Tassie

Yep - some great suggestions there. For agility, I really like Moe Strenfel who as Lp says, builds on the GD one (which was supposed to be re-done - anyone know if it has been?) To the OP - rmemember that you'll pretty much be working your new kid on the flat for the first 12 months or so - apart maybe from some of the early pre-jumping exercises if you're following Susan Salo. The Derretts for instance, don't put their dogs on equipment until they're 12 or more months old, and have the physical and mental maturity to go flat out. They don't start weaving until about 14 months. So you've got plenty of time to save up for the things that deal with equipment.

That's surprising OSS - the year I did ET down here with my 2 BCs, a Whippet did it as well (one of the top agility dogs in Tasmania) - AFAIK he did it in style, in spite of the very un-Whippet friendly weather - severe wind squalls, rain and sleet. (That was Flynn aka Skelly - who ran for Tasmania in Agility Nationals in Perth last year.

well said, Vickie. My thought about the working stockdog situation, is that there is a fairly limited set of things you need to understand - mostly about the sheep, but also about the dog/sheep /human interaction - but that the sheep (unless they're extremely well-dogged) are not going to wait around while you figure out how to apply the theory. Hence - I would totally agree with you that the average Aussie stock person doesn't really want to know about the theory - they want to know how to get the job done with the maximum efficiency and the minimum stress to sheep, dog and handler. From what I've seen, they are primarily experiential learners, and hugely competent observers of their livestock and their dogs.

Or your 12.5 year old who's zeroing for anticipation in the DJ sendaway

I did too - sorry Laura and the gorgeous (and quiet) little Nelliegirl - was lovely to meet you too - looking forward to seeing you agin on Saturday. Some lovely work from them too - you guys are really raising the bar now with your training and performances in Victoria.

:D 'Cos it's character-building Lp - teaches us to cope with failure Way to go Caffy and Snazzy - and little miss Cider. Yep - it was lovely having Andrea and the kids over. Spice and Smudge put in some awesome runs - so enthusiastic and fast - and Andrea didn't forget to do some obedience training in the lunch break. Looking forward to seeing them again at the Launceston trial next weekend. Geraldine, Katie and Karolyn were over from Vic, so we had stunningly fast dogs and beautiful handling (and a few spectacular crash and burns ) all weekend.

LOL xena98 - they do like to test us out, don't they - but lovely score in Open. And congrat on the Novcie pass with Kenz, ness. First agility trial for the year here this weekend = good weather, fun courses, and fabulous dogs - not ours so much - our interstate visitors - stunning. Miss Kirra and I managed to lower our DQ percentage , and even snag a couple of Qs - 4th in Open Jumping yesterday and 3rd in Masters Agility - pleased with the way we improved over the weekend - bits of some of our runs were a blast - and after having major seesaw problems lately and yesterday, she nailed them today. My partner and I went clear in Masters Pairs -but sadly - 4 seconds over.

Wonderful, Vickie - what a buzz for you, the owner, and of course the dog. You know, you are so right about the pressure/release thing - it's one of the things I leaaarnt from having the chance to do sheep work with Kirra on a farm - works for the dogs as well as the sheep.

My first dog I had as an adult was a KelpiexBC desexed bitch, who started developing hair loss at aboiut age 2 or so. Vet thought it was demodex - treated - but no success - in the end he sent me to another vet, who said he didn't really know but could be hypothyroidism. In those days there was no blood test for it in dogs in Tasmania, so we just did trial and error with giving her Oroxine tablests (the human ones - nothing for dogs then.) Luckily it worked, and on a very high dose of Oroxine, she lived happily and hairily for another 13 years. Vets then said that sometime you got multiple symptoms of hypothyroidism - but sometimes it might be only one - in Jess's case, just the hair loss (and then secondary skin infrections - dark lizard skin.) The clue in the hairloss apparently is that it's bilaterally symmetrical. It's worth doing at least the basic screening blood test, although as Erny will tell you, that is only an indicator - you need to do more thorough tests (as per Dr Dodds) to really get the full picture.

