MrsD

Seita, I havent ever trialled there but have been every year for the last 10+ to catch up with old friends who are trialling or judging & it's classified by most as a very difficult trial. It is held on Oval 2 which is the one at the end of sideshow alley, this is also the oval where they judge (& exercise every morning) the cattle/sheep/goats etc. If you don't know the oval I mean, it is completely bare of shade etc but so cramped that there isnt alot of room for shade canopies etc. If you wanted to take one I would advise that you get there as early as you possibly can to get a spot. There are the usual Ekka problems of food all over the ground, rides going within spitting distance, kids screaming on the rides, crowds of people, animals walking past etc. I don't know what it's been like the last few years, but there has traditionally been low entries in most classes except for agility because of the conditions & it is usually finished fairly early. The only thing Im not sure of is if you have to come into the ground through the dog pavillion (as far away from Oval 2 as you can get ) or if they let you in the gate at the top behind the sheep/goathousing, so I cant help much with the carting gazebo question. Hope that helps.

I agree dogs are primarily visual learners. I have taught Jarrah both verbal & signal independently on most of my dancing moves & signal is always stronger even for a dog like him that is solid in verbal commands. You will find that most dogs if you turn your back & give your normal signal won't respond. However if you turn your back & mirror the signal you normally get, most dogs will respond appropriately. This is because the dog takes the "outline" of your body & with your back to them you need to use the opposite arm (or other part of the body) as that will give the same "outline" ;) . Jules, your older dog is just weird ;) . ETA - the "outline" thing is also obvious if you take your average dog & give it a well known signal in a different position ie sitting on the floor, lying down etc. Most dogs won't respond appropriately :cool: .

Dagboy is doing canine freestyle with his & is loving it .

Do you know what class it was in? It would have been Tull for sure.

:eek:

Woohooo, congratulations Border Lover ;) :rolleyes: (yes, novice sweepstakes before novice, see what Seita said above )

CCD is on the list, but it is a trial class, not a sweepstakes class, it is to get judges in training more experience. Only Novice & up are sweepstakes, but they often have CCD classes to encourage new triallers to start competing. As has been mentioned before, you are only actually required to enter a novice sweepstakes (& score 150/200) before competing at a novice trail, all the rest are really just for fun (& if you can win anything, even better ). And PAX, who are you calling weird? :rolleyes:

Hi Storm, all of the CCCQ affiliated clubs are like that, if you give us an idea of area we can point you in the right direction. FYI there is Southside, Redlands, Ipswich & Brisbane (which is at Oxley), hope one of those may be near you? ETA - $260 for a 5 week course? That is just taking the p*ss if you ask me! Never heard of anywhere that expensive, tell us where it is so we can all avoid it :rolleyes: .

Border Lover, as far as I know there isn't any sweepstakes for CCD, only for the other classes (novice up). In regards to other classes it is a way for trainee judges to get experience actually judging dogs working, the only one that is compulsary is Novice sweepstakes where you must score at least 150 points (rest of the requirements remain the same) to qualify to enter a novice class at a trial. If you want to find out the rules of obedience trialling I suggest you have a look at the rulebook, copy of it is available HERE

:D we want to see it Well I could take a video, but you'd still never see it cos Dagboy doesnt sort them out & put them on Youtube for me! ETA - Dagboy just said to me "If you want your videos on Youtube you should get Jarrah to put them up there since he's so smart" :shakehead:

On Sunday I told my instructor I was going to teach Jarrah to do a backwards weave (ie I walk backwards & he weaves backwards between my legs). As of tonight he is weaving backwards to 4 of my steps. And on the spot which is even harder. That's smart .

PAX, not even in Dagboy's wildest dreams did i look like number 4, but thanks for saying it . Mooper, yes it was videoed, he hasnt had a chance to do anything with it yet though. I have to say I wasn't overly happy with it, but it did look better on video than I thought it would & I picked up a few things I need to change/fix. And yes, he most certainly is a very very clever boy ;) (Jarrah that is, not Dagboy, although he's very very clever too ). So looking forward to Steve Davies now , it's funny cos I found out on Sunday that Miss M & Ange are going to Sue Sternberg in the first part of the week (they are CAMPING ), that place is over run by us VIP members .

