Tassie

Weasels .. it seems to depend on the database (and maybe the office staff ??) on the day the new registration certificates are prepared. I just put in applications for the same 2 titles on each of my 2 dogs - and they came back in a different order. It's fixed that Ch/T.Ch/Ag.Ch/O/Ch and the Grands and Supremes go at the front (the Flyball Ch was the exception - that goes after, because it is not an ANKC title in itself - although allowed to be used during the amnesty period.) All the others go after - for mine, the Rally has now gone in front of the Agility ones for Kirra and the TD for Rory. And I'd expect obedience to go in front probably even of Rally. Agility/Jumping seems to be standard first, and then Games - the Games mostly in alphabetical order. Then Tracking. Herding after agility. ET always seems to be at the end - at least of the ANKC titles. MRB - yes, Open is separate because it is a separate class - "at least at Excellent level". And along with Masters, can be "multiplied".

Wonderful results with your lovely girls CC. The signs do get less confusing as you get more used to them. We had the advantage at our club of having done Rally at Club level for a couple of years before it became official - which doesn't mean we don't sometimes make mistakes. :laugh: One of our experienced competitors one day knew there were the 2 different call front/finish lefts on the course - one with a halt after the finish and one without - she'd drilled the '2 different' bit into her brain so much, that when she did an incorrect performance of the first one - the brain message overrode what was on the second sign, and she got that one wrong too :laugh: . Anoather trap for obedience competitors, is waiting for the judge to call "forward" after an obedience type move like the movoing down. :D

And the great thing is that most of the foundation and relationship building stuff will help with the heeling. Incidentally, it's worth noting that there's a big difference between" heeling " and loose leash walking. Heeling is a very precise position next to your leg and the rear end awareness is good for that too. Don't be in a hurry to rush training. Little steps and setting your pup up for success is key.

Congrats to you and Spartan ST. It's the great thing about Rally isn't it..that the older ones can have a great time and have success and fun at the same time..and the non-obedience ones like my 10 year old agility girl :-)

S&W. Rory just loves his friend Sadie - and she loves him. We go for on leash walks together after training sometimes, and it's so sweet to see Sadie and Rory walking side by side - glued together, with Sadie the Mini just making sure she keeps her nose slightly in front. We keep meaning to film it, but a bit hard when you're holding the leads as well. My other BC Kirra just hangs in behind - she can take other dogs or leave them - happy just as long as they don't get in her space. She's quite happy for Rory to be walking glued to Sadie. :D

To be honest, I would not be playing fetch with this pup at all while you are generally resting him. Even my adult BCs only play fetch for less than 5 minutes at ta time - and only hand thrown things. To keep him moving gently, but also amused - consider playing some scent games/hide and seek - hiding objects for him to find - start off easy, and then gradually increase the difficulty. No stress on the joints but plenty of exercise for the brain. There are some great articles and ideas in the articles Here.

Lovely brags all round (and for bedazzledx2 too). Gotta be happy with the Toller kids, TO and Ptolomy - and xena98, super well done on the UDX. Good weekend for my guys as well - Rory did a lovely job on his Tracking Test 5 - working in strong (40kph) gusty winds on an open paddock with only very short grass - no cover until the last 20 metres to get a Very Good grade pass. Then backed up at club Novice obedience and Advanced Rally tests yesterday to give me some lovely work (well - if you don't count leaving the ring chasing the random-off-leash-member-of-the-public dog - thankfully a bitch - that came into the ring and right up to him as he was bringing his DB back. Naughty boy - but in his defence, it was a huge temptation, and he did come back to me - eventually. Anyway - after that, he managed to do his Novice stays - in the ring - first time ever :D . I was brave enough to put him in because he was between 2 bitches he knows and trusts - a Pap and a Mini Schnauzer - only 3 dogs in the ring. He was SUCH a good boy - held his stay even when the Pap sat up and barked in the down stay.

Track and Search (can only be done once the dog has achieved Tracking Champion) TSD - Track and Search Dog - must have passed TSD Tests 1, 2, and 3 TSDX - Track abd Search Dog Excellent - must have passed TSD Tests 4, 5 & 6 For ANKC (Australian National Kennel Council - the over-arching registry for many of the sports), it's worth having a quick look at the rules .. www.ankc.org.au then pull down the menu uner about - ritght at the bottom you'll find Rules. For Dances with Dogs - which has 2 different disciplines - Freestyle and Heelwork to Music, the titles are Starters - so DWDF.S HTM.S Novice - DWDF.N HTM.N Intermediate - DWDF.I HTM.I Advanced - DWDF.A HTM.A and Champion DWDF.CH HTM.CH This is actually fun, isn;t it - so very many things even within ANKC that you can do with your dog. Most are open to all dogs - a few are restricted to type - e.g. there's a list of dogs which can compete in herding, another for Earthdogs, and a list for Gundog work and Retrieving.

A couple of YouTube clips and

love this Jules. Sometimes you just have to go with trusting the Universe ... or in this case, the puppy !! :laugh:

What wonderful news, CC. You must be so thrilled to have bred such a clever kid. It's a tribute to you as well as to his handler.

