Tassie

Waits for video of ness slinking off . Know how you feel ness - my previous BC boy was a chunky one - 545mm, but also solid - very hard to get weight down on him . I've probably got Mr Fergus a little too lean at present - he dropped some weight while we were at Nationals - not 'cos he was running (still got no control over him near agility gear) but he stresses quite a bit.

How long is a piece of string? It varies a lot depending on the build of the dog - and Border Collies can vary hugely. My two as adults are 510mm tall at withers and about 18kg (male) and 495 mm and about 14.5kg (female) - but they are both fairly light framed dogs, and I deliberately keep them on the quite lean side. Your best guide for an adult is to look at body condition - looked at from on top, you should be able to see a waist, and from the side, you should be able to see a tuck up. With hands on the back, thumbs at the spine, you should be able to feel ribs without having to press in - ribs are just lightly covered. For a 4 month old, I would be happy if they were covered a bit more, but by about 6 months, I like them to start matching the normal - normal/lean picture. Here are some links that might help. Purina body condition chart Ohio State vet school body condition chart Pet education article Bear in mind though, that my dogs are performance dogs, not conformation show dogs. I think show dogs are supposed to have more condition on them. I keep mine lean but well muscled to keep them able to perform for longer.

Good grief - and they charge enough, too . That's horrendously expensive - double what most places I stay have charged. I'm so sorry for you and the poor pups - hope they recover well. Lucky for them they have a cluey owner who got onto it straight away. Bet you feel like putting that info in the guest review on their site.

Sentinel Spectrum doesn't do ticks, so you're still going to have to get the Advantix onto them and wait the 2 days before they swim. I use Sentinel Spectrum year round on my BCs, and add Advantix fortnightly when we're going to be in tick areas. (In high tick areas I also add Proban tablets.) All this on the emailed advice of the vet practice which also sells meds online. But definitely check with your own vet. Oh, and whatever you use, the daily tick checks are essential - nothing is 100% effective.

I do the same sort of thing as squeak and leema - quick succession of small bits of yummy stuff - mince usually - several unbaitd pieces and then one baited quickly followed by several unbaited - as was said, helps if the dog can catch. It's much more effective if you have more than one dog, so there's an element of competition involved (mind you, then you have to be sure you're giving the tablets to the right dog. Got it wrong a couple of times with my previous bitch's thyroid meds - major panic stations the first time, but no dramas. With the previous 2, we got to the point where when my BC boy was so conditioned, that when he was doing therapy dog visits, he would get all excited when he heard the meds trolley coming round - he never could understand why the people didn't get mince with their tablets. ;) My current 2 get Sentinel monthly, and just take that straight from my hand. Now - don't get me started on trying to give pills to some cats. My fingernail is still growing out from where my dear old Kitty (RIP) nailed me with a canine tooth right through the fingernail - she didn't mean to - jsut reflex action - but owww.

So sorry for you and your family having to go through this - it's the price we pay for having our beloved pets. The others have given excellent advice - I do like the 'weighing the good days against the bad days' - and also remember what a vet posted on a forum once - she'd had many owners regretting that they've waited a little too long to release their pet, but not had people say they acted too soon. We always want to hang on that bit longer - in hopes of a miracle, I guess. You've already provided the miracle for this dog, by giving her a loving home over these years. I do echo the advice about considering what you want to do after she goes - I fouind it very helpful to have made this decision in advance - for me it was cremation for my dogs (though I bury my cats.) It will help your kids too, to know what is going to happen. Yes the dog left nehind can grieve - and that will add to your stress - but it will also help you to have that dog to care for. If it helps, know that many DOLers have been through this - it hurts - but as I said, it's part of the price we pay for the wonderful things our dogs give us.

Bummer - clashes with agility at Launceston Royal. Oh, well, never mind. Hope you guys have a really good trial. Hi Poodlefan - you'll be glad to know that Kirra's start line stay is still in place - held up at Nationals.