Just about every time I train, he astounds me with how fast he learns things, he usually grasps things in 2 or 3 repetitions & is proficient at them after only 1 or 2 short training sessions. The times he doesnt you can guarantee that it's something that I am doing that is confusing him. I have thought I have had clever dogs before but I've never had one like him, he's one in a million.

Got it on the second guess & PAX was there to see it :p , those were all supposed to be dancing smilies, I just thought the 2nd one was pretty close to showing how big my bum is :cool: .

PAX didn't do anything, I did. And no the second one just wasn't working because of a party pooper, I thought it looked alot like me, but the new one I put in the second spot is definitely even more of a dead ringer for me :p .

:p :cool: edited cos of party poopers

The clicker is fantastic for learning & shaping new behaviours, you only use it while you TEACH the dog, once the dog knows the exercise you don't need to use it anymore (unless you want to modify the behaviour). You can also change the reward to suit the dog & use a marker instead of the clicker. All of my dogs work with a marker word as well but I do find that the clicker gets better results when you first start a new exercise. As for the multiple dogs, apart from strengthening the stays or similar, why would you be trying to train 2 dogs at the same time anyway? He does work for me - I control the food & the toys, I control the resources. There has to be a reason (other than blind faith) that a dog will work for you, whether it's the anticipation of praise, food, a reward or a game, or as Tess said the dog does it to avoid the correction. The dog doesnt just work because it "loves" you.

Looks like it's just you & me PAX, well & Dagboy of course . Just to clarify, Im not actually attending the seminar (wish I could, but I can't afford to go to every one!) I will be there Saturday evening only. Ness, Kenzie looks so cute, congratulations on your new baby . That cute puppy that you see in my signature has just turned 1 year old a couple of days ago - doesnt time fly when you're having fun?

You mean Chill and the lovely Pax :p That did cross my mind when I wrote it - but then I thought "No, I got it right" :p :p . Jarrah is working so well, that it is guaranteed that he or I will stuff up bigtime :cool: . Can't wait to see you! :D

Is anyone coming to the Sue Hogben seminar this weekend at Camp Tailwaggers? I know PAX & the lovely Chill will be there, is anyone else going that I need to look out for?

I vote clicker as well, I do use a marker word as well but nothing beats the clicker for neutrality. There is no way that I would have got as far as I have in my training freestyle with Jarrah if I didn't use a clicker. I was a bit ambivilent about it when I first started but it gets a 10/10 from me now. There are 2 important things to remember when you clicker train. The first is that the clicker is merely a "marker" ie it marks or tells the dog which behaviour is correct, so the better you are with your timing, the better you will be able to help your dog (try the excercise Danni mentioned above or similarly get a friend to drop a tennis ball & click as it hits the ground). And the second thing to remember is that you use a click to teach the dog - once you have taught the behaviour & linked it with the verbal command &/or signal you no longer use the clicker for that behaviour - just like if you taught your dog to sit by pushing on it's bum, once it's learnt, you no longer have to push on it's bum. Have fun with it, I find it an incredible way to teach a whole range of behaviours that you would never be able to teach the "old fashioned" way with a check chain or compulsion .

Thanx Clover, finally have got to a stage where I don't feel like Im going to die, boy it was pretty unpleasant. How old is Harri now, he must be all grown up finally . Reddii, you are just biased cos Whisper has that same black & white coat as Xena & CK ;) . As for Jarrah, I'd rather he kept me on my toes in other ways, little shit he is :rolleyes: .

Whisper got her HIC on Saturday at the BCCQ herding trial, Jarrah stuffed up his A Course run & was a shit . I couldnt go back on Sunday because I came down with the flu, I wasn't feeling the best on Saturday & by Saturday night I was well & truly under the weather. So Jarrah still has one leg to get his HSAs title *sigh* .

I don't know what it's like because I live on the southside, but there is one at Redcliffe. Contact - Mrs A. Naguib, PO Box 493 Redcliffe 4020. Ph 32033610. ETA - If it's still in the same place you go over the bridge & head right along the waterfront & it's up on the left hand side not long before you get to the main rd where you turn left to go to Margate.

Thank you 2tollers, I think so too :D but then I am biased :D . ETA - I don't know of anything elsewhere, maybe you should start one .