DeltaCharlie

Charlie loves them but Delta refuses to eat them (yet loves salmon- go figure). I can't watch them being eaten though, I have no issues handling and feeding raw food, but when it comes to watching a dog devour something with eyes I have to look away. I usually feed them frozen which means I have to leave the room for long periods of time and peer cautiously around the corner every so often to see if he is done

My internet is patchy at the moment (bloody wireless) so if it is too wet (or called off for any other reason) could someone let me know on 0412385733. Chances are I won't be able to get on here to see any announcements. Bec

She is only 10weeks old, they are rather impatient at that age LOL I would wait until she is offering the drop herself without being lured before worrying about how long she stays down there for. She needs to know the actual behaviour and the cue for it. Then you can start delaying the reward, so instead of clicking/rewarding immediately, wait half a second, then a second, then 2 seconds and so on. As for the couch, I wouldn't be allowing her to jump off it herself, that height is too dangerous for developing bones. If she gets on the couch/bed/table(?) I would be picking her up and putting her on the floor.

Does anyone actually know how much it costs to send the sample to her or how one would go about it? My club have been saying for ages that they will do a big batch day where everyone can be tested at once and send it to her but I have no idea when (or if) that will actually go ahead. I'm getting impatient and need it done soon. Hepatitis is basically non-existant here and hasn't been seen for a long time, not much point testing for it which is why most vets don't bother.

Add a Briard to your list Should be good to watch, provided he can see the bag!

Might pop down this weekend, see how much energy Ive got They had great fun last time (although I think the highlight for Charlie was finding that huge puddle to swim in ). Harnesses may be the go this time though, they both managed to slip their collars last time.

umm - St George was there too from NSW, not just PICSI and Norwest! Plus 3 teams from ACT. Fabulous effort by Julie and the Albury guys. Probably the best organised comp I've been to. who would have thought 89 races and packed up and driving away from presentation by 6pm. Excellent job. Maybe there will be room for a few best 3 of 5 races for 1st division next year. and good egg and bacon rolls - well done Trish Southern Cross sent 2 teams as well, so there were 8 Sydney teams all up. Although the fact that we got a team together surprised even us (some of us were looking at running non-competitively with a VIC team just so we could still go). I second the egg and bacon roll comment- I had a few of them throughout the day, very nice! I can now say I have been to Victoria (even if it was only just) :D

Nup, I had my camera with me but not much luck with photos sorry. There just wasn't enough light for my poor camera to cope with. Only photos I have are the ones of my team sitting around as the dogs were still enough for me to slow down shutter speed.

Everyone loves Dudley. He is great for demos etc because the crowd think he is hilarious. He has got the best temperament too, most people assume he is neutered (too much hair to tell ) as he is so great with other dogs. Last night we had 8 dogs squeezed in the tiny cabin while we had drinks and not a single problem with any of them. It was great. He is so incredibly gentle with their 6 year old daughter its amazing. I ended up sharing a cabin with him and he positioned himself on the daughters floor while we were still up, then moved into the middle of the 2 bedrooms once we went to bed. Phil said he regularly makes rounds to check on everyone and make sure all is as it should be. He loves that tug ball thing a little too much though. He goes through one every training session and a few each comp. It isn't always easy to get him to let go unfortunately... We had success the other night when Charlie ran straight into the side of him chasing a ball and it shocked him into letting go. If only we could do that in the ring- make another dog barge into him!

You should have seen what the others took! I think the best way for me to travel light is to choose different travel buddies. I hardly take anything with me when I travel, Im used to bushwalking/camping and I only had one small overnight bag and a sleeping bag. I stayed at one girls place the night before and her dad drove us down. They had 3 bags each, 2 pillows, another bag for the dog, plus one of those big striped bags full of towels (one for each night + one for the dog) 3 teatowels, sheets to cover the beds plus sleeping bags and some other random stuff. All my stuff could have fit in her toiletries bag! I couldn't believe all the stuff they had piled up in the loungeroom, it was more than I would take for a month. We had a small suburu station wagon that barely fit 3 crates let alone all their stuff. They wanted both my dogs in the back (they would have had to sit the whole way) and I was petrified we were going to be hit from behind and my dogs would be killed. Charlie lasted about 1 minute before climbing over all the stuff and trying to get to me so I unclipped him and let him ride with me which at least allowed Delta to lie down. A few people commented about how good it was to see PICSI there. As most people were picsi at one point, they appreciate how hard it was for us to organise. At least there are a few young people coming through who are keen to travel and it looks like we will at least have a team keen to go most places. We have booked accomodation for the next Albury comp and discussed getting a team together for Tassie next year and one in Adelaide that a few want to do. We may even have 2 teams for Kiola. I shared with Phil and Sally as I was so sick of my travel buddies (was supposed to share a cabin with them too). Will have to plan things better next time, in the interests of my sanity Apparently Charlie is a great contraceptive though- Sally stupidly invited him onto their bed and he spent the entire night between them with his head on their pillow!!!

Well I had fun and Im pretty sure my dogs did too. We didn't have as much room in the car as we thought, so Charlie and Smokey had to sit on my lap the whole way and Delta was squished in the back with all the luggage. She didn't seem to mind though. Vincent (foster) had to stay behind as he didn't fit. Managed to finish a bottle of Malibu and had countless glasses of wine over the 2 nights so apologies to anyone in the caravan park who may have been woken by me trying to toilet the dogs in the early hours of the morning. I was the person running through (too cold to walk) covered in glowsticks Was a good day of racing and it didn't end up feeling as long as we expected (89 races sounded huge). I must have been tired though as I managed to fall asleep in my chair despite the barking dogs (I was right next to the timing table). Charlie was on my lap and we both had to be woken up to race... Was also good to meet a few other DOLers. I saw 2 big white dogs- which one was yours?

