BarkyKelpie

Reckon they'd get eaten as dog beds - my mob would, anyway Doesn't help that I use leather and suede training tugs. Generous offer, Brian! Let me do some thinking - no way would I use up that much though! If anyone in QLD/NSW is keen, we might be able to tee-up pickup/dropoff, I'm heading south through Rocky in mid-September to the west edge of Sydney (The Hills and Hawksbury area) and then to Tamworth.

Neither, really - I'm very new to leatherwork but I have done bits and pieces with fabric, I was having trouble translating what I'd do with cloth and internal seams into what I needed to do with leather with external seams, it was really useful to see it all laid out and a few different styles too. Been agonising over it a couple of weeks, but the three-part gusset in Rocky's first post is gonna do just what I'm after. So cheers, Rocky, 'cause I was about ready to chuck a tooled panel and a couple of leather straps on a cloth bag and call it good!

It matches my hair Couldn't possibly get all the colours in with solid colour lace, could I? It hasn't left the house yet, but I'll throw it in my pocket for a frisbee comp this weekend, get it proper dog-drooly.

@RockyAussie, thank you for sharing - I had an idea rattling around in my head that I couldn't work out how to do, you've answered a question I hadn't asked yet!

Very nice! Love the pink stitching and highlights, ties the whole thing together. It will look great against white fur, I hope we get to see pictures of her modelling it!

May as well be talking about two different breeds between the show and working Kelpies, there's no overlap in breeding - the show stud book has been closed for a fair while, and they have different standards. This link gets into it: http://www.wkc.org.au/About-Kelpies/Charateristics-and-Confirmation.php Lot of people breeding working Kelpies are breeding for what suits them and their situation. Australia's a big country, what suits someone in Far North Queensland working cattle that only see white man once a year probably isn't going to suit someone doing yard work with sheep in Tassie that get weighed every week. Some people don't want a dog with bite, some people need it. Some people hate a dog who barks, others find it useful. Not a one size fits all circumstance, so not just one uniform type of dog. I'll not get started on the show/sport divide beyond saying I doubt many judges would put my dogs up in the conformation ring but they do plenty well for what I do with them.

They vary a lot by lines, it makes it hard to give a generic idea. Your best bet would be to talk to breeders and meet their dogs. Not sure how many Kelpies there actually are up your way - always a bit wary of what rescue groups have called a dog's breed, because it's usually just someone's best guess off appearance. There are show and working type Kelpies in Australia, can be quite different. My guys are in the middle somewhere, show papered but go back to working sheep dogs. In general, more independent than a border collie, softer than a cattle dog (not always by much, though). Not very tolerant of repetition - you can't drill them like you might a border collie or a shepherd, doesn't matter how good your reward is, if what you're asking is boring they'll lose interest. But if it's interesting and engaging and varied, they'll go hard all day. My friend who bred my Kelpies used to breed Arabians, likes them for similar reasons. I love my guys to pieces but I don't think I would have them as pets, they are intelligent dogs and need opportunities to use that to have a good quality of life (and be pleasant to live with). Walks on leash in town aren't going to cut it. But for sure, there are some very lazy Kelpies out there too, and most show Kelpies make good pets. Just be sure on what you're getting.

It's held up just fine over the last week, so I went ahead and did up a dyed and braided show lead in the same colours. I don't actually show dogs, I just think show leads are pretty and I've wanted to make one for a while.

Agility and Canine Disc mainly, although we've at least dabbled in a lot more. Versatile dogs, for sure. There's no herding classes near where I live, can't run wool sheep here either so it's hard to get it started. Planning a road trip later this year, so hopefully we'll stop on the way for a class or two and have a go then, I'd like to see what instinct they've got.

It says on the product info it's suitable for leather. Pretty affordable and easy to find. It's an alcohol ink so does dry the leather out. Mostly, I'm wondering how it holds up over time, and whether it rubs off. If no-one here has tried it before, well, I braided up this keyring with some dyed white roo lace, we'll find out!

Yeah, that's the same as I've seen. Nice for a very strong lead, just not for what I'm after. Most of the time it's attached to her, it's gonna look like this photo - I don't really intend to use it for everyday wear, just to get to and from the training/competition ring. Bit of a speciality item I guess, you'll see what I was going for if you look up agility slip leads, or lure coursing leads.

I sorted out the removable martingale loop for Sally's collar, too. Just waiting on a smaller brass dee to arrive. I think I will get away with just the one Chicago screw for her, she's only ~15kg and fairly well behaved. We'll see how it holds up. I have one more dog to go, haven't decided what to do for him yet.

It would look gorgeous on a shepherd!

Another one! First go at tooling, lots of mistakes in it and I smudged the dye, but Kip doesn't mind. The scrollwork is a piece of a Don Gonzales pattern: https://dgsaddlery.com/product/feather-three-belt-pack/

Thanks everyone I want to keep it interchangeable between a slip lead and a martingale collar, so blood knots are out. I want her to be able to tug on the lead on the way in and out of the ring - so most of the slip lead will be braided polar fleece for a tug toy, so the perk of using rope is I can just unhitch it and throw it in the washing machine when it gets drooly, and there's no hardware her teeth could catch. Just trying to decide how to make the martingale loop while still having it strong and removable, and I will go for harness leather and chicago screws there I think - unless anyone has another idea? Then of course I will need a nice leather lead to go with that! She is absolutely energetic! She's my pride and joy.