Tassie

Have a look at kikopup on YouTube. Emily Larlham was out here last year . She had lots of things you can do that will help build good foundations.

ROFL - Our tracking trials are held on big sheep or sheep/cattle properties in the midlands. You do occasionally get the odd shooter that can sound a bit close, but usually the randoms are roos or wallabies, or like I had a couple of weeks ago, a mob of sheep - could hear this sort of clomping noise - at first thought it was the dog and handler coming with the handler in clogs :laugh: , but then heard the munching noises, and realised that the mob was happily munching its was around the clump of sags I was hiding behind. Guess you don't have those excitements in SA, with not leaving the tracklayer at the end of the track. I actually usually train even for tracking trials in an area where there are peole and dogs walking around. Gets the dogs used to coping with it early on. What fascinates me is that my dogs do pretty much all their training (and that's nowhere near as much as they should get) on tracks that I've laid myself, but they seem to really get that the game is "follow the given scent" .. I keep expecting them to turn round and say "found you" .

Tracking trials are held in areas like farm paddocks, where it is unlikely that there will have been any humans walking in the area on the day of the trial - so the tracklayer's scent is the only fresh human scent on the area (though there may be stock and/or wildlife - just to make things exciting.) Track & Search trials were developed partly to give Tracking Champion dogs something to go on to, but also to develop tests more closely resembling "real" search and rescue situations. The trials are held usually in parklands where ther are likely to be other people, dogs, bicycles etc., before and during the test. The tracks may follow paths - and there should be a variety of surfaces - grass, gravel etc. ... working up to streets at the Test 5 level, and then finally a night time urban track - Test 6. The delay on the tracks, and the deliberate contamination by diversion tracklayers and crossovers, gets greater with the level of the track. You can have a look at the rules on the ANKC site ANKC rules - scrolll down the list and click on Tracking - then you can click on Tracking rules or Track and Search rules and information. But beware - it's addictive :laugh: .

My guys like T & S. The feral Kirra thinks it's more fun because it's more challenging. Just about to do entries for our next T & S trial - Test 5 for Kirra - urban - will be fun, and Test 1 for Mr Rory.

Totally agree. And another advantage of soft food - like devon, cabana, cheese (I use 50%fat tasty), chicken sandwich loaf cubes - is that you can break a 1cm cube into about 4 quite easily for a 1,2,3,4 jackpot - dog is blissfully unaware that he's still received only one piece - excited because he's had 4 rewards at once. A really important part of the process, as Nekhbet indicates, is the way the food is delivered - the handler needs to get really involved - really letting the dog know how much his good work is appreciated.

That's a great idea, Vickie - hadn't even thought of that - but I can see the logic. Will definitely give that a try. :) Thanks.

Congrats to both kallistar and BC4ME. Loved the work under those difficult conditions at the Ekka. I get inspired again ... but then it's a matter of time and commitments in other disciplines. And I need inspiration. :laugh:

So glad Dezzy is fine. Relief all round I reckon. Huge congratulations to Tamika and Jessie on the T.Ch - what a great achievement for them both - how lovely to have two "firsts". Fingers crossed for a clean sweep at the next trial. Are you going on to Track & Search?

He does like tugging - and will try that. Once he arrives, he's pretty stable - it's remembering that he has to slow down a tad in order to stop and drop - boy brains, after all :) . In his defence, we've had virtually no training. He's seen the table once for about 10 minutes in the last 6 weeks. And the seesaw once - of course he doesn't need that yet. :laugh: He was funny on the first DW - I was taking it for granted - looked at him and he's doing a lovely commando crawl up it - not sure what that was about - but the rest of the DW was fine - and no trouble the second time. I really shouldn't be trialling him yet - but the way our calendar has been, it's the only chance we get to do any equipment. And I honestly don't think it's doing him any harm - he's getting better with each run - more thoughtful but still scary fast. There's no pressure on him - it's all good fun.

:laugh: TSD - Em sounds like Kirra - hates being crowded anywhere. My worst nightmare is a course layout which forces me to be closer to the weavers than madam likes. Your mention of the table reminded me of another thing I have to work on with the man - he was really good with the table as the second obstacle on one run - took the decel and landed it nicely and dropped. But the next trial, when the course was reversed and the table was the second last obstacle - not so much. :laugh: He did try to decel, and as he was toppling off the table on the other side, tried desperately to hang on - and did hop straight back up onto it on his own accord - so I guess that was an encouraging sign that he did remember what he was supposed to do.

Don't you hate it when you break things. Have you tried just working entries with 4 poles - working around the clock and building lateral distance - as in 2x2. The way I was shown, you work dog on left .. reward down the reward line past the end of the 4 - quick break, then work RH coming back. You get a lot of entry/lateral distance reps in a short time without wearing the dog out - and dog gets a high reward history. Obviously you need to go to 12 every now and again. I discovered a big hole in Rory's training in his first agility trial on Sunday. His weaves as a separate exercise, or with one jump either end (all I can fit in at home) are pretty good - he was taught 2x2. BUT - I need to do heaps more work on them in mid course, when he's approaching them at warp speed - getting him to collect and think about his job. :D Another thing to add to the list :laugh: . Good luck with the try-outs. :)

:laugh: about the bike. Yes, I upgraded for the second ET I did. And about the handler's heart rate.

Congratulations. What a lovely achievement for your girl!!!

