The Spotted Devil

lol helen - don't forget a good roll on the carpet!

I agree with many of your points Jess. The thing about ET, you will only run the dog in it once so a conservative age range isn't such a big deal. It was important for me to get Zig's ET as that's what the Dally should do with ease (he did - heart rate went down at every vet check except at the last one because he'd flirted with some pretty spotty girls lol) but I see no point with my ESS. How she runs in retrieving trials says it all.

She didn't exactly smell like Chanel either lol.

Gorgeous! I love Standard Poodles! I wonder if Em would have stood a chance in that competition...

I love the look of disgust on the cat's face lol

More wine Jules Sounds like a good recovery thus far.

Also....my personal experience is that a dog that is in really good shape physically seems to handle mental pressure a lot better. When I've just handled the sh!t out of Em in a retrieving trial (lots of mental pressure) it's much easier for her to bounce back and take on the next challenge (eg long water swim so physically and mentally draining) if she's super fit. I think this is also applicable to less physically demanding sports such as obedience.

Yes we've had a bit of hot weather - nothing like yours though - but also a few folk and a few dogs out of action - work, illness, bitches in season/whelp etc. No - wasn't Jim. A certain WA trialler (first AA appointment) who I am very much enjoying catching up with at all the trials! No doubt Em saw the marks.....just the double fall was a little TOO tempting. However I was just contemplating how far she has come in even a few weeks of AA and I'm really pleased with her. Lots to train of course but her focus on marks, lining etc has really improved. Things are drying up here too but I have that much to work on it doesn't affect me much. It's still warm and dry but not oppressively so. I'm looking forward to traipsing about in the freezing rain and mud again....it really opens up the training grounds. With the season opening this weekend we had a rush of trials - fantastic numbers in Novice and pretty good in Restricted. I think end of March is our next one and then the Easter trial....not sure I will make the latter unfortunately as Mr TSD will likely be away for work in QLD so there will be no one to hold the fort.

There's not a lot of science unfortunately. I think variety is important so my dogs swim, free run, tug, train on varying terrains (Em mainly) and do tricks for strengthening and flexibility (spins, balancing, perch work). Once I get my bike attachment sorted out I hope to do more of that. Em's training involves a lot of running and swimming anyway and, for jumping/agility I try not to overload on repetitive behaviours such as weaves and contacts. I try to warm up and cool them down before and after runs, whichever sport - might involve tricks, stretches, a gentle jog or sprint, tug, a swim if it's hot and a towel down if it's cold. ETA: DD reminded me about Bowen treatments. It seems to help Zig especially.

I'm so very sorry Kirsten You did your very best and that is all you can do. I really understand how much you're hurting right now Play and tumble and wash and eat and sun bathe to your heart's content beautiful boy.

