The Spotted Devil

Have they been nuked? Yes :)

I wondered what happened to your post Tassie! Just watched Rory's video briefly - wow! Have you both improved or what!!!!!! Much less babysitting, sending, independence - yay! It was only those last few jumps where it fell apart - you did great!!! Glad Kirra finished the season fit and healthy....I'm off to physio tomorrow to fix my broken bits :) Training is GOOD! I'm having lessons every Tuesday night for December with Em - she is soooo different to handle and I'm finally finding out why she is doing "weird" stuff (i.e. stuff I'm making her do) like falling on her shoulder on a lead out pivot

Nice! Latent learning at its finest. I can't come up with simple cues. Em develops new tricks just by being an idiot and I need to name them. Last effort was reversing from heel position around me and back into heel position. She was slightly excited about her impending dinner and was struggling with impulse control. What cues does everyone use? Retrieving uses: with me, back, left, right and agility has round, check, here, go, jump, through, weave, walk it, A-up, see-saw etc etc. Tricks are crawl, spin, touch, legs, up, dead dog etc.

I'm looking for a company that does nice timber plaques with good quality photos for awards. Does anyone have a recommendation please? Online or somewhere in Melbourne suburbs would be great. Thanks!

I love the concept but.... Really? Really? That's quite brilliant.

You are quick off the mark DD!!! I need to rest up for a bit and enjoy what my lot have done for 2013....I have some Summer projects to keep us busy in the meantime :)

To be honest I don't really get the hype about these sorts of products - possibly helpful for a lactating bitch or one in the final stages of pregnancy IF they can't keep weight on but it seems like overkill for the average, weaned pup. The first 3 ingredients are cows milk protein, beef fat and hydrolysed corn based starch (a high GI carbohydrate). All the listed amino acids are what make up protein anyway and colostrum is useless except as an expensive source of protein. Can I ask why people feel that pups need supplementing?

Probably THE most fun dog in my last tricks class was a pug. We had to work very hard to keep her occupied and if I didn't cuddle her when she demanded it there was some serious tanty chucking!

Another great year. Two happy, healthy dogs :)

Beautiful, beautiful day of food, puppies, photos and fun Jules! Happy Birthday WEEK to Miah! (We do birthday weeks....months even lol)

Last trial of the year and I actually put in some training - amazing how it pays off! I pushed Zig all day - some awkward agility courses for a big dog but he pulled off a tough qually (here! here! here! was ringing in his ears poor lad!) and he had some nice Masters Jumping runs with another very fun qually to finish off the year. Little Em came out all gun(dog)s blazing - a few knocked bars and some pre-empting on serps undid us in the first few runs but she then pulled a lovely run out of the bag for her first Masters Jumping qually! Apparently her jumping was much more balanced and length was tighter - she started jumping early on the last 6 jumps, which followed a tunnel - think this might have happened before so at least now I know to reengage when she comes out of a tunnel. Final run, I was late with my threadle arm so she took the back of the jump but no knocked bars so I was really pleased. What a lovely way to end the year - you can come into season whenever you want Em :)

Frodo looks so miffed about the beard lol. Love it!

Beautiful service from Edenhills recently for my darling cat. I have also ordered a box from Pearlymates for one of my dogs (her ashes have been in a tin) and the service thus far has been lovely. I'm sorry for your loss.

Nope ... you're not the only one :laugh: ... although I feel quite economical about mine now . Yep....feeling better about mine too! Thanks Megan! I run a year round Wish List.

I think you're doing a great job of extending the line in water and building confidence. Delivery to hand is great! What I would probably do: Get a lot more excited when throwing the dummy - make sure she is looking forward to where you are throwing the dummy. Leave her in a sit, walk to the water - call out "hey, hey, hey!" and swing the dummy around to get her attention. Release her to the retrieve more quickly - you can go back to holding her a bit longer later but work on building motivation at the moment Get super excited when she picks up the dummy - whoo hoo! Good girl! Yay! Use "happy bumpers" on land to reward a water retrieve - that will help motivation and when she delivers to hand after that you can reward with food. Don't throw more than 2 dummies in the same spot unless she's having real trouble as it encourages them to return to the old fall - if you're doing a drill you can have a pile but that is separate from building motivation. I understand that you wanted to get everything on video, but I would do 3 retrieves (extending the line) and then stop. Work on one thing at a time i.e. don't add doubles if you are trying to work on motivation in the water. Always get something right on land before trying it in water. When you are lining her up to send be less vague about which direction you want her to go....this is a very early video of Em but look how I line her up for a retrieve - body straight, head straight - fetch! I hope that helps!

I upload to You Tube, or you can use something like Vimeo.

I want video

From last year...

Yes please :D

Whoo hoo! We will have lots of fun!

A good dog is never a bad colour :)

Much depends on the relationship between the breeder and the puppy buyer. With my Dally I had maintained phone/email contact with his breeders for 2 years. When the pups were 5 weeks old I flew to Canberra to visit. They picked me up from the airport and I stayed with them for 4 days. I spent all day every day with the pups and met Dad as well. They knew I wanted an agility/obedience dog and we narrowed down my choices together (generally over a bottle of wine with lunch!) I really wanted a male because I loved the look of their boys. By the time they had the "puppy party" (with knowledgeable Dalmatian people) at 6.5 weeks everyone agreed that my pick had the best potential for a performance dog so all we had to do was wait for the BAER testing. I was greatful for their knowledge sometime later when they strongly suggested I get a bitch puppy next - they know how much their boys like a harem! With my Springer I had spent time with the breeder's dogs long before I was ready for a pup. When there was a litter on the ground that suited us her breeder selected her pick and the quieter girl had been particularly chosen for another home so I had the choice of two. I was so nervous about what to look for in a potential retrieving dog but a friend told me not to worry: "just as long as it doesn't have 2 heads!" :laugh: So I did some testing with them separately and Em just felt right. We bonded on the spot - there was never a question - unlike Ziggy who I really didn't love dearly until he was 18 months old. He was worth the wait though :) I've already established a good relationship with an overseas breeder (recommended by one of my current breeders!) for another breed I'm hankering after - we understand each other well enough that when it comes time (not for a while!) I will happily trust her to pick me a pup. If I decide to breed, puppy selection will be a happy balance and will depend on owner experience, the household and whether it would be more of a working or pet home.

I was also blessed to have the chance to say goodbye just over 2 weeks ago... Rest peacefully my darling Brontë

Nothing wrong with chasing I always play keep it off with Em and bash 'em ups and feral growling too :laugh:

The gundog mouth can be a bit softer - after all that's what we want when they are working! It has taken quite some time for my Springer to really enjoy tug - she has a very soft mouth and I am told the lips of the field-bred dogs tend to fall on their teeth which makes it harder for her to get them out of the way and tug properly. She likes the very soft, furry type tugs and we only play briefly before launching into something like agility training. Obviously I don't play tug around retrieving training :laugh: I have noticed in my puppy games classes that the Golden puppies aren't into tug anywhere near as much as the other dogs.