bordersrule

Congratulations Clover for the great achievement on the weekend. Tollersowned: It is good that you are getting at least a little practice in. I am sure your boys would love to compete again. With all the noise and fuss Unfortunately Ally has not found her booster pack yet. She runs around 6.5 seconds. 2 seconds slower that Flash. I am hoping that after a few comps when she gets more experience she will start to pick up speed. It is hard to believe though that when you look at them running together, Ally beats Flash hands down.

Thanks for the photo of Flash Clover Tollersowned: It is quite funny with Ally really, I think she has finally clicked what Flyball is all about after almost 2 years of training. She wants to do it now and does not care what is happening around her. She is a good girl. When do you reckon you will be out competing again? Are you getting an opportunity to practice?

Thanks Shoemonster. I could not have done it without the wonderful team I had. Yes my girl did run beautiful on the weekend. 1st comp for her, she went in as a 6th dog doing recalls and ended up saving the day and having to run when another dog started misbehaving. My Ally girl was so well behaved. And I cannot forget to mention my wonderful boy Flash. Did not miss a beat. He is my legend. Enough of the bragging now. Lets just say I am very proud. ;)

We will be there along with Shoemonster and the Berwick team. This is my first comp back after having a bit of a break. I cannot wait and neither can the dogs. It is also my girl Ally's first comp. After 2 years of training I think we may finally be there. We will have to wait and see how she goes.

I am looking forward to this weekend. Flash and I will be there. It will be our last comp probably till the end of the year or early next year. It will be very sad I will definately miss it. I am needing to take a little break and give myself some time to organise my wedding. At the end of the year or early next year I will hopefully be back in the swing of things and ready and raring to go ;)

The 2 people in question are having their wedding at their own home ground comp as they first met doing flyball. I think it is a wonderful idea. As Astroboy 2 mentioned you usually pay more for a spit roast dinner at any 2 day comp so $15 is very reasonable. There is nothing wrong with keeping it a surprise. What is the difference in relaxing at a spit roast dinner and relaxing with a wedding prior. It is not as if you have to do anything other than just sit there anyway and watch. I don't understand why there has been a big deal made about it. I just wish that I was able to be there for the comp and wedding but unfortunately I have another wedding to attend so I hope to see lots of photos. Good luck guys xxxx

Well done to everyone who competed at the Nationals. We had a great time. Very full on and very tiring but enjoyable. Our team didn't do too well. We lost our little height dog Stuart Little 2nd race in on the first day (he got spooked by the big rides) and then had to jump at 11 inch with our next height dog Molly. Well what can I say about Molly. She was our little super star. Shoemonster, you should be so pleased with your little girl. She was thrown in at last minute and it was her first real comp and she ran her little heart out. Big cuddles for Molly!! My boy Flash didn't put a paw wrong. Infact he got faster on the 2nd day. He is my super star. He is 6 years old now and I will be devastated when it comes time to retire him as he loves flyball soooooo much. Well done to everyone once again and especially to our other Berwick team who came first in Div 5. YAY!!!!

Thankyou for the offer to have a look Lablover I have sent you a PM!!

She has her moments but 99% of the time she accepts being the lowest ranked dog. She has the occasional tiff with my other girl but is usually submissive towards them. The other 2 dogs definetaly accept my OH and myself as being leader of the pack. But fairly safe are tactics such as NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) .... this is where your dogs don't receive ANYTHING for nothing. Not a pat; walks; play; car-ride; treat; dinner; ..... nothing that your dog enjoys, for nothing. Have your dog sit; shakepaw; or any other trick/obedience command that YOU chose, before your dog receives something enjoyable from you. Also of course is "TOT" .... this program is "pinned" at the top of this training forum. I will be looking into these training methods and seeing if I can implement either of them over a period of time. It will take a little getting used to and a lot of patience but the advice I have received from you all today has been wonderful and has given me a few things to think about and work with. Thankyou

Thankyou for the advise, I appreciate all the help I can get. I would like to solve the problem before it gets totally out of hand Jaybeece at the moment we are showing her acknowledgement for jumping on us but that is only because we are trying to stop it. You also had some really good pointers that I would be interested in giving a go. Thankyou Cosmolo, Drive is something that I have little knoweledge on. How do you encourage Drive and then use it to your advantage? Sorry if I sound silly it is just something that I have not read a lot on. It is difficult to identify with the little information and without seeing your dog, but it is possible that your dog's behaviour indicates a leadership problem? IE That SHE thinks she is leader? Rather than ONLY looking at the symptomatic behaviour (ie the jumping up; ensued by nipping if you ignore), look to see if there are other things that you can be doing to adjust/enhance your leadership status. Eg. NILIF The other question I ask is how long has the behaviour been occurring and how much time have you spent on each method? The "ignoring" might have been working, but you've (understandably) quit before her extinction burst has expired. She learns from that to escalate her behaviour to nipping to demand your attention - and she learns that this works. In what circumstances does she exhibit the jumping up behaviour? Erny, The behaviour has been going for a good 3 - 4 months steadily getting worse over time. I probably have not spent enough time on each method as what I should have. She exhibits the jumping when we go outside to see the dogs or in the mornings when I am letting them outside and when walking outside in general. Also when we are going for a walk. I know a lot of these things are exciting and she mostly shows these signs when she is over excited, it is just knowing how to manage it correctly without doing more damage. Something I also wanted to mention is that she is lowest ranked dog in the pack. Could that be an influence in her trying to be leader of us?

