Tassie

Hmmm - don't know why that is - I had no trouble getting in - just before I posted - and just checked now - still fine. Go to www.ankc.org.au, then pull down the breeds menu, and you;ll see the seven groups - click on a group and you'll get the list of breeds in that group. And yes, of course there is an element of interpretation, but it gives a pretty good idea. Have a look at the Beagle, for instance.

pf. KK, you'll find the Australian breed standards on the ANKC website - e.g here's the link for the Airedale standard Airedale Terrier.

It will be good Deb. Yep - Masters and Open everything for me and Kirra too. (I'm too old for this - but hey - what the heck.)

Kinda depends on the state of decomp .

at Dagboy - so is that a promotion???? But yes, it would be great to be able to see it if you get a chance Mrs D. thanks.

Yep - another vote here for i-clicks - easy to juggle in the hand, and treats don't get stuck down in the box like they do with the box clicker. And the noise is nicer, I think. Back in the day, just about the cheapest were in bulk - I used to get 5 at a time ( Ptolomy) from Karen Pryor's store - but yes, you can get them locally now.

Good grief, Bec - 7 dogs! Yep, all going well, I'll be there competing with Kirra. Rory's coming along to visit his rels and let Nana Winpara see him in the flesh. We're driving over, so hopefully will have all our gear - staying in a dog-friendly house.

Be careful what you wish for.

:D - with good reason Tiggy. Rory can tell you that boy Border Collies can eat their way out of soft crates - he can just demolish the mesh on the door and/or windows - but only when mum is doing agility with her other dog . I have 2 metal crates set up in the car, so if I can park close enough and the weather is OK, dogs can stay there. Otherwise I take soft crates - and if it's for agility, just get Rory's collapsible wire crate out of the car to put in the set up. Or use the show trolley. (Still need a babysitter for when I'm actually running Kirra, so he doesn't hurt his teeth - will stress even if the crate is covered right up.) BTW, I got my bigger metal collapsible - 2 doors - from Deals Direct - good service. What are you planning on doing for the agility Nationals?, although I guess you will be able to park close to where you will be running and keep Rory in the car? Hadn't really thought that far. It's getting closer, isn't it. It will be really nice if the car can be within reasonable distance, then he can pop back in there at least while I'm running Kirra. Our first trial for the year is on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see how he goes - the last one was 2 months ago. Of course, he can go and be looked after by Nanna Robyn - oh no, wait, she's going to be runnning multiple dogs, isn't she .

- with good reason Tiggy. Rory can tell you that boy Border Collies can eat their way out of soft crates - he can just demolish the mesh on the door and/or windows - but only when mum is doing agility with her other dog . I have 2 metal crates set up in the car, so if I can park close enough and the weather is OK, dogs can stay there. Otherwise I take soft crates - and if it's for agility, just get Rory's collapsible wire crate out of the car to put in the set up. Or use the show trolley. (Still need a babysitter for when I'm actually running Kirra, so he doesn't hurt his teeth :D - will stress even if the crate is covered right up.) BTW, I got my bigger metal collapsible - 2 doors - from Deals Direct - good service.

Way to go MrsD and Jarrah - great stuff. (do we have vids? - I love watching the vids from comps - inspires me to go do bits with Kirra.) And how exciting for Chloe - great job - she must have handled Shine beautifully in what sound like awful conditions - and well done Vickie.

Yep - I'm lucky - although to a senior handler, the BCs present other challenges. Gosh, at $12 that is definitely good value.

Not the book - but I've quite enjoyed skim reading her series of article in Clean Run. I like her approach (but don't need it personally - I have driven BCs )

Well done CK and AD - and good job Xena (my Kirra knows all about the problems of sloppy handling )

Oh that's true - but I don't know about them, but my head will be full of agiloity at that stage - and you knwo at my age there's not room for too much in there at any one time. Hey - that's a good idea - I should sit Rory down in front of the screen - he likes watching TV

Hey - wait a minute there - I thought bedazzled was planning to come back to Tasmania this year. You should make sure she does - and come with her . And with your and Cider's inspiration, I have been doing a bit more with Rory - only little bits, but I'm seeing progress.

Another fan of 'stop' here - works really well with my Rory at least in normal circumstances - and you're right, Vickie - seems to work even though I haven't consciously trained it. And Eh (and Eheh) - or the variant - the good old dog training command "Oi" is useful too - but I didn't get those from Cesar.

Couldn't find a direct link - but there are some great articles in Dr Debbie Calnon's Puppy Class handouts - referred to here linky.

Best wishes for Porridge and you. Seems like she's a lucky girl to have landed with you.

OK - that's inspiring, Ptolomy - should get busy with the Rory man.

I can remember Suzanne Clothier telling a story about seeing one of her GSD puppies losing her puppy licence with the household adult dogs in the course of one day!

Oh Daisy, I am so very sorry. You know that I know how you are feeling - but I just wanted to say thank you so very much for having the strength to let Fellow go, even though your heart must be breaking. What I didn't say to you before was that although I didn't have to make the decision to start treatment with my Sam, I probably would have done the same as you, and started treatment, because I didn't want to lose him - but I still don't know whether that would have been the right thing to do. It is such a horrible illness, and the treatment, even if successful, seems that it can take almost as much out of the dog as the illness. Treasure the lovely memories of your beautiful dog - and I'm sure we will all be giving our dogs an extra cuddle - and remembering to treasure them while we have them with us. Take care of yourself.

Thanks for posting this Bindii. Glad everyone is OK. On the subject of fences - yep - amazing what a dog in full chase of a critter can do. Had a phone call from my neighbour (on the next acre bush block) the other day to say he'd just seen Rory in full chase after something or other on his place. Along that fence line, I have stock fencing, with chicken wire inside (used to have hens who thought an acre was not enough for 4 hens ). Anyway, Rory had forgotten where he went through, but I found a critter track, and a spot where they'd been pushing through - I had to lift it up a bit to allow Rory to squeeze through to get back - but in hot pursuit, he must have pushed his own way through.

And I know that you know that the 'socialisation deadline' is actually the end of the dog's life. True, the rate at which they meet new things diminishes as they move through puppyhood into adolescence and adulthood - but every now and again, you'll find them reacting to new things (or even just things in a different place) in a way which will switch you back into 'socialisation' mode - and that's fine. They will incorporate those things into their skill set just the same if you do the same sort of things as you did with them as a puppy.

Not such good news - but it's good that he is still hanging in there. Take care of yourself at this worrying time.