Tassie

Hmmm - OK - it's getting closer to the front burner . I did puut entries in - now I'm stuck with the music - just have to edit it, work out the details of the choreo - and train it ... along with training agility, rally, obedience, doing trials - grooming dog, oh and working! I have organised my leave from work - does that count? :laugh:

Just as well Kirra's asleep beside me at the moment piper - not showng her your last post in case it gives her ideas. She quite likes jumping cones occasionally, just to liven up proceedings.

Good luck with the results tomorrow. Human case - friend's daughter had Thrombocytopenia - platelet count dangerously low - eventually fixed by removal of spleen - not something you want, and there are some countries she now can't travel to - but she's well. Not sure if dogs work the same way - but some googling mightn't hurt.

What a lovely thread. :D JulesP, I'm the same - their soft crates are the first things to get taken into any dog-friendly accommodation we stay in. Mind you, poor Rory was a tad worried one evening when the resident cat at one of our regular places, decided that the top of Rory's crate made a perfect napping spot - my poor boy wasn't sure he was allowed in - but was so tired, he got brave. I have a lovely photo on my phone of the soft crate - still with open dorr, with a sleeping dog inside and a sleeping cat on the top. And soft crates are magic in that a 21kg BC boy can fit into a Cavalier sized crate (admittedly a reasonably roomy one) with room to spare .. entirely his own initiative - and curled up asleep in there with the door open .... must have been a Tardis crate!

"walk back) - as in walk back away from you, facing you - is fairly easy to get started with. You can start sitting in a kitchen/dining type chair, gently throw a piece of food under the seat of the chair - not too far, cue the pup to get it, then usually the pup will back out from under so that s/he can see your face again - you click/mark and reward the backward step - the first step backwards if you can. Rinse and repeat, and as the pup gets it, just withhold the C/T for another foot movement - it can build up pretty soon into quite a few steps. Then you can start putting a cue on it - I use "walk back". :laugh: ETA Have fun at graduation, and remember to keep training sessions very short and upbeat - then you can get lots of them in over the course of a day. :D

Mine too, piper. I decided to keep going with the feral senior as well, and see how far we can get towards RAE2. She does really enjoy the rally ring, although she thinks it's a bit mad and a bit slow. So there's every chance she will do what she can to liven things up - just hope she's not too embarrassing .

Yes! Chicken is OK for home, but cooked chicken is a bit problemaatic in a class environment, since it tends to shred and bits drop everywhere -.. but ... if you can get your deli to slice up Inghams Chicken sandwich loaf into thicker than normal slices, you can then cut that up into the size you want - and it doesn't shred. Most puppies love it - and you can break a small cube up even smaller without it dropping bits everywhere. I use a 50% fat tasty cheese - Bega - it stays in one piece even when you break a cube up into smaller pieces, and they're not getting quite as much overload. I like to use soft treats as you can get lots of reps of behaviours without having to wait for them to crunch up hard treats. Have lots of fun - hope it's a good class. Don't forget it's a highly distracting and exciting atmosphere usually, so don't worry if he looks as though he's never learnt anything. Just be calm and keep working with him. I teach puppy class at my club, and it amazes me how well the pups can settle down and 'work' once they're over the first excitement of meet and greet.

Hmm are you sure!? I almost got licked to death by a particularly vicious pair yesterday And then they tried to finish me off by smothering me in loose fur! Don't trust 'em for a second, dangerous dogs IMO :p Pinchy he is gorgeous :) Weasels, I know the pair you mean. Been mugged by them myself . pinchy - he is absolutely gorgeous. And agree - him lying asleep and wanting to be near you is a sign that you're building up a lovely relationship with him. BC boys in particular can be real mummy's boys - which doesn't mean they don't respect boundaries - just means they want to be with you wherever you are and whatever you're doing. It makes them great companions and also fun performance dogs. The girls are gorgeous too - just have their own agenda a bit more ... hey ness :p - like our girls.

Sounds like you and the pup are really starting to establish a good relationship. Nice that you're still using the fabric leash - much easier on the hands, if for example, you need to shorten up the leash to keep puppy closer - as I do with my BCs when we're walking in crowded areas. And good that the biting thing is improving - it will! Remember that for a pup, especially one having crazy moments, any attention is rewarding/reinforcing - and that includes things we don't mean to be nice. Short calm down time outs are great - you do want the pup to have a good off switch in general. Just wanted to say that while BCs learn quickly and are very smart, they are also quite soft dogs at heart, and respond much better to positive motivational training. They do need to have rules and boundaries established - but that can be done with clear guidance as to what you do want - what will get the reinforcement (whether that's verbal praise, physical praise, games or treats.) Keep having fun ... oh - and have we seen pics yet? :laugh:

Would be great to see you guys. :laugh:

That's a great achievement, Kavik. Way to go Kaos. Bummer about the tunnel suck in the others. I have the opposite problem with contact/tunnel discriminations - Kirra is a contact suck - except every now and again when she'll take the off course tunnel just to see if I'm paying attention

:rofl:

:laugh: kallistar

Which might be a good thing. :laugh: Sounds like he's making huge progress though .. and each feed he keeps down has got to strengthen him and help settle his gut. Go Astro.

