Tassie

- another good weekend for your family - well done!

Thanks RS. THink an agility friend down here has one of those. It's fun watching their brains 'computing' isn't it. I love pointing that out to puppy class people :D .

sounds good!

Oh - forgot - wanted to ask about the video camera - must get one - needs to be easy to use and idiot proof!

That's good advice bedazzled - another thing to add to the training to do list Zac's looking really good. And loved Pippa's shaping session RS. Had a smaller puppy class at club yesterday (dire weather forecast, but turned out OK) so had the chance to show them perch box rear end awareness work - combination of luring and shaping (without the clicker - just verbal marker - there's a limit to what you can do in a group class at a dog club) - worked out pretty well. Rory did some nice work at club - including a lovely retrieve over high jump - friend had the jump out - think it's only the second time he's done it on the official jump - and only third time at all. Good boy! Now all I have to do is fix the distractability and stay problems so that we can actually get to use his nice ROH.

:D Now there's a BC girl having heaps of fun!! Well done!

+ 1 - fun, isn't it

Wheee - some lovely brags for the weekend - with or without Qs - lots of positives. And special to Nik and Annie - what a way to finish CD!!

Well done. :D And good luck to you and Dezzy tomorrow.

Aussielover, I don't think there is really any substitute for Susan's 2x2 dvd if you're wanting to train that. She does show how to do it with food, and I think Sue H in WA has used food with 2x2 for one of her dogs - but the toy or tug has the advantage that you can make sure the reward only gets delivered when the dog has done correct performance. The advantage of a tug toy over a ball is that you can get the dog to retrieve the toy back to you (avoiding going back through the weaves) for more reward and revving up with a game of tug. A ball on a rope would work too - as long as you can get the dog to bring it back. I think many would say that an advantage of tug is it makes the handler more interesting and motivated and excited. I can remember one agility lesson where we had to tug with our dog for 1 minute afer the dog had done a 10 second sequence correctly. That is very, very different from delivering a food reward. (Having said that, I tend to use food more than I should, cos I'm lazy. It really depends what I'm working on.)

:D I think you'll get more replies if you post this in the Show Ring forum. Some of us on here do show, but our 'expertise' such as it is is in the performance disciplines. The best advice I could give is make a big game of it - use a toy or your bait. In training, I might be inclined to do a full circle in the middle of the out, to surprise the pup, and then your normal turn a bit later. I guess ideally you want to keep the dog on the judge's side - but I notice some people here turn the other way - you could try that for a bit of variety. Without seeing you, I can't tell if you're making it exciting for the pup - but in training at least, you might need to do a bit of yippy talking. And/or it mnight be worth practising just left about turns, dog on the inside - then throw a toy ... Any show training classes in your area?

That is so true, Pretty Miss Emma - such a good reminder. Good thoughts coming your way, JulesP, and everyone else dealing with this sort of situation. Giving my two extra cuddles.

Think she'd better get used to the applause!! You must be proud of her - and what a way to get the first Q

Just saw that on the AgilityVic list - and assumed it was "our" Jess and Darcy - FANTASTIC!!! What a triumph. And TSD - soiunds like you and the Ziggy man had a pretty good day at the office - I love it when you can really enjoy runs (or even bits of them) even if they're not Qs. :D

Good girl Gabby! And way to go SLLH - love the photo of the boy - he knows he did well. :D

Yes, you certainly need to pay attention :D. If I'm putting their Spectrum tablet in their food bowls, I watch to make sure they each eat their own - Luckily, they eat promptly, and don't raid each other's bowls. When I was medicating my first dog with twice daily Oroxine for hypothyroidism, I did accidentally give it to the wrong dog - twice over 12 years, so not too bad. Did mean a panic phone call to the vet for advice the first time - luckily, no problems. Oh - and I forgot to mention the other problem - when I had my hypothyroid dog, both dogs regarded the rattle of a pill bottle as a predictor of treats to come for dogs - which made for some laughs when they were doing therapy dog visits in nursing homes and a palliative care centre - they would hear the meds trolley coming from several rooms away .

I like the handful of yummy treats method - mind you, it helps to have two dogs doing it together. Give/throw a couple of unbaited treats then the baited one, immediately followed by a couple of unbaaited ones - machine gun style. Mind youi, for their Sentinel Spectrum, I just pu it on top of their kibble and make sure it's gone. Again, it helps to have 2 dogs :D

Great news - so well deserved - a great team.

Been out all day tracking training (longer delays on tracks now), so just saw this. Glad I didn't have a moutful of coffee at the time

Much the same as the others - with 2 I prefer them in front. Pulling is not allowed. Kirra - a wannabe car chaser - has been taught to look to me and walk with me for a treat whien a car is going past (on a not-busy road - she doesn't bother aboit heavy traffic in the city I'm like SK - their walk is theirs - I expect them to come in close and pay attnetion, or stop if we need to, to let pedestrian traffic etc. go by. And for mine too, heeling is a precise position so we don't use it on walks. hey walk on their flat collars and 2 metre leads.

Very cute! Name? Age? :D

I've thought about soreness, but I'm not sure how you'd recognise if that was the problem? Her teeth look fine, she has a scissor bite and she has no trouble with bones or toys or wooden kennels I do suspect I've poisoned it but as it took so long to get where I am now I didn't want to have to go back to the start! But maybe I will. Ta. Wuffles, have you tried different size/shape/material dumbbells - it can make quite a difference. I had a major problem with Fergus ( ) who never did master the art of walking forwards with the DB in his mouth - would always throw his head back and the body went with it :p - but he did better with wooden DBs with a thicker than usual and probably shorter than usual bar. I've been lucky with Rory - I started with Shirley Chong's method, but Rory took to it like a duck to water - mind you, he does chomp his DB a bit - he gallops back excitedly, and his hold still needs work. Trying with him the thngs people have been suggesting for the hold - including the WA guru's sit in the chair. thing. I've got a variety of DBs that I use with him, just in case I ever forget one. :p

Agree that whatever name you choose, your dog will end up with quite a few variants - depending partly on what they've just done or are about to do. Consider that if you're thinkiing about getting involved in dog sports, particularly agility, you will want a short sharp easy to say and hear variant of the name - my Kirra's agility emergency/quick response name is Kiz. The short name becomes the emergency name because you will heavily reward fast responses to it. :D

Don't know where you are in NSW, but you could try contacting the Hills club in Sydney - they might be able to steer you in the right direction. here