Collars & Leashes ~ Options For Training Your Australian Cattle Dog ~

I totally agree

Enjoyed video. I want to chat. Your girls seem so happy to just lounge and Sully is adorable. Our Silver was a gift for our 9 year grandson who lives in city and cannot have her there. We are her guardians. She had only two #2 incidents in the house when we got her at 8 weeks. First night in Dad's slipper. Ohhh! But he didn't get angry. I cleaned the shoe. The next day she was in Crate and she had upset stomach. After that, she was not crated anymore but I watched her like a hawk and exclaimed and took or scooted her outside for business. We live on large acreage and she has constant outside access. Always gave her opportunity to go outside after eating. #1 was the same except when she gets excited to see family. It's just about always with my grown daughter, whose son is the official owner, that she pp's. We try to anticipate this to prevent accidents. She walked wonderfully on lease at 3 to 4 months old and she loved attention, a lot of which she got. Our problem is sneak attacks jumping up on us front or back. In the morning she gets right in front of us and pauses. We walk around. We make coffee and give her breakfast (which she won't eat until all other offers are exhausted). She sits and watches patiently until we go toward our chairs. Then…..she jumps up on us. We scold, use no….down….sit..,etc. Resorted to coins in can and that works but we don't always have access or quick thinking to use the can. Then sometimes she runs and jumps in Dad's lap without notice. Of course, he doesn't put her down, just exclaims. He then cuddles with "no bite" words. She really doesn't bite anymore. She is seven months old. But he doesn't like mouthing. Of course, none of this is really bad except jumping and we adore her. She is taller and more lean than most ACD dogs I've seen. She is at 40 lbs now. She loves to play volleyball by herself and if we play that's fun too. Inside, while I'm sitting, she believes I should be available for play. I look forward to her naps or her trips outside. We hike about 30 minutes almost ever day off leash. She will roam some off the trail but always comes when I call. We use a halter type seat belt in car and truck and she knows if we get harness it time for a ride and she perches where she can watch the road until sleepy. No problems there. If you have words of wisdom as to the jumping please share. I just wanted to interact with you because you are very knowledgeable and enjoyable to watch.

I started watching your channel and got my Heeler about 3 weeks before you got Sully.
He’s almost 3months now and has got so much bigger! He’s starting to look like Clea!! Has been very good with listening but likes to get wild and vocal during play time. 😅

Originally named him “Ash” but i call him “Dingo” mostly because his personality.

When mine was tiny, he would slip out of any collar/leash using his back paws like a little dog Houdini. So I tested a few harnesses, and found one that worked well, with a "suitcase handle" oriented, mid-back grab point. I also found this useful as we often walked in the mountains, and he didn't really realize he was a non-flying critter, and I didn't want him to find out the hard way. (He still launches himself carefree off the stairs.) Anyways, I taught him not to pull by literally picking him up (slightly) like a suitcase for a second. He learned quickly, but what do you think of this method. It didn't seem to hurt him, but can you think of anything detrimental about it?

I think pinch collar and e-collar are total game changers. Every dog is different, just like people. I’ve taken massive criticism as you can imagine but my dogs have off leash freedom now and listen to all commands.

New heeler owner here 👋🏼 your videos have been so helpful. Thank you for pointing out the problem with assumptions in the dog community. I had a 120 lbs German Shepard and a chain collar was the only way i could get him to stop pulling me and knocking me down 😭 God bless you and your family 🤍

I used a black Herm Sprenger "Neck-Tech" prong collar when I had my Belgian Malinois which is probably one of the few breeds with more energy and drive than an ACD. It's a prong collar that doesn't look as "medieval torture device" as regular prong collars when it's on and never had anyone comment about it (to my face at least). I'm getting my true blue heeler in a few weeks and will probably get another if my new dog has pulling issues. As far as leashes I was a fan of a leash that attached around my waist and was also long enough to be held in my hand like a regular leash. It probably looked like overkill but if I ever lost grip on the hand hold I knew my Malinois wasn't going anywhere.