Tassie

DOLers and their dogs seem to have had a super weekend - well done guys. Jess. - sounds like it was a great weekend for you and Darcy - so impressed with the no DQs - and the high Q rate. (I thought I was doing well getting my DQ rate down to 25% last weekend .) That last course sounds like a blast - and great that you and Darcy went clear. To me, that's the sort of thing agility should be about - dogs and handlers having a heck of a good time.

Becks - it is lots of fun - for handlers and dogs. And when you know the stations, it's not too complicated. In Novice the dogs are on lead - and you can talk to them and pat them in the ring. You can also retry a station (at the cost of 3 points) if you or the dog have mucked it. You can do that up to twice in a course. Rory and I had our first go at Advanced (off lead) in a mock trial today - happy to say we passed with 93 - which includied a retry on the moving down, since the lil big man decided that obedience downs were optional extras . The mock trial was in the lunch break of an obedience trial - so they just had an Advanced course out, and Novice people could do it on lead.

Of course you can talk to them and even pat them in Rally O, which makes a bit of a difference . But he does have 1 CCD pass, from early in the year, and he's been doing the individual work in CD in trials - I just pull him from stays. Pity, cos he has 4 'passes' in CD - in the ring work - though not up to the standard I would like to get. Getting better though. It was interesting in today's trial that doing the Rally O in the Mock trial in the lunch break didn't have any negative impact on the dogs performance in the Obedience trial ring in the afternoon trial - in fact, most dogs improved from the morning - which is great.

That's super, sllh - and so nice to get those comments, as well as your great !!!! score. And well done Brookie (and Ruby LOL) and the Scoota man - so are you going to make the swimming in the dam his normal pre-trial training routine from noe on Prolomy - nice work for a holiday lad. Mr Rory had his first (mock) Advanced Rally trial today - happy with his 93 - 3rd placing - considering that I had to retry his Moving Down (normal obedience downs but they were optional extras today ) in the Novice ring as well. The retry cost us 3 points, and we lost a few singles - including a bit sloppy performance of the offset figure 8 (with toys as the distractors) - thank goodness for being able to talk to him in Rally. In spite of the distinct lack of more than one down per round, he did some nice work in the Novice rings - better in the afternoon than this morning. Now to try to get his stays ready.

Glad all is well, staffyluv. I've pulled 3 ticks off my BC Rory in the last couple of weeks - not supposed to be paralysis ticks down here - but a couple have been that pale greay colour - the other was brown. I have bush and bandicoots on my place, so I'm going to have to be careful this summer - not easy on a BC with a big coat. two were near his eyes, so easy to see - the other was on his shoulder - hadn't felt it - saw it when the hair parted under the dryer when I was getting him ready for the Royal last week. I'm like sheens - take them off with fingernails down against the skin - kind of twist and pull in one motion - as per vet advice. Oh - and round the anus is another place to check apparently.

Ptolomy - of course, if he does really well, you realise you've just created a new pre-trial training routine you'll have to stick to

Lovely work there, RS - and Ruby looks as though she was enjoying it (but then, she usually does look as though she's enjoying her work :D ). Fun, isn't it. :D

Sounds good, Jules - nice to hear. Have to laugh at your description of her with the tablets - can just imagine. My first dog, KelpiexBC Jess was hypothyroid and medicated with Oroxine morning and night for 13 years. I used to put per tablets in a small piece of food, and have a couple of unloaded pieces. Of course BC Sammy had to have treats too, and he became classically conditioned to associate the rattle of the pill bottle with treats. Which made for some funny moments when the meds trolley came round when he was doing therapy dog work. He'd be sitting up very attentively waiting for his treats - patients loved it. Amber's condition has settled down for the time being.

This!

It will be a bit of a learning curve at first I think. We're lucky in that we've had workshops with Angelsun, and that clubs here have been doing it for a couple of years, and having mock trials for a year or more. At our club we have a couple of people already well into Excellent at Club test levels - although of course they'll have to start back at Novice when official trials start. The courses usually have some sort of flow to them - although you still sometimes have to hesitate to make sure where the next number is and what it is. (But hey - I've been known to do that even on Masters agility and jumping courses .) Oh - forgot to say - we're usually given a copy of the course before hand (like they do in some agility trials in US.)

