The Spotted Devil

Congratulations Mason You must be thrilled! TN - love the 0.000 result Very cool and a win to boot Seita Sensational :D LP - well done with Kinta!!! Not an easy class at all!!! We were at the second day of the Easter agility trial - Ziggy ran really well apart from a very uncharacteristic JDO run but I suspect there was a bitch on the cusp of coming into season as he was a nightmare before the run. I walked the 4 JDX courses and felt there was no reason that Zig couldn't run them well, which is a credit to our club and instructors :D I promised one of my instructors I'd stop complaining about all the serp/threadle/pull through drills we've been doing because Zig absolutely nailed them So....3rd place, Q in JDX in the morning (had one minute to walk the second course, racing between events and he tipped a bar being a bit tired) and the afternoon brought us a 4th place, Q in JDX and a 3rd place, NQ in the second JDX run (tipped a bar due to crappy rear cross Great dog.... :D ). Very happy with our teamwork and apparently our runs are looking much smoother We were beaten by some very fast and well handled dogs today!

Thanks - was thinking it couldn't be the Springer club Curiosity satisfied!

TO - which trial was using "no dummies"? Assume it was a RAT???

Courtesy Lablover's freezer! She picked them up at a market in Dandenong I think. Have promised to go with her next time to partake of the fun

Wow! That's just lovely Ptolomy Congratulations

Hope everyone is having a blast at all the trials Headed off to the park this afternoon with Mr TSD in tow in order to do a few walking singles.....plus pigeons 2 sets of dummy, bird, bird with a rest in the middle. Em ran hard for all of them - she is still working out how to hold the birds so takes a bit longer to pick them up but she was clearly impressed with them as she looked rather disappointed at the dummy thrown in the 2nd set. I finished with a relatively long (for her) blind across the oval to a pigeon - not convinced that she could see it (which is great) but perhaps she could smell it as she locked straight on and took a really lovely line to it. More confidence building Whilst she's full of beans today she is mentally a bit tired after yesterday so I didn't overdo it. Have re-frozen the birds for next time. Mr TSD wasn't as grossed out as he thought he would be

Ptolomy - very sorry to hear Scoota is unwell. Just wondering if the emergency milk supplement I use for sick and underweight foster kittens would tempt him. Ziggy went mad for it last week and I soaked roast chicken and gravy in it for a jackpot. It has condensed milk, egg yolk, cream and honey. Obviously no good if he can't tolerate lactose. Fingers crossed for a swift recovery x

Glad you're making good progress RS! Another great afternoon of training with LL. Started Em on the bumper boys - the shot sound didn't phase her at all - was lining up nice and straight, good concentration and heaps of enthusiasm. Having trained with 2" dummies and mostly on flat ovals with no cover, the 3" dummies and muddy paddock was new to her but she showed some good persistence and hunting. We were going to try her on pigeons again but we could see she was mentally very tired by the end of the day so I brought the birds home with me. Good company, good tucker (sandwiches and hot cross buns ) and great dogs

Best wishes for the weekend of trialling everyone No Easter trial here but LL and I are going training tomorrow

One more idea about delivering the article. I shaped a really lovely front first - sitting down to begin with - and then from every angle standing up. Played the 2 food game to get her running away. When that was really strong I could add "front" to the retrieve and that really helped. Of course I generalised in the field before adding the retrieve - restrained recalls etc. Her reward history was so strong that she was able to put the 2 concepts together relatively quickly. It also seemed to give her much greater confidence once she had a strict criteria for delivery.

It was awesome :D Yes, her first look at a bird - you could see the lightbulb come on as her eyes got wider and wider in excitement At one point she picked up the bird when we were finished and wouldn't let LL's big, strong, male dog NEAR it - just picked it up and bolted - really funny! The good thing is she happily went back to retrieving dummies - phew! Funny thing about my dogs' 'mood'.....it always reflects mine :D Best wishes for the training - sounds like another challenge! ETA: Any word on the trial location yet???

