The Spotted Devil

I think I have your dog with a Spotted Coat on My ACD would do ANYTHING for a glance or a pat or praise - she won a state top trick dog competition with multiple tricks including back flips and speedy leg weaving. Ziggy would give you a look of disgust and wander off - probably lift his leg on something actually. He responds to verbal praise now but only because I have paired it with rewards he values.

Bub - I reckon this would be perfect for you and your little girl!!!!

Thanks Ptolomy - he's a super dog to run, actually Spotted Dog Nationals are in Sydney in a few weeks time so Zig and I are driving up and camping out! The Spotted Dog Millionaire is entered in Novice Obedience, Novice Jumping, Novice Agility and Open Jumping, which all take place on the Saturday morning. I've not entered conformation as I think that's enough to ask of him. There are 195 Dalmatians entered in the Champ Show which should be an amazing sight!!!!

Wow! What a weekend RubyStar - congratulations - you've worked so hard and deserve every bit of success! Hey Ptolomy - what'd you have to do to earn a jackpot? bedazzled - consistency or what! Brilliant! You Bunbury triallers weren't too far from my old stomping ground in Pemberton! smisch - some great results too - sounds like it was a fine weekend

Ah, and THAT is the best thing of all Leopuppy04 reckons he looks like a blissfully happy dog hanging his head out the car window Good luck, ness, in your little girl's first trial - I will probably be away so will catch up with all the excitement (AND videos!) when I return.

Thank you Ness! Truly, if you'd heard me yabbering at him a month ago you would have died You're right, though, and it probably shows a lack of confidence on my part. I'd only trained with food/toys on me last week and was rewarding the new stuff heavily so was feeling a bit bad for him. I was sh!tting myself that he was going to balk but he again showed that he is capable of so much more than I give him credit for. Seriously, thank you. It's not something I really noticed when watching the videos but can hear it now!!! Thanks, also, for suffering through dial-up ;)

Understand what you are saying. I've seen similar things myself and been appalled. Lots of farmers don't recognize that animals feel pain, or are sentient beings, and legislation needs to encourage this, as education doesn't seem to work. It's difficult to overcome beliefs which have been in the population for generations. I could extrapolate on that, but I think you know what I mean. Hi Jed The good news is that education DOES work and the science is there to prove it. My research group (particularly my supervisor and his colleagues) have done a LOT of work in this regard in the pig industry, dairy cow and poultry and are world leaders. It's based on the link between human attitudes and behaviour - if you correctly identity the attitudes and beliefs (not easy!), you can actually change them and the behaviour. There is now an education package for pig farmers promoting exactly that and I imagine it will be applied to other industries. My PhD is extending that work to dogs. and I agree. We see it in legislation where a lobby group encourages legislation which fits their particular tenet, but is not good over all for whatever class of animal it covers. Example would be the POCTA act in Victoria. Some of those regulations were drawn up by people with good intentions, but nfi. I do believe that we are getting too far from nature, and too detached from animals, so I agree with what she said. Temple Grandin is a fascinating person and I was lucky enough to see her speak in Melbourne last year - I don't always agree with her either but she is most insightful and really does get you thinking. Sounds like a great conference!!!

Thanks Tiggy :D Young lad is wiped out tonight - 2 frozen chicken frames for dinner and then put himself to bed....don't think he closed his eyes all day, which makes for a nice change

Awww, thanks huski - I reckon he's a bit of a looker but I might be a little biased :D You wait until you've started training in agility/jumping - I'll send you back to look at these videos and you'll crucify me Um, obedience videos - lol - will see what I can do - always difficult at a trial because everyone else is so busy!

