wuffles

I've thought about soreness, but I'm not sure how you'd recognise if that was the problem? Her teeth look fine, she has a scissor bite and she has no trouble with bones or toys or wooden kennels I do suspect I've poisoned it but as it took so long to get where I am now I didn't want to have to go back to the start! But maybe I will. Ta.

She is always very, very, very hungry. She is very easy to motivate. I've never come across something like the dumbbell, though. If I try wait her out she will offer other behaviours - nudging the dumbbell, pawing it, dropping, sitting on it... she just doesn't seem to want to put it in her mouth.

Hey Nik! I've had the same advice and I agree, it does stop her mouthing and spitting it out when she is moving with me. But as soon as I get her to sit in front she will roll it back again. I think I will take some video of a few different situations and see if I can work out the point when she does the roll. TSD, I am still having trouble building value. I use extra special treats and do minimal repetitions. I get the best reaction out of her if I move the dumbbell around a lot and hide it behind my back, but if I try a second time without doing that she is likely just to stare blankly at me

Unfortunately she'll spit it out before she stops mouthing it :p Edit: She'll tilt her head back and let it slide to the back of her mouth, let it sit there and maybe wriggle/mouth slightly, then spit it out.

I tend to agree. Ava walks on a loose leash with me but is a nightmare for my OH. I have a very different relationship with her than him. She listens to him, yes, but she knows and watches my body language very well. I am wary of my emotions around her as she's very sensitive and try to be consistent in my commands. He doesn't think about such things and she picks up on that. He feeds her, looks after her, plays with her... whereas I engage with her, set her boundaries and make her interactions with me rewarding and positive. That being said, I don't want her actually looking at me on walks. It's annoying. I want her to sniff and explore and take in her surroundings and just have me in the back of her mind the whole time. If she sees something exciting I do have to occasionally remind her what she's meant to be doing, but when I do, she waits to see what I want her to do next. Trust me when I say it's annoying having a dog offering prancy, stare-at-your-face heelwork when you are trying to take them for a casual off leash walk... I know this from experience

Yep, I rarely do formal ones as I'm just trying to get enthusiasm and less mouthing. Unfortunately the more I do the more mouthing I get (she rolls it back in her mouth THEN mouths, if that makes sense). If I give a NRM and try again it either gets worse or she refuses to pick the dumbbell up at all. I told one of the instructors about the issues and said "she almost looks tortured when holding the dumbbell", I showed her and she said "oh... I see what you mean" I have been trying to reenforce her for holding it correctly by holding while she takes it and clicking for the right position in her mouth. I can generally get her to hold it correctly without mouthing if I hand it to her but not if she picks it up off the ground. I think I just have to be patient and precise in my clicks

A few greyhounds :D

Yep the good training sessions are what keep me going with this whole crazy dog trialling thing! What is also great is we were working right next to an agility class, distractions galore! And neither of my kiddies were fussed that other dogs were running and jumping nearby, they had clearly decided that I was more fun and rewarding to be with That is such a win! I ran the girls over an agility course once each before i left for home, and let's just say that while they were both still eager (we had been there over 2 hours already), my agility handling skills need major work And a tunnel under the A-Frame was just too much for their little brains :D But they had good parts in the mess we made of it so it's all good :D Where are you at with the retrieving? Anything we can help with? Open is fun! But I can't wait for UD :D Yes RS you have a great relationship with your dogs if you are more exciting than other dogs doing agility nearby :D I am still getting dumbbell mouthing in the retrieve and struggling to make it fun for her (not a natural retriever) unless it's over a jump, amongst a few other more minor things. On the flat sometimes she just wanders out about half way then stops. In part of my 'making it fun' I only do very short sessions with the dumbbell so that makes things very slow and with a number of different issues to separate and tackle it's a bit overwhelming I think I need to talk to one of the experienced triallers at our club and see if they will work through the individual issues with me.

Nice one RS, gotta love good training sessions :D I must admit I'm not really looking forward to Open. I'm struggling a bit with the retrieves still and out of sight stays are scary. I think both Ava and I will enjoy UD training much more but I have to get the retrieving going before starting that

We don't have NFC here so there goes that idea :p I did enjoy CCD while I was doing it. Especially for first time triallers I think it is very valuable. The main issue I've seen down here is that people can do really well in CCD then have real difficulty with Novice.

