laffi

I love this one

I love Susan Garrett

That's a great advice Good luck Dee_al and please let us know how you go!!

Go CK!!!! So when is your first obedience trial?!!!???

I got mine too! Highly recommend it. So far it survived an eager golden retriever'a and hyper aussie shep's jaws

I'd need big baggy pockets for ease of access Absolutely ! That's why I have 3 paris of "agility shorts" with big pockets with zippers so stuff doesn't fly around when I run (yes it did happen with my "non-agility shorts" ) I have a bag where most of my treats are and I just replenish my pockets from time to time. I find this the best transition between training and trailing. :cool:

Although that doesn't answer your question, I have a suggestion. I used to use the treat bag all the time in my agility training until my trainer pointed out to me that Laffi (my golden) is too focused on the bag and not me. So I started putting food in my pockets and it works much better. It's also easier when you trial as you don't have to worry about fading it out as much as a treat bag. Hope that helps

The only one that I found when I googled was: http://www.lovemypet.com.au/shopexd.asp?id=961

I have been told that they are excellent for itchy dogs. Has anyone used them? Thanks!

He's not wearing an electronic collar, just the elizabethan one. when I read about vibrations I assumed she meant an e-collar.

E-collar? Sorry totally missed that part. I would definitely not recommend having an e-collar on while having the elizabeth collar. With the crate, well it all depends how big is the crate. I did have my dog sleep in a crate with an elizabeth collar on without any problems. She was able to turn in the crate with the collar on.

My friend has a dog with terrible skin allergies and she is forced to have him wear Elizabeth Collar 24/24. She hasn't had any troubles with it. If you do worry just put the collar on and leave him in the crate. I do understand it's not ideal as he won't be able to move much but it should be OK as a temporary solution.

LOL I love ADAA I am now in QLD and we only compete with ADAA ETA I didn't see a lotof NSW comps in ADAA calendar for 2009 that's why I asked about the AKC one.

This is the calendar. Thanks heaps!!!!

We are moving to Sydney in January and I wanted to find more info about agility/obedience trials there. What is the official website with all the dates, clubs and such? Btw does anyone know if I need to switch my QLD membership to the NSW one in order to compete?

Yes I do go there . I love them because they use the most updated, positive methods. The classes are small and you get heaps of feedback from amazing trainers. I think it's one of the best clubs in Brisbane to be honest Btw I will be moving to Sydney next year and my this agility club is something I am going to miss the most hahahaha we're doing the swap smisch to QLd Laffi to NSW!!! :rolleyes: hahaha that's funny

Yes I do go there . I love them because they use the most updated, positive methods. The classes are small and you get heaps of feedback from amazing trainers. I think it's one of the best clubs in Brisbane to be honest Btw I will be moving to Sydney next year and my this agility club is something I am going to miss the most :rolleyes:

ADCQ is in Tivoli. It's an AMAZING agility club! I highly recommend it

Yesterday at the agility comp both my dogs did amazing getting a clean run each and placing 1st for Midge and 3rd for Laffi. I coudn't be more proud of them.

Yeah read a few of the debates too on head halters Ok, I was considering clicker training as read a few good things about it on her but have to admit never done it before so will need to read up on it. So the idea is to click to redirect their attention away from the distraction and then treat but never to just use the clicker to make a distraction noise with no real purpose or goal and no reward? Nope, the click is a marker for the behavior you want. So you click when the dog looks at you (and not other people/dogs). That's why you need to start with low distractions to give a dog a chance to be successful and get lots of clicks and treats for looking at you! The click should not be used as a lure or as a distraction from other things. It's only a marker. After a click a reward (treat or toy) should ALWAYS follow. Oh ok, make sense. So how do I get the dog's attention in the first place? Can I call her name then she looks at me then mark it will the clicker and then reward with a treat? Continue doing that with low distractions until she's got it? I would start at home/in your yard (the lowest distractions place). Take some treats and sit down. If she comes and looks at you click and treat (C&T). Do it ~10 times and finish session here (I would repeat this session a couple of times, sometimes throwing treats around so you click whenever she picks her head up and looks at you after eating her treat). After that put her leash on and literally walk 2-3m and stop. She will look at you to see what happened, C&T that. Build up slowly. The more foundation you have in lower distractions the more powerful the click will become and she will try to look at you more and more for a C&T. Does that make sense?

Yeah read a few of the debates too on head halters Ok, I was considering clicker training as read a few good things about it on her but have to admit never done it before so will need to read up on it. So the idea is to click to redirect their attention away from the distraction and then treat but never to just use the clicker to make a distraction noise with no real purpose or goal and no reward? Nope, the click is a marker for the behavior you want. So you click when the dog looks at you (and not other people/dogs). That's why you need to start with low distractions to give a dog a chance to be successful and get lots of clicks and treats for looking at you! The click should not be used as a lure or as a distraction from other things. It's only a marker. After a click a reward (treat or toy) should ALWAYS follow.

There has been a lot of debates on DOL about head halters. I am not going to start one here. I think they can be a great tool if conditioned properly, however most people just put them on the dog and are ready to go. In your situation I believe the best solution would be clicker training with distractions. I would start with low distractions and click and treat whenever the dog redirects towards you. After that I would increase distractions (by coming close to people or dogs) and C&T whenever the dog ignores them and looks at you. It might take a bit but I definitely think it's worth it. If you go too fast too soon and the dog starts ignoring you and getting too excited around other people/dogs, just take few steps back (well as many as you need for the dog to start paying attention to you again). Btw I would NEVER use a clicker as a distraction noise.

When I was reading said that there are bad chemicals used to dry and preserve the skin - lime (and I'm not talking fruit) bleach, formaldehide? Something like that, basically lumped them in the same bucket as rawhide. Someone else will be more expert on the chemicals. I agree that the best (well most healthy) stuff would be raw meaty bones. My lot loves lamb necks (usually frozen). It takes them about 30-50min to eat one. They also love roo tails which a bit like lamb necks, maybe slightly smaller. There is heaps of meat on the outside and an bone inside. I get them from a petstore (buy them frozen). Where are you located? Maybe we can help you finding some good meat suppliers?

Thank you FHRP and Ptolomy I really appreciate your help.

That's very helpful Ptolomy