The Spotted Devil

Which different collars do you use to indicate which you are doing? Show limited slip lead for showing, standard web martingale for obedience and he runs 'naked' for agility. There's heaps of other cues as well...what you wear, how you warm up, equipment in the ring etc. Zig has a fine automatic sit in competition obedience but never sits in the show ring - not that I've shown much of late :D Have fun!

Teriffic work Leo (and Kinta!) You should be deservedly proud LP I would have given you 10 points for just getting out of bed in this weather

Mrs RB - you make a good point that highlights the difference between countries. As soon as you enter the ring here you are under the direction of the judge (and stewards) - so you could do all that stuff outside the ring but not inside I think. Enjoy agility training huski - it's great to do both!

Thanks for clarifying TN - that's exactly what I meant. To be honest, if the rules changed tomorrow I would still train for hands off - looks better, my dog prefers it and I think it switches his focus on my body position too. huski - in agility you can set your dog up in a sit, drop or stand any distance from the jump. Entirely up to your judgement. You can lead out if your dog is steady or run with them - the latter is also great for dogs that need to build speed and confidence. Once the dog takes that first jump the clock starts.

I noticed that, too... I haven't trialled in agility yet, but I didn't think that sorta thing would be allowed. What are the rules about setting up your dog at the start in Australia? I don't know the exact rule to refer you to but a few Vic judges specifically mention it to novice handlers at the course walk briefing and may well DQ. From my very brief trialling experience in NSW with competitors from QLD as well, I was amazed at what was permitted. Personally I think it's a good habit to be hands off in the ring - you're not permitted to set your dog up in obedience stays and it's not hard to teach them to 'find heel position'. The other advantage in agility is that I can get a really good line of sight for the first few jumps on a lead out and adjust by minute degrees if necessary - really helps the novice dog. I've mentioned our exercise - can't wait to start cycling with Zig though! He has Bowen every few months when we're competing and I'm learning a bit of t-touch at the moment as well. I tend to think that, because Zig isn't a naturally highly motivated dog, any imbalance or tightness or tiredness seems to be magnified in his performance. I really notice the difference when he's relaxed yet raring to go.

Yay! Well done TerraNik grumpette - you must be thrilled

I noticed the handling and placement SG does in a trial. For a start, that wouldn't go down very well with some of our judges! Before agility we have a brief tug session then just relax near the ring. When the last dog is running we do some tight obedience heel work and maybe 2 food game if he is distracted. By the last run of the day I keep it very brief as he is usually pretty tired. For obedience, out of crate some brief heel work (rewarded), toilet break then back in crate - usually do this a few times. That said, I like short warm ups because the number of times you get delayed or rushed into the ring makes it hard. If I overdo a warmup that can be the end of him!

I chose to teach stand for the show ring first and did very little formal obedience in the first 9 months. I think dogs are very clever at discriminating but I teach one discipline at a time initially to help us both - now we can switch from show to obedience to agility quite easily - different collars and leads (or lack thereof) and cues help too.

I take Zig for an hour plus walk/free run nearly every day for fitness - for both of us Lots of hills and bush tracks around here so it's an excellent work out. Once I get a bike I will take him on the flatter paths as well. The fitter and fresher he is (I give him the day off before a trial), the better he copes with the mental stretch of competition. I haven't the best of backs so have been building our fitness more slowly than I would like.

I am learning not to have hard and fast rules as it seems to depend on the dog and the handler. Zig won't work for anyone - perhaps because I've had to work so hard to get him to work with me. He will not show or stack happily for anyone else either. That said, I've handled for others in a few different disciplines. I really enjoy it too ETA: Wow, ness, I would love to see if they could do that with Zig!

Tough question! My first instinct is to say "yes!" and then my logical brain says that perhaps I'm just becoming better at reading him And training for less preparation. Sorry for going OT but I had forgotten how funny puppies are. Miss E. went for her last toilet break and raced to the crate next to my bed in eager anticipation of her treat. Once she'd eaten the treat she decided her eyes WEREN'T hanging out of her head after all and proceeded to find her voice and protest. Loudly Five minutes later and she's lying on her back snoring

Agree with the sensible advice already given. I just wanted to point out that pup may well be having an AWESOME game of tug with your son's trousers, rather than actually trying to pull him down - I know it's still not appropriate behaviour but for puppy it is fun and initially may be difficult for the pup to discriminate. That's where you come in - supervise, distract, redirect and reward :D