Not fair You have access to the ultimate reinforcer ... must make it so clear to Em - no sit = no bang stick and fetch

Yes, PME - had the same with Rory. So I did a couple of things - shortened the time and sometimes turned my back on him. Then built up the time then distance with no motion or figdgeting - but tiny increments. And something I learned from Ptolomy :D I'm pretty sure. Occasionally mark the sit while you're away from him, and release him to get a toy you throw back over his head - maybe the first step was release and throw the toy back when you're back to him. The idea is, the dog will be sitting up watching you like a hawk because at any point the toy could randomly appearand they could go back to get it. Actually, thinking about it, I think the mark and throw/release would sometimes be done even while you're walking away - so random times.

I feel your pain, ness. With the first boy, I worked so hard on heavily rewarding him for sitting when I came back to him, that every now and again it came back to bite me in UD - he'd happily do the 10 minute down, and then occasionally - pop up happily as I walked back across the ring - or sometimes when I was back at his side - with an angelic look on his face "I'm a good boy momy - this is what you want isn't it". :laugh:

You're certainly not alone there, Ptolomy - but I really don't think it will happen. Too many die-hads - at least over this side. If we can at least get a more substantial distance between dogs, the stays would be a bit less problematic, although that wouldn't solve the sit problem.

Yep! What Persephone and Nekhbet said. BC person here - and trust me, you want to spend a lot of time teaching them - in a kind way - that there are boundaries they need to respect. They don't come knowing what's acceptable to us - it's our job to show them what we would like. A good way to think about it is .. for everything the pup is doing that you don't like - how can you pretty much straight away show the pup an acceptable behaviour .. so chewing me is not Ok - here - chew this ... (milk carton/cardboard tube/chew toy) ... instead - .. having a bit of a game with the chew object so that pup 'gets' that this is more fun. Means you need to have chew objects that you're happy with, within arm's reach just about everywhere you go. :laugh: But it's only for a few weeks, usually, if you get your timing right. But you have to be consistent about it. It's better to spend time at this stage teaching the pup, rather than thinking "must take the dog for a walk". Time spent teaching now will make the walks enjoyable later - and the brain work involved in the pup figuring out what you're teaching, will make for a contented tired pup much more than pulling you round the block. Again, it's consistency - the message to the pup always is .. if you pull, you don't get to go where you want to go. The best thing I find is to just change direction - no prompting to the pup, just turn and walk purposefully in a different direction - but be ready as the leash slackens, to mark the slackening and reward the pup for paying attention to the fact that you changed direction. Rinse and repeat. Most pups like this game if you do it with enough energy and you're quick to mark when the leash slackens - BCs in particular like the random movement. :laugh:

I like the idea of a chair or something as well. JulesP is so right about it being a particularly BC thing. I sometimes think it goes back to their working style on stock .. sit is not a natural part of their repertoire. Might be just an excuse though. :laugh: Was trialling in Vic years ago with my previous BC boy .. 10 dogs in an Open sit stay .. 3 minutes OOS..3 BCs Came out from the hide to find 7sitting, 3down. You guessed it .. all three BCs. My boy was the last to go down apparently. I figured he looked along and decided BC union said no to the sit . FWIW .. I'm another who uses the sit cue .. to mean sit there until I give you a conflicting cue ..cue to move, or release cue. Same with Stand and Down. But I still haven't got a totally reliable sit stay .. so I don't enter Open nod he's got CDX .. don't want to give him the chance to practise mistakes in the ring.

Not sure if it's stamina or stupidity, luvsdogs. Looking forward to seeing you, even if not seeing you competing.

Do hope you can get down, luvsdogs. I'm going to be running like a cut cat, but I'm looking forward to it. I didn't go to the first two, so this is very exciting.

Oh, Kallistar ...wish you hadn't asked that :laugh: . Mine are still on the back burner ... and entries close next week. Do I waste an entry or ... Planning to sort music out this weekend, since that has to go on the entry form. Doesn't help that one laptop .. the one I normally use .. died last week. Good thing I hadn't already cut the music .. I would have lost it anyway.

Looking forward to meeting up, piper. :D Yes. Hopefully there will be catch up time. First nationals I was so crazy busy running from 1 place to another that I hardly met anyone that I wanted to. At this stage if I get there Friday I will be stupidly busy and not likely to stop and speak to anyone. Saturday will only be slightly better but I think Sunday will be good with no one entered in anything :) I hear you! I haven't been to a BC Nationals before - and I think I'm going overboard in terms of entering stuff. Agility for both of them Friday, Rally for both of them Saturday - two classes each cos they're doing RAE, still tossing up about whether to enter DWD Sat evening, then for Rory, conformation and obedience - hope they've allowed for being in 2 places - OK for me cos a friend is showing him in Aus Bred - but the dog has to be in 2 places . And I'm well old enough to know better

Super photos DD - the Working Trials must be really interesting for the dogs. :)