Tassie

Mwaaaah - so not fair for you sandgropers to have all the gurudom Me too, ness.

:D Good onya biker_girl - that's Ulverstone? Darn - too far for me to come and watch. I'm sure she'll do you proud - she's a lovely worker. But if not - hey, they don't call it "Futility Dog" for nothing .

You and me both about the page 3 girl. Glad the routine went better this time. Yes, I can see that timing is pretty critical. I need to get some music going, and see if I can fit the few moves we have into some music. Now - is that before or after the tracking training, some obedience training with Rory, Kirra's agility trial (virtually no training ) ..... to say nothing of work, which seriously gets in the way of dog stuff .

Yep - agree with Keshwar about not doing one after the other until they are solid. If you're in a class where they're doing them straight after the other, you can always release your dog with your release word, and move them round a bit. And agree with ness about "keep doing what you're doing until I tell you something else" - I'm trying to do that with my youngster. Having said that - it does seem to be a common BC problem. My guess is that in their stock work, they would normally be standing, moving, or dropped, so in a way, drop is a bit of a genetically programmed position. Had the problem with my first BC boy - eneded up rewarding the sit position so heavily, that he would tend to pop into a sit right at the end of the 10 minutes( in those days) long down, thinking that I would be so pleased with him. :D And there was the day we were doing Open in Victoria - 10 dogs in the ring, 3 BCs - came back from the out of sight after the sit stay - 3 dogs in a drop - you guessed it - the 3 BCs - I was quite pleased as my boy had been the last one down. He obviously looked along the line and decided BC union rules were to drop. :D

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Woohoooo! Go Ness ADM. That's a great achievement. Now I want to hear abouit today. May we quote you???? Mind you, I'm making the same sort of decision in relation to the little big man. Only problem is you have to train for it - and you know how bad I am at that. Miss Kirra did some nice stuff in the little bit of training we did today - but also some weird stuff - like following my shoulders instead of committing to the tunnel - and then jumped up onto the tunnel and over it. Maybe we shouldn't have done the bit of dance training beforehand. Oh well, as long as she gets it out of her system before a double trial next week.

So would this be an obedience brag or an agility brag?? And where is the girl anyway? :D

Hi MrsD - nice to 'see' you again. Well, you know what they say - "bad rehearsal, good show". All the best for your upcoming performances. Wish I could be up there to see them.

This thread reminded me to stock up on Sentinel Spectrum. Priceless Pets has outdone themselves this time - faxed the order on Wednesday - it arrived this morning. Now that is real service - Brisbane to Hobart in about 36 hours!

Its not exactly working them...sometimes they are out loose and he has a run with them. I pretty much call him straight off them, and he returns to me. I mentioned it more from a funny comment angle. Its interesting to note that running with me is one of Kobe's strengths - I love to jog and he jogs with me right by my leg, only running ahead if I give him the go ahead. His obedience, and understanding of commands is pretty good, in my opinion. I have managed to find a trainer to help me with Kobe...pretty local....and we are starting him on Foundation Agility at the end of this month. Just ground stuff to start with. He's VERY excited Oh, that's cool. BTW - does he usually run mostly to one side of you? If so, one of the things to pay attentiion to in your Foundation training, is having him run just as happily on the othr side. But sounds like you've already got a good start happening. Just looking at the new photos on the Breed thread - he is just gorgeous.

Advocate is a spot on, and Sentinel Spectrum is a monthly tablet. Without checking the product infor, they may also cover slightly different things. I use the Spectrum as a heartworm preventative (so the dogs are always covered when we come to the mainland), as their monthly all wormer, and it covers hydatid tapeworms for when we come back into Tasmania. It also has an insect growth regulator.

Amen to that, ness. And yes, Jules - it's because I'm busy competing (agility and tracking with Miss Kirra, and taxiing Rory to shows) that I don't have time to train - oh yes, and the working to support the doggy habits - to pay for things like dog-friendly accommodation, entry fees ......... Of course, there is also the fact that I need a guru to organise me!!

Lovely story, Rommimum - it's amazing how you can hold your breath for 3 minutes, isn't it. I've had judges say "you can breathe now" when someoone's been sitting on a pass :D . RubyStar - yes, no excuses - you're right there in the centre of the universe as far as dog trainers go . I travelled 5000 kms to visit one of the gurus - and would do again. Yeah, ness - I know I'm slack - too much going on, trying to do too many things with the dogs - and having to work to support luxuries like visits to gurus.

Agree with what the others have said re obstacles, but he's certainly old enough to do a lot of foundation traiining/flat work - and it will make his later training so much easier. Have a look on Agility Click, Clean Run and/or Dogwise and you'll see some DVDs on agility foundation training. I'm pretty sure some of the Vic obedience clubs offer foundation (no obstacles) agility classes, and they might not have such a big waiting list. (Oh - and chasing up the cows next door - is that working them with permission? Otherwise, I would be stopping it right now, for a variety of reasons - including that if you want to work him in agility, he needs to learn to place a very high value on working with you - as Greg Derrett says, agility is mostly about running with your dog - which is why the foundation stuff is so important.)

