The Spotted Devil

Congratulations xena98 and LuvLottie Great results!!!

Congratulations wuffles - that's fantastic OSoSwift - good questions actually and it's nice to think through what I do. If you want to use toys have a bag of them on you - as soon as they grab one and turn, toss another one. I don't use toys with Zig as he gets more excited about food and I don't use them with Em simply because everything she retrieves I prefer her to present formally at the moment. She really doesn't need motivating much more than she is already either ;) With the clicker, it depends on where I am in the training and what I'm teaching. I tend to use the clicker for initial shaping and then switch to a verbal marker once they have the hang of it. So "front", click (or "good"), treat in position (!!!!!!) and then throw food and "get it!" If I'm working on fast sits on the run (for retrieving purposes mainly), then I'll click the second her backside hits the ground so she'll make more effort to sit really quickly. Yes it does thank you :D - About to go try it! Do you use your clicker at all, or throw and get it only? I am not sure how I would go with toys, because the toy would not get brought back in time to pick it up and throw it for the next time if you get what I mean. For the fronts for example, would I get a from click, throw the treat away, then get the front, click, throw the treat away etc??? Sorry if they are very dumb questions

Seriously JulesP? ;) Come hang out with me and train on the outskirts. We have lots of fun We can even be crap together ETA: I don't know anyone who got it right with their first dog, or their second....

Here you go: http://www.vicdog.com/

Sue&Cindy - do what works for you There is nothing wrong at all with being happy with a pass. I know with my Dally that he will never be the perfect obedience dog - partly because of his inept handler but also his nature. However I'm prepared to sacrifice precision for enthusiasm. Now that I'm training such a people oriented working dog I realise just how far Ziggy has come. I still aim for great training sessions but the greatest compliment I've had is about how happy Zig was in the ring - and this from a judge who owns and competes with Goldens

Basically it's a handful of food - not crumbly and easy to see. Toss one way 'get it' and one the dog runs and eats it throw one in the opposite (approx) direction and repeat. You can also use toys if preferred. I love using it to build motivation and excitement with my Dally and, with Em, I mainly use it to get her running away from me - as she turns from eating a treat I can call 'sit' - which is how I taught a stop for retrieving. Also great for breaking a position so she can find it again eg 'front'. You can also incorporate rapid sit and drop games (great for teaching discrimination). Does that help?

I feel your pain as this was me a couple of weeks ago. Hey we could always go to the pub while in Sydney and tell everybody we couldn't find the show grounds Quoted for truth :D

Can you tell us how many rescuers have been convicted for animal welfare issues concerning dogs they are attempting to help? I was sorry to see that the ACT activist? promoting the Vic laws on Animal rescures did not answer my question. I have googled everything I can think of to bring up any problems that have happened with Animal Rescuer abusing animals in anyway in Victoria or anywhere in Australia. Can't find a thing. If there is no history of a big problem (or even a small problem) of rescuers abusing animals in their care, then why is the government spending it's time and money on this when there are real problems that need their attention? As I have said earlier, the COP refers to foster carers who are part of an animal shelter/council pound, not private foster carers. The previous COP actually prevented foster carers from caring for some classes of animals. Some large animal shelters in Victoria have good foster care programs.

Absolutely! It helps to train them to be independent ie they make a choice to watch you and are then heavily rewarded rather than being coerced or reminded all the time. With my pup, I do a lot of work in the stationary heel position and only 1-3 steps forward at a time. Perfect practice makes progress Be patient! I think that the complexity of good heel work is often underestimated.

spoilt lab - a number of us train our dogs to watch us but use different methods. Some like the dog to be targeting the hand and others the face (simply speaking). Wagging tails are a good indication of a dog that is confident in the exercise and has a strong reward history....again, simply speaking

I don't teach it at all - I always release before dropping (eg in stays).

It is amazing how your footwork can stuff up your heeling! I was having a play with Zig tonight whilst Em was resting between retrieving training....have had a few problems with crooked sits, drops and stands so concentrated on that. I was slowing down before the halt so I could work out what was going wrong....no prizes for guessing what happened Poor dog...don't know how he puts up with me

Thank you! Hopefully I'll have this handling thing worked out by the time Em is ready to race me to the finish line It seems Akira is enjoying herself a little TOO much Sounds like you are making good progress WA :p

If only we had the blessed "ignore" function in real life :p

Thanks!! You'd probably do a better job than me by the sounds of how you have handled LL's dogs!!! And then we have our first field trial the following weekend I'm going to be a nervous wreck for weeks!!! Vic isn't holding Easter Retrieving trials this year. I never made it to the famous Benalla Easter trials Oh, I didn't realise! I can't wait to hear how you go - followed by a field trial? Glutton for punishment much

I'm getting nervous for you FHRP All Age Very Cool Good luck at Easter everyone - not sure that I can get away to look at our Easter trial so might just run Ziggy in one or two days of agility instead.

