The Spotted Devil

Congratulations to the DCOV committee and the Rotti Club on running such a lovely trial and ordering such superb weather! Thanks Michael for being such a considerate and enthusiastic judge - even donated his bike so a competitor could finish the course As Dallies should, Ziggy just about did it in his sleep. Did not pant once and his H/R was 100, 100, 96 for the first 3 vet checks. It only went up to 113 at the end of the test after he'd been flirting disgracefully with some Spotty and Rotty gals :laugh:

He can't whack his tail if he is sitting (or can he?) I would be teaching a default sit for everything. Make it high value and teach him some impulse control. Inside the house is calm no matter how much energy he has. Zoomies are for outside only. The other thing I teach is lots of rear end awareness - google perch work etc - I only need to touch Zig's flank gently and he walks his butt away from the wall. He barely needs reminding now.

Actually, Tassie, yes it does DD - your pup sounds like awesome fun! Good work on pulling off a quallly after all that crazy!

Jed, 100% of fold cats will suffer some form of this disease.

I don't think breeding Scottish Folds is banned per se? I *think* the legislation says that you cannot breed fold to fold plus any fold kitten buyers MUST be informed of the early onset arthritis etc and cats must be checked regularly by vets. Cats hide pain very well and, seeing as the disease is inevitable I think this is fair. The point of the legislation is to catch out unregistered breeders too - there were fold kittens being sold in pet shops (presumably for good $$$) and there nothing the governing bodies could put in place. I doubt you are going to get national POCTA legislation anytime soon so yes it will be state based.

Thanks Tassie....she's such a rascal...will retrieve in freezing conditions but do you think I could get her to toilet on wet grass this morning? RS - I'm glad you enjoyed the read although I'm sorry to hear you won't be returning to trialling. I hope you will continue with RATG at least? TO - yes, she seemed to have just the right balance of drive vs control and eyes vs nose. I will have to start stretching her on more advanced work so I may have to find that balance all afresh. Rooster, feather duster and all that :laugh:

Anyone interested can google osteochondrodysplasia in Scottish Fold cats. Every fold eared cat will develop this to some extent. The Cat Fancy of Great Britain excluded the breed in the '70s due to the health issues. Do we really need to breed for a painful genetic mutation?

Wahooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! There are no words! Only emoticons :D

