sheena

A friend of mine wants a smallish girl dog with a lovely personality that she can also enjoy agility with. I suggested a whippet. Evidently the vet told her that whippets are not suitable for agility because of their bone structure & they have a lot of injuries etc. Is this true???

It's at the indoor equestrian centre & goes from Friday evening till Monday over the October long weekend. Is the Kootingal Chinese a good meal ?

We're going from ADAA in Tamworth to the Armidale trial the following weekend...will be far chillier in Armidale. Might have to fight OH for the dog in my sleeping bag

Simple - timing gates are set up at the start and finish of 24 weave poles. Quickest dog wins. Slow dogs do better - probably not. Expect the quickest midi dogs to do it in about 4.5 seconds. Xena last year did about 5.7 seconds and was 6th or 7th in the prelims. Not sure what the other height classes did. BC 4 Me's girl was just AWESOME. Which one....I am hoping I will finally get to meet Coco

The 24 weave pole challenge...we are in it just for the fun, can anyone explain the rules of the game Maybe the slower dogs will do better in it because the poles are closer together.

I will probably have one of my Border Collie shirts on...either "My border collie is handler impaired, but patiently training" or "My border collie loves agility". We are in the beginners & she will be the only Chocolate border there with a leaf hanging out of her mouth like a cigarette paper, most of the time, :D & she has pricked ears.

I'm one of the two. Will be the one towing a trailer full of agility gear! See you all there. Only a few sleeps to go! Yeah, your'e one of the two ..the other one is BC4Me

Who's going to the ADAA Grand Prix in Tamworth in a couple of weeks. So far from previous postings, I know of two others besides our club.

I just posted this in the Tricks forum:- First you teach the dog to spin To teach dog to spin, first get her to tug, then while tugging gently spin her around. This is the method Greg Derret uses to teach right & left turns. Spin one way a few times then the other. Then as you spin to the left, give a name to it (I use back) as you spin to the right put a name to it (I use close), soon you will be able to just give the command & maybe an arm movement & the dog will spin either to the left or to the right. This comes in handy on the agility course when working at a distance & you want the dog to turn left or right. (I'm still working on that one ) If I had my time over, I would have used the words left & right (not sure why Greg uses back & close)

I tried lots of ways to get Bindi to walk backwards....until I went to a dancing seminar & the way they showed me, well, she picked it up in 60seconds. You stand facing the dog with your legs apart, place a treat between your legs & slightly behind. The dog goes in for the treat & then backs out to look at you. Important to click as soon as she gives backward movement, then treat by throwing the treat between your legs again...she goes in for the treat & you click as she is backing out, & keep repeating. When you are sure that she knows what she is getting clicked for then put a name to it as she backs out. To get distance, place a target like a folded towel on the floor, close at first & slowly move it away. The dog backs up & you click & treat as soon as the backlegs touch the towel. To teach dog to spin first get her to tug, then while tugging gently spin her around. This is the method Greg Derret uses to teach right & left turns. Spin one way a few times then the other. Then as you spin to the left, give a name to it (I use back) as you spin to the right put a name to it (I use close), soon you will be able to just give the command & maybe an arm movement & the dog will spin either to the left or to the right. This comes in handy on the agility course when working at a distance & you want the dog to turn left or right. (I'm still working on that one )

With ADAA the dog has to drop on the table & the weave poles are closer together. We are going out to the ADAA Grand Prix at Tamworth in October. Any other DOLERS going Should be a real good 4 day weekend in a huge new indoor equestrian arena. Because my dog is 510 she wil have to jump higher at 550 & there will be wings on the jumps. So a few challenges to work on beforehand. At present she will drop automatically on the table in practice & at training, but no way will she drop in a trial Yep - we will be there. The Grand Prix is always a great weekend. Nice and relaxed, but heaps on at the same time. Both my guys jump 550 - one is 475mm and the other is 540mm. (Make sure your dog is registered in the Regular Programme if you want them to jump 550 in the intermediate and open events. Otherwise they will be jumping 650mm.) See you there! Yep....we have her down as Regular. This is our first time & have put in for "everything eligble"....how will I recognize you....dogs names maybe I'll be the one with 2.5 BC's - all black and white. CK and Xena are my dogs who will be running. Wikki is the little thing that looks like a bear cub at the moment. I'll be in BAD clothing - bright yellow and blue. AFAIK I will be the only guy from our club so I shouldn't be too hard to spot. If all else fails just ask someone to point out Tony from the BAD club and they are likely to know who you are talking about. Looking forward to catching up with you...my OH will be so glad there is another fella going. My girl is Bojak Bindi...just look for the pretty chocolate & white border with a leaf hanging out of her mouth like a cigarette We're with the Coffs Harbour mob.

Whatever name might be put to it, obviously I need to have her complete & utter focus on me & the obstacles. I do lots of "focus" work with her & she loves to work with me & she is perfect at training with all the other dogs. What I'm wondering, am I expecting too much of her being that she is not quite 3 & this is her first year of trialing. I have been told on numerous occassions that this problem will disappear when she matures (at about the age of 5). So there is no other way of dealing with it except to keep up the "focus & drive" work & it will all fall into place?? This is the first agility dog I have had, all the BC's in the past have been working dogs. So it's important to me that I get as much advice as possible so that I don't ruin a very good dog. ;)

