The Spotted Devil

I have one of those but not for sale....different model though - doesn't come to trials but does mop the floors whilst the dogs are out of the house and prepares dinner!

I spoke with Colin from Puppy Bars a few days ago. Current wait is up to 3 months so I'd get in an order ASAP. I had a look at a fabulous 2nd hand set (belonging to S'n'T) - unfortunately the raised floor was too high for Ziggy but the product itself was fantastic. As much as I want a set I'm going to wait until we get our next vehicle.

Oh goodness, I didn't expect this Brave little lad - I've followed and enjoyed your stories. What a wonderful life you gave him. Onwards to world domination Charlie

Either KCC or out at Narre Warren. KCC is pretty bad at the moment so I've heard - very poor water quality and cracks in the ground that can injure your dog - so I won't be going there for a bit. I know there is water near you (the biggish lake?) but it's not much use for retrieving training - not enough entry/exit points and way too many dogs running riot for my liking.

My "must have' is a photo (or even video) of the aforementioned incidents :D Nice one Sway :laugh:

Good on you BlackJaq I'm sure you'll find someone who can give you a hand - you don't need to meet up with someone every week either. You will get lots to work on! So I've been back a week and Em has been out training nearly every day :laugh: She nearly wagged her tail off when I arrived home and will not settle unless we do some sort of training - we've made several trips to the water and a few to the oval to review what we were working on before I went away. She is super keen and I've never seen her run or swim faster than at our first water training session :laugh: Surprisingly her marking skills aren't too bad considering the break and her handling is pretty good too. Just a bit slow on her sits and trying to pre-empt my handling but that's to be expected as she is just bursting with enthusiasm. I've tightened that up through the week and she's improved quite a bit. On the oval we worked on 3 leg lining blind (stopping and casting) plus steadiness in the hide. She took the left/right backs really well but wasn't keen on casting right (no doubt due to me emphasising casting back) so I whistled her in a metre or two to stop her "sticking". She was happy to cast right and later cast left without a problem which was great. Steadiness has been really good - couldn't trick her into breaking no matter what I tried so need to up the ante. During the water sessions we worked on stopping and casting back (has improved during the week but still pre-empting the cast back), water memory mark and hot blind on land or across water plus anti-cheating. Last night I was really pleased with her progress - tossed a dummy into the water, had her sitting on land facing me and then cast her back. The line was through heavy cover but there was a suck of clear bank either side which she really wanted to take. After 3 retrieves I had extended her distance from the water and my distance from her and she was taking the line on the first cast. Still needs work but it was another "penny drops" moment. Mr TSD let her run hard up the back of our (steep) block and took she and Ziggy for lots of walks when I was away so she is still reasonably fit. Just as well, because she just counter surfed and gobbled up my peanut butter and jam sandwich before I could say "Oi! You little $h!t" Looking forward to the training day this weekend!

The Victorian Gundog Club is holding a training day this Sunday in Yea - more information here I'll be there with my Em to pick up a few tips and to help out with the Beginners Test in the afternoon if needed. There will be lots of newbies and the last 2 training days have, I believe, been a great success. There will be experienced handlers to give you a start so come and see what gundogs do best

Looking forward to photos when your Spotty Puppy comes home Lovely to see another Dally person on DOL :)

What area of Melbourne RM? Forgot to ask - how old is the dog? Breed? Effective timing (whatever your method) can take practice - some owners need more than others!

I believe the Junior Dally bitch, Ch Paceaway Revenge, was awarded RUBIS for the Open show.

Agree that it is a real problem with these types of studies - association DOES NOT EQUAL causation. The spay-neuter link that is always posted drives me insane as well. Absolute cherry picking of abstracts to support an argument. That said, I have 2 entire sports dogs - I can manage them and it suits me to do so. I would prefer to wait until sexual maturity before desexing but sometimes it's a case of weighing up the risks (eg rescue, breeds more likely to be exploited etc)

If it's any help, my foster kitten (just turned 4 years old :laugh:) had an eye removed at 10 weeks as a result of severe ulceration from cat flu. His "good" eye is half covered by the third eyelid, which adhered to the cornea when the virus destroyed the stem cells. The cells in his nasal passages were also destroyed so he gets very congested if we don't keep the temp above 13C. This cat is unbelievably awesome. Completely crazy but awesome. The eye specialist couldn't believe how well he was doing at 6 months when we discussed fixing his "good" eye. As it's a stem cell issue, trimming and fixing the third eyelid in place would be pointless. The specialist considered trying a new type of surgery but, in consultation with a second specialist, decided against it, simply because Dizzy appeared to be coping very well, was pain free and incredibly happy. Somehow he has adapted and has grabbed life by the throat. He catches each and every insect in the house, plays fetch, wrestles with the dogs, steals food (half a raw pumpkin was a highlight but he surprised me when he snatched a whole tomato yesterday and bolted down the hallway!), resource guards fiercly (food AND toys) against our other cats, dogs and Mr TSD and just about breaks my nose in face rubbing greeting. Absolute bloody nightmare

If Clean Run do free shipping again, check out their screw in weave poles (uses a drill so great for hard ground). A wonderful, cheap option - I get a LOT of use out of mine.