Hi All, I am hoping that someone on here might be able to give me some advise. My OH and I have a gorgeous natured Border Collie x Heeler bought from a shelter earlier this year. She has a very bad habit of jumping up and nipping and licking. Now when I say jump I mean she can jump and nip my face and I am 6 foot tall. We have tried a few different methods of stopping this behaviour. We have tried "NO" comand and a light tap on the nose this just gets her more excited. We have tried ignoring her and turning our backs to her but she will still jump and grab your hair. We have tried putting her in a sit command (she knows how to sit normally during training) but she just tunes out. She ignores us totally. We have also tried water, this temporarily works and then she is back doing it again. We have hit a road block and are a little worried as it looks like it is getting worse. She is usually a beautiful girl who loves lots of cuddles. Has anyone had this problem before and if so how have you come up with a solution or if anyone could please give us some advice on how to stop the jumping. Thankyou in advance ** edited to change title and spelling **

We have always bathed our dogs in the bath. We use a child's non slip mat at the bottom of the bath. This gives the dog some grip and makes them feel a little more comfortable. I have also been told a towel at the bottom can work well too. We also have one of those hoses that attach to the tap and that allows us to wash and rinse them thoroughly. You will find that over time your puppy will get used to it, it will become routine. They will have their moments they love and also those that they don't but will tolerate it. Just remember to always make it a fun experience. Any bad experiences will be remembered for a long time.

Who's going to flyball at the Dandenong Show this Saturday? Our club Berwick is hosting it and the weather looks good. Should be a good day!! There is 2 comps this weekend. The Weiners are also hosting one at Ballarat on Sunday. Lots of flyball happening. My little girl Ally is competing for the 1st time on Sat. She will be competing along side her older Brother Flash. It is very exciting and can't wait. We may only do recalls with her as I don't know how she will behave, but as they say "practice makes perfect". Hope to see familiar faces there and if you are not competing come down and enjoy the racing as well as experiencing the Dandenong Show. There will be heaps to do

Hi Chelby, Unfortunately we lost our precious little girl last year to Lymphoma. We took her to the vet for a regular checkup in early May 06 only to be told she had this nasty disease. We chose not to go down the path of Chemo as it would not improve the Quality of life only prolong it as it was significantly throughout her body. Our vet (who is also a close friend) put her on a strong course of quarterzone and then suprisingly Georgie went into remission around August 06. Then in late Nov it hit her again only this time hard. We believe it attacked her nervous system as her face drooped and she lost movement in the left side of her body. Up until this point we had some hope but did not once believe she was 100% cured, we just made her life as exciting as possible. It is making me cry just thinking about it :rolleyes: We miss her terribly. Then in Dec last year we had to make the horrible decision to have her PTS. It broke our hearts. It is a nasty thing for dogs or in fact anyone to get. We found that Georgie was always panting, she put on a massive amount of weight due to the Quarterzone and drank heaps of water. When she was having a good day she loved life and was happy but when the days were tough she looked so sad. We had many a sleepless night. I can only wish you hope and send you out lots of hugs and wishes. I hope that the time you have with your girl is precious and you enjoy every moment. Give her lots of love and spoil her rotten. Keep up the fight and when the time comes you will know what is right. Good luck with it and I send you all my love.

Thankyou to everyone for there advice. We checked her last night and there was no sign of any teeth issues etc, so then it was time to try some ideas. We put some raw mince through her food and then added a little natural yoghurt. WOW!! she loved it. She scoffed it down. YAY :rolleyes: we had victory. I don't know how long it will last as I don't want to feed her yoghurt everyday but she will now be getting a mixture of Raw and Dry. I think she will be one happy puppy. Here is a picture of her eating her food. See, hardly any left in the bowl.

I might give these a try. I have been scared off them as both my other 2 just swallow them whole and dont chew. Maybe Chloe might be different. I havn't tried mince yet, I have however tried sardines and egg. She is painfully fussy. I do however feel sorry for her and then keep trying things so she will eat. Maybe she is expecting this now. I just stress about her being hungry. She gets this really sad look when she turns her nose up at the food. I am so a sucker for the eyes. She does love her bones, but I thought too many of those can be quite harmful. I will check her mouth, gums and teeth to see if there is anything wrong in that area. She is a very fine built dog but I don't think she is losing that much in condition. I do think she is waiting for me to try and give her something yummy as I have done that in the past when I have felt sorry for her not eating. I think I am part of the problem. One day we will get it right. I might have to ask OH to keep an eye on her at work. You could be on to something there. She may be going to other job sites during lunch break and feeding up on sandwiches, pies etc. Cheeky!!