Looked great from where I was standing Thanks guys! I think I woke up with a smile on my face because I was still so pleased how Toby went. And I was only able to have him like that because of what I learned from watching and listening to expirenced people like both of you! Fingers crossed it wasn't a one off and we have moments just as nice next week. Sounds great RV - and you know, it will happen again - partly the influence of the 'gurus' (and you know, it works long distance too ) - but also because you will be more confident, knowing that what he and you have achieved once, you'll be able to achieve again.

OW - that would hurt - both of them - but fantastic performance by you and the kids, lp - when it does all come together it will be stunning! And hey - maybe they're telling you that Warrnambool is really about agility - hope you all have a great weekend.

Star - my recommendation would be to follow the Susan Salo jumping programme - trouble is, it's a lot of DVDs - but Susan is a horse person, whos does agility as well. She is primarily concerned about the dogs learning correct functional jumping style - when to collect, when to extend, how to figur out take-off, how to jump with the body organised ....and incidentally, the ability to jump independently of handler - so in agility terms, once the dog has been given the line and the indication of which obstacle(s) to take next, it is the dog's responsibility (having been taught to jump correctly) to take the jumps. Clean Run has her DVDs - and you can see some examples in the list if you google Susan Salo.t A book which came out a while ago (before SS) written by a sports med vet/agility competitor, might also be useful and interesting to you. Here's a link to an article about the book and here's one to the book

RS

Nice question - I think Vickie talked about this too - in the Agility training thread maybe. In both obedience and agility, I probably think of it more as 'keep the connection with your dog' - which sometimes will be direct, sometimes peripheral - if you have to check where you're going, make sure you have given the dog the line, and that your body is still supporting the line. In terms of signalling a front cross, IMHO it is your shoulders which are perhaps the most important part of this - and deceleration. Don't know if this makes sense (supposed to be working ) In obedience, I still maintain the connection with the dog, but I don't look behind me - it's his job to be where we can see each other's eyes - unless he's doing his fancy new Rally O round the back finish ET put the last bit in

+1! Welcome to the big kids' playground! :D

Thanks for re-posting this Bedazzledx2 - it's such a great article!

I absolutely will not endorse that Barb! Being coordinated seems to get exponentially harder based on the speed of your dog & Miss Kirra certainly has the speed! Thanks Vickie - yes, she certainly is a speedy little girlie - and I'm afraid turning 9 the other day will not have slowed her down very much - so I was trying to get the old legs running a bit tonight, ready for our first ag. trials in a fortnight.

Way to go the versatile dogs. But i'm confused - was the oldies the dogs or the handlers Seriously - great results - and RS - Lab Tested .... obviously rocketing to stardom now - but seriously - good stuff

huski - they don't come much more unco than me (Vickie can endorse that LOL) and I'm very shortsighted, so peripheral vision is harder - but - touch wood, I've only had a couple of stacks - couple of times on jumps - once tripping on a piece of that long ropey grass. One of the advantages of having independent obstacle performance and a 'go on' command I was panicking about winged jumps initially - we don't have them down here (yet) - and I was sure I was going to take some out. TSD - you're probably right - but he was a good boy anyway.

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That's always my issue! But I haven't fallen over yet... But knowing my luck, the first time would be at a trial! At the risk of embarrassing myself (again!!!) click I was watching Zig to see if he could make the distance challenge (Open Jumping) On the up side we actually got a Q Ouch - but good boy Ziggy - he had a quick look (to make sure if you were OK ? ) and then kept going.

Several Tasmanian clubs have been running club tests, and also running mock Rally trials at obedience trials for the past year or so. In fact we had one at the first obedience trial of the year - only novice yesterday - although some of the handlers are at advanced level already.

My 2 Border Collies have been on more or less monthly Sentinel Spectrum for about 3 years - no problems at all. I think what you're referring to is ivermectin (and related product) sensitivity in some breeds - Collie Roughs and Australian Shepherds among them. If you have one of those breeds, you can have them tested for the mutation. This is one of the best sites for following up this question.

:D Would make me way too nervous. Actually, one of the others did have a camera - but her battery was playing up, luckily. ;)

;) oooh yes! Pretty darn jealous of that heelwork too :D