The Spotted Devil

By the sounds of it, LP, your problem will be with the hoomans not the goat :D I reckon you should apply your learning theory to the goat and create alternative behaviours and then run a few education sessions for staff at lunch time. BTW, can you guys email me the new cat seminar dates please! Ta x

I'm trying to nut out how I taught it because my Dally seemed to understand straight away when I tried it with him last week. I suspect he's comfortable with following my arm direction and command as we are training for agility. I think I would stay very close to the dog and the jump and practice from different angles...maybe even running with the dog to build confidence. I often train instinctively so sorry if my explanation doesn't make sense!

And here I was going to give you a hard time for misspelling "training goals"

Some rippers here!!! We get "where's the other 100?" followed by guffaws of laughter *sigh*

Wow!!! That is one sensational weekend Xena You must be thrilled

Sensational Ptolomy Congratulations!!!!!

It's been a tough one for us too but Ziggy is loving the tug now The chasey game is great but I also found that a sheepskin toy from Clean Run helped, plus initiating a tug game when he was really excited such as when I had been away for a few days. In addition I only tugged at home until he was REALLY confident. But it was the crazy foster kitten stealing his tug toys that really made him want to play

I use it but very sparingly...I find it very useful when Zig is on the verge of really understanding an exercise. It is then he will try and pre-empt the command to gain the reward. A very gentle and calm "ah well" and we try again. At this point I will set him up to succeed if I can and heavily reward the correct response. Too much NRM and Zig will switch off. If you are teaching precise behaviours I think you need something to indicate "try again" that doesn't destroy the dog's confidence. I also used it to help teach the casual recall too. He very quickly learned that there are consequences for not coming when you are called! "Ah well" and put back on lead with no sniffing or peeing or fun!

Oh Jess! I'm sure I saw your ADO round - I remember the judge signalling a clear round but saw the bar drop. What a shame!!! Yes, there were bars dropping everywhere. The dogs were all so excited! Well done on your 3rd place! I'm still thinking through Zig's round and I'm getting some good thoughts of what I need to learn/train. Unfortunately I can't fit in a training session between now and our next trial ;) Ooops!

Yay Kinta She had such a big day so I think she did brilliantly! Congratulations LP!!! Didn't she have a lovely play with Zig too Thanks for the encouragement too - really wish I'd taped his run as a learning experience. He did have fun though

Yay Heidii - well done!!!! Amazing effort for a first run....can't say ours went quite so smoothly You certainly set the standard very early for the rest of us

That's great ness I had a blast today with Ziggy at the Melbourne Royal's novice jumping, but certainly nothing to brag about I just was NOT prepared for how bloody fast he would come out of the starting blocks! Lovely lead out but he was so excited and thus he over ran a couple of jumps because I was simply not quick enough or experienced enough to drive him forward. However, he had the best time and was so keen to work that I was absolutely thrilled. He's got heaps of potential and the run has really inspired me to do some serious training with him. When the course spread out a bit he absolutely flew and we got some nice rhythm going. Couldn't wipe the smile off my face - it's very addictive isn't it!!! It's been many years since I've run agility! A few others on here did well though so hurry up you lot

It's funny you say that... We had Jedi for 1 week when OH says to me, "you know, we could have a baby..."! (he previously thought we would not have 'time') They are a lot of work but they are worth it in the end. The more effort you put in now the easier the dog will be as an adult. Couldn't agree more with what I've highlighted in your post TN Zig nearly killed me as a puppy but he is such a lovely companion at home now

Thank you! One of the rides close by had a huge "BANG" sound that seriously sounded like a cross between a gun shot and an explosion. Ziggy couldn't even look at me when we were warming up and it caused one of the UD dogs (first in the ring at the time) to become quite petrified during the down stays and ended up cowering with the stewards :D I ended up just giving Ziggy a piece of chicken every time it went off, which did seem to help quite a bit although it wasn't long to work up a cue!

