Tassie

Yep - not just you, Vickie - and not just NSW. I think they might be getting past the RFP problem - or I hope so - I haven't seen one called. Hopefully the refusal rule will be addressed in rules review meetings - it's certainly a grey area.

Hi Helen. No - wish I could, but I'm actually going to be in NSW on my way up to the Mary Ray 6 day at Camp Tailwaggers. I'm going to try and get in a few agility trials in NSW, and an agility workshop, so it'll be a full on trip - finishing with the agility weekend at Warrnambool. Gotta make the most of being on the mainland. I would certainly have tried to get to Gina's workshop if I could have. It should be great.

Slightly OT for jayakita - Akitas certainly wouldn't be breed of choice for someone getting a dog for agility - but yes, they can do it. I haven't seen one in Oz, although I think there are some. Here's an American link I found in a quick web search - Akita agility link

Hi Ness - sent you a PM re accommodation.

I use it when my dogs win some at trials helps to repay entry fees. I usually mix it with other food. Quite happy with it, and dogs, coats, energy levels and poos seem fine.

Dean, I am so sorry that you lost your little mate. It's a terrible thing to happen. Thanks for thinking of other dogs, and posting this. A friend's 5 year old BC bitch had an episode of this a few months ago. She was taken to the vet pretty soon after onset, but the vet on duty at the time did not pay enough attention to what my friend was describing and did not think it was very serious. Result was a dreadful night for dog and owner, and a very sick dog hospitalised on a drip and IV antibiotics for a couple of days. So the take-home message from that is - if you don't think your vet is taking something like this seriously enough, push harder or go to another vet.

Couple of things - totally agree about breaking it down into smaller pieces. If he'll bend his elbows, reward that a couple of times - then wait for a full bow - reward that a few times - then don't reward that, but hold the food till his butt goes down. For this one - quite big pieces of somethin like Devon sausage, that you can keep between your fingers so that he can lick it, but not get it. If he bounces up, just withhold the treat, and start again. IMHO, patience is key here - and figuring out the position the food needs to be in - your hand will be on the ground, between his front paws and slightly back under his chest - trial and error will show you where it needs to be. Personally, I don't use my hand to persuade the butt to go down - for a variety of reasons - I feel it's better to wait the dog out, so that he has to do the figuring about what gets him the treat. I teach this one in front, before trying it from the side. Agree about the repeat treating while the dog is in position - you don't want him thinking he's got to get up to get another treat. Hope that made sense.

Darn it - another thing Tasmanians miss out on - somebody should drain Bass Strait - but then again, perhaps not. It should be a terrific weekend - I was lucky enough to join some friends for a day at Paul's last year - he was great.

It's great, isn't it. I'm pretty sure that's one of Mary Ray's dogs (she's coming out to Camp Tailwaggers again in October.) I think it's either Quincy or Taz. Both qualified for the Crufts Obedience Finals this year - and Quincy came 3rd. He does heelwork to music as well - as does Taz. Who says you can't combine disciplines successfully. ETfix typo

You should be proud of yourself, Shoemonster. Sounds like the training is coming along well - just upping the distance gradually is good for you and the dogs. We found, gradually upping the speed was good too, so that the dogs learn to gait comfortably at about 12 or 13kph (didn't work for Fergus, but he was comfortable at 10kph. Most training rides we would do about 6-8 km once we got that distance up. I took my Border Collies for a nice bike ride along a pretty foreshore track on Tuesday - it was a sunny day, but a bit sindy - they really enjoyed riding again, I think, and I did. So what you're doing is not only setting up for ET, but could become a nice way of keeping everyone in good condition.

Yep - agree not to worry too much about the dogs heart rate etc. Building up their fitness along with yours will mean that they'll be fine. Heart rate has a wide range of variables - and the stress of having it taken (BTW, vet does it with a stethoscope) can send it up. One of mine had 110 at the pre-race check with my own vet, but my girl was stressing out, and hers was about 130, I think, On the actual day, each of mine had one reading of 160 - but again, vet looked at the whole picture, and decided there was a "white coat" fear factor in there, (even though she had a Drizabone on. ) From what I saw, the temp is more critical, since that is less dependent on factors like stress. Myszka wrote From what we learnt, it's really important to train your dogs to gait pretty smoothly, in spite of distractions. The rules say they are not allowed to be pulling (although most judges give a bit of leeway for the first few kms while they settle down.) (They're also not allowed to lag significantly, and be towed along by the handler .) The judge can issue warnings if the dog is not working on a loose-ish lead - and also, a dog which pulls all the time, if not ruled out by the judge, may well fail the vet check anyway because of elevated temperature. I would certainly take your dogs riding with you when you're building up your own fitness. It won't hurt them if you're going more slowly at first. You'll all have fun, and from my experience, you will build up stamina and strength fairly quickly. Good advice about making sure you've got your bike set up well, though - especially if your knees are bad.

