MrsD

wizzle, spectators are always welcome at our trials so i don't see why it would be different in Vic, send Sue an email if you want to make sure. If you get there & need to know more about what's going on just ask someone, most people are more than happy to answer questions & explain what is happening. Absolutely correct, the biggest challenge when you choreograph a routine is to choose music that suits your dog & that is a huge part of making it "look" like the dog is dancing whereas in fact you have orchestrated & manipulated it to look that way. There are the obvious ones like suiting the type of music to the breed (eg you wouldn't use a "pitter patter light as air" music for a St Bernard or use heavy lumbering type music for a Chihuahua) but the biggest skill is choosing music that matches the timing of the dog's stride. As a handler I always pick my music based on how closely it matches the rhythm that the dog & I create together, if it's not perfect you can always change the tempo of the song slightly but you have to get the basic rhythm correct to start with. Once you have it, you can cut parts out, put parts in, slow parts down, speed them up etc to suit what you are doing in the routine, but without it becoming obvious to the audience that the track has been altered. IMO that is one of the biggest differences between a good routine & a great one.

As others have said, Dances with Dogs is just a fun new dogsport that the dogs & owners all love, I'm so glad to see that Tassie has finally rounded up the troops :D & got the sport up & running down there - great job Barb . If anyone is interested in learning more about the sport or finding out about lessons etc you can look on the Dances with Dogs website that Ness posted or PM me, I'm always happy to help . ETA - Dagboy my hubby is the website guru for the Qld part of the website & I am publicity officer for the Dances with Dogs Club Queensland & Jarrah my kelpie has his Freestyle Novice (DWDF.N) title :rofl: .

Dogs Queensland run microchipping & vaccination days at Durack throughout the year, the dog has to be registered with Dogs Queensland to be eligible though.

SAS, did you click on the orange square? I saw this last week, it's very funny . ETA - if you click on the orange square a page will come up with a video on it.

Congratulations Hesa, lovely puppies - puppy breath mmmmm .

OMG, they are soooooooo cute . You sound like you are doing a fantastic job, good luck finding homes for them .

We went to Crufts last year & had a ball, ended up bringing dog beds back & everything else under the sun . Everyone else has given good advice, the only thing I can add is that the DwD is normally broken up into 3 days. Usually Thursday is UK Freestyle, Friday is UK Heelwork to Music & Saturday is International Freestyle, & is in the main arena. Sunday night is Mary's pre BIS routine. As for other places to go, it depends on what you want to see, where you want to go & how much you want to spend, last year we spent soooo much money going to Ireland for a week but spent only about a third of that travelling around France for 2 weeks. Italy is my favourite, I just adored everything there , I'd love to go back but next year's trip looks like it will be Spain, the UK & US. I've never been to Scotland but Wales is very pretty & the top end of England is gorgeous too.

This one for Jarrah, will do the other 2 some other time Name: Jarrah Nickname: Boy Wonder (courtesy of Dagboy ) Breed: Kelpie Gender: Male (desexed) Age: 4 Picture: Where did you get them from? Another DOLer (Hi ML ) had rescued him from AWL but the person they got him for wasn't able to keep him, so she posted on DOL looking for a new home for him & I grabbed the chance. Just a couple of weeks before she had posted a pic of him & I just fell in love with him straight away & was so nearly going to post "If his new owner ever needs to find him a new home, I'll take him!" & then he did - I think it was fate! How often do you exercise your dog? We have a large block which he runs around all day, chasing balls/toys/birds, so he doesn't need me to exercise him. Do they know any commands? How long have you got? :D See next question ... Compete in any dog sports? We compete in Dances with Dogs, he has his Freestyle Novice title & we are currently working on a new routine for Intermediate. we have also competed in Herding & he has his PT title & 2 passes towards his A Course Started title. Favourite treat: Food! Favourite toy: Frisbee, after that anything that I've got that I can throw. Funny habits or quirks: Attacks the water when you fill the water bucket up, loves running the fence to chase off the cars up our driveway ;) heaps more but those 2 are the ones that spring to mind right now. What's their personality like? Intensely loyal, other than that, alot like a 6 year old human child ;) . Do they get along well with other dogs? Some yes, but some definitely NOT. Are they scared of anything? Vets, he had an accident 2 weeks ago & had to go to the vet & have a general to get stitched up. When it was time to take the stitches out the vet took him into the surgery room, muzzled him & had 5 staff trying to hold him down & they couldn't & she came out & told me that would have to sedate him again to take the stitches out . I said I would go home & take them out myself, which Dagboy & I did What training methods do you use? Positive reinforcement? Corrections? I clicker train using both food & toys, he's so quick that it often only takes 2 or 3 repetitions for him to get it. I do use a correction if necessary for general manners around the house (like when he's laying into Jonty cos Jonty's in his spot, or he's stealing out of the bin!)

