Tassie

Aaaaaw! :D Bless her and her gorgeous babies. Little do they know what a drama they and their mum had, and how very, very lucky they are. You must be thrilled to bits with them - and mum looks so very proud. That third photo is just too sweet - especially the little one sprawled at the back with a lovely full tummy Thanks for updating.

RV - that's great with Zora - Royals are a tough gig, so she's off to a flying start

Pity the UDX cloth fairy wasn't with you, xena98, but sound like Gabby is coming on - am sure you'll get there with her. abotu the naughty bits the girls pulled - but glad they gave you good bits as well :D

Back from agility trialling at Launceston Royal - we were on the AFL Hawks Tasmanian ground at Aurora Stadium/York Park - boy did the desperate call-offs echo round the stadium . Had fun with my Kirra - who was feral for the first few runs - we're both way out of practice, and someone replaced my tunnel reluctant dog with a tunnel suck . Settled down as the trial went on, and although only a few Qs, had some good near misses. We had a 1st place Q (only qualifier) in one MA run, 2nd place Q in one ADO, and ..... drum roll - 2 9+ year old BCs and their ancient handlers, managed to snag a Q in Masters Strat Pairs - in spite of Kirra and me having to make a dash all the way up the ring to fix the DW, and then all the way back to do our sequence which went all the way up the middle of the ring. (We didn't have a plan B - had enough trouble coming up with Plan A ) - made time by 0.87 sec. etfix typo

Just saw this Jules - back for a weekend away trialling. Do hope Amber is picking up again now. All we can do is send healing vibes and strong thoughts to you both from down here.

Super well done to you and Lottie Beth - that's very exciting.

That's lovely, Janba. I feel a bit the same way about my lil big man Rory. I love my Kirra to bits - but she is .... Kirra (as you know - remember the 'play police' - Sister Margaret Mary at the Suzanne C seminar ), but Rory was meant to be mine.

PA - a friend down here has had a lot of success with her (tiny) Pap using a target stick - dog is working nice and straight, and she's used it for SFE too - means she can stay upright, and stop the dog angling in.

And such a brave boy too to stay concentrating almost all the time in that situation!

Super happy birthday to you Daisy - we almost feel we know you - and we love hearing about your progress. Kirra and Rory send birthday woofs too.

Bwahahahahah Brilliant - Tiggy - you needed to post that before the TSD trial we had on Saturday - Kirra got her lead tangled round a small dead bush - we ended up pulling the bush out of the ground, cos I didn't want to stop her (we'd already failed by then, but when put back on, she was tracking beautifully - of course :D

@ Henrietta - sounds like you and Abbey are going to have lots of fun. See if you can find a club which is doing Rally O - the Novice level is on lead - and no stays (well not until Excellent - and then not a group stay.) I think you and Abbey would really enjoy that. Maybe PM jeb5 who might know of a club near you doing Rally O.

HAW not required for Novice/CD - it's only when you get up to Open - for the jumps. Looks like you and Ramses are going to be busy - very best of luck to you. :D

Angelsun - glad you're asking this question. ;) You'll find the Judges Training Scheme Guidelines for DWD here - DWD is second discipline on the list - click on Judges Training Scheme guidelines. I believe it was able to be more flexible because the rules were drafted by a working party separate from any other existing ANKC Committee.

Eeeeew! Congrats to you and the divine Brookie - super score in what seemed like a pretty challenging environment. And a good job done by the "only a stud dog" - and yep - absolutely, abolish all stays.

- sounds great TSD - and well done the little Miss Em. Yep - the foundation work is great - wish all clubs would adopt something like your club's program. And yes - I'm sure you're right about the dogs picking context. They're smarter than we think

My Kirra girl loves to blind cross me in everyday life - but since the GD/LD seminar in Melbourne in 2009, I try very hard not to let it happen on course. (oh and I do try to outwit her in other circumstances - it's almost become a game with her. :D ) I too find the Derrett handling makes sense for me, so I try to use it all the time. Occasionally there'll be a course where I have to layer - and I make a mental apology to Greg when I do it . Having said that, I have seen very skilled handlers with very fast dogs use them successfully - but for me, I need to try to maintain some connection with my dog - and know that she knows that I know where she's going - if you see what I mean . (Just as an aside .. I'd been conscientiously teaching 'no blind cross' to Rory - which was fine, until I started doing Rally O - and had to teach him the round the back LAT and finish. He looked at me like I was mad - " You want me to do what?????" ... but he's got it now.

- nearly as much as my agility BC girl Kirra - she's 14.8 kg

M&G IMO it's always a calculated risk. At our dog club - also on a public ground, we allow puppies to start any time after their 12 week shot (or after their 10 week Nobivac) - we're on a public ground, but there's little parvo around at the moment - in fact, luckily, for most of the year down here. Because of circumstances of timing, Rory came to Melbourne with me within a couple of days of his 12 week vacc - and so I had to take calculated chances - even in high summer. Luckily, all was well. If there was a parvo outbreak in the area, I wouldn't be taking him - but at present, I'd take the chance - as you say - he's potentially exposed through Mason's comings and goings (and yours) anyway. I'd say go for it - but just be aware that if he became off colour, you'd want to get him to the vet asap - which you do anyway. :D BTW, have I told you how adorable I think Gibbs looks.

Sounds good PME - but just a caution - it's better to build up gradually - and do varying speeds. And also be careful about the surfaces - again, build up gradually to hard surfaces, so you don't end up with sore pads. You can download the rules from the ANKC site here/ As murve said, it's 8, 6 and 6 - with breaks. The overall time is set - and if it was an absolutely even rate, it would be 10 kph. But it's worth training at various speeds up to about 13 or 14 kph (for some of the distance) as some judges will have the pace-setter travel a little faster - usually on the first leg - to put some time in the bank in case of problems or unforeseen circumstances.

It does sound like great fun - and the venue looks fantastic. Maybe one day ......

Maybe it's because these Westerners are 'special'

Congrats on the Qs, kallistar - and on having the courage to enter :D . Pity it wasn't advertised or videoed. Sounds like you and Tux had fun - and if it makes you feel any better, I can remember Mary Ray telling us about Quincy - how he thought he could do his own choreography - and to stop him barking in the MacK and Mabel routine a few years ago, she did it with a tennis ball in his mouth - if you look closely at the video of that routine, you can see him choming on the tennis ball.

Well done on the AAD sheena