Cleo's Corgwyn

One thing I've had a lot of success with for sick animals is human baby food- mushy, tasty, and good ingredients, and plenty of flavours to try. She looks like such a sweetheart, and I'm glad you've found some things to tempt her.

I really like the tibbies as house dogs. If you're prepared to make sure they get the exercise and training, and can cope with the shedding, either of the corgi breeds might work for you. I got a Cardigan Corgi as I've always had big dogs, and I wanted that big dog attitude and personality. The Cardis are a little bigger and more laid back than the Pems, but the Pems are more friendly with strangers.

Don't get a corgi if; *You can't deal with shedding *You can't deal with the amount of personality that allows a 10-15kg dog to be able to move several hundred kilos of cattle around *You can't deal with a dog that has a sense of humour - and is prepared to do whatever it takes to get giggles *You want a dog that doesn't shed *You want a dog that will do exactly what you tell it every time -and can't cope with a dog who's perfectly capable of thinking of 'better' ways to do things *You want a dog that won't back chat you if you aren't doing things 'their way' *You can't deal with corgi hair in everything *You think that you're getting a lap dog, just because they're cute *You're not prepared to deal with a drivey herding dog who will find 'jobs' to do if you won't give them one Oh, and did I mention the shedding? ;)

Maybe teach them to paw target something instead? Ie teach them to stand on something (a kitchen sponge is good - bright yellow, and easy to cut up, or a lid, or coloured paper). Once they're reliably standing on it, pick it up and hold it in your hand, and get them to paw touch it in your hand. you can then phase it out by cutting up smaller pieces, or just seeing if they'll target your hand once they're used to the action.

Jumabarr, have you checked out that music database I posted earlier? I find that really good for inspiration, I usually start out at a BPM that I know is a comfortable pace for my dog, and check out the tunes a beat or two either side, and just make a list of everything that appeals to me. Then I narrow the list down to a few songs I really like, and video my dog and I playing around to the music. I then try and choose the music my dogs looks best with. Kallistar, it's a piece called "Call Me A Princess" I really wanted to use "Don't Tell Mama" from Cabaret, but I think I'll save it for when I'm really certain that I can make best use of all the great pace changes!

Ohhh good luck what routine are you doing?? Here is a link to the article that got put in the Toowoomba Chronicle. They have misinterpreted several things Sharon has said but it's still good PR for DWD, and I love the photo of me and Chook :D My link That is a lovely pic of you and Chook, even if the article is a bit patronising! We'll be trying to refine our freestyle to Village People - "You Can't Stop The Music" and if all goes to plan, our new HTM to a fun piece from the Aladdin Musical.

oh, fer dogs sake folks READ what is actually said! I said its about what you want, I even explained why that is what I would look for in a school. Yes, this doesn't mean that its the same as what you are looking for, and no, I would not train someone or recommend they attend my obedience club if they were looking to use aversive methods. I *might* suggest other good trainers I know who are experienced in those methods, if I felt the person understood what they were asking, but I won't personally use those methods. Nekhbet, we're pretty much saying the same thing, just from different angles; find something that *you* are comfortable with and that suits your training goals. Oh, and by the way, I can do drill sergeant better than most people I know, I just don't choose to use with my current, soft dog, or in pet obedience classes. But you ought to hear me organising people into classes at the start of session :D HH, to get this back on track, I guess what we're all trying to say is try and find something you are comfortable with, and suits your training goals.

Why would you want to go to a school that limits what equipment can be used? You think a school cannot be motivational if they use correction chains? This is the misconception. I'm currently about to open my own school and I welcome whatever equipment works for your dog and handling capability. It's not yank and crank but corrections are only to be used on dogs that require them and motivation is always going to be the predominant method to achieve goals. You should look for trainers who are genuinely interested in what their doing, that they are firm but fair and have time to listen. They should enforce the school rules and ensure everyone's safety at the school as well. If the dogs being trained are happy, the handlers are happy and the methods are not just shutting the dogs down then you're in for a good thing :) As I said, Nekhbet, its very dependent on what you want for your dog. I'm a positive trainer, with a fairly soft and very smart dog, so no, I wouldn't want to go to a school that advocates aversives, as I wouldn't use them on my dog. That's not say I would stop someone from seeking out alternatives for a difficult dog that they had tried other things with, its just not what I want for myself.

