The Spotted Devil

Just spent some time at the oval training a few concepts. Started with a double rise and 2 bird - using a pile of dummies (moving further and further away) and throwing the 2 bird progressively closer and closer. At no point did I let her pick up the 2 bird but she kept a VERY close eye on it. Took a break and did a set up that resembled a double fall. A pile of dummies with Em in a sit facing me. Threw dummies progressively closer to her and then sent her back. Ended with 2 dummies thrown very close and she nailed it. Went back to the double rise/2 bird set up and she was spot on. On the last one (pretty tight angle), she delivered the first dummy, I called her to heel and she started eyeing off the 2 bird. I quietly gave her the double rise command and her head snapped around quickly to face the correct dummy. I was really blown away! Next step will be to extend it out with the Bumper Boy and hand thrown game.....THAT will be tempting!

No idea sheena. I use cheese in retrieving training

Hi Sylvie I don't bother loading the clicker as most dogs pick it up super quick but if you want to you need to do it differently. Don't put the treats on the ground. Get some tasty treats in your hand and simply click and then give a treat - it's actually the opposite order of what you are doing and makes a surprising difference. If he's worried by the sound muffle it with a cloth. Hope that helps.

So the lead up to last weekend's trial was a little rough training wise. Life just got in the way but it can't be helped - squeezed in a few drills on the oval, some handling and stopping plus a few single marks, set ups and channel swims. However, I was absolutely delighted with Em on the weekend - no finishes but we did get a little unlucky....but that's retrieving for you... Great property - lots of variety but relatively dry. Still enough water to test concepts. Terrain was challenging, especially for the handlers walking to the pegs! Saturday: Run 1: This was a tough concept (double rise and 2-bird) at the best of times but thick fog made it nigh on impossible for us. I could tell she didn't see the long mark as she took a very odd line and handling her was a struggle as she couldn't see me! She was using her nose and kept ending up where the double rise was put out for previous dogs and it was extremely difficult to get her on the mark. As she bolted back to me the 2-bird went up. I couldn't see it very well but I'm pretty sure she did. I sent her for the double rise and she took the same odd line (unsurprisingly) and then peeled off to pick up the 2-bird. I handled her a couple of times to try and push her back but she disappeared from view and quickly appeared with the 2-bird. Ouch. However, whilst she understands the concept of a stand alone double rise, we have never trained it in combination with something else. The fog definitely didn't help us at all but the very experienced dogs just lined off their handlers leg and actually did some outstanding work as a "triple blind". Run 2: The judge kindly let us run this. Walk to the first set of pegs, watch mark. Leave dog. Relocate to second set of pegs, fire at 2 blinds. Call dog. Send for long blind (across small, very cheaty body of water). Send for shorter blind to the right. Send for mark, further to the right again. I was really pleased with Em - a couple of handles on each blind, no cheating and nailed the relocation mark. Run 3: I was out on the thrower for this one. Walk up mark, long mark, split by a channel swim blind. Pick up order was blind, long mark, walk up. I ran the set up for Em after the trial had finished but she had real trouble on the channel swim. There was a lot of timber and a huge boulder in the middle of the river and she really, really struggled to push past it. Another trialler metaphorically slapped me silly for not helping her enough and we set her up again with him throwing for her. Later on I reversed the blind and she nailed that. I had Zig with me so I let him out and they both ran riot - lots of swimming, running, hunting and general feel good stuff. Sunday: Run 1: Thank goodness the fog cleared more quickly and allowed us to make a start. First run was a walk up mark sharp to the left. I broke the gun, reloaded, left Em in a stay and proceeded to the second firing point. Fired at the very short blind. Called Em. Lined her up for the long mark (splitting the blind and the walk-up). Order of pick up was the walk-up, blind and then the long mark. Em seems to have a real handle on relocation marks - I told her to "leave" the long mark, lined her up for the walk-up, "Watch. Yes. OK! I had noticed that a number of dogs overran this mark - it dropped down into a gully - but Em was out and back so quickly I was confident