Ah sorry - I was confused.... not hard to do - in my defence I was at work . So what was the prefix - I've forgottent, sorry. And yes - what Piper says. As a refinement - I'd just do some 'fronts' in the chair first - to make the whole situation a good one for him. Then introduce the db - holding it by one end. Then depending what he does, you could either mark and treat for him taking the bar in his mouth - don't worry too much about duration of any hold at this stage - or, if he doesn't take it pretty much straight away, then do the Shirley Chong thing of building up from marking and rewarding attention, to touching, to taking in his outh. If he doesn't want to get involved straight away, just take the db away, and a a swig of your coffee (forgot to say you should have a mug of coffee or something stronger if you need it :laugh: and a book or something handy. Wait a minute or so, then see if he wants to get involved. (His alternative at this point is just being there on the lead being effectively ignored. Just don't try for too much too soon - party for tiny, tiny duration of holds so that he gets the idea. Don't go to pick ups until the take is very definite and there is a little hold. You're building up a huge reinforcement history for him having the db in his mouth (even with your help) and you taking it. In the meantime, I probably wouldn't be playing any fetch games with him - just so the waters don't get muddied again. You could play tuggie instead. Oh, and until the behaviour you want is really strong, I wouldn't be trying to put a verbal cue on it - so the first thing he hears is your marker - verbal or clicker and your excitement. That may or not make any sense .. sorry if it doesn't :laugh: .

Don't know a BC Zee - haven't come across one in the various disciplines I do - maybe just a pet? :D (Sensible person ... :) No - not really :laugh: )

Yep, Sparty - that was me. Went away from it though - Fergus (RIP) the boy I had then, couldn't pass other dogs - didn't trust them and would drop the ball - and Kirra was getting confused because of agility - so we concentrated on obedience, agility and tracking. :D Edited cos I forgot to put the quotation marks in :D

+1

Yay! Sounds like you and Justice are making huge progress. And the nice thing is that it'll be mostly upwards from here on as you and he gain more confidence. Great stuff! :-)

That's an interesting observation Ptolomy .. Be interesting to hear more.

Heston1 wrote I always think this is a great idea - and my guys go in for regular weigh-ins for that reason. Mind you it has failed to convince my agility BC girl - now 10.5 years old, that the vet's is a great place - waiting room, yes, scales, yes ... then it's "and now we leave again". :D She's normally a dog who loves to meet people who don't have dogs with them - but she won't take treats from the staff - even if there are no other dogs in the waiting room - and while she will sit with me reasonably comfortably waiting for a consult - I then have to carry her into the consult room - good thing she's only 14.8 kg :laugh: . Once in there, she's fairly OK - although her heart rate is always way high.

Oh and wuffles, don't forget the rules at present specify a 2m lead for the Honour exercise - most normal leads are 1.8 m. We got some 2m ones from Warren at Black Dog.

Are you getting this pup from a registered ethical breeder? If not I would maybe continue your search because IMO 6 weeks is to young... No ethical registered breeder would be rehoming pups at 6 weeks without extraordinary circumstances and CC permission. +1 - and I for one would be wanting to see that CC permission. Time for vaccination to kick in, and socialisation/dog manners learning time is the reason for the 8 weeks. The weaning would likely have happened earlier anyway, so is not an issue. There would be a few red flags here for me.

:provoke: don't you read the posts on the DWD yahoo email list Tassie? :p :laugh: Didn't have to...had a secret source rofl....but you need to brag here for those that don't have "the knowledge " ;-)

Er ... uhmmmm ... MrsD .. Anything to add???? from Queensland ... ? ;-)

Yes, you can talk to your dog - obviously at the Excellent level - and more so for Excellent B I guess, you'd be hoping to keep talk to a minimum - although you do what you have to do :) . I know it says volunteer dogs ... but what seems to work fine is for the last dog in the class to do the Honour exercise for the first one's run-through. That's how we did it in my one Excellent trial so far - where there were 2 competitors, each with 2 dogs ... so the judges were kind to us in terms of giving us time to change dogs.

You are very lucky to be in WA :) They are about 10 years ahead of the rest of Australia when it comes to agility and overseas instructors love visiting you because you are much closer to them in terms of progression. The Eastern states are in general (not saying all clubs or all instructors) a long way behind in their thinking. One of the biggest differences between WA and the eastern states is the foundation work. I loved participating in your training sessions in the lead up to the Perth nationals as they were a real eye opener for us in the way that training is run. There is a huge emphasis on doing things right from the start, which you have highlighted in your post. Unfortunately most clubs over here push dogs too quickly and the difference is very noticeable when you look at the end product. The most successful dogs on this side of the country belong to experienced people who have done a fair bit of training outside of a club environment rather than following the club training programs. Unlike WA dogs who seem to be successful regardless of whether they go through the club program or a home program as there is not a lot of difference between the 2. If there was no other influencing factors I would move to WA in a heartbeat purely for the agility training :D DC - and if it wasn't so darned hot in summer over there, I'd be right on your heels ... cos it's not only agility they excel in - I'd be there for obedience and DWD as well. :D Sorry for the little O?T .... back to normal transmission. :)

Henrietta said And me - but I actually usually apologize to people with Bull Terriers , Staffies or other bully breeds and say that it's my possible rude BCs I'm concerned about, not their dogs :laugh: .