Tassie

Congrats to all those who did well at the weekend. Just want to take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to the rajacadoo family, and especially Miss I for enabling my BC boy Rory to show at the weekend, after his usual handler injured herself. Miss I took on the big challenge of handling a 17month old BC boy which she hadn't handled before (well, if you don't count 5 minutes practice out the back ) and did a terrific job with him, both on Saturday and Sunday. Yeah - OK, we didn't win, but Miss I made Rory look good, and most important of all to me, made sure he had fun out there. So, thank you very much rajacadoodoos one and all, and most especially Rory's friend Miss I - great job!

Gosh - go away for a weekend showing and there are heaps of congrats to give. Well done all of you. And no - no brags from the showing - except that my Rory boy was handled by a lovely little junior handler who hasn't handled him before, and did a pretty good job for her. He still gets a bit excited about the whole deal, and the tail is up a bit, but he really behaved well. All except for class in breed today, when his boy brains kicked in and he bounced round the ring, looking back and saying "GIRL!!!! GIRL !!!" - makes it a bit hard on the little junior. Needless to say, the girl won the class .

Don't know about any connection with Canimax - but in Tasmania, for instance, it is technically against the law to feed offal to your dogs - even human grade. This is because Tasmania used to have some terrible cases of hydatid cysts - for which the dog is an intermediate host. Animal health authorities in Tasmania are still very wary of recurrence of hydatid disease and have border control policies in place to try to prevent infected dogs getting in. Details are on this linky

Just as Rory figures out how to get both his fluoro yellow rubber ball (from Big W) and Kirra's fluoro orange one in his mouth at the same time. (Wish I'd had a camera for that one.)

See there's another piece of discrimination against us poor things who don't live in WA - no chocolate brownies .

;) I couldn't help but laugh when I read this, you have a very clever dog and have effectively shaped your first trick - Congratulations!! It's so funny, because you don't quite understand it yet, but your dog does!! That's what I love about clicker training, it's hard to really get it "wrong". Just look for a behavior (or part of a behavior) you want, click and treat (consistently) until the dog is offering the behavior freely, then put in on cue and a variable schedule of reinforcement. Both websites are very good, read up and good luck! Just remember to keep having fun, sounds like your dog will become clicker savvy very quickly :D The same thought struck me. Seems the dog thinks he was being rewarded for doing the circle of the yard. Like a good dog, he repeated the behaviour which was being reinforced. To the OP - great suggestions as to resources. Couple more thoughts - small steps are key - you'll see how that works in the Shirley Chong Retrieve one. Seems like you might have made the delay too long. In the early stages it's good to keep the click and treat pretty close IMO.

Totally brilliant idea. ;)

Nice steady feet there, huski - I meant Daisy's

;) Fantastic work Dante (and his mum!) OK - I'm inspired again - guess what's on the traiing schedul for this afternoon Give me another couple of years ............ and we probaly still won't be as good as that.

;) That's my girl - go Ness - see - your mum does think yo're a clever girl.

Ya think??? ;) Very best of luck for you and the Tollers, and for everyone competing - and again, thanks for all the work on the i-squeak exercise.

Oh, don't you hate it when they can't tell you where it hurts. Definitely a vet visit, but in the meantime, I think you're doing the right thing with crate rest. It's possible that the problem is not actually in the foot - could be in his knee - I'm thinking cruciate ligament damage. Does he do a lot of chasing after balls etc.? Bit there's a whole bunch of things it could be. When one of mine had a problem with a foot, the vet said - "the good news is it's not a fracture - the bad news is it's not a fracture" - meaning that soft tissue injuries can be a real nuisance - can take longer to heal than a fracture - 6 weeks plus of restricted activity. Hope Darcy has a good rest tonight, and that the vet finds it's something relatively simple.

Sounds good to me. Do you think we have blown Clean Run's mind?

Love the photos. My white and black large and fluffy cat is firmly convinced she's really a Border Collie. She's spent all of her 12 or so years with Border Collies, and has a special talk she talks to them. She's recently discovered that my young BC boy is a very good bottom cleaner - she presents her bottom to him, and waits till he's cleaned it for her. (Gotta remember not to let the dog lick me . Here she is a couple of years ago with my agility girl Kirra And one from last year - when she was still teaching puppy Rory how to mind his manners round cats.

Looks perfectly suited, Sandra - should be able to chill out nicely in the breaks. - Yep - I'm the same - my boy's not 2 till September, so I've got plenty of time before next year's test - only 1 a year here - sometimes one every two years. Sorry Tassie i just realised i never replied to you. Yes thats my boy thats his daily routine, go for a walk/run then crash for the day:) No probs. And I'm glad there are other dogs out there who spend a fair bit of the day dead to the world.

Ptolomy - happy to pay for mine as soon as you know the price. Just let me know the details. If they arrive in time for Nationals, I'll pick them up then. Thanks again.

Love it! That wouldn't be a challenge for my BC boy Rory - he could levitate up onto that BBQ with no trouble - looks just about like his show trolley LOL. I'll have to find somewhere else for mine.

Good job Ptolomy and Ness . (Bet it's the last time Ptolomy volunteers for anything - but thank you for doing this.)

;) Sounds like you and Honey are really enjoying working together - way to go!

Congrats on all those super results girls - especially the UD title, Caffy - and commiserations, RubyStar - that was a hard ask for a Novice dog. ET fix typos ;)

Just read this thread - how scary for you, but it's great to hear that Hannah is coming good.

something like that

bedazzledx2. Yep - mine are fed about a metre apart - Kirra gets her small meal first, then Rory straight away. Even though she finishes first, she won't go to his bowl till he's finished. On the bolting kibble thing - you can put some water or other liquid in their bowl with kbble and it slows them down a bit. I must admit I don't like the idea of scattering food around the yard for any dog. I'd just as soon my dogs didn't think it was OK to go searching on the ground for food - not everything on the ground is safe - but a dog might still consider it food. I'd prefer to use a treat -dispenser of some kind.

Make sure you take photos when you do .

Unless they're Kirra - she'll be 8 next Saturday, and can't catch to save herself - doesn't help that she shuts her eyes .