Vickie

Just had an interesting exchange with my daughter about training her dog & thought it was worth sharing. Pep has been missing/going around the first jump sometimes on a leadout. Yesterday I explained to Chloe that until she fixed this issue, it would keep recurring. I went through step by step on how to fix it, with demonstrations & detailed explanations. Today she went & trained it, 5 minutes later, proudly announced it was fixed. I watched her "fix it". What she did was practise over and over again, the exact scenario that she knew she could get success on. She was most upset when I showed her that it wasn't fixed at all. So again, we went through all the steps. Hoping for a better session tomorrow. I know Chloe is only 12, but it struck me just how many adults do exactly the same thing in all walks of dog training. If we only practise what we are good at, how do we ever fix what we are not?

I never noticed any difference with Trim. She is desexed now, but I trained her through a number of seasons. I also had her mother for a while & did not notice any difference with her either. I have a bitch here in season ATM. She arrived nearly 3 weeks ago & came into season a few days later. She is training well, but it will be interesting to see whether she changes once her season is finished.

I would borrow someones metal base, drive out to some industrial area & find a little metal fabrication shop & ask them to make some. Then just buy the PVC poles yourself. I am wary of training a dog using stick in the ground poles, after having to retrain one of mine that competition poles don't move like the ones she was trained on.

I haven't got the Go the distance book, but have attended 2 seminars with Stacy, the author. She is a fantastic instructor & I imagine her book would be just as good.

I'm more along the lines of what JoeK has said. I don't do puppy classes & see more negatives than positives in them. I don't actively socialize my dogs either. They tend to go lots of places with me but I have no program for socialization. They see lots of dogs at training & trials but rarely play with them as they are focussed on me. If we go to an area where dogs are playing, they don't join in unless there is a toy involved & even then they are not playing with the dogs, they are bringing the toy to me. They do play sometimes at home with each other, but generally if I am in the picture their attention will shift to me. We have many many dogs come onto our property. Despite their lack of Formal socialization, we never have issues. The only thing that comes close to being an issue is if a rude dog tries to interfere with them during training. I consider that my job to avoid these situations. I have children & lots of people come & go here, so that's kind of taken care of. They are also around horses & cows (and of course sheep) so we have no responses there (except for the sheep ) . I'm sure if they saw an elephant it'd freak them out luckily that's not likely! Trim did not like the rides at the Easter Show AT ALL, but...once she saw the first jump, she ran well & forgot about them till the run was over. Honestly, so long as they do what I am asking them with enthusiasm, their responses to strange things don't concern me too much. If they were unwilling to work or train, I would address any issues.

I'm going to disagree with that. I see an alarming trend of unsound dogs receiving regular " adjustments" in NSW & ACT. No one can tell me that some of these "adjustments" are not creating many of the problems. Agility dogs should not have their back & neck "out" every other week! If my dogs backs & necks were out with any kind of regularity, I would never do agility again. Now if we could guarantee the competancy of the "adjustors" I might agree with you.

I think their is a tendancy for Agility people to assume that lean and/or well muscled = fit. Fitness to me is about being capable of prolonged exercise and about speed of recovery after exercise. Our dogs are never in the ring for more than 40 odd secs, but should be capable of exerting themselves for much longer.

I can see that from Ems videos, she sure is a goer! Zig is.......magnificent!

agreed. And really if you haven't built an extremely strong reward history for training (harder in some breeds than others), who can blame the dogs? They just want to do what they are used to doing in an open space with other dogs around. Some of the most distracted dogs in agility seem also to be the ones who have playtime before and/or after training.

Question, how fit are your dogs really? Mine have always been pretty fit but Trim especially is superfit right now & I am really noticing it in her runs. I also have a dog here for training who in comparison to mine seems quite unfit. She has been here just on a week & I can already see that she is gradually getting fitter & training better for it, but is still taking a good 5-10 mins to recover after mine do with the same exercise I think most agility dogs are quite fit but we probably owe it to them to be REALLY fit thoughts?

Ps another thing I would be doing is regular short leash walks with your other dog (someone else walking him). Don't encourage them to interact, just walk. Make sure you are far enough apart that she is not reacting to him, although from what you've described I suspect she will probably be fine walking side by side. You are lucky your other dog is so nice, things could be a whole lot worse if he was reacting to her.