Leaving now (staying at a team mates place tonight). See you all there! Ill be the one with so many layers I look like the Michelin Man! Only taking one of my fosters now (Logan gets car sick so he is staying with Shmoo). Slightly more room in the car; we started off with 7 dogs but now down to 4 The others are going separately.

Wow, going to be a long day but im sure it will be a great one. I can't wait Alcohol will be good for soothing those aching bones on Saturday night... Im hoping we don't run into too many pilgrims trying to get out of Sydney, the people I am travelling with live right near homebush stadium and apparently there is something big happening there

Charlie is like a tap after being at the beach (or the river but not as bad). He spends the whole time fetching the ball and ends up drinking most of the water, which then comes out the other end (or is vomitted back up). I took them to a beach 2hrs away once, you should have seen the back seat of my car by the time I got home :cool: Charlie is usually fine once it is all out of him and people have told me its quite common and not really anything to worry too much about. So long as he is still drinking fresh water to prevent dehydration.

Wow I had forgotten about this thread. Might as well update you. I ended up going with a 2o2o. It clicked straight away in Delta's head for the walk and seesaw and she offered it on the A-Frame without being asked. When I sat down and thought about the logistics of teaching a running contact I realised that it would require so many repetitions which would likely put more strain on her joints than the few we would be doing each week at training to keep the 2o2o good. Became a "lots of repetitions but no stop" versus "a few repetitions but has to stop" and I decided to go with the fewer repetitions side of things. Make sense? She is still getting herself into a good position for it anyway. She fast crawls the last metre (on all the obstacles). She is also much happier at training again now. She went through a period of real stress that I just could not work out and I think it was at least partly contributed to by my frustration with our contacts. Now that I am relaxed, so is she

Cody was about 8months old when he started. I saw Charlie semi-cock his for the first time ever the other day, he is 3 1/2! I'd be prepared to say it wasn't intentional as he was standing in a ditch at the time and could well have been falling

There is no right or wrong name for any of the obstacles, pretty much whatever you want to call them. Dogs don't understand english so they don't really know what it is you are saying, they just recognise the cue. Check out this thread Agility Commands. People have shared their own commands for different obstacles. Might give you some ideas for cues to use.

Just reread this and understand it a little better now. There will be 3 heats for each race- not 3 heaters (make me warm machines)

81 races? OMG! Im glad we only have the one team to worry about. ETA: No idea what division we would be. 1/2 the dogs are from our div 2 team and the other half are from the div 5 team. Interesting mix for sure, they range from Charlie (4.7secs) to a few doing about 7-8secs... Think we have a seed time of about 21.5

With Cody I incorporated a drop into the game of Fetch. Unless he dropped exactly where I said the ball wasn't thrown so he managed to work that out pretty quick After that I would wait until he was doing his own thing, then call him to me, ask for the drop, then produce his tennis ball. I would then throw it for him rather than ask for the rest of the recall. One thing someone told me is that you should never practice it as you would have to perform it for a trial. The last thing you want is a dog that expects the drop (Ive seen dogs almost crawling in the recall in anticipation of the drop). If you have a dog that will drop as soon as you ask, then you don't need to practice it at training. It needs to be practiced in an informal setting. Does that make sense? Pretty much treat them as 2 different skills that you happen to put together every so often and you should have a dog that will fly in for a recall, drop immediately, then fly in for the rest of the recall.

I don't think so, or everyone would be doing that instead of booking in the caravan parks. Apparently there is something else "doggy" happening that weekend which is why accomodation has been harder to find. Any idea what it is Trish?

My experiences

Apparently its the Albury Caravan Park that we are staying at.

I would confine the pup to the laundry or crate at first. It would be mighty cold out there for an 8 week old pup. Cody slept inside until he was about 12weeks old, then he happened to fall asleep in his kennel and I left him there. My ex didn't want him in the house after that (he was only ever in there to sleep anyway). Delta was sleeping outside at about 9weeks but it was summer and she had Cody to snuggle with and an external toilet for lots of shelter. She was about 7months old when I started cratetraining her. All my foster puppies are cratetrained from the first night though and I would have done it with her if I had known how good it was. Especially if you plan on doing agility etc, best to get them used to the crate early on. The size of the backyard isn't as important as what you do with it. Your dog will likely spend most of the day sleeping while you are out, so it really doesn't have to be huge. When you get home you need to utilise it by playing fetch, doing some training, pretty much just enjoying your dog. I know people who live in apartments with their border collies, they live near dog parks where the dogs run for an hour in the morning and a few hours in the evening. They spend the whole day sleeping while their owners are at work. Walks are great but you will need to do more with your pup. Thinking will wear a dog out better than walking. I can't remember the last time I took my dogs for a walk, its probably been a few months at least. Instead I teach them new tricks, take them to training, play in the yard with them etc. My dogs are quite happy and content but if I was to switch the training we do for daily walks I think they would go mad.

I didn't actually organise my accomodation, Maria did it all for me, but Im pretty sure we are in the same place Jo. Southern Cross are staying there aswell, not sure what other sydney teams are going will have to wait and see. As a side note, the person I was sharing with isn't going now and another girl was going to be on her own. We have both cancelled our cabins and are going into a really big one with someone else so as of today 2 more dog-friendly cabins are available at the caravan park if anyone is interested. I'm really looking forward to it, it took alot of convincing to be able to get a team together as most members don't like travelling. Then we ended up with too many dogs and an emergency meeting last night to decide who to send! Now we are rushing around trying to organise club jackets in a week so that we can all look the same while we freeze