The Spotted Devil

But that's how I chose my breeds in the first place Add to the Dally and the working ESS a working Irish Setter, Tibetan Terrier and a Great Dane :D

You really are breeding for big ears Damn, they are gorgeous I love lurking in this thread - keep the pics and results coming please!

Hope he's ok Sheridan. I've got a soft spot for the grumpy old bugger x

Should be a beautiful evening! Good luck and have a fabulous time!

I just spoke to my (fabulous) local post office and they said a lot of people are expecting parcels from overseas that haven't made it yet. I suspect, with the increase in internet shopping the postal people are just overloaded. I'll give it another week before I start to get concerned.

If it makes you feel any better I haven't received mine yet - shipped on the 12th - hopefully our gear isn't too far away!

I would shape the retrieve with a completely different object and then generalise it to other objects and the dumbbell. To be honest, the dog sounds easier to train than the owner...

A bit slobbery Sounds like Zora's got what it takes RV - you just can't train that desire to hunt. I get endless deliveries of geckos - mostly alive but they tend to lose their tails and occasionally die of shock. The other day she would not come inside - finally I twigged after observing her "puffy" cheeks, opened her mouth and out ran an enormous gecko completely unharmed Em used to show off her retrieve item, particularly when we switched to birdies. She spat out the cheese reward in disgust too so I played the "2 food game" with a couple of dead pigeons :D Not the most fun I've ever had but Em thought it was AWESOME!!! She improved a lot and I think a bit of maturity helps too. I continue to reward the present especially as we are often training something new - sometimes food or praise or a happy bumper - if you think about it heading back with the dummy is nowhere near as much fun as chasing it down in the first place.

Personally I would shape the delivery and only reward for holding the dummy in the middle. Keep the criteria really tight - I described what I did (based on Sue H's advice) somewhere in this thread but also worth chatting to Ptolomy et al. who would be able to demonstrate. Once you have that sorted, it's just a matter of association and backchaining which both my dogs picked up really quickly. Let us know how you go!

Plenty of good working gundogs out there but I agree with sandgrubber - depends what you want one for.

Yes, I'm quite delighted - funny how everything seems to have fallen into place at the same time! ST - she was watching us prepare the cats' dinner and her little head just dropped down as she fell asleep RV - I'm looking forward to the season too! It will be a big step up from training but I feel much more prepared. How is your little Zora going?

Glorious training session today Lablover and I got ourselves organised, packed up the bumper boys, a nice lunch and thermos and went out to a farm to "test" the youngsters. It was also my first opportunity to shoot over Em now I finally have my firearms license. Em received a kid's cap gun for Christmas ( ;) )and Mr TSD and I got her accustomed to the sound in no time yesterday. I was really blown away by Em's response to the gun today, though - even seeing it for the first time she went quite silly with excitement and anticipation. Set her up for a mark and she was all over it - in fact she handled the gun a hell of a lot better than I did to begin with Then it was a matter of me getting some steadiness with the gun - making sure I turned off the safety switch, put the gun to my shoulder, fired, broke it, sent her calmly, reloaded etc A couple of marks Em did not see at all (my fault - too busy worrying about the gun) so I had to handle her - decent cover and distance away but I thought she stopped and cast really well for a youngster. On the flat she runs straight and true but with all the cover she was bounding through the grass like a little jack rabbit - it was impossible to keep a straight face with those ears flapping around and tail madly wagging :D Fascinating to watch her hunt and quarter too with her Spaniel genes - an absolute joy. More water training to follow over the ensuing weeks and the next trip to the farm we will take birds and throwers! She came home and crashed but has now recharged those energiser bunny batteries and is giving Ziggy the $h!ts again

I agree Jess - it's amazing what they can pick up in their peripheral vision! Zig is starting to drive ahead much more now - I taught him with food and put it on cue - we are getting the hang of rear crosses now. I know he can put on a burst of speed when I ask so the challenge is on to get us both moving a bit faster on the whole course. But of course that means my decel cues now need some work ;) My Dalmatian who doesn't retrieve and who hates the water is now obsessed with retrieving dummies from the water with his own special swimming style But it's improving his fitness which is great!

3 cats in and/or on the bed is enough! Dally is in an open crate at the foot of the bed and Em in a closed crate next to me....otherwise she would have a huge collection of shoes, cat toys and socks! Not to mention harrassing Zig and her favourite cat in the middle of the night When we go camping Zig is crated in the annex and Em gets to sleep with us - for a smallish dog she takes up an awful lot of room and it's always nice to have the bed back when we get home!

That's priceless

I kept it simple - bought a whole raw chicken and cleavered it into quarters. Dogs had a quarter each, minus the wings, which were divied up between the cats. Very happy and quiet household at the moment!!!

We always toast our departed animals and remembered them again over Christmas lunch today. Treasured memories of my precious Burmese girl, Willow (30/11/86 to 7/12/04), and our beloved Australian Cattle Dog, Dolly (19/5/87 to 29/11/03). So much joy they gave us - they would have loved our new place too

Merry Christmas all you crazy retrieving/field trial people I rewarded myself for facing the shops on Friday and Saturday by taking the dogs water training We all had so much fun! Lots of laughs at the expense of poor Zig who hasn't yet mastered the complex art of swimming... his enthusiasm more than makes up for his lack of skills and he nearly 'killed' 2 dummies today

Brilliant FHRP You should send that to Clean Run!

Mine was shipped on the 12th according to the email so don't think I will see it for a bit longer. Mostly equipment and stuff for me anyway so I don't mind! I didn't buy many toys as the dogs don't use them unless it's an interactive game with me....it didn't stop Mr TSD going out today and buying them presents though

Bump :D

Lovely Springers FHRP....they're taking over the world :D RB - the dogs had such a great holiday. They exercised all day whilst we ate and drank. I've been pouring food down their throats, trying to get the weight on. Not quite so for us Had lunch with Em's breeder today - so interesting to talk pedigrees etc. Em was declared to be very pretty and sweet and JUST like her Mum. Mr TSD could not believe how similar they were in mannerisms and looks. We always loved Rosie best so it's wonderful to have our Rosie puppy I also got to cuddle and critique baby Springers and baby GSPs :love: Seriously could have brought them all home - will be exciting to follow their progress as most will go to field/retrieving homes. I think I will consider field work one day too...it does sound like fun so I will try to get to a trial or two in 2012 as a spectator.

Kirty - PM RubyBlue. We train retrieving together sometimes and she does tracking with her Lab. She will be able to get you started

Thanks kallistar - much appreciated

By jove I think she's got it! Water, that is Did single water marks with LL today and started progressing to water doubles. Lots to learn for both of us, especially on doubles, but Em was chock full of enthusiasm and her delivery was so nice. Next thing is handling drills in water as they were pretty scratchy, but oh, how she tried her Springer heart out! I've been doing lots of confidence building with water retrieves (it's mainly the entries that have been an issue - dancing on the edge like she does in play) plus fun swimming as well. On our recent camping trip we were close to the Ovens river which is fed by the freezing cold water from Mt Hotham and Mt Buller etc. It was running so fast that I had to have a long line on Em for safety and swimming upstream got her nowhere but that didn't stop her at all. Found a lovely lake that was perfect for training so Mr TSD kindly threw dummies for Em... Then it was off to the Harrietville pub for dinner.....Em may or may not have instigated a little wrestling.... As a result, she is one very fit little dog - wish I had abs like hers Off to catch up her breeder tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what she thinks of her!