The Spotted Devil

Darn. I'm not sure what to suggest without confusing you!!! Seriously H360 has changed agility for us and was one of the main drivers behind Zig's Ag Ch. This is one of my instructor's videos - look at how tight her fast dogs can wrap. But everything starts super close, low jumps and steady. Slowly add the crazy.

No I don't think Susan Garrett has done any DVDs of H360. It's all online courses. Will see if I can find you something.

Definitely understand where you're coming from with a lanky Dally and Springer who loves jumping LONG. With the H360 system it's about doing a lot of cone work or with a wing - very close in and teaching verbals so JUMP means in full extension whereas Check Check means take the face of the jump and wrap tight, Tis Tis means turn, Na Na is back of the jump and tight turn etc. Like anything else you reward 50% or better - I realised Em was turning wide...but guess what I'd been rewarding!!!!

Read the book SG - it's lovely.

Regarding the alone time....make sure pup has had a good run around plus some training and has toileted. You want pup mentally and physically tired. Then give him some food toys (eg stuffed Kongs, cardboard boxes with dry food inside) so he can entertain himself happily until he gets tired enough to sleep. My pups can't wait to be left alone :laugh:

I just carry a tiny collapsible bowl similar to this: http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=2913&ParentCat=322 plus a bottle of water. Then I can have a drink too.

:laugh: My good friend is in her 70s and is just returning to retrieving trialling after a hip replacement. When she nearly blew her hand off using the Bumper Boy launcher the hospital staff jokingly suggested she take up knitting.

Sorry to hear this CC and hope all goes well. Just want to remind you how amazing animals are at adapting - my one-eyed foster failure kitten (with barely half a good eye), Dizzy, is proof enough. Yes, he was just a wee thing when he had his eye removed but it still blows me away how gutsy and full of life he is. The funny things he does without thinking to make the most of what vision he has are seriously cool. I took him to the vet to be PTS by the way.

Love is a difficult concept. I guess it's a human construct. I love my dogs and kits more than I can express. Whether my dogs "love me" isn't something that I really consider. I focus on building my relationship with them in a positive way. So that all our interactions are joyful. Which doesn't mean I don't ask them to do stuff that's really hard. Or that they never fail. But it's about the journey, not the destination :)

CFA do their best in my neck of the woods (as do I as co-ordinator of our local CFG group) but getting people interested in making PROPER written fire plans is extremely difficult. We have meetings, brochures, seminars etc etc. You can lead a horse to water and all that. Doesn't matter how many times you tell people NOT to expect a warning or a fire truck to be at their beck and call.

Anything from the authors of The Focussed Puppy - love that gem of a book!

K9+ for sure :) http://www.k9softdogcrates.com.au/index.php?p=products&sp=crate_carry_bag

Love a bit of shaping! I use something akin to the Shirley Chong method for my Dally who hates retrieving and my ESS who is obsessed by it. So much fun!

Here's a start for you :D http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/258767-best-agility-dvds-or-online-courses/page__pid__6553718#entry6553718

Most of the big dry food companies have a money back guarantee and/or are happy to mail out samples. I'd shoot them an email :)

Assume you have papers and are trialling in Australia? Lots of entire dogs compete in ANKC sports such as obedience, agility, retrieving, tracking, herding and endurance. Including my own!!! No papers Ah! So the dog needs to be on the Associate register - ok. Anyway - completely agree with holding off IF you can manage an entire dog - but there's no real need to start competing before the dog is 18 months-2 years anyway. Get everything perfect first :D

Assume you have papers and are trialling in Australia? Lots of entire dogs compete in ANKC sports such as obedience, agility, retrieving, tracking, herding and endurance. Including my own!!!

Wonderful! The thing I like about having pups in my room is that my routine is all over the place and they adapt really well. Once my dogs have had a wee in the morning they will go back to bed with me as long as I want them to. As long as they're getting plenty of exercise and mental stimulation in between times of course!

Or Clean Run of course.

Here you go: http://www.aussieagility.com.au/products/tugtoys.htm

Cat try Aussie Agility :) Great selection at good prices!

I agree - crate in the bedroom :) I start my pups off like this and it takes a week for them to sleep through until 6am. Which is bliss when you're spending the rest of your spare time cleaning up after them lol! In general dogs have much more value for our company as opposed to a dog (there are some interesting scientific studies around this). Get her in the habit of sleeping through the night first and then gradually move the crate further from the bedroom until she's sleeping where you want her to. Crates used carefully are a fantastic training tool. Also make sure she's not too hot/cold/thirsty/ or needs to toilet.

*snap* dotty!

Have a look at a few websites. Dally Club constitution is here: http://www.dalmatian.asn.au/pages/legal.html DCOV (of which I'm a member) runs specialty shows and performance trials (including Nationals), has puppy listings etc etc.

Just a normal house here with an entire male and entire female. A couple of things I do that help (apart from separating!) - Em wears pants so she doesn't drip scent everywhere. Even a clean bitch will drip scent. I use old sheets to cover furniture that she will sleep on. She only gets to exercise and pee in a separate yard. I do extra training with both dogs - even crate games side by side during the first 10 days. I will often take one dog with me to work or Uni if I can. The mental break does help!