Leashes are evil. I had a cheap light cotton leash for CCD and now I just grab whatever leash I find on the morning of the trial. So glad I don't need that thing in the ring anymore. I was doing a class at our club that is mainly on leash and Ava and I both had trouble with the SFE even though she's been solid on that all throughout Novice... it's so confusing

If you can't see a trainer in person you could try K9 Pro's loose leash distance learning package.

whiskedaway, my 'slower' dog (not saying Akira is slow, but mine certainly can be) has trouble learning behaviours involving 'items'. We have an exercise in our companion obedience classes which involves sending the dog to a mat from 3m away. My smartie pants girl learnt it in a few quick sessions yet my doofus seems to have trouble comprehending, even if I lure him, that he is even ON a mat. He understands 'go away from mum and sit' but whether he's near the mat or not is just coincidence. He just doesn't get it. Anyway, he knows how to target my hand so to get him to target an object, I firstly just placed it on my hand and asked him to 'touch'. Then I just held it in my fingertips, then progressed to having it on the floor. I did a nose touch but if you really have to teach a drop on the object you could perhaps start with asking for a paw touch and hopefully she may start offering a drop after that (my dogs seem to transition from a paw touch to drop pretty quickly without being asked).

If you came to Canberra you'd see an awful lot of them. Even the ones I've met that have been owned by bogans have been nice dogs.

GREAT work ness and Kenz!!! Loved the video, I wish we'd had some of our performance. Nice one Beth and Lottie :D :D

Thanks FHRP :D :D :D *waits impatiently to find out ness' brag*

Wow what a brilliant way to get your title. So dare we ask where you lost your 3 points . Huge congratulations. Make sure you celebrate - makes all the training worthwhile ;) Thanks, I am extremely happy :D We have a nice dinner with friends planned for tonight so that will be good! They are doggie friends too so even better ;) Lost 2 points in heelwork (not certain what for but she definitely went wide on one of the fo8 posts) and 1 in recall for the slightest angle on the front. No video unfortunately, it all happened too quickly to organise and the dog before us made a getaway in the heelwork so was feeling pretty rushed.

Ava got her Novice title today with a score of 197 and 1st place! Will probably be our last obedience trial for the year while we try our hand at agility and get ready for Open next year.

If the Thundershirt didn't work it's unlikely a tight t-shirt would. Not say you, but some people think that the Thundershirt should and will work straight away when it's actually a culmative effect. I tried it for separation anxiety. He has worn it several times now and still no effect. If I had thought to try a snug T-shirt first I may have saved some money. Why don't you just sell it? There are never any guarantees with this kind of thing.

Do what I do and go feed the ones that don't fit in the freezer to your dog

My dogs barely need any kibble to survive, I only use about 2.5 cups a day or less for my two who are 36kg and 18kg. I buy the big bags when they are on sale and they last us about 2 months. I am currently using Pro Plan but have tried Royal Canin, Advance and Black Hawk. To be honest there wasn't much difference between all the foods. I found for my dogs that Advance was the least palatable, and we had some health issues while on Black Hawk (may or may not be caused by the food but changed anyway). Their coats were nicest on Black Hawk but are still luscious and shiny on the others. My younger girl is super active, her fitness and muscle tone have been excellent on all foods. They get extras such as sardines, chicken wings/frames, Natures Gift tinned food in their Kongs, offcuts, training treats and an occasional beef/lamb bone (upsets their tums a bit so not too often). And they get Joint Guard on their food each night.

I think that it probably depends on the dog. My dog is noticeably LESS reactive the more he is taken out and about and meeting new dogs.

The new seesaw sure is little. I don't think Ava even really realised that it was moving Thanks to KTB we had some fun things to try in class last night including obstacle discrimination... I must say I think it really helped both my dog and me... a light went on in her head that she actually has to watch what I am telling her to do, and there was some tricky handling involved that made me think. Elbie and Ava are both weaving 8 straight poles nicely, they are very cute

yeah that would be some good practice, I predict a success rate of 1 in every 100 shots Oh come on! I reckon there it would be at least 3 in 100 I've given up Sorry, I'm completely crashing this thread, but try having a crazy dog that is white on one end and black on the other

While I do agree with everything that's been said to an extent, many BCs tend to take offence to my girl for no reason at all. She's not rude in her greetings and does not stare. It's not fair on her at all and the owners tend to just chuckle when it happens My older boy can be reactive on leash. Not too many suggestions for you, I just try to keep my distance when we're on walks. He is worse when walking with my other dog so most of the time they get walked separately. Edit: We actually have seen a professional about it and are doing gradual desensitisation.