My two Border Collies did it last year, with some friends. We trained 3 or 4 times a week for probably 3 months, just gradually building up distance and speed. A tip - now you've got your bike computer - keep a record of what you do - mileage, average speed, max speed, and also surface and air temperature. I trained my two together - they managed fine - and only switched to one right towards the end, so Kirra could get used to riding with my friend's OH who took her in the test. We had to find parks etc. to train, since we're not allowed to bike with dogs on public roads down here. Don't forget to do some training on gravel too - again, not too much at first, so the dogs' paws don't get sore. Yes, AFAIK, the hear rate thing is to make sure they don't go up too much above their resting heart rate as measured by the vet in their pre-test fitness check (compulsory to have that - vet fills out temp, heart rate etc.) Temp must stay in a safe range - vet may re-check at end of 15 minutes, if temp is too high - but if it doesn't come down by then, dog will be withdrawn. As far as speed goes, make sure you do some training at about 13kph, and a bit even higher. Sometimes for a variety of reasons, judges will have the pacemaker going a bit faster in the first couple of legs, to have "time in the bank" - usually won't be above 13, but has been known. And don't forget that the weather may be crappy on test day - maybe very cold, or very cold and wet and veryt windy - like in Tasmania last year :D - so best to have had at least a couple of goes in that sort of weather to see what the dog will do. Hydration - you and the dog - is very important. Riding with the other dogs didn't seem to be much of an issue, even for my somewhat reactive boy. Have fun!

V weaves for my bitch has worked really well, using a target at the end (or in the early days, after the first few.) It's handy if you have an extra person, so you can make sure the dog doesn't get the treat unless it has actually gone through the weaves. My goofy boy tends to want to jump the v weaves, so I think channel is better for him - gradually closing up poles - and again, targetting. My girl has personal space issues, so she doesn't like me to be too close when she's 'working'. In any case, given that she is waaaay faster than me, I wanted independent weave pole performance from the start - so I don't use the luring/hand method. I also want the dog driving into and through the weavers. A good tip I got was, if you're using V weaves, close up the last poles first, so the dog is still driving theough, before it gets to the staightened poles - and close them up gradually - same applies to channel, I think.

Jules, you and Tia look great in that video. She's balancing sheep nicely to you, and paying attention to you. You look like you know what you're doing too How is she with only a few sheep, and in a smaller area. That used to be a bit of a downfall for Kirra and me - but Tia looks as though she'll cope fine with the instinct test. Best of luck - and let us know how you go. Take care.

Hi Helen - it was super to meet you and your lovely dogs - and to see you do so well at Geelong. Delaforce, the facilities and organisation in Adelaide were absolutely superb. And the GSD club people were tireless. There was coffee and food available all day long - and lovely food. It made such a difference to the competitors' comfort - especially us interstate competitors. Please let them know their hard work was very much appreciated. I was packing it before I went, thinking that I was going to be totally overwhelmed - but the organisation was so good that you had time to walk courses, run them, and then time for some lovely refreshments before you started again. And we met some lovely people, and saw some amazing dogs and handlers. All in all, a great experience.

Thanks Ness - I am very proud of my little girl. SCT for Sunday am Masters Jumping was 40 seconds, I'm pretty sure.

Yep - we did!! It was mind-blowing. There were so many fabulous dogs and handlers there, but the rules of the teams events are designed to give the smaller/less experienced states a chance. We knew we couldn't match the speed of the other teams, so we just tried to run as clean as possible. The agility leg was run in the morning - quite a tricky course, and a lot of the top dogs were pretty toey. Both agility and jumping legs were Masters courses, and one of our team members is still in Excellent in both, and I'm still in Excellent Agility, so we had never run a Masters Agility course. We're pretty darn pleased with our good dogs who really listened and tried their hearts out for us. What was really nice was the congratulations we got from so many other competitors - they were fantastic.

