MrsD

Haha, that's exactly why we renamed our Jarrah (kelpie) that too - you couldn't get much closer than this! ETA - Ebony was called Ebony by her breeder, Jonty & Whisper I got to name both call name & registered name, & I chose them because I liked the names. What a stunning looking Kelpie Thank you! We think he's a very handsome man too .

Haha, that's exactly why we renamed our Jarrah (kelpie) that too - you couldn't get much closer than this! ETA - Ebony was called Ebony by her breeder, Jonty & Whisper I got to name both call name & registered name, & I chose them because I liked the names.

anytime Monique - we're going to miss you! ;)

Actually I've sent her a PM for you, so she should contact you soon .

Hey Monique, contact Maree (BC4Me), she, Gay Westmore (DwD club president) & Ros Smith all train on the northside, I'm pretty sure it's at Pine Rivers. There are quite a few of the northsiders doing DwD that train with them, if you send Maree a PM, I know she will be able to help you out . If for some reason you can't get hold of her on DOL, give me a yell & I will send you her email address.

Barb, we havent been able to take video of either of the last 2 comps as Dagboy has become equipment officer for the DwDQ club & as a result has been music man at the trials. But I am getting a copy of my routine from someone else who was kind enough to video it & put it on a disc for me, so when I get it I'll post a link for you to have a look .

I have only just seen this thread , Jarrah & I qualified in our DwD trial on Saturday night which gives him 3 legs & his title in Novice Freestyle. He worked really well & we ended up with a score of 161 & 3rd place which I was really pleased with . Tony :D for CK & Xena & congrats to your daughter & Shine Vickie .

I use a crate, 2 if I am training both. If we have the trailer with us (as we did at last night's trial) I will transfer him to his crate about 15 mins before our turn in the ring. My dogs know that being let out of the crate is when the good stuff happens, so they are always super keen to get back in there so they can come out again , so it would pretty much defeat the purpose if I kept them in the car or trailer all the time.

Serena, Im so sorry to hear this, I'll never forget meeting Rocco & Ralph, my thoughts are with you .

Pax, Jarrah had a go at him on the beach while we were on holidays a couple of weeks ago & crunched his foot in his mouth . It was a clean break, so it's just been splinted for the last 2 weeks, another 2 weeks or so & he can have it off they said. Hasn't slowed him down at all, still tries to run around like a mad thing . BC4Me - yep, 3 legs from 3 trials (Ekka, RSPCA & tonight) . Congratulations on your Starters title too, you both did so well - now you have to work on novice .

Jarrah - after tonight - Intermediate Freestyle Whisper - I need to work at getting her more reliable for her first DWD trial in March Jonty - not much right now, just getting his broken foot healed!

Tony yep - although males get away with it easy, a pair of black pants, a shirt & waistcoat will get you far ;) . Didnt know there were any males already competing, Dagboy will be disappointed ;) .

Ahhh so technically they just use the rules to suit them & put their assembly area outside away from everthing else, it got to mid 30s at our last comp up here, I don't think it being hot is an excuse. The people with multiple dogs do get a break though & just get to go in when they are ready. Can't work out the steward & lead thing, so you take your lead off in the assembly area (which is at least 12 meters away) & then you just walk through into the ring? Don't they have a ring steward? I don't remember it being that far from the outside, we have to stand around for ages waiting for the dog before us, hardly seems fair though does it? ;) Sorry for dragging it offtopic. Edited to change bend to use

I don't know why that's a rule & I don't necessarily agree with it either. But I have to say I am extremely pissed off right now to find out that NSW just flaunts the rules like that, it's just wrong. I personally (& most of the girls up here in Brisbane) have spent months & months & months on getting my dog to the stage where he will work where ever & when ever I ask him to, without toys or food or a motivator being anywhere near him & after having to stand around for ages doing nothing . Not happy Jan ;) :mad Edited to take out a comment

First trial is Feb 6th AD, if you enter I think you'll be the first male to compete in Australia - Dagboy & Tony from Canberra both keep promising but never delivering . Entries close 19th Jan I think, some of our trials don't make it into the Dog World but are word of mouth so if you want to keep in the loop I can let you know what's coming up, or there is a mailing list you can join if you want. Just remember to compete your dog has to be able to spend a considerable length of time (anywhere up to 10 mins depending on your level of competition) in the assembly area with no food, toys, motivator etc before you go into the ring .

no, not Jarrah, we are still happily doing our DwD & aren't planning on doing Dock Diving any time soon . Im not so sure he would do it actually if the frisbee goes in the water at the beach he runs the other way (& you know how crazy he is about his frisbee!). Might have to try him out & see if I can get him to jump in the dam to rescue a frisbee just to see .