she'd nailed it. I also realised that if I sent her for the blind she might think that was the mark and would be totally confused when I sent her for the mark. So I lined her up for the long mark first, "Watch. Leave". Then I lined her up for the short blind. Like every other dog the blind really was very short for her and I noticed the bushes rustling beyond the blind. I whistled her in and handled her onto the blind. I was really pleased. Then I lined her up for the long mark. And it was really long - through moderate cover, down a gully (not sure how much water?) and up a very steep embankment to the crest of the hill. If you had to handle you were in trouble as you couldn't see much. Most in the gallery thought it would be too much for Em, as did I. "Watch. Yes. Ok!" She gave me every indication she knew what she was about and I decided to keep quiet and give her a chance. I knew it took a while to cross the gully so I had to bite my lip and wait patiently. To my complete delight my first sight of Em was her flying up the steep embankment and appearing on the ridge within 10 m of the mark! A quick hunt around, she picked it up and came flying back just as fast. Bloody hell but I was delighted!!! The whole gallery raised their arms in a silent cheer and I pumped the air in response. Amazing feeling. Little devil lined up ready for another. The guys said they wouldn't be giving me any more training advice lol. Run 2: Our nemesis. A double fall and a blind. Twice we've had these in trials and twice she's swapped. Had trained them but not enough. Leave dog in hide, fire at blind, reload, relocate to second set of firing pegs, call dog, fire at mark. Pick up order was mark, blind, double fall. Both mark and double fall was across water and up on a ridge. You could see your dog really well if they went to swap. Em took a lovely line to the mark - no hesitation around the gully or water - double fall went up, fired and stopped Em on the whistle. Now, suffice to say this was MESSY and I made some handling errors according to the judge (I can't remember!) BUT I did finally manage to convince Em to pick up the mark so a huge, huge win. Relocated to first set of firing pegs and sent for blind across the river. This was a very, very tight line and you lost sight of your dog if they were off line. A clever test I thought and it took us a few whistles as I am too slow and she too fast! Relocated back to the second set of firing pegs to pick up the double fall and this was easy peasy thank goodness as my nerves were shot! Run 3: Mark and a blind. Walk to firing pegs. Fire at blind. As soon as you fired at the blind the mark went up. Pick up blind then mark. Blind was moderate distance wise, but it was hot, the blind was up on a log and the dogs didn't get much help from the breeze. Em was a bit hesitant - she took a lovely angle through the shallow water and I think she was a little unsure whether she was supposed to be swimming or running. When she hit the land and realised she could run, she just took off! She was a bit confused about the blind being up on the log so that took a bit of convincing but she clambered up there like a monkey and found it. Another valuable lesson for her. Sent her for the long mark and the length of the swim was a bit daunting I suspect. It was a bloody long way, there was a lot of debris in the water and she was mentally a bit tired. I had to keep pushing her back - at one point she climbed up on a log and looked confused - I sent her back. She thought about it for a little while (later I realised she was trying to work out how to get down) and finally took a flying leap into the water which left the gallery and me quietly giggling. Bat sh!t crazy I tell ya! Finally got her to the mud flats and, although I couldn't see much, she hunted and hunted and hunted but kept climbing out of the gully as she couldn't find it. I had to handle her repeatedly to get her back in the gully and I knew I was rapidly running out of whistles. At one point she handled left so beautifully that she ended up on the other side of the gully on the ridge! Unsurprisingly the judge said to call her in but told me to come up where he was standing and see where the bird had landed. Unfortunately for Em, it had landed in behind a log and whilst it was technically in the area of the fall all the other marks had landed in the open. She really didn't have much chance and I was so pleased with how she persisted and kept handling that I asked the judge if she could have the bird. Under instruction, the steward on the thrower dropped the bird for her and she was just beside herself and came running back to me. I treated her like she'd just won as it really was a great effort. Some things are even better than finishing!

