MrsD

:D I agree completely HR .

K9: Careful you dont fall off that pedestal... Sorry, but :D :D

My rhuematologist has put me on glucosamine & suggested fishoil as well, so Im betting that it would help a dog's arthritis as well. Good news she is taking him to the vet, better to get it checked & find out the exact problem .

Rastus, how funny, my hubby mentioned last night teaching Jonty to jump over Ebony's back & then crawl back under his tummy - I would be suspicious that he had read this thread except that your response was posted after he had said it . Alpha - i said exactly the same thing to my hubby last week at training! Watching other people with their dogs, I realised how much I miss having a well trained dog that I could take to training or that could go anywhere with me . Sort of strange, cos even though we have had a dog & now I have Jonty, until now I still thought of myself as "dogless" cos the dogs never went anywhere with me :p . As for the OP's questions, my favourite sport would have to be obedience, I love the perfect balance & refinement of exercises, the bond & the versatility of a well trained obedience dog. Also loved tracking even though I was only very much a novice at it. Methods - I use whatever method I think will work with each particular exercise & each dog. I'm like someone else earlier who mentioned they dont know shaping, luring etc, I use lots of positive verbal & physical rewards eg. praise, pats, food, toy etc but will also use negatives if needed. My philosophy is that every dog is different & every exercise you each is different & my main objective is to end up with a happy obedient dog.

TO, on my old dog more hand up to the face (so arm like this > ) & then windmill the arm around from the elbow to 4 oclock,basically straightening the arm as I rotate it (FGS, & you thought you had trouble cos you couldnt spell exaggerated ), so I only move the shoulder a bit, not a full rotation. But that was on a dog working at UD standard, Im starting drop from a distance on our shepherd now (very much a beginner & not even up to CCD standard yet) & its more like as I described to shoey. I just get more refined as the dog gets more experienced . Shoey, I think what stella means is that her sit signal is similar to mine, but with her left arm & her stand is similar to mine, with the same arm as mine (right) , Is anyone the wiser after my explainations? ETA clarification

TO, mine isnt as extreme as I described either except when I am first teaching it, but I found that was the easiest way to describe it . Shoey, yes my sit signal is to the side (like the DoR) palm upwards from the side straight up to just above shoulder height. So imagine a clock, hand goes from the 6 to the 2. The only difference is that I find that I bend my elbow a bit when doing the sit, but arm is straighter in the DoR. Hope all that makes sense. Do you have to do a stand from anything in the new rules? I always taught my dogs stand from drop or sit anyway before, for that I have the arm straight down, then bend my elbow so my hand faces the front (imagine a robot arm, god I am shocking at explaining things ), then rotate the arm out to the side (so you can see the palm of the hand from the front & the lower arm is parallel to the ground. As for the time, usually 3 or 4 seconds, depends on the judge, dont always do the same thing so the dog wont anticpate & make him wait for ages between parts, so the exercise is (from the stand) leave your dog, about turn & halt, down your dog, sit your dog, call your dog, finish, but mix it up so do a drop, sit, drop, return or drop, recall etc. If the dog anticipates the command I think its a substantial deduction (up to 50%!) so best to mix it up when teaching it so th dog actually listens to what you ask, not what it thinks you are going to say . Hope you can understand all this, much easier to show in person . (I'm going to have to change my name I think otherwise the real MrsDog will start being p*ssed off that everyone thinks I am her )

Recall I use both hands hanging beside your body, directly upward from the side of the body to over the head & back down again (once again, the easiest for the dog to see). Stand is left hand directly from thigh across stopping in front of the dogs face, palm facing the dog parallel to the floor. Heel is left hand moving parallel to & in time with right leg moving forward. Stay is left hand directly down in front of dogs face. Wait is the same signal, different verbal. Finish of the recall is right hand going from middle front to behind the thigh with hand flat & hanging straight down (imagine being in water & trying to push water around from front to back & you will probably get what I mean). If you do the funny dog shuffling around on the left back to heel I guess you would use the left hand, but I dont know what signal (it looks weird to me cos Im not used to it). Scent articles & seekback I always used to sort of cup my hand in front of the dogs nose then fling my hand out flat towards the mat (sounds really stupid trying to describe it, sorry ) ummmmm, better explanation, imagine going from a fist to a flat hand (like playing sissors paper rock - this isn't getting any better is it ) but palm of hand facing the ground out in front of you. OK I think I will give up now , hope that helps or someone else can give you other suggestions . ETA bit about FoR.

