The Spotted Devil

Mine is too long - only matters in CCD. I just ensured I had it carefully gathered for heel work and was quite happy to do a SFE further away. Zig's lead broke recently and I was forced to buy an emergency replacement from a random pet shop in an unfamiliar city - ironically the only half decent one I could find was about the right length for CCD trialling!

Thanks Ness and Amypie - not a member of the Agility Australia list - I have enough trouble getting through the emails from my Yahoo Aussie Dals list!!! ETA: Some great results for some familiar names! Doesn't make me feel so bad to see top handlers I respect with DQs though

Is there a list of results anywhere? Teams etc? Great photos

What a great weekend of bragging Well done to all the Agility Nationals peeps and pooches Sounds like there's something in the WA water that suits the Riv Man too!!! Ptolomy, I love how some of the best agility/jumping runs don't always involve a qually Yay for Master Jedi And go the flyball dogs too

I always heel Zig on my left into the agility ring, tell him to wait, step off on my right and if I am going to start with him running on my right I step in front of him (facing not with back to him to avoid 'blind cross') and then move into position. Clear as mud, eh?

I was taught something similar.

It's happened to me but fortunately it was one of the first things I was taught at show training - and tested on it every week so it became like some sort of challenge Not saying I'm great at it but just enjoy it some sort of perverse way.

I need to feed Zig quite a bit of food to keep weight on him - around 4 cups of dry per night or 2 chicken frames. The night before a trial I tend to give him half his dry food ration (i.e. 2 cups) and he never gets a chicken frame the night before as that's seriously high value. Not feeding at all would, I suspect, make him feel a bit anxious (as would human contact deprivation) and he works best when he is confident and relaxed. He also has a 'rest' day the day before - no runs in the forrest or training but he can do whatever he wants on our 3/4 acres. The fresher Ziggy is the more enthusiastic and focused he is. I do train with his dinner most nights, even for a minute or two and he doesn't get tasty treats at home......they are saved for high distraction environments. I wouldn't exactly call him deprived, though ;)

I probably started training Ziggy when he first came home at 8 weeks - but more for manners than anything else - simple, fun stuff like sitting, waiting at doors, informal recall, hide and seek toys, leave etc etc. He was so bright and likely to get up to mischief that I had to do quite a bit to keep him busy My last dog was 17 when she was PTS so I just wanted to muck around and enjoy the puppy antics, plus I knew he would take a while to mature mentally. We started show training when he was about 5 months old, which was really good for both of us. From memory I started working on heeling at about 12 months old - spent lots of time thinking about how I wanted to train exercises before I implemented them as my approach to training was just worlds apart from the old fashioned paddock bashing and poorly timed correction collars with my previous dog. With my next puppy, I imagine that I will start formal but fun training much earlier as I have a clearer idea about what I want to do. The biggest lesson that I have learned is that the style of training shouldn't actually change in terms of keeping things light and fun and rewarding - it's only duration and distance that increase

Can't resist bragging about this link to the Dalmatian Nationals professional photographer's website Not a bad looking Dally taking the jump, eh ;) ETA: She keeps changing the photo - there's now a link to the Nationals - some lovely Spotted pics

I'm so sorry, horus Beautiful Ellie - you have touched so many and left your Spotted mark on the world. Run free lovely girl.

Thank you He's still so tired - must be all that sitting in the back of the car for 10 hours

Suzy is lovely - it was so good to finally meet her as she often posts on the Yahoo AussieDals list. She was thrilled with her results also, I think Sounds like you had a good weekend with your little pocket rocket too Thank you Tiggy - it really was a tough ask in weather I would never choose to trial in. I'm actually enjoying it all more in reflection as I was so exhausted afterwards He WAS good - not only for the Nationals but the first time traveling such a distance and camping. The people camping opposite fell in love with him as I did a few short training sessions at our camp site. They gave him a round of applause every time he completed an exercise and came running over in their dressing gowns on Sunday morning to ask how he went The best cure for agility/jumping nerves is to do at least 4 or 5 runs in one day - you're so busy running from ring to ring and working out where you're supposed to be you forget to be nervous! Thanks Rivsky. We had a really good time - although next time I'd prefer not to have to move a house full of furniture off the timber floors the day before I left and back on again the day I get back!!!!!

