Tassie

Oh, OK - that sort of play - my misunderstanding. We learnt a great motivation game at the Kath and Kim Heelwork to Music seminar in Melbourne earlier in the year. Trouble is it's best played indoors cos it involves throwing visible food as far as you can . Also involves having the dog jump up on you to get rewarded at the beginning and end of the game. It's fast and furious, highly energising for all concerned - worked a treat with a black lab over here who learnt it last week. :D

You're in the right state, anyway M-G - lots of heeling gurus there. I used to be in the 'didn't find heelwork interesting' camp (came from a traditional training background) but I've been lucky enough to have a series of gurus, starting with Mary Ray, and moving on to the chief WA guru, with a couple of others in between (including being shown the Choose to Heel philosophy), and now I'm finding working on heeling is rewarding and exciting - so of course that flows through to the lil big man. We still have plenty of work to do on duration focussed heeling, and on distraction proofing, but the times when it all comes together are magical. We do little bits at a time, with a particular aim in mind, and party hard. I'm finding working on precision turns (for Rally O as well as formal obedience) as separate things is proving fun for both of us. Going back to your original post, I wouldn't be playing with the dog before training - since he finds play rewarding, that gives you the chance to use the Premack principle - a little bit of nice high energy work will earn you playtime.

It's an oldie but still a goodie. :D

A great start for the little Woo - and sounds like you had a good night all round.

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Too hot down here to put Rory in the mock Rally trial held at lunch break in an am/pm obedience trial, and it was a Novice course setup, so I took the plunge and put my agility girl Kirra in - she's the one who doesn't 'believe' in formal obedience although she does play around with HTM. She had a ball, and pulled a pass (after a quick bit of training a couple of the moves she hadn't done before - and she gave me her high 10 that she does at the end of each agility run - so I think that means she had a great time .

Thanks!! :D Ive been looking at the different types for a few weeks now, and this one seems to have all the good features, even though it doesn't cover the rump, I like the wide belly band to cool the stomach area. Free shipping and only $35 makes it even better I just wish I had it for tomorrow, 35 degrees at Erskine Park and one flakey, soft ACD! I have one on the way from CR - the free shipping was too good to miss. ;) I have Cool Champions, so will be interested to see how this one compares. 35 - that's hot - forecast is 27 for us tomorrow - hot for down here - will definitely need to cool coat for B/W BC who feels the heat.

Awww, what a good girl Kirra is! Good luck! Hey, off topic, but can you tell me if Eastern Shore training shuts down over Christmas, and when it starts back again? We have to get back to our obedience routine ow that the litter is done. I need to get Radar into the advanced classes so that I can then put Nova in puppy/beginner classes I haven't been to Eastern Shore for a while - so I'm not really sure. I think they are breaking up over Christmas - I think their end of term testing is on Sunday 27 (I'll be up in Lonnie for agility/obedience trials but not sure if they have any training weekends in December. Then they normally start up again early February, when schools go back. The club has a website now ESDC - had a quick look and couldn't see calendar - but contact email and phone number are there.

So you're going to explain that to little Miss Kirra are you ;) Last Sunday and this Sunday are about Rory - but obedience trialling and Rally O - they're busy dogs

Not for us - Kirra has a prior engagement - our club has a double-double agility trial at Ellendale that weekend :D . Since she'll be 10 in Fenruary - but is still really enjoying her agility and still doing some really nice work, I need to make her agility trials a priority. We'll miss seeing you guys - and the baby puppy cuddles. Have fun.

Kavik, NSW, and especially Sydney Metro, does have some strange local rules - well in obedience anywya, so I'd double check. Try putting a question on Agility-Australia list, or maybe PM Vickie. Just to make sure.

If it's anywhere it'll be in the regulations for the state controls, or in ANKC regs (as opposed to rules) . Certainly in conformation you're not supposed to wear identifying shirts or jackets (like breeders jackets ) - but AFAIK there's no similar rules for performance disciplines - or if there are, they're not enforced

RS - I jst did a CR free shipping order - a coule of new dog coats - one warm one cool - not sure I really need them but hey - they were on free shipping . Ummm - training bags - does the whole car and a couple of shopping bags cut it? Am looking for something so I can be tidier though. oh, and I do have a couple of BD treat bags (with nibbles in the corners (courtesy of the Kirra gannet), but treats are in plastic zippy snack bags in varuious pockets now.

Well done - nice to have letters at both ends of her name Congrats, capanash. It is a nice thing, Ptolomy. I fast-tracked Rory's TD title application so I could get his TD on his name as well as his ET in the catalogue for Hobart Royal :D - maybe one day there'll be some obedience letters there as well.

at the green Coles bag. One club we were trialling agility actually used green supermarket bags (with a plastic bag full of sand inside) for their tunnel bags. Kirra being the gannet that she is, I fully expected her to stop at the mouth of the tunnel to rat through the bag - she didn't though, good girlie. :D

Some clubs are starting to teach rally now and run mock trials, ready for the official start in January 2012. Don't know where you're located, but PM me if you like and I might be able to steer you towards a club. The rules are with the obedience rules on the ANKC website - but you really need to work with someone who can give you some pointers on how to perform the stations correctly, if you possibly can. And our rules are based on Canadian not American AKC rules.

What bedazzled says is really important. Ring first and see if there is a lot of parvo around the area. Assuming there isn't, I always take newcomers for a 'meet and greet/wellness' check asap after getting them - but carrying them into the surgery. It's a great opportunity for them to get to know the vet and the vet staff with nothing 'bad' happening to them - lots of oohs and aaahs and cuddles - can only be good - worth the consult fee for me. @suziewong - - I would have been running a mile too.

Ptolomy - my Kirra is one of those - I didn't latch her crate door properly the other week - came back to find her sitting happily in the driver's seat, having gone through the car with the efficiency of an over-enthusiastic customs officer .

OSS - they were those long rubber chicken sort of things yesterday - well, one rubber, and one soft toy - and Rory is such a toy boy - but yes, I agree with you - I tend not to do much talk unless I really need to. The dogs do seem to get the difference though - Rory did nice work (well, nice for Rory - not up to WA standards ;) )- in the Novice ob ring in the afternoon after the Rally - although his moving down was still a bit MIA. I think it's like other discipline mixes - the dogs 'get' the difference from the context.

My previouis BC boy was pretty fast - used to love doing zoomies with agility friends - and leading the pack. Running with them one day, proudly in the lead, and the Whippet decided he'd had enough of playing second fiddle, and put on the turbo chargers and left poor Fergus almost standing in his wake - wondering what the heck just happened

Fantastic pics, kirislin

bedazzled - was going to add we'd normally get a choice down here - judge will show you the 5 metre arc. We tend to follow Victorian patterns, as our judges training scheme has been linked to Victoria because of numbers and short distance.

sllh, it's certainly allowed down here. As long as you have already entered, (down here entries would have closed weeks before the trial) then it's a freebie - as in you don't need to pass, but a good chance to go in the ring and aim for absolute perfection while having a really relaxed time

She was certainly happy and waggy, RS - lovely. I think we formal obedience people do sometimes forget to talk to our dogs in Rally - although I find I get better with practice - and depending on the station. I had to do a lot of talking and gesturing yesterday to get the lil big man round the offset figure 8 exercise with TOYS as the distractors - it wasn't very pretty, but he did resist the temptation . Roll on January!