Tassie

Congrats TN and Jedi - you guys have had a wonderful year.

Tiggy, from experience - a light line is preferable, and you need to consider what it will be like when it is soaking wet. My preference now is one I got from the Tracking Club of Victoria - light, woven material, narrow, reasonably soft on the hands (although not when Kirra takes off at mach+ speed when I'm not quite ready for her ). I love the Gripper leads as leads - have them for my everyday walking leads, but I'd find them way too heavy for tracking. Most of us here use food on/under/in the articles to encourage strong article indication - and playing tug with the articles is also good, especially if the dog is more a tug dog than a food dog.

Good on you for doing that for both of you. Sounds like the step up (and with the break) might have been a bit too much. I think I probably would have pulled the dog out of the class and just done some foundation work (on lead if necessary) or just audited the class - ideally - both. And although I love my agility with Miss Kirra, and enjoy playing round with it on my own with Rory, I haven't proofed him anywhere near enough yet to be doing a class with other dogs. Hopefully ... if I work really hard over the summer ... and do all the Recallers games, and maybe some CU Look at That .... we might get into agility class and comps next year. In the meantime, he can be an obedience. Rally O and Tracking dog - luckily he loves obedience, and is a lot of fun to work with. :D

Melody - prepare yourself for an onslaught . It rather depends on what sort of things your kids like - as in balls, frisbees, soft toys, tug toys ..... My Kirra (Hannah's sister) is not a particularly toy oriented dog, and generally not too crazy about squeaks (she rolls her eyes when Rory runs round with his original oud isqueak). Kirra loves her Ringzee wool ball, but they're out of stock . Haven't tried the felted wool rings yet - the wool is nice and soft on hands and teeth - umm that wouild be my hands and her teeth . She also loves her Kong Wubba friend rabbit - the large size. They're great for tugging and for throwing as a remote reward (I used it for 2x2 weaves). If the dogs like plastic water bottles, the Skinneez big bite bottle toys are fun - though the fur looks fairly disgusting when covered in boy dog slag after being carried round on victoyr laps for a while.

Sounds great. I've still been slack about actually getting stuff done - 6 more work days till summer holidays, so look out then dogs ) - but we have been playing round the edges a bit - some of the games we've played before. Can't wait till I get time to work through systematically and take it on the road.

+1 - thanks for sharing - have passed it on to the local coordinateor of our in-schools dog-bite prevention program. She is also involved in the local dogs' home - so doubly helpful for her. Thanks again. :D

The signs to be used here are at the end of the Rules - which you can download from the ANKC website. We find clipboards are good - we actually have proper stands, but you coud use tent pegs as supports.

That's great news - what a relief!

As has been suggested, it's worth hopping over to the Stafford thread in the Breed sub-forums here And the next all breeds shows will be at Lancefield 27th, 28th, 29th. You might be able to take a run out there and have a prowl round to look at some dogs and maybe check out some breeders. Just don't try to talk to people when they're rushing to get into the ring, or when they're coming out having just been beaten :D . You'll be looking for the Group 2 ring - the Terrier Group. Dogs Victoria office may be able to tell you what likely time of day they'll be on.

Our club has been training for two years now - with two great seminars from Angelsun ). We have been running club tests - Rory has his club Novice (and mock trial Novice) and one pass in club Advanced. Some of our people are nearly through their Club Excellent now. We're all really looking forward to our first official trial in a month - all starting back in Movice. Even my Kirra, who doesn't believe in formal obedience, has had one go (and pass) in mock trial - and gave me her agility run high 10 at the end, spontaneously - so I guess she enjoyed it She's entered in the first trial as well. I think many of us find it useful in that you're concentrating on perfecting one 'bit' at a time - rather than thinking of it as a round as we tend to do in obedience. We're finding that working on the precision for Rally O is translating over to the obedience ring. And the emphasis on dog and handler working as a team, and the specific penalties for tight leads, and helpful too. It's good to train at club if you have people who know what they're doing, and can spot for you and make suggestions, but once you've been taught how the stations should be performed, you can work on them by yourself. In that situaation, video would be good, I think, so you can go back and check.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! .....

