Shoofly Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 I was curious, do agility folks ever buy young dogs rather than puppies, like stockdog people do? I know places to try to sell a young working dog, but if i had one that i wanted to see go to someone who'd do casual herding stuff and agility with the dog, where would i go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipedream Farm Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Robin, you might want to post the question in the agility section too. Rocky? Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted February 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Just sort of thinking about things. Don't want to cross the line into advertising a particular critter here on the site since it's not kosher, ya know.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipedream Farm Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 I understand. Hope you find the right situation. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Yes they do. Some agility lists only allow rescue postings, but I'd be happy to post something for you on the ones that allow dogs for sale postings. I can also spread the word locally if you'd like. There's a couple local trials coming up in March in Youngsville. Some reasons agility people may prefer puppies is b/c they can start a lot of foundation work early on in the form of low stress training "games". However, agility people don't NEED to get a dog early on, some just prefer it that way....even though they may end up with a crazy 15 week old mountain goat puppy doing a full size teeter and Aframe on their own...oops! -Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Mountain goat puppy? I've GOT to get a pic of Ann climbing the kid's swing set. There's a side with one of those rock wall thingies (set at an angle) and she loves to run up that. No particular reason, just for the heck of it. Robin, I think the agility list (Cleanrun?) also allows dogs to be listed as available. Laura can correct me if they don't allow outright dogs for sale. When I had sport dog prospect rescues, I had Laura or someone else I knew, list them on Cleanrun and I always got an excellent response (though this was a few years ago, things might have changed since then). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Any baby pup who climbs up an Aframe set at 5'6" without hesitation is classified as a mountain goat in my book. If you build it, Rave will climb it. She has no concept of height. I'm surprised she's not climbing trees yet. The Clean Run yahoo list doesn't allow dog postings at all, rescue or otherwise, but others do, mainly AgileDogs and some local lists. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoofly Posted February 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Thanks. I don't want to cross the line into advertising a dog on here. Colin said he'd talk to you about it sunday when you go over. Mostly i was just curious if there's any market at all like that with agility folks. I'd think it would be an advantage to know a dog's build and personality rather than waiting on it to grow up into who knows what from a puppy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloRiver Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 I'd think it would be an advantage to know a dog's build and personality rather than waiting on it to grow up into who knows what from a puppy. So do I, but unfortunately these days it seems more common for people who want to win to buy a puppy from a sport breeding, and then wash it out/rehome it if it doesn't turn out to be what they wanted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Yes, to me that seems like the ideal situation. If I were a sport person looking for a dog and had limited space, I'd probably look for something in the two-year range I could do clinical screening on (eyes, ears, hips, elbows). Plus with an older dog you can figure out within a week or so whether he likes toys, will tug, has any disabling fears or phobias, etc. I've done this with so many rescues that went on to make their sport homes very happy, that I have a great fondness for this approach. And I've had two dogs now that were strictly sheepdogs until they were nearly or over three years old, and then learned flyball. One got his FDCh in just a couple of tourneys and the other is looking pretty good after just a few lessons. I'm starting to think going for older dogs over pups makes sense when it comes to sheepdogs, too, though I WUV my current puppy and have a feeling she'll be outstanding (don't we always? (c:). But I love knowing that Random will never be any less than he is as long as his health remains and I don't screw him up to badly with inept handling. Certainly his personality that meshes so well with mine will only improve as he learns to trust me more. Most of have stories about that great dog that seemed to pick US, don't we? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 The people who go through dogs like Melanie describes are indeed out there, but are few and far between. Yes, some are enamored with the sport breedings from top name competitors and erroneously think getting a dog from Miss Big Name will automatically make them a world class handler. Some people want to shape a pup from Day 1, others don't want to go through puppy hell and housebreaking. There are all types of potential owners out there, and really no specific perfect age to get a future agility dog. I've found out recently if you know which "famous sport dog" the dog you're trying to place is related to, that may generate some interest. I've had people tell me which dogs mine are related to, but as usual when it comes to that sort of thing, I'm clueless. I just ask Becca...LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve clendenin Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 I get more for moutain goats then pups. Man that takes a H=== of a breeding progam, and a lot of generations to develop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Yeah Steve, you've done a heckuva job breeding agility dogs and you didn't even know it. I'll probably be the first dog owner in my area to call the fire department to retrieve a dog from a tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted February 25, 2005 Report Share Posted February 25, 2005 Don't worry Steve - Ann is a Working Mountain Goat - I suspect we'll have something besides climbing stories to tell later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie etc Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Originally posted by Shoofly:I was curious, do agility folks ever buy young dogs rather than puppies, like stockdog people do? I know places to try to sell a young working dog, but if i had one that i wanted to see go to someone who'd do casual herding stuff and agility with the dog, where would i go? Robin - there's an agilitydogplacement list on Yahoo - I think you can advertise rescues as well as adult dogs for sale on it (all breeds and mixed). The dogs must show some sort of "aptitude" for agility in order to post on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie etc Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 oh, and yes - all but 2 of my guys were somebody else's castaways at 7 months old or more... all abca registered BC's and as good or better in agility than any of the fancy "sport-bred" BC's out there. (my own opinion, but, hey, we're all entitled, right?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rave Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Don't worry Steve, I doubt Rave will try to climb on top of a sheep like she does with a tunnel. Lest anyone think I'm asking my baby pup to do all this, I'm not, I'm trying to stop her, but the first time they sneak behind you and are suddenly on top of equipment, it takes you by surprise! :eek: This definitely falls under the don't try this at home category! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Laura, There could be advantages to Rave wanting to climb on sheep's backs. After all, isn't that why the folks in Oz use kelpies, for backing sheep? If your border collie will do it, then you're ahead of lots of other folks! J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 Absolutely - speaking as one who's been working big mobs of sheep through races a lot recently - a dog that can back would have been good to help clear sheep jams further up in the race. Laura - you could try a trick the old-timers used here - get a sheep/lamb-skin and drape it over the tunnel. (Well, the old-timers used a big log or a drum, but same thing.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 How DOES backing work exactly? Rick used to jump on top of the sheep if he got frustrated trying to get sour sheep out of a corner or pen when he was quite young, but it didn't do anything. He'd just jump up and then off again when nothing happened and he quit when he learned to pull them out correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted February 28, 2005 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 I don't know about training it, but Twist has a grip command and knows that means bite the nose (easily taught on goats who would rather keep butting than actually turn). I was quite surprised one day when the sheep were crammed in a pen with their noses in the corner and Twist was biting heels and I used her grip command and she climbed over their backs to bite a nose or two. Usually she would just go underneath legs to get to the front of the group (personally I think it's better for her health to go over backs). J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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