Few questions for all you Koolie owners

There's been a big surge of Koolies on this board and I had a few questions.

I'm really thinking a Koolie may be my next dog instead of a BC. I feel like it's quite difficult to find a BC that's not sound sensitive/not reactive/social, etc. And since I'm only looking for an active pet, not planning to compete in anything a Koolie may be a much better fit. I just want a dog that I can easily take to the park, beach, camping, festivals, without worrying about stress, lots of other dogs, kids, noises, etc.

Ok so a few questions I haven't asked before.

1. Are your dogs noise sensitive at all? Thunder? Construction? Concerts nearby?

Neither Traveler nor Didgier are noise sensitive at all and they never have been. They've both heard gun shots, been at fire work shows and been in big storms and don't care at all.

2. Did your dog go through a phase of being anti-social, dog reactive, fearful of strangers when they were growing up?

Honestly, I kept looking for a fear period but either I suck at pin pointing them or they never really went through one. They've always loved people, new places and other dogs.

Didgie can sometimes be a bully to some dogs (*Cough* Zinga *Cough*) and Traveler is stiff legged around other intact males but that's about it.

3. Does your dog have any food allergies or intolerances? What do you feed? Does he/she have an upset stomach while being fed certain foods?

I feed raw (turkey, chicken, beef, pork, fish etc.) with very little issue. Traveler two years ago went through a period where he was throwing up a few times a week after eating turkey but I haven't had that issue since so it might have just been some weird bug.

I switch a lot between kibble and raw for training and I notice they tend to have looser poop when switching from all raw to all kibble and they have to poop more but nothing bigger than that.

4. Does your dog get cold easily in the winter or snow?

They do well in cold (it's the heat they actually don't seem to tolerate the best). I have a jacket for Traveler but he doesn't normally wear it. Traveler starts to shiver if he gets wet and comes out and it's cold out but it being cold has never stopped us from going on hikes.


5. Are your dogs fearful of anything and you had to work them out of it?

Traveler has never liked bikes. Probably doesn't help when I first showed him one it fell on him twice....

At most I get the startle reaction followed by then investigating it. I'll keep thinking though to see if I remember anything else!

6. Does anything stress your dog out a lot? (eg. Drooling, panting) for example if you take your dog to someone else's house, hotel, camping cabin do they appear uneasy?

Traveler hasn't been fond of being left home in crates and sometimes drools. But I will say the recent influx of competitions and staying in people's houses has seriously helped that. I think a lot of it was me not ever having to crate him and not really working on it.

They both tend to vocalize displeasure rather than get nervous.


7. How does your dog react to strangers coming into the house?

HI! HI! BARK! HI! HI! I can stand on your head!! Look at me!! Pet me!!! HELLO!!!

8. Does your dog have any health issues at all at this point?

Nope!

Sorry kind of long and I'm not getting a dog until I've settled the next 2-3 years of my life but I've been super interested in Koolie because of how stable and well adjusted all of your koolies appear.

There's been a big surge of Koolies on this board and I had a few questions.

I'm really thinking a Koolie may be my next dog instead of a BC. I feel like it's quite difficult to find a BC that's not sound sensitive/not reactive/social, etc. And since I'm only looking for an active pet, not planning to compete in anything a Koolie may be a much better fit. I just want a dog that I can easily take to the park, beach, camping, festivals, without worrying about stress, lots of other dogs, kids, noises, etc.

Ok so a few questions I haven't asked before.

1. Are your dogs noise sensitive at all? Thunder? Construction? Concerts nearby?

Rue is sensitive to thunder and fireworks but is working through it. In her second year now if someone sets off fireworks while she is outside, she will come into the house but no longer needs to hide. She will still play if I toss for her. It's no longer a panic and run but she definitely doesn't like it. She also recovers very quickly once the noise is removed. Once while out working a thunder storm suddenly rolled in. I could tell when she shut down so I leashed her and led her to the car and her crate where we waited out the storm. After 15 minutes the storm had passes and I brought her out again to finish up our assignment.
Wasn't sure what she would do, but she was fully recovered and worked as if nothing had happened.

2. Did your dog go through a phase of being anti-social, dog reactive, fearful of strangers when they were growing up?

Never! She has always loved people and tolerates dogs just fine. She could care less about other dogs..just does her thing and ignores them. If dogs get in her face and are obnoxious about it she will let them know she prefers to be left alone. She is rather a bully with my other two dogs though.