I am needing some help with an extremely fussy stubbon dog. I know that this has probably been discussed many times but I have tried most things. I have a Border Collie x Heeler who is not eating food that I am putting down for her. I am currently feeding Eagle Pack Holistic with Duck, but have tried Science Diet, Pro Plan as well as supermarket brands. I have also mixed in potato, carrots, meat, gravy, water both warm and cold, chicken, not all at the same time but over a period of time. I am at my wits end. I dont know what to do. She looks at me like she is hungry but I dont know what to feed her. I also have 2 other dogs that are not fussy at all. My boy is on the J/D diet due to joint issues and my girl is loving the Eagle Pack, but Chloe is just not interested in anything. We adopted her from the pound and she has always shown signs of being picky (I don't know what she was fed prior to us getting her) but lately it has become much worse. She goes to work with my OH during the day and she is fed at night because she was refusing to eat in the morning because she would wait at the door so OH would not forget her. Could people please give me some advise. I am hoping there is a miracle thing I can add to her food rather than having seperate foods for each dog but if it has to come down to that I would do it. I dont want her to starve. I have been thinking of a BARF diet but I guess I am a little nervous about switching from dried and also not knowing much about it. Please help!!

Hi Eldoop, I attend Berwick Obedience Dog Club and we train on a Saturday. New members join up day is the first Saturday of each month. The contact details for Berwick are: Mrs Tracey Gaffney Phone (BH): 9796 9496 Club Email: [email protected] Tracey is the Secretary. I am actually a flyball instructor at Berwick and our beginner classes run from 12.30pm to 1.15pm. You should come down one Saturday to have a look. Agility is also run at Berwick with beginner classes starting at 12.00 noon. Berwick Obedience Dog Club has a great friendly atmosphere and there are always people down there that are more than happy to help. Hope this information has been helpful and hope to see you down there.

Hi, I have a couple at home but wont be able to get them across to you until tonight/tomorrow. If you receive any in the mean time that's cool, if not then you could choose from a couple I have ;)

JulesP - Glad no animals were hurt!! I tend to find that I have the same issues when lawnmower comes out. Ponies go silly, dogs then go silly and chloe goes in herding mode then the 2 girls fight. I tend to have to lock dogs away when out mowing. I have started intence recall work with Chloe so hopefully in the next few weeks we will start seeing results. Hopefully soon we will have an harmonious ball chasing game. (we can dream can't we)

Thankyou for the advice everyone. It is nice to know I am not the only one with this problem. It seems like a very common occurance. BC that is a lot for me to go and think about and work on. I have lots of obedience work to do with her. She needs a lot of recall work which has you mentioned will help me to get her attention off Flash and onto me. You are right when you say I will never get the instinct out of her but will need to work on managing it. Thankyou once again everyone.

I am hoping that I might be able to get advice from people here. I am having issues with our youngest dog who believes a game of ball is her chance to stalk and bite my boy . My boy who is ball mad will give up playing because she is harrassing him that much. I have tried numerous ways of stoping her but it is like she tunes out to everything else around her including me. Her main focus is Flash and nothing else. It is getting to a point where I dont want to include her in these games anymore? What can I do to stop this behavoiur? We got her as a rescue 6 months ago and believe she has a mixture of Border/Heeler/Kelpie which are all working breeds. I know that she was not well trained when we got her but are working through things very slowly but this one has me stumped. :rolleyes: Please help!!

I think it was Stephanie with Jess staying opposite you guys. Congratulations coming first also. What type of things have you been doing with Maggie during training to get her solid? We had a success story also with Jade the labrador not getting carded. Every comp she gets yellow carded for crossing over. No harm done she just likes to play, but on Saturday she was such a good girl. It has been a long time since all our dogs have not put one foot wrong. It must have been the relaxed atmosphere.

I have to agree Bullykat. What a great day!! A big thankyou to the owners of Best Friends for use of the amazing grounds and to Croydon for a well planned and exciting competition. Berwick had a great day, winning division 2 as well as being able to catch up with everyone and have a relaxing weekend away. Very big THANKYOU's !!!!

My kids are known as: Flash: Jumping Jack Flash FMX (named only with VCA for Agility purposes. I thought it was appropriate ) Ally: Glentress Dorothy (not sure on the whole Dorothy thing but was named by breeder prior to me obtaining her - I think it came from her father's name) Chloe: Is only known as Chloe at moment but will eventually be named to register her with VCA for Agility. Will have to think up good name