"An update
on Rose so far. I have to
say I was very uncertain about the decision I made to have a puppy sent to me
by plane unseen. Noonbarra Max X Noonbarra Lizzie
Red & Tan female Born: 20th May 2003
Owned by Aida in Queensland
"She's been nothing but perfect. She really is everything you'd want |
"An update
on Rose so far. I have to
say I was very uncertain about the decision I made to have a puppy sent to me
by plane unseen.
The good impression I got after my phone conversations with Mary, the very informative web-site, the distance and timing (moving house a couple of days before the puppy arrived) made me take the "risk". It's still early days, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't have picked a better puppy for myself. I adore her. From being a bit scared and jumpy when I dragged her out of the crate at the airport she has settled in incredibly well. She can now be described as very friendly, confident and curious, but still very calm for a puppy.
She has had some eventful days here. We've had some workers over to finish a few jobs on the house. She wouldn't leave them alone even though they were pretty noisy. She's been to the solicitors, the bank, the pet shop. She's met a cat, a huge dog with a head 3 times the size of her body, our 3 guinea pigs (she's not scared of them anymore), and about 60 children from the local school. I watched very closely when the kids started to surround her, ready to pick her up instantly should she be frightened. Quite the contrary...she seemed to love being the centre of attention and just couldn't get enough. She even seemed a bit disappointed that 2 of the kids actually ran past her without stopping for a pat.
I've
thought her to "sit", and she's been very good when I call her right from the
start (you must have done something here?) She turns
around at the mention of her name, and if she's looking my way and I say "come"
she's right there!
I gave her a chicken wing last night, and we got to see some of her "wild" side. She instantly ran off with it, and when I followed her and grabbed her to pull her out from under our bed she growled at me. I made sure she knew who she was dealing with before she got it back. Certainly a "goodie" she was ready to fight for.
She seemed a bit unsettled the first couple of nights, but last night went very well. She started scratching her crate at 12:30 and I took her out for a wee, and put her right back in. She then slept through to 6:30 am without a sound. Most of the time she's been an angel and very easy to deal with.
Dear Mary, Here's the photo of Rose (12 weeks) and my daughter as I promised. She's the one who came up with her name, and she absolutely adores the dog. I will send more photos as soon as I have them developed.
I can mention one little cheeky habit Rose has got. She unties peoples shoelaces. She walks up to you really close and wags her tail like she's ready for a pat. Then she quickly bends down and pull at the end of the laces and runs off triumphantly. I suppose I could tell her off for it and make her stop, but I actually think it's quite cute.
The
next one (photo) was taken when she was 11 weeks sitting in her favourite spot
on the property. There's a ridge running between the house and the bush and she
spends hours here every day!
She can just sit there looking down the slope, listening to the birds...and dream of whatever little Kelpie-girls dream of.... Sometimes she'll run along the ridge at full speed turning at the end and go back.. and then she'll sit down again.
She's got another favourite spot where she always take her chicken-wings, bones etc... For some reason she'll never eat them along this ridge.
The last one is with Helena (my daughter) at the beach about a week ago. She actually went in for a proper swim for the first time on Sunday. We have also met a Border Collie pup exactly the same age as Rose and they play so well together.
She really is the best dog, and I only find her getting better and better all the time. Apart from her size it's quite unbelieveable that she's a pup...and quite a young one too. I'm wondering when the bubble will burst as I find her "too good to be true". Hopefully it means I've been doing something right too, but I've certainly had first class material to work with.
Regards, Aida
NOONBARRA ROSE HEADING THE SHEEP
I do have an interesting story to tell though. Might not surprise you at all since you know what your dogs are capable of, but to me it's all new. I took Rose over to one of the neighbours for a chat and to buy some eggs. Rose and their dog gets on like a house on fire, and while the dogs were playing the neighbour was half way complaining to me that her dog was good for nothing and she'd really like to have a dog that could help out a little bit. Their dog is scared stiff of all the animals and won't go near them.
As we were talking we didn't see Rose disappearing round the corner. Suddenly I saw Rose full speed after a duck and I thought "S&¤t, she's gonna hurt it!". We both ran to the back of the house to find Rose in the doorway of the duck/geese pen, wagging her tail and looking extremely pleased with herself. Every single duck and goose were in there and she hadn't touched a feather. The duck we saw her running after was the last one.. and obviously not cooperating... The whole operation had taken her less than 3 minutes. (The neighbour said it usually took her 15-20 minutes before she had everyone in as she always had to go and find the last ones and carry them back)
Noonbarra Rose and Noonbarra Dusty III backing sheep in the race at Noonbarra.
Photo by owner
When she locked the door to the pen, Rose ran down the hill...and came back up with the goats!! One was lowering it's head a couple of times and tried to get her. She just jumped out of the way and went back in until the goat gave in and moved with the others. I was quite amazed watching this. When she had them all up against the fence she walked from side to side making sure none would run off again. While she did this there was no barking at all (like it is with car/bike chasing and magpie chasing), and she seemed very calm and EXTREMELY happy. It was like she knew exactly what she was doing and it was the most natural thing in the world....which to her it probably is!
