MrsD

I have used the forced retrieve on my previous 2 GSDs - result was an extremely reliable & very enthusiastic retrieve from both of them, however I never used the ear pinch to get them to open their mouths, definitely not the same way as the link ML posted. Don't know the Steve Austin way, perhaps that is more similar to what I used? Either way, there is no way on earth you could say my dogs were slow slinking or unhappy - they were mad keen once taught! We will probably use the FR on our current GSD when she gets to that level as she has absolutely no interest in toys, retrieving or chasing anything, however both Jonty & Jarrah love to play fetch, so will be shaping those two rather than using the FR.

He's Jonty's brother, isnt he? Seriously, I dont know, Im using a collar on Ebony right now, but only to stop her barking when I tell her to & that seems to be working, but I have NO clue what to do with Jonty (he barks inside the house, even when you are standing over the top of him, I wouldnt even consider a collar on him), if you get any responses I'd be interested to read them .

Persephone, . Saw on another thread you saying you only got mail twice a week, brings back memories for me, mail twice/week, fresh bread once/week (baker only baked Mondays, Wednesdays & Saturdays early morning, so if you got bread on Fridays mail run it was already 2 days old ), no electricity except a generator, gas or kero fridges (which couldnt keep things cold in that heat, let alone freeze anything), no tv etc, party line & operator connected telephone just to name a few. Sorry, very very off-topic there but it's a completely different way of life .

I have a sheltie now, have shown him a bit as a baby but mainly interested in obedience & "working" stuff . Had working kelpies many years ago when I lived on a property, we had 83,000 acres, about 6,000 sheep & around 200 head of cattle. A few different working dogs, BCxKelpie that was good in the yards but useless at anything else & couldnt back to save her life , little red kelpie bitch who was a fabulous yard dog, a red & tan kelpie dog who was also great in the yard & the black bitch (red bitches & next door neighbours black dogs puppy) who was promising as both but who died . I dunno about the colours, our neighbours & ourselves had all colours & they were all individual . Mooper - that's the one, the 1st pic - love it!

Mooper, is it Jack in that photo of him sitting at the gate gazing at the sheep across the yard, taken from behind him? I love that pic!

yes that must be a factor...a lot of the trialling borders i have seen down here are the short coat ones. Yep you would think that the short coats would be OK up here but there are very very few out there (well there were when I lived out there 20 years ago), mostly all kelpies & the owners always categorised them into yard or paddock dogs - there were some that could do both well (our next door neighbours black kelpie was one like that) but most had one or the other that they were much better at. Ours were mainly yard dogs but we did have one fabulous little black bitch (father was the next door neighbours dog I mentioned above) who was looking very promising as both but she died .

I did see someone in the other thread mention that BC's are usually more paddock dogs & kelpies are usually more yard dogs. From personal experience, up here in Qld (particularly in SW Qld where it gets extremely hot), there are very few BC's working, both yard & paddock dogs are usually kelpies. May be completely different in Victoria though . ET fix the errant typing of my "e" & "m" keys!

It was along time ago & I dunno if it counts or not but I used to use Go back - cast around the sheep, I used to use my arm as direction, so same command for casting either side. Push 'em up - push the sheep up in the yards. Up - back the sheep Come behind - come back to heel Speak - bark Steady - slow down & use less pressure All mine were taught on sheep, but that's mainly because that's what the dogs were used for most days being on a sheep property. We used to start our puppies at about 3 months old in the yards.

On the subject of dogs in CCD & Novice that arent ready, it's very much the same up here in Qld. We have a gentleman at our club who has decided that he is going to put his dog in a trial this month - the dog is way too young & is not even CLOSE to being ready to go into a trialling ring . Edited cos MrD made me

BrissyGal, Im not sure if Val Bonnie does agility training, but you can contact her on [email protected] or (07) 3300 2959 to ask. She is at the Gap. Many of the obedience clubs run agility training as well as standard obedience, look in your Dog World at affiliated clubs & you should find some. I'm not sure exactly where in inner north you are, but Metro might be your closest - they are at Zillmere/Chermside. Apart from that there are some specialist clubs that teach just agility like BAD Club (Brisbane Agility Dog) which trains at Carina & one out at Ipswich (name escapes me just now). BAD starts you off in a beginners course which runs for 8 weeks, then you can attend their classes which start at novice level & run up to advanced. They clicker train the obstacles, MrD & I are ging to attend their beginners course in Feb next year. Im sure that there are probably others on the northside too, someone else may have details of them .

Ness, it is up to the judge & many will not give a re-run - as others have said, if your dog breaks, bad luck. Some judges may be generous, but dont be disappointed if you dont get a second chance. I've seen plenty of dogs break groups because of outside influences (dogs barking, being humped or harrassed by another dog, cars screeching tyres & an accident close by, ducks landing in the middle of the ring etc etc etc) & very very few ever get a re-run. I had a dog come over to one of my old dogs in the 3 min sit stay out of sight in Open years ago & start humping him for dear life. Poor old Zac could only take it for about 10 seconds & then he bolted for the gate & came to find me. No re-run, bad luck for me. He was sitting on a qualifying score too of about 189 if he'd done his stays .

Ahhhh I didnt know that electric collars were banned down there (when are they EVER going to make uniform rules about stuff like that?), my advice is pretty well worthless then, sorry :laugh: .