I started trialling way back in 1991 with my first BC. I was lucky to have a training buddy - but unlucky in that we belonged to a traditional club (pretty much all there was in those days). Sam struggled through Novice (my bad), then breezed through Open - would have got CDX sooner if it hadn't been for the BC thing of dropping out of sit stay. (We were trialling in Victoria one day - 10 dogs in the Open ring - 3 BCs - came out from behind the hide - 3 dogs down - you guessed it - the 3 BCs - I was quite proud that Sam had been the last one to drop - he obviously thought the BC union rule was being applied. . We competed happily, but largely unsuccessfully, in UD for years - did get one pass, and some very near misses. Our bugbear was scent discrimination - lacking confidence in the ring. Kept going though, as Sam was too big for competition agility under the old height rules - and he enjoyed most of being in the ring. We got zeroed one day for anticipation in directed jumping - he was so keen he headed for the box as soon as the judge said "Are you ready" - and he was 12 at the time :D . I must say that I'm a lazy trainer, and a rather slack competitor - I trial because I can, rather than aiming for high scores. If titles come along, that's a bonus. I should try and do better with Master Rory - but I don't think this leopard is really going to change her spots at this stage. My dogs have tracked as well - TD for Sam and Fergus, and TDX so far for Kirra. Kirra's my Masters agility dog - but she doesn't do obedience - she doesn't believe in it.

Hi Pandii I buy meds online from here. I've alwats found their service good and their prices cheaper than most places.

When I would train obedience with my first BC at a friend's place (so the kids could help provide distractions), their cat would always come and help too. She was a lovely cat, but too much for Sam - she would run out to the dumbbell when I threw it, and Sam would say "Nope - not getting that." :rolleyes: And if one of the family was being a post for figure of 8, the cat would sit alongside them - Sam wouldn't go near that 'post'. That same cat used to join in a game of cricket, too - she'd sit right behind the stumps Gotta love cats.

Yep - I'd say vet too. I never muck around with eyes more than a day or so - too much risk of permanent problems. Last time I took my pup in I was very apologetic, saying I was wasting the vet's time - but he was glad I'd brought the pup in - some ointment cleared up the problem quickly.

Agree with training the drop from a stand, especially for the dog with a rock solid sit. You can do it as 4 paws describes, but with most dogs, you can get it luring from the front. Use a fairly large, lickable piece of food, hold between your fingers so the dog can lick it but not grab it. With dog in stand, move your hand slowly back between the dog's front paws and down towards the ground - slowly so the dog has the chance to be licking all the way. Watch for the elbows bending - you may want to reward this a time or two to show the dog he's on the right track. Then withhold the reward until the butt goes down as well. Problems - dog is likely to back up - remedies - try it in a corner so he can't back up very far. And/or just close your hand over the food, and then allow the dog to take a step or two back into the stand and strt again. When the dog does hit the down, I like to drop a piece or two of food in between his paws to reinforce hte position, while I'm standing. You can turn this to the side once the dog gets it - food in left hand, hand with palm to dog - do the same nack and down action. This will ultimately become your signal. The foldback down from stand is a really nice one, especially for both heeling, and for change of position exercises, since there will be no forward movement from the stand. And can you tell - I like to teach without putting my hands on the dog.

I guess it depends how solid Seven is on her seek back. If you're concerned, you could try it out in training to see what happens. When I had my Sam in UD, I was at my then club, mowing the UD ring ready for an upcoming trial with an ordinary motor mower. You can imagine how many times I walked up and down the ring behind the mower. Anyway when I'd finished mowing and started to do some training, I wasn't going to try the seek back but then I decided to give it a go just to see what would happen - but with no pressure on the dog. Just did a simple pattern - and Sam nailed it - good boy. So I guess they're working on the principle of hottest handler scent. Mind you, Sam was pretty experienced by then.

Woohooo! Way to go Ptolomy - that's very exciting. (I once saw a 200 in Open - that was exciting enough - I can't imagine what it would be like to get it.) Enjoy that Moet. You've earned it.

In that context,'track on' means that having passed one test at a particular trial, you may be able to attempt the next test at the same trial - as it says, if there are tracks. time and tracklayers available. If there are more requests for track ons than there are tracks/time available, then there can be a ballot.

Netti - you could try giving biker girl a PM - I think she lives up that end of the island. Not sure if NW dog training club still does any agility - but you could ask. They train at Ulverstone show ground. Sorry I can't be more help - haven't trialled up that way for a while.

Hey Gamby - congratulations! And what a way to finish his CD - way to go Gamby man . (I had the pleasure of meeting Gamby at Geelong's agility trial that I did on the way to Adelaide for agility nats - gosh, nearly 2 years ago. So now I follow Gamby's progress with even more interest. And great detective work from ness .

I think he's 9 now - still flies around courses and is a joy to watch - and still naughty sometimes :D . Amanda does an awesome job with him, and he's a lovely boy. Vickie - they're lovely photos of Flynnie - especially that second one.