Tassie

Just got Rory's 5th title certificate for the year - RAE4. So although I didn't set specific goals, the little big man has achieved Jumping Dog Rally Advanced Excellent 3 Freestyle Novice Track & Search Dog Rally Advanced Excellent 4 with two more weekends of trialling to go - Rally/Obedience, and Agility. While some more Qs would be nice, I'm really pleased with what he's achieved so far. And the senior citizen Miss Kirra, who turned 12 at the end of February, finished her JDO6, is half way to RAE2 - heaven knows how - and we may not get much further with Rally :D - and has picked up Qs in Excellent Gamblers, Masters Agility, Track and Search (urban) and Novice Freestyle. Best of all, she's still fit and (with permission from her vets) enjoying her outings at trials, although I'm cutting down on her entries. (Don't tell her though :) .)

Fantastic work by the whole team. We had 0 Qs from 12 runs for Rory and 9 for Kirra - but several nice NQs - missed Novice Gamblers with Rory by a demolished tyre at the end of the gamble. We get so little exposure to the obstacles that it's a good day for us if he doesn't DQ . And Kirra can do whatever she likes ... and does ... as long as she's having fun.

Oh no - another enabler. I have 3 of Sam's lovely wing jumps, and PNUs - traffic cone - can do.

I'm so seriously tempted TSD - and next year I'll have time. Access to equipment on a regular basis is still an issue. But although making time is never going to be an issue with the Misguided Missile - I was thinking that it would really help with the guidance system. (He was 4 seconds under time on a 2 fault JDX run on Sunday - in spite of my having to stop him a couple of times to get his brain back after call offs and get him lined up properly for the next bits. Managed to avoid off courses, but... how much better could we be if I could handle.). Apologies to the OP for the OT - blame Mrs RB :D (whom I want to thank for the heads up.)

That look was based on how long it took to get the 3 CDX passes but thanks for the congratulations. I am still smiling! A huge congratulations Sue. See perseverance pays off, and a bloody good sense of humour when it does not go quite to plan. So ..yes sense of humour when things don't go to plan ..definitely a prerequisite for UD :-) Ah yes... A sense of humour and a supply of cider! Ah - maybe it's the cider that's the secret ingredient I need.

Oh Mrs RB, you are an enabler :laugh:

That look was based on how long it took to get the 3 CDX passes but thanks for the congratulations. I am still smiling! A huge congratulations Sue. See perseverance pays off, and a bloody good sense of humour when it does not go quite to plan. So ..yes sense of humour when things don't go to plan ..definitely a prerequisite for UD :-)

:cheer: Fantastic, Sue & Waldo ... nice score to finish on too. Now for the fun of UD

Abandoned it at the question about sleeping positions etc ..

So very happy for you all.

A couple of busy weekends for us down here in the Apple Isle. Double Rally and double obedience trials last weekend - in howling gales and snow on the mountain, then Agility Games/standard courses yesterday (in 31 degrees - yikes), followed by Rally this morning and obedience in the afternoon. My Misguided Missile Rory was a little bit less misguided yesterday - and got his second Q in Novice Agility - 35 seconds on a 65 second course, and these last couple of weekends got the 3 double Qs he needed to give him his Rally Advanced Excellent 4. His efforts in UD are getting better - although he made one mistake today, and last week, the broken Scent Discrimination seems to be closer to being fixed, and the Directed Jumping I broke last week was partly fixed today - his go outs were lovely - still came inside the solid jump (could be agility interference there). Pleased with his gloves today - we find No 2 the hardest, but he nailed it today. We did have some moments in Rally and obedience today when his boy brains fell out of gear, but then to be fair, his handler's brain also fell out of gear. And the lad nailed his weavers both times - even did an extra set nicely - pity it was supposed to be a tunnel - who knew weavers could trump a tunnel .

Yep - at the Equestrian Centre ... not too far away from you at all

Oh lucky you I would love to just go & watch. I am still trying to get my head around Blind Crosses without tripping over the dog :laugh: Sheena - you can - not that I'm enabling or anything . Was just looking at this site for something else - and look what I see. :laugh:

Nice one PME and Miss Kenzie. And Mr Rory says there's a good reason why he's not doing Open any more - or at least, not till we see what happens with those pesky sit stays. :laugh: . That first pass is a very special one - and she did it in style for you. Pretty ribbon for a pretty girl. :D

To say nothing of managing to avoid tripping over the dcog or being taken out by the dog. How good would it be to be able to give such timely information to a dog that travels at that speed. The dog seemed to have no questions.

