My friend has just bought an 8 month old kelpie bitch from a farmer who found he didn't have enough work for her. (Sounds a bit suspicious to me!) She is a lovely dog, very friendly and socialble with dogs and people, has good recall and is fast. Shes going to be an agility and flyball dog, and from the looks of it shes going to be very good. I must admit i was quite surprised as the limited knowledge i have of the breed is that they are supposed to be quite difficult dogs, and i expected her to be a bit aloof,(DOn't know why!), which she certainly isn't! Can anyone tell me anything about the breed?

I really don't know anything about them but wanted to mention that back in the 1980's, the obedience dog of the year (i.e. most wins) for several years in Sweden was a Kelpie. So they are very trainable. :)

My impression of them, adn from what others have said is that they are very trainable, but make a border collie look like the most laid back dog. They want to be on the go 24/7, so from this point of view can be very high maintenance. My two collies play 23 hours a day it seems - someone once commented that kelpies are twice as active as your average working bred collie!!!

Dear god! More active than megan! Thats a scary thought!

The farmer probably got rid of her because she didn't approve of him sleeping 6 hours a night - when she could have been working :D :D

kelpies r mad mad mad lol, thats all i gotta say :) there ment to be brill agility/wrking dogs but need to be kept active :)

I'm very pleased that your friend is going to use her for flyball and agility she has a very hard steely dog there, tough enough to round up any large animal they have quite a strong bark and character too are very fast to learn and as already stated they can out last a Collie any day of the week, (I may be wrong, correct me if so, but I think they originated way back from the Dingo) they are very hardy dogs certainly not pets unless you have a very active life.

She should be excellent if put to any type of work and will be good at agility but not a dog for the faint hearted.

Kelpies are wonderful dogs.  They are very intelligent and quick learners.  They also like to please.  BUT ... they have far more stamina than a collie and they MUST work.  My daughter's kelpie (in common with most kelpies) was (still is) extremely affectionate;  he could keep running all day even in the hottest weather.  When walked in the company of other dogs he would spend the entire time 'keeping the herd together' and occasionally trying to bring some other passing dog into the herd too.  He wouldn't even stop to relieve himself but would do that in the garden immediately he returned home.  He also had a wonderful temperament towards people and other animals.   I loved him dearly but I've moved abroad so haven't seen him since.