With ADAA the dog has to drop on the table & the weave poles are closer together. We are going out to the ADAA Grand Prix at Tamworth in October. Any other DOLERS going Should be a real good 4 day weekend in a huge new indoor equestrian arena. Because my dog is 510 she wil have to jump higher at 550 & there will be wings on the jumps. So a few challenges to work on beforehand. At present she will drop automatically on the table in practice & at training, but no way will she drop in a trial Yep - we will be there. The Grand Prix is always a great weekend. Nice and relaxed, but heaps on at the same time. Both my guys jump 550 - one is 475mm and the other is 540mm. (Make sure your dog is registered in the Regular Programme if you want them to jump 550 in the intermediate and open events. Otherwise they will be jumping 650mm.) See you there! Yep....we have her down as Regular. This is our first time & have put in for "everything eligble"....how will I recognize you....dogs names maybe ;)

Vickie....why would you not describe this behaviour as "herding". ;) We are on a farm & she "herds" the cattle in the same way by running around them in wide ever decreasing circles until she has gathered them all together & then will put them through a gate. I have been on farms for most of my life, be it sheep or cattle & this is the way our working dogs mostly worked, especially the BC's. It is exactly the same thing she does when around other dogs & when she sees a dog running around in the distance she thinks it should be 'gathered" like a stray sheep. She has a very good recall, so that's not a problem, just that it loses valuable seconds on the agility course (or a missed weave pole). She hardly ever knocks a bar even when her head is turned towards the distraction.

How about gift vouchers from an on-line pet supplier.

My Border Collie seems to have a very strong herding instinct which causes distractions during agility trialing. When other dogs are playing, or chasing a ball, she is more interested in rounding them up than joining in the game. The only time she makes contact with them is when they stop running & she will go in with a left hook to get them to run again. She always has to have something in her mouth, usually a leaf hanging out like a cigarette paper. Problem is when she is on the agility course, if she sees a dog running around in the far distance it distracts her for a moment which is just enough to cause her to miss a weave pole or pause on top of the A-Frame (she gets a better view up there). At training she is fine & almost perfect even with other dogs doing their stuff at the same time, but if she sees another dog running around free in the distance, she has to sticky beak. I have been told she will grow out of this, she is nearly 3YO. I have cured her of smell distractions on course & if I could fix this then seconds would be cut from her times & she would be tops.

I am of the belief that if you freeze the chicken for a few days it kills the salmonella, But not sure if this is scientific fact. Just to be sure I don't like my dog kissing me straight after she has eaten. You can catch a lot more things from being around someone who sneezes etc, or from handling money then eating without washing your hands, than you can from a lick from a dog. I have a friend who is paronoid about germs & recently at a trial she bent down to pat my dog who immediatley got her with a quick, long tounge, straight on the lips. Well, honestly for about ten minutes afterwards, she kept carrying on about it & I thought she was going to throw up

With ADAA the dog has to drop on the table & the weave poles are closer together. We are going out to the ADAA Grand Prix at Tamworth in October. Any other DOLERS going Should be a real good 4 day weekend in a huge new indoor equestrian arena. Because my dog is 510 she wil have to jump higher at 550 & there will be wings on the jumps. So a few challenges to work on beforehand. At present she will drop automatically on the table in practice & at training, but no way will she drop in a trial ;)

You can get just about anything you want from this Clean Run site http://www.cleanrun.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...;category_ID=60 They are in America, but with the Aussie Dollar so high at the moment they are good value & the postage is only about $7.50. I have just recently bought a book they have on training the performance pup, which is being offered with free postage.

My girl loves fish, head, guts & all except for mullet (she wont eat the head, must be those eyes) & flathead, she prefers for it to be scaled. If your feeding the whole fish, be careful there are no hooks inside :D or poisones barbs, like on the flathead. When OH goes fishing now, he has found a use for the ones which are legal, but too small for us fussy eaters, or things like dart, which are very plentiful. Bindi loves them.

This fellow is Greg Derret in his Foundation Training DVD. I have taught my dog to spin "back" (left) & "close" (right) & find it very handy for doing either a tight wrap round or for directing her to a tight turn to another obstacle. I am so bad with my lefts & rights though that it is a stategy I have to work out when walking the course as I can't think that quickly while running. It also may have been Rob Michalski on one of the 'Agility in Motion' videozines. He had a few segments across 3 or 4 DVD's where he taught a similar thing and then used it on tunnel discriminations I think. There is a wheelchair bound competitor in the US (Cheryl Minchinello, Michello? something like that) who has developed her own system of handling she calls 'directional control' and basically parks herself on course and handles most of the course with verbals. Totally amazing ! Oh my! Someone in a wheelchair doing agility, wow good on her!!! I would LOVE to see videos of this, any idea if there are any on youtube? If it helps discriminate between the 2 videos, this guy was working outside in a largish backyard and had a whole set of jumps set up with "wings" hanging off them that he used to demonstrate putting it in practice! :D Just Google "agility wheelchair youtube" & up will come lots

We just used coloured electrical tape.

This fellow is Greg Derret in his Foundation Training DVD. I have taught my dog to spin "back" (left) & "close" (right) & find it very handy for doing either a tight wrap round or for directing her to a tight turn to another obstacle. I am so bad with my lefts & rights though that it is a stategy I have to work out when walking the course as I can't think that quickly while running.

What a lovely sucess storey...It got me thinking about our own club. Out of all the people who have started Agility training at our club & there has been lots & lots, I am the only one in two years that has gone on to trialling. They just all drop out along the way & it must be such a disappointment to the instructors who do a wonderful job in the face of adversity. We live one hour from training, but turn up every week. I just find that it is very disappointing that not more of our members go through with it. Is this the same with most clubs

Normally my girl is very good on a loose lead, but when I know we are going to be in exciting situations I put a front fastening body harness on her. It is called a Gentle Leader, Easy Walker & it is great & cost only about $20 online from the Pet Barn. Being front fastening, when the dog starts to pull on it, the lead turns the dog back into towards you. Simple idea but very effective. Of course it doesn't take the place of training, but you can't be training all the time, otherwise you would never get to go anywhere.