whatevah

Thanx heapz Sway, for the photoz I live near Fountain Gate so will check it out, at least I know what I am looking for now.

I am doing the shirley chong clicker retrieve with Tia and we are up to Step 10!!! I can see the light bulb coming on.

Thanx for your help, any good organisations to join? I have heard that Warragul does herding. Josh my flatcoat doesn't enjoy obedience so I don't do it, but he enjoys flyball, my toller loves lure coursing, flyball and obedience. So will see if she likes it or not. I have not done any herding whatsoever so a new learning curve.

I meant I don't want to use exceptionally harsh methods, where you end up breaking the dog's spirit in the process. As for fun, well I don't own a farm, and do not need her to herd sheep. So if it doesn't work out it won't be the end of the world. I do obedience, flyball and agility for fun!

Yep it was our very first VCA trial. He had only done two club trials previous to that which have different rules. He is not perfect though, he does lots of puppy sits. It was raining that day, I took my coat off prior to going in and had to ring out the lead and convince him that it was okay to drop in the wet. At the VCA trial he is looking at me at the end as if to say "where's my food". LOL I have one of him doing Novice and Kintala comp, at my youtube site and my webpage.

I think we got in 90's, but it was our first trial and we won!!!!!!!!! We should also be in Vicdogs mag next month so watch out.

My husband and I are interested in Learning Herding using Tia, just wondering who I can get lessons from. I don't want to use harsh methods as just doing it for fun.

Here is a clip of my dog competing in CCD, it will give you an idea of whats involved. You are only in the ring for about 5 minutes.

Has anyone seen them in any Melbourne stores lately?

Sorry to hear about your Moses, when I saw the topic line, I got a fright, as my dog is called Moses. Here is a clip on Einstein the Parrot that might cheer you up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnTT7u5U4Yo

I can't find any of those compost crates at Bunnings. Which Bunnings and which aisle, what exactly do the look like?

I have this Tuesday off, so can come with my toller, flatcoated retriever and new puppy. All dogs are easy going. Is it still at 7pm?

Did you speak to Judy? She is very nice. Once I was at Canberra doing flyball with Josh, and I said hello, and she gave Josh a "show cut" even though he is definately not a show dog. Did you know that Josh is the only flatcoated retriever in Australia to do flyball? She knows Josh well. Her daughter is very nice and has won some awards for junior handler in showing. Her daughter got flown over to South Australia by Pedigree. One of her flatcoats took the judges scarf off from around her neck. Hilarious. Flatcoats are different to golden retreivers. They don't like a lot of repetition such as obedience. I found Josh loves tracking, lure coursing and flyball. He tracks for a tennis ball.

Tangwyn make enquiries with the Flatcoated Retriever Club in Victoria as there are a few trialing in retrieving. Bushman Kennels and also Torlum. But Torlum don't breed much at all. The flatcoat retriever club even have a training day once a year. If you are getting a flatcoat be prepared for all the lickiness. If you lived near me, you could come and have a look at my boy. He is 5 but most people think he is 1!!!! LOL

I have a flatcoated retriever. Josh I got him from Torlum Kennels in Geelong. His mother is a working retriever and has done quite well in the retrieving trials. Josh is a dog that loves people and dogs. He loves to be with me, and he loves to swim and retrieve. He is a very happy dog. If he sees a rabbit he will chase it for about 6 feet and then want to come back to me. He competes in flyball and loves it, just watch his tail, goes around like a helicopter.

Josh was doing lure coursing, he chases the plastic bag, then he catches the plastic bag, and trys to bring it back to me with the cable still attached LOL. When we did the straight course at Healesville, Josh would run after the lure for about 100m then give up and run straight back to me, whereas Moses would keep going.

I think we should take some ideas from the UK. You are allowed to reward in the ring in between exercises. You can talk to your dog and you can carry the lead over your shoulder, this is in the lower classes.

I have also heard numerous times to stop a barker teach them to bark then not give the cue. I have always thought that was stupid. My dog has been taught to drop, but will still drop when not given the cue, for reason he is tired and wants to lay down. What I do is try and not get the barking in the first place.

My border collie pup has very strong tug drive, her food drive is 1/4 of her tug drive. My toller is 60% food, 30% retrieving, 10% tug. My flatcoat 70% retrieving and 30% pack. If he is not retrieving he just wants to hang out with you and everybody is his friend.

At the Mary Ray Seminar in QLD, we had a border collie that barked constantly doing agility. This was a clicker trained dog, so what she did was to c/t over one obstacle, then gradually lengthened it to two, then three etc, and the dog stopped barking. The dog was barking out of frustration.

I have worked alongside the police with both the sniffer (PAD, passive alert dogs) and the tracking type. The PAD dog handler when the dog gives an indication, the dog is rewarded with a piece of advance dry food. That is it!!! The handler when he has the dog at home even makes him find something to get the rest of his food. The labradors are very thin and you can easily see the ribs. I was with a handler when the dog tracked a person, the dog grabbed hold of this kids leg and I think the dog just got a pat and verbal encouragement. The handler told me that the dogs are trained to go for the arms and as the kid didn;t have his arm out the dog got confused until encouraged by the handler. The handler told me this boy was lucky it wasn;t a more experienced dog. It was a German Shepherd.

When I trained Josh, I used to throw a treat to Moses over the fence, and gradually work up the time, so he wouldn't sook. Then when Josh got it right they both got treats. When I train Moses, I say to Josh "go" and he goes, he knows I am not training him. I train Moses either before or after work as I do shift work. Sometimes I train Moses whilst lying on the couch and he is in another room. Thats how I trained "Nodding Dog", as soon as he nodded I click and threw the treat across to him.

My flatcoated retriever has a very reliable recall. He rarely ever leaves my side. He is very much a "moral standards" dog. To explain a moral standards dog, it is one where you might accidently leave a door open, and he stands in front of the open door, and you have to just about beg him to come through, because he thinks he is not allowed. I do a paper run which is 4 hours of walking, so many distractions. The reason I think he stays by my side is because he never knows when a tennis ball may pop out from somewhere and be thrown. But I don't always have a toy by my side. My toller, I have to keep an eye on him and call him before he gets too far. But I notice his recall to a whistle is much better than a verbal recall. My puppy 9 weeks old is still in the learning stage. I call her from short distances and reward with either toy or food. When my husband does the sweeping with the broom that she loves, I play tuggy with her very close, to teach her to be more interested in the tug than the broom.

Moses did his first obedience trial in July, and got first in CCD, we then did a double trial, and got the rest of his title, and he became first dog to get CCD in Victoria under the new rules. We will be in the VCA Gazette in January. Moses then went onto get his CD title in September. Next year may do some work towards open title, need to work on and build up the out of site sit stay. Working on new pup. May look into doing herding. Also Moses did an internet add and got paid $500.00. Moses and Josh both got their Australian Flyball Champion titles in Flyball.

I am at Bairnsdale, and the sky is yellow, everyone has to have their car lights on during the day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are starting to get a bit of rain, I am on down time at the moment.