As far as I am aware, the COP re foster carers refers to those that are part of an animal shelter/pound system not private foster carers: Thus, any veterinary expenses etc are covered by the in-house or contracted vets for example. It's a very different system here when compared to NSW - most of the pound contracts are run by animal shelters and foster groups can't just pull dogs and cats out at will. There were some real problems with the previous legislation that actually prevented foster carers (as part of an animal shelter/pound) from fostering some classes of animals (e.g. juveniles etc).

Hmm I dont think i really know enough to answer lol, he is my first gundog. He loves carrying stuff around in his mouth and is always bringing me things. He just wont do it when treats are around!! If he really loves retrieving - could you use that as a reward instead? What we call in retrieving, a "happy bumper".

My first dog was a wonderful, intelligent Australian Cattle Dog who knew a lot more than I did about training for obedience and agility. She was originally our family dog so I didn't have much choice. I probably won't have another, only because she was so special. When she passed away at the ripe old age of 17, I wanted an active, elegant looking dog for agility and obedience. And I wanted a challenge I was recommended to speak to a Dalmatian breeder although this breed was not on my list at all. I clicked with the breeders and waited 2 years for a puppy to become available. Madness has ensued ever since but, my goodness, I'm enjoying the journey! With my next pup, I became hooked on the sport of retrieving. I was offered a working line Lab puppy but had always wanted an English Springer Spaniel, plus their size and temperament meant that they would probably suit our household better. I was quickly educated as to the difference between working and show lines and was given a recommendation to a breeder by my retrieving mentor, friend and Lab owner. Em is energy PLUS, despite her soft nature, and is not a dog for everyone. Suits me perfectly

I promise to get some video of Em soon - she has caught on to the whole handling games idea REALLY quickly and loves the tunnel. Last night at training I practiced start line stays - in the past we have done stays on their own, stays as a release to go through a gate or run off-leash, stays with a recall and stays with a retrieve (I walk out and throw a dummy as a "mark" and then return to her). Within a couple of tries, she picked up that arm outstretched meant "get ready to run like hell to the hand with the food" and she was so pumped that she broke (and then corrected herself). Very funny little thing is going to be hard to keep one step ahead of Anyway, I was delighted with Ziggy on the weekend. As I said in the Brags thread, from 4 runs we had one pass with 2nd place in Excellent Jumping and, as luck would have it, it was the only one I managed to have videoed: Zig absolutely nailed his first Open Jumping run, including the distance challenge, but somehow managed to enter the weaving poles from the wrong side....possibly I pushed him into it but I was delighted nonetheless. The other Excellent Jumping and Open Jumping runs revealed a couple of holes in our training, but nothing too drastic. He was absolutely exhausted yesterday (as was I and even Em was a bit whacked) and I normally don't take him to training the night after a trial. However, I had to drop some paperwork off and I'd had a long day in front of the computer so thought I'd wander down and just train Em if Ziggy was not really into it. To say I was blown away by his enthusiasm is an understatement - he was just busting to get out on course, was running the seesaw with confidence (although I still have a helper to let it down a bit more slowly) and was much more resilient when I made an error (frequent ) or he couldn't do something because of a training black hole. He was tugging like a fiend and knocking a few bars because he was running harder than usual. I'm so delighted

We were chatting about this at agility training last night - we have so many good agility/jumping dogs at our club that we'd be too ill from eating all the cake to be able to run our dogs if we celebrated every time someone did really well It's a blessing, though, in terms of training and experience to learn from Ruby looks lovely

Has he got a naturally soft typical gundog mouth Mason2009?

Thanks for the info - just love the serious look of concentration on his face

Beautiful photos - thank you FHRP That little Springer definitely looks like a relative of Em's - the coat and body type really remind me of dogs from her breeder. Do you know how old the dog is? I'm really interested in the ages of dogs vs level of training so I have a vague idea of what to expect in terms of maturity. Stinger looks like he's having a hoot!

Just thinking on what I do some more....when I'm shaping the retrieve and they start to pick it up I always move my hands so that they can't help but drop it in my hand and say 'give'. That seems to build an association. It took me 12 months to teach my Dally to retrieve properly lol