Great score for your first Rally trial. It was lovely that you could do that after the obedience, to reassure Miss Rilla that the aliens hadn't really kidnapped her mum :D . So you've had your first trial ring experience - you won't have to do that again - and you know that the judges are really nice people, and want you and your dog to do well. So you can go into the ring tonight, pretending it's just a training run, and know that the skies won't fall if something does go belly up. :laugh:

BDJ wrote Haven't obedience trialled in SA - but have in Vic and Tas. The obedience trial rules specifically allow verbal and/or physical praise between exercises - the only caveat would be that it shouldn't be rowdy enough to disturb a dog working in the next ring. I do physical play with my boy, and things like hand touches and leg weaves to keep him happy and engaged. In many areas of the country, I believe that the attitude to obedience is changing - increasingly it's being seen as fun and exciting, and it's a good thing for dogs and handlers to be seen to be having fun :D . Like BDJ I've been in the game for many years, and I'm enjoying it now more than ever.

Colour me green with envy :laugh: . In my opinion, Perth is one of the hotspots of great dog training. I guess to some extent it depends on whether you are NOR or SOR - and I don't know about dock diving - but - obedience, rally, agility, dances with dogs, tracking .... it's all there :D . I'm sure some Perth peeps will be along before too long with some more details.

Oh yeah - my feral agility girl has spent years drumming that into me .

Great reminder, TSD. And I'd just add - you take home the dog you love and enjoy working with, and who loves you - whatever happens at a trial. :laugh:

:laugh: TSD .... snap :D

RMR :laugh: - well, I could tell you that ...... but I'd be lying. I've been trialling in various disciplines for more than 20 years - and I still get nervous - or rather, I did. With the lil big man now in Obedience and Rally at least, because of the way we've trained, with the help of several gurus (some of them on DOL), I can now go into the ring fully prepared to have fun - it's made such a difference. My best advice - stay engaged with Rilla the whole time - play with her in between exercises - it will help both of you. Keep your pace nice and brisk - keep smiling, keep breathing, and concentrate on appreciating what she does well. If there are goof ups, don't focus on them - just tuck them away in the back of your memory ready to put them into your training plan. Have fun!!

OK - more than a month late - but here are some places the dogs and I stayed on our mainland trip in June - all highly recommended by me and the dogs. All dogs allowed inside - I always ask before I book - and explain that my dogs are obedience trained, used to staying in dog-friendly accommodation, and can provide references. :) Penrith Cabrera Cottage Cabrera Cottage Penrith Recently renovated - open plan, comfy, huge back deck, good sized fenced back yard - easy to get to shops and to Northern Road and the M$. Would be very handy for Erskine park. Owner was very pleasant and helpful. We had to go to another location for the last weekend as the Cottage was booked. Were supposed to go here which would have been just round the corner, but because there was a maintencance problem, the owner arranged for us to stay on the other side of the river, in an apartment under her house - no fenced yard - but very comfortable - the river was just across the road. Again, easy access to M4. Waterview Apartments New Berrima - Southern Highlands NSW - lovely place - big back yard - close to SH Kennel and Obedience Club grounds - recently renovated to a high spec - big back deck - and even a pizza oven outside! Fenced yard (not jumper proof though). Blue Cottage Torrumbarry (Vic) - on the the Murray River about 30 km west of Echuca - Sunset Cottage. Beautiful cottage, with its own small fenced yard, built on owners' 5 acre property - virtual river frontage. Lovely owners - house dogs are fenced - can walk through the property to the river, or go round the road. And for Adelaide ... there are several dog-friendly in Glenelg - very handy - walking distance to beach. We stayed in Ocean Mist - older style - but comfortable. Yard is very small, but with the nice walks near by, it was big enough.

That Mt Victoria place looks amazing - did it have a fenced yard? And were dogs allowed inside?

You guys guilted me into doing my feral agility BC's nails last night. :D She's one of those contortionist wrigglers - but whe wasn't really too bad last night. I actually used the clippers first to take a little bit off, and then the Dremel - on a fairly low speed, to get a bit more off. I find that I can get it done a bit more quickly if I sort of hit the nail a bit, rather than just holding the ssnding wheel against the nail - seems to bite in a bit more. The other snag - with both clippers and Dremel, in a coated breed, is that you need to trim the hair on the feet first, and maybe pin feathers back - otherwise the hair can get caught in the Dremel and slow the whole process down. Fortunately my boy has been better trained, so he's quite good about feet - not happy, but quite good :laugh: . He really can't understand why my girl is making such a fuss. :D

Lovely TSD. Though I notice you didn't have the cat actually doing the perch work - obviously the feline role is just supervising, and checking on the equipment :laugh: . On the complexity of heeling - at the Kamal Fernandez seminar last year, Kamal was listing 26 components that go to make up precision heeling. His view was that it was beneficial to train each of these components separately, and then start putting them together. So backing up what you're saying about splitting not lumping. (The component training is also easier, as a lot of them can be trained indoors/in a small area.) As TSD says, keep up the good work, paddles - and have fun! I should add that it's taken me 20 years to learn how to have the best fun doing obedience with my dog - well - with the boy anyway. The feral agility girl still doesn't believe in it :laugh: .

Love it RS .. and so jealous of you having Denise over there. Paddles ... I would say the same as RS. Short, fast, high quality, excited reward - excited however you're rewarding ... rinse and repeat. and not too much at any one time. Gradually build up to a trial length pattern only when you and the dogs are ready. One thing you can do to get your own walking more exciting is to find some nice brisk music, and walk to that. I'm a fan of platform and disc work to make sure the dog knows exactly where 'heel' is - and how to manoeuvre his/her rear end to get there and stay there. And the nice thing about that is that you can do it in the living room :D .