GoldenWei

Best of luck in the show ring GW. I'm sure Willow will do well for you and just remember to have fun. Thanks WB. My aim is to have fun, not expecting too much from her, especially at our first show.

I live at Castle Hill and have Salukis. However, being the Castle Hill Ag show and all rings are together (not much space between them) we plan on being there no later than 8am to get reasonable car park and set up. Good luck with your girl at her first show. Hey, did you go to the Royal last year with "Affie" from DOL?? ok cool. 8am is very reasonable, was thinking we would have to be there by 7am or so! That's good. Yeah I did go with Affie. I remember meeting you and your saluki's. eta: just saw your edited post. wish we still lived in Winston Hills, would only be a 10min drive instead of 45mins!

ok, so first show is tomorrow. Starts at 9:30am. What is a good time to arrive? I don't want to be the first to arrive, but I also don't want to arrive too late and find that I have nowhere to put up the gazebo. It's at Castle Hill Ag, do they normally not open the gates at a certain time for the Ag show?

Ummmm, that's a nice idea but to do show training you need a DOG to train with. Show training is not only about giving ourselves some training, but more so to help the DOG when it hits the ring I did a couple of weeks with my older golden before taking Willow to training, I did have her though by that stage. I learn't a couple of things, like lead in the left hand instead of the right that you use for obedience, and how and where to place their feet etc. If the other dog is of a similar breed it should transfer over ok. I'd atleast do it close to getting your puppy though, you could learn and not get your dog for another 6month or whatever and forget everything, I know I would of. Definately take your puppy along as well once you have him/her.

You'll find that if she is in a small class, that you will have to be pretty much "on" the whole time as it will go quickly. However, if she is in a large class, or sweepstakes or something like that most judges will tell you to "relax the others" whilst they go over each of them. It certainly isn't a bad thing to play with them in the ring, you just need to be mindful of the effect that your dog has on others in the ring at the time. I carry a soft toy in my pocket and if I have time, I'll play with my babies....but much of the time, they're more interested in the other dogs in the ring anyway. Ok thanks. Was mainly thinking about sweepstakes as she'll be the only entry in her class this weekend, and probably for most of the time she is in her baby puppy class.... except maybe the national.

thanks Ellz. I won't be giving her too much food. If I am not quick enough getting it out of my pocket she will sit down. It'll be more for if she stands still long enough for the judge to go over her etc, and maybe to get her going initially if she needs it. Just wanted to make sure I could use it if needed. I assume if the judge is also going over other dogs before and after her she can relax? Not play, but sit or lay down etc.

ok, I have a question. Willow's first show is on Saturday.... what's the general rule about food in the ring. Also, how much can you talk to them in the ring, I'm just wondering if I do the excited, "Willow lets go" etc etc with her to get her moving, will it be frowned upon? She's only just 14 weeks so she still needs a bit of encouragement.

It was good to meet you PointeeMum, and Romeo is just gorgeous! Fingers crossed that my nerves do settle

Yes, I don't know who got more benefit out of it, Willow for the socialisation, or me for my nerve calming

As the title suggests, I wanted to go and have a look at Macquarie Towns Obedience in Windsor tonight, but can't for the life of me find Deerubbin Park on google maps. Where abouts is it? Also if anyone goes there, or has been, what's your experiences with it? Is it all positive training methods, are there lots of people etc, and cost??

That's about what we have too. I also got a number holder, and some shampoo, plus I bought a brush yesterday, not that she has much hair at the moment, just need to get her used to it. We went to show training last night, first time for Willow. I feel so much better now, she was such a good girl, after the initial where are we and 2 little barks at the other dogs, she was very good and calm. So proud of her. She walked really well around the makeshift ring, and by the end of it was standing longer and not trying to sit down all the time. I wasn't tooo worried about that though. We met a couple of lovely people too.... another baby pointer Aspyre, and they will also be competing at Castle Hill. I can't remember if she said they were doing sweepies or not though. We also met the son of a wei breeder who breeds long hairs and Willow met a BIG german shepherd. She was very good, nice and calm.

cool, thanks. Feel a bit better now. Taking her to show training tonight though so I may not be feeling so good after that!!! I was supposed to go last week but had only just vaccinated her so thought I'd leave it another week.

Thanks heaps for that. Yeah we are kind of all organised. I got a gazebo on the weekend, I was going to wait and just use my old tent, but they were on special so thought what the hell. If you see two people struggling to put up a compact gazebo you'll know its us!!! I really just need to organise what I am going to wear on my feet.... once I get there, will probably start panicking about what I need to do, ie. catalog and what happens if I win, assuming we don't get a non award, I assume I'll need to get a certificate or something for winning baby puppy of breed??? I do have a show lead for her but she chews it more than the normal lead and collar, so might just leave her on her normal one for the moment, unless that's really frowned upon??

