Reddii

We've been training in about an inch of water for the last month - tonight was the first dry night in quite a while. I'll go out in just about anything as long as it is fairly safe for dogs and people. T

She is TINY. Everyone comments on Xena being small at anywhere between 450 and 470 depending on her mood and who measures her. I'm always amazed when I watch small dogs run around an agility course with their owners - just like they are on a string (sometimes the dogs and sometimes the owners). They NEVER seem to knock bars though. (feeble attempt to keep topic on track - sorry). I don't really think it matters what size they are as long as they are proportion. (showing obviously different story) Kenzie is Beautiful! If ever you decide you don't want her...........

x2 here! Oh, I also have a BC who can't make up his mind if he is a small dog or a BC, but we are working on it.

Susan Salo uses these in her grid work. They have helped my boy in particular.

I'd have to say NO!!! Both my dogs are flyball nuts and I'd say I can count on one hand the number of times they have knocked a bar that has not been a consequence of poor input from me. If the dogs cannot read the jump heights you are asking of them you have not done enough work teaching them to jump. This is an excellent topic and I agree with Jules P - Susan Salo's DVD's are EXCELLENT and really point out how misunderstood jumping is. Dogs don't know how to do it naturally and do have to learn what we are asking of them, just like any other skill. That said I think handling choices/timing as Vickie said would have to be the two biggest causes of bar knocking when you watch back videos of people running their dogs.

Is there any study work done to say that 2o2o is safe? Common sense says to me that a 22 kg high drive dog landing in a 2o2o off an A-frame is not really that desirable. Rear end awareness work is done all the time, but basic laws of motion dictate that a heavier dog will have more trouble pulling up, no matter how much rear end work you put into them. Thus our 2o2o contact work is pretty sloppy, but I'm not interested in drilling it to perfection. I don't want to get into the discussion about whether it is safe or not, suffice to say both mine do 2o2o, but if a dog is not performing 2o/2o successfully to me it means that it either a. doesn't understand the crieteria or b. has not done sufficient work in either or both a lower height and rear end awareness. (Potentially guilty of running dogs in both categories at one point or another.) Dogs should not have to be drilled to the point of injury to proof any behaviour, if you are teaching effectively it is not necessary. I think an important point is that the wieght of a dog is really pretty irrelevant - the heavier the dog the heavier its build and more able to cope with the demands of its activity. (overweight dogs of any build are always going to have problems.) A dog should not be doing the a-frame at full height if it is consistently failing in the desired contact behaviour, whatever that might be. (This includes creeping into 2o2o or creeping down the contact at all.) They should be perfect on the contact plank before moving on and then so on until they are doing full height contacts. One of my dogs is about to come off contacts altogether because I am not happy with his understanding. We will just be running jumpers for a while until we fix the problem. Having said that there are dogs that just hurl themselves over jumps as well - none of what a dog does on an agility course is natural to them. Like people, some are just more athletic than others and will use their natural gift. That said a reasonable dog that uses their potential 100% will always beat a great dog with wasted potential. I think it is up to us to make sure they understand what we are asking for and to make sure they are physically equipped to do it safely. Same goes for any active pursuit our dogs are involved in - flyball, frisbee, whatever.

Hi Laffi I wear Asics touch footy shoes on dry surfaces (ended up on my backside once too often - bloody quick dogs!) and find them really comfortable, but I do have orthotics to put in them. On wet or boggy surfaces I wear proper footy tags - went over once too often in the touch shoes!! The tags are awesome, but again I have my orthotics in them. cheers T

In ADAA they have to be measured if they are running less than maximum height - doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to measure them if they are running max height. We turned up at our first ANKC trial and they looked at the dogs and said - they are fine. If you want to run in 400 we might measure them, but they are 500 dogs!! I nearly fell over!.

Thanks Levi and mntgood. Well done on your quallies too! Thanks for the comment on the correction, it's been a while coming, but I want her to run agility for another 6 or 7 years and don't think I can put up with the madness that we've built up to. Xena has AWESOME contacts at training, but I've let her get away with running contacts in the ring and it has led to what I have now. At her worst she has not even touched the down side (not contact, the entire side) of the dog walk. I wasn't as good as I should have been in the gamblers ring, but it was the last one she missed for the day. Funniest thing is her weavers - I've only ever had to fix that once. She popped out 3 times and we walked off the course slowly with her at heel. (she is a brilliant weaving dog, but self rewards by popping out to get to the next obstacle - much the same as her contacts). I don't correct missed entries, I do correct self rewarding - it has to be something that she is 100% on, but chooses to do otherwise or I don't think it is fair to correct. We've only ever done that once for weavers and she has been perfect ever since. I'm waiting for the day I do it for the a-frame, problem solved for ever I think. Look forward to seeing you at the next one I get to. (They are a bit too far between - ADAA takes up a fair bit of my agility time.)

Our latest and (perhaps not) greatest! We did our first CCCQ trial yesterday (agility). Both puppies had heaps of fun and we came away with 2 cards. Xena got a card in Gamblers. A messy run, but the missed contact on the a-frame was the only contact she missed all day!! The stopping motion thing when she decides it is more important to keep running is beginning to pay off. (No popping out of weavers either!) CK was the best he has EVER been at a trial - new grounds and all. Every time he came out he ran like mad (too made in 2 of his runs), but even so we had a ball. Even managed to win the Novice jumpers class. The other cool thing was that Xena and Ember (Jinkispirit's girl) ran in their strategic pairs and did a really good job for their first outing together. Both girls had a look at each other for the briefest of seconds, but after that it was all smooth sailing - we are looking forward to getting them working well together down the track. Also well done to Ember for getting a Quali in the last run of the day!!

That's what I was thinking - wouldn't do it for the minor placings.

Thanks Tony. The vet I'm looking at getting to do a house visit actually works at Animal Options one day a week So I'm just deciding if I should drive down to Ormeau or get a house visit really. I'm pretty sure we've seen Kathy when Rowan wasn't available - she was excellent. Have heard the same from another very doggy person. I like Rowan because he has heaps of experience with working dogs and tells it straight. He charges, but doesn't string you along with treatment that is not going to work or isn't necessary.

I know you are looking north side so this may not be much help, but....... Rowan Kilmartin at Animal Options - Ormeau is an excellent vet and a great chiro. In my experience he will use alternative treatments wherever possible, but will turn to conventional science if he thinks it is necessary. Cheers Tony

All expenses paid holiday to the Maldives? Seriously - have we thought about entry to the next competition?

If you are unhappy with the club then others probably are as well. Maybe it is worth getting involved with the committee and working to improve things - that way you can have the best of both worlds.