The Spotted Devil

This is just about the exact comment I was going to write for my Froggy, the only bit that you lft out for me was the bit where they had also sucked all the helium out of the balloons at the party!! Stimpy I think would have a serious voice like the goose in Charlotte's Web. I did actually consider that bit but then she wouldn't be able to talk quickly enough to tell me all the things she did at the party and all the things she wanted to do in our next training session!

Em would sound like a 6 year old child after a birthday party feast involving lots of red cordial, chocolate cake and lollies Ziggy - more difficult - maybe Bill Nighy. A bit of sexy, a bit of grumpy :D

Well done on your win with Polo FHRP and congratulations to his sister too I also found out that the Springers that won at the Blue Mountains were all half siblings of Em so she has an awful lot to live up to Congratulations mollipop - that's a wonderful achievement for an older dog

Hope the trialling Goddess is kind to everyone Best wishes for the Nationals, Ptolomy & bedazzled - if the price of champagne goes up we'll know why ;)

If it's valuable to your pup, then it's a reward! Between my 2 dogs I use food, tugging, verbal praise, play with me, play with each other, retrieving, freedom to run and chase birdies (Em) or sniff and pee (Zig). Even a drink of water can be a reward for hard work (especially when we're retrieving training). Don't give up on food though as I find youngsters can go through a stage of not caring at all about it. It's a very handy, precise reward though so worth making valuable. I tend to start by feeding all meals as training treats through the day. You can achieve an awful lot with a cup of dry food (or raw if that's what you're feeding).

And with smart phones, if you only have one dog entered and don't really need a whole catalogue you don't even have to print it out! ETA: You can produce a password protected PDF document too if you want to charge a small fee but it might not be worth the hassle - I suspect that's what the agility clubs found out but I don't know for sure. ETA (again): Maybe a smart phone app :D

I think both options are great and agree with oakway here. my experience is obedience related and although it's written that your correct email address must be supplied you would be suprised the number of people who when collecting their numbers expect to get a complimentry catalogue as they state they haven't recieved it by email- I keep a record of those emails that bounce back now but often people do forget to print the emailed version and then don't want to pay. Our current system puts the onus back on the exhibitor (which is as it should be) - we have a central website (here: http://www.agilitytrials.info/index.htm ) and once you submit your entry online you are told that the catalogue will come on line approx X days before the trial for you to download. I've yet to have a problem. Also, it is maintained so that trial secretaries can post judge updates or cancelled trials etc and it lists upcoming trials and other info. ETA: Just realised I haven't even glanced at the Dogs Vic gazette for ages as not many of the obedience/agility trials are advertised (only the big ones or interstate) so I guess clubs are saving money there.

A fairly new club had a trial recently with 520 entries - often multiple entries per dog of course. 4 rings, 3-4 events per ring. There are probably bigger trials but it's hard to calculate as most clubs give you one number for the whole day. This club gave each entry a different number which is why it was easy to work out from the catalogue.

Agility trials here are also moving towards online entries (some clubs give a small discount to encourage this) - it's so much easier for exhibitors as well and I definitely enter more trials because I can clearly keep an eye on closing dates etc. Apparently the other end is still a bit clunky but they are working on the software and hopefully putting the catalogue together won't be such a long process. We also get automated (or secretary generated if the snail mail system) emails with our details so we can fix any errors.

It's really handy - for an agility/jumping trial I have one dog entered in around 6 runs which might be spread over 3 or 4 rings (Dog help me when I my youngster is entered as well!) I can print off the pages I need, highlight the dog's name and which ring I need to be at and when. Much more relaxing on the day.

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Would exhibitors/clubs utilise a digital catalogue? All agility trials in Vic allow you to order a catalogue for a fee OR download a pdf at no charge. The latter allows you to print out what you need for the day but you can still refer back to the document in electronic form. ETA: I love this system and enter more trials because I can save a few $ on catalogues.

Sorry mollipop - that will teach me to read posts properly!!! Yes, that is crappy if they are allowing small dummies. Em is little but even she can carry the 3" dummies although I'm careful not to use them when she is tired as it is hard work for her.

Agree with FHRP on the red dummies. We often prefer using black dummies on marks (depending on light) as they are much easier for the dog to see against the sky. Today, the first set of walking singles Mr TSD tossed for us were white dummies - Em did a bit of a banana shaped run and I realised she was probably using Mr TSD as a reference point for where the dummy fell (smart lass!) Asked him to switch to black dummies on the next set and it was like magic - beautiful straight line out and back. Set up a long-ish blind with a 3" white dummy, though, as obviously it's easier to see.

