trail dog suggestions

Every dog will have a 'tendency' for something. That is what training is for.

My Kelpie has a tendency to chase sheep, she is a sheepdog. Training has allowed me to ride her through a mob of sheep and have her stay focussed on me.

yea it would be a late start for her but i think she would be willing to learn ill take her out to the stable and see how she does tommorrow

Hi nate1. I would really reccommend you look at getting a Labrador. Lab's love to be part of the family and tend to consider it to be their job to be part of your family. They love to be out and about but by the same token can laze quite happily as well.

I have had a border collie. Sam was the best dog in the whole world for the situation that we were in at the time. No kids and lots of time to go hunting and beach walking with her. On the other hand when we did spend too much time at home (in her opinion) she would revert to her natural instincts as a heading dog and round up the cats or anything else she could, ie neighbours chickens. She never attacked anything she would just 'head' them. Other people we know with BC as pets have found the same thing, it is after all what they are bred to do. She was a very busy BC but that was fine because at that stage we were v busy people. I would recommend that you don't get a working type of dog which the BC is as are Heelers and Kelpies.

Now we have kids and our own business and a lot less time to regularly walk a dog. We have a choc lab (Bosley). He is the most non aggressive, easy going, get along with anyone chap. We got him from a family in the city when Boz was 3 years old. He had never seen horses in his life - or so much grass for that matter. The young horse I had at the time had never seen a dog either, they introduced themselves, Boz wagged his tail, Comet nuzzled him and they were trail buddies from that day on.

Boz is the most low maintenance animal in the world, neither short nor long haired - we never groom him. Loves to be out and about, always goes the distance. Finds water irresistable by the way, swims in EVERYTHING! But will also happily loll around the house snoring for days at a time. He does'nt care what you do with him as long as he is with you. Only one problem and that is he will eat untill he pops if you let him, Boz aspires to be obese. As for fitness he is as fit as I am and that is all he needs to be.

Don't focus on stopping her behaviour, focus on keeping her attention. Thats the biggest battle. That' how I can take 3 of my dad's working kelpies out with me on a ride and keep them away from the sheep and with the horses just by voice.

Went on a 15 mile trail ride some years back---one of the leaders had a Basset along. I was sure the dog would be three quarters dead in 5 miles time. The dog was happy going out, happy coming in, and covered twice as much ground as the horses did. Only problem was she liked to disappear into the underbrush following her nose and the horses always had a mini-heart attack when she came scampering back out.
But I have never forgotten what a solid little trail dog she was.

hey I tacked up the horse today and we went on a 20-30 minute ride with the bassett hound she did really well. I forgot about bassett hounds back in the day how they were used as hunting dogs while people were on horses she did really well i was alittle scared the horse would step on the dog or kick the dog given she hasnt been around horses much but she started out alittle shakey but she did pretty well i think she sorta understood what i was wanting out of her. she went off and smelled but she ran back i think im going to have to work on that because i think if we get in the woods she'll get lost really quick do they have gps locators for dogs??

great! I am glad you are getting her and the horse used to eachother!

maybe you can train your dog to come to a whistle. (and make sure if you whistle around the horse it doesn't spook of course)

I dunno about gps for dogs. but maybe you can put something reflective or bright colored on the dog so you can see her and a bell or something on her collar so the horse recognizes she is approaching and you can hear around for her to have an idea of where she is?

good luck with your trail riding!

~AL615

well i know they make gps locator collars and iv seen some where when the dog leaves a preset boundry it will let you know and you can call and they will help you find the dog but im looking for something that you can have a preset mobile boundry since you will be moving on a horse or iv seen where you can get a gps locator where you can track the pet yourself with a locator that you have but the ones iv found are between 90-150$ just wandering what yall do to keep your dogs from getting lost

Train them not to wander and to have an excellent recall.

I carry treats in a pouch on the saddle. My dog gets a treat after we cross roads and I use them to hold her attention when a car comes if we're on the road. IAlso for when she comes when I call her, and I've trained her to go left or right of the horse as well--all from the saddle, though she had good basic training beforehand. Good luck, sounds like a great plan!