The Spotted Devil

Time to bump this up again! We've been quietly plodding away at training in between doing retrieving with Em. Both dogs having so much fun - Zig is just bubbling over with enthusiasm and is an absolute delight. Em started off being very precise which is fantastic and produced her first Q and win. However, with a few restrained recalls (thanks to Mr TSD for helping) she has started to relax and run much harder. Where Zig's turns are like an old Jag Em's are like a hotted up Mini Minor so I have had to learn to MOVE it :laugh: The faster she runs the higher she jumps... Leaving for Canberra on Friday, staying with Zig's breeders for a few nights, trialling on Saturday then heading up to Sydney. So many people to catch up with - never mind the comp!!!

Oh I'm only going for the social activities :laugh: Every time I check my email there is someone else to catch up with!

Oh I wish you were coming to the Nationals Tassie! Would love to meet the feral Miss What a bright shining star she is!!!!

exactly, so how can you educate the entire population to be responsible dog owners. It will never happen. It can but it needs money. Lots. To change behaviour you need to change attitudes. It needs sound research and campaigns akin to smoking, speeding etc. sorry but I dont believe it's possible. If the government cant ensure kids leave school with basic literacy and numeracy skills how can the entire population all be taught to have the same beliefs about responsible dog ownership and dog handling? We had someone posting here a couple of days ago worried about her thuggish neighbour who lets his dogs roam, you think education is going to change him? I didn't say the government would DO it :laugh: Just explaining what you need to do based on science and psychology to make a difference.

exactly, so how can you educate the entire population to be responsible dog owners. It will never happen. It can but it needs money. Lots. To change behaviour you need to change attitudes. It needs sound research and campaigns akin to smoking, speeding etc.

Go Ruby

I'm so glad you enjoyed it ST as I didn't expect anyone else to read it :laugh: Yes, lots of good natured ribbing about the vertically challenged one....I'm STILL copping it about the rabbit she brought back a few weeks ago

My little Springer came from her breeder accompanied by a pink rabbit from the op-shop. She always snuggled up to at night it until one morning when it mysteriously exploded. Now she prefers real ones :D

Give that dog an honourary doctorate :laugh:

Sorry - just saw this. I train there and it has a good agility program in my opinion. I will be starting a puppy games course after the agility nationals (late June maybe?) and it may be extended to older dogs if the demand is there. Dogs need to pass Basic 2 to enrol in agility prep.

I have two of the Snooza D1000. It stopped the Dally in his tracks and there is not a mark on either bed. Washable canvas type cover and the zip is hidden. I use them in the their crates and throw one in the back of the car when we go camping/trialling plus a blanket over the top and it doesn't matter if the dogs are filthy and wet.

Agree with SK. I must say one of the most hyperactive dogs I've ever come across was a Beagle x Cavalier and was nothing like the temperament of our Beagle! Remember also that walking exercises the body but not the brain - short training sessions and having the dog working for it's food can be very effective. My dogs don't eat out of bowls past about 10 weeks of age unless they are unwell. Dry food is in a puzzle toy or used as training treats. They love it when I leave the house - peace and quiet at last :laugh:

Thanks so much - I'm really proud of the little rascal :D Nice work, fetchin' with your lad - don't want to get that 3rd win TOO quickly :laugh: FHRP - yes, they've forgotten to post the Novice results. I will ring and ask perhaps as I need to see it in print so I can believe it lol. Restricted was cancelled due to lack of entries which is a real shame but I think there was a field trial on the same weekend.