Had a great weekend away trialling - no finishes for us but Em did some super work on Saturday and bounced back beautifully on Sunday after I had to handle the sh!t out of her. Fairly warm weekend but we took advantage of the mild evenings and did a fair bit of socialising! Saturday: Run 1: Double mark. Em started the weekend focussing really well on the marks and continued to do so all weekend. Picked these 2 up without a command. Nailed the long mark. She took a super line to the memory mark and, like nearly every other dog, followed a clear track that dragged her off line. However, she seemed to realise what happened as she suddenly changed direction and hunted hard in the area of the fall. Surprisingly it was easy to see her through the moderate cover as she springs so much. The judge didn't even need to get on the ladder and couldn't help laughing at her running style. Run 2: Double memory mark and blind splitting the 2 marks. This was a true AA run. Left Em in the hide and fired at the blind. Turned around to find she had very hestitantly crept out of the hide. I asked the judge if I could put her back and he was fine. Normally I would give her a NRM and put her in the car (fun over!) so when I quietly said "ah well" and heeled her back to the hide, she was devastated lol. Made her wait before whistling her up. Watch the 1sf mark. Watch the 2nd mark. Get the blind. Pick up 1st mark then 2nd mark. The blind took a few handles as she had to push through a LOT of heavy timber which pushed her towards the 2nd mark. She took the stop whistles and casts really well and the judge said afterwards that I should be pleased. Sent her for the 1st mark (uphill and over a ridge/road) and she needed a bit of help to push deep enough. Sent her for the 2nd mark and she absolutely nailed it - took a super line there and back - being small enough to squeeze under an enormous fallen tree didn't hurt either! Run 3: This was a double blind - one across the river and one in water around some reeds. The across water blind was a long run to the water and an angle entry - both those together were just too much for Em. She entered the water several times but squared up to the bank and thus kept going the wrong way. I couldn't see much and tried to help her out but she was so confused! Once the trial finished one of the other triallers kindly tossed several dummies for us. I set Em up close to the entry point, the first dummy landed in the water and I sent her as a mark. She picked that up no problem so he tossed a few more on the other side of the river (a LONG way!) and I sent them as hot blinds further and further from the angle entry. She nailed both of those so it was a fantastic training session. Another positive was that she did not move a muscle when left in the hide this time! Sunday: Run 1: Triple memory mark, left to right, long, short, long and pick up in the same order. I was on the thrower for the first half of the run and, boy, what a mess we all made of this run! I don't think one dog did a particularly good run - something strange was going on out there with dogs not scenting well or hearing whistles. It was very dry and the wind was swirling which didn't help and the terrain was all very similar which made memory marks difficult. I had to handle Em a lot - she slipped a few whistles much to my surprise and had real trouble finding the game although she was hunting hard. One of the guys on the thrower said that it was really hard to hear the whistle and he could see Em wasn't sure she'd actually heard me. Apparently she also scented the first bird several times before finding it and he said it was very odd - like she didn't trust herself. Needless to say I was incredibly relieved to finish that run although I'm sure we didn't have many points to play with! We lost half the field. Run 2: Double rise and double fall. Fire 2 shots at the mark. Reload. Send for mark. Fire at double fall. Get the mark. Get the double rise. Get the double fall. Em was a bit unlucky - she took off like a bullet for the mark and the double fall landed a bit short and very close to her. I stopped her twice and cast her back but the 3rd time she was just too quick (and you could see her saying "you idiot Mum! It's right here!), picked it up and flew back to me as pleased as punch. So that was if for us unfortunately but I couldn't help but be delighted with her enthusiasm. Run 3: Double blind - one land and one over the river. I didn't hang around too long as I wanted to get my tent packed up in time for presentations. I was on the road by 2pm which is unheard of! Fantastic weekend and lots to go on with. I'm loving the challenge of All Age. I was much more relaxed than the last few weekends and enjoyed myself immensely. I was also more conscious of slowing my commands down, much to Em's disgust at times!

I use a mega whistle rather than a silent whistle. It's kind of plastic - y and I only hurt myself because my teeth got in the way of my lip! Lablover posted some info in this thread re silent whistles and how the sound travels long distance (her OH is a physics prof) - hence I prefer regular whistles. However, it's a personal preference. As we all found out on Sunday, no matter what the whistle sometimes the conditions make it VERY hard for the dog to pick up the commands!

I'm a self confessed dog training/trialling junkie so it depends on how much time I can dedicate to each dog in each sport. I'm tossing up the idea of adding another gundog to the mix later in the year - Zig is at a nice stage where he's titled in obedience, agility and endurance so I just need to keep him super fit and tweak his training. Em is getting a lot of work, especially now she's in All Age, but she has all the basics so it's a good time to consider running on a youngster.

I'm so sorry, Kavik. Don't be so hard on yourself....living with such a reactive dog could not have been easy and I'm sure you did all you could with the knowledge you had. Take care :) x

Didn't smell too good either!!!

Ha! I've got my first whistle injury. Juggling Dalmatian and setting Em up with whistle in mouth I somehow ended up with a cut on my top lip. Weird!!! Monday night was agility training so Tuesday was single marks with the BB and yesterday I did lining and handling. Marks were pretty good (except when I landed one in a tree) and I set up a few where she could see the up arc but not the down. She was full of beans yesterday and I have nowhere to run her that is safe (ie snakes, grass seeds, hunting temptations) so I trained her pretty hard although it barely took the edge off her. I worked on lots of straight backs through cheaty cover and then moved on to a couple of very tight 3 leg lining blinds. She started off a bit rough on both exercises but showed heaps of improvement. Sits were sloppy so will do some work on those. She was covered in black, sticky mud so I finished with a simple across water blind with hand thrown memory marks either side. She needed one reminder not to get the easy mark.

