TerraNik

Alright that's it, I'm out, I refuse to wear bike shorts Other competitors would be thankful for that just get a pair of bike knicks and put normal shorts over the top Or you can buy some mountain bike shorts - they have built in knicks under the shorts and it just looks like you're wearing shorts. The knicks under normal shorts is probably cheaper though. I used to do downhill and xc. Had some pretty bad injuries a couple years back and haven't ridden for 18 months (lack of time and I don't want any more broken limbs!) My poor bike (like yours, costs the same as a small car!) has been sitting in the shed. I'll be riding my cheapo hardtail for the ET.

Yep, doesn't take long to do! Using the right hand brake isn't a huge problem unless you have to stop SUDDENLY - then yes, you'd usually go head over handlebars

You can teach the dogs to walk ahead of you, even if they do know how to heel. Yes you can walk 3 dogs on your left, provided the path is wide enough. I personally prefer two on my left, one on my right. The dogs just need to maintain their position rather than swapping around - that's when problems occur.

And with this; learn to use your gears, You will be thankful. Drop gears on grass. Other tips with your bike.. buy a good seat and raise it so that you can hardly touch the ground - that way you are almost completely stretching your legs out, instead of keeping them bent and risking ache. +1 for the comfy seat and using gears- it was the only thing that got me through in the end!! I was kinda wondering though- I did it on a heavyish bike last time but now also have a cheapish light bike. Would using the lighter bike make any difference? I like training on my heavy bike because I like the stability (when owners allow random dogs to come up and play with my dogs while i am riding with them. GRRRR clearly when I am riding I also want my dog running all over the place with their mutt!! OK mini rant over) but should I use the lighter one of the actual test? Yep - the lighter bike would make a difference. If you want I can have a look at the bikes, but without even seeing them the light one is probably better (so long as it's not a road bike!)

You can definitely have dogs that do more than obedience. There are many people on this forum that do agility and obedience (among other things). There is a possibility that a highly trained obedience dog won't be able to do distance work, but if you do both at the same time there's usually not much of a problem. I have two dogs that both do obedience, flyball, herding and we dabble in agility. For agility my boy didn't want to work on my right - so I taught him right sided heeling and after that he was fine. I'm sure others will have more to add. In terms of your question about obedience clubs - it depends on the club and it depends what obedience level you're up to. At my obedience club heelwork doesn't start until you've been through 8 beginner classes.

Both of my dogs LOVE the water. Jedi really enjoys swimming and Ahsoka just likes to go up to her chest. My parents live on waterfront (lake) so as puppies they were both able to go into the lake for a swim when we visited. We started taking them to the beach at about 4-5 months. We never forced the dogs into the water - it was always their choice. Ahsoka couldn't swim when we got her - she learned with a life jacket.

Banjo's dumbbell suffered the same fate . RIP dumbbells! Maybe we should have a memorial service.

Three textures... Concrete, grass, dirt for example. I think it depends where you do it what the course is like, but I would imagine they wouldn't make you ride on the road considering it's technically illegal to ride your bike with your dog!

I think it's a great idea! Poor Banjo - I hope he's back in action soon! He must look cute with the sock! I entered Jedi in his first trial since I pulled him because of his allergies. I am really excited about it! I think I'll cry when we get our first pass! It will be a long time coming. Soaks ate my one and only dumbbell a few days ago (it must've fallen on the floor before work one day)... Do you think she's trying to tell me she doesn't want to do dumbbell training anymore?! :rolleyes:

I agree... Soaks loves the small and she probably has a similar size mouth to Daisy. She does still play with the medium but if given the choice she would go for the small. The medium is definitely an appropriate size for Misch - he'd probably swallow the small! :rolleyes:

Yeah, it's technically a "willingness" test - that they are willing to follow direction from you. It's pretty basic stuff - sit, short stay, recall. Stuff like that. It is done before and after the test and the dog has to work at the same level pre- and post-test. Essentially they just want to know your dog will listen to you.

Let me know your address through PM and I'll send you one of my special rabbit fur tugs, haven't failed getting a dog to tug yet. Wow thanks Sas! Will PM you :rolleyes: It's true... Even Jedi has a go with the rabbit fur tug!! Lovely videos of Lexi! Love her attitude!

We have the fan on in the room for the dogs in our bedroom. We turn the a/c on for about 20 minutes to get rid of the humidity for them. If it's too hot for us though, the a/c stays on for about 1-2 hrs (on a timer). I have been known to leave the a/c on during the day for them though (usually on a timer as well).

I have a walkydog. It's really good. Jedi runs along side the bike without it, but it's just nice to do training without having to hold the lead.

I rarely say Jedi's name in training. Maybe once in a whole training session right at the beginning - similar to Leopuppy. I use Ahsoka's name more, but never before giving her cues. It's usually just to get her attention before heeling off.

Yeah they usually start super early. Hope you're a morning person!

I'll agree with that!!! Jedi's last trial before he went on allergy respite I thought we did HORRIBLY... He was sooo itchy he decided to scratch WHILE heeling (yep - parts of it were done 3-legged ) Of course to me it felt like Jedi was off in his own little world, but to my surprise when I saw the video he wasn't as bad as I thought! Apparently we even passed the heelwork section but we withdrew after that!

In a nutshell, because it's colder. A huge consideration when you have a double coated breed who dislikes running more than 5km in temps above 10 degrees. But we are visiting lappie and keeshond friends of ours, so we will be doing other things there, too.

I'm doing the Victorian one (same as Woofenpup) with Jedi. My partner would take Ahsoka, too but she's only a couple of weeks too young! Oh well, next year for her!

Awesome shots everyone! Love the speaker shot with Jamie! Week 6 Jedi has severe allergies and we started putting a shirt on him to protect his skin from his nails... He doesn't mind wearing his shirts and it seems to act as a barrier so he's less itchy than usual. So that we don't get tons of questions about why he's wearing a shirt, we thought this shirt would be appropriate...It says, "This is my allergy fighting shirt"

Quito (11 week old Finnish Lapphund puppy)

Fran - you don't need a harness immediately. If you are definitely going to stick with it, then you may as well get one straight away so she associates the harness with tracking... But otherwise you can get her a harness a little later. I just use Ahsoka's flyball harness - the only difference between it and a tracking harness is the added handle (for flyball).

I have a Crumpler 6 million dollar home and a 7 million dollar home. The 7 is for when I want to take more lenses. We also have a Lowpro Flipside 400 AW which is really great for hiking/zoo. And I have a Naneu Pro backpack for when I need my laptop as well.

So jealous!!!!! That's my next lens! But it'll be a little while away. Really great shots!

I do a diagonal forward step like RS described. With Ahsoka I find it a bit harder because her fronts are usually right up underneath me! But I never take a step backwards. Just takes a bit of coordination to make sure you don't trip over the dog!