I saw this the other day (recorded it) & really enjoyed it. Recognised lots of DOLers, or rather their dogs but I did recognise AgilityDog & CK straight away & when I pointed him out to Dagboy he said "Who?" (sorry Tony ) Loved Karen & her Malinois Zoya's dock diving & thought she did the DwD world proud with her tricks before her launch . As for the BC comment, only 2 (or was it 3?) out of the 6 (or 7?) dogs that did agility & only 1 out of about 7 in the dock diving doesnt equate to being over run by BCs in my book. Instead of it being the BCs are better at these sports than other dogs, maybe it's just that the better handlers happen to have border collies? :confused: BTW, congrats molasseslass on the National final, a great accomplishment .

Don't think I did a post in last year's thread, here's this years ... Jarrah Get his DwD Freestyle Novice title - he only needs one more qualie To sucessfully put together an Intermediate DwD Freestyle routine & compete (if he got any qualifiers that would be even better) To get his DwD HTM Starter title, he only needs 2 passes for this Whisper To get her DwD Freestyle Starter title, she has her first trial in Feb Jonty To get him in the DwD ring this year in Starter Freestyle ETA an apostrophe & the HTM bit.

One of mine (Whisper, my BC) has chewed since the day she came home as an 8 week old pup, no matter what it is, she just loves to chew! It's always easy to say "Keep things out of their reach", for her she will just find something to chew on, the thing she has done most damage to is our HOUSE She has chewed all of the verandah railings, door frames etc - anything made of wood that she can get to, she will chew. Chilli sauce etc hasnt helped, she just ignores it. Doesnt matter how much exercise or training she gets, she can have been out all day & she will come home in the evening, plonk herself on the verandah exhausted & fall asleep chewing the verandah rails :D :D . She's also the fastest dog I have ever met at chewing though leads, she can chew through one before you can count to 10 & now only gets tied up with a chain , she also has chewed up bits of the interior of Dagboy's car when she escaped from the crate that was in the back (she was NOT popular I can tell you!) & the number of beds etc she has gone through is many more than most dogs have in their whole lifetime. Jonty never chewed a single thing as a puppy & Jarrah chewed alot until he was about 2 years old & now only chews occasionally (he usually just runs around with a toy in his mouth), but she is now 2 1/2 years old & it doesnt look like changing anytime yet, so I feel your pain!

This is basically what I was trying to describe in my post, but Vickie explained it much better than me .

You have taught them that to walk back you must give numerous commands ("back back back back") as well as body cue & signal by walking in to them. It sounds like it's a chain of cues for them rather than just one command, it sounds like they don't actually know what the command means, try giving it to them once, with no body movement or hand signal & see what they do. My suggestion would be to go back to basics, you can teach it a different way - putting food between your legs & when they go to get it & take a step back to look at your face, click & treat - once they know what the command means give them one command & when the take a step back, reward etc until they are strong on the verbal command. Once they are solid, to increase the distance you need to wait them out, give them the command once & when they stop don't do anything, just wait them out until they take another step back & then click & treat. It doesnt take long for them to realise that they are better off to keep moving back rather than stopping. Occasionally the dog will just completely lose interest, but if the reward is high enough 99 times out of 100 the dog will try something (anything!) to get the reward & eventually will stumble upon the key to the reward ie the 2nd step back. Another thing that helps is once the dog knows the command & is walking back is to throw the treat behind them, stops them wanting to come into you all the time. If I had more time I would video Jarrah doing a walk back & I'd show you what I mean by waiting them out etc but I don't sorry, hope the explanation is of some help though.

No - but then neither can the Collie Rough in the clip .

To teach him to circle it, lure him around something smaller (a chair would be good) & when he has it transfer it to the box (not forgetting to go back to basics the first time you change the parameters like going to a new object ;) )

Piper, he is doing a weekend seminar at Camp Tailwaggers but Im not sure if there are any spots left for that one. There is more info on the evening seminar in Dec DogWorld (CCCQ) page 6.

By the way, although this is being organised by DWDQ, this seminar is not about DWD itself – after all, drive, motivation etc are vital to all our dogs, irrespective of the sport in which we engage. Richard Curtis from the UK is conducting a training seminar on topics such as puppy training, motivation, drive, accuracy, proofing and getting peak performance in the ring, at the CCCQ grounds at Durack on the evening of Wednesday 21 April 2010. Cost is $40 per person ($20 concession). For bookings, please send your name, contact details and payment to: DWDQ, 1 Butterfly Court, Benowa 4217. Cheques should be made payable to Dances with Dogs Club, Queensland. ETA - Dagboy & I are lucky enough to have been to one of his seminars before & I can vouch that he is a fantastic speaker & extremely motivational .