Vickie

Photoshopped Zeus I used so many filters on this... once you start you can't stop

WOW, you guys have been busy! Great work

and my favourite Out of Bounds: and this one

What a gorgeous puppy FHR, great shot, I love the ears. I've done heaps, but this is still my favourite selective colour: Followed closely by this one:

I'm curious too. I'm not sure I have ever used one, or know of a situation where I would. Now for kids...that's a whole different story ...

Laffi, Firstly do they understand that the clicker ends the behaviour? Do they ever offer anything other than a sit & wait for food? Can you get behaviours if you do not lure with food? The way I taught all mine was the same (except for Zeus, b/c he's special, LOL): Food was placed in a jar close by, out of reach. With my clicker in my hand, I walked around a room with a lid in it. As each of the dogs were following me (offering every behaviour I had ever taught), each time they placed any part of their body in the lid accidently I clicked & fed. Once I could see that they were starting to make a connection, I added the word. Then I only clicked a paw touch. Then I sent to the lid etc. I did this over a few days, even though they picked it up on the first day. Zeus...was different. No matter how much I clicked the accidental touch...he just never made the connection & offered it. So with him I showed him by pointing to the lid with my finger until he touched it with his nose, then paw etc. Once he understood, he progressed as quickly as all the others. I think the most important thing is to be using the clicker as a marker of the reward, rather than the food as a lure

Well said.

Ummm, there's a lot more to agility than running a dog through a tunnel

I guess the point I was trying to make is that although a recall is crucial in any situation, there is lots you can do to reduce the need to actually use it in an agility environment, since it is an activity that dogs often find very rewarding. I find my dogs are generally uninterested in other dogs (or sniffiing the ground etc) at training, because they are either playing/doing agility with me or they are waiting to play/do agility with me. There is not much reason to recall them often b/c they are by my side, quivering with excitement to have a go. My point about "obedience classes" is that they are not always fun for the dog (depending on the club), the atmosphere can be a reactive one with dogs feeling pressured by leads & close proximity and often many of the things that dogs know in obedience need to be retaught in an agility environment. Just take a look at the amount of dogs with obed titles that cannot stay at the startline/drop on the table...or recall for that matter.

I know lots of people won't agree with me here, but I'm going to say it anyway. I don't think obedience classes/formal obedience is essential for agility training...and I think in some cases it can be detrimental to agility. To me it is much more important to have focus from your dog and a good relationship. I know that obedience classes aim to give you this, but am not always sure it works out that way from what I've seen. I want my dogs to be with me because it is more exciting than anything that is external to the game we are playing. Don't get me wrong, they have a recall, obviously it is essential for any dog to have a recall, regardless of what you will be doing. I like the idea of teaching tricks, there is a lot less pressure to be perfect & it builds a great relationship while teaching the dog to learn to learn.

If it were me, I would keep him away from those kids fullstop. To keep trying to socialise him to them could very well make things worse or end in a bad accident. It certainly does sound like they have been teasing him. Talking to the parents is a great idea. Are they teh only kids with access to your yard? I also think getting him desexed asap is a good idea.

I don't think it needs to be that complicated. Example. My husband looks at Trim & says come, to take her outside. 50% of the time she just stares at him without moving & the other 50%, she looks at me to see if she has to go out. She is an obedient dog & she certainly knows what come means...but in this context that is disobedience. Just because there is a reason for it, it doesn't make it less disobedient. There is nothing preconceived about it and I don't think she is trying to elevate her position. Quite simply, she just knows that if she waits him out, he will give up & leave her inside. Is she taking him for a ride? Probably. It is still disobedient. BTW, she will obey this command if it is given by both my 8YO & 3YO.

Yes, I believe it is possible for dogs to be disobedient. The definition of disobedient: Refusing or failing to obey. Seems to describe just about every dog I know at some point & in some context. I think there are are a thousand possible reasons for & examples of disobedience. I think dogs are opportunists, they are obedient if it is worth their while, but do agree that some dogs are naturally more obedient or disobedient than others.

I've only ever retired from the ring in a trial twice. Once was when she completely blew me off on an opening sequence & decided she didn't need me to direct her The other was when she nipped at me for getting in her way :D . I agree with FHR. 99% of our errors are either my poor handling or poor training, neither of which I will retire/punish my dog for. I try not to redo any off courses either in training or trialling unless I need to in order to do the rest of the course...but I do remember how & why it happened so I can work on it for when we next see it again. Any missed weaves are reattempted & thankfully the 2nd go fixes them. If my run completely falls apart, I will just pick an easy course to the finish line & try not to let her know how much I stuffed up. Big tugs happen at the end no matter what (well, other than the 2 times I walked her off).

One would hope the instructors know it. It's the students it's aimed at .

