spoilt lab lives here

The whole point of me entering was to put a date to something we have been going to do for the last 4 years . If I didnt bite the bullet and enter we probably wouldnt ever start trialling! I was told that you can tell the people who train at home and who go to clubs etc etc as it shows in the ring. That just dampened my spirits a bit. Has anyone else heard that they are trying to get rid of the CCD ring all together?

So just got off the phone with the obedience club pres and am not feeling very confident now. Ill be going back to training this Sunday and will just hope and pray all the work over the next 4 weeks will pay off. We have been going to proper obed classes on and off for 5 years. So its not like teaching him everything for the first time. I will only get 3 Sundays at obed training as Im going away the first week in August so will miss the 6th/8/11 and the trial is on 21/8/11. Oh god now I feel like Ive rushed it

Thanks Wuffles! Im going to give my obedience club a call and see what night their trial specific class is on as I dotn really want to go back to the general group classes as we need to knuckle down on a few specific areas not just the general heel, sit, stay etc etc. Im very much looking forward to our first time in the ring! Trainign this afternoon will be a walk to a different park focusing on heeling and turns. He is all good at the left turns but its the right turns where he goes wide and I feel he relies on being guided by the lead for right turns. Any tips on right turns?

Ive got 2 48" crates which are set up in the garage which is where the dogs used to be crated at night. Now they are in the backroom of a night sectioned off with a babygate. Crates are used if the dogs are mucking up inside and its 'bedtime' At our old house the dogs couldnt come inside because it was a rental so they were crated in the garage at night.

So Its just dawned on me that we will need to start training for the novice ring otherwise we are going to get our CCD title whithout being anywhere near ready for the other rings. What changes in the novice ring from CCD?. Looks like we will be going back to dog training earlier than I though

Horrible to read about your mums cat Why do you always do that though? Write a post leave it up there for a while and then delete it.

After Sasha died mum got another dog 3 weeks afterwards and it helped her and the 3 little kids heal. Its such a personal and individual thing. BF's parents family dog died nearly 4 years ago and they still call Leila my BFs GSD Delta their old dogs name. His mum still crys about her and its still raw for her. Such an individual thing.

Ok we did a serious training session today..In the drizzling rain! Got soaked after 10 mins. His sits are so much better now Ive paid attention to what we are doing. He didnt want to work in the rain and we were at a new park neither of us had walked to before so was lots of smells around. But overall Im pleased with him and am now confident that we will be ready for our trial in August.

What Ive noticed myself doing is sort of hesitating coming up to a sit. So walking normal pace along then slow down for a few paces and stopping on the left foot. Rams takes a few steps in front and stands there. So- This arvo I will start without Rams Im going to be 100% commited to his training this arvo and not go abit silly like I did yesterday after it seemed like we were getting nowhere during training. Ive got my boss who was a trialler to help me over the next few weekends to make sure we are 100% ready and take me through some mock trial scenarios. I have 100% confidence in my boy he will perform Itll just be a case of wether Ive got it down pat again and dont totally flip out. Any Dolers going to the trial on 21/8/11 at Brush Farm Dog Training Club? Itll be my first and unless my mum comes along Ill be alone

I 100% agree with you. It has to be something Im doing! It couldnt be anything else. Video..err not available I need to scrub up massively on my technique. I think I should go back to dog training for some extra tips!

Heeelp! Ok our drops, stands, stays, recall, waits, SFE are all pretty good and ready. Its the automatic sits without saying anything thats the problem! How can I teach him when I stop, he sits! Ive been going back to basics, a few manual sits, a few verbal sits and then a few saying nothing sits and he walks a few steps ahead and just stands there and looks back at me. Our first trial will be 21/8/11 and I need to get this down pat!

Wasnt that a photo from September 11? Edit- Just saw the snopes link. I was totally off the mark Its a beautiful photo.

Im interested. Sounds great!

When I worked in a boarding kennel we had 2 cats that had been in for over 12 months. Their owners had come over from France and had a place in Melbourne which didnt allow cats. They were trying to get a place in the same state at least but it was taking a long time. In the meantime the cats were boarding. Lucky they were really nice cats who adjust and took it all in their stride. If I moved overseas my animals would come with.

I love Ramses go slow bowl! Its stopped him gulping his food down and vomitting it back up. Best invention ever!

It can become a R/E issue if your lease agreement states you must not be a nuisance etc etc If they agent wasnt too worried and didnt issue you with any warnings then I wouldnt worry too much.

Ive got 3 in the Maitland coucil area and we have never been pulled up. We also had an electric fence which was a 4 sided fenced area within in acre, with the bright yellow electric fence sign and never got pulled up. The council dont seem too strict on enforcing the rules unless there has been a complaint. You should be fine.

Your link doesnt work for me.

Mine are put in their crates between 9.30 and 10pm. They are let out between 6.30 and 7.30 am. We have only been crating them for a few weeks now and they are much more settled. I get a full nights sleep and dont have to worry about barking and night time.

I posted the link on my profile the other day. I wanna know what happens at 500!!

I had an electric wire set up when I lived on an acre to keep the dogs in. Had it 4 strings high so 2 sides acted as the fence and 2 sides were attached to the exsiting fence. We put a gate in it on one of the sides and it worked well. Even kept the goat in too. Worked well and was the best $300 ever spent!

Ah ok. So ill have to get the auto sits going again. So you can only give commands to drop and stay pretty much?

When we train I do a heel pattern with sit, drops and stands in it. Then I do straight heel work no sits or anything in it just normal, fast and slow pace. He gets heavily praised when he is in the right position. So now ill add the watch me while doing the heel work and see how he goes. Ill keep giving the command for turns at the moment until Im confident that we have them down pat and I have some sort of signal to give him before we turn.

He watches me when I ask. Guess Ill start training him to watch as we heel.

Ok so I need to work on getting him to follow my leg. He never looks at my face just plods along beside me. Any tips on getting them to turn when you do without hearing the command? I was watching videos on youtube and the dogs wagged their tails madly. I cant see if Rams does that so Ill be getting my partner to film us training to see if he does.