Tassie

Love it!! Such a shame dogs and cats can't get along isn't it?

Thank you so much for sharing the photos of Punpunya and her little Westie bestie. What a beautiful girl she was .. and what a great life she had with you. So sorry last night was so horrible, but you were there for her all the time. Gentle hugs to you and your family and the little Westie kid.

Thinking of you today. You have the comfort of knowing that she has told you it's time ... and you're treasuring the memories of her wonderful life with you. We never know how the remaining dog will cope .. that may be almost the hardest thing for you in days to come . Lots of thoughts with you.

Why not think of the trial exercises as tricks too............."For our next trick......the recall!!" Blow everybody else, it's just you against the rule book!! Couldn't agree more. It's definitely not either/or. The more I learn about training, the more I understand that it's all about having fun with your dog, and building up confidence in both dog and handler. Oh, and I do sympathise with your discomfort at cliqueyness ... it's in many places, and it's unpleasant. But if you can, try to spot some like minded, supportive people, and focus on having a good day with your dog. And if I can give another piece of advice .. try not to concentrate on the pass that you want. Focus instead on showcasing your dog's strengths in each exercise, and celebrate the great work.

Totally agree about the supportive communities .. both online and in perron. We're lucky to have a supportive little Fenzi group down here. I'm not sure whether it's luck, or following training gurus, or both, but I have a dog who loves to heel, and is pretty accurate. He's actually very happy to show off his heeling if we abandon an agility course that's gone belly up and the trial is running late, like yesterday... It was partly my fault, but I wanted to go out of the ring under control, but not in disgrace :) , so we did pretty heeling :D . I was happy with that, as it indicates to me he is seeing the whole thing as a game, and a chance to show off, which is what I want. Then that attitude rubs off on me.

Yep, and yep! Try 20 years, TSD. But I'm finally getting to the stage where I can see the trial primarily as a way of testing my training .. you're asking the dog "Can you ......". And if the answer is "Yes" .celebrate, if not, analyse. Where are the holes? How can I fix them? There's a lack of clarity of understanding and communication, and hence a lack of confidence.

We were originally taught to enter the figure of 8, where possible, with the dog on the inside, nearest the post, for the first time, just to remind the dog what was happening. But sometimes a judge will have a pattern where that is not possible, so IMHO you need to be comfortable going either way .. and then that translates nicely to Rally. My own personal take on the figure, and what seems to work for people I train with, is to concentrate on the centre spot .. I even put a little marker down there sometimes, and make sure that you're aiming at that as you work through the figure. Then you start making the turn smoothly as you get pretty much level with the post/person .. I start with my feet slightly turning (pre-cue to the dog, and stops me being too sudden) and a slight shoulder pull-back .. shoulder nearest the post .. this cues the dog to drop back (left shoulder .. remember the looking back at the lagging dog makes him go back further .. well, you actually want the dog slightly holding back when he's next to the post), or come slightly forward .. right shoulder back, which forms part of your turn, and keeps the dog coming forward to see where you're going. As you're coming out of each turn, you are aiming directly at your centre point ,, continue in a straight line through that, and start your next turn. In training, you can accentuate the shoulder pull .. and reward the dog for a good response to that as it happens. As you practise, your movements will become smoother, and the dog will need less obvious cues, so that by the time you take it in the ring, it looks very smooth .. the foot turning and ever so slight shoulder movements are just part of your body making the turn. Of course, it goes without saying that the dog needs to know where heel position is. Hope that makes some sense.

So first trial since mid November done and dusted. With virtually no course running practice for 3 months, and nowhere near enough H3650 homework, I was pretty happy with my boy's work .. not so happy with mine .. must work on making my cues a) correct, and b) more timely. The Missile had 2 bouts of the crazies at seeing all the equipment out for the first time in 3 months ... but then settled down, and the ears were mostly working. The good things ... nailed the distance challenges in Ex Gamblers (only dog to do so, pity not enough points in the opening), and Open Agility and Open Jumping.; # 1st place Qs ..Novice Snooker, Excellent Agility and Excellent Gamblers; other than one crazy run, nailed weavers and contact ends .. including the new seesaw, which he had a little practice on the week before, but not in a course at speed. I was able to make use of some of my H360 moves, especially to get tight wraps and to be able to set good lines after a wrap. So we're inspired to get back to our homework and polish up some of the things that are not solid enough in a course. As well as working on his Masters Rally for our first trial in a fortnight, and reminding him about his UD work.

That is beautifully written Jules. I just wanted to say I'm sorry you had to say goodbye to your dear Renae .. but glad to hear that she continued to have a good life for longer than you expected .. a tribute to your care. I hope your husband's operation and recovery go well.