He shouldn't be able to chase the food because it should be right in front of his nose, get him to drop & then crawl underneath something ie depending on how big he is, something like the rungs on a chair, or your leg when you are sitting on the ground with one foot flat on the ground etc.

We had a DWD trial at Caboolture obedience club grounds last weekend & I was talking to one of the ladies from their club that had come along to watch & she said they are getting a number of guest speakers to come to the club on a weekend & do mini workshops in the coming months (DWD was one of them), so Im guessing this is one of them. Sounds really interesting .

1. Kelpie 2. Border Collie 3. Sheltie 4. Aussie Shepherd 5. Mini Foxie 6. English Springer Spaniel That's all - I couldn't make it to 10 .

There's a fair bit of shyness around. You want a more drivey, resilient dog for performance. Good Shelties ARE out there.. you need to ask performance folk where they get theirs. A sheltie by breed standard is meant to be reserved with strangers. Don’t mistake reserved for shy. A sheltie is very focused on his owner and not really interested in strangers to any correct degree, this is a correct temperament. A shy sheltie that is terrified of the world is just as incorrect as one that bounces all over everyone with terrier type temperament. I would hope most breeders would be breeding for correct temperament. Cowanbree, I know there is a difference between reserved with strangers & shy, there are definitely certain lines & individuals over here that do NOT pass the test. A sheltie should not cringe away when a judge walks up to them, I saw plenty do that in the show ring & I only showed for 6 months, so that's not good odds. I know that technically an over friendly sheltie like mine who loves people may be a fault in your book but it sure as heck isn't a fault in mine . Emmm, if you are interested in shelties I can pass on some details of the breeder of my boy who has lovely dogs & will not send you to a breeder who's dogs won't suit if she doesn't have anything available. Tali's mum will also be able to tell you of her breeder if you are interested (I'm pretty sure she got put onto Tali's breeder by the breeder of my boy).

Funny when he said he wasn't very good at stays, yeah we know why don't we? he can hardly stay still for 1 minute himself, don't worry about the dog .

I love GSDs & the National, hope you all have a brilliant day!

*muttering at Gecko Tree under her breath* Agro Ali Andrew Andy Angus x 3 Angus Rip Anzac Apollo(different spelling!) Appollo Archie +1 Archer Arkhan Armand Arq Ash Ashke Attila Atlas Axl Bael Bailey x 6 Balki Baloo Balou Bandit x 3 Banjo Bardigrub Barney Bart X 2 Barton Basil Baxter Bean Bear x3 Beau x 2 Bender Ben x 2 Benji x 2 Benny Benson BERT! Billy Bing Blue Bluey Bob Bomber Bond Bongo Lloyd Boo Boof Bosch Bosco Boxer Brady Brian Custard O'Doggle Brock Brockie Brody Bronson x2 Brownie Bruce Brue Bud Buddy Buffy... he came with it Bumble Bundyx3 Buster byron Caleb Cannon Caramel Carl Casey Cash Casper Champ Changwe Charlie x 5 Chester Chevy Chief Chip x 2 Chok Chubba Chops Clancy Clifford Coco Columbus Connor Cooper x3 Cory Cowan x 2 Cowboy Crikey Cruise Cuba Damien Damit Daniel x 2 Dancer Danny Darcy x 2 Dashx2 Deakin Dean Declan Delgado Denim Dennys Dog Diablo Diesel x2 Digby Digger x2 Dillon Dinky Douglas Dominic Dozer Dude Dumas Duncan Dylan Ebon Echo x2 Eddie Edward Elijah Elliott Elmo Elvis Edge Enuff Ernie Esky Fang Fergus x 2 Finn Fox x 2 FlashBazil Fleming Fletcher Fly Flynn Focus Forester Foo Frank Fudge Galahad Gandor Geo Georgex2 Gordon Gossy Grease Lightning Greedy Griffin Grover Guiness mcGuinness Hail Hamish Harley x 2 Harper Harri Harrison Harry Hector Henry Henschke Herbie RIP Hey Dog Hogan Hudson Hugo Ian Ivan Jabi Jack x 3 Jake x 2 Jasper x 2 James x 2 Jarrah Jay Jay cee JayDee Jed Jethro Jet x 2 Jett Jonsey Jonty Joop Jordan Joshua Joxer Judd Juggie Kahn Kai Kaiser x 2 Kane Kasper Kaos Khan Kiba Kei Kingston Kippy Kirk Kisho Koshi Kuga Kynan Kyzer Leo x3 Lincoln Link Lenny Lexcen Leroy x 2 Lestat x2 Logan Louie Luca Lucca Lucius Ludwig Lughie Luigi RIP Lukas Lukon Luther x 2 Mac X 2 MacKenzie Mandrake Mark (the cat) Mars Mason x2 Maverick Mawson Max x 7 Maxie Maxwell THE DOG Maze Mel Merlot Merlin x3 Merry Mickey Milky Milosh Milton Minook Mistral Mojo Mokha Montgomery Burns Moo Morris Mr Darcy Mufti Nammu Napoleon Nelsson (yes two s's) Neo Nicky Nigel Noah Norbert Nova Nudge Nugget Occy Oliver Omar RIP Onslow Oscar x 4 Oz Pal x 2 Payton Pete Phoenix Phantom Piikki Peewee Poco Porsha Puck Punch Quatro Quick Quincy Radar Raffy Ralph Rambo Ramses Randy Raymond Reeve Reagan Reginald Rex Ricky Riku Riley Rimes Ripley River Robbie x 2 Rocks Rodney RIP Roger Rolly x2 Rory Rove Rover Roy Roy Jones Jnr Rudnick Ruff Rumour Rupert Rusty Sam x3 Sampson Sarge Satchmo Scooby Scout Scrap Scratch Shadow Seth Silas Snitch Sonny Soul Spartan Speed Spencer Spike Sport Spud x 2 Sterling Stig (The) Storm Stryker Sumo Swanky Tag Tally Tana Tanga Tazz x 2 Teddy Terry Tey Dog Thomas Thunder Tiger Tirra Toby x3 Toffee Tolkien Tommy x 2 Tournie Tub Turbo Tusca Tutty Tye x2 Tyson Udo Ulf Valdez Wags Walker Wally Watson Wazim Weave Whisky Willow Willy Wilson Wonderdog RIP Woody X2 Wookie Wycomb Yoshi Zac x 2 Zedley Zeppelin Zephyr x 2 Zero Zeus x 3