Em and I had a fantastic afternoon out with Lablover and her dogs yesterday I had an early start doing Uni field work then raced home, fed the foster kittens and headed over to LL's place. We drove out to a farm and, although we only had a few hours of good light left, achieved quite a lot....in amongst all the chatting I tied Em up so she could watch the other dogs work and then LL brought out a very fresh, just defrosted pigeon for her. We razzed her up, tossed it for her and she quickly got the idea. It was very novel of course so we gave her a good break, trained the other dogs, more chatting before getting the pigeon out again. Em's eyes nearly fell out of her head!!! It was all I could do to get her collar off. Threw the bird, she fetched it up and brought it back. Delivered on command so I offered her a big piece of cheese and she wouldn't have a bar of it: "Just throw the damn bird, woman!" So I did. Another rest and then LL suggested some walking singles. Em was bang up for that and nearly had an apoplexy when LL substituted the last dummy for the pigeon. Then LL had me leave the bird up on the hill, walk down and send Em to get it. Em took a nice line but stopped a bit short (novel environment and longer blind than what I usually start with) but she hunted around, picked it up and raced back with it. It was a great confidence builder for her. I was grinning from ear to ear Another rest and then did one more set of walking singles, finishing with a bird. Once we'd finished all the dogs had a nice run - lots of Em zoomies and discovering the delicacy of cow poo (yuk!) Best day!!!

FHRP - lol @ the plastic bottle Agreed though - sparking interest with a strong genetic drive is often a winner. Lablover just sent me some pics of me enticing Em into the water. Will post them later but the point is that I needn't have worried so much as soon as she spied a duck on the local lake there was just no stopping her swimming! ETA: Oh my he's adorable

Refresh my memory Mason but have you tried shaping the hold step by tiny step with a clicker? If I can get my Dalmatian to retrieve and hold, I have no doubt there is a way forward for you. I shaped it in baby steps every night for his dinner and it took ages. Did the same with Em but of course it was a quicker process. Remember if it doesn't work, make it easier, slow down and go back a step. Put the dummy on the ground and reward him for even glancing at it. ETA: I like to call retrieving the lazy person's sport because the dog does all the running around However it is also the thinking person's sport and the patient person's sport!!!

Different rules for two very different dogs....although pushing the boundaries gets the same response

Congratulations mollipop - great work Is there a lot of interest in the RAT from non retrieving types???

Kittens are defined as being less than 12 weeks. Puppies less than 16 weeks. See definitions at beginning of document. The hardest thing about that is having an accurate scale that picks up 7-10g/day weight gains for kittens.

The look on his face is absolutely priceless You want me to pick that up???? Seriously????

Ah! I just run to the toy, open it up and let him eat from the toy - they get the hang of it pretty quickly. Particularly if you play with it at home (and maybe introduce a big of tug) where they feel really comfortable. Just beware that it can take a while for the dog to feel comfortable about tugging etc in novel environments so just be patient and don't push them.

I use a tug toy with food inside it: http://www.aussieagility.com.au/productdet...ate_jackpot.htm Some nights I don't bother with the tug at all (Ziggy has his 'moments' ) but just throw it for him. ETA: Nicki at Aussie Agility is great to deal with - just let her know what you are after. Definitely on my shopping list - unfortunately it is quite a long list at the moment ;) When you throw the toy, do you get the dog to bring it back and treat them from it? Not with Ziggy - that's asking a little too much interaction with a toy for him but you could do it. Took me 12 months to shape a really confident dumbbell retrieve - not going to worry about tug toys on an agility course!!! ETA: Zig can eat a lot of treats without putting on weight so I use 4 legs balls or the Eukanuba treat biscuits broken in half - you need something they can just grab and eat without being distracted and sniffing the ground when they can't find it.

I use a tug toy with food inside it: http://www.aussieagility.com.au/productdet...ate_jackpot.htm Some nights I don't bother with the tug at all (Ziggy has his 'moments' ) but just throw it for him. ETA: Nicki at Aussie Agility is great to deal with - just let her know what you are after.

What is she like in the exercise after the articles?

The girls are looking good RS A question for the confuzzled.....do you compete within your height class in WA? Thanks :D They are really coming along! Ruby didn't miss a beat in jumping all weekend! The only thing she fluffed out of 6 runs over the weekend was her agility final :D The girls both measure at 53cm so are in the 500 jump height, which is what they compete at. I hope that answers your question? :D Sorry RS - my question was badly worded I understand that they compete at 500 but on your video you had "6th place in 500 class" so I was wondering whether dogs are placed within their class. Does that make any more sense??? ETA: I think RV answered my question!

OK, another random idea - do you use a mat?

AD - I just watched the video and it looked to me like he dropped his bundle after the see-saw and the weavers were a by-product of that. Could that be possible?