wuffles

Yesterday my girl started reverse sneezing when she wakes up, just for a few seconds. She is fine afterwards and is otherwise acting normally. She did it a few times last night, twice this morning and once at training when she was playing with another dog. I assume I should take her to the vet if it continues, what kind of things might cause it?

I just put them outside while we were eating dinner, went outside and every single towel/sheet that was on the washing line is now lying on the ground Yep... such fun to have around

Leo is a DOLer's dog and I think he jumped up on his owner, not the judge - some people reward their dogs at the end of an exercise by letting them do something they like such as jumping, as you're not allowed food in the ring The obedience rules are here: http://www.ankc.org.au/media/scripts/doc_d...ad.aspx?did=201 although they don't really make for easy reading. The CCD rules are on page 18. As you go up the levels they introduce more complex exercises such as retrieving and scent discrimination. It's not some people's cup of tea but I think it's fun! Ava's heeling isn't bad, but she's still getting rewarded pretty heavily with both food and praise. She still has a bit of a puppy brain so I can't expect her to concentrate for that long yet. With teaching heel, it's more about teaching the position rather than the walking, I'm sure you will get to it in class soon! Unfortunately since that ball-chasing video she seems to have decided that balls are boring, she doesn't chase them anymore She definitely doesn't have the intensity that BCs and kelpies have, but that is part of why I love Aussies - they don't treat anything too seriously and just love to have fun! Teaching to walk on a loose leash is... fun. We're getting there, not perfect yet.

I have about three bum bags and proud of it! You guys should go watch an obedience trial Youtube has some good videos of obedience trials, if you look up "obedience ccd" you will find lots of videos mainly from other DOLers! CCD is the first level. KTB, one of the instructor's dogs from our club, not naming any names, did a big crap in the middle of his heeling pattern at the last trial. Trust me, the dogs aren't as angelic as you are imagining them to be I'm not in any hurry and we most likely won't be ready until Ava is at least 18 months old, but I like having something to work towards. Satch has definitely had an influence of Ava but she's picked up his bad habits as well. For example, he's not great off leash. Ava is great off leash -- until Satch is around, then she just copies him. He gets a bit grumpy with her sometimes but I do think he enjoys the company. Satch is 70cm at the shoulder and 36kg

Here you go guys, this is a video of our two. Satchmo the lovable mutt, and Ava the ridiculously cute Aussie. You can see what our yard looks like in the video; the part where they are showing me their moonscape masterpiece is the most recent; the parts where there is still some grass are obviously old Whenever I see older videos I think "WOW, we really had that much grass???" Ours are little angels in the house, I can leave them unattended to shower, they have free run of the house overnight and they don't touch anything. But stick them outside and they destroy anything they see. They ripped apart the Hound House kennel, have torn apart most of the plants, ate the insulation on the hot water system, mangled the handle on the clothesline, etc. This is their idea of having fun together. Satch is generally ok by himself (just a few holes and a bit of a munch on anything plastic) but as soon as there is another dog in the yard he dances around with them trying to find something to 'play with' aka destroy. I blame most of the digging on Satch but the rest of the destruction on little miss. I'm past caring about what the garden looks like I forgot to keep a record of how much Ava weighed! I know that she was 8kg when she came home at 12 weeks. She's now 9 months old and 20kg. KTB when my OH went away for a week recently, the dogs didn't act like anything was different. Satch was really excited when OH arrived home though, it was almost like a light went on in his head, "OH! I remember you!" I'm sure Elbie will be fine. I think tricks are on hold for us for now, I am working on getting our obedience refined. Does anyone else here want to do obedience trialling with their dogs in the future?

My Ava is 9 months old and she has met all kinds of dogs. She's been told off for being too boisterous and annoying many, many times. She's met a few that have taken a dislike to her (but she has never been hurt). After each encounter with a dog, whether it be friendly, unfriendly, indifferent... she modifies her behaviour and I can see her little brain ticking away. She has learned that not all dogs want to play with her and for her, this has been a good thing. She hasn't shown any signs of aggression to any other dogs (touch wood). All dogs are different, but that's just my experience. I would make sure you keep socialising her with known, friendly dogs so that she has more positive experiences :D

I hear ya I walk my younger dog on a front-attach harness when I have to walk my two together. I also keep them on a really short leash so that I can control them properly. Sometimes I have to walk them together on my own so this was the best compromise for us.

I'm 4 months post ACL reconstruction in my knee so I haven't jogged in a long time. The physio has only just given me jogging exercises, but they are strictly confined to flat grassed areas. The first time I tried to do my 10 x 20m jogs I nearly died of exhaustion I'm now nearly up to 10 x 100m, and Ava is good motivation to do my exercises!

I definitely know what you mean thelinks Yes, she is much better at a faster pace, which I find difficult in class as everyone else has slower, lagging dogs and I always end up running into them!! I was doing some jogging on the oval yesterday, had her off leash, and she was running along beside me having a great time. I tried alternating between a few steps of walking pace heeling and breaking into a jog, which she thought was a great game.

Or an Aussie?

I've never been able to teach my older boy to spin for the same reason. Once he thinks there is going to be too much effort involved, he just sits Maybe try moving a little bit more while luring him, so he has to walk forwards to get the treat rather than "on the spot". You can refine it later. Try getting him hyped up with a toy beforehand, mine are more likely to "try harder" if they are excited about what we are doing. Spin can be a really exciting trick. I also find they work really well if the other dog in the family is nearby, or they have watched the other dog be trained before them. Sometimes simply training in a different place or on a different surface helps (for example, mine are less likely to sit on tiles than carpet or grass, so if I want them standing I teach on tiles). Good luck!

