decker. I worked both of the girls onc …

Still energized by Suzy Applegate winning the Meeker Sheepdog Herding Trial (which is a very prestigious trial), I went out after lunch to work the dogs on sheep. The temperature was in the mid 80's, and I was being a little lazy. I really didn't want to especially put sheep in the round pen for Decker. I wanted to see how he would do in the field.Field work is a more advanced level of sheepdog herding work. No close fences to help guide the dog, and the dog can really get the sheep going. …

Today everybody had lessons in herding. Energized by Suzy Applegate winning the Meeker, a trial I hope to be able to go to next year, I wanted to tune up the girls for the upcoming trial season. I am real proud of Suzy, a California girl, for winning the trial with her dog Buzz. Buzz won the Meeker trial just two years ago in the Nursery level. While Suzy is a great handler, it also takes a great dog to be able to handle these tough range ewes. And winning both the Nursery level and then th …

You hoo! Dog Day again. All of the dogs love this day of agility, sheepdog herding and swimming. What a great day to be one of our dogs. I had a few errands to run before I showed up at Sandy's house for 'everything dog'.Arriving at Sandy's house, Tam is always excited, and has been a goal of mine to try to keep her calm. Decker is starting to pick up on Tam's excitement and is getting excited some too. I had forgotten my leashes and so was scrambling for spare leashes in the truck. I fou …

Tuesday went real well. In the morning, my friend Roland came over with his pup for socialization. Decker greeted Roland as his truck drove up. He was really glad to see Roland the owner of this wonderful pup that he plays with. They played and played, driving the girls mad. I drug out the Bumi toy for everyone to play tug with. They all had a great time tugging that toy. I had never seen 4 dogs all tugging the same toy all at once. But Decker and Jessy the pup had something different in …