Tassie

Don't know - but send Janba a PM - she might be able to make some suggestions.

What she said! Love the dogs that can save you like that - my Kirra is the opposite - she'll drop me in it whenever she feels like it - and then bites me to tell me off for not handling properly

Another vote here for delaying at least a bit. Personally, because I do dog sports, I like my males to be leg-lifting weers - makes it so easy to toilet them pretty reliably before they compete ;) - so for most that would be after about 9 months. There are good arguments now for waiting a bit longer for a mature structure. My current male is entire, because he is sstill showing in conformation as well - but I do threaten him sometimes that "they're coming off"

Was just thinking about you and Sasha yesterday and wondering how she was going, so it's nice to read this. That powder sounds great - well worth knowing about - thanks :D

Oh Jules, that's sad to hear. I think you're right about her feeling the effects of the poking and prodding and the sedative - that would have to clear through the liver, I guess. Hopefully she picks up during the day, and can enjoy all the spoiling she's going to get. And it does seem like you've got a good handle on the dietary management.

Are you going to have a bit of a study of the signs first?

@ whiskedaway - I'd be careful about having her in a formal sit stay - you don't want to break that - if it's an agility start line stay, then you can release he with whatever your release cue is ('OK' or break' or whatever) - and occasionally going back to reward her for maintaining her position until released. I'd probably only have the treat actually in place a couple times - and have her quite close to start with. Then you stay reasonably close tot he target to start with, so that as she moves towards it to investigate whether the treat is there or not, you can instantly mark/click and race in with the treat and excited praise. Then maybe have a little game of tug if she likes it - upt tug away, rinse and repeat, ever so gradually increasing the distance and changing the angles. I like this game to be a really high energy exciting one, so the dog is driving towards the target. Once she's done it a couple times and you think she's got it, you can start putting a verbal cue on it - touch, mat - or whatever - given after the break cue. @ buddy1 I'd make sure you have a good quick drop happening away from you first, before you start to pair it with the target. Ideally it will be a foldback down (the one from a stand), not a sit/drop one). I start with the dog dropping on a verbal cue quite close to me, mark and either treat in position, or throw a piece of visible food, and tell the dog to get it - as he does, give another drop cue - rinse and repeat. Again, high energy, high excitemeent - but little steps - you want rapid reliable response before distance IMHO. Should have prefaced all this by saying I'm very far from being an expert - still just trying to train mine. :D

When I say luring, I don't mean I actually touch the target. I'll put/drop a piece of food on it while the dog is a little bit away, then at home, I just let the dog choose to go and investigate, and mark/click as the dog gets the treat/touches the target. (In puppy class, the pups are on lead, so I might drop the treat and then have the owner just walk the pup by and mark as the pup goes to investigate.) Ussually after a couple times with treats on the target, you can just let the pup walk by with no treat on the target, and mark/treat as the pup investigaates (which they usually do LOL) Gradually I'll start with the pup further away from the target - little by little. This gives a nose touch to a smalll target (like a lid), but with a slightly larger one, you could get a paw touch.

LOL - so you really need to get some Rally organised over there and make use of it. Yeah - I know, you're using it in HTM and Freestyle.

Thanks so much CaseyKay. Yes - I can see how they could confuse it with call front - although hopefully that won't be too much a problem for us, since I'm at the stage of trying to do the advanced/ex call front with no step back. (He hasn't quite got the butt swinging all the way on that one - might be time for some more perch work .) Haven't had a problem with the moving stand, since he's a conformation dog as well as doing obedience, so he's used to a moving stand on a verbal and signal cue. about the leaping backwards rather than walking backwards. Yes - still working on the finish left geing done is a somewhat less exuberant fashion - but the way he throws himself round makes me laugh . We're just loving the way Rally encourages us to have lots of fun with our dogs, and give them lots of feedback, while at the same time, paying attnetion to precision - which can only help in the standard obedience ring.

Lovely! Susan has lots of wisdom to share - and not just about training specifics .

That's great to hear CaseyKay - we find the same thing down here. :D We're not official yet, but a couple of clubs are running club tests, and mock trials. My BC boy has just graduated out of Novice in both club and mock trials - and has played in Advanced and Excellent in training. I'm interested to know how you;'e trained "back up 3 paces" - souinds like what you did has worked beautifully.

Ack - that's frustrating! Woild it be worth starting over - shaping to a different target - takeaway container lid or something? Being me and impatient, I actually start with a lure - treat on the target, although if you want to be purist, youi would just sit and wait for her to pay attention, then C/T. I usually have a treat there a couple of times - then try without - usually works pretty quickly. Treat may have to be really high value in the first instance, and high excitement reinforcement. If you have success, you could progressively transfer the new target to the piece of carpet (if you have to use that specifically).

+1

A good weekend for DOL dogs :D . Rory got a first place in Novice Rally O at our club test - and finished his club 'title'. And I discovered that we need LOTS more distraction proofing in regular obedience particularly - but bits of it were nice. :D

Oh kath - I'm afraid I had to smile too. Reminds me of the day my friend's BC (now AG Ch) went and hid under the A frame to get out of the rain. Gotta love them even while you

Where are you ness? (She needs to get over here and brag. )

That's brilliant, wuffles - big congratulations to you and Ava.

way to go team Brookie and bedazzled - It's fun, isn't it. Had to laugh at the round the back RAT/finish. I'd been faithfully teaching 'no blind cross' to Rory - so when I first tried to teach him the round the back, he looked horrified - I can't do that Mum - might get in trouble. I had to teach it to him separately - it took a little while, but he's more or less got it now.

BC Crazy - Complete dunnies are the ones who don't ask when they need to know something In this context, LAT means the Look at That game as set out in Leslie McDevitt's book and DVD Control Unleashed. Well worth getting hold of IMO. (If it was in an obedience competition thread, it would likely mean left about turn. ) LAT as in Look at That has been talked about and described a bit lately, so hopefully it will turn up in a search.

Check with his breeder - if breeder is VCA registered and parents are Main regisstered pures, pup should be registered too - you should get papers. And double check with the Council - you should be able to register him entire for the moment (will likely cost you a lot more) and then get a pro rata rebate when you produce his sterisation certificate down the track.

Ack - poor Sasha - and poor you KL. As usual, I'd be giving your lovely vet a call - but it certainly sounds as if it could be fungal - almost like a hot spot sort of thing. I've had good success with using Curash powder to dry up a hot spot - and do you have any neocort ointment of any sort? But check with your vet about the use of both of those - and I guess it depends how much she's going to lick off.

+1

So very sorry it's not the good news we were all hoping for. Still have fingers and paws crossed here, and we're all sending the best mojo we can find.

That's great, Tiggy.