Chances are you will be following me in with a pointer So if you need any help just let me know If you could have your pointer baby be really naughty for me that would be great... that way when Willow is misbehaving we won't look so bad Oh, and she's pretty small still so no running too fast. lol No No you want the pointee puppy to behave so that he doesnt distract Willow If pointee puppy is super naughty she will prolly think OHHHH play time lol, ok. she'll prolly think its playtime anyway though

Chances are you will be following me in with a pointer So if you need any help just let me know If you could have your pointer baby be really naughty for me that would be great... that way when Willow is misbehaving we won't look so bad Oh, and she's pretty small still so no running too fast. lol

hey all... Willow's first show is fast approaching... my anxiety seems to be increasing day by day. She'll be the only LH Wei entered in the Castle Hill show on Saturday..... here's hoping she stays still long enough for the judge to have a look at her. 21 in baby sweepstakes.... what's the usual entry?? There didn't seem to be a lot entered for CH overall.

We went looking for a gazebo yesterday, went into Kangaroo tent city in Penrith and they have their Gazebo's on special. We got a compact for $159.95 and I think the deluxe were $199.95. They had a heap of deluxe in stock, but we took the last compact, they said they were ordering more in though. If anyone is looking for a gazebo I thought they were very reasonably priced.

try youtube as well, there are a couple of video's on there, mainly based in the usa though. I did find some good ones for feet & hocks which improved my grooming skills there.

oh dear alex. I am thinking something like that will happen to me at our first show, maybe I shouldn't of entered baby sweepstakes, atleast in her class there will be very few entries, if she isn't the only one. Hunterhound, the forcast for the weekend is a few showers and chance of a thunderstorm... at this stage if it's not too bad I'll be taking Willow out on the Sunday just for socialisation, she isn't entered, but will see what happens though.

I don't have much advice, I gave up on crate training the first night, and cheated and put my golden in with her. She has been an angel ever since. I started trying to get her to stay in there for daytime naps, she still wasn't happy, but I did find that if I put a freshly worn t-shirt in with her she would settle. Not sure if it would make much difference to you as she is sleeping in your room anyway, but willow would curl up on top of it.

I'm considering renting out my spare room for the Royal, but I am not close to Olympic Park, we are in Kurrajong. I'd prefer people only to stay one or two nights, and to only have a couple of dogs at most. I can't really accommodate more than 1 person/couple at a time, but I do have room for 3 or 4 tents. Dogs would need to be able to sleep in their crate inside, or in a trailer. Would this be a viable option for people or would people find it a bit weird?

I feel your pain. Willow isn't toilet trained either, she is almost 13 weeks. I really wish she'd let us know when she wants to go out, but she doesn't. She will wee on command which is great, but she can't hold it overnight, and if we forget to get up in the middle of the night there will be an accident, she'll also go inside if we are not watching her carefully enough, our bad, and I can't blame her for this, I just really wish she wouldn't do it on her bed!!! I can't remember when Phoenix was toilet trained, but he would use the puppy pads, Willow won't. If we didn't have cats I'd be getting a dog door, but we do so that is out of the question. Consistency is the key. Good luck, just know that you are not suffering alone!!!!

I have a birman, burmese and a ragdoll, out of all of them, the birman is the one that will likely scratch one of the dogs, she gives warning growls and hisses first, its usually only if she is cornered and she generally stays away from puppy. The ragdoll is the least likely to scratch, but he is the youngest at only 5 months, he does hiss as them if puppy gets too rough. The burmese is very social, he'll rub up against all the dogs, he can also tolerate a lot more than the other two. I have seen him donk puppy on the head a few times, it was only half hearted though, and the claws weren't out. Having said all that, I think it depends on the personality of the cat as well, my birman is quite skittish and I don't think that is necessarily a breed trait. I have a puppy and a kitten now, but I don't think I would do it again, the puppy can be a bit rough with the kitten, the adults can fend for themselves, but if the two littlies are playing they need careful supervision.

Definately playing. I agree, its quite gentle and Marcus is very tolerant Incidently, we have one of those rubber chickens, or should I say had, the squeaker was taken out by the wei within 2 days, and its slowly but surely being chewed to pieces, it now has no legs!

When I was looking I was leaning towards the red tri or red merle. Having said that, I wouldn't of minded too much what colour I got.