The Spotted Devil

That wasn't such a bad run, RS From what I could see you keep your arm quite steady for all the obstacles indicating direction and then kind of throw your arm at the weaving poles - probably a bit confusing for the dog so I would keep your arm steady. Purely and simply, from my limited experience, I would suggest that missing the weaving entries is due to a lack of training. You will probably say "Yes I know!" but in that case DON'T go back and get her to do it again as she clearly shut down (sniffing, distracted etc). Just suck it up as a lack of training and keep her forward momentum going through the rest of the course. I only have garden stakes on my lawn to practice weaving and it has made a huge difference - practice 3/6 poles for entries around the clock and make sure she truly understands the concept of independent entries from both sides and every angle. 5 min a day is all you need. In a trial situation you could also decel and give a "ready!" cue to prepare her for the weavers until she gains some confidence. ETA: With the seesaw, perhaps she thought it was the dog walk?

I don't train agility in complete silence but I do try to minimise how much I talk - I find when I do say something he really listens. I like to use voice when he's coming out of the tunnel.....if the next obstacle is straight in front I say nothing, if it is at a right angle I call "Ziggy" very brightly, if it is a 180 turn I call "Zig, Zig, Zig!" When I say "Go" it means take every obstacle in front of you (e.g. distance challenge or straight run home) but I only say it once (I hear a lot of people say "go! go! go!'). Occasionally I'll throw him a "good boy!" - like yesterday when he did a really tough lead out pivot in JDM and just nailed it. He was so pleased with himself and, after that little confidence booster, he really concentrated and flew around the course. I would like to get rid of voice on the threadle arm but he is struggling with that at the moment. Serpentines are much easier. Like the idea though - I might suggest it for training! It certainly shows what you need to work on.

WOW!!!!! Go the UDX fairy Huge congratulations to bedazzledx2 and xena98 Great results also for Rubystar, Tassie, TerraNik and amypie Way to go DOLers!!!! We tried to hold up the Spotty end of the bargain yesterday......only came away with one (very nice) Masters Jumping pass but some good running to be had all day. Had a 2nd place (NQ) in ADX when Zig tipped the broad jump just hard enough to make a sound , another NQ in ADX when he popped out of the last weave poll (damn it!) and had another great JDM run but tipped a bar (my fault). Ziggy made the distance challenge in JDO look easy but I was so enjoying watching the pretty dog that I front crossed too late and caused him to miss a jump A nice ADO run as well but the A-frame was in the distance challenge and he missed the colour. Many more NQs yesterday than DQs - I never thought I'd care about that but I think we are running better as a team now and having less off course DQs.

One other thing that stops me showing is my preference for working lines. We would get laughed out of the ring I can't see that accounting for a general loss of numbers of course but it's just something that affects my decisions.

I like the new system. Problem with the old system is that it means a different thing depending on the state you're in. If you have 4-5 very fast consistent dogs who are at every trial, it can be damned near impossible for anyone else to ever place even though they may be awesome agility dogs. Bummer is that we just did our last agility runs for the year. Trim only needs a few 4? agility places, but now all her first places will only count for 10 points so we're miles away now Yes, I agree - we have the same issue here. But I think Trim deserves the title under the old rules and it's a real shame she won't have the chance to round out her title One of our club members got her last pass a few weeks ago with only a few trials left for the year and is understandably over the moon. Perhaps if they kept the old AgCh title and had introduced the new rules under a different title I would be happier. I think those very fast, consistent dogs and handlers deserve the special recognition - and I say that knowing that Ziggy would never come close under the old rules (although Em might going by her speed) but may well under the new rules.

Definitely 500 here.

I prefer the old system of gaining AgCh - it is much harder.

All our trials here are open - I'm more than happy to go up against the BCs etc with a not-so-common breed. It's certainly a lot harder at Masters level but I like that we compete against the clock rather than the other dogs for a Q.

Oh my but she is CUTE!!! I especially like the first run - really nice and she looked so confident. Nose touch off the A-frame was gorgeous. You make a lovely team

That's never stopped me posting video C'mon amypie

That's brilliant

I would be working on duration heeling on your own. Then add distractions and ask for only a fraction of what you are asking for when training on your own and reward with THE best treats you can come up with. Build up duration heeling in the presence of others and then get the food away from you - running to a bait plate, hiding food in the training area etc - back to basics if you have to. Not sure about the play session before training. Maybe it's rewarding him for doing nothing? If he loves that, then ask for a few seconds of heel position - then PLAY - and repeat! ETA: I think our body language changes quite a bit from training to competing too so worth training for that too!

