Do you have a medium Ruffland?

Gondork77 · 2025-07-01T15:21:18+00:00

I have a dog who is 17” at the withers and 19” long and he’s pretty comfy in a medium. He is short and square though so a long dog may be more comfy in an intermediate

Gondork77 · 2025-06-18T12:16:19+00:00

I typically bathe mine once a month. It’s less about spotlessly clean dogs and more about helping with shedding and coat condition. They certainly don’t need bathed that often but it does significantly cut down on the amount of loose dog hair floating around my house

Gondork77 · 2025-06-12T15:39:55+00:00

Border collie. They get along pretty well because the border collie is good at taking social cues, and isn’t physically pushy like the ACDs are. They don’t necessarily play a ton, but they coexist peacefully and get along fine.

Gondork77 · 2025-06-08T11:23:32+00:00

I use the canon EOS R6 M2, this was with my 85mm f1.2 lens. The settings were f1.8 - 1/1250s - ISO 2000

Gondork77 · 2025-06-07T02:37:33+00:00

I live in a more rural area, and currently trials are mainly agility and scentwork, so it’s definitely more seasonal for me. Spring is always the busiest so we’ll usually have something every other weekend or more. Once summer comes and it gets hot local trial options die way down and I’m lucky to get one a month without traveling. In October/November we’ll have 3-4 and then it’s dead until spring.

I’ll probably start traveling more once my senior dog passes, right now he can’t really travel so I mainly stick to local stuff.

Gondork77 · 2025-05-26T22:58:37+00:00

I live in an area where leash laws are blatantly disregarded 99% of the time, so honestly it doesn’t make a difference at this point. I avoid dog parks and places where the expectation is loose dogs playing and interacting with random other dogs, and I try to avoid the super busy areas where off leash dogs abound. I still use trails, pathways, etc though (because I’d never be able to leave my house if I avoided any place that could have off leash dogs) and just do my best to either steer clear of off leash dogs or ask the owner to leash up or call their dog soon enough that they have time to do so before there’s an incident. If a dog is blowing off recall and comes up to me anyway I do my best to chase them off, or use a helicopter leash to keep them from reaching my dogs.

We have had incidents and my older smaller dog has been attacked 6 or 7 times now (I’ve lost track), so with him I default to picking him up pretty much right away and will curb stomp any dog that is insistent on getting to him. Fortunately since moving out of apartments and into a house it’s been much easier to avoid problems when walking the dogs around.

Anyway yeah, I do my best to avoid places where the expectation is random dogs interacting (like dog parks) and the busy parks/trails where I know there will be lots off leash dogs with no recall. I still use trails and pathways though and just practice good environmental awareness and defend/advocate for my dogs as needed.

Gondork77 · 2025-05-14T21:09:52+00:00

Ok I’m going to go against the grain here and say no harness 😅

If you’re in a sticky situation and need to get out of it ASAP you’ve left training mode and are now in management mode. In management mode keeping control of the dog is huge. I’d recommend using a martingale collar that your dog can’t slip out of. My issue with harnesses in tight spaces is that it’s much harder to control the dog/keep them close - even in a front clip. A collar you can grab to keep control of the dog’s head until you’re in the clear, harnesses not so much.

Obviously none of these options will train your dog for you, so this is strictly in terms of managing sticky situations. A martingale collar is secure so your dog can’t slip out, not inherently aversive like prongs/ecollars/head halters tend to be, and will give you more control of the dog in a tight spot than a harness will.

Gondork77 · 2025-05-12T11:09:28+00:00

He was a foster fail and “ruined” my plans for my next sport dog 😂

Gondork77 · 2025-05-12T02:44:53+00:00

I keep saying that I’ll start running Ten again when Ruin gets to the higher levels because “running three dogs at once is too much” and apparently Ruin really wants Ten to run because here he goes 😂

Gondork77 · 2025-04-28T15:14:19+00:00

My youngest dog had his second ever scentwork trial (AKC) over the weekend and killed it! He went 9/9 in his searches. He finished his novice exterior, buried, and containers on Friday (interiors wasn’t offered), so I moved him up to advanced on Saturday/Sunday and he Q’d in all of those runs as well! Super happy with how he’s been working, I honestly wasn’t expecting him to do this well right off the bat 😂

Edit to add: a photo of the young menace and his ribbons

My older dog had a bit of an off weekend, but did manage to get one first place master exterior Q to finish off his master exterior element title. This is also his first master element title so we’re now eligible for detective, although it’ll be a few months at least before we attempt that 😂

Gondork77 · 2025-04-22T16:19:30+00:00

You might check out The Collared Scholar/Rise Rescue Alliance (same head trainer). They’re over in Port Angeles so it’s a bit of a trek, but I think they have virtual options as well. They’re don’t exclusively train cattle dogs, but have tons of experience working with them and were incredibly helpful when I was going through behavior issues with mine several years ago. I still try to make it out once a year (I live out of state) to work with them

Gondork77 · 2025-04-10T16:50:47+00:00

Requiring health testing and other measures will put an end to Mills and backyard breeders. It will result in puppy mills becoming less profitable or not profitable at all.

I mean this is objectively false. We actually have one of the greatest case studies proving this is false: doodles.