I just wrote this for our newsletter & thought I'd share it. Basic stuff really & JMO. Feel free to add your own "Consider this..." points. CONSIDER THIS… • If you are constantly finding your dog getting distracted or over excited by someone else’s toy or food rewards… it may be time for you to try them yourself? • It is not enough to have perfect obstacle performance… what happens between the obstacles is usually what will make or break your run. • If you measure success only by completing the obstacles in order, your handling will never improve. Each & every sequence will provide an opportunity for improvement…either through more efficient line, increased speed or an option to train your distance handling. •The longer you allow your dogs to break when you ask it to stay…the less chance you will ever have of getting a stay. • On angled entries to contact obstacles, dogs need to either be straightened on approach with handling, or trained to straighten their own approach. Without either of these… risking it on the day is asking for either injury or fright, and possibly both. • Practising a mistake…makes it a HABIT. If you are unsuccessful after 2 attempts, your best option is to put your dog away and use your brain to come up with a solution/plan to fix it. • Dogs do not deliberately misunderstand your handling/commands. Instead of getting upset with your dog, give them a pat & go yell at yourself for asking for something you haven’t trained properly yet. • If you are getting a mediocre performance over 3 obstacles, attempting 6 is letting your dog know that mediocre is all you will ever want. • If you reward your dog when it sits at the end of a sequence… you are likely to get really nice sits after each run, after all…that is what you rewarded. • The quicker success is rewarded, the more likely it is to be repeated. • AGILITY IS FUN, it is your job to make sure your dog thinks so too.

Thanks for that. We found out how he hurt himself. He stills one of my sisters dogs toys runs up on their retaining wall and instead for running back the same way he jumps down from some considerable height. The will be no visits for a long time. I have bought a Glucosamine supplement with Vit C in it. Can you help me on the dosage? He is 16.8 kg at the moment. Thanks! Reducing is weight a little may help as well. 17kg seems awfully big for a 5-6 mth old puppy who hasn't started to fill out. That is the weight of my adult males & they are quite heavy set dogs. Unless he is very tall, that is a lot of weigt to carry around for a puppy with an injury. Can you feel his ribs? Apologies if I'm off the mark.

I'm not sure I really understand the question, so these are my random thoughts... I think a key point for herding dogs & some other dogs bred for instinct is that often part of their instinct is their desire to work with the handler, their biddability if you like. I think it is this pack drive that satisfies a lot of our working bred dogs. I'm not sure whether I train in drive or not?...but I know that my dog is obsessed with a tennis ball & she will do anything for it. I know that she is intense in agility, trembles in anticipation of going into the ring & goes almost as fast as she possibly can while in there. I think she has a heap of drive for both, but it is different to what she has on sheep. I think she would be happy with the "work" & stimulation I give her without herding. It's not like she is ever going to go in the agility ring, thinking "yeah this is fun but I'd rather be on sheep". In agility, everything she knows I have taught her, she has been completely reliant on me to communicate what is right & what is not. She is not perfect b/c I am not perfect. There are things we could do better. I have control over how much speed she has & how tight her turns are. Her willingness to please means that if I were too tough on her, I think I could reduce her enthusiasm. On sheep, she knows more than I do. I could never in a million years teach her to read sheep better than she could teach me. It would be extremely hard to shut her down on sheep and hard to make her mechanical, her instinct is just too strong, since the reward is the work itself. Where I think people can fail with "formal training in drive" is that unless they are proficient, they're going to make mistakes & each mistake will actually reduce drive a little...the opposite of the effect they are trying to achieve. I don't think this is as true of instinct activities as the rewards are often external to us & when the human aspect is removed so are the errors. I see lots of people now putting off training for an activity until they are happy with their drive work. It's great if you get it right...but if you don't I wonder if you would have a better result just getting in there & doing the activity, knowing that it in itself will be rewarding to the dog. Not sure if any of ths makes sense... Vickie, Master Rambler

LOL, they're pretty easy really. They boys are older & the girls do lots of training. Sometimes I think 4 is easier than 3. Biggest problem is that with 2 kids & 4 dogs, we have to take 2 cars when we go away I take the dogs, OH takes the kids...pretty good deal I think How did your X-Rays go today? Any news?

Dani, you may want to do some searches on puppies & exercise. Many of us believe that 30 minutes of leash walking is way too much for a 5 month old puppy. Leash walking is almost like a forced exercise. If you watch a puppy that age, loose in the yard, they will rarely walk/run solidly for 30 minutes unless there is some incentive. JMO. I used to drive my pup to the park & let her have a run around...that way when she was tired, she would lay down for a while. Kirby is very cute!

I think there are usually symptoms before 5 months but I may be wrong. Thank goodness TNS is a rare condition & we have the ability to breed it out. It would certainly not be one of the first conclusions I would be jumping to after a bit of lameness...unless there were known carriers in the pedigree. Please let us know the X-Ray results. I'm with Poodlefan...a couple of weeks rest is not nearly long enough for an injury to heal.

Why does your vet think it is related to his growth plates? Is it defintely in his wrist? Is he limping? How much exercise had he been getting prior to the soreness? Did you see an initial injury happen or has it been a gradual progression? I guess waiting for the X-rays is the first thing to do. If that does not shed any light, I would take jim to a Canine Physio & see what they find. In the meantime, maybe teach him some tricks to keep his mind occupied so he doesn't drive you crazy. Anyway, Welcome to DOL! We need photos, what is his name?

Ooooo! How exciting! Congratulations on your runs & making the final! How today was awesome for you guys...Can't wait to hear all the news.

Sorry guys...I am still looking for the issue, it's not in my folder with the others :D

No worries...now I just have to find that issue. Will send as soon as I find it (and to you to BC).