Nothing really with Zig as he's a work in progress and I've enjoyed every twist and turn in the process - I've had some fantastic trainers as well who I can't thank enough for grounding me in the basics. Part of the trial and error process is working out the dog's motivation and level of maturity if that makes sense. I've also done showing and obedience so crossing disciplines makes it a little harder. With my previous ACD, I would give much to be able to travel back in time and train her using what I know now. However, I'm sure I'll say that about Zig when I'm working with Emily in agility in a few years time

I'm just loving agility training at the moment!!! I think Zig is so thrilled to have me to himself at training - last night he was throwing himself at everything and was so much faster. We did the the grand prix course that Susan Garrett won with Encore last week - you can see it I thought Zig would struggle with the angle of the first two jumps on a lead out but he nailed it which is great progress. Lots more work needed on tight turns and I didn't help him at all with some of my confusing handling - really need to concentrate on what is ahead rather than what has just been!!! I found the first part of the course harder - we did much better from the weaving poles onwards (although Zig was desperate to try the see saw I insisted he miss it). Really lovely flowing course with some traps and equipment to suck the dogs in. Sucked a few handlers in too

3/4 acre and no poo pick up so anywhere not on the deck or path is fine - no leg lifting allowed on the herb garden or veggie patch! Very pleased with 9.5 week old puppy - when playing on the large deck she will already race off to the dirt/grass/bush to poo! Was struggling with getting there for urinating but Mr TSD tells me she managed to do it independently today - bright lass. Bed at 11pm. Out to toilet at 6.15am and back to bed for a sleep in. Zig would sleep in until midday if you let him

I think I've had the opposite ends of the spectrum and love them all! Grew up with working kelpies, Australian cattle dogs and a beagle. My ACD was my first obedience/agility dog and after 17 years of loyalty I looked for a different type of dog so as not to compare. Yep, a Dalmatian He is awesome and I would have another in a heartbeat but wanted a gundog for retrieving so went with a working springer - always wanted a spaniel as a kid and 2 weeks in she is all I could have wished for I like a challenge so will probably delve into other breeds one day.

Thanks amypie - we are just loving her Had a great training morning at agility club - they are very well organised and run 4 week modules on different equipment so we finally are learning see saw. Zig was just amazing for a first timer - he has sound 2o/2o which helped but he is so damn confident!!! He advanced so quickly that we put him over the full sized see saw (with someone controlling the descent - just perfectly I might add ) and he flew over it and nailed the landing. He is scary sometimes - darned if I can keep up with him

After a lot of work, my Dally has a really good recall (even off kangaroos) but there is still the odd occasion when it's a "do I or don't I call him" - if it's appropriate I ask him to sit at a distance instead - he gets heavily rewarded. If he's incredibly tempted it's a good compromise. We practice this a lot as well. ETA: Zig was KING of the doggy equivalent of The Finger too

You lot are too funny! Thank you for the lovely comments - we think she is just gorgeous Yes, I tend to keep things under my hat until they come to fruition and, since she arrived last Wednesday, I've been so busy keeping her out of mischief and making sure Zig and the felines were happy too! Congratulations on your puppy too Tiggy Little Miss Emily was spot on 8 weeks old when she came home so she is just over 9 weeks old now. I happened to have the opportunity to take a few days off so jumped at the chance to get her as soon as I could. Her registered name is "Cathy Earnshaw" and one of my cats is called "Brontë" so the literary theme just had to follow. Mr TSD wasn't keen on Cathy as a call name or "Cat" so Emily it is She has potential...let's just see what her handler can do with it ;) Well, she certainly is food motivated! Clicker training and shaping has started and she no longer eats from the bowl - just from me and from a puppy kong. Very smart little rascal too - races up, sits beautifully and looks me in the eye... She just loves toys... Will retrieve anything... And can run like the wind... So as not to completely derail the thread there are more pics here and here

She's quite the little terror (-ist) Don't let that sweet face trick you!!! Yes, she's a working ESS - so we will perhaps try our hand/paw at retrieving, obedience and agility ;)

Whatever gave you that idea?????