I was thinking of getting her out of there a couple of times...especially with the aggressive goat, but at the same time we found it so interesting to watch that I couldn't bring myself to end it. Well, even if Rose won't be doing this on a daily basis, I think she's proven she's definitely got it in her!
She's also had a little try at "baby agility" but we won't be starting anything till we've graduated from level 2 obedience. We're still doing a little bit of extra work in the park and she now knows the command "under" and she creeps under the really low jumps, benches and tables on command.
Enclosing a recent picture of Rose and one of the guinea pigs.
Rose is still doing fantastic. She's reached adolecence though and does unfortunately realize she can run a lot faster than me and that I can't MAKE her come. Just another challenge. I just have to make myself even more attractive and interesting so she'll still WANT to come.
Obedience training:
I contacted the Dog Obedience Training Club a while ago but was told I couldn't start a level 1 course until Rose was 5 months and to get back to them then. I didn't see the point in puppy kindy as it all seemed to be about very basic knowledge for beginners and socialising the dogs which I was doing anyway. I called back 2 days ago to get her started in level 1 and was told everything was full and that I had to wait till February. To start a level 1 course in 5 months with Rose seems pretty pointless to me, so I was bold enough to say I had a very good dog and asked if there was any level 2 courses available. I was told to turn up the next day (yesterday) for an assesment by the chief instructor who would decide.
"Rose has met a new friend. A Kelpie/Cattledog cross. They're the same age and have the best plays/wrestles."
When we turned up the chief instructor who was VERY busy seemed pretty annoyed that I was there wasting her time with "just a baby" who wasn't even old enough to start level 1. She was very firm said "we're all full and I'm busy, come back in February".
I nagged her a bit further saying I'd been told on the phone that she would asses me. She then told us to come back in an hour (quietly hoping we'd just disappear I think). I took Rose for a walk and came back. The chief instructor still seemed grumpy, and said; "ok, show me how well she heels". I thought "Great start! This is the one thing she's not doing very well at, and we'll be sent home in 5 seconds" ...and Rose heeled BEAUTIFULLY. The rest of the stuff (sit, drop, stay) was all all walk in the park.
The instructors attitude changed
dramatically. "That's it! This dog is way too good for level 1 and I don't want
to loose a smart dog like this to another club over Christmas". 5 minutes later
she had us all set up with what she said was her top instructor. She is doing a
level 1 course at the moment which will finish in 2 weeks and is then doing the
last level 2 course of the year. We were told that if we wanted (we do!) we
could follow the 2 last weeks of the level 1 course and then just move on. So..we're
in!
Car/bike chasing: We have been working on this every single day for the past month and it looks like the work has paid off. From holding her back and forcing her down physically while she was wriggleing like a worm to get out of my grip to get the car she now hardly pays any attention to the car driving off up the driveway.
The big change came about a week ago when she looked at Richard walking towards the car, then looked at me coming out of the door and just lied down without a single word from me. She didn't take her eyes off the car once and her body twitched as the car drove off, but she didn't move...all without a word from me. This scenario repeated itself for a few days with less and less focus on the car, and this morning she just walked off in the opposite direction and didn't even turn her head to look at the car when it drove off. She's still extremely interested in and barks at the neighbours tractor, so I suppose it's a good idea to keep an eye on her still.
With bikes I've taken her to a park where there are quite a few cyclists. She doesn't seem to care much about strangers riding bikes, but as soon any of us gets on a bike she's right there. Makes the problem slightly easier I suppose.
Just a happy note to let you know that Rose graduated from level 2 obedience at Gold Coast Dog Obedience Club last night.
We'll get the certificate next week at a ceremony held at the Dogs' Fancy Dress Christmas Party. Not sure Rose is too keen to wear a fancy dress so a red bow will have to do!
As usual I'm enclosing a few photos. Wondering if Rose is trying to live up to her ancestors? Nah, just chasing a bug!
Rose & Aida
Stephen Bilson with Helena and Rose.
Rose is still doing great. She's become
such a beach babe. Waves almost any size does not bother her anymore. Before
she'd only go out if the water was still. Now she gets thrown in by the waves,
turn around and go straight back into the surf. She's also got her own splash
pool at home so she can cool off in the heat. She loves it, and she takes the
name "SPLASH" pool very seriously!
She's been to school today as "show and tell" where Helena brought in photos from Noonbarra and told the class about how good the Kelpies are with sheep. She did a couple of tricks for the class which was very popular. Then the kids lined up to pat her. The teacher said over and over how amazed he was that this young dog was so well behaved.
