Confessions of a kelpie mum

“8 months ago, my entire life as I knew it changed. We decided we were going to get a puppy, and not just any puppy, an adorable active puppy with irresistible eyebrows, a kelpie. We went out to a farm that weekend and picked up the most beautiful black kelpie puppy and fell instantly in love.

As a family we knew they were a tricky breed, but we figured hey what the hell, we are active, we mountain bike most days, run, hike, camp most weekends, go swimming, perfect fit.

Looking back, I now know we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We may be active, but Kelpies happily do between 50 and 60 kilometres a day, and no one is that active. We quickly learned that we needed to dedicate time each week to study how to teach new tricks to keep her cognitive needs met, in addition to hours spent training her not to herd (birds, brooms, vacuum, mower, hose, skate board, bikes, cars), thousands of dollars we have spent on enrichment items (e.g., snuffle mats, the entire Kong selection, puzzles, toys, treasure hunts, dig pits, slow chews, etc), we had to change our work patterns to meet her needs, not to mention her daily exercise requirements.

Our $200 farm puppy in retrospect was not a bargain. If you see Muster dogs and you think, “oh gosh, look at those irresistible eyebrows,” STOP and do your research. We love our girl, but owning a Kelpie has required us to change our entire lifestyle for our 15-year commitment.”

Charlie