Where are your spies, Ness? Ziggy and I arrived home last night from the 13th Dalmatian Nationals in Sydney! We drove up last week and had a fun time camping whilst our timber floors were sanded and polished. Saturday arrived and it was much warmer and muggier than either of us would have liked - his Cool Coat was invaluable but the heat was very draining. Zig put aside the difficulties of traveling, camping and a warm day to put in a lovely round of Novice Obedience - 190/200, 1st place and.........Best in Trial It was lovely to see Dallies doing UDX, UD, Open, Novice and CCD....not all could see the point of obedience but it was a great morning. If that wasn't enough, Ziggy went on to put in a great run in Novice Agility for our first qually and 1st place I was doubly impressed because he had never seen a 'winged' jump in his life and the contact equipment and tyre looked a bit different to what he was used to. Nailed his contacts and his weavers, which he has only learned in the last few weeks. Even gave me a look of disgust when I didn't ask him to touch coming down the A-frame - who's training who? We also had a lovely run in Open Jumping - to my great delight he nailed the distance challenge......until an unfortunate incident on the last jump where a steward decided to move his treat bag/tug toy from where I had left it out of sight to right outside the ring exit on the ground with his lead. Zig spied it after he took the 2nd last jump (I usually get someone to throw it when he jumps the last jump) and just bolted out of the ring, grabbed the tug and brought it back to me. He was so pleased with himself so I sent him over the last jump and then had a great big game with him. We had another run, but Zig was getting tired and we had one fault. It was still good enough to earn him 2nd place By the time we got to Novice Jumping, he was starting to fade - ran beautifully but just tipped a bar, which is a rarity for him. However, he had done more than enough for me for one day and I'm really glad I didn't enter him in the Open/Champ Show as he was absolutely exhausted! One of the highlights of the day was having Ziggy's breeders there, who hadn't seen him since he was 8 weeks old. It was very special and we also met several Spotted DOLers and lots of Dally people.....there were 195 Dals entered in the Champ Show!!! Well done to everyone else who had some successes this weekend - I apologise for not having read the thread fully but we are busily unpacking and putting furniture back amongst everything else. Here's some pics... On the road.... Camping... The loot (took some serious re-packing of the car to get this lot home :D )...

I don't think I did a training wish list for Ziggy.... One of the big aims was to teach contacts and weavers for agility - we managed to do this in a 2 week period and have entered a couple of trials so extremely pleased with our progress. Have competed in Novice Jumping, Novice Agility and Open Jumping. Only one pass in Novice Jumping but he is working beautifully so just need a bit of luck and his handler to engage her brain :D Another aim was to organise a few private agility lessons - also have done this and I am thrilled with our instructor and Zig's rapid progress. Independent weave entries - need work - he has great potential so just need to put some time in! Would like to get his Novice title this year - haven't competed in any trials yet but he is working well. No thoughts given to Open although we are training for it and his dumbbell work is extremely enthusiastic after a LOT of work. Don't want to push him too fast. ET would be great this year - will see how I am going for time. Something that WASN'T on my wish list was to enter the Dalmatian Nationals. But here we are in Sydney and my big aim is to get out there and enjoy ourselves

The best one I've ever heard of is blood sausage Slice up thinly and cook in microwave until dry - I bet it smells disgusting too but I haven't seen a dog turn it down. Unfortunately, with a Dalmatian, I can't feed any organ meat so I have to be even more creative with my food treats.

Be patient Took me 18 months to get any sort of focus from my lad.....he is a Dally though And food motivation took ages too - lots of training for his dinner (dry food/chicken wings & frames) and saving the best treats for the park. They don't stay puppies for long - enjoy her :D

Good luck! I'm trialling in Sydney

Don't be offended if you feel completely ignored by competitors - I always try to thank the stewards but, looking back on some videos, I'm so focussed on my dog and the job at hand that I barely even glance at them. Sorry

Go Team Vic :D Three of my instructors are in the Nationals team

How wonderful!!! Congratulations Wish I'd had an opportunity to go and watch but only arrived in Sydney late yesterday afternoon.

OK....sounds like you are moving to get into position for the pivot? Not strictly GD...can you tell my instructors follow GD With a fast dog you will find it much easier to stand one arm's length from jump (a). Then all you have to do is pivot on the spot. Watched a bloody hard Masters Jumping course yesterday that had exactly that scenario with a one jump lead out. So tight but handled correctly it looked easy! Need to do more box work myself...even one session made a huge difference to our runs yesterday ETA: Tassie, my green dog is teaching me so much! Fortunately he rarely knocks a bar but is very aware of my body language so came to a screaming halt at the tunnel yesterday because I got there to soon to rear cross

Ness, just to be clear...are you following Greg D's system? So were you doing a lead out pivot? My first thought is that you might have been turning before she has committed to Jump 2. Have you tried just standing still and rewarding her for completing the 2 jumps? If she can nail that it might give her some confidence and let you work the pivot out seperately. How about a one jump lead out? What are your shoulders doing also - perhaps she is picking up a cue???

Your dogs have taught me a lot about the directed glove retrieve LL! I've learned to mark that forward focus even in a Dally!

Ness, I had a similar problem when stepping off and fixed it by heavily rewarding initially and then sticking to the criteria using a NRM and stepping out of position. Anything you are doing with your shoulder etc that is obvious in a video?