Nice one AD I was SO pleased with Zig today and we didn't even get a pass - can't even contemplate how excited I'll be when we put it all together

Good luck and have fun this weekend - any chance we will get to see his first attempt on video??? Yes, we want video! Good luck TSD and Ziggy! Talk about pressure We had a wonderful day - no passes but had some lovely moments. We were entered in 2 rounds of Novice Agility and 2 rounds of Open Jumping - first time in both classes for both of us We are off the Dalmatian Nationals in a couple of weeks so I just wanted to practice running several courses as we are both so green. Ziggy tried his Spotted Heart out and got everything right that we had practiced in training. The things we hadn't practiced, we just did what we could to get around so I have to apologise for the handling!!! However, that will come with time. The poor lad only ran a full sized A-frame and dog walk last Tuesday and went from 4 to 12 weaving poles in 24 hours over Wednesday/Thursday. Please don't bag the handling too much as I was just grateful to remember (most of) the obstacles in the right order :D Once we both have a little more confidence I think we'll get some more speed too. - thrilled with the contacts and the confidence over the A-frame and Dog Walk. The messy bit from the tunnel to the tyre, I meant to run like h*ll and do a front cross close to the tyre but I wasn't quick enough but decided to take my time and line him up properly. I would have preferred to do a rear cross but we have only just learned how to do them correctly and I didn't think it was fair to ask for one on the tyre, which he is not that experienced with. Coming into the weaving poles, I should have pulled him up to give him a half a chance because I haven't done a lot of work on entries. He was very confused at the end of the weaving poles (because he entered the wrong way), I suspect, which is why he missed a pole. Very happy with this run, and I didn't get yelled at too much by my instructors :D Open Jumping. Way out of our league but the little bugger surprised me! He did a nice lead out (as always) but I put him behind the eight ball to begin with as he hasn't done weaving poles on my right very much so I ran him on my left - again, I wanted him to succeed so it was worth it but you can see the dreadful schamozzle I got us into trying to go to the next jump After that it was a distance challenge and I was pretty much expecting to have to cross the line to help him out. A friend told me to give him a chance and I'm really glad I did!!!! He took the first jump, went out when I asked him to the next jump - he took the next jump as well which wasn't such a great idea, but again we've never trained for that. Took the tunnel despite the fact that I couldn't decide what to call it "Tyre! Tunnel! Whatever!" (My word is "through" ;) ) Hearing one of my instructors say "Keep running!" was just what I needed. I didn't run fast enough for the next tunnel exit, nor did I give him much direction Nice little run of obstacles and then I stuffed him up again by calling his name before he had committed - at least he does what I tell him to!!!There you go - a good giggle for a Sunday evening :D ETA: So annoyed with myself!!! Just watched it again and I can't believe I blind crossed him on the tunnel in Open Jumping - poor bloody dog!!! No wonder he was confused!

Wow! Well done Looking forward to catching up at the Dally Nationals.

AD - is the venue anywhere near Erskine Park? If so, I'm heading up in a week or two for the Dally Nationals and camping about 1/2 an hour away. PM me if you need the details.

Wow Jed! That's such a wonderful story and outcome for the little girl And, oh! How she reminds me of my foster failure kitten, Dizzy!!!! Nearly died from cat flu, syringe fed until he could eat on his own, was about to be euthanased but the vet couldn't bring herself to do it (Dizzy had his head stuck under my chin purring his head off) so opted for surgery instead - removed the badly ulcerated eye, desexed, microchipped and vaccinated. Came back home with me to recuperate whilst his litter mates were all adopted. Still looking for that perfect home The 3rd eyelid of his 'good' eye is adhered to the cornea but the specialist said his eyesight is amazing. The cat flu destroyed his nasal cells meaning he can't warm the air as he breathes in and thus needs the heater on at night to stop him becoming congested. Inhales food, has to be locked up if there is ANY food out (including crumbs, whole vegetables, plastic containers that once contained food, sink strainers and vomit), growls fiercely at any dog, cat or human who tries to steal his favourite toys (although I have taught him 'give'), plays fetch as long as you're willing, wrestles the Dalmatian (and wins), annoys the other cats and generally makes a complete nuisance of himself How I love the little bugger ;)

Thank you mercedes - always good to know if I'm feeling really tired and want to stop early. I should pass through Albury on Tuesday 13th April - thank you so much for your kind offer. I should be fine but it's just lovely to know DOLers are so willing to help out

