laffi

Excellent . Do you know who is their distributor (esp in Brisbane area)? Thank you!

I have been in touch with Orijen (grainless food) people and it's now available in Australia! They said Orijen is now available in Sydney and it will take a few months to get to the other major cities. I don't know yet who is the distributor in Sydney (hopefully not PP like Evo).

I would suggest elimination diet. Maybe varying the protein sources between what he can handle (chicken, turkey and fish). Definitely no grains or cereals.

If you order from US this one is much cheaper: Kyjen Dog-Agility Starter Kit (~$50 on Amazon although they probably wouldn't ship here, but you could find it somewhere else that does ship here I am sure). I think it's a good kit to start, athough from what I heard the tunnel is not very durable (but I am not sure which kit exactly the person was using ).

How about turkey? pork? and fish? ETA: roo?

When he was on BARF what RMB did you give him? (what was the main protein source)

We do have one in our club, she is a cutie. All dogs can do agility and they love it! Highly recommended Btw any dog can get injured, but if you introuce physical activity gradually they have time to build up muscles and the chance of injury decreases.

I totally agree. Clicker is just a marker and not a primary reinforcer. Primary reinforcers are food, play, pat. For all dogs food is a reinforcer, for some play and others pat. Clicker is a marker and should always be followed by a reinforcer. Do not fade the food into patting if patting is not reinforcing for your dog. My dogs love cuddles but I wouldn't use them in training. Do not mark the incorrect behavior (like not coming when you call) just for her to come to get food. Because you are marking the wrong behavior and if she is clicker trained correctly she will learn not to come. She will only come if she decides that what you have in return is good enough (not something you want to teach her). I see nothing wrong with training her using her dinners. As a matter of fact I, and many other people, do it very often. You say she doesn't gobble her food as much as she used to... well there are few possibilities. First of all she expects it now to be free as it was at your mums, so she is not thrilled to work for it again. Second possibility is that your mum introduced some other foods that she liked more and she is not impressed with her dining options. Third: she is not hungry. Forth: she is sick. (but she doesn't seem to act sick, just cheeky ). Please do not use a clicker as a reward. Whistle training for her recalls is a great idea. You can still use a clicker when she comes when called (or whistled ).

Is the little one the Pyrenean Shepherd?

No idea sorry, but what a great clip!!!

I decided to do it like that too ;) . I am not going to teach them to run AT me because the impact might be too big. Like in the fist clip I will try to teach them to go on my leg from a side so hopefully I will be able to handle that. I have been warned though so if I disappear from DOL at least you will know what happened to me

I actually read that the loss of pigment on the nose usually happens in winter when dogs don't spend enough of time in the sun. If I remember correctly it's because of the vit B deficiency. I think kelp (iodine) help to correct that but you have to be careful with the dosage because you can overdose on iodine. Just search for "pigment" or "iodine" on the health forum and I am sure you will find lots of info. Btw he does look stunning ;)

These are awesome!!!! Thank you so much

I dont think ive seen someone catch a Golden, they would be too heavy and awkward i would think. Ive seen the little ones do it and BCs generally but they are lighter then Aussies and Goldens. How heavy are your dogs and are they 'light' or 'heavy' jumpers? That's what I thought too!!! However I saw this podcats in ITubes Purina Incredible Dog Challange: Agility Large breed (it's free btw) where a woman catches her male (!) flat coated retriever after an amazing run. You should really see it to belive it Mine are pretty light jumpers, esp the golden one.

That's a good idea LOL, but now I am not sure if I want to practice this trick anymore

Oh I see. Well I have been jealous of all these dogs jumping into their owners arms after agility or freestyle.... I didn't realize it was so hard for the owner and the dog.

I hear you It does seem to be quite a dangerous activity . I actually found that once I put Midge's jumping on cue it stopped occurring without a cue. OH was very impressed. So I am hoping they are not doing to throw themselves at me. But I do agree that high impact is a factor. I actually think my golden would be better at it because she is very gentle. Midge is more into violet kisses :D

No idea but I'd like to know. I just told both of mine 'hugs' when they were really excited. But I can't catch them as yet :D Both are natural jumpers Midge jumps up to give me a kiss, but not into my arms. OK I was told on a different forum to teach them first to jump through the loop you make with your arms and then try to catch them Apparently the second step is easier than it sounds.

How can I teach my dogs (an aussie and a golden) to jump into my arms?

I would recommend two clubs: Awesome Pawsome (Mt Gravatt) http://www.awesomepawsome.org.au/ or Flyball Fanatics (Fairfield) http://www.flyballfanatics.com/

looking great! congrats

Westiemum: are you using shampoo and conditioner or just a shampoo? Also are you adding the EPO supplement to their diet? Thanks!

It's called Glyde Oral Powder for dogs - contains chondroitin, glucosamine, and green lipped mussel. My vet recommended it over Sasha's Blend, though I haven't tried Sasha's Blend so can't compare them. It's a relatively new product, released last year I think. The only place I can get it is from the vet, I've tried online but can't find any other stockists. My girl Kayla has had good results with it, but the downside is that it is very expensive - I paid $95 for 360g!! I tried Joint Guard after reading the positive feedback on here, but it didn't work for Kayla unfortunately. Where do you get Glyde Oral Powder from? I tried to google it but nothing came up Thanks!

Have you done any "Separation Anxiety Training" with her (for example leaving her in the yard for 1, 2, 3... min and come back each time without making a fuss)? There is heaps of info about it on DOL. I am definitely not an expert but I doubt that leaving her in a kennel for a week is going to solve anything. I think it could actually make things even worse once she is back.

I agree. You need to understand first: - why the vet has recommended he stay on his liver food diet being Hill's l/d (eg low protein content, good source of proteins, etc etc) - ask what ingredients are good for your dog - study the label of the Hill's l/d to see what's good in there Hill's food has fillers that your dog doesn't need but in order to recommend a better diet you first need to ask your vet what is so good about Hill's and go from there.