3. Does your dog have any food allergies or intolerances? What do you feed? Does he/she have an upset stomach while being fed certain foods?

4. Does your dog get cold easily in the winter or snow?

No, she is active during winter. I never leave any of my dogs outside anytime of year. They are out with me and Rue has no problem in winter. We spend quite a bit of time outside training, biking, skiing etc. She is more cold tolerant than heat tolerant.

5. Are your dogs fearful of anything and you had to work them out of it?

We are working on teeter for agility. That has been our only issue and not sure why? I'm guessing noise as she works other moving obstacles with no problems.

6. Does anything stress your dog out a lot? (eg. Drooling, panting) for example if you take your dog to someone else's house, hotel, camping cabin do they appear uneasy?
No, not at all! We travel a lot and participate in lots of different activities with people and dogs. She has worked on farms and in zoos for SAR. Nothing phases her.

7. How does your dog react to strangers coming into the house?

She barks (all my dogs bark) when someone strange approaches the house, but once I give the all clear everyone welcomes strangers! And I do mean welcomes!!!

8. Does your dog have any health issues at all at this point?

No. She is two and so far healthy

Sorry kind of long and I'm not getting a dog until I've settled the next 2-3 years of my life but I've been super interested in Koolie because of how stable and well adjusted all of your koolies appear.

There's been a big surge of Koolies on this board and I had a few questions.

I'm really thinking a Koolie may be my next dog instead of a BC. I feel like it's quite difficult to find a BC that's not sound sensitive/not reactive/social, etc. And since I'm only looking for an active pet, not planning to compete in anything a Koolie may be a much better fit. I just want a dog that I can easily take to the park, beach, camping, festivals, without worrying about stress, lots of other dogs, kids, noises, etc.

Ok so a few questions I haven't asked before.

1. Are your dogs noise sensitive at all? Thunder? Construction? Concerts nearby?

The only thing my guys don't like are fireworks up close. The people directly behind us light off fireworks every 4th of July and my guys have a bit of a hard time with that. Mostly because Zuma barks at them and then that gets everyone all amped up. We just hang out in the basement with string cheese to reward for quiet and it's all good.

Loud cars, thunder, banging, teeters, nothing else really phases them. We play LOUD music at disc dog comps and my guys have no problems walking in front of speakers. They've also had to play disc in front of live bands during demos before and never missed a beat.

2. Did your dog go through a phase of being anti-social, dog reactive, fearful of strangers when they were growing up?
Nope. Happy go-lucky the entire time.

3. Does your dog have any food allergies or intolerances? What do you feed? Does he/she have an upset stomach while being fed certain foods?

I feed raw but switch to either dehydrated raw or kibble during traveling. My guys went cold turkey to kibble this past Friday night and everyone had solid stools the entire weekend. I haven't found any food sensitivities and I do feed a variety of proteins, organs, veggies and pretty much anything I can find.

4. Does your dog get cold easily in the winter or snow?
Nope, they handle the cold just fine. Zip had an issue seeing as though he came from Australian summer to Florida then to smack dab freezing cold Minnesota, but he adjusted after a couple of weeks. Zinga doesn't really like the heat though. I just have to pay attention during comps to keep her cool, otherwise she'll slow down a bit.

5. Are your dogs fearful of anything and you had to work them out of it?
Nothing. I can't think of a single thing that I had to desensitize either Zinga or Zip to. They don't startle easily. LOL

My favorite two stories of this are with Zip. We were at Linds' house after picking him up. Her house is pretty loud with the dogs not being happy not being involved and her conure not happy about new people in the house, so that was a lot for 10 week old zip to handle anyways. Then he bumps into a giant exercise peanut which ends up falling on him. Ya, he couldn't have cared less. He wiggled out from under it and went about his happy business.

Another Zip puppy story: I had the full height teeter set up in the backyard. Tim let Zip out and of course 4 month old puppy goes running up and over the teeter before Tim could stop him. I tell him not to let Zip on it again, but before Tim could grab him, Zip was already up and over it again. Most puppies would've thought twice after that big of a drop, not Zip!

