Tassie

Millie finally got her JDM title tonight. Woohoo! She has now officially earnt her retirement from agility :) Super work Miss Millie (with help from RA I guess!).. you can really enjoy your retirement now .. although if you're like my Kirra, you'll demand to keep joining in training.

Thanks to you and SC. That was really interesting to see. Seven really is just beautiful, isn't she .. and you did a great job of getting clear information across.

Not a bed moment, but a 'big dog brother looking after his cats' moment. Bathed the Norwegians for a show, one at a time. Sitting in an armchair, cat wrapped in towel .. gently towel drying. BC Rory working hard on any exposed bits of cat, licking the fur dry, and looking accusingly at me ..."You made them wet!" . Cat just lying back accepting all the attention. Second cat bathed .. Rory still working on first cat who is now wandering around doing the odd lick, and bumping his head against his dog slave. Then while I'm sitting drying the second cat, poor Rory had to divide his attentions between Clyde and Bonnie. He was so glad when they were pretty much dry. Oh and 14 year old Miss Kirra the senior BC just slept through it all. :laugh:

Oh how terribly sad. The only thing is that at least they know. Friend down here still doesn't know what has happened to one of her lost Standard Poodles .. the other one came home a day later .. but no sign of the boy

Very exciting time. It might be worth having a bit of a look round the Dogs Victoria website Dogs Vic .. And you may find there is a breed club for your breed .. they should be able to help with some information. I can still remember the excitement of getting my first pedigreed pure bred pup. Oh, and when your pup does arrive .. don't forget to post photos :-).

Yes, Cavs can definitely do really well at obedience, Rally O and agility. There's a girl in Melbourne who has some lovely working dogs. Really lovely obedience work. A friend here has a girl who adapted really well first to her marriage and then to moving house and the arrival of a baby ..all without turning a hair..oh and she lives happily with a cat. (although they do both hunt rabbits more they live on the outer suburban fringe. :-)

Yes, Cavs can definitely do really well at obedience, Rally O and agility. There's a girl in Melbourne who has some lovely working dogs. Really lovely obedience work. A friend here has a girl who adapted really well first to her marriage and then to moving house and the arrival of a baby ..all without turning a hair..oh and she lives happily with a cat. (although they do both hunt rabbits more they live on the outer suburban fringe. :-)

Read about your great weekend with the clever kids, RS. Super well done. Two Rally trials for us in the last coupe of weekends .. Rally Masters is challenging, but fun. Interestingly, at this weekend's trial, it was the Novice/Advance signs in the RM course that tended to trip people up .. I think a lot of us had been working so hard on the Masters signs, we'd forgotten than there are going to be lots of other signs in the course. Happy to say that after a stumbling start to Masters ..one very ordinary Q, and one where I gave up in disgust .. at me, rather than the dog , ROry and I got our act together better on Saturday for a 97 1st place and a 94 2nd place in RM. That felt better .. but we still need work. Back to agility this weekend .. but with nowhere near enough training. Oh well, we shall see.

That's sad, gilly - but you're doing the right thing for your Anna, hard as it will be. Thank you for sharing your journey .. it reminds me to pay special attention to my just turned 14 year old BC girl.

The nice thing, Sars is that it's not either or. You can train Rally with real precision (play/motivational training) and that will serve you well in obedience as well. Good foundation is never wasted .. and it's easier to get precision from the start if you can, rather than have to train it back in. :D

Better trialling day for us today at another double Rally O trials. Miss 14 aka Kirra, was happy to be there, but wasn't prepared to work for nothing, when she realised the jump she saw was not in out Masters ring (no jumps in Masters) .. it was next door in an Excellent rings. She had fun .. but we baled out early. Mr Rory thankfully did much better than last week, and so did I. :D 1st place with 97 in the morning trial, and then 2nd place with 94 in the pm. I had to call a retry as I confused him (or myself) on one station. He got his spin at heel done quite nicely, and his heel back 3 steps was really nice .. good boy. So good to have my working dog back .. although he was still a bit gawking round .. but he wasn't alone. By the way, note to those going into Masters Rally : Don't forget to practise the Novice and Advanced signs too sometimes .. several of todays competitors actually failed to Q because of mistakes in lower level exercises. We've obviously been concentrating on mastering the Masters signs :D .

:laugh: It does get better ... but in a way that's one of the good things about Rally ..... there's a lot of responsibility on the handler. Oh .. and it get better .. until you get to Masters. I do hope that will get less confusing as we get used to it :laugh:

Yep .. that's what Rally is about. :D

Very exciting waiting for your cute little man. :D It would be worth checking out .. I notice they have a puppy pre school as well as puppy class. They would be happy for you to go and visit before puppy comes. Note they won't be there Labour Day weekend.