What a great update . Well done to you all - onward and upward from here :D . She is very very cute, by the way - but I guess you know that.

Late from me too - but very happy Gotcha Day Zig - you were definitely meant to be your mum's boy - the Universe knew what she was doing. And you definitely landed on your four little feet when your mum found you - couldn't have a better home. Match made in heaven - hey, Ollie :-).

You could always use pool noodles as cavalettis (just on the ground at first - and then they could double for go rounds, figure 8s etc. The ones with holes in are usually pretty cheap at K Mart. For conditioning purposes, the sit/stand/sit doesn't have to be too snappy - in fact slower is probably better. :D

Asuuming he doesn't have medical problems - there are some conditioning things you could do to help build core strength and muscle tone. Do you have access to an underwater treadmill - he might enjoy some sessions on that. Things like having him do sit to stand - increasing the number of reps - a few times a day. One that was in one of the recent editions of Clean Run - teaching him to walk backwards - then doing that up a hill. Done slowly, so it might appeal to him :laugh: . As he gets stronger, you can translate this to stairs. Walking forwards up and down hilly streets or driveways - about 30 metres or so - say 3 reps. Setting up cavalettis for him to walk through. He might enjoy the go round exercises - setting up an upright - something like a pool noodle with a bamboo garden stake in it - shaping/luring him to go round each direction - then gradually increasing the distance from the pole, and the speed. Teaching him some freestyle moves - spin/twist, weave through legs etc. etc. A lot of this is stuff you could do at home, and doesn't need to take a long time - so it won't interfere too much with his sleeping :laugh: But I would also be working on getting him into a really healthy lean weight. All of these should help him to feel like being more active.

+1 for what TSD said. :D And I would add .... if you can - try to think in terms of 'cues'- signals/words which will be associated with particular behaviours (actions on the pup's part) - rather than 'commands'. Sounds a bit hair-splitting and airy-fairy I know, but you'll find it helps to set your thinking to a state where if the pup doesn't 'get' it or do what you expect - he's not disobeying a command (dog problem) - he just hasn't learnt the cue thoroughly yet (trainer problem :D ) You might have fun watching some of the teaching that Emily Larlham has on her kikopup Youtube channel. There are lots of others, but I really like the way she goes about things. Have fun.

The coats that I've found retain their moisture longest are the Cool Runners - they claim 3.5 to 5.5 hours of moisture retention, and I'd say that's about right. They're comfortable for the dogs to wear - but I've only used them at trials - not in a hiking situation. You'd probably be better off going for maximum reflection with Chilly Buddy ( I have, but rarely use) or Silver Shade look really good too.

:cheer: :thumbsup: Oh my goodness - what a great collection of brags from a great collection of dogs and trainers. CC, just loved your story - could just picture the scene. And Love that Violet is still doing so well. I have enjoyed watching you and the more senior Poodles when I've been over there. So Ptolomy - seems like Naughty Nina might have to send the Naughty part of her name over to CC's Zara. DD - what a super weekend for you and Elsie. Congratulations! Agility for us too on Saturday. Team Geri(atric) - i.e. me and my old girl Kirra managed a Q in Masters Agility - 1st place (out of 2 in the class LOL), and she had fun in her other two runs. The Misguided Missile (aka Rory) tried very hard to listen, and did lots of good stuff, but no Qs. To be fair, the courses were pretty tight - not the Missile's forte. But - other than overshooting the table the first run, he nailed all his contacts - and didn't take any off course contacts - or tunnels, and the only bars down were due to my bad handling. Although 5 out of her 6 were DQ - they were not completely out of control DQs, so we're making progress - in spite of almost no training. ETF typos

How very sad ... he looks as though he was such a sweetie. RIP little Dash.

Nice one, Sue and Waldo. Funny how things can disappear :laugh:

Protein is way too high for my guys .. and it's very expensive.