:D - lovely to see the older ones (and the 'pigs might fly' dogs) having fun. You mean the signs, OSS - they can be even closer together than that - and yes, even though you have walked the course beforehand, it can be confusing. I find an obedience background is good and bad - so drilled over the years to walk straight lines, that I still get thrown by the fact that you may have to walk a somewhat angled line between stations to set up the line for the next one. The agility background is also a bit of a handicap in that I find I have a tendency to rush a bit, instead of taking time to perform the stations really precisely. (Just as well I'm doing it with Rory, and not with Kirra who thinks all disciplines should happen at warp speed - and she's nearly 10 .

ANKC rules Here ya go sllh - good luck!

Oh Staffyluv, I'm so very, very sorry - like Erny and some of the other DOL 'oldtimers', I have followed your journey with Ollie with great admiration for both of you. It's characteristic of all you've done for Ollie that you were brave enough to ease his end. We will all miss him, as we do so many of the characters who have gone.

Dogs Vic should have the 2012 calendar by now - but just checked the website, and it's down.

Way to go the Stafford! Lovely - thanks for posting.

Sounds good lmr - except that I would say - when you take a break, make sure there's a bit of genuine relaxation first - let his brain relax, let him have a sniff or a pee or both, and just a wander round - then get back into the focus - hand touch is also a good one to get him focussed on you. Gives you a chance to relax too. I would have a qord with the instructor beforehand, and explain that you want to be able to take him off for a pee, drink, whatever every now and again. That way the instructor won't be surprised. I still do this when I take my boy into class - and he's now 3 - but he needs a complete break from the class situation and the concentration every now and again - then he's more ready to work.

ANKC or ADAA? ANKC is 600 mm .ADAA - Reg 67.7 ADAA weave poles Spacing is 550 mm/ Hope that helps :D

It's been a boy thing at my place - and Rory wants to grab the wheels when I start the mower (my previous BC boy did the same - and I think the first BC boy, and the KelpiexBC girl woiuld do it too). I used to put them away in the house, but now Rory is pretty good about getting out of it when I tell him - once he's about a metre away from the wheels, I start mowing, and then he just chills and hangs rouind watching. Kirra couldn't care less - she's not a huge fn of the noise, so she usually watches from a distance. Rory will do the same at friends' places if there's a mower being started, but again, I can stop him pretty quickly now. And he has occasional thoughts about attacking noisy trucks on the road when we're walking - but he's not the confirmed wannabe car chaser that Kirra is.

Wahooo!!!! That is such good news. We have a trial all set to gazette for January down in Hobart. :D Angelsun, so sorry that things have gone a little bit pear-shaped, but certainly down here in Tasmania we acknowledge our huge debt to you for getting us up and running, and hopefully performing to a very high level.

krustie22 - don't feel bad - I'm still doing that and I'm way old enough and experienced enough to know better - cost me a Q on a really nice ADM run on Friday night at the Royal - I interrupted her flow and caused her to pull the very last bar - got told off by the judge (a friend ). But the main thing was we had a lovely run and she had fun - and it seems like you've got that attitude too - your dog will love you for it. Had to laugh at this - Kirra had a couple of runs where she was acting like a feral baby dog - and she's over 9,5 years old now - but I love it - tells me she's still having fun. . Congrats on a great trial.

That was fun! OK - maybe not quite as polished as you could get it - but the music is so happy, and you and she work so well together, that it all comes together - and quite a bit of variety of moves - it seemed to me.

Wow - some great results after what sounded like a rocky start - you ;must be thrilled with your spotted lad!

Go Tas - especially because Lucy handles my BC Rory boy for me - not that I'm biased or anything. (She handled him to a 17 point Dog CC RUBOB at Hobart Royal today. Seriously - best wishes to all of them - they have all worked hard to be there - and wow - 9 years - whatt an achievement to even be there.

hard to please, Bedazzled - but I know what you mean. I am totally useless at picking music or working out choreography - I so need some help - I need to move to the mainland - excpet I don't want to