I use both a clicker and a verbal marker - with my own dogs and lots of others. Sometimes I don't use a marker at all and just let my food rewards do the talking. For recall I put pup on a leash so at they can't take off and self reward. Throw a boring treat to get them moving away. Let them eat the treat. Say their name once. And once only. Pup turns their head? Mark and treat. I like a "whiplash" response. If they don't respond the first few times you try this, walk your hands up the leash to the dog (don't pull the dog to you!) and stand by their shoulder. They will look at you in surprise. Treat. Once they get the idea you can extend distance and distractions. You still say their name once and once only. If they fail to respond walk them away and stop training for a few minutes. Only practice for very short periods. You can replace the thrown treat with a 2nd person. In one of my classes we have had 3 puppies off leash and up to 8 people with treats in a circle calling pups by name. Only the pup that is called gets a treat when called. Great fun! Don't make the mistake of using pup's name or recall to scold. And don't nag :) Around the house I will often call "pup, pup, pup!" when I'm not convinced they will recall. Saves devaluing their name and recall.

There is some research on dogs and learning and responses to human contact and it is certainly effective. It depends on how motivated the dog is of course!

Yes I agree that for novice owners complete lack of contact is easier. I play a version of "bitey face/body slam" with my Springer - it's heaps of fun for both of us but I didn't set out to consciously train it. She definitely mouths my arms but with zero pressure and will break off at the height of "feral" on command. I am the only one who she plays with like that apart from the Dalmatian.

I was thinking the same. Some pups can take longer to value food if they've had constant, easy access. ETA: I never bother charging the clicker or the verbal marker anymore. I just pick a very simple behaviour and start training it. Pups and adult dogs are quick to pick it up.

Pretty much ignoring and redirecting as you have been doing. They do get better with time but I would be separating pup and small kids unless under direct supervision as kids can't help but scream and run which tends to send pups a bit silly.