Hey thanks RS & ST and well done to Ruby - it will do her the world of good to have a number of success like that. I was soooo tired last night So I'm going to summarise the runs from the weekend as it's really handy to know what we did well and what we need to work on. The property was great - heaps of water with a good selection of light, medium and heavy cover. Saturday: 1st run - dog set up in clear ground, nicely sighted mark (right to left) on land, relatively even ground but with a mass of moderately heavy cover and the bird landing just beyond it. Em took a really nice line, tackled the cover without a drama and only took a few seconds to hunt it up when she got to the area of the fall. Scored 43/45 for marking. Delivery was perfect even though my heart was in my mouth :laugh: They remained perfect for the rest of the weekend - no spitting the bird out when my hand got close either which is something the judge was pinging. This was an interesting set up as we walked back to the starting pegs, handed over the game and the gun, could then handle our dog (off lead), take the gun back, about turn (judging started again) and went back for the 2nd run. It was really good as it was a little like picking up 2 birds at once and it was an awesome reward for Em to have another run. 2nd run - firing pegs were at right angles to the 1st run. Em had her body lined up in the right direction but her head kept snapping around to where she'd seen the previous mark. FORTUNATELY I've been doing some double marks with her so one quiet command of "leave" and she locked on straight in front. Plenty of sky behind this mark too (left to right) and it landed up on a hill on bare ground but the dogs had to push through a heap of cover before breaking into bare ground. So an interesting concept when compared with the 1st run. Em took a lovely line straight to the bird, picked it up and ran straight back on the same line. 45/45 for the marking. 3rd run - very sodden underfoot at the firing pegs, dogs could see the top of the arc on this mark (left to right) with the bird landing in water beyond very heavy reeds and sticky mud. Watching the first dog run through the water I knew Em would probably have to swim :laugh: Once she ran beyond 2 metres from me I completely lost sight of her until I noticed her bounding through the very heavy cover air scenting. She was right off line which I thought was weird. I had to call her in to get her in sight, casted right then casted back. Off she flew but did the same thing and the judge said to call her in. Now the judge thought that Em didn't trust herself but the thrower (very nice guy) said that she took a really nice line and was running flat out in exactly the right direction when she caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye and it completely startled her. She just couldn't push past him to pick up the bird after that. She can be a spooky little thing but hasn't done that for ages. Knowing that she marked it correctly and didn't spook at the cover made me feel much better though. Really positive comments from the judge about what a pleasure it was to watch her run. The guy on the thrower later threw some birds for her when we were finished and she didn't give a monkey's :laugh: Also ran her on a couple of hot blinds, using the Restricted runs and she lined straight out and straight back so great confidence builders. Also went out on the thrower for a Restricted run which was great. Sunday: 1st run - I think it was tougher for the handlers to get to the starting pegs than it was for the dogs to pick up the bird! Gumboots definitely required. Nice long run through moderate cover to pick up the mark (left to right) in open ground. A good warm up for a very cold morning! 2nd run - an interesting run through moderate to heavy cover and through a gully with enough water that the dogs wouldn't have known they could run through it before they hit it. Ample cheating opportunity. Then out the other side through more cover to pick up the bird (right to left - good sighting). Em took a lovely line, didn't hesitate at the water, just kept running hard (all I could see was a pair of Springer ears flapping around), picked up the bird and took the same line back. Really good run. Even the judge said "gee she goes alright doesn't she" :laugh: 3rd run - another tough one for the vertically challenged dog! Mark was coming from the opposite side of the body of water (decent size) directly forward and it's not something we've done much of. Between me and the water was a huge wall of reeds but a fairly well beaten path if the dogs took the correct line. Em sighted it well, took off like a shot and I immediately lost sight of her. I actually heard her hit the water hard (which made me smile) and then she took the most perfect line straight across the dam and got out the other side!!!! Clearly she was up wind of the bird and, with the forward mark and all the anti-cheating work we've been doing, she was sure it was up on the bank. I let her hunt for a bit as she was really determined and I was hoping she'd get a whiff of the bird but eventually I had to call her in until I could see her, stop her and cast her right through heavy reeds and into the water. She took it all really well and the thrower said as soon as she took the cast she picked up the scent and ran/swam straight to it. I, of course, couldn't see a damn thing and the judge was clearly enjoying himself when he said quietly "if you had a decent sized dog you'd know she had the bird" Anyway, she took the same line back to me and I could see she was desperate to shake and was going to try to do it without dropping the bird. So I quickly relieved her of the bird so she could shake. No more training on Sunday - she'd done more than enough so some free running to warm up and then snoozing in the back of the car in the sun whilst we waited for AA to finish. As well as winning Novice she picked up the Fort Wrangham perpetual trophy for the highest scoring Novice dog over the weekend. I gave it back to the club for engraving so will pick it up at the next trial :) Looking forward to hanging it on the wall for 12 months!

Oh whoops bedx2 That'll teach me to read more carefully when I'm tired :laugh: Great he is enjoying himself too! Thanks for the congrats. I'm so thrilled about how she is running - belting through heavy cover, reeds, mud and water like a thing possessed. My fellow triallers remember her standing at the edge of all that sort of stuff looking very uncertain and worried so are enjoying the journey too. The judges can't believe their eyes

Congratulations Tassie and Kirra on your Tracking test and the WA crowd on all the Rally titles - way to go Sounds like Brookie cleaned up in UD and UDX too Huge congrats on the Ob Gr Ch title. Wow. Well done also to RS on the Novice finish - this retrieving game is harder than it sounds you know! Speaking of which, Em and I spent the weekend at Bonnie Doon/Lake Nilhacootie (about 2 hours away) retrieving trialling. Very cold but not too wet. On Saturday Em's first 2 runs were stunning - for actual "marking" she scored 43/45 and 45/45. On the third run she took a beautiful line to the mark through heavy cover and mud but spooked at the thrower and couldn't push past him to pick up the game in the water. On Sunday her first 2 runs were also fantastic. Her third run required one stop and cast as she was hunting up wind of the game so just couldn't get a whiff. But she had enough on her scorecard to pick up her first WIN in novice retrieving :D She also won the perpetual trophy for the highest scoring Novice dog over the 2 days - very appropriate as it was donated by her breeder! Her deliveries (which I inadvertently broke a few months ago) were perfect!!!

Does being a pain in the @r$e count? :laugh:

She won :D

Thanks Cos - you're a champ

Cosmolo - sorry to hijack your thread but could you please PM me? I was hoping to recommend your services to a friend - I can't seem to PM you. I have sent an email via your website and DOL but as I've had no reply I can only assume you haven't received them. If you're just busy or can't help, that's fine too but I wanted to make sure you got the email. Cheers, Sally.

Hastings train on Sundays - nice club. I use to travel out there from Bayside until I moved.

Neither did West Tamar. (Launceston area) I know of no council that requires you be a member of states controlling body if you wish to register a pure bred dog. :) There might be some confusion.....my local council gives discounts to owners of entire dogs IF they are a member of Dogs Victoria. I can understand the OP wishing to contact the breeder nonetheless.

Congratulations! I was over at the dam with a friend who was taking photos of my dogs and there were cars/trailers everywhere so I thought it must have been a big show! Perfect weather for it too :)

Yay! Go Tassie, the lovely Rory and the feral girl What a great team

I must say that this is why I have a great camping set up - makes trips with the dogs a breeze. A few weekends ago I was camped in my tent at a retrieving trial up at Pittong so no power and about 6C overnight. I really feel the cold and I was toasty warm. An ensuite camping site in Sydney for the agility nationals is going to feel like 5 star accommodation :laugh: Good luck espinay2!