A close relative tells me my dogs are "over trained"......

:laugh: Tassie, isn't he a scream! He's so food motivated too (this is a cat that eats raw pumpkin and resource guards toys!) I love how he stands on the phone book waiting for the treats to appear - I had no idea this was all going on until I looked at the video. Damn I miss them so much - can't wait to get home!!! But yes, agree with Tassie - break it down - work on fast sits as a completely different exercise. I didn't get a chance to look at your video as I'm at LAX and my internet is a bit slow. But based on Tassie's reply I agree you can lure or shape. I love shaping this exercise because it's such a fun way to teach the dog about shaping - but there's nothing wrong with luring either. Getting the timing right on the click is HARD. Make sure you can click with good timing before you launch into it - try it when you're watching sport on TV and click when the ball (whatever shape) is at the top of the arc.

As mentioned, circle work (reward when changing direction as well), good footwork and rear end awareness can all help. Video if you can. Here's a video of my 2 renegades doing the latter - you can see my Dally struggles more than my Springer although they have both improved a lot since then...hope it helps :)

Sway, I was thinking of your Hudson when watching Joey go around - such a little character! He and Swagger, the OES, were definitely the crowd favourites. Nice to hear the Aussie dogs did well too - thanks to everyone for filling in the blanks.

Sitting in my hotel room in LA very much enjoying Westminster. I don't know how the judge awards BIS when there really isn't much to split the dogs and handlers. BIS: Affenpinscher Reserve: OES

Nice work Jo! I spent months backchaining a retrieve with Zig. He, too, would shut down so I changed the "rules" a bit. Every time he gave me the same behaviour I would give him one treat. Every time he upped the ante he would get a jackpot (handful or multiple single treats). It worked incredibly well for him - kept his interest and seemed to take away some pressure/frustration.

I'm not 100% sure as I use the regular adult version but Artemis has a grain free version. I think the preservatives in the high end type kibble are marketed as "natural" - I guess there needs to be some type of preservative to make it last. Sorry to hear about your lad's health issues and good luck :)

2 dogs and 3 dog sports, mine are just grateful when I leave the house so they can get some sleep :laugh:

grumpette - you are right. We don't really understand how the human-animal interactions affect dog behaviour in the shelter. That's why I'm in the US currently, having just about completed 4 weeks straight of 14 hour days running my studies. Having not had an Income for the last 1.5 months and running the studies on a tight budget with no assistance I can assure everyone that I'm certainly not in it for the money! The shelter I'm working with gets a lot of "Pit Mixes" and LOTS of strays and I am getting some really good insights. Fear is ok but fight as the first resort is not. The rescues here actually take the SWF! Examining human attitudes is necessary but complex. To understand them is doable but to change them requires a lot of education to reach the people who need it most. And money. Think of the TAC targeted campaigns and I wonder if we could ever reach a population to that extent with such limited funding. Yes, it frustrates the hell out of me. Sorry to take it OT and good luck with your research Diana.

A Dalliance of Dalmatians. A Soupçon of Springer Spaniels.

I'm working with a large shelter in the US in a state that has repealed BSL. Every 2nd dog is a "Pit Bull x" and is really used here to describe a "type" rather than a breed. Like saying "terrier x" or similar.

As mentioned, the lack of preparedness by some individuals who live in disaster prone areas never ceases to amaze me. You can talk and educate until you're blue in the face up our way but most people don't have a plan for themselves let alone their pets. With me being away at the moment Mr TSD has the written fire plan out and prepares everything the night before a potentially bad day. Crates laid out for the cats (which they happily sleep in), leads laid out for the dogs, full tank of petrol in the car. A suitcase of irreplaceable items is stored at another location. There are several plans from getting out early to escaping from the house if it goes up. Leaving the animals behind is not in the plan. It takes effort and facing scary "what ifs" to sit down and discuss/write a plan (as Tris has posted) which many people seem unwilling to do. ETA: Currently dogs and cats can fit comfortably in one car and I have roof racks/pod for tent and emergency camping gear if time to pack up. We would head to KCC Park if safe or a military base. In the future I would consider a trailer if I had more dogs.