The property for the weekend trials has a lot of trees so it's difficult for judges to set runs. There was quite a bit of water in the form of large lagoons with lots of reeds and lilly pads. On the upside, the property is owned by a very nice winery so I stopped at the cellar door sales on the way out! Saturday: dry, sunny day with enough breeze in the shade to leave you a little chilly. Run 1: Double mark. Watch the short mark, watch the long mark. Pick up the long mark then the short mark. This sounds pretty straightforward but it was on the more difficult side of an All Age run and the long mark confused a number of dogs, including Em. The mark was well sighted but a very tight arc, which can be confuse judgement of depth. The line was through heavy cover so there wasn't an opportunity to help the dog out (fair enough - it's a mark!) unless they were way out of the area up on the road. Em saw both marks really well and she took off like a bullet towards the long mark. I had no idea what was going on but knew she was taking too long and was on the look out for her. She appeared up on the road to my right so I called her in before casting back - she took off again and, although I couldn't see her, called out "back!" a couple of times to help her out. It was clear she was struggling and the judge said to call her in. Talking with both him and the steward afterwards she went over the first small hill and into the gully, over the second small hill and gully but then came up against a wide road and it was like a brick wall that she couldn't get past. When I sent her in the second time, the judge said she actually took my verbal "backs" really well but I couldn't help her out when she really needed it and couldn't push deep enough. I teamed up with a competitor from WA and her Goldens and we trained this later in the day - Em got it the first time but was still a bit unsure so we ran it again in a slightly different spot and she nailed it so more good experience. Run 2: Memory mark and double blind. I placed blinds for this so had a birds eye view. This was a very tough run. The mark was reasonably short but proved to be a huge suction factor. Dogs could pick up the blinds in any order but had to pick up the mark second. Picking up the long blind first meant that the dog had to pass under the arc of the thrown mark which caused a few problems. Once they got beyond that, a ditch put off even the most experienced dogs and required a bit of handling to push through. The shorter blind was much simpler but getting that first, followed by the short mark meant that it was harder for the dogs to then run on a long blind. I did this run as a training exercise but followed Em to the long mark as it was pretty tough for her. The mark and the short blind were easier. Run 3: Memory mark and double rise in VERY cheaty water and a land blind. Watch the mark. Get the blind. Get the mark. Get the double rise. I was on the thrower for this one and hand threw the double rise. Em was pick up dog and I was very busy keeping her mouth shut! The dogs that cheated sprinted through where we were hiding so she was pretty horrified about that lol - but when she realised they weren't rushing her she realised they were getting HER retrieves and she was most put out. Again, I used this as a training exercise later in the day and was absolutely thrilled with her. Saw the mark really well. Picked up the blind with a couple of handles and picked up the mark and the double rise without even looking like cheating...she needed some help after struggling to get over a log but I sent her back. The double rise floated a LONG way behind the mark so I also gave her a back there. A very good day of training! Sunday: The forecast was warmer than Saturday but we did the land run early and were then near the water. With a smaller entry than normal we were all done by 2pm which was great, especially when you have to pack up your campsite. Run 1: Double memory mark. Watch short mark. Watch long mark. Pick up short mark then long mark. I was on the thrower for the first half a dozen competitors and had a few problems with no birds as the game was pretty small. Had a few good tips and soon overcame this issue. I could not believe how different this run looked from the pegs compared to from the throwers - it always looks different but this was really stark. Anyway, Em saw both marks really well. Sent her for the short mark and she took off like a bullet but something sent her off line and I saw a flash of white change directions as she thought about swapping. Stopped her. Cast right. Silly me - she couldn't see me through the cover and took off back again. Stopped her. Brought her right in. Stopped her and let her sit for a while. Calmly cast right and she took off like a bullet in the correct direction. Straight into the area, hunted like a thing possessed, picked it up and came flying back. Sent her for the long mark and she pulled up a bit short but I let her be as her body language was telling me she was super focussed and knew what she was doing. She started quartering with real purpose and hunted it up. Not without a few nervous moments but it was great to get through the first run. We lost 4 dogs out of 12 on this run. Run 2: Triple mark around lagoon. This was a challenging one to remember and was further complicated by the fact that several of us had issues with the gun not firing at all due to a stuck safety switch or a bent firing pin, causing the gun to click rather than fire. No matter! Heel to first set of firing pegs. Fire at mark (landing in clear ground behind reeds). Reload. Relocate to second set of firing pegs. Fire at mark (landing in clear ground behind reeds). Fire at water mark splitting the other two marks. Pick up order was water mark (last bird down), relocation mark (first bird down) and memory mark (second bird down). Again, Em focussed forward really well and saw all the marks (yay!) Sent her for the water mark - she hesitated at the lily pads and I was not going to risk her swapping to the relocation mark so I stopped and sent her back. She picked that up no problem. I thought that the relocation mark might throw her even though she does them in training but I was quite wrong. I lined her up, sent her and she took off like a bullet. I saw her hesitate and thought she might go back for a "double rise" so I stopped her. She evidently couldn't see me because she scrabbled up on quite a high fallen log and looked at me waiting for the command. Clever girl! I told her she was a good girl as I love to see that use of initiative. I think I may have also laughed and called her a "smartarse" under my breath lol. When I cast her right I thought she disobeyed as she climbed down to the left - however looking back I suspect she had to get down that way as I saw a flash of white flying through the reeds and pretty quickly brought game back. Lined her up for the final mark and she went straight to the area and hunted hard. It was great to see her confidence so I let her be - she is very methodical and it is very enjoyable to watch her use her nose. Run 3: Double blind across the lagoon. Pick up in any order. I sent for the long one first, across the wider part of the lagoon. It took a few handles to keep her on the straight and narrow but she made me laugh when she dragged herself up on a tiny island, threw herself off the other side and came back exactly the same way. Some of the labradors struggled to get up there! On the other side of the lagoon she was ready to keep on running which was fantastic - I had to stop and handle her towards the fallen timber and then tell her to "find it!" The shorter blind was a tight-ish angle across the lagoon....very cheaty. She took a nice line to the water but the angle entry (not her strong point) pushed her to the centre of the lagoon so I had to handle to get her back on the line. Once she got the line she leapt through the water and picked up the blind reasonably easily. So, so pleased to finish another AA trial. Em finished the weekend much, much brighter than her last weekend and full of confidence. This week we will stick to single marks mostly as we are trialling again this weekend.

Go Rory! He's looking great Tassie and globe that Kirra still enjoys it all. Tunnels are great for working on drive...think I will get Mr TSD to do more restrained recalls with Em through tunnels tonight.

Well done! I think you're doing fantastically!!! He is definitely enjoying himself and has lots of potential. I hope you don't mind me suggesting this but, since you know he needs more work on contacts and weaves, don't stop and repeat an obstacle when he doesn't complete it correctly. From experience I can tell you that this can be incredibly demotivating for dogs and has a tendency to slow them down and cause them to disconnect. Even if you're late with a front cross and he misses a bar just keep running flat out. Make that your next training challenge!!!! Work on the other stuff separately - when you're running a course, run hard and have a HUGE party at the end!