wuffles

I think that dogs can go plenty of places in Australia, you just have to make the effort to take them. If the dogs are with us and we need to eat lunch, and there are no dog friendly places around, we just buy the food then find somewhere outside to eat it (or in the car if we have to). I take the dogs to hubby's sports games. They go to dog club and also to obedience trials. We go to dog off leash areas and reserves. They get walks around the suburbs, past the shops, meet the locals and their dogs. They often come on holidays with us - plenty of dog friendly accommodation these days.

You don't realise how frightening stays can be until you do them in the trial ring There are dogs that I would not put my dog next to in stays. If they were next to us, I would withdraw, even on a qually. I have been in a mock trial situation and requested that a particular dog be on the opposite end to mine. That being said, we haven't had any major issues yet in trials (just things like dogs rolling on their backs, going back to their handler, changing position).

Nice one MonElite! :D I, too, have been working on my handling skills, nerves, randomising treats/jackpots and generally making training fun. We did a Novice trial on the weekend and although I was pretty nervous going in, I made a conscious effort to enjoy my time in the ring and have fun with my dog. I am happy to say that she worked with beautiful enthusiasm! I made sure she got lots of praise and play in between exercises and going back to the start peg (even though the judge had a chuckle at her spins and touches and jumps). And she knew damn well that there was a container of smelly sardines waiting just outside the ring for her ;)

Bad luck tollersowned but it's great that you came out of the ring happy with your performance! We had our first Novice trial today and passed! We scored 189 and came 2nd on countback. Lost 9 points in heelwork (did a hoverdrop and some wide turns, the rest was lovely IMO) and 2 in the recall for a squiffy finish, full marks otherwise :D

I think for me it's also about accepting that my dog isn't a robot and is going to have off days... If she's off with the fairies, I withdraw her, watch some of my friends in the ring, go home and get on with the weekend :D I think it's a bit easier now that we've polished off CCD as I (and everyone else) know what we're capable of. Well that's what I'm trying to convince myself anyway

Good luck everyone! Sounds like it is a big trialling weekend everywhere. Crossing fingers for lots of passes

Yes Nik it would be an NQ because it is breaking position. I hear you on things breaking before trials as this morning Ava has decided that she has never heard the word "stand" before. It means the same as sit, right? ETA: And I was a very, very BAD trainer, got frustrated with her and managed to break her COP too. Thankfully all she needed on that one was a bit of encouragement and play... bad, bad mummy.

Evening time is generally relaxing time at our place. We do a 45 min - 1 hour walk in the morning. They're home alone from about 7:30am to 5pm. Most nights of the week, when I get home from work... the dogs come inside, go to their beds and sleep Wake up for their dinner at 6pm, back inside then sleep again. Sometimes I have a play with Ava when I get home. I take Ava to agility one night a week (and obedience on weekends). I take her out for extra obedience training between one and three days a week which is as soon as I get home. Then she gets home and sleeps again

So essentially we are on the same page then?

So would you expect exactly the same performance in a trial as you got in training? Or would you allow some leeway? Just ignore me if I'm being annoying

I see obedience as teamwork. I agree that you cannot completely control nerves but you can sure do a hell of a lot to enable your dog to work without being affected by your behaviour. I prefer to think that I can adapt my behaviour to a fair degree and that I shouldn't expect my dog to just deal with it. Two team members have to put some effort in, not one. That's why signals, footwork etc is important - because when we do better we enable the dog to perform better. I don't see other scenarios as the same because its only in the ring that you are deprived of other motivators for your dog. I do agree that we need to take responsibility for nerves. I am relatively calm in the ring and am getting better all the time, but my body language still changes. I think that my dog and I have excellent teamwork, and she is super tuned into my body language. She trusts me and doesn't fall to pieces if I'm more tense than usual, am walking more upright,or are walking a bit crooked, or go a bit slower than usual... but it does take a toll on our overall ring performance. Does anyone have a dog that performs 100% in training then 100% in trials? I haven't seen one, but I'd be interested to hear what other people think.

I am relatively new to all this and still formulating my thoughts (my first obedience dog) so forgive me if I'm going off topic. Hopefully my ramblings might help the OP as well Let's be honest, we will never get rid of nerves completely so our dogs need to get used to that. Things like mock trials will help, but how about other situations that will make us slightly nervous? A demo in front of other people, perhaps? How about whipping out the dog for training after doing some public speaking? Thoughts, ideas? With my dog, I don't expect her to work at 100% in trials. Until she is perfectly proofed on my nerves as well as the trial environment it wouldn't be fair to expect the same standard in training. And realistically, I don't know if I can ever proof her fully on those things so for the moment I need to make sure she's absolutely 100% in training so I can afford a bit of a drop in trials.

The OP said that the dog was 'reasonably good' in training. Maybe we need clarification of what this means and whether motivation may be an issue in training as well.

One of mine is a vacuum cleaner no matter how much I feed her. I think you need to worry less about how the dogs are acting and go by their condition. Don't feed any scraps from the kitchen, dinner table or your plate, and don't allow them to scavenge off the floor. They'll learn that food doesn't come from those places and stop begging. Hungry dogs are much easier to train! ;)

OP, have you thought about retraining her heelwork using training in drive? Or any other method involving lots of fun and games for the dog? I essentially retrained my girl a while ago due to focus issues and I found it helped us immensely.

It was a joke Corvus but while we're on the subject 'enthusiasm' or 'drive' is genetic, the dog either has it or it doesn’t. It's not something you can simply inject and you're away. 'Drive' in working line dogs when compared to non-working line dogs is light years apart. I see too many people fluffing around making more of a commotion than the dog trying to build drive in something that simply doesn’t have it or is very low. Quite funny to watch actually.............lol Many of the dogs I see struggling in the ring have plenty of drive. I use food containers/jackpots plus hand touches, spins, etc. but I still struggle with the issue a bit. In my case I put it down to proofing... I need to let my girl know that a reward could be coming at any time... including in the ring. I need to do more mock trials to help with this, and probably also more work on duration in general.

I have a very active young dog (different breed) who would cope with the amount of exercise you are offering. She would probably be a bit naughty though, ripping up beds and such, if you could handle that The only thing is, she is 17kg but I wouldn't leave her with a smaller dog unattended. She tries to be gentle but isn't always successful Our older, 36kg dominant male keeps her in line, but only barely.

I would say that in general, we put our dogs into the ring before they are ready (me included). If they can't do a full round enthusiastically without food in training, why do we expect that they will do it in a trial??

I think he might be coming back to Australia next year but I'm not sure where he's planning on going.

Just wondering if anyone had any experience or knowledge about rosemary or rosemary extract in dog food, and its possible link to seizures. My dog has possibly been having mild seizures and I just want to cover all bases

Just spend the weekend at a Kamal seminar - all I can say is wow. I am feeling particularly inspired

Ironically, merle x merle is allowed in Aussies, yet the standard is quite strict regarding the amount of white.

ROFL. Best story ever :thumbsup: Edit: Although I am glad Boonie is better now

To add another dimension, I really enjoy training one of my dogs and not the other, so I think individual dogs play a big part in dog sport preferences. I have no aspirations for one of them to compete as I don't think either of us would get much out of it. He can't see the point of jumping over things when you can just go around, so he'd hate agility. I occasionally try to teach him new things but that is more for me to test my training skills, rather than for his enjoyment. He's happy doing his only trick 'shake' over and over again while I get my other dog to rescue people from burning buildings...