It's a kind of limited slip collar - very useful for growing puppies, as the tightening is limited, but they can't wsily back out of them, if they were inclined to try. Looks something like this picture though you can get them with the smaller bit as chain rather than fabric.

Wonder if it's just Oz, or if crazy dog people in other places are going mad too

so you haven't been following the Clean Run free shipping thread Look in here if you dare

Oops - forgot there were 2 blues. No the one I got from Ness is the Royal Blue - it's very nice too.

Not enabling or anything - but the one I got from Ness is the blue - very nice - and I really like the green one I got for Kirra. Ptolomy - - love the video of the kids with their CR presents. Kirra says she loves her Kong Wubba rabbit friend too - though it doesn't look quite as good now. :D

:D Bet Brookie thinks so too!

Which harness? I don't think any are suitable for tracking, dang it! :D Tiggy, I have the ConfortFlex sports harness - really like it - Rory got his ET and TD on it this year. It's fine for tracking IMHO. I liked it so much I got another one - for Kirra - though she already has a Black Dog one.

Phew - I already ordered the small size jump cups - now I have the stick in the ground poles sitting in my cart along with some other stuff - haven't pushed the button on it ... yet. = Yep - my name's Barb and I'm a CR shopaholic And Ptolomy - maybe you should get some kind of commission for each isqueak order - maybe send you one isqueak for each order ???? No that would keep some Tollers happy

:D Well if you couldn't finish the year with a pass, it was good to finish with some lovely attitude and successful exercises. The kids certainly deserved their EOY toy - and peole are right, the new isqueaks do sound a bit more like ducks - but Kirra is glad it's not quite so loud, and Rory doesn't care as long as a) it squeaks and b) he can run around with it in his mouth while Kirra plays with her new toy.

Way to go WA DOLers - especially RS and the gorgeous girls - fantastic!!! And is there a reason why Ruby wouldn't beat Millie And great job MG and Mason - lovely. Onwards and upwards now. And 'just a stud dog' has started the letters after now - :p - well done Ptolomy and Strauss. And great stuff bedazzled and the gorgeous Brookie - and ozjen and Jaspet. (DogsWest must be really happy with you guys - your title payments will be helping their budget no end ) There'll be some at some stage I reckon. You guys

Yup - mine got a bit pricey as I bought some stuff for the car! http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=2817&ParentCat=320&string=PacSac%20Reversible%20Travel%20Dog%20Bed these beds were too good to miss. So cheap and a great size for the C crate, back of the car or in the house!! SO much cheaper than buying any other bed here! And this seemed sooo practical for the back of the car! http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=2820&ParentCat=528&string=travel%20cargo Not enabling or anything ;) but those PacSac travel beds are great - I got a couple when they were on free shipping a while ago, but hav ordered another one - they'r big and comfy - have a cool side and a warm side

Depending on what the issue might be - there's a lot you'd need to take into consideration - such as age of onset, the way the dog/s have been raised/fed/worked ...... dancinbc's point is a good one I think - appropriate testing, publication of results, care in breeding, breeding for a purpose - would all influence me ... as would the number of the breeder's dogs that had not had problems (other than the 'normal' injuries/illnesses that can occur in any dog) - as souff is pointing out.

You should go and watch an agility trial sometime - what's really a sight to see is the poor handlers a) trying to remember where the course goes - yes the obstacles have numbers, but sometimes it's all happening a bit fast ; and b" trying to steer the dog round the correct course. In terms of dog safety etc. - the minimum age to compete is 18 months - for that reason - and many people delay jumping and full size obstacle training until the dog is 12 months or more - but there's lots of handling/steering foundation stuff to do before then. :D Oh - and in terms of titles - you can get multipliers in Masters and Open in ANKC - i.e. 7 passes at Masters Agility say, gives you ADM, then another 7 - ADM2 and so on. 5 passes in Open Jumping + JDO - another 5 + JDO2. If you really want to be amazed, have a look at sobriquet218's dogs - they are amazing!