That's one of the things I love most about him & it happens on his DVDs too, he makes mistakes & then shows you how to correct them! I've seen other trainers DVDs & everytime they do something on the DVD it's perfect because they have recorded that part 15 times & taken the best one from those & used it in the final version. Richard's show both him & the dogs making mistakes & he tells you what he's done wrong & how he's going to fix it . Did I mention I Richard (not that way ).

Just had to laugh when he was talking about her "Oh look there's Betty - awwww" - he sounded like Frank Spencer

Seita, he did, didn't he? Maree, go on, do The Entertainer, we all know that's what you want to do!

haha, yes, gotta love puppies, I had a GSD many years ago who was just like that, he wouldn't run off to sniff but it was all a big game for him to run around like a crazy thing until he decided that he should come back ;) . All of those people except the goldie lady are used to performing in front of large crowds (most were from DwD) but it is hard work when you are trying to do something that you don't normally do in front of all those people . I would have been like Karen with Zoya the crazy malinois "arhht, oops DOH, I wasn't supposed to correct!"

If you specifically want a ball, why not cut a tennis ball in half, put it at the end of a piece of dowling & screw it on? ;) That way when she looks from below it looks just like a tennis ball, but of course on top there is the"cup" shape where you can put the treat & tip it out after you have clicked.

No, I don't think that if it's used correctly it is a "cruel" way of training your dog, if it was used incorrectly then yes it could be cruel. I call it a check chain because used correctly that exactly what it does - checks the dog. Having said that I don't use one on my dogs (I have with past dogs) because for what *I* want & for *my* dogs when I'm teaching, using positive training works better ;) .

Ahhhhh sorry, the seat in front of you had my green bag on it, then Eddie (my OH who did the DVD), then me & then Lisa (the lady with the BC pup who did the demo). I have tried to write an explaination of why I don't let my dogs play with other dogs about 3 times now & it sounds stupid everytime! ;) Lets just say that I have been to too many obedience classes where I have seen dogs that are far more interested in playing with the other dogs than working with their owner because the owner takes them to class & lets them play with other dogs before & after class. Don't get me wrong, my dogs play with each other at home here, but when we go out it's not play with other dogs, but for my dogs to train & play with me. (does that make sense? probably not ) As it happens, Jarrah can be slightly dog aggressive with larger &/or more dominant dogs, Whisper pretty much just ignores other dogs anyway & Jonty is the only one who likes both people & other dogs, so I usually just let them say hello & have a sniff & then take them off for a game or something. ETA - I doubt you will get one of those at the Ekka, I've never seen them anywhere apart from Mary Ray, if you just want a tip-it stick you can tape a small container like a scoop that you get with your washing powder onto the end of a piece of dowling & use that.

GG if you were in the second row on the end you must have been sitting right behind Dagboy? Were you there when I came & put our bags down? I'm always up for a bit of training, especially someone different with different distractions. I'm another one who doesn't let their dogs play with other dogs, but am happy for the dogs to say hello etc.

Oooh crud, it's expensive because of the postage, I got mine when we went to Crufts last year so didn't have to pay postage (but almost had to pay overweight baggage allowance ;) ). Mary Ray's Click & Treat Stick

It's a Mary Ray one, hold on & I will find it on her site.