wuffles

I like the video and I like what it shows - multiple breeds all with good supervision interacting nicely! I've seen some very harmonious groups of dogs (even if dog parks, shock horror) and I've seen some not so nice ones. One of my dogs rarely 'plays' as such but he still likes meeting and hanging out with other dogs. He doesn't have to be physically rolling around on the ground with another dog for me to call it playing

I am pretty happy with what we have achieved this year. Ava got her CCD and CD so those are ticked off. We had our first jumping trial last month and another few before the end of the year. Didn't meet Satch's goals but he is living a great life in his favourite place, the lounge room Onwards and upwards to next year!

Well done!!! :cheer:

Ava used to do the same when she was young. She seems to have grown out of it thankfully.

If wanting to go to dog parks or other places with unknown dogs (this could mean just walking down the street) I have noticed that 'wannabe' males often take an exception to entire males and attempt to dominate or bully them (moreso than they would to desexed males).

huski no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying with MY DOGS, I like them to have a high value for each other because I think that makes their lives better when they are home without us. Choices that people make are based on risk and how much risk is acceptable to them. I wouldn't leave a puppy with my girl because of her boisterous nature but would be confident leaving one with my boy. I wouldn't do things your way either so luckily we are free to make our own choices ;)

My girl came to us at 12 weeks old, and my older boy was 5 years old at the time. From day dot she was allowed to interact with him freely. From 14 weeks old they were left in the backyard together while we were at work (full time). She holds a VERY high value for him. She adores him. She copies his behaviour, grovels and follows him around. He is very well balanced socially so he has always acted appropriately towards her... he controls their games/play and also applies discipline as he sees fit. As a result she has also grown up very well balanced socially. They both love interacting with other dogs and do so regularly. Ava got her CCD title at 16 months and her Novice title at 21 months. We have also just started agility trialling. There is absolutely NO problem with our relationship ;) I generally don't train both of them in the same session. Outside the house they do play up a bit if one is tethered/crated and one is being worked, but I never trained this out of them so I cannot expect anything else. It's the one who's tied up that I have issues with They are walked separately some mornings and together on other mornings and I did a lot of stuff with Ava by herself when she was young. Edit: My dogs spend about 50 hours a week at home together without us, so I want them to have high value for each other. IMO it's not fair to place such a high value on myself that they don't cope when I am not around.

Just to add some confusion, in Aussies it is "red" I believe BCs use "chocolate"?

I've seen this on some dogs but Ava's coat hasn't changed since desexing... she doesn't have much of it and it's not fluffy at all

I would say that just carrying it would be disruptive Not to mention my own dogs would run a mile if I even thought about cracking it...

Not many rifles in the 'burbs either... at least not in my area

:rofl: I think I'd try telling the dog to stop or "NO!" first, and if that didn't work, try the treats. The problem I usually have is actually getting away - I can get them to stop but as soon as I try walk away they follow. Would be interesting to see how many dogs the treats work with.

I went looking for a blue merle, and ended up with a black tri mismark. To be honest I was attracted to her as I think mismarks are stunning, but it turned out she was the most suited for us in the litter anyway. Now, I don't really have a preference in Aussies. Conformation and temperament are more important. I have no issues with people having strong preferences or saying they wouldn't get a dog of a certain colour. As long as they understand that there might not be a suitable dog in the litter they have chosen.

I agree... guilt to me implies some kind of moral or values system. But they can definitely associate certain behaviour with negative consequences.

Just to clarify, I don't have any issues with confusion between sports, was just wondering what everyone else does I do find it a bit hard to try fit everything in, life gets in the way I don't think fulltime work helps

For those of you who train and/or compete in more than one discipline (eg. obedience, agility, flyball), do you have any specific strategies on fitting everything in, or do you just overload yourself? Does anyone take a break from one thing to focus on another? Do you think that training too often could have a negative effect on the dog? For those that work full time or have kids or other demanding schedules, do you find it hard to fit everything in?

Yep I've found a lot of info online about this and she does jump a lot like the dogs in the videos. But I'd like to have at least some hope of her having an agility career so if anyone has tips...

I will admit that I don't particularly like that video because one of my dogs behaves in a similar manner... she does NOT have to have done anything remotely "naughty". She is very sensitive to our emotions and body language and although she has always been treated wonderfully she thinks that displeasing her humans is a very bad thing. If she gets a mild telling off for something she has done outside (for example ripping up the bed) she'll squint and grovel and go hide somewhere. And the next day, the second you open the door she will act the same way even though she has done nothing. She's not feeling guilty, she is anticipating our behaviour. If we so much raise our voice at our other dog, our sensitive girl will still squint and grovel. Even if she feels tension in the room she will often just get up and leave and go lie under the bed. In saying that she is a super happy and quite confident girl, she just doesn't like any tension whatsoever!

We had our first trial last night, I was only entered in Novice Jumping We didn't come away with a Q but Ava did very well and I remembered the course which is always a good thing Our only fault was on the very last obstacle - the broad jump - she took off way too early and landed on the last board - d'oh! We ended up getting a rerun because there was a dog standing right at the finish and the judge thought my girl had been unfairly distracted. Then on our rerun she knocked the spread (first obstacle) but did the rest of the course (including the broad jump) ok. I've already had some tips but if anyone else has info about dogs that jump too early, it would be much appreciated I will be watching Susan Salo's DVD and going back to jumping foundations, but I have heard that for some dogs it is difficult to change and you just need to work with it. Edit: From what I can see, she jumps early in open parts of the course but seems ok in the tighter parts. I will have to try get some video.

My younger girl noms her bedding so we have a piece of carpet in the kennels. Every second morning I spray bitter spray on the bits of the kennel she chews as well as each corner of the carpet. They're not getting anything softer/warmer until they stop using beds as tug toys. Edit: I am talking a dog house type kennel, not a run, not sure which one you mean

Been there done that. It's hard for us newbies

I have both. I would say that Click to Calm is more practical for day to day things like walks. Control Unleashed is more targeted towards agility or other stimulating environments. They are both very good and have lots of great information in them, but for a reactive pet dog I think Click to Calm would be more appropriate.

Good luck krustie and Kuda! We have our first jumping trial on Monday, also at our home grounds

I am so confused about terminology I would call the around the back turns "pivot turns" and the others "u turns". IMO to do nice u turns your dog needs very nice rear end awareness and a strong heel position, otherwise the round the back turns are better I do u turns which are lovely when my dog is paying attention but if she's lost focus I end up kneeing her in the head

This might be a strange question but do you have any that could help me PUT ON weight? I am getting a bit bony and would like to bulk up a bit. Thanks in advance.