Thanks everyone! It was quite a weekend of consolidation and confidence building for us both. Really enjoyed catching up with everyone too, especially around the fire at night with a glass or two of red :D Picked up my new camp shower on Ebay for half price last week and it was so nice to have a hot, hassle free shower after a long, cold day @ RubyStar....um. Nope. Novice and Restricted were run by different judges but in tandem so stewarding could be shared around. On Saturday the Novice judge was also marking sheets in Restricted for judges training so that worked out well. Most people were entered in both stakes so I put my hand up more often than not to go out on the thrower. Lots of runs for the judges to choose from - not a whole lot of cover but decent enough water, gullies, trees etc to make the most of it. Saturday - very overcast and a few showers. Two runs of Novice first. I went out on the thrower for the first run and had a little trouble with game size vs thrower pouch size. The big ones were just spinning and falling out rather pathetically - once I realised the problem we put the big ones aside for Restricted blinds. First run - Restricted: Double mark. Short mark left to right, landing in a "dip" rather than a gully. Long mark right to left at a decent angle. Pick up the long mark first, then the memory mark. In all honesty I was thinking we'd be lucky to get through this run as doubles have not been great in training. I figured she was handling pretty well though and I'd do what it took to get her through. She danced her way to the pegs and lined up nicely for the memory mark. Leave. Lined up for the 2nd mark. Watch. OK! She took off like a Springer bullet and absolutely nailed the mark - started pulling up in the exact area of the fall, picked it up and flew back. As I lined her up for the memory mark her ears pricked forward without a twitch of uncertainty. I sent her and she took a nice line - slightly to the left but judged the distance well and then methodically hunted until she found it. I was gobsmacked :laugh: Second run - Restricted: Mark and a blind. Leave the dog at the start pegs, walk up the first firing point and shoot at the blind. Relocate to the second firing point and call the dog. Steady as a rock and I think she much prefers sprinting between the pegs than heeling :D Mark was over a fair sized dry gully and up on the crest. She overran it slightly but quickly came back and hunted. Once she delivered I lined her up for the mark again and said "leave". That helped her focus on the blind which was fairly short but our first one in a trial. I lined her up. Her ears were a bit twitchy in uncertainty. Blind. Yes. And she was off before I could say Back! The contours sent her left but I let her have a good run before stopping and casting right back. She stopped and turned smartly and I saw her put the breaks on as she ran past the blind and got a whiff. What a great reward for taking the correct cast Final Novice run but someone else went on the thrower. Third run - Restricted: Mark left to right and two bird left to right, both in the river. This was going to be a walk-up but even the judge was struggling to see the mark against the trees so he switched it to a mark. Sharp angle entry with thrower on our side of the river. I don't think Em saw this mark at all. She would have heard the thrower and the splash but has not enough experience to follow the splash. Instead she ran towards the thrower so I handled her into the water and to the (dark) game. Thank goodness I've been working on handling in water!!! I handled to keep her in the water on the way back - I was concentrating on that so much I completely forgot to close the gun and fire at the two bird - I did but I was very late Em came out of the water a bit further down than I'd like and you could see she wasn't sure if she'd done the wrong thing even though I was very calm. I called out "C'mon kiddo!" and she sprinted back happily....you could see she knew EXACTLY where the two bird was as she flipped around to heel position as soon as she'd delivered the first retrieve. Having learnt my lesson about the confident ear set I sent her without saying anything else and she was all over it. 169 points in the end which wasn't too shabby seeing as though I'd stuffed up the two bird. The winning dog (GSP) finished on 170. The NSW judge said some nice things about Em but also that the Novice judge who was marking sheets had both Em and the GSP finishing on 170 points - says a lot of good things about the consistency of judging Sunday - breaks of sunshine but very windy and cold. First run - Restricted: Double mark. I was feeling much more comfortable and ready to trust that Em knew what she was doing. Memory mark was moderate distance and I let her watch that from the left peg. Leave. Moved to right side of firing point. Watch. Looooong mark - right on 150 metres. Springer Devil focussed and nailed it in her bouncy, ear flapping fashion that apparently has the gallery in stitches :laugh: Every now and then she puts in a little SPRING! Lined her up for the memory mark and didn't stuff around at all. Ears were forward and she was confident as hell so I just sent her. She pulled up in the area of the fall, again judging depth really well, and hunted methodically - I was really, really pleased with this balance of eyes and nose. Second run - Restricted: Mark and blind out in the open. Mark was throwing right to left from a heap of fallen timber. Blind was to the right of the thrower behind a tree and much longer than Saturday's blind. Leave your dog behind the judge's vehicle. Shoot at the blind. Call your dog. Pick up the mark. Pick up the blind. Em picked up the mark no problem. Again I lined her up for the mark and said 'leave' before relocating to the right peg for the blind. No twitchy ears. I decided not leave her too long so simply said. Blind. Back. And she went! I had purposely aimed her to run between the fallen timber and the tree as she needed to be on the left hand side of the tree to get some help from the breeze. I let her run a good way but she was pulling to the left too hard and was going to end up the wrong side of the fallen timber. I stopped her and cast right back. She took a left back so I stopped her immediately and cast right over. Much better. Stopped and cast right back. She took it and as she ran full tilt past the tree she must have got a whiff as the brakes went on and her nose did the rest. Absolutely thrilled with her confidence. First Novice run - I went out on the thrower and this time it was the small, lightweights that were the problem!!! Second Novice run - this was a water run and I offered to help out again. Threw a test mark for the judge/competitors but judge wasn't happy with it so we made some adjustments to the thrower before trying again. Then we needed a pick up dog as the marks were beginning to float downstream. I asked someone to get Em out of my car and let her loose. Poor little thing had no idea what was going on until she saw it was ME who was whistling her to swim across to me :laugh: Sent her out as a blind - lots of heavy timber to push through, water was cold and the wind was colder but I've never seen a dog have more fun. Sent her back for the second blind, having been told it had floated into the reeds. Someone else spotted it a good way down stream so I stopped her again and cast left - big channel swim but she just powered down and back. Meanwhile a couple of kind people had fetched a leash, towel and warm coat from my car so I could warm her up. Her teeth were literally chattering but that may have just been impatience! I saw the judge's clipboard go up so I threw the first mark for the run. Em was SO UNIMPRESSED that it wasn't her turn. The competing dog wasn't actually ready as it turned out so Em got to fetch that one up too :D It wasn't an easy run for the Novice dogs and she got to pick up a few more.....fortunately someone else joined us on the thrower so I could concentrate on keeping Em's mouth shut when another dog was picking up HER retrieve and keeping her warm.There were some light hearted suggestions that she should have taken bonus points into the final Restricted run. Third run - Restricted: Mark right to left in the river and a land blind up near the track. Shoot at the blind as the dog returns from the mark. Similarly to Saturday, I don't think Em saw the mark at all against the trees. I suspect she heard the splash and the thrower so took a wonky line to the water. She was out of sight down the bank so I thought I'd play it safe and just yelled out "Swim!" Next thing I saw her powering through the water to the mark, picked it up and headed back. Fired at the blind. Delivered. Leave. Lined her up for the blind so she was running on the other side (not the track) as I suspected the track was going to pull her too far right. She had to get beyond the blind to get a whiff as the wind was behind her. She ran out hard, veered left with the contours so I stopped and cast right back. She took off but veered left again and was out of sight so I called her in. Stop. Cast right back and she took a much better line. Again, I saw the brakes come on as picked it up on the strong wind. Ended up on 174 points, 22 points ahead of 2nd place. It's nice to win BUT even better to see a dog's confidence go through the roof. The judge just described her as a "crazy little bugger!" :laugh: No trials (except an AA) until August now so will mix in some agility again.

