Tim Fairchild

The rulebooks cover the dimensions of equipment. You can download adaa and ankc rules on the net. A quick search will get a copy of the ankc rules, and the adaa are available from their web site. ankc seesaw is 3650-4250 long and 300-330 wide. adaa is 3660 long and 300 (+-25) wide. Type of wood depends on construction, but the usual is structural ply that you then paint to seal from moisture. The thickness depends on the situation.

We use the advantage chemical on the dogs and it is working for fleas at the moment. Fleas can be a big issue with 20+ dogs on a farm... But the prices for the dog version of advantage are way too high unfortunately

It depends on the situation. If you or the dog are right off, then retire. If it's hot and/or you have several dogs and events to run in, then retire. If you are just going to run around without directing the dog correctly as it doesn't count, then retire. If you are finding the course too negative and it's putting you or the dog off, then retire. The best training would be to pause (even if just mentally) after the error/fault and compose yourself and start from where you went wrong and play as if you are starting again. And do the rest of the course the best you can do it.

While you might 'get what you pay for', some of the foods are way overpriced. So a chiko roll might not be the best meal to work all day, although I'm sure plenty of people do just that, but by the same token, a human doesn't need to eat $100 fancy meal to do a days work. Do dog's need venison and green-lipped mussel? Only if they have a food allergy, perhaps. We have real working (cattle) dogs and they eat way cheaper than that, and do quite well, thanks. 15kg lasts about two and a half days here, so they aren't likely to get food at $75 a bag Cheaper food as a base with extras can work very well...

I have a fairly active old 17yo who was fed dry pedigree for 13 years. Then we put him of coprice when he came to us. Lately due to the drought it's been the cheap sunrice big W brand with some additives (tuna or sardines). He's still looking quite good...

Thanks for bumping this one. I had a feeling midol was a bit behind on his biology

Well, front leg, ongoing. Sure it's not the shoulder... We've had this and it was OCD, so check that when you X-Ray. The vet said it was a foot for a start, but it was the shoulder and OCD. Dogs can cope fine with this with exercise and glucosamine, if it's not too bad. Garibaldi suffered with it, but still went on to become a titled masters dog in agility. He gets a sore shoulder now in his old age, but gets around okay.

Let us know how it goes. Hope you squeeze into 400 Looks like you might have a chance. I have a 400 BC, but she is well under, the little midget.

Well, I tend to push down a bit and reduce the fur influence when I measure, as do others I know. But others may do differently. My personal opinion is a borderline dog is safer jumping at the lower height, so with a borderline 455 dog it pays to measure carefully. It's never exactly accurate, so I would measure a couple of times and go with a sub-455 if I was getting those results at least some of the time. I'm assuming ankc heights here of course, so with the 5 height categories it's at least not quite so critical these days one way or another.

Try to get as accurate a measure as you can at home. Stand the dog up straight against a wall, put a pencil flat on the top of the withers (shoulder bones), draw a mark, measure it. This will get a rough measure. Work out your height on that. Sounds like the dog is a 500 anyway, but it could be borderline (455 is the cutoff for 400). Then get an official measure when you can.

It's amazing how good kibble tastes when it has a couple of spoons of blended sardines or tinned mackerel mixed in with it

I got my first ever AD qual with a dog called misty... It was the only one she ever got :D I eventually gave up with her (tho later went back years later and got her JD) I move to Mr Garibaldi. A suppose it took a couple of years to get an AD. We were new then. His daughter get her AD JD in the first year I started working with her. Now, I think Mr Garibaldi took something like 6 years to get a TD, while years later I got a TD with Duke in the first double trail I ever went to. I trained about 6 weeks. He was a natural. You get better with your later dogs, and sometimes you get lucky

You can do as much as you want if you put in enough time. It's easier to do one thing.

I'd try to stop it. When we got jazmin, she had a habit of sucking thing like a puppy... Well, she was a puppy at the time. She would get a corner of a pillow and suck it, and work her paws on it like it was her mum... We figured she would grow out of it. She still does it today, and she is eleven.

Of course I have a lot of very old dogs who have been eating such things all their lives...