Can you see if he reacts differently to another car? Sometimes they can associate the sound of a particular car engine with feeling so awful. If it works you'll just have to sell your car ;) :p

Yay Congratulations amypie - what a great way to debut

Maybe on the SSAE the owner/s name (as per entry) and then c/o handler's name and address. That makes sense in my head anyway ;) I like the idea of dog/s name on the back of the cheque and SSAE as well.

You field people are quite mad.........

Cottage Kennels in Plenty.

It only goes to sh!t when the rings coincide. A few weeks ago I had to run 3 rings in 4 minutes I was literally running out of one ring, rewarding, throwing the cool coat on and bolting to the next ring and trying to remember the course. Seemed to work....we came away with a 3rd place, Q in JDO, then a 7th place (overall, 1st in 600), Q in JDM and a 2nd place, NQ in ADX. Just a little tired and slightly slower in the final run and I misjudged a jump, pulled him off early and tipped the bar. And that was at the end of the day too!

Hey thanks LT RV - she is SOOOOOOO CUTE How's the birdiness going? Look out, it tends to grow at an exponential rate Em and I had a lovely session with RubyBlue and her girl, Millie, today. Walking singles (plus a double mark and walking baseball for Em), LOTS of talking and a trip to the lake for a couple of water retrieves. We both were feeling a bit exhausted from study etc so it was a really nice afternoon in the sun talking dogs etc. ETA: Miss E was MIGHTILY unimpressed when I started throwing dummies for ANOTHER dog Little wench barked her head off in disgust at being left out. On the upside, she and Millie are both quite submissive and got along together really well (except when Millie shocked her with "Labrador zoomies" ) which means we can toss them in the back of one car if we want to travel further afield.

I know Works quite well as I'm never quite awake enough for at least the first couple! I think the next trial we've got 3 x ADX, 2 x JDM, 1 x JDO, 1 x ADO. I've always run Zig in Open Jumping, even when we couldn't handle the distance handling as it was a great experience to run a course without any pressure to pass. Now that he is firing along in agility I enter ADO but only if we have the room as 7 is about our limit although I have done 8! Keeping him fresh between runs is the challenge and I never do 2 days of trialling back to back.

Great work megan!!! I am amazed at how much my attitude affects my dogs in training. So much so that, after feeling a bit grumpy/drained after having family stay, I took the last few days off training both dogs. When I lose my mojo, my dogs lose it too. I think it's partly my subtle body language (think tense shoulders) but also I don't think logically about problem solving if I'm distracted by other life stressors. Today I had a brilliant day training Em in retrieving with DOLer RubyBlue - we are starting her Lab too and it was so much fun problem solving with an older dog for a different experience. Good luck tomorrow amypie - relax and enjoy yourself Zig has around 7 agility runs per trial.....Dog help me when Em starts trialling because she can go all day and I can't

Yes but I am norty In obedience training or when let off leash it means relax (and go piss on a tree in Zig's case and hence why it is never used in the ring ;) ), in agility it means release from the start line like a rocket and in retrieving it means GO GET THAT BIRDIE YOU MARKED! Somehow they manage to work it out

I trim the nails on my cats and dogs every 7-10 days. The dogs have plenty of exercise - some on hard surfaces but most on grass and both train/compete in multiple dog sports. The Dalmatian nail sits up quite high so they tend not to wear down no matter the exercise. The cats think it's an excuse for attention, Em thinks it's an excuse for a cuddle and Ziggy (who has never liked having his legs and feet handled) thinks it's something worth putting up with for the sake of the biscuit at the end. In fact, there is often a queue when I bring the nail clippers out and it's not always an orderly one I wouldn't pay someone else to do them - I enjoy the interaction too much for a start.

Oh dear, Ziggy does it too.....he's nearly 5 years old Everyone always asks what's wrong with him......especially at agility trials

Oh yeh Same breeder. Mad buggers but I'd have half a dozen of them if I could.