FHRP

Well done to everyone for their 2008 achievements with their dogs so far!! Is everyone's competitions year winding down now?? I know mine is, we had our last competitions in any dog sport this past weekend. Polo finished off his CD title at the trials on the weekend. He got his second pass on Friday night with a 1st place and 197, the highest score I have ever achieved with a dog in obedience!!! He got his 3rd pass on Sunday with another 1st and 193 and also won the two Novice Gundog Working Tests that day. I have had a fantastic year with young Polo, he is such a joy to trial and has far outdone any of my hopes for his first year in dog competitions!!

vjb, my boys are trained on a 'come in' whistle for retrieving, and yes I use it out on walks as a recall whistle too. Much easier than yelling.

I have flown my dogs to Perth and Adelaide (several times) for competitions, both with Virigin Blue and Qantas. Virign used to be much more affordable, but now it's pretty even I think. I have my own crate/s and always watch the dogs being loaded and unloaded onto the flights. eta. I bought my most recent vari-kennel second hand off a friend and the other airline crate througha friend who bought bulk, so not much help there sorry.

Is this legal?? Canon EOS 350D

:D :cool: PERFECT! doG knows we've all been there!!!!

Hold the lead in the right hand, pick up the slack with my left hand. Signal down with the right hand, stand with the left hand

Congratulations to all who are giving retrieving a go, it's great to see such enthusiasm :cool: Are the tests you're talking about Beginners tests or a club thing? I can totally comiserate about the heeling, my boy who is an 'obedience state title winner' (OK, only CCD) was totally feral between the pegs last weekend at his second retrieving trial!! You would not know he had ever done formal obedience :D It's probably where he lost most of his points!!!

Wow leopuppy, that's almost greedy CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

I had a bitch who was definitely uninterested in tialling or training for about two months after her season. She had a phantom pregnancy every time and was unmotivated during that time and definitely worse towards the end of the phantom. Initially I was unaware at how bad it was until she got over it, after a couple of times I was prepared. Another reason it sucks to trial an entire bitch!!!

I go to a club for puppy class and then the trialing classes. All training inbetween is done out of class, but mostly at the club. The trialing class gives the disctractions and also the opportunity for another set of eyes to notice handling etc. I often won't go the full hour though and I pick classes based on the instructor, one that will actually provide some helpful feedback.

And it looks like that's all that's been posted to the OzObedience list so far! Squeak the DogNSW magazine will only tell you the top 3 placings anyway and you have to wait months after the event... Maybe if you contact the club directly??

Congrats! From those clips you've shown of her, I'm not surprised though

I have travelled to Perth (I'm in Canberra) for agility trials That was the Nationals though Have done Melbourne Royal too. Generally 3.5 to 4 hours one way is my limit for regular weekend of agility trials, although for a good weekend of trialing I will do 5-6 hours. Retrieving trials are usually within 3-4 hours drive. Obedience I stick to just local.

My baby Polo is all growed up and turned 1 year old in April.

Wow :rolleyes: You want to come and handle my boys now

We had the ACT State Obedience Titles this weekend. My Polo managed to win CCD Dogs both days, with scores of 93 and 97 respectively. He would have scored near perfect on heeling I was told if I hadn't fluffed his downs on Saturday, we ended up with just 24/30. Today his downs were perfect (yes it was me, not the dog stuffing it up, I relaxed today) and he got 28/30 for heeling. These were his 3rd and 4th passes, and wins. So at just over 12 months he has his first title By winning both days he also won the CCD Dog State Title for 2008! What a good boy

I have three dogs I'm competing with. However, the oldest is 10 years, pretty much retired from obedience and nearing full retirement from Agility. I rarely train him at all. The second is 6 years old and competes in agility and retrieving quite heavily at the moment and has started tracking training. I might get him back into the obedience ring next year or the year after. The third has just gone 12 months, competes in obedience, GWTs and has started retrieving trials. He is the dog that I spend most time training at the moment. So, although I might compete with 3 dogs, they are all at different stages of training and competition. I think I would struggle more if they all needed the intense training my youngster needs. That's not to say my 6 year old wouldn't benefit greatly from more training eta. My weekends are spent competing in something or other. In the past 4 weeks I have competed with the dogs in agility, obedience, GWT, Retrieving and the show ring!! We have also fitted in a tracking training day or two!!!

You don't have the option of copied a copy Not that I would ever do that though...

I had a pup that was terribly cow hocked. I did not feel it was his conformation that was causing this. I had him seen by a good canine chiropractor who found he was out in the back. One visit and he was vastly improved, 2 visits and he was as near to perfect as you can get. At 11 months his hocks are great. Having said that both settrlvr and Miranda have given great advice and I have to admit that the 'loose' or weak looking hocks seem to be very common in GSD pups that I see. I'd seek some advice from an experienced GSD person/breeder if you need to be concerned or not.

You just make sure that you are running both dogs on the same parts of the course! Although I have had to remember different courses for the two different dogs, it certainly makes you familiar with the course if something goes wrong.... :rolleyes:

At the moment I am usually entering Rogan in everything he is eligble for which is usually 6 to 8 runs in a day. Flynn does a maximum of 3 runs a day. If Flynn was at his peak in trialing and could cope well with as many runs as I could throw at him (he's 10 and I have cut back a lot) then I would limit each dogs runs to probably no more than 6 each a day. That would be for financial and human fitness (lack of!!!!) reasons

Anyone know if there will be extra shade (gazebo's etc.) available for non-local competitors at the Monday trial?? I know we have a gazebo for the teams challenge, and I'm hoping it's a big one, but any chance of something on Monday?!!

Congratulations!!!

Congrats Ptolomy, what fantastic scores!! I'd love one dog to score in the 190's, but 3 at the same trial!!!

Thanks leopuppy, from the clip I've seen of Kinta, I bet she will get just as nice scores! I have seen (and done ;) ) far worse handling in agility! We can all improve :D