Still loving H360. ...it's certainly helping my Misguided Missile to have some more steering, and ears that are working a lot of the time. With limited course practice, I struggle to be timely, but when we get it right, it's pretty magical, even when we have a fault. We're in Excellent Jumping, Agility and Gamblers, and still trying for Novice Snooker and for Open. We're entering everything we can, except pairs, jut to get the practice time in. I've enrolled in Bad Dog Agility too, which seems to mesh well with H360. We're also engaged in the exercise of revamping our agility class structure at dog club to see if we can do a bit more about laying good foundations and having people master some basic skill sets, instead of just learning (or not) by making mistakes on relatively random courses. Time consuming, but hopefully will be worth it. I've ordered the Naughty but Nice DVD too, Kavik .. will be interesting to see what it's like .. haven't had time to look :) First trial for the year for us this weekend. Dogs had their first go at the new seesaw last Sunday .. didn't seem to phase them .. pleased to see Rory could hold end criteria .. but that was as a separate obstacle. :D

A previous boy was prescribed Peptosyl by a vet in Canberra when he picked up a gastro .. probably coronavirus - while we were travelling. As Powerlegs says, as I understood it, its main purpose was to coat the gut lining, and settle the pain a bit. My vet here suggested it was a reasonable thing to have in a travelling first aid kit.

That's a cracking start already, Podengo

on doing your homework. Dogs Vic home page and under the pull down menue labelled Get Involved, you'll see Events Calendar. The next All Breeds Champ Show at KCC Park at Skye (near Cranbourne) . aka State Dog Centre is Saturday Feb 6. If you mouse over the orange label on the calendar, it will show you some details. and left clicking on it seems to give you time place etc. THe Groups will likely be on at different times and/or different rings, so if you know what sort of breed/s you are interested in, it's worth checking what group they're in, so that you can find them more readily ANKC Breed list in groups Sorry if you knew all this .. just thought of things I would have found useful to know back in the day :D .

It's a bummer, isn't it AD. Excludes some of the great dogs. Nothing the Nationals organisers could do anything about, in case people are wondering ... they are bound by ANKC rules for National Breed Chsmps. I'm seriously thinking of going up .. depends a bit on how Kirra dog is going. She turns 14 at the end of February. If she is fit, we might head up. Had a lot of fun at the last ones in Melbourne.

Good mojo coming to you and your lovely girl from the Apple Isle, Lisey.

Lovely that your gorgeous boy has done so well with his amputation kdf ... and with a front leg. He certainly looks super happy and enjoying life to the full, bless him. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing this Jumabaar .. and for the highlighting of the key points, to save us digging.

So very sorry for you and your little dog. Hard times ahead either way. I admire the way you're balancing the options .. I'd like to think I'd go with quality of life given the best case scenario is not a big increase in time. So very hard. it I want to say thank you to you and others who share their stories .. it takes courage, but know that IMO it helps other DOLers who may have to face similar sorts of challenges, and have the chance to consider options in advance.

Agree with what TSD and others have said about luring and marking. I'm a bit too impatient to do much real shaping. It's really important when you're starting luring to use something the dog really wants, and to be slow and patient with your hand movements. And to keep the food pretty much on the dog's nose as you gently move your hand to get the nod position you want .. or as TSD says, you can reward successive approximations .. something which is a stage towards the final picture. With drop from stand, you can teach it through a sit, and then move the lure forward and down .. slowly .. trial and error as to how far. Down from stand ... I usually lure it through an interim stage of bow... getting elbows on floor. I would recommend teaching your Setter in the same way you would teach a puppy .. so have a look at things like YouTube clips from kikopup (Emily Larlham) or Donna Hill.

Sounds good! For me 'heeling; is a 'trick' behaviour I require in certain circumstances .. like the competition ring. Walks are for the dogs, so for the most part, my criteria are that they keep the leash relatively tension free, and generally pay some attention to me .. as in, remembering that I'm part of the walk picture, and respond to a verbal.

Hi Jared82. There is a search function .. the dialogue box is up on the top right, and you can search in a variety of places .. either this forum or all forums is probably the most helpful. Just did a quick try on "heartworm affected" , and came up with a post in which one of the members 4darlingdogs posted that s/he had experience with a heartworm affected rescue dog some years ago. Might be worth a PM. Quick google came up with this link, which talks about the treatment in general, but doesn't answer your specific question. Wishing you luck.

That would have been worrying .. worth the trip to the vet for reassurance. Bless the dear little old man.

workcocker, I'm interested in what makes you suggest getting leptospirosis vac, given that as I understand it, that is a fairly problematic vac, with a higher adverse effect rate.

Dear old man. He's standing remarkably nice and tall on his feet .. if you know what I mean .. looks as though he's still physically quite strong, bless him. :)