Tassie

Healing vibes and good Tassie mojo coming Scoota's way, Ptolomy, and yours - it's going to be a nerve-wracking few days. And yes - such an important reminder - to give our pets cuddles.

LOL Sue & Cindy - RAT as in right about turn - not the hairy variety Yep - think I would have lost the dog if it had been the hairy variety. We did have a rabbit around during stays at training one night - helped to keep the dogs sitting up nicely . Jess JD - lovely DSO.

Wow - so many great results - well done troops - and commiserations on near misses. Don't know about anyone else, but I'm really getting heaps of help and inspiration from you guys. My little brag is a Novice Rally O club pass for Mr Rory - 92/100 - silly handler made mistakes and a few crooked sits. And then I put him in Novice in a club obedience test. Really pleased with his heeling - though we had a bit of inattention when there was a RAT at the side ropes right next to where a jump was stashed :D - full marks for SFE - yay! but lost points in Recall - slowish coming in and squiffy sit at the end. Then I went and ruined it by a really crummy DB throw - barely went 4 metres rolling along the ground ;) - and the boy couldn't believe I actually wanted him to fetch it - so second command. . Chickened out of stays - didn't want to risk a possible eyeballing match with a GSD - they're still learning to cope with being near each other, so better to avoid trouble. So plenty to work on - but plenty of promise too. I consciously channeled Ptolomy when I was starting to lose focus partway through the heel pattern - thanks Ptolomy - it helped .

Oh, and meant to say commiserations to biker girl. Was sorry to miss you (though I was enjoying my DWD workshop in Melbourne). Catch up at Ulverstone - unless I chicken out

+1 to what RS said!

Yay, Cindy.

Jess. You're so very right! The taking it on the road and proofing is super important. Tried Rory at the Hobart Royal in the lunch break one day - took him about 5 minutes to even notice the weave poles - too busy rubbernecking - especially at the horses warming up behind a hessian fence about 15 metres away . He did figure it out in the end though.

SG 2x2 worked really well for me and Rory - but prefer to use a toy rather than food. And you really really need tohe dvd and you need to watch it several times before you get the dog involved - and then keep going back to it (orwas that just me?? ) I just love the independent weaving I've got, with very little time.

You and me both RS - determined to do some over Easter. Been busy with agility (Kirra) obedience and Rally O (Rory) and now DWD with both dogs at a worshop in Melbourne this weekend. And tracking season is coming up ...... Overcommitted, much? But at least our ET isn't till July.

Aaaaaw - cuteness overload! Very sweet - well done all round.

:p If the foldback down is the one I'm thinking of, it's done from a stand not a sit. Biomechanically, I can't see how a dog could actually do a foldback down from a sit without doing a kickback with the hind legs into a stand at some point through the transition - would be a bit mucky, I'd think. The 2 downs I teach are from a sit - dog's front comes forward; and from a stand, front paws remain in place, elbows bend to have forearms on ground, rear subsides - should get a lovely square drop - in practice, it happens in one movement. Not sure if that's the one you mean. I teach it by luring (yes, I'm impatient) - food goes between dog's front paws towards back, elbows bend - I'll often mark and reward that stage a couple of times if necessary, then I'll withhold the reward and wait the dog out. It helps to have a person or a corner cupboard to prevent the dog backing up - although if the dog does that, I just bring them forward a little bit, and try again. I actually only taught Rory the foldback - until I had to teach down from sit cause it's one of the Rally O stations

fuzzy82, you need to check with Dogs Qld about registering your poodle x on the Associate Register - but the Queensland rules on that are different to the other states . In other States, as long as the mixed breed or non-reg pure is desexed, you can register them on the Associate Register - as many as you like. But there's nothing stopping you from having heaps of fun training your dog anyway - and maybe there are some club trials you can go in.

TSD In a small training group we used to have (before Adelaide Nationals and a bit after), we used to celebrate after training with a bottle of Moet. Trouble is, it started to get a bit expensive as we started to get better. We ended up with 2 Ag Chs from that group, though - don't know if it was the champagne or what!

