Welcome to Lexi's web page!

  I had no idea what breed she was, and people at the local park told me that she looked like a Basenji mix, due to her ears and curly tail. But that didn't seem to fit, so I just figured that she was a unique mix. Then, in the year 2000, I was looking at a web site which listed all breeds of dogs with a picture of each breed: I came across a picture of a Kelpie, and I was blown away: My dog looked just like a Barb (a traditional black Kelpie)! I did a little more research on the Australian Kelpie and came away very impressed.

  At only twenty-three pounds, Lexi is on the smaller side of what female Kelpies are supposed to weigh, but she has the energy of at least a sixty pound dog....

  Lexi's most unique talent, is that she climbs trees. (I no longer live in Arizona as you see in that picture) She has a real affinity for squirrels (like I have an affinity for pizza) and will do almost anything to get to them. She can't completely climb trees, but the tree's bark is grippy enough, she can get up pretty high! She prefers to jump up into crooked trees which have lots of Vee's in them. Here's a picture of Lexi about eight feet up in a big tree, chasing after some squirrels (of course).

Here are two videos that show Lexi climbing trees:
Video 1
Video 2

  Lexi is quite an excellent hunter. Even on the leash, she's managed to catch about three squirrels. The squirrels jump about three feet up the side of the tree, thinking that they are safe, then along comes my jumping kelpie. *CHOMP* When she's off of the leash, she's a real hunting machine; having caught canadian geese, field mice, and squirrels. She even managed to kill a groundhog that was bigger than her.

  I can't let her off of the leash where I normally walk her (too much vehicular traffic and she doesn't slow down for anything when she's in pursuit) but when we go out to the woods, she's pretty good off of the leash, but much too fast for me to ever catch her if I needed to.

  Lexi is a very loyal dog who appears to only be scared of loud noises like thunder and gunshots. (Actually, she was once scared by my friend's Rhodesian Ridgeback.) She's travelled more than a lot of people, having been born in Arizona, flown to New Jersey and back, then rode cross country in a car from Arizona to New Jersey. Then she lived in New Jersey for a few years, followed by Pennsylvania and even a nine month stint in Kentucky. Thank goodness she's a good traveller.

  Oddly enough, she's never really interested in food, and won't eat unless she's hungry. I leave food out for her at all times (Iams dry food) and don't worry about it. Plus, she's even picky when it comes to table scraps. The only table scraps that she'll try are tuna, meat, pasta and pizza. She'll walk away from just about anything else.

  Lexi is also extremely agile and well balanced, able to jump and perch on tall objects. Luckily, she no longer jumps onto the kitchen table like she did when she was a puppy...

  Lexi is also a very clean dog. She actually grooms herself sometimes, like a cat, and she has never had that "dog" smell like some dogs have. Well, she did get sprayed by a skunk once, but that's a different smell, and one that I won't soon forget.... Her coat is very soft and doesn't require much grooming, unless it is one of her shedding seasons (which appear to happen about four times a year). I am guilty of not clipping her nails often enough though. Dogs really don't seem to enjoy that.

  Although she wasn't broken, I had her fixed anyways. The only medical situation that I've had with her, is that she broke an upper rear tooth in 2003, and I had to have it extracted. She seems to do just fine without that tooth.

  And to prove that Kelpies are an adaptable breed, this dog that I got in the desert, used to sit out in the hot Arizona sun during the middle of summer. Now, back in Pennsylvania, one of her favoite things to do, is to play in the snow. She's not much of a water dog though. She'll walk and splash around in streams, but she won't jump into a pond and chase sticks like my friends labador retrievers do. And she's not a big fan of the ocean either, but she'll play a little bit in the edge of the waves.

Woof!