Sorry but I am going to give you more different advice. I know it feels like the right thing to do but please don't shower her with affection. By doing this you are reinforcing her fears and complicating the environment. There will be plenty of time for affection once she has settled. When i have brought a dog home like this I find the best thing to do is tie it to my waist for about a week & go about my business. This way everyone is safe & she has an unthreatening environment to get used to. When this is not possible, the dog should be kept away from other animals & people. Don't bend the rules for her. She will be better with clear boundaries. I find it takes at least 2-3 weeks for a new dog to settle enough that you can really assess their temperament. Good luck

Umm, no. I didn't say that! Although I am sure if Pax trialled her, her heelwork would be lovely since she is always glued to her side staring adoringly

thanks guys I'm so proud of them! me thinks he's right :D although I do have a newfound appreciation for the potential excitement in obed after attending some trials recently & watching Pax train Prix.

I have a V6 Toyota Hilux. It is the BIGGEST petrol guzzler i have ever had!

Thought I'd share this video of our RQH runs from Saturday. Thanks so much to Tammy for filming both my girls, the quality is amazing! Unfortunately Shine knocked the spread but I was still really happy with her run. Trim felt amazing! Such good girls

Another tip, don't shoot on full zoom (ie 300) as this will make the shots a bit fuzzy. Remember on ai servo mode that the camera is constantly searching for a focus point so busy areas with lots of poles/uprights will be hard for it to focus on what you want while panning. Eg if the dog is coming towards you & you have an unobstructed view of the dog, it will be easier to get focus correct. however If you are shooting from the side & there are jumps between you & the dog, that the dog goes past, the camera will focus on those jumps on the way through. Hope that makes sense. Bright sunlight or shade is hard. Even harder when there are patches of both. I generally get my best shots in the early morning or late afternoon I have a similar lense in nikon, F8 is it's sweet spot at about 200-250mm. If I can't get a shutter speed of 800 or higher, I don't bother

I don't think it's essential, but if I wanted to make a living out of training dogs & I had the means to do so, I think I would do a course. Why wouldn't you? I wouldnt hesitate to take lessons from someone without qualifications & have done so many times. Some of the best dog trainers I know have no qualifications & a wealth of experience. Some of the worst have qualifications & little experience. Experience & results will always count more for me and it is within most peoples means to get. Volunteering at a local pound provides a range of dogs, backgrounds, temperaments & behavioural issues.

A question for you... If you were to ask Max what the word "no" means, what do you think he would tell you?

She's fine sprained her toe a couple of weeks ago. I just want to let it heal properly before any more agility or sheep. I don't "do" recurring injuries :p

I haven't tried it but I did see it and it looked tricky! (guessing you mean the 6th April one?) Which bit is getting you stuck? I don't like 3 to 4 in either of them and I don't like tunnels next to obstacles in general yep that's the one. Which bit am I getting stuck at? Lol all of it! I have been working on trim driving ahead more...not a great course for this lol. I just moved a couple of jumps, when I paced it out, seems like I was making it harder than it was. I can get through it if I handle safely & throw a few extra crosses in, but trying to do the first 5 on the left isn't working at all! The turn off the af to tunnel is not great either, not something we train as it wasn't in the rules until this year. Layering the jump between the weaves either brings the bar down or she is not smooth into the tunnel. I need to break it down & work on each bit. Shine is still not allowed to do agility, hopefully I'll have better luck with her when I can try it.

Does anyone follow the agilitynerd facebook or webpage? If so have you tried the latest one? I'm finding it bloody hard!

Ps when he is at home, call him to you, put your hand on his collar, deliver food, release. Do this as often as you can. Dogs that play keep away can be very hard to fix. The above should help. What is he crossed with?

I would not be walking a 10mth old that I'd only had a few weeks off lead at all! He needs time to bond to you. Exercise his mind, not his body. Teach him tricks, use his dinner as rewards. Make him earn everything that goes in his mouth. You need to treat him as you would an 8 week old pup. Start all training from scratch. I would also not be walking him with your other dog yet. He needs time to bond to you, not the other dog. If you must let him run, put him on a long line. Is he desexed? Hope this helps.

How awful for you I don't have any advice for you sorry, but feel for what you are going through. Question... Do you encourage him to be nice to the animals? My son has just turned 7. Until recently I have only allowed him to coexist with the animals & never encouraged him to interact with them. Strangely enough most of them prefer to be with him over my daughter. He is regularly curled up on the couch with 2 dogs & a cat and has developed a beautiful relationship with them.