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Australian Kelpie » Australian Kelpie Forum
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Possible service dog?

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Member Since
11/30/2012		 
 
Barked: Fri Nov 30, '12 8:37am PST 
I am an experienced dog owner who has trained my own service dog (for the Deaf) in the past. My girl has just had to retire and I am looking for a new helper to train.

I have been offered my pick of some Kelpie/Labrador puppies if I'm interested. My biggest concern is that I live in an apartment and have read that Kelpies do not do well in an apartment. Would the job of a service dog be enough to occupy his/her time and attention? I know that when you are looking at a mix, you can get traits of either breed. I am familiar with labs and know that the exercise I can offer would be plenty for that bread, but I am not familiar with Kelpies at all.

Any input for experienced Kelpie owners or other service dog trainers would be appreciated. Thank you.
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Jackson Tan

Lad about town		 
 
Barked: Tue Dec 11, '12 8:52am PST 
A kelpie could do well in an apartment but only with a lot of exercise. Depending on the age over 3 hours of leash walking a day might not even be enough. This is a very active breed.

They are bred to surge ahead of the handler while working too and can be very difficult to teach how to heel. They can have a high prey drive. They can be unpredictable on the leash because of these two factors.

I have met some lab kelpies before, some were good, some were hyperactive and mouthy, but with a mix it's hard to say exactly what you will get.

What sort of tasks would the dog be doing? This is not a breed I would consider good SD material generally. They get bored really easily and are so independent have no problems just disengaging and walking off when that happens.

Many also have focus problems as they have been bred to work without direction and make their own decisions.
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