Tassie

Caffy that was lovely to watch - more inspiration crossing the continent LOL He's certainly Mr Happy!

Go the obedence kids - never hurts to rattle some agility cages - and bedazzled - hey - if it works - go for it. Good Brookie can cope. LOL - still on a high from yesterday - 4 weeks now to strengthen things like stays. Next ob trial for us is end of March.

for all those successes - and commiserations for the near misses. Happy to say that my lil big man Rory didnt let his WA gurus down in his first trial. The morning trial he was a bit boy-brains, with another ring operating next door, but heeling wasn't too bad and he did his SFE - anticipated recall cos he was gawking into the next ring, looked back, decided I'd already called him, and came. I opted out of stays, as the dog next to him was not one I wanted him next to - maybe even if he had been on a pass, and certainly when he wasn't. We had great fun with a Mock Rally trial - all dogs doing Novice even if they were more advanced. 95/100 in the second best time (5 was handler error .) Afternoon trial - same ring as Rally - he heeled pretty nicely - one missed drop and a couple of inattentive moments - 26/30, did SFE again - couple points off for a bit crooked I think - but he - he did it - and then a recall with scratch - new exercise he just invented. He started to come in, then scratched, then kept coming and sat in front without further command - so 14/20. Leaving us on a possible 88 and a decision to make on stays. Luckily the dog I was worried about withdrew - he'd completely lost the plot, and also luckily we were on an end - so ... he managed his first ever proper ring stays - and finished with 88 and a first place Q! Good boy. So very pleased with my man.

It's probably helpful to the dog to be consistent about this when you're starting out, for the reason Staranais has given. Just to add an extra - it's handy when you're stopping for a position or a halt in heeling, to stop on your right and bring your left foot up to it - again - you don't have to, but for many dogs, it's helpful - gives them a wee bit more warning - assuming they're working to the left leg. But for most dogs, once they really get the whole exercise, it probably doesn't matter. Just to note - while the rules don't prescribe which foot, they do require that any signal (physical or verbal) be given at the same time - so you can't give your cue and then start moving.

dancinbcs +1 To the OP - from your previous experience with a tri that you had to rehome, I would emphasise that sound conformation (including health testing of parents) and temperament should really be your main considerations. Sex of the puppy is also a consideration. Since your girl had a male companion, and really enjoyed that interaction, she might very well prefer another male. (I know what you mean about her missing the interaction - my girl was the same. I needed to get another boy for me, and for her. They play almost every day still.)

Thanks! The thing was, I thought that one of the useful parts of rearend awareness training was the ability to put the dog into a very nice heel position. My problem is that every time I take a step towards the dogs, they pivot so they are never next to me. That's certainly one of the uses of it. You could try just doing stationary heel position and rewarding that very heavily. Then there's more incentive for the dogs to move to heel. Don't forget that initially you're just c/t (or mark/reward) any movement of the rear feet - so you're gradually shaping it up.

Seems like there was some really good work done by DOL dogs last night - good luck for the next few days. ANd wish me luck for Rory's first trial tomorrow. We're not really quite ready - but there are so few trials here, it's worth putting him in. Hmmm - Ptolomy - jackpotting and leaving after some lovely heeling - sounds like a plan - that's if I get the nice heeling. That made me laugh. When my first boy Sam was in UD, there was a lovely little Pem Corgi - beautiful working dog - usually. Every now and again, he and Sam wouild both decide on some crazy new way of failing an exercise - and it can't just be texting, cos this was in the days before mobiles LOL . We reckoned it was telepathy. (And yes, children, there was life before the mobile phone and computer .)

Wow - way to go the gurus and the clever WA puppers. Great night, (How are the heads this morning?? :D )

:D No wonder she won - she's very cute and happy.

OH my goodness Freundhund - you didn't have to go that far to find excuses - and yes - you definitely win. Sorry to hear about the husband - that's very worrying for you. All good wishes to you both. Aaaargh aboiut the SWF - why do people think it's OK for them to just do what they like - they're still dogs for goodness sake - still need to be under effective control. about the pumping up tyres. Who knew you would add another skill to your "can do" list.

JulesP, I had the same problem with Rory on SFE - still do to some extent. I did similar to what Ptolomy is suggesting - and spent some time just going one step down his side, then back , then yo-yoing the number of steps down the side I took - and eventually right down the back - I still sometimes go the other way, or go round a couple of times. I like the suggestion of something on the grouind to focus on. Now I think about it, I had the same problem on return from the other stays - same fix. Hmmm - my SFE is still not solid - he's good after a couple of rehearsals - pity the judges won't do that in the ring. And if the 'examiner' is a person he likes, or smiles at him - and it's hard not to smnile at my lil big man - he's inclined to want to move to greet them. Good luck to everyone in the WC this weekend. And Ptolomy - there's apparently an old saying in the theater - bad rehearsal, good show - not sure if it works for dog training.

Don't forget that you really need to be sure that the dogs (and handlers if necessary) can work at about 13kph fairly steadily - or even a bit more. Sometimes judges and pacesetters are not going to stick to 10kph all the way through. So you need to be in a situation where you don't panic if the speed goes up a bit. RS - try riding a bike on grass with about 20cm of water on it - NOT FUN!

