Vickie

Thanks Harminee. Now if only I could find a publisher who agrees with you Maybe it would justify the endless hours I spend with my camera & photoshop.

Absolutely gorgeous Harminee! I love the caption as well,

Was just looking through some trial pics I took last year & came up with this:

Current Agility Rules You will find that most judges will be more lenient in Novice BMP. The rules state that stopping in front of an obstacle is a refusal. I guess it comes down to how/whether the judge differentiates a stop & a pause.

I thought I had better have a go at the Dally...since I did put it up: In hindsight, it was a bad pic to put up as I have no idea who owns the dog and cannot share all these wonderful creations with them. They are all great, I think Harminee's cup one has to be my favourite.

Well it looks like I'm not alone & the problem is not confined to NSW. Although I have a problem with the rule itself...my biggest problem is when the same judge interprets it differently on the same course.

This is a bit of a quick & nasty, but it could be so cute if anyone has the right flower...and some patience another:

Yes, I think that's a big part of it. I'm still not happy with how the rule is written though and I do think that it's unfair that dogs who technically perform refusals b/c of the way they run should be penalised in the same manner as those who run efficiently. The worst one I ever had was where I was given a refusal for an RFP where I actually asked the dog to look at me to change her line for the next few obstacles. It was a great run & otherwise clean. It's the only time I have ever felt the need to question a judge & the only time I have ever come out of the ring angry.

Was just talking about this in another thread & wondered how everyone thinks the new rule is going in their state? I am still seeing a lot of inconsistencies in judging & think the way it is interpreted is still sometimes downright unfair. An example...same trial, same course, same judge. Dog 1 - incurred a refusal. The run was faultless, the dog ran efficiently & forward focussed. Refusal was given when dog collected itself for the table (I think shadows were causing problems) glancing at the handler as it did. There was no stopping, it was just a very quick pause for collection, more like a break in stride, but it was more obvious IMO b/c teh rest of the run was so beautiful. Dog 2 - ran clean. The dog spun, circled & barked at the handler the whole way through the course. It certainly wasn't moving forward as it was barking at the handler, more like bouncing up & down on the spot. Dog 3 - ran clean (but over time). A very nervous & unmotivated dog. Trotting between jumps. At one point actually sniffed the upgright of one of the jumps before doing it, as well as a couple of ground sniffing detours. Is this common in other states? Does anyone else think that this is inconsistent?

That makes sense. So it's possible with some modification. I understand that the eye contact is only part of the program & not it's purpose, but just wanted to make sure that fading it is achievable if your goals are different. I guess agility is a bit different. At the lower levels & for certain types of dogs, checking in is essential & for some the only way to achieve this is with direct eye contact. At the higher/very high levels, when you're running obstacles & the distance between them at nearly 6metres/sec, checking in is something to be avoided, there is simply no time & a glance from the dog for 1/20 seconds can mean the difference between the right & the wrong course/obstacle. There is also a new refusal rule where dogs can actually be penalised (depending on the judge :rolleyes:) for checking in with you. Unfortunately the faster you are going, the more likely you are to be penalised, since the motion of checking in is so much more obvious at that speed. It would be fair to say that most of the well handled dogs are run using verbal commands & peripheral recognition of physical cues.

Great idea! I thought I'd post a "non hairy" one if anyone wants to have a go...

K9: once the basic version of the program is installed, its quite easy to teach the dog only to check in with you throughout the excercise, not watch you all of the time... Thanks, I think I understand. Could that checking in become peripheral rather than direct? and how would you go about making it so?

I was thinking about agility Ness, where I never want eye contact from my dog, other than the release from the start line. I am just thinking about starting to train Shine & want ZERO eye contact from her right from the start. With the little we have done, she is only being rewarded for forward focus, never for looking at me, so I am wondering if this would be at odds with the TOT program? Could also apply the same idea to herding, but I don't think I will ever get any eye contact there from Trim regardless of what I do. I have seen other dogs though whose checking in with their handlers is a problem & can even be a danger.

I haven't read this whole thread...only about half so far...but have a question. If you are training/competing in activities where you specifically Do NOT want your dog looking at you directly but rather peripherally, how would you go about following the program without encouraging direct eye contact? or would you be able to follow the program without it having an impact during the activities where you don't want eye contact? Hope this makes sense...I'm not quite sure how to phrase the question (and may well find the answer once I have read the whole thread)

What do you need help with Cindy? I only have PS Elements 4, so may be able to talk you through some stuff.

Thanks I can never resist a merge when the background is the same & the lighting is similar...it take so much of the hard work away. Tramissa, I'm hopeless at angles & perspective. If I get stuck (which I do a lot), I go searching for examples to copy & use the same angles that someone else has. Cheating, but it works ;) .

Here's my attempt LilB. I kind of went too far on the sand, but it's not too bad.

Here are a couple I took & photoshopped of my daughter today. She's home sick (not that sick if you ask me, so I made her pose ). I nearly lost her when a spider crawled out from one of the flowers, but managed to convince her to stay.

Hope he's feeling better soon Freckles...it's so hard when they're sick & there's not a lot you can do.

Noah today

Here's a pic I took of Trim's little brother Sweep last year & with my new found PS skills had a go at removing the busy background: edited b/c I wrote litter instead of little brother ;) .

I absolutely LOVE this one. It belongs in a gallery...just stunning ;) .

WOOOHOOO!!! Huge Congratulations to the 2 of you! I thought you'd dropped out of thin air, but I see you've been busy. I remember that first weekend & how hooked you became Riles, I'm so glad Rosie is doing so well for you & you for her. LOL, I can only imagine how hooked you are now. :p

Definitely separately. The way the clicker works is that it marks the precise behaviour that your dog is doing at the time. So unless they are both doing exactly the same thing at exactly the same time, it would be very confusing for them. I never train more than one dog at a time using any method. When I am training behaviours, I want 100% of their attention & like to be able to give them the same in return. Due to the big gap in their ages their attention span will be quite different & I would imagine they will be learning different things as well. Good on you for being organised & doing a training plan...I was just reading an article on that exact same thing. I'm off to do one now too.