We just got back home from Nationals an hour ago - drove Adelaide to Melbourne yesterday, ferry overnight, Devonport-Hobart this morning. Dogs are pooped - sound asleep on the floor at my feet. What an awesome experience - and it was so nice to meet the Ness and Ness - and what a great effort for you guys to make finals. Kirra and I snagged 2 individual passes over the weekend - our first time so first pass in Novice Strat Pairs, and an Open Agility Pass. And she got an award for highest scoring non-Masters-titled dog in that Masters Jumping course on the Sunday morning where there were only 15 Quallies. We went clear but had 1 time fault (0.7 secos over) - I was stoked with her run in that. And I was delighted with her that she listened to me, and had no DQs in the teams event - that was our strategy. We had a course fault in the agility leg - not bad since it was Masters and we're still in Excellent - and a course fault and some time faults in the Jumping leg. I'll look at the videos at work tomorrow (I'm on dial-up) - looking forward to seeing them.

I actually taught my girl with V-weaves, but I have played with the 2x2 with the boy - but not consistently enough. Once they have the idea of weaving, I like to use click for a complete correct set. I'll also use a target - good if you've got a friend to help with that. With a friend, you can also use a tug-toy or ball thrown at the end of a completed correct set to help build drive. A good tip I got from someone in Queensland, was - not to be in too much of a hurry to close up the v - and when you do, straighten poles gradually from the far end at first, so the dog is driving through and then encounters the straightened poles - chances are they will have their rhythm going by then, and will keep driving - rewards as above. If I'm just working on entries, I use 4 straight poles (thanks, Deb Kelly), and work up and back with me staying on the one side, and working round the clock each end. I use the clicker to mark correct performance there too. Oh, and be careful what you wish for - I've created a weave monster, so weavers are added to the list of high-risk-for-off-course obstacles.

I use Sentinel Spectrum - 2 reasons - it covers hydatid tapeworms (necessary for dogs travelling into Tasmania) and the tablet is inside, so I know it's through their system - a spot-on, you're relying on the grdual absorption through the skin - and the Forntline experience suggests that may not always be foolproof. JMHO

I'd agree it varies with breeds, and with individual dogs, but in general terms, probably 4 - 8. Having said that, if you're careful, both with the physical and the mental and emotional spects of training, you can keep them working happily way past 8. My previous Border Collie boy Sam ran in Novice Jumpers when it first came in - he was 12, and even with 3 refusals (bad momma) he outran me and came in under course time. He would also still sometimes get zeroed in the UD ring for anticipation - e.g on sendout for directed jumping, and on directed retrieve - actually that made me quite happy, since it said he was still enjoying himself.

What a good point, Vickie. I'm officially a senior citizen, and not nearly fit enough - and although officially retired, I work 4 days a week - and don't have equipment at home - so realistically, I'm not going to be able to achieve with my little BC what her potential might have been in another situation. But as her breeder says - "the dog doesn't know about titles, wins etc - she just wants to have fun and play the agility game with you". So all I can do as you say, is try to be the best handler I can be, and train her the best way I can.

I had unreliable contact performance with Kirra, and I've gone back to using a target placed on the ground off the end of the contact - I've tried to pair that with the verbal cue 'touch'. In training, she does a brief wait and then release, but in trials, it becomes effectively a running contact. I place the target/treat far enough off the contact end that it's effectively a one rear toe on - but not formally that. It's been working pretty well in trials, but I find I have to keep using a target/treat intermittently in training - usually getting someone else to place it there. I should have prefaced this by saying I'm too lazy and inconsistent to train a formal 2o/2o or 1RTo - and I don't really like the look of them. My girl is fast, and I think she'd get frustrated with anything requiring a pronounced stop. On the other hand, I do need independent obstacle performance. In training, if she misses a contact, she gets a verbal nrm, and gets to do it again a couple times to get it right. On course in a trial, I keep going, and make a mental note to up the training. I've treated the weaves as a single obstacle, and in both training and in trials, I will take her back to the beginning to get it right. Although the rules allow you to put your dog back in where it popped, I don't - partly because she's fast and I wouldn't know, but also because of the 'single obstacle' philosophy.

Way to go Husky87. It's lots of fun, isn't it. Not to say you can't achieve good results without the clicker - but it's so nice for giving clear and precise information to the dog, and as you've seen, the dogs will be busy trying to figure out how to make that thing click. I love it when they will throw behaviour at you to see what might work. Lots of fun all round.

Oh poor Moses - and poor you. That's a nuisance that they couldn't find the grass seed - but they can be very tiny and still cause a lot of trouble, so they might have missed it in cleaning the abscess out. Hugs to the boy. And Fergus sympathises with Moses - no swimming for a while.