Well done Molly girl Breed nationals are such fun - seeing so many dogs in the one place. I travelled to Sydney for the Dally Nationals last year and Zig cleaned up between obedience and agility. We are hosting in 2012 :D A shame no-one asked the photographer to put a jacket on! And of course huge congratulations on your baby puppy win!!!! I hope both of them get well very soon - keep us posted please mollipop

We are already using the new table heights at training. The seesaw is a bit of a training hump for us at the moment - a confidence issue - and after running Zig over a very light one yesterday at a trial that bounced him (and many other dogs) off the end I look forward to something consistent that I can train him on. I didn't know that about the weaving poles - if I had a dog that stuffed up the weaving poles AND I was very confident I had trained the dog for all those scenarios/entries/distance handling/distractions etc then I would quietly leave the ring. I do get a bit frustrated watching dogs being put through the weaving poles several times in competition, still stuffing them up and then being rewarded by continuing through the 'fun' parts of the course - it doesn't help much if you do it like that and it's also very time consuming! I have a huge amount of respect for one of my previous instructors (very experienced and from another club) who quietly pulled her youngster from the ring a few weeks ago for breaking her start line. Clearly she had trained the criteria but high drive youngster just couldn't contain herself Beautiful start lines this weekend too.

Go the Springers I tossed a couple of blinds out for Em at the agility trial yesterday - some nice cover to work in. Used the big white bumpers so she could see them once she was about half way and that was a huge confidence boost. Ran so hard for one of them that she overshot and ended up at the fence line but retraced her steps and hunted it up. I did about half a dozen scattered throughout the day and then she had some huge zoomies. Clearly wasn't enough, though, as she just ate the button off my new cushion Love the kitty pics, FHRP - Brontë used to do that as a youngster but grew out of it but Dizzy just loves retrieving (and food). He even steals Zig's tug toys and growls if anyone tries to get them back, particularly the rabbit/sheep skin ones I really should do some training with him....

Well done FHRP I really would like to see a video of Polo doing Masters Feral A nice score to finish off your title DSO - awesome That's a huge brag TO! Nice work Jovi :D We had such a wonderful day out yesterday at Warringal's agility trial. It was our first foray into Masters Jumping and, whilst we only came away with one pass, we could easily have had several under our belt. I had done some extra one jump training during the week (rear crosses, serps, tight wrapping, go) and it really payed off. I pushed Zig hard all day (hence a few errors on my part) but still supported him when he needed it and he responded really well - driving hard, distance handling, weaving - he nailed a tough Open Jumping course but I was so chuffed with his effort that I opened my shoulders up and drove him into the tunnel instead of pulling him into a tight 180 Also got sucked in by a jump straight in front so will work on that I think! We've had trouble with the seesaw so I only entered one ADX run - he ran the whole thing beautifully but unfortunately the dreaded see-saw was very light so, while he approached it with heaps of confidence, it bounced him off the end - but I ran him on a straight line home and gave him a jackpot so hopefully that hasn't dented his confidence. Isn't it funny when you couldn't have had a better day had you had a 100% pass rate!!!

There's a RAFT training day at KCC park (Vic) in July I think. I can hunt up the dates if you are interested. It's for the retrieving ability test which is like an intro to the sport of retrieving.

Good to hear Polo is back to his feral self Just did walking singles and a couple of long-ish blinds at the oval. Mr TSD is getting much better with his throws and Em is mud from head to tail, such was her enthusiasm :D Calling mollipop

Good luck mollipop and rubyroo Didn't mollipop have an Open RATG this weekend? Polo ok FHRP?

I have not spent any time in obedience classes with my current dogs - just use the trialling ring as needed. Definitely attend agility classes but try and do 3-4 small training sessions at home and have the odd private lesson.

My dogs only get their dry food via training, kongs or a buster cube. Pup ate out of a bowl in her first few days at home as she settled in but that's it. My Dally did demos with the Bob-a-lot at the Pet Expo. We would have taken one home but they all sold out, even the one he was playing with! I often feed frozen raw food to slow them down too - large chicken frames etc.

Another productive afternoon with LL - I started at the computer at 7.45am to justify my absence later on :D We started at the park with various drills - good to have someone else watching to tighten up your hand signals and run over a few things. A bit of talking too ;) Then we drove to another property close by with a couple of dams. Em retrieved some happy bumpers - funny little thing loves to swim but just needs a bit more confidence on the entries. We finished off with a few walking singles for the youngsters....both of whom did really, really well navigating novel terrain. Em certainly puts the 'spring' back in Springer

I don't really have a preference - I get something from all the dog sports I train/compete in. What I love about obedience is the skill set it gives you as a trainer if your goal is to have an enthusiastic, confident and accurate dog in the ring. Particularly a non-traditional obedience breed.....you don't often see 'Dalmatian' and obedience in the same sentence You can't wing it and you can't cut corners. It's taught me how to get the most out of positive reinforcement and how to break complex behaviours (e.g. heeling) into the tiniest of steps and then build them up again. I have taken those lessons to agility and retrieving. The latter is still heavily reliant on more traditional methods so much of how I train is taking those tried and true retrieving training drills and tweaking them to suit my training style.