wuffles

I thank mine when they bring me toys (presents) And I thank my boy when he offers his paw for a 'shake'

I learned pretty quickly to enter trials even though we "could" pass before then If I hadn't done so, we still wouldn't have our CCD...

Sure is! One day on our morning walk he found a 1.5m fence paling and carried that the whole way. He was upset, though, that no-one would throw it for him. I will give him a pat/cuddle for you, although I usually try to avert eye contact to avoid having a slobbery stick slammed into my shins Training in winter sucks. Not wet here at the moment, but freezing and DARK. I am doing as much training as possible in the house and trying to get the local oval but hating the pitch blackness.

How much interaction/play/training etc. is she getting at the moment? A tired puppy is usually a quiet puppy ;) Edited to add: My puppy was insane at that age People kept telling me that puppies slept a lot, but my girl didn't get that memo. I spent a lot of time playing with her or training her, then "game's over!" and that was that. Once she got into a fixed routine (eg. she knew that we would get home from work, have a play, then rest, then another quick play, then bed) it got a lot better

Having dogs is an exercise in management. All you can do is observe your dogs, know their temperament, and make calls based on that. Issues like this aren't clear cut. Mine get food while I'm out and I will deal with the consequences if anything bad ever happens. Mine have a very obvious pack structure and my girl has no ambitions to be the top dog. She's been told off before for getting too close to another dog's treasure, she knows to keep away.

Good luck murve! I think I get more nervous in the days leading up to a trial than the day itself. I was just informed yesterday that one of the tollers that lives in my street is superstar Cider's brother! I guess you would say he is good friends with my two dogs, except that he's too interested in sticks to really pay much attention to them

Hi Olivebaby, my two were on RC before switching to Black Hawk. I was very happy with RC but thought I'd try BH because it's Australian made and saves me money. I think both are great kibbles.

I think you'll also find that there are plenty of politics in obedience as well, that become more noticeable once you're competing In any dog-related pursuit I think you have to have tough skin. Showing is not my thing either, but I am not interested in breeding. If I were you I'd try making my timelines more flexible. Is there a reason you need to breed right away? Get your boy out and about, get some obedience titles on him, meet people, volunteer at your local obedience club, get involved with your local breed club if there is one, network, maybe also try something like agility or tracking. If you really want another dog now, think about desexing your boy and finding the right male for your female in a few years' time. Or at least convey to breeders that you are not getting a girl simply to breed with your boy, but you are genuinely interested in learning more about the breed and finding a mentor.

I think there needs to be another option: "I would like my life to revolve around dog sports but OH would kill me if I tried to do more than I already do." :rofl:

Interestingly, we've generally had good reactions to the dogs when at cafes. When we were on a roadtrip earlier in the year, we had a few people actually approach us to say what lovely dogs we had, or ask if they could pat them. Whether they have been with us at the table, tethered a short distance away, or in the back of the wagon with the door up, lots of people walked past and smiled or asked questions. One of mine is a big black dog and even he generally gets good reactions from people when we are out and about.

A like variety. My current two dogs are almost opposites! I think that every dog we own helps us understand a little more about what traits suit us. But no matter what breed, you'll love it anyway! Personally I don't think you can go past Aussies though.

Thanks, sounds simple, will do! :D

I videoed some of our training yesterday and was very happy with our progress. But one thing I noticed is that Ava looks away at the same point on every figure of 8 - coming out of the inside turn I went back and looked at our trial videos and she did it then too No idea how we're going to tackle it yet, but thank God for video! RS I think mine would love tracking as well! Alas, no clubs around here and who knows where I'd find the time... but I'm sure I could ;)

I find it really hard as a newbie to get the courage to pull out or excuse myself. Even when my girl is flat she works better than a lot of the other dogs and I don't feel ready to deal with the questions/comments and having to wait a month 'til the next trial! I do think that I am learning and gaining confidence with each trial though, so I do hope I get there soon Edit: Sorry, I didn't read the original question properly :p My first trial was a double and Ava had been sick for a week or two prior. I was fully prepared to wake up that morning and pull her out but I got up and she was raring to go. So I did the morning trial (and did very well) but pulled out of the afternoon as I didn't want to push her. It's amazing how many people don't want to trust your judgement about your own dog - I think I had about 5 people exclaim that I shouldn't pull her out (including the judge).

Don't want to go too off topic, but thought I'd put this out there. Would most breeders generally still put dogs on limited register with desexing contracts for sporting homes? How about sporting homes who are who are not interested in breeding or showing? My chosen breed is meant to be versatile so I think it's important to keep dogs in the gene pool that have letters after their names, whether they also have them before or not Do you think there is a place in breeding programs for these dogs, and if so, do you encourage sporting homes to keep their dogs entire and on main register if they are a good example of their breed?

Sure, but I am just not quite sure how that translates to things a dog does while you are not around and does not understand are undesirable. I can see a loose connection, just not a big one. Maybe I am missing something

How do you think TOT and NILIF will help? Genuine question here, I am interested

My girl is 18 months and will still destroy anything outside. I wouldn't dream of putting a couch out there with her Some dogs just seem to do it, no matter how much exercise and training they get. You could try using a beeper or some kind of adverse sound, making him believe that you are not home, and waiting until he starts destroying something. IMO that's the only way you will be able to let him know he's done the wrong thing. To him it is just something to do and he doesn't understand why he's getting in trouble hours after the fact.

Not sure but I have an ultrasonic bark deterrant for my two and it appears to do nothing :p

My 36kg dog gets 1.5 cups of BH a day. He isn't overweight but could probably stand to lose about a kilo. He gets a long on leash walk each day but is quite lazy in general. My 18kg dog gets 1 cup of BH a day. She is very active and lean. She gets a long leash walk plus training each day plus we do obedience and agility. Plus an off leash stint at the dog park a few times a week. Anything else is subtracted from that amount, so if they get a Kong each in the morning they lose half a cup of BH at dinner. My little one is a garbage disposal unit and acts like she hasn't been fed in weeks no matter how much food she gets. The other day at training one of my friends put her treat bag on the ground and turned her back for a second and Ava devoured the whole lot faster than you could say "vacuum cleaner" As mentioned, veggies help fill them up. Edit: About to move onto our third 20kg bag and am loving the food.

I've used Aloveen, Fido's Oatmeal and Episoothe. None of them made any difference to the itching but they all smell delicious

well done wuffles So when is your next real trial? 25th Trials are pretty sparse in Canberra at the moment!

We did well at the club assessment Had some minor issues with the heelwork but they were my problem rather than hers - her focus was lovely and as that is usually our biggest issue I gave her a nice jackpot at the end of the heel pattern which made her very happy!! She would have scored full points in all the other exercises. I am quite happy :D The lady who judged us said that she was crowding a bit, but I confirmed with other people afterwards that it wasn't an issue. She heels close but doesn't touch me Anyway, she was heeling exactly how I wanted her to so that's what matters

We have a Thundershirt. It seems to have a slight effect but it's barely noticeable. Strangely enough, the best thing for my boy seems to be noise that drowns out the thunder. Once OH was playing a very loud computer game with guns and explosions and my boy was very, very calm throughout the storm.

Thanks guys... you have confirmed what I thought Now just to hope she actually does do nice work that I can reward