Colour me jealous. :laugh: My misguided missile and I so need some training. He's coming along - but we'd both do so much better with access to regular training. I'm sure you're traveling and exhausted but how was your Nationals weekend Tassie? I couldn't make it as I had a retrieving trial. Em and I are SOLD on SG after 2 weeks. She is faster and more confident than I have ever seen. And it has translated to weaves and contacts (although I spent a LOT of time retraining the latter). She is also knocking bars much less often - I suspect because I am giving her much more timely information. My dogs both have very solid start line stays so I have also changed the release word to the name of the obstacle. Think I will do this coming off contacts as well. I expect we will have a bit of a rocky trialling time as we push through the transition but I'm more than happy to cop that if I get anywhere near the enthusiasm we're getting in training.

I had a Min Pin in a puppy class recently - wow! What a live wire!!! Awesome performance potential but maybe a bit much for this situation. In-laws have a lovely Sheltie (retired show dog as he was too small) but he is timid. I have seen a few similarly timid Shelties which have also been quite yappy so you would need to select lines carefully. Can't go past the CKCS for a beautiful pet. The show cockers can be sweet little dogs but can still be very "busy" - the boys I've seen are more laid back than the girls.

Yes. Fold up trolley from Bunnings makes things much easier!

I use soft crates for agility training (in the evening when it's cooler) but stick to the wire crate for trialling - more secure and cooler. Yes, it's a pain in the butt to haul around (fits both dogs comfortably) but I can relax that Zig, in particular, won't break out....he learnt to undo zips at the Agility Nationals when I was walking a course! Fortunately a local DOLer lent me a wire crate for the week. I just took him camping with Em for a weekend of retrieving trialling. He was a spectator only of course and he gets a bit antsy when I leave him to run Em. The crate was a godsend - we had zero shade so I attached silver shade to it and he stayed cool all day. Em, on the other hand, happily sleeps unrestrained in the back of the car even when I'm out on a thrower.

Sounds good! Keep us updated please and don't forget to video your training! I find barking is more frustration with Em and a lack of impulse control. Like breaking from the hide!!!

My personal experience with Bowen is that I can feel really rejuvenated and full of beans OR completely exhausted. So I tend to let the dogs do as they wish at home - curl up and sleep or wander/run up the black block or we just go on a relaxed walk. I back off the formal training for a few days as they are the sort of dogs who will train through soreness/tiredness.

I'd guess that there would be a destruction order and the owners fined. I would be very surprised if this is not the case. If the owners fight the destruction order the dogs will have a very extended stay in the pound.

I really enjoyed NSW but I've decided against QLD as I just have too much on with the Retrieving Nationals in SA in August not to mention work/study. Hope you have a ball!

Quite often I must say Should I be offering something else as a reward or just asking him for more behaviours before I let him have it again? Shape another behaviour - start with a sit! Then tug! So ask for a behaviour -> quick game of tug -> ask for a release -> ask for a few behaviours before giving it back to him? I should also add that our games are quite unstructured and informal so I apologise in advance if these are stupid questions :p No questions are stupid! Start by asking a single behaviour, short duration but mix up the whole game so....behaviour - quick game of tug (can be really short < 30s) - release - tug - release - behaviour - tug - release - behaviour - tug - release - tug. Does that make sense? When I'm starting this game I don't actually ASK for a behaviour but shape a sit. Super short duration to begin with and gradually ask for more and more impulse control as I tempt them to break the sit.

Some of the clickers are relatively loud, which might explain the reaction. I prefer softer sounding clickers (e.g. Black Dog Wear i-clicker) - I've never had a strange reaction when I use those.

Quite often I must say Should I be offering something else as a reward or just asking him for more behaviours before I let him have it again? Shape another behaviour - start with a sit! Then tug!

I had Em in a sit one day and was throwing a few dummies around her in preparation to practice some handling. She was feeling rather feral and impatient and produced a loud, high pitched BARK! Now, barking is taboo for a gundog in the field and I honestly don't think she would ever try it in that situation but I wasn't going to cop it. Lack of impulse control in one scenario can bubble over into another. So... I quietly said "ah well", slipped her leash on and walked her away. She was rather horrified. After 5 min I gave her another chance to "play" and she hasn't barked during training since. I rarely use a serious verbal NRM and prefer to laugh when they make a mistake (stops me getting tense and them from worrying). Similarly I used it in a retrieving trial recently when she crept out of the hide - hasn't tried that again either!