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Aida
Stephen Bilson with Rose on a visit back to the Noonbarra Stud
Rose loves it when I throw balls, sticks...whatever into the water and she leaps in and swims to get them...BUT she will never bring the object out of the water. She lets go of it about a meter or so from the edge and then looks at me and waits for me to throw it back in....which is sometimes very hard if I don't want to get wet feet and we've lost a few things as a result......
Today I brought my daugther to the park as it's school holidays...and guess what! I've been trying for weeks to make this dog bring things out of the water and suddenly she does it for Helena...over and over again! I asked her "how" and she just said "I told Rose to do it". Then I tried to throw the ball in...and she did the same old thing...dropped it in the water...not until I left did she bring it out of the water and gave it to my daughter!! Explain that!
Noonbarra Rose playing in her splash Pool
Richard bought a new mattress recently, and the old one was put on the floor for a few days before we were going to take it to the tip cause the kids had a ball jumping on it, but then Rose adopted it completely. Unless it's something very exciting happening she will not move from it....She even have second thoughts about her evening walk as it means leaving the mattress behind. Talk about lazy dog!!! Oh well, she's still quite happy to go to the dog park in the mornings...or any other time of the day, she probably thinks that evening walk is just a short boring one after all ....so now we're concidering cutting the old mattress in half making it into a new dog bed.
August 2004
"I had a baby-girl last month. Rose is a bit curious of the new creature brought into the house and she sticks her nose through the bars of her cot to get a sniff and a lick.... From sleeping under our bed, Rose has now occasionally gone to lie down under the babys cot instead...but only when the baby's there. "
Other than this there really isn't much news to report about Rose. Since she came off heat and turned one she's been nothing but perfect. She really is everything you'd want from a companion/family dog and more!!
She loves our trips to the dog park and the creek and is quite playful. She's friendly to all dogs and people (though she tends to ignore people she doesn't know very well). Recently she has started to stand up for herself a little bit more, rather than just being submissive. But she really tries to avoid conflicts.
She's started taking interest in balls, but will hardly ever take another dogs ball. If there are lots of dogs chasing a ball....she'll chase the dog who has the ball, rather than the ball itself. She runs like the wind, and so far we have only met one dog in the park that can outrun her.....and she's a wiry, little Kelpie-cross.
When there are no dogs to play with we do a bit of work in the agility playground which she loves too. She knows the commands; over, under, through, and she's impressed a few people with her two-legged walk which she's getting really good at. Though, sometimes if she gets too excited she'll start jumping.
She loves the kids and when they're outside playing she follows them around everywhere, and she seems to thrive when they have friends over and there are more of them. One little problem with a couple of kids who's scared of dogs.... Rose seems to sense this and is trying even harder for them to like her by licking them and showing them just how nice she is...which of course works the opposite way. Oh well, can't win them all!!!
The car chasing has not been a problem at all for several months now. Even without me being present she'll just watch cars drive off our property without showing any interest at all. So all the work has certainly paid off.
"Rose is also extremely good around our 2 year old and never snaps or growls even though she (Juliet) can be very mean."
"Rose has her "sanctuary" in Helena's room where she knows she can go and be left alone. Of course, we're also trying to teach Juliet to be nice to the dogs, but she can be very unpredictable and pat them one second and lash out or grab their ears and pull the very next."
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March 2007
We are all good, but busy here....and Rose is still a joy to own!!
I recently remembered a phone conversation I had with Stephen just after Rose turned 1 and I told him how good I thought Rose was, and he said something along the line of "If you think she's good now, wait till she's about 4, that's when they get REALLY good" I remember thinking "How can she get much better than perfect"? But seeing how she's turned out I must admit he was right!!
She's even fantastic with Juliet who's now in her terrible twos' and can get really nasty. Rose seems to sense when she's in a nice mood and lets come over for a pat, plays ball with her etc.... When Rose senses the nasty mood she'll keep her distance and make sure she doesn't get a chance to even touch her, but NEVER does she growl or snap at her.
Helena (11) is having a major project at school this term about dogs. They have had people from Animal Welfare League talking to the class, and last week they brought in an Old English Sheepdog (Champion show dog) and they were told a lot about the grooming requirements, preparations for shows etc..etc...
The teacher said he only wanted to bring in pedigree dogs and talk about that specific breed. Helena...being very proud of Rose, jumped up and assured him she had a pedigree dog worth talking about. She'll be the major attraction in school on Tuesday.
I think the Kelpie stands in such contrast to the Old English Sheepdog as well. Practically no grooming requirements, and probably the only pedigree dog in the world that can't be shown. The focus is all about ability and not looks.
I have taken quite a lot of the information on the Kelpie from your web-site, especially the history of the breed etc..., so I hope that's ok. Rose will also be showing off some of her ever popular tricks. Walking on two legs, talking on command etc... And we will be talking about sheepwork and trials + show some photos from Noonbarra.
The rest of the family is nagging me to get off the computer now.....they claim I promised to bake them a cake.....
Regards, Aida