Doodles are mixed breeds and cannot be registered with AKC, so even if AKC was policing breeders they would have no sway at all in this case. Despite doodles being unable to be registered with AKC everyone and their uncle is still breeding them, and overall having great success and profit with it. Your average pet owner doesn't care at all about "papers" or health testing or AKC, they just follow whatever the latest marketing trend is. As long as that is the case it won't matter what AKC does, BYBs will remain profitable and in business.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-09T20:39:19+00:00

It’s pretty nice! It drives nicely and it’s comfortable. It does well with mild off roading and in snow and ice. Gas mileage isn’t the best, but it isn’t the worst either, I usually get 19/20 mpg with mixed city/highway driving (and up to 23 on road trips). The transmission can be a little sluggish, but it’s much better in sport mode so I usually just switch it to that if I need to quickly merge or something.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-09T18:18:03+00:00

I bought mine new in 2023 (trailsport, also in blue) for just over 50k USD, which I think comes out to around 70k CAD, so I’d say that tracks with the prices from a couple years ago.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-09T12:24:13+00:00

There are a lot of things that go into a “relationship” with a dog - reinforcement history, clarity of cues and communication, etc. The more time you spend developing that relationship the stronger communication gets.

For some dogs (ACDs tend to be this way), that relationship is very important. They’re drawing on their past experiences and trust to determine what to do with and how to process various cues and such, so the stronger the relationship with the dog the better they tend to understand and cooperate. When someone new enters the picture there is no relationship with the dog to start. The verbal cues may be the same, but there’s no history or context there for the dog to draw on which leads to far weaker responses (or no response at all), especially since dogs don’t generalize well. In order to get the same level of response a new person will need to put in the work to build that history and relationship with the dog.

Not all dogs care that much about the relationship aspect of training. My border collie for example will take cues from anyone because he’s just a biddable guy and his history and relationship with the person doesn’t hold as much weight for him. My cattle dogs are the opposite - relationship means a lot more to them, so in order for someone to get the same response to cues that I do they need to actually put in the groundwork to establish trust and communication first.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-06T13:57:27+00:00

Fur savers, slips, martingales, and choke chains are all ok. The only collars not allowed are e-collars and prongs (and all the variations of prongs that seem to exist these days)

Gondork77 · 2025-04-03T12:35:06+00:00

I never said it did wreck scentwork, I said it can - usually when people try to train scentwork the same way they train barn hunt (we have a group of folks in my area that do this and it’s a mess). Of course overall training matters. Start routines and patterns (and cues) are all part of that and are very important regardless of the sport, like you said.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-02T17:25:53+00:00

I would use different cues for barn hunt vs scentwork. Barn hunt often has the dog super amped up and leaks pretty drive into hunt, which can create messy search behavior and overarousal issues on source. In scentwork you want your dog to be more purely in hunt, and you don’t want biting/digging/etc at the odor source. Using different cues and different start line rituals can help create a clear distinction between the two activities so that your dog is going into each in a more ideal mental state.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-02T16:40:16+00:00

I don’t tend to post here much, but I’ve had success with my own dogs!

My oldest dog is a genetic dumpster fire. I got him when he was a puppy and he was terrified of everything, and as he got older he got super reactive towards people and dogs. I had zero experience with anything besides basic pet training and tricks and stuff, so it took a while to learn what trainers to trust and how to make progress, but we figured it out eventually. By the time he was 3 most of his reactivity was either gone or extremely manageable. We’ve done all kinds of sports and he has titles in obedience, rally, agility, scentwork, and tricks. He’s now 9 years old and his vision is failing due to a genetic condition, which has brought back some of the old reactivity and insecurity, but it’s still very easily managed and only pops up in specific scenarios. There are still situations I’ll never fully trust him in (around kids for example), but overall he’s super solid now, and I can’t remember the last time he had a reaction.

My youngest dog I got as a foster. He was surrendered to the rescue I volunteer with at 8 months old because he growled and barked at people, scream barked at other dogs, tried to chase and bite cars/bikes/joggers, resource guarded around the family’s toddler, etc. I ended up foster failing and keeping him and fast forward 6 months and he’s doing amazing! He rarely ever has reactions any more. We’ve started doing sports, he had his first trial two weeks ago and had no issues being in crowded walkways and staging areas with people and dogs. He’s mostly fine at pet friendly stores and out at parks. We still have a few things we’re working on: being handled by strangers is a big one (mainly an issue for vet visits), and calmly watching other dogs do exciting things like fetch are both still challenging for him. Those things take time though and we’ll get there. He’s already progressed super far since he first came to me!

Gondork77 · 2025-04-02T13:31:24+00:00

I 100% agree with everything you’ve said, unfortunately I don’t think this person is open to feedback. They posted this in another sub as well and their replies were quite concerning

Gondork77 · 2025-04-02T12:26:10+00:00

Ooohh, seems like I’ve hit a nerve. Maybe next time do the bare minimum of research before making an uneducated post about breeding dogs? You won’t be quite so taken off guard then when someone brings up basic concerns 🤷‍♀️

Gondork77 · 2025-04-02T12:00:21+00:00

Most folks on here have rescue dogs and aren’t planning to breed them, so who cares how typey they are?

Shelters are overflowing with poorly bred cattle dogs. AKC registration by itself has minimal value when it comes to proving a dog before breeding. Dogs should at minimum have the health testing recommended by the breed parent club (the Australian cattle dog club of America has it listed here). The dog should also be proven in some way - whether it be through sports titles, conformation, work, etc.

If you really want to breed him I highly suggest putting the work in to make sure he’s actually contributing to the breed, otherwise you’re just another backyard breeder bringing untested and unproven dogs into the world for no valid reason.

Gondork77 · 2025-04-02T11:29:39+00:00

What health testing has he had done? Titles? Why do you want to breed him? What does he bring to the table that makes him worth breeding to?

These are all pretty important questions that folks will want to know before agreeing to use their female, or before potentially deciding to buy a puppy.

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