Now THAT was a long, wet, miserable day of obedience trialling But here I am at home, nice and warm with cold beer and hot pizza so can now happily reflect on a terrific day Today Ziggy put in a lovely round at the Melbourne Royal to score 188/200 and 2nd place in Novice It was such a challenging environment and he was quite distracted and thus his heel work was not up to his usual standard. However, I couldn't fault his effort! At one point he was distracted by a loud noise, looked away and then looked back to find that I had halted and he was one step ahead. He reversed so quickly to get into sitting at heel position which was very impressive and rather funny The judge only gave us the opportunity to do a short recall but Zig managed to bolt in at 100 km/h and skid to a screaming halt in front of me. I think he got full marks for stand for exam and change of position. To top it all off, the graphic design/advertising company that my brother works for was handling the account for photography/publicity at the Show. They got us to go to the "studio" and we spent half an hour taking lots of artistic shots of Zig so I can't wait to see how they turn out Roll on Saturday and our first jumping trial

Shani has never cried in her crate. She'd just wake up and soil the crate in silence, from the day she came home. At least, that's the story I'm told and I believe it because a mother of 4 doesn't sleep through puppy whines. I don't sleep through puppy whines and I sleep like a log. The method my mother was using is almost exactly the same as mine and it really depends on a puppy making a noise if they need to go while in the crate, or at least fidgeting a bit. The rest is just vigilance. Are there puppies out there that naturally don't whine when they are confined and need to go? Everything I've heard says no. Anyway, thanks for the ideas. Like I've said, Shani is already outside most of the time, so the inside toileting has been reduced down to just the early mornings and evenings or wet days when the dogs are inside. My Dalmatian has never ever cried or whined when he needed to toilet. He came home as a (very mature) 8 week old pup who was trained to toilet on newspaper. I set him up at night in an open crate in the laundry with newspaper all over the floor. Each night I reduced the amount of newspaper he had to toilet on until he could hold on overnight (only took 2 weeks). I learned that he just gets a strange frown on his face when he needs to go outside - as a result I just took him outside every 30 min at a minimum as he was 99% indoors. I was incredibly vigilant so we didn't have many accidents. My OH is incredibly vague (bless him ) and I had to absolutely harangue him to do this also. When Zig was 9 months old I arrived home and realised he had lifted his leg in the hallway - I suspected it wasn't hormonal and questioned OH. It turns out he had completely forgotten to take Ziggy out all morning as he was involved in writing some music. I went back to taking Zig out every 30 mins and toileting him on command. Worked a treat :D He still doesn't ask to go outside - just looks a bit uncomfortable Mostly I don't let him get to that stage. With foster kittens that insist on toileting on their bedding, I remove anything they find attractive (even food/water bowls) until I see that they have toileted.

Aaaahh, I get you .... so they've been conducting the SFE at the same spot the COP is done at. Thanks for that TSD. Exactly - now they actually have a white marker on the ground (not related to the start post) and ask you to simply set your dog up (in a stand) in preparation perpendicular to the position at the start post. Confused the hell out of me initially ;)

JulesP .... would you mind explaining what you mean by this? Where is it normally done? COP is done perpendicular to the normal starting post and to where the stand for exam is done. So far, that's been what I've been offered in the ring. I still have a keen, smarty pants though so I have to heavily reinforce the stand

RS - the Milford one, whilst pricey, will give your dogs protection in the case of an accident (the main reason I purchased it). The cheaper ones act as a barrier but can't be expected to stop the dogs being moving projectiles if you have a prang. I was always going to rig something up to stop Zig jumping through the gap but he is so much better so I didn't bother - I think that's quite a feasible option. I didn't realise Millie was a rescue girl - keep persisting with her and you will reap the rewards

Hi RS Saw your post in the Training thread I have a safety net from Milford who you can Google. It needs to be professionally installed but you can easily remove it and replace it. Not cheap but very safe! There is a slight gap either side but I have taught Zig not to go through. Hope that helps! ETA: Just noticed the pic which looks like mine! What about working on the dog? I reckon some crate games in the car woudn't hurt...Zig doesn't like being left either and I am rewarding calm behaviour which seems to help.

Ahem! Photos please

Wonderful! Congratulations The Newfies cleaned up at our club comp today - there were 3 of them and they all won/placed in the lower classes - the puppy was SOOOOOOO CUTE :p

Fantastic Kavik 4 on is a good idea - I actually had a play with the see saw today (set very low) just so he could hear the bang - might try the 4 on....

Oh, that's lovely Tambaqui - may it be the first of many :laugh: I can just picture your little Min Pin doing a kangaroo impersonation

Hey, nice work laffi I didn't realise Midge was carrying an injury - how stressful but I'm so pleased she has recovered! Oooh, am I known as TSP, The Smiling Peanut, now???? Of course I didn't video it Here's a pic though - will that do?