No whistles in trialling, I use this. Standing facing the dog, raise your arm towards the front of you above your head & then at arms length bring it down to the side (ie in line with your body or 90 degrees to the way you are facing) until your hand is at hip height with the palm facing the ground. Hope that makes sense. Very obvious once you have seen it. Hand signals especially at a distance are always best if they are clear to the dog - ie not in front of your body like the "stop" commend would be. With your body behind your hand it makes it more difficult for the dog to see it.

Went & got Jonty's last shot on Tuesday, the vet said 5 days! Vet before that said 7 days. Other vets say 10 days, 14 days. I wish they would make up their mind ;) .

Interestingly some of the comments I've read about training (not this thread but others) almost put me off posting in the training forum, but I figure if there is a problem, it's theirs, not mine . I totally agree with you HR, a dog is a dog & different dogs need different methods (& a combination of those methods) - the most important thing is the end result ie a happy dog who does what is asked of it. Erny - good post too :rolleyes:

Jason, he is gorgeous, please get him to the vet as soon as you can. :rolleyes:

That's funny - that's the complete opposite of what everyone keeps telling my hubby at training - the dog can work great, it's the handler that is the problem . to him though - he got promoted to class 2 last week after only 6 classes . To me the most important things being an instructor are being able to communicate with people & impart information effectively whilst encouraging handlers to both keep coming to training & improve their handling skills. Sounds like the instructor that the OP is talking about failed miserably!

Ive just put Advantix on Jonty for the first time as he's not outside very much, Ebony has her tick collar on year round as she lives outside. I just cant believe that at the end of July I havent even been needing a jumper on in the house in the evenings! And no, the house isnt heated - it's just been so warm!

emski, if you are in SEQld (which I think your earlier post indicated) you could contact varicool who runs a rescue here in Brisbane, Im sure she would love to hear from you! Or stick your head into the rescue forum (the next forum up on the main list) & someone would snap you up very quickly . ETA - varicool has a website for her organisation its here http://s15.invisionfree.com/Save_A_Pound_D...dex.php?act=idx

"Ohhhh baby, talk potty to me" doesnt quite have the same ring to it, does it HR? ;) OK OK, I promise I will behave now :D .

Yeah, but they'd probably forget to bring their dogs Good point! That wouldnt work with the men that forgot their dogs then, they'd still be clueless! ;)

Raz, yep that was the same basic premise, that report says the same as the website I read :D . Totally totally agree with the last guy about the RSPCA though, they cant do anything about animals being starved until they are nothing but skin & bone & other cruel acts but they can champion the cause of the poor canetoad. Get real .

So who's going to buy me a chest freezer to fit them all in then? I dont know about the fine/cruelty part, I checked up on this a few months back & found a website & they do "suggest" that you put them in the freezer but there was also a clause in there that said you could kill them "as long as the toad died quickly & there was no cruelty involved" or words to that effect. Of course your info may be more recent than mine . As for the "animal cruelty" part, I know what's more cruel & thats to see your beloved pet & other native animals die because of cane toads ;)

Hmmmmmm hang on ............ nope - thats all most men would want! Men would be at dog training all over the place then! :D ;)

We always used to suggest writing "L" & "R" on peoples shoes ;) ;) . "Step off on your LEFT foot - yesssss the one with the "L" on it!" :D

This is one of my biggest fears with Jonty as we have literally hundreds of toads (we live on acreage wth a dam where they breed) & he will chase absolutely anything that moves . None of my other dogs have ever worried about them, they have just completely ignored them, but Im pretty sure I wont be so lucky with him .

Sorry - but your instructor doesnt know what he's talking about! Edited cos I figure its probably not polite to call someone an idiot, even on an online forum

I dont always "weigh" but I do measure! When I first got Jonty he was on 1/3 cup dry food 3 times/day & I measured it with a cup measure but now he's getting two "handfuls" (which I measured at around 150g) plus tinned food. In a little while as he grows I'll probably up his feed again, probaby use a cup again since my hand's now to small .

Or the ones that give their dog a command & then promptly walk away & ignore it when it doesnt do it. I have lost track of the number of peple (yes in higher classes!) at our obedience club that tie their dog up to a stake, make it sit, tell it to stay & then walk away to go & pay their fees/talk to their friends etc & as soon as the person has taken 2 steps from the dog it is either standing up sniffing around, barking at other dogs, lying down etc. Then the owner comes back to the dog, gives it a pat & unties it & off they go. What the heck does that teach the dog apart from that "sit" & "stay" dont actually mean "sit" & "stay"? I usually have blood pouring from my tongue by the time training has finished :D .

That would be when hell freezes over .......