I'd be incredibly surprised if the dogs weren't siezed by council. Let us know how you get on.

Crikey. How awful Jules. You may recall I had an accident waiting to happen next door. Dog tied up on a running chain on the balcony (incessant barker as well) - the one time I saw it off the chain it bailed me up in my own front yard. Luckily I got behind a gate quick smart but I couldn't leave my house yard until the idiot owners called it off. Reported to council. Who asked me to film the dog next time it tried to attack me. Sure thing. A poorly bred, poorly socialised Border Collie - great with dogs, bloody terrifying with people. Thankfully they moved out so I don't have to deal with them but it's likely happening somewhere else.

There's a great saying about dog training being simple but not easy. Rather than stopping the unwanted behaviour I find it easier to use a combination of management with teaching a non-compatible behaviour. Whether you train a new, incompatible behaviour or try to extinguish an existing one the problem is that humans can be terribly inconsistent! In the re-training process every time the dog performs the undesirable, but self-rewarding, behaviour it ends up being a prime example of intermittent reinforcement and further entrenches the behaviour. For example, owners work on loose leash walking in class and then let the dog pull them towards the car - the behaviour is context based and not generalised. This is the biggest battle I find. One of the main things I focus on with my own dogs is to take the reward I offer. So, for example, Zig has to tug in the face of food. Em has to accept food in the face of game (the first time, she literally spat the food out). I can ask her to retrieve a dummy in the face of game. I have recalled Zig off a couple of bolting kangaroos. Management still comes into play, especially with Em who has such a strong desire to hunt, quarter and flush game. Counter conditioning can be handy for fearful and highly aroused dogs but you have to work under the dog's threshold so they can actually learn.

Lovely to hear E+H! Keep it up! One lesson and half a week of training in the new SG method and I'm really enjoying it and feeling less of a klutz than I expected. Seems to suit Em really well (have never seen her enjoy agility quite so much) and I've started with Zig too. I have some home made wing jumps that are doing the job. Can't wait until out next lesson on Tuesday!

I love making and eating chocolate mousse and tiramisu (raw eggs) and my fried/poached eggs always have soft yolks. No salmonella infection for me or my guests so I reckon the dogs should cope just fine considering all the other disgusting things they eat and roll in!

So pleased! Yay!!!

Off topic but as the days shorten, if you work full time you might want to consider how much Vitamin D she'll get if she's inside during the day. Growing dogs need access to unfiltered sunlight. The main vitamin D source for dogs and cats is dietary (ie D3, thus an essential vitamin). Humans synthesise vitamin D3 from dietary D2 but dogs and cats have a low supply of the D3 precursor in the skin and it is inadequately synthesised into vitamin D3 despite exposure to UV light (unlike herbivores and omnivores).

If you do plan on having two dogs, it's probably better as a long-term plan. Two puppies together is asking for trouble. Better to have the first dog fully trained before adding the second one. Also two dogs is more than twice the amount of work than one dog. Well it is in my experience anyway. Twice the walks, twice the training, twice the nail clipping, twice the grooming, twice the vet visits etc. Agreed. Also, research suggests that human contact seems to be more important to dogs (probably as a result of the domestication process) than the company of other dogs. My (short haired) dogs and cats shed like nothing on earth. Pretty used to it now and have hard floors that are easy to run a soft mop over every few days. It's well worth it - they spend a LOT of time indoors and I invest a fair whack of time and energy into their exercise and training. Hence they are fantastic to live with.

I would guess that veal would be the same as it's just a younger milk fed version of beef. Chicken would be fine - feed raw frames (cut in half if necessary) and cut off the fat. One of mine can only have chicken and no way is he fat!