Obedience humiliation - oh yeah, been there done that - in fact, still doing it. One of my best (or worst) depending on your POV, was when I was trialling my previous BC in UD on a cricket ground which was next to a tip, and was obviously a seagull roosting place. As we were doing the heeling for the seekback, I noticed this white stuffall over the ground, but didn't think much of it, until when I sent Sam out to get his article, he started stopping to eat whatever it was - and kept on, gradually making his way along, snacking as he went. He actually got to the article, but decided it was much less interesting than his snacking - which turned out to be regurgitated fish from the seagulls. Obviously highly nutritious and delicious. Guess I hadn't proofed him against that. A friend had a really nice working corgi in UD at the same time. He was a super dog, and could turn in some beautiful work. But she would tell the memorable story of the day he ended up owing the judge points :rolleyes: = zeroed every exercise, including the groups, and also peed in the ring - which he NEVER did! Seriously - as Ptolomy says, it wounds like it was a really difficult environment - so you should be pleased with anything your dog did well - and ness's mum should be really pleased with her gorgeous girl.

Way to go Leopuppy and Jess on those titles - and Jess on your finals performance - great job. Are you guys sure you want to play in Masters Jumping???? It was amazing to see so many brilliant dogs and handlers - and to be able to run without too many major disasters on my part - not as many DQs as usual - and the ones I had were little ones - if you know what I mean - slight handling mistakes, rather than major 'forgot the course' efforts. Open Agility seemed to be Kirra's thing for the two weekends - got her ADO title at Hastings, and then 2 more passes at Nationals. Our best result was a 6th in Excellent Strategic Pairs at Nationals - might have been a bit better if Kirra hadn't decided to take the scenic route over a couple of jumps and the scramble to get to the seesaw where we needed to be . Although we only had 3 Qs at Nationals, we also had some good runs - including getting round Masters Jumping on the Sunday morning with only time faults (4.5 seconds over the pretty tight time - I was pleased with that.) Pippi - nice to meet you - sorry I didn't have time to see more of you - it was all a bit hectic wasn't it. Just wanted to record my appreciation of everyone who helped with the organisation - without you, we wouldn't have been able to have such fun with our dogs.

Yep - there are a few Tasmanians doing both days. I'm just having a last forum fix before I leave to drive the 3 and a half hours to Devonport to get on the boat. Looking forward to seeing you again Leopuppy - even if it is without your 'darling' little girl!

That's a great achievement! As Ptolomy says - now on to OC and then UDX.

Great job! OK MrsD, you've inspired me to do more work with my guys - well, after Agility Nationals, and after the tracking season finishes .... Thanks for showing us.

:p You're so very right Poodlefan - (and you haven't even seen my Kirra and her partner Mollie running together .) Her mum and I are having T shirts made with our pairs name "Ancient Women". When one of the dogs gets it wrong, the other often will - like 5 goes to get the weavers (!), or 4 to get the DW. It's quite hysterical - especially when both dogs are running a sequence together, and the judge has lost track of which dog actually went over the obstacle, since 2 B/W rough coated BCs look quite similar in motion. Luckily, we're too old to take ourselves too seriously. Clean pairs runs are very nice to watch - but not half as much fun.

In ANKC, Jumping is just jumps and tunnels - i.e. no weavers (except in Open Jumping) and no contact obstacles. Therefore, course times are lower - rate of travel is higher. Agility includes weavers at all levels, contact obstacles (seesaw not until Excellent and above.) Strategic Pairs course needs to be completed by the 2 dog/handler teams between them - but each dog doesn't do each obstacle. There must be 2 swaps, but may be more. If one dog faults an obstacle, the other team must go in and do the obstacle successfully before, and if that one faults, then the first one comes back to fix it. If you're having a bad day, this can go on for a while. Snooker - has reds (single bars) and colours (other obstacles, worth different points. In the opening sequence, dog/handler team takes a red, colour, red, colour, reed colour - then proceeds to designated closing sequence which must be competed in order. Gamblers - handler 'designs' own course from what's out there, with the aim of accumulating as many points as possible, within a prescribed time - then does the closing seequence which is distance handling (similar to Open). Does that help? Oh, and Masters and Open titles can be multiplied - so for example, first 5 passes in JDO = JDO, next 5 = JDO2. You can find the ANKC rules here.