My two get their JG in a soup spoonful of fat-free natural yoghurt on top of their food. They love the yoghurt, and haven't had any issues. Having said that though, no-one in their wildest dreams could call them fussy eaters

Great weekend for DOLers and DOLdogs it seems - and the usual few near misses. Only a tiny brag from me - my Rory man, who is very much a beginner at Rally O, did a great job learning Advanced and Excellent moves and then putting them together in a little trial run in a fabulous workshop we had down here with Angelsun.

biker girl! Get your brain and feet ready for the new moves. So much to take in - but you and the girls will ace them. Not sure about Sunday - I'll be away in Melbourne, so haven't paid much attention. But I don't think there is. There'll be training classes going on as well, and I think they thought it was all a bit too tricky to fit in.

Just got home buzzing from a fantastic workshop by Angelsun on Advanced and Excellent. Wow, we worked hard - our brains are fried, I think, but we had a great day, and we were so proud of what our grogeous dogs were able to achieve (in my case, in spite of a klutzy handler.) :D This sport is so challenging but also so very, very rewarding - and fits in so well with our other disciplines. Thanks so much Angelsun - it was great.

Jules P - know what you mean. I've got pretty used to failing over the years (bad trainer ) so it doesn't bother me too much. This past weekend was the second weekend of our double agility trial weekend, so by Sunday I probably didn't have my head or Rory's in the right place for obedience. I'd not entered Kirra in agility on the Sunday, figuring I'd concentrate on him - but I hadn't really done enough with him in the week leading up - and the environment was pretty distracting for him. So after our llittle 'display', I just went back to spend most of the day at agility - which was about 50 metres away. I was disappointed in a way - but on the other hand, really pleased with aspects of what he'd done - and anyway, it's a chance to spend the day with friends and acquaintances. It probably didn't help that I'd broken me and Kirra on the Saturday - I pulled a quad in the morning (though we still managed a Master's Jumping pass, and a near miss in Open Jumping) and then on the last run of the day, she pulled up lame in the right hind, so I was panicking a bit that she might have done a cruciate. Turns out it was just a hamstring strain/mild tear, thank goodness, and she's coming on fine. Phew!

Argh now that you have entered you can come and join myself and Bedazzled and watch it all come tumbling down Our current training plan is called break, patch, repair as best you can and cross your fingers This is followed up by mumbling something about whose great idea it was to enter the upcoming trial. Add to this the fact that ALL our other class exercises are crumbling and our confidence is down around our knees. I guess the only way is UP from here - so wishing you Good Luck, stay calm and looking forward to hearing how you get on. I have blown the dust off Soggy and will be bringing her out for her first trial in 5 months this weekend. Looking forward to seeing what she remembers Then I'm right on track following the guru training plan. :p Rory failed his heeling on Sunday - mega distracted, missed drops and a sit. BUT - his SFE was rock solid - yay, and he came in fast on the recall even though it was a short distance - did sit wonky though. I didn't bother with stays or the afternoon trial - don't want him practising mistakes. Good luck S&C and WA troops.

Had to laugh at this bedazzledx2. Reminded me of when I took the dogs up to Sue H's Cam Tailwagger's camp - Sue nicknamed 9 month old Rory 'The kidnapper'. He still kidnaps his tuggies and toys and does vistory laps with them - but luckily, that hasn't translated to his training gear - DB, articles etc. :p :D Aaaaaw - too cute - go the Brookie man :D

Yep - definitely something to nip in the bus asap. As has been said, many BCs among other dogs are prone to become fixated - it becomes a real obsessive compulsive thing. One of mine was really fixing on the light reflected from my watch in the kitchen one day - as soon as I noticed, I took the watch off till the sun had moved - seriously - taking no chances.

Had to laugh at this bedazzledx2. Reminded me of when I took the dogs up to Sue H's Cam Tailwagger's camp - Sue nicknamed 9 month old Rory 'The kidnapper'. He still kidnaps his tuggies and toys and does vistory laps with them - but luckily, that hasn't translated to his training gear - DB, articles etc.

Hi Helen. You could have a look at what Mary Ray and Richard Curtis have in their stores.

That's great about Toby RV. And fingers firmly crossed here for Beans, Ptolomy.

Good on you Luke. Glad you're seeing payback already, too. (I like both CU and Click to Calm very much). I've also been workng a bit more on self-control with Kirra in particular - never too late to teach new 'tricks'. Kelpiechick - i Interesting food for thought.