6. Does anything stress your dog out a lot? (eg. Drooling, panting) for example if you take your dog to someone else's house, hotel, camping cabin do they appear uneasy?
Zinga has a hard time being crated if we are at a disc dog comp when I'm playing another dog. Otherwise, nope. They just kind of go with the flow elsewhere.

7. How does your dog react to strangers coming into the house?

Strangers get mauled with kisses and groin punches.

8. Does your dog have any health issues at all at this point?
Nope! Very happy about that! After coming from danes, I really wanted a dog that was hardy. So glad to have found that with koolies!

There's been a big surge of Koolies on this board and I had a few questions.

I'm really thinking a Koolie may be my next dog instead of a BC. I feel like it's quite difficult to find a BC that's not sound sensitive/not reactive/social, etc. And since I'm only looking for an active pet, not planning to compete in anything a Koolie may be a much better fit. I just want a dog that I can easily take to the park, beach, camping, festivals, without worrying about stress, lots of other dogs, kids, noises, etc.

Ok so a few questions I haven't asked before.

1. Are your dogs noise sensitive at all? Thunder? Construction? Concerts nearby?

Not at all, in fact they run to loud noises to investigate lol As my 2 koolies are sleddogs they have to be fine around loud noises because at sleddog races there's usually several hundred dogs all barking, woo wooing and going crazy wanting to run.

They have never been scared of thunder or fireworks either


2. Did your dog go through a phase of being anti-social, dog reactive, fearful of strangers when they were growing up?

Nope, neither went through stages like this, they have to work in a team and at training and races they have to pass and be passed by other sleddogs teams - last season during a few races we had several other teams go for our koolies several times - NOT ONCE did our boys react (they just tried to move out of the way) - NOR did it traumatize them at all - they just kept on running as if nothing had happened.

The ONLY time I have heard Smudge give a low grumble was when we bought in an outside male sibe for stud with our sibe, as Smudge believed she was HIS girlfriend and this intruder was getting to have his fun - but Smudge is entire and so having a bitch in season about can explain it and he did it only once and when I told him to stop it he did.

My koolies love everyone and believe everyone is there for them to receive pats, they are GREAT with my kids and even though they can be hyper they calm right down around my toddler.

3. Does your dog have any food allergies or intolerances? What do you feed? Does he/she have an upset stomach while being fed certain foods?

No allergies at all, I feed raw prey model type diet - all sorts of animals, sheep, cows, pigs, chicken, duck, rabbit, goat, fish, kangaroo not once have they had an upset stomach when given a meat they havent had in a while.

4. Does your dog get cold easily in the winter or snow?

Where my 2 come from it snows and they are all outside dogs and also work in the snow.

In winter we are outside a fair bit with training and racing, at night if we are camping at a sleddog race I do put dog coats on them because I dont want them to burn fat keeping warm when they have to race first thing in the morning.

But at home they will lay out in the middle of the yard even when its cold (doesnt snow here) but if they get cold they curl up together.

5. Are your dogs fearful of anything and you had to work them out of it?

lol yeah Turbo is fearful of missing out on all the action so has to be right where things are happening all the time lol but seriously neither have any fear, they dont jump at noises, they are not bothered by new people, dogs or situations.

Turbo will climb on anything, walk along anything and balance on the craziest things, he is one of the bravest dogs I have ever had!


6. Does anything stress your dog out a lot? (eg. Drooling, panting) for example if you take your dog to someone else's house, hotel, camping cabin do they appear uneasy?

Nothing, they love exploring new places, meeting new people and are an amazing versatile and adaptable breed. With training and going to sleddog races we are camping often and they sleep in a dog trailer over night. Never had any issues with new situations or surroundings.


7. How does your dog react to strangers coming into the house?

Their tails, well whole body, wags even faster!! They have never met someone they dont love and want attention from!

However, twice Smudge has bailed up someone in my back yard who had jumped my fence - it was an amazing deep and different to normal bark, he was standing there going off and surprised me, however Id consider them more of an alert dog than guard dog.

8. Does your dog have any health issues at all at this point?

None at all, I like to choose breeds free of a lot of health issues and also have a long life span, my koolies have never had any health issues and have always been very fit and healthy.

Sorry kind of long and I'm not getting a dog until I've settled the next 2-3 years of my life but I've been super interested in Koolie because of how stable and well adjusted all of your koolies appear.