Thanks kelpiechick. For Lelune - Yes, I totally endorse the Greg Derret Fouidation video, and I've just finished going through the Susan Salo one for the first time - and trying some of the exercises at Club - went well. I haven't got the Kim Collins book - but looks like that's my next purchase. Thanks for that info about experience at your club. Sounds very much like ours. So it's worth persevering then. We're short of instructors too, but we have a solid core of fairly successful triallers who get the picture. Part of the problem is time, since some intructors are doing obedience, puppy class etc. as well.

Sounds good. Some of us use clothes pegs with abouit 12 cm or so of bright ribbon or surveyors (fluoro) tape hanging off them (so a piece about 24cm long tied through the peg. You can use these pegged into grass, or on sticks, or up in bushes, depending on the terrain you're in. Easier to carry than flags, and it's good to mark the track some way other than on the ground, so the smart little doggies don't get used to always having markers.

You need to have the turn marked for yourself - so that you know exactly where it is, and can stay back from it and let the dog work around it. I usually place an article reasonably soon after a turn when the dog is learning - but ot so close that it would encourage the dog to cut the corner - so maybe 15 metres or so, depending on the vegetation - and then lengthen the distance out to regulation (and greater). I do usually put a small piece or two of food abouit 3-5 metres from the turn (in the new direction - dog doesn't always notice, but ISTM it will reinforce the action of making the turn, and be less likely to cause a cut off than if the article was there.)

Interesting - thanks ladies - that kind of confirms what the trialling instructors at the club are thinking and trying to get. Now to convince the others .... Again, sorry, Lelune - I've gone a bit O/T - but you can see that there's quite a discussion about where to start. For specifics, I would recommend having a look at some of the foundation agility stuff which is available - e.g. Susan Garrett's DVDs Crate Games and Success with one jump. Agility is about teamwork, you and the dog responding to each other and respecting each other, so really that is a great starting point - for obedience and other disciplines as well of course. So lots of games which help the dog respond to you and your movements - that can be done without equipment, or with only one simple jump. And as others have said, look at some of the resources available free on the net. There's also an online (but not free) agility course - haven't tried it - others might have and be able to advise.

Hey, would you folks like to come and talk to poeple at our club. Some of us are fighting this battle at the moment - on the basis of helping others avoid our mistakes. One of the comebacks we get is that people just want to do it for fun, not to be too serious about it. Maybe so, but ISTM there's still a really valid place for a foundation class/classes before you get to the obstacles. What do other clubs do. Sorry OP, I've taken this a bit O/T.

Don't overdo the jumping - even over a broomstick . At his age, this is your perfect opportunity to work on the foundation skills - shadow handling, circle work, and other on ground work - including start line stays - all that really basic stuff that some of us who've been in the game for a while didn't do, but now wish we had . Try to have a look at the Greg Derrett Agility Foundations video, and Clean Run mag articles if you can get them. I'm sure there's some other stuff on the net. Susan Garrett's Crate Games DVD has some good stuff too. And she has an article on the net about getting a dog interested in and playing with a motivator like a tug toy - great time to do that too. It's all about building up a great relationship with your dog, and that will set you up for agility, obedience, dancing - whatever you decide to do. Plus it's fun.

Congrats on the adorable new arival Erny - and enjoy the new journey. ;)

Ack! Make sure you have it well strapped. Sounds like the grounds are not going to be ideal. See you there.

FWIW, I had 2 older dogs who did very well on Supercoat Lite and Mature for several years. I'd be looking at adding Joint Guard, or some other joint supplement, rather than looking for it in the food. JMHO.

Cool, Helen! It's going to be fun catching up with everyone. Are you doing Hastings as well? ... Reddii - sounds like you had a really successful weekend - and Seita. Lots of clever doggies - and handlers of course.

Way to go ness and Ness. That's great. Kirra and I had a good trial yesterday too - some runs that felt really nice, and were way quick - though the odd missed contact, pulled bar and/or brief brain fade by the mother meant NQ or DQ. Right at the end of the day though, we finally got it together for Qs in Masters Agility ( only #2), and Open Agility #4 - 1 to go. We finished JDO2 the other week, so maybe we're finally getting things together.