I do have some pad wax or something like that - but have never used it. It seems if you build up the training gradually, and don't work on rough gravel or hot bitumen, then their pads harden pretty well anyway. I have been slack abouit the bike - haven't had it ouit for a few weeks - weather (too hot, too cold and/or too windy), work (darn it ), keeping head high grass under control, and obedience training have been a problem. If the weather settles down, we'll start to get out there again - and roll on Easter. Reminded of a funny story about the pad check at the ET - the day I did my 2 BCs, and a friend did hers, the club official doing the pad check was a guy who had dogs with black pads. He scared heck out of my friend at the first check when he thought the vet should look aat the dog's feet because some of the pads were partly pink. Ummmm - yes .... that's the way Border Collies come . the dogs all passed, I hasten to add.

+1 -. Particularly since you suspect, probably correctly, that the rude behaviour from your aunt's dog has led yours to up the ante in warning off. Your dog does not and should not have to put up with rudeness from other dogs, and should not be left to her own devices in telling other dogs so - it's your job to help with that by not allowing her to be put in that situation. And absolutely, working in the proximity of other dogs is very important - and with some dogs, the distance will be able to be quite close - with little dogs or overly bouncy dogs, you would want to keep more distance. Over time, Shelley will come to understand that you will take action to help protect her from rude dogs, so she will be able to relax a bit more. But I also totally agree that it's not essential or realistic to expect all dogs to be best buddies with all other dogs, and especially with dogs that have no manners.

Erny, FWIW, I saw Dr David Clarke with Rory a couple of years ago - just to check up on a staining on one of his teeth. I didn't think he was too expensive, for a specialist, and I really liked his manner with the dog. Whichever way you decide to go, I would spend a little time discussing your concerns and options over GA - a good practitioner should IMO be willing to spend a little time exploring and explaining options.

Mine say - milk bottles are great too - especially the ones that have the little handle - and it's all even better if you live in a house with slate floors - great noise makers. And you can toss them up in the air and catch them. But as has been said - keep an eye, and replace when they get brittle. But 2+ year old Rory says - it's also nice to have lots of soft and rubber toys that you can keep in a 'stash' on the family room sofa - and you can always add the draught-stopper door sausage dog as you go past in the morning. :D

Oooooh yeah!!! Great job, huski!

Whooo, Rogan. And hey - it obviously just wasn't a brown dog day

Interesting, Vickie - that corresponds with my experience with Kirra (stressed to the max when trying to work 75 uncooperative lambies) and my friend's working bred sheepdog - working the yards - stressful for that dog. It does seem that the disorientation/unable to take commands/wobbly legs/collapse - then pretty quick recovery after a dunk in tepid water - which can occur in BC in intense working situations, might be a different sort of thing. In theose two I've seen in person, there wasn't the stiff legged thing that people describe. But the fact that it seemed to be the more intense dogs that you observed, gels with the situations I've seen - the stress was a big factor.

Bugger kathq - so near and yet so far. Do you think it had anything to do with your signal??? Have pulled it to pieces a million times in my head since. Could have been my signal as I did do an extended/exagerated one as I was quite worried about the hundreds of moths that were about that were coming up in clouds as you stepped - and she is a bit phobic about bugs. And i could have confused her with that as my signals are normally quite small. I'm putting it down to learning curve on the part of the handler in the "trust your dog" portion. I've always siad UD is character building - can go from chocolates to boiled lollies so easily - and a zero is always just round the corner. But that sounds like a really good night's work, kathq - heaps of positives to take away from that.

Sue's sitting in the chair method is how I started Rory with the DB - mind you, he is a dog who loves to carry stuff around - selects a toy du jour every morning, and has always been happy to give and take. But the Sue H chir method worked a treat - and - I have no idea how - but I had a lovley happy DB retrieve in a very short time. He's now also happy with his new leather seekback article, the SD articles, and a glove - just did that one last week. I am so blessed with this boy - must be the West Australian thing

Congrats TN and TSD. Love the action shot of Zig!!

Didn't manage to get on the net yesterday to post this on the day but anyway .... Happy birthday to my little Border Collie girl Kirra - T.CH Khayoz Sweet Soul Music ADM2 ADO3 JDM JDO4 GD SD SPDX HIT ET who turned 9 yesterday. What a journey this dog has taken me on - learning to work sheep on a farm, agility competitions in SA, Vic, NSW, and WA as well as here in Tasmania, dog training camps in NSW and at Camp Tailwaggers, agility seminar in 45 degree heat in Melbourne, ET in a howling gale complete with sleet, and tracking in all weathers. I know I quite often refer to her as my demon bitch - but she is a great little dog, and when she's not being evil Thank you my little girl.

Not Vickie - but I'll have a go. I would usually do this in jump technique training as a handler stationary exercise - dog is left at the start of the line, handler walks to a position down the line or at the end, depending on the skill being taught - dog is released from start line, takes the line of jumps independent of handler, and then toy is thrown as the dog clears the final jump. In a handler moving exercise, the dog (having already done grids, so learnt to go on and take obstacles until given a different cue) will take the line of jumps and either the handler moving down the line but behind the dog, or a helper, will throw the toy as the dog clears the last jump. In agility, this is teaching the dog - is "If I'm cueing forward motion in a straight line by my body movements (wherever I am in relation to you the dog), you keep taking obstacles on that line until you run out of obstacles." As Vickie said earlier, a line of jumps os often the last part of the course - designed for max speed - but even a very skilled and fast handler like Vickie, will still be unlikely to be up with the dog at the end. You don't want the dog having to head check back to the handler to see what to do. Vickie's Masters Jumping clip shows it really well. ET fix typos

Ptolomy posted the link originally Senior moment - again.. thanks too Ptolomy.