And a win today! 174 points. Heading home for an early night.

Thanks Ptolomy! Little Springer Devil completely exceeded all my expectations and scored 169 points for 2nd place! Only 1 point behind the winner - and that was with me getting pinged for forgetting to fire at the 2 bird. Dog doesn't need me at all :laugh: More on the runs when I get back to civilisation :D

Ha! I'm the opposite - I have to set an alarm to tell me to stop drawing the training out :laugh: Yes, 80/20 does work really well!

Nice concept for workouts but I think if would be a bit rigid for the way I train my dogs :) So much depends on their behaviour, distractions, training history etc.

*gremlins* :D

Blinds on game certainly livened things up! Really put the fun back into it. Was going to train locally but the heavy fog on the mountain meant I'd be lucky to see Em, let alone her see me or the marks! Low cover but I had water to work with instead. Double marks improved, especially when I hand threw the 2nd mark (1st pick up). A real confidence booster but I'll wait to see what tomorrow brings :D

Really concentrating on cold blinds and double marks at the moment. Have shortened the doubles up to help her out. Certainly improving on both counts but I suspect this weekend of trialling will be a donation to the club for a nice weekend in the country :D Albeit with predictions of heavy rainfall!!! Handling is pretty good but need to build confidence. About to head out with some game.... Had a funny thing happen last week - as she was coming back from a mark (courtesy of the BB) she spied a pond and took a lovely line straight across the middle before delivering to hand :laugh: All that anti-cheating training... she was so pleased with herself.

Try putting a bait plate behind her and releasing to it when she performs the behaviour. Or throwing the food behind her. I have a video on my YouTube that I can find a link to if you like. Try videoing a session too - it really helps!

Jess!!! Bowie is looking super Where has baby puppy gone??? Great work and very inspiring! D & Z seem to be enjoying him too :)

All of mine give me so much and are so incredibly different. Even my mother/daughter Burmese girls are nothing like each other. I never thought I could love another cat like I loved my Willow (18 years of joy) but I was dead wrong. Brontë (daughter) will always be my spoilt baby girl, Lilly (Mama) is stoic, demonstrative, my right hand girl and runs the house with an iron paw whilst Dizzy (foster failure) is over the top with everything (cuddles, smooch, purr, eat, play). The dogs are interesting too...Ziggy had a tough act to follow after I lost my 17 year old ACD and he simply didn't follow it. His independence was hard to get my head around but we worked hard together and now he makes my heart sing. I fell for Em immediately but we had our training challenges too. She is so cheery and keen and enthusiastic about working with me that I can't resist her charm :)

Just Zig and me at yesterday's agility trial - a 6.30am start seeing as it was my club plus a bit of catering as well. Em is still in season so Zig manages to have his head in the clouds and his nose on the ground simultaneously :laugh: Nevertheless he tried his Spotted heart out DESPITE my awful handling...I think life is just TOO busy and I really did feel like packing up and going home!!! Managed to ruin several lovely runs in a new and creative way every time...pulled him off a 180 with an early front cross in one run, slipped and thus cued a hard decel in the next run and sent him over the wrong jump in yet another Finally a nice run for both of us in a fast, flowing (for once!) Masters Jumping course that really blew the cobwebs out - didn't come anywhere to mention overall but managed 3rd place 600 height. Our best run was a really tough Masters Agility course with a tricky weave entry (a jump blocking handler position) and tunnel/A-frame discriminations (going twice over the A-frame) - only 9 quallies from 50 entries - 5th place overall and 1st place 600 height. We were both a bit tired today - I keep telling Zig that's because he used up so much energy flirting with every girly dog he came across. They all thought he was super sexy too :D

I use OK for everything. Dogs are pretty good at context - mine have no choice :D OK = agility start line stay release (both dogs), fetch (Em only), tug (after a give) or relax (Zig pees and Em hunts). I always, always leash the dogs or crate them or release them to relax before I speak with an instructor/training partner. Or else I'll talk whilst engaging the dogs with a game.

Dr Robert Holmes or Dr Debbie Calnon come immediately to mind. I have their contact details if you can't find them online.

*gremlins*

What a crap experience. The owner's idea of "just adopted it" might be different too - sometimes time stands still when people are in denial that they have a serious problem. If you can follow up with council or the shelter please do *more hugs*

I swear some dogs have TARGET written across their forehead. Ziggy certainly does and had an Aussie Shepherd launch an attack at his throat in the middle of focussed heel work! No eye contact from Zig - soft body and having fun. He decked the Aussie quick smart. This was not the first time something like this has happened (at training and elsewhere) but fortunately he won't start anything and is not fearful or reactive. I think it's worth being careful with fearful or reactive dogs as an off leash dog that is "only playing" can be very threatening.