wuffles

It is just me, or does this in particular sound completely random?

Aussie temperament varies considerably between individuals... There are the very laidback, the very full on and everything in between. Just to make it confusing

Is there a reason behind wanting a medium/large dog? If you are not confident in handling a large dog then maybe you should consider smaller ones. There are many smaller breeds that will alert you to intruders. One of mine is not scary looking at all, but if someone comes into our yard unannounced she can be pretty darn insistent that they leave

Mine don't 'indicate', but I don't expect them to. They do hold on, though. And they'd take themselves outside if we had a doggie door or other way of letting them do so. Neither of my dogs have ever left a puddle beside the back door.

Great video TSD, the self rewarding made me lol We have been doing some dumbbell work with no pressure on precision and we are doing much better motivation-wise! Yay! And as a consequence, the mouthing has lessened and I am getting nicer fronts with no extra work except making it super fun.

Well, you will own working breeds!! I know, but it still surprised us as to how full of beans a working breed puppy could be Everyone was telling us that after 5 minutes of training she'd sleep for a few hours... more like train for a few hours then sleep for 5 minutes

Wuffles, I took mine to the dog club and walked the paddock... puppy could do as much or as little as it pleased. I did do dog club and also the local oval as well Often our walks were - 5 minutes walk to oval - 10 minutes play/training - then 5 minutes home again. Or 5 minutes to local shops - sit for 10 minutes watching people - 5 minutes home. I guess it remains to be seen how her joints will go, she's nearly 2 years old now. Edit: And she's still an energiser bunny

I wasn't able to wear my puppy out with free play (small yard) or training... she just went and went and went like an energiser bunny. I did roughly 5 minutes of structured exercise per month of age. On leash walks helped with her energy levels a lot. To this day, on leash walks tire her out more than off leash exercise...

Wow Nik you guys certainly do get lots of awards! They don't even give out High in Trials over here.

That's all well and good, but when it's YOUR OWN dog getting attacked, the reality is that most of us would do the same thing. Doesn't absolve the attacking dog and their owner of responsibility. Not me. I would grab the back legs of the attacking dog and wheelbarrow him off. Once again, easy to say. I reacted so quickly that I avoided my dog getting injured. If I'd waited until the other dog had latched on, then wheelbarrowed, I don't want to think what may have happened to my dog - both physically and mentally. Edit: I ended up with a small area of broken skin through my jeans.

Agree, when it happened to me I still stuck my leg between them - and I would do it again.

That's all well and good, but when it's YOUR OWN dog getting attacked, the reality is that most of us would do the same thing. Doesn't absolve the attacking dog and their owner of responsibility.

Eek I hate when things like that happen. At our last trial the dog before us did a runner in the heelwork so all of a sudden we were in! Sure gets the heart rate up. My club has decided to do two ribbon obedience trials next month which would have been perfect for us... unfortunately I think my chances of training out of sight stays in a few weeks are fairly slim

Great work SSM! :thumbsup:

Thanks for your posts guys, as usual they will give me something to think about We do train duration as a separate exercise. Her duration work certainly has improved but not to a point where she is pushing to do the next exercise.

What I'm saying is that I already do that. Our rewards are completely random. I am the one in class who will run off in the middle of the heel pattern and reward my dog from a tree branch It's probably about duration and durability as well, but I think the two tie in together.

I do lots of randomisation of rewards in training/mock trials and reward from many different places at different times. I am constantly working on this and I realise I need to do more work but it's hard without overworking her. It's not so much an 'issue' as she is doing really well in trials but I would just like to know how other people make the next exercise rewarding for the dog. I know not everyone trains like this but there are definitely people who do and I would like to know more. Edit: TSD, I do all that :p But unless we are doing mock trials every weekend (which we are not, and don't want to), we can't fit in enough randomisation in a trial setting. I never practice a finish after a recall.

Yes, I do that (hand touches, spins, letting her jump up) and it helps her focus but it still doesn't make the next exercise rewarding for her, if you get what I mean.

Staranais, the obedience trialling exercises are always in the same order. Not sure if that makes a difference What I am interested in is, my girl knows that the reward is eventually coming but at the moment is still working for that reward. What I mean is that after she is released from the heelwork, for example, she will glance over at her treat container, act edgy, and whinge. She does the next exercise fine but with less enthusiasm and I can tell she just wants that damn reward :p So what I am interested in is how to get her to act edgy about doing the next exercise, rather than just wanting to go get the food. Does that make sense?

We have one of these which is nice (but a mighty pain to put together)!

I don't deny that dog sports are great to get into for various reasons!

I'm sure for a lot of clubs that's true, but I do both agility and flyball with one of mine, at two different clubs. In agility, our group has no other small dogs, and my dog doesn't really like big dogs. In our flyball group there are several ACD's, all of which are dodgy with all other dogs, several neurotic BC's, and a semi-aggressive standard poodle (I suspect it's really just prey drive gone over the top). The only other dogs I will let her socialise with are the other two small dogs in the group, and while training there isn't much time for it and when we finish they both want to go home because they are both owned by older people. I guess I've just been unlucky. My other dog finds dogs to socialise with in our obedience classes though. Yep. While I agree in principle that dog clubs SHOULD be better places for socialising your dogs, unfortunately I haven't found this to be the case. We have had more serious incidents at dog club or even obedience trials than at dog parks. The best thing about dog clubs, IMO, is meeting similar-minded owners with similar-minded dogs that you can meet with both in class and out of hours. I think the key to socialisation is vigilance and common sense, and the realisation that things can go wrong no matter what the situation.

One of my dogs definitely needs free running and play with other dogs. She has energy to spare and I can do two one-hour obedience classes with her at dog club and she is still working nicely at the end of it. She needs a physical outlet as well as a mental one. I can't keep up with her, and my other dog can't keep up with her. She needs to run flat out and the only time she does this is with other dogs. She does get to play with known dogs, and that is my preference, but at times when that is not practical we do go to dog parks. I am hypervigilant and remove ourselves from bad situations immediately.

I think we are on the right direction towards this, but need some help getting there. Any tips? :D

I think you'd find most get around at 30 - 34kgs I can't even comprehend a 60kg lab. Do you mean the average 'healthy' weight for a lab or the average weight of labs you see out and about? I totally agree though, I can't even comprehend a 60kg lab.