helen

I agree 100% with what you have said. The first dog I used a head halter on was a rescue standard poodle and it worked like a dream. I have since used it on 2 other dogs. I can say for sure I have never been even close to having any neck injuries. Blackdog also make a double ended lead which is designed to wean a dog from the halti to the flat collar. This can also be done using 2 leads.

I love the idea with the bulldog clip. I know a few NADAC people had dog coats made out of their felt ribbons. They look great but are more for special occasions rather than a practical dog coat.

I think breed does have some bearing but training and maturity are very important. You may need to use different methods for some of the 'harder to train' breeds and in doing so can get excellent results. There is a Samoyed doing obedience trials at the moment, the breed does not have a good reputation but this dog's heeling is excellent, one of the best around.

Vets in my experience don't normally refer dogs to chiros, accupuncture, bowen etc - however I am currently having Chazer treated with accupuncture and it is with a vet who has done a lot of study into injuries and also teaches accupuncture at a uni. She is not my normal vet, I go to one vet for vaccinations etc and another vet for injuries. Most people who use them usually do by word of mouth, lot of show and agility people use them. I guess it is with these dogs the injuries show themselves, especially with agility

Congratulations, hope all goes well.

Has anyone got any tips on training your dog to run nicely beside the bike?

I think they must raise super Cavvies up your way - with everything your dogs have done and now with Paije to follow - who knows, maybe she will be in the topdog contest next year.

LOL - nobody could look at Nova and not say he is beautiful. Eddy - the best Junior handler also trialled a Cavvy.

The agility results are on the web now for anyone interested - http://www.geocities.com/vicagility/agilitynews.htm And for the trial results - http://www.geocities.com/vicagility/agilitynews.htm

Thanks Rusky - we are off to do some open training now :-). Hedds, that's right - here is a link to the vic obedience sight with the final results - http://www.geocities.com/vicobedience/news.htm - the cattle dog must be the associate. Tollersowned - there was a Toller in entered in encouragement at the trial, isn't on the results page though, I think I may have seen it, a very good looking dog reminds me of Nova.

Thanks, I will be smiling for a week. That was the Dog Of The Year competition that started in the afternoon. Dogs have to qualify to enter, they submit their scores from UD and Open for the year. Their average scores range from 196.9 to 189.2 out of 200 so as you can imagine they are all spectacular dogs. I was hoping the Border Collie would win (had to of course, our friend that was stewarding and sitting with me watching has Border Collies so I have come to really love watching them work)

Hi, I am not going tomorrow. I was actually intending to enter the agility not the obedience but I missed the closing date so entered the obedience instead - maybe it was meant to be. There is a Brittany cross in the Jumping Dog of The Year called Tahlia, a fantastic dog. I will miss out on watching but will have my fingers and toes crossed for them.

Just got back from obedience dog of the year. I entered the trial and didn't want to say anything to jinx myself (nerves). Got there thismorning and nerves turned to terror after check-in when I found a friend who Bella loves was our steward, I had visions of Bella jumping all over her in the figure 8. Luckily though we managed to stumble through, get a pass and CD title (don't know how, even when the judge said left about turn I completely forgot how that was done, I still have no idea which way I turned I was so nervous :p Bella is now Champ Wameika Dentelle CD AD O-NGC O-NJC NAC. I am very proud of her as she was my first show dog, then my first agility titled dog now my first obedience titled dog and has done this all in spite of her handler. The Obedience Dog Of The Year was fantastic to watch, they all deserved to be there and were excellent dogs, just little things made the difference to the final order. Overall winner was a Dobermann OC Crackerdobe Watta Cracker ET, runner up was a Border Collie OC Tarlang Highland Piper HIT.

Beautifully put Carlin's mum

Are the dogs allowed to run on their own? After witnessing my dogs moth hunting abilities I don't think luring coursing will be a problem

have your tried something nice and smelly like cabana? - try and make it easy first, maybe on the kitchen floor or something

I think it is a matter of whether or not the dog's has been bred to use the nose, even if they do use their nose it may be air scenting rather than scenting the ground. At the pet expo I got a brilliant guide from Advance dog food about tracking and teaching the dog to put his nose on the ground and smell using food games, basically doing what you are doing. Every now and then I will get a handful of food and scatter it around so the dogs have to use their nose to find it. It is interesting to watch Bella with a treat ball, she will push it around a bit and then track back looking for any food that has fallen out. Brittanys can tend to air scent. My dog Tilly never put her nose to the ground much, I thought she didn't have a very good sense of smell. when I taught her to scent the ground for food I soon discovered she has probably got the best nose of my dogs but didn't ground scent until she was taught.

Would agree with that too, most of those subjects are of interest to more advanced and competitive trainers.

Great photos, looks like he is doing well

Holding an 8 week old puppy outside the entrance of a supermarket, especially just after school is out works a dream. There is not really a need to pup the pup down if you are worried about vaccinations. When I did this with my pups I had a towel where the pup sat just in case. The pup gets to meet people of all ages and experience with pups, people with glasses etc etc. If you have a short car ride to the supermarket that is good too. Just make sure first the pup is not worried about the trolleys and traffic before going straight to the entrance. Skysong Tozzerz, funny you mentioned the fireworks. When my 1st litter was 6 weeks they got fireworks for 2 nights in a row, not by my choice but because they were close. I was so worried about them before hand but in hindsight it was probably a good thing. I made sure I took them indoors before they started the first night because I thought they would be worried, put them in the puppy pen with a huge marrow bone. They did not even seem to notice the noise, I let them out the 2nd night LOL.

Cant go wrong with a miniature poodle - just my opinion anyway.

LOL. You see the dogs warming up outside the ring and thing what great dogs they are, if they do something wrong in the ring you start to say to yourself 'oh my god, we are going to fail for sure' They say it is good to watch the dogs before so you know the judges routine but for me until I loose the nerves I think it is better not to LOL.

Good luck, let us know how it goes. Try not to do what I did, I watched the dogs before me who did poorly, I got about 50 times more nervous watching other dogs fail.

Too far for me to go, sounds great. Furtunately I am going to the Aussie equivalent, Gina O'Keefe from WA. I believe she has been to NSW before. I have started picking up the obedience again with Bella lately and she is really enjoying it so am looking forward to learning what needs to be taught for the higher levels.

Where are you located and what breed of dog do you have? It doesn't sound like a club i would attened myself