I think it depends on what you are after, really. I'd definitely be looking for a real positive training school; not just one that claims it is, but one that won't let you use choker chains, etc. Aside from that, it depends what you are after. I'm an obedience trialler, so I want a club that offers a reasonable trialling class, but someone who 'just' wants a pet might want a defined companion curriculum, someone else might want a good flyball team, and someone else might want an agility foundations class for their future agility pup!

Congrats Maree, and others. A nice broad selection of dogs and music in that list! We'll be entered in both Novice styles for the Sydney comp in March

Yay, way to go Terranik, Jedi, Soaks and Revan! One more to go; when's your next trial?

I hope that she's holed up comfortably somewhere nearby with a full belly, and looking forward to a joyous reunion in the morning. It's a horrid sick feeling to lose them, and I hope she's home soon.

Shandy and I got her third Rally Novice pass and her title, making her one of the first dogs in Australia to earn one. There were maybe a dozen other dogs to earn theirs tonight as well. Rally-O is great fun!

Go Ziggy! He looks like he's having a wonderful time

Well done TO and Tassie! Tassie, you've mentioned two things I've really enjoyed about Rally O - the sheer numbers of competitors are pretty cool, and I really enjoy seeing how much fun my girl is having!

Well, not my club, so I can't guarantee it (though I checked the schedule, and that looks right) but three of the Canberra triallers who came up from my club are now Rally-O judges as well, and were looking at how thing were structured in preparation for our trials this month!

Congrats on your Rally-O pass! Can you please tell us more about the separate rings they had set up? Everyone was doing Novice, right? So did they split the rings based on titles in other disciplines and did each ring have a different course set up? I find that a bit odd if everyone was doing Novice, I would have thought it would have had to be the same for everyone for fairness? Because there were 200 dogs entered, they had to split them up somehow, even though we were all doing Novice. So ring one was dogs without titles, ring two had dogs with CCD and/or only titles in other sports (agility etc), Ring three (where we were) had dogs with CD titles and Ring four had dogs with CDX and above. It was a useful way of splitting people up, and the judges understanding what competitors needed in the ring (Vicki in ring one spent a lot of time explaining where new comers had made mistakes.) It was great to watch some of the competitors in Ring four - there were two dogs with perfect 100 scores in that ring, and a number of 99 scores, split only by time.

Shandy and I were part of the group that went up from Canberra to Sydney for Rally-O and all the Canberra group got passes. Shandy and I managed a respectable 85 for our first Rally-O pass, mostly due to her usual problem, handler error! We have 2 ribbon trials for Rally-O this month in Canberra, and we're really enjoying this. It was lovely to watch some of the highly titled dogs work in the 4th ring. I didn't see either of the 100 scoring dogs, but it was beautiful work.

I'm entered in both the ACT trials, plus the one in Sydney this weekend. And Philippa, I'm pretty sure Shandy will be the only Cardigan Corgi at all of the as well! I did check for you, Purely Poodles, and they are still taking entries for the ACT trials, so you should be OK if you've sent your entries in.

I hope that you can get a spot; I know the entries were flowing in for the ribbon trials. There's very little scheduled for March at this point, DogsACT But as I said, I'm hopeful that a few more Rally-O trials might be scheduled, given the popularity of the first ones. I'm entered for both the ACT January Rally-O trials, and I'm the only person competing with a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, so I should be pretty easy to spot! I'm really looking forward to Rally-O with my girl.

We've got two Rally-O Trials at the end of January, but with the Canberra Royal in February, I don't think there are currently any planned for Feb. I'll keep my ear to the ground though, as I think that if these two are as popular as the entries indicate, there might be more coming. Google Maps Gives me the address of 10 National Highway 23 as being just opposite where Dogs ACT is, or the street just opposite the turn off is Stirling AveGoogle Maps Either of those street names will at least get you close using GPS. Where you planning on doing any training while you're in the ACT?

I'm really looking forward to it - 200 dogs in an evening should be a great sight!

I have to admit that I thought there might be a bit of Cav in there as well, he looks like some of the Cav crosses I've seen around. It would be interesting to see how he turns out as he grows.

If you know what sort of pace your dog works best at, then a music database, around the right BPM, is a handy starting point for ideas. This one; My linkhttp://www.cs.ubc.ca/~davet/music/index.html I've found this one really good - you can even look up songs you've really liked working to, and it will give you recommendations for similar songs. My girl paces really nicely at around 115 BPM, so I look at music a beat or two either side of this.

Wow, way to go everyone! What a way to end the trialling year! And thanks for the quick report, Rubystar. It's lovely to hear DOLers doing so well.