You're right Muttley, as you pointed out the problem arises because the behaviours stem from something that happens when you arent present. IMO, the protection barking would probably override any distraction provided by a bone or toy anyway, especially as both are together & wind each other up. If you dont want to use the electric barking collars that are available, have you looked at the remote training collars instead? I know that there is a Big Dog remote training collar that covers a distance of up to 400m. If you can tell their barks apart you may be able to use one effectively if you put one on them & "left" the house & snuck back to catch them at it. With that sort of radius you could still stand well out of sight & smell & give the correction necessary. Maybe even set them up to have a neighbour walk down the laneway since that seems to be the trigger & then use the correction? :D Sorry I cant suggest more, I guess it really depends on whether you can organise things like new fencing, putting them in garages etc or not. If not, then the training collar might be worth a try. You should be able to find somewhere that will hire them down there. EFS

I only got as far as this post, I found that in obedience my old GSD boy learnt to do the exercise & it was pretty obvious that the exercise itself fairly quickly became the motivator. With him you could give him as much food or playing as you wanted, but for him the biggest reward was the actual exercise itself. However he didnt start off like that of course, but it became that way as I trained him more. Give him a ring & some offlead heelwork & a recall, or a dumbell & a couple of jumps or a seekback article or scent articles & he loved it. My bitch was similar, she did it cos she loved to work, even if it was just heeling. Im still in the stage with Jonty where I havent worked out what motivates him best, but Im hoping that he may turn out the same way. Great topic Vickie, like you I find it interesting to see other people's opinions on it. ETA ........ I dont do agility mjk, but that is exactly what I meant with my dogs & obedience - the more they trained, the more excited they were by learning & doing stuff. (that will teach me for not reading the whole thread before I reply :D )

God, that is sad . Like jesomil, I enjoy questions like this, makes for interesting reading & discussion, it was a hypothetical question fgs, based on what info was given, would you choose A or B. Cant believe people would get upset or actually send nasty PM's over it .

I would probably choose B, not because I have any problem with lamb meal or the amount of rice, but merely because it has higher protein & fat than A & my dogs tend to need high calorie diets. (although you wouldnt have known it a while back with Eb cos she was definitely porky ). 1.Would you feel that paying 4 times as much for one over the other is justified and if so which one. ? Not based on that brief analysis alone - no. 2.Would you choose to try the most expensive or the cheapest first ? Assuming everything else to be equal or close to it, I would probably try the cheapest first, but in general cost is no object, I am happy to pay for super-premium food if thats what my dog does best on. 3. Do you choose your dog food based on something else? I choose my dog food on what my dogs LIKE firstly (it can be the best food in the word, but if the dog doesnt like it or is picky about eating it, its a waste of time buying it IMO!), then on past performance & ingredients. Like KK always says the best food for your dog is the one they do best on!

Could well be - anyway Im going to cut it all off (the HAIR that is!! ) EFS

And by the end of it we'll be able to click & say "Good Wombat" & you'll be doing tricks for us .

Thanx showdog - I think . Funny thing is that I havent noticed his front legs getting wet or dirty at all - just his belly & low down on the insides of his back legs .

Thanx everyone, Im glad that washing all the time is OK (& doubly glad it's not just my dog that has the problem ) as I was a bit worried about washing him all the time but I will just give his belly a bit of a wash when it needs it if its OK. Since Im not showing him now I may well do the shaving thing - of course just on his belly . Hesa, since it's only a small area I think I will cut it short with scissors & see how he goes rather than stress him out by using the clippers.

:rofl: even sleeps on MrD's lap at times - shhhhhhhh .

KK, oh yuck, that just doesnt bear thinking about, does it? Wolfgirl, its almost like doggy porn but here they are Dont look if you are squeamish :p . ETA, I know that probably doesnt look that bad, but the hair is all stuck together & when you look & its down the sides & even between his legs as well, its not very nice. Can't remember what day I bathed him, but its less than a week ago since he was done, once it gets like that it just gets worse ;) .

KK, no tilting yet, I can just imagine it may well get worse once he decides he can/should tilt . Varicool - ;): that may well be the next step ;) , thank god Im not still showing him ;) :rofl: . ETA, Im still trying to work out HOW he manages to get it everywhere , & in the meantime I have a dog whos started to hump everything in sight including Ebony's back leg at training last night :D :p . ETA again - who's great idea was it to get a male dog, & I sooooo wanted a female .

As the title says, how do you stop a boy dog's stomach hair from getting wet & then all gungy when he wees? :D I've only ever had 1 other male dog & being a short haired GSD I didnt have this problem but Jonty's hair on his tummy is always getting wet & then mucky when it dries because it gets wet when he pees. I tried cutting away some of the hair particularly in front of his sheath but it really hasnt made a lot of difference, even the hair on the inside of his backlegs seems to get gunk on it (& I have no idea how unless he's peeing backwards ) . The hair at the side that hangs down ie on his flanks gets all mucky as well, I dont know what the heck he's doing . I know he's only 6 months old & he's not even lifting his leg yet, but he has a LOT of coat already & it's pretty horrible when its all gunky. Im having to wash him every week & even then by the time 4 or 5 days have passed it's disgusting again. Help ...... please........ anyone? :rofl: :p ;) ETA - I wil take a pic & post it if anyone wants to see how disgusting it is .

That's what I thought too .