I can just imagine that Daisy will really enjoy it, huski. It's great for the oldies, as well as those starting out. at the picture of you wrangling your girls, Jules. But that's the sort of thing we want, isn't it. :D

sooo cute, sars! Don't think there is a specific Rally O thread .. maybe we should start one. Definitely worth giving Rally a go ... easier to learn signs at home, and take them on the road .. you can download and print them from the ANKC Rules on the website Rally rules and signs. I've got a cheapo laminator, so I've laminated mine, and then have some cheap clipboards to clip them on and stand them up. It's worth doing that, so you learn doing the sign in the appropriate position. The descriptions in the rules are pretty good, but you can always ask here for explanations. Some people do Rally because they think it's really easy .. and Novice is certainly not too challenging given that it's on lead. But I like to try to train the signs with precision right from the start (not that you'd always know it) and to train really nice heeling for between the signs. The lovely thing is that you can talk to your dog .. pre-cues, cues, reminders, and most importantly, excited praise just when you need it. So it should be really pretty and fun for your dog. (When I do it with my old girl Kirra, I really talk to her more than I should, and it's not usually pretty ... but she's having fun, and at this stage, that's all I care about.

You're right Jules lots of fun to be had training. :laugh: Our judge was using small domes as markers .. I've also seen bath plugs ... extra challenges for the dogs. The cones in the offset figure with distractions were half domes .. First trial, naughty old Kirra went for one of the domes ..think she thought it was a bowl, then went to a toy .. oops. Funny Poppy with her touch target. I teach 2 classes at dog club, so usually miss out on training on the rally course that's been set ... will maybe have to see if I can get it left out longer.

[quThe spin at heel one was something my guys knew already, since they do it in DWD. Just needed to tidy it up a little bit. It's the bunch of similar signs that are doing my head in .. we can do all of them .. but will I cue the right one by the time I've walked 3 metres away ote] I jinxed myself! So which exercise did my Rory decide he couldn't do in today's first go at Masters Rally .. yep .. the spin at heel .. his party piece. 2 retries in the morning trial .. cost us lots .. and my uncertainty I think was part of the issue in less than stellar performance of other signs. He did pass in the morning, but in the afternoon I pulled him out, as I wasn't happy with the standard of work from either of us. On the other hand, by agility girl Kirra who had her 14th birthday yesterday, managed to do the spin at heel with no problems .. of course on the course as a whole, she wasn't precise enough, but she did manage to get through to the end both rounds, which is a little bit more than I expected.. She was really only in to support the club with an entry, and for her to have a bit of fun .. small trial, so not holding anyone up. So .. back to the drawing board to try to fix the problems before next week.

:laugh: JulesP .. you're right ... can have lots of fun without trialling .. and the supportive and encouraging group of friends makes a HUGE difference (and the converse .. a bunch of "joy-suckers" and unsportsmanlike people can ruin something. The spin at heel one was something my guys knew already, since they do it in DWD. Just needed to tidy it up a little bit. It's the bunch of similar signs that are doing my head in .. we can do all of them .. but will I cue the right one by the time I've walked 3 metres away

Good suggestion, LisaCC. It's a chance to showcase your dog's work in shorter bursts, and without the stress of listening to the judge. And because different things are happening at each station, it's easier to keep the dog engaged. And .... not only can you talk to your dog, you're encouraged to :D . My agility girl (retired) never did like obedience .. my bad training .. but she quite likes Rally O ... thinks it's some perverted form of agility, I think.

You need to check this, but my holistic vet said that it's important to give Vitamin E as well when you're using fid oil. Some fish oil capsules do have Vitamin E included. Not sure of the proportions.

True ... and I would add, that as a broad generalisation, many obedience clubs are not the best place to train a trial obedience dog. I have taken my dogs in classes, but mainly just to get them used to doing a little bit of work in a distracting environment .. but I dip in and out of class, and do bits and pieces on the fringes. I certainly wouldn't be putting my dogs in a situation where they could be worried by dogs coming near them when they're tied up. Not sure where you are, but a better situation is if you could get together with a small group of like minded trainers (or even one) and you and your little dog could have fun doing lots of play training. The sort of thing that clubs are generally not so good at doing .. partly because it doesn't really fit in with the big class structure.

Your breeder should be able to advise on flea, tick and worming control. Depending on the breed of your puppy, you may need to be a bit selective about what you use, since there are breeds which have a sensitivity to particular medications. It's also worth looking/asking around your locality to find a good vet practice, if you don't have a favourite vet already, and maybe even go and chat to them.

:birthday: All dogs should be so lucky, Benny. Such a beautiful series of photos of a much loved and cherished boy. Thanks for sharing Brandianwe.

You poor thing. But it's good that Jindi quite likes the new girlie. Do hope that everything works out well for you. Sometimes things just fall into place .. hope this is one of those times. But take care of yourself too!