Our rescue boy has his, our purebred puppy had hers removed. Our boy "grabs" things with his all the time, he holds his Kongs upright with them and also holds toys with them. The puppy finds it much harder to eat her Kong and we joke that she "has no thumbs"

My 9 month old puppy brought me a mangled and chewed clothes peg the other day, I told her to give and she did. I was glad that she'd chosen a peg instead of my shoes or the remote control

Thanks huski, I agree that I need to slowly build up to the heel patterns again. To be honest she hasn't really done much paddock bashing, our instructors are pretty good and are good at mixing up the training. Not that it makes that much of a difference as she obviously still thinks it's boring

Regarding the Canberra comment, there are a few dally breeders in Canberra. Did you ask them if they knew who his breeder was?

Thought I'd update this thread on how we've been going. We have both been enjoying a few fun exercises this week; rear end awareness on the phonebook (which she loves), stationary heel, short or circle heel patterns throwing the rewards for her to catch or find, rewarding with a run and a play with a soft toy. I am still having issues with any actual heel patterns though. She is off with the fairies as soon as we step off once she realises it's not one of our "fun games" and we actually have to walk in straight lines Her focus lasts about 2 seconds if she thinks we are doing a "normal" heeling pattern. I think I am just expecting a lot of her at her age, so will continue the games and see how that goes

How old is your puppy? My girl is now 9 months and a working breed, she has been through puppy preschool and we are now in the third level of obedience at dog club. My advice would be not to expect anything at a really young age, then you will be pleasantly surprised when they do something good Just enjoy them being a puppy. Do tricks and obedience with them if you enjoy it, but keep it fun and exciting! Play lots of games like tug, fetch and with toys. The typical one hour obedience classes generally aren't ideal for dogs and it places a pretty unrealistic expectation on them to concentrate for that long. You will miss their puppiness, their lack of concentration, their sheer excitement in new situations, their fluffy fur, the way they pounce on toys... they grow up very fast! :p I started expecting more from my puppy probably around 6 months, that is, I expected her to be able to sit still for longer, learn some more complex tricks, and refine some of the behaviours I'd taught. Even then, if she sat still in class for 30 seconds in class without trying to wander off or play with the dog next to her, I was very happy! At 9 months it is really coming together and she is maturing in the way she learns and does obedience. Even then, I know she is still young and making her want to work with me is MY job, not hers. I am having a lot of fun learning along with her. Some good general advice on how much on-lead exercise for a medium sized puppy is 5 minutes per month of age. Some people prefer less and some more. Edited to add: Just thought I'd mention that we've been with some puppies from beginners class up to where we are now and there is a HUGE difference between dogs. They are all individuals! Some learn quickly, others slower. Some are very precise with what they learn, some are just excited to be there. Also be prepared for weeks when the puppy just doesn't want to do anything at all! :p

Ava was great at training this morning.... except loose leash walking or heeling :p She does all the stationary exercises brilliantly, her stays, recall, mat, stand for exam, waiting for food, all lovely. She does have flashes of brilliance so it's an issue of motivation -- if I have a treat in my left hand all the time she will heel beautifully. She will do the automatic sits, downs and stands while doing her version of "heeling", it's just the moving bit she doesn't seem to like. KTB, a few people in our class had problems getting their dogs to go 5m away from them in the informal recall exercise (including us). When we did the assessment we did a formal recall though, thankfully Elbie will pass bronze easily. Ava woke us up at 6:30am (which is actually a sleep-in in our house) with kisses. Not sure that's what her daddy really wanted for Father's Day :p

;)

Yeah just general focus issues, she just doesn't seem to be enjoying it even in short bursts. I've had some success this week just doing basics and games instead of more formal heeling, and lots of rewarding with both food and toys. I think we need to work a bit more on this kind of stuff before we do the longer patterns they are expecting in class! You're allowed to give treats before and after the exercise but you're not allowed to have it in your hand... but for example I will reward Ava for sitting in heel at the start of the exercise, then at the end

:D I closed ours for a while today and Ava kept poking her nose in all the mesh bits trying to get in!

Yep, just using shaping. There are quite a few videos on Youtube teaching it! To be honest as soon as I put the phone book on the ground she wanted to go stand on it so it only took a few goes. Then rewarding for just moving her back legs slightly, then for moving in circles, and only recently I added the heel position in. She can still only take a teeny tiny step clockwise She loves the game and as soon as I put the phone book out she's there with her front two paws on it :D Elbie would probably have fun learning it. I'm having some issues with heeling at the moment so am going back to some basic games, trying to make it more fun

I did a few things with Ava today but no tricks! I really wish we could have gone to the oval to practice but it would just be mushy and wet and horrible. We did a fair bit of tidying up some of her obedience exercises like getting her to sit closer to me when recalling, finishing and finding heel position, going to her mat from a longer distance and stand stays with distractions and pats. Here is a quick video which is nowhere near as entertaining as yours, but it's one of her favourite exercises :D At least your dog is black and won't turn into a brown mud monster at training tomorrow

:dancingelephant: I love how he keeps dropping the ball/toy JUST before it gets in the box, then seems confused about why it's not in the box.

Just thought I'd say that a lot of working breeds seem to lunge when on leash if they haven't been taught otherwise. Even now, my little one does the same if she's overstimulated.. but she is not stubborn nor dominant, just excited and needs somewhere else to focus her energy