Vickie, there was a trial last weekend with a spread at the start of the course....apparently the number of dogs that knocked a bar was amazing! This is the course we ran at training on Monday night: I didn't have a chance to watch the video beforehand so it was a steep learning curve! We ran it through without talking about it first - I thought we did ok, considering the stage we are both at and that I slipped over in the mud Then we broke it down and tightened up each section. It was great fun The week before we had a threadle/serp overload which is JUST what I needed as it's not my strong point. We did the second half of this course but not quite as smoothly as the Derretts :

No, but only because I KNOW Zig loves to anticipate (I can see the cogs turning - how do I get that reward faster???) so I have worked incredibly hard on being unpredictable and 'accidentally' turning my shoulders, for example in a finish, then rewarding him for not responding until I actually give a hand signal. His breeder did warn me too

Ness, I had a really bad trial day once - I was completely exhausted and stressed from Uni/moving house etc and it turned out Zig wasn't 100% either. Anyway, he was really flat and worked terribly. I went to speak with the judge to let her know I was going to withdraw him from the stays and she said she wouldn't allow me to!!! I couldn't believe it - I was ultra polite to begin with but it developed into quite an argument and she refused to back down, even though I said Zig wasn't well. I walked off in tears (remember the exhaustion and stress mentioned previously) and was furious about it. Fortunately, someone I train with had a word to someone who knew the rules inside out and made me go and speak with him. I related the story and he told me to go home with my dog and have a glass of wine and to contact him if I had any trouble - an ill dog (and a stressed handler ) should not be in the ring. And it's not like there weren't plenty of dogs available to assist with stays if necessary. I've had a dog stand over my Dally in an obedience trial - poor Zig tried to maintain eye contact with me and leaned back until he had to either get up or fall over. I was not impressed that no-one made any attempt to grab the offending dog Fortunately the judge was kind enough to let Zig re-do his sit stay along with another dog that spooked when Zig jumped side-ways into when trying to avoid the offending dog. Zig won the ring I recall at training once an incident where someone's male dog flew at another dog - both owners were just standing around and not actively training. Shortly after we were about to do stays (club comp) and the numbers meant that the aggressor was next to us. The owner insisted on having the dog off-leash for the stays and I just thought NO WAY will I put my dog through that. I asked to be moved in the line-up as my male is entire and an apparent target for other males plus we had the Royal the following week. I suspect I offended a few people but my dog's safety comes first.

A ramble/vent aimed squarely at myself - I'm a bit cranky I had (in my eye) a really cr@p day at training yesterday. Zig's heel work was woeful. I was really miserable about it and felt frustrated most of the afternoon once we'd arrived home from training. Today the logical part of my brain has kicked in and I feel like : 1. We haven't trained away from home for about 2 months because the wet weather has left all the local parks in a dreadful state (in fact, agility has just been cancelled for tonight). 2. Training at home has been adjusted for the wet weather - breaking down exercises into tiny parts to fine tune stuff and teaching new exercises, which means lots of food rewards. Then expected him to suddenly do 15 min of ring work with no feedback. 3. I was really tired and should have slept in but it was the first nice day in ages so was determined to go to training. Consequently, Zig had a huge meal the night before (I usually give him half) and was sluggish. Plus I left his coat on a bit too long so he was probably a bit warm. And I skipped breakfast - BIG mistake. 4. I didn't do my usual warm up with him (didn't take crate), building motivation as I normally do. 5. My handling was awful Dog was confused and didn't understand the game - which is normally at the front of my mind. 6. His stand for examination was perfect, despite the lovely smells on the 'judge' and a LOT of tail wagging. 7. His recall was gorgeous, despite a slightly crooked sit. 8. His finishes were perfect...we have been working on speed and accuracy a lot. 9. His change of position (for something different I did: stand - sit - drop - sit) was faultless. 10. His first ever formal dumbbell retrieve on the flat was fast and simply sensational....even more so considering he has never had an interest in fetching. And I learned something about how to correctly take a dumbbell. 11. We went on to work on a bit of agility. His accuracy and focus (once I got the tight course sorted out) was bloody brilliant, especially for a green dog. And yet, all I took home was the negative about his heel work. And it wasn't all bad....there were some really nice moments towards the end when he realised it was the same game with an idiot handler and he worked beautifully. And a very funny moment when I accelerated too quickly into fast pace and Zig thought it was agility so just took off I also received lots of constructive criticism about my handling. *sigh* I feel very unworthy of owning such a fab dog