Good luck and have fun this weekend - any chance we will get to see his first attempt on video??? Thanks! I am treating it as a bit of a training run as we've had a couple of ripper private lessons in readiness for the Dally Nationals and have had to squeeze a LOT into a short time. I really should video it, though - will see what I can do. LP was threatening to tape us running but she is away this weekend and not competing

That's so funny Perhaps you have found the exercise that you can use to break up other not so exciting work! Ziggy likes to run and I think he nearly died of excitement when he realised that a recall allowed him to run flat out AND get food for doing it!!!! Think I have created a monster too Finally getting a seriously enthusiastic tug from Ziggy - I can barely stand my ground but he gives as soon as he is asked I did some weaving poles this week - after having done next to nothing for 6 months (moving house, uni etc) he went from 4 to 12 poles in 24 hours! He's not 100% but is getting some nice independent entries and is nutting out the criteria - when I throw his tug toy ahead of him he grabs and does mad bucking bronco impersonations that I haven't seen since he was a teenager Thank goodness as he is entered in his first agility trial this weekend!

Handbook of Applied Dog Behaviour and Training (2 or 3 volumes?) is a good start! I actually think I have one already, a mammoth one that was pretty pricey yeah? Sounds about right! Fortunately I can borrow a copy when I need to.

Handbook of Applied Dog Behaviour and Training (2 or 3 volumes?) is a good start!

Thanks GW - that's a really lovely offer I will definitely track down the "beach" for The Spotted One! I spoke to Ron, the owner of the Gundagai Tourist Park - sounds like such a nice guy - said he had plenty of powered sites available and Zig and I would be welcome to turn up whenever we liked. I'm getting excited now!!! :D Thanks again, everyone

I agree, ness - nothing wrong with attention and it's certainly something I strive for - happy, attentive, focussed heeling. I don't tolerate lapses in concentration but it has been a lot harder to train a Dalmatian to a high level with my current level of experience than it was to train my first ACD with no experience, no toys, no food and absolutely no idea. Fortunately I've had a lot of fun in the process I'm not flexible with criteria - have just realised it takes a hell of a lot longer to train some things than others and that I have to pick my times, days, temperature, humidity etc when I train. Where he has to do repetitive work, it can require a lot of creative training. Where he has to think outside the square - he is a breeze. I've spent 3 years just working out what makes him tick!!!!! But I think there IS more than to the UK style of 'wrap' heeling than simply attention

Have a look at Artemis Maximal (not sure if that's the exact name) - high protein, grain free, top quality food. My cats eat the feline version and are doing fabulously well on it.

Question for you all in terms of the UK style of heeling - I agree it looks lovely but is it a practical ask for ALL breeds? To my eye it seems beautifully suited to breeds that have a flexible body (not sure how else to describe it) such as Borders, Goldens etc - but for a Doberman? A Great Dane? A Chi?

Takes a darn good handler to get those 'high-end' dogs working so well too!

Obviously I think Dalmatians are a WONDERFUL breed but they're not for everyone. Athletic dogs that make really lovely family pets with an easy care short coat. They shed like mad but it doesn't worry me at all, even with a dog that is inside all the time. They do feel the cold and Ziggy loves his warm coat....especially if he's inside, lying over a central heating vent in the morning sun My personal preference is for an only dog to be inside with their family, at least when you are home, as they really thrive on the social contact. Zig was a little destructive as a youngster but is so tired from all the exercise and training that he gets, that he happily snoozes the day away with the cats when I'm out. They are probably more of a challenge to train - in my experience they are intelligent, independent dogs that need a darn good reason to do as you've asked. They need LOTS of positive reinforcement - yes, he gets verbally corrected at home for general manners but I only use food and tug toys in training. If you don't make it fun they will give you the doggy equivalent of "the finger" and bugger off. We are competing in obedience, jumping and agility and having an absolute ball. Make sure you have a rescue Dallie checked for health and temperament - there are some dodgy BYB out there and Dallies need to be well socialised and BAER tested for hearing. It might also be possible to get a dog from a reputable breeder that has been retired from breeding/showing. A couple of links for you: The Dalmatian Chat Thread (ask questions here) Dally info here