megan_

Thanks for the questions vi lie, they have given me a lot to think about. I'll try to fit in some foundations this week too. He was better on the aframe this week, but didn't drive ahead when released. I think one of the problems I have is that my timing is crap. He used to work well at a distance but now I find him checking in all the time. In the past he would drive on and then id give a late cue and hed have to do an awkward turn. So now he looks back, even with a jump straight ahead. Lynda Orton hill spoke about this with her dogs and that is why she added some verbal queues.

I'm regretting only booking a 1/2 day, but Fergs doesn't 'do" the whole-day-at-training thing and gives me the finger after a few hours.

Is anyone else going? I'm just doing the weaving session on Saturday. I don't know much about Dave but I've seen a few of his clips and I like his enthusiasm & the positive relationship he has with his dogs. Hopefully he'll give me some pointers to stop fergs stopping at the last pole and staring back and me, demanding me to throw the treat!

Is the vet a specialist?

Has the specialist recommended physio once things settle down? DisGusting sees Michelle monk who is a proper animal physio who is doing her masters. Her center has underwater treadmills etc. She is fantastic. ETA; she sees a lot of post-op dogs for rehab

Bathrooms are very cold at night and lonely places. Mine never got locked up but with a new pup I would crate overnight in my bedroom - nice & warm, and pup is part of the pack. During the day mine had free range from day 1, with a dog door and certain doors closed (so they couldn't access every room. Sure, it made toilet training a bit harder but I'm not keen on a pup seeing the same boring view for 12+ hours a day. I believe they need to sniff, explore, have a snooze, more exploring etc. If I had a pup with a mature dog I'd separate them, but rotate where the stayed and I'd try to ensure each had a bit of indoor/outdoor access. chewak - pee pads are never for a crate. A dog is only meant to be in a crate for a short period. If they need to toilet in the crate then they are being forced to defaecate where they sleep - not good for the dog at all.

How does he go with the fast heel outside of class (eg at home with no distractions)?

glad I'm not a breeder because my dogs don't even own bowls. They eat food out of their puzzle toys or when training. They LOVE it. I would hate for them to lose out on the highlight of the day....

Just FYI for the future - All my gates are locked. The meter readers leave cards and imams them a picture of the reading.

Wagging tail doesn't mean friendly - far from it.

I wouldn't just go with instinct - some of the disburse breeders put on very nice fronts. Make sure they do all the health tests (there are a few genetic conditions that should be tested for with amstaffs, I don't know the details) and find someone who breeds moderate dogs - amstaffs are meant to be agile and nit have giant bobble heads that you see around sometimes. I'd steer clear of anyone who advertises their dogs as massive or "xxx". While dogzonline listings are a good place to start it is no guaruntee that they are ethical or produce good dogs.

This, times a billion. The son (apparently ) made no effort to help someone in trouble, He shouldnt be complaining about others not helping either. Getting down 15 floors takes time. I don't see anywhere in the article where it says the son never tried to help? I understand the son being upset. His Dad was mauled by a pack of dogs and then, no doubt, he had to deal with a pack of journalists. I am terrified of most bull breeds, so I don't think I could help even if I wanted to. However, I would call the ploice and get into my car and try to drive up to them and scare them off. Poor man. In other articles I read the dogs were on leash but got away?

There are always exceptions to the standard? All the ones I have met are wonderful dogs, but they do things their way. For one in particular, their owners think they have a biddable, easy to live with dog, but they don't - they just don't have many rules so the dog never "breaks" them. If they tried to get her to do something they didn't want, they would be in for a very rude shock.

As a matter of fact, I just met a Wheaten at the vets with my unreal dog (mini schnauzer) lol and commented to the owner as he did to me that they are so similar in look, besides the colouring, to each other. I don't know if this is the correct way, but she was groomed just like Schnauzers are supposed to be groomed. The standard Schnauzer is very comparable to the size of the Wheaten. They both need the grooming, so what's the difference? Standards are a completely different dog to the mini - they are not the same dog in 3 different sizes. Minis are a lot more biddable. Standards are incredibly smart, but every one I've met has been stubborn (what's in it for me) and they are incredibly powerful dogs for their size. Both should have a strong prey drive. I don't have chickens due to my mini's drive. Of course they would be separated but she's obsess over them and they would have to cope with a predator stalking them through the cage all day. My cousin's standard scaled a pool fence to kill her 5 chickens, after living with them for months. I consider myself a training-savvy owner. I do agility and obedience with my dogs. No way would I be able to handle a standard!

Well after a loooong break we were back at training last night (KCC hasn't had lights for us for many, many months...) Fergs remembered a lot more than I thought he would. Just goes to show a break can do them good! He nailed is contacts (2o2o) and ran them reasonably fast. On our final attempt at the DW, I asked the instructor to hold his collar and I really razzed him up (standing ahead of him : "ready? ready? let's show those border collies how it's done etc"...this drives him wild!). I started ahead of him and released him. He flew - I have never seen him run so fast on a DW, he was running flat out, very confidently. He blew the contacts, but that is no surprise as he was sooooo excited. So.... i) How do I get him to run that fast without a restrained recall (I razz him up with a tug, he goes fast, but not like the restrained recall) ii) How to I balance the control of 2o2o with the speed? It seems to me that if I go back and put him on, and only reward him if he does the end behaviour that I'm inadvertently rewarding him to go slow(er). He is still running, but it isn't a bat-out-of-hell sprint like he did last night. Should I reward the speed and not worry about the contact for a while? ETA: Well done AD! I can't imagine that my dogs would run for someone else. I love the technical courses.

Just remember that she might have a fair few good years in her left and that needs to be taken into account when looking for a puppy.

Surely you can't insist that the RSPCA tells you when they are coming?

I doubt very much that the dog was returned to the owner. Sounds like he was rehomed and then they got worried that someone was on to them.

I don't know - I'm really not up with the in's and out's of rescue - but it just seems totally wrong to me.... It has nothing to do whether they are a rescue or not. It is illegal to take in a stray and claim it as your own (or give it to someone). They could have let it serve its time at the pound and put their name on the dog.

Could some water have been left in his ear? If I get my ears flushed out I can be very dizzy afterwards

I plan to but need to fill out all my forms first. Would love to hang out with you and your pooches when I finally get organized. I've stewarded at a few trials and have seen you, zig and em doing very well. There is another Megan that trials so I thought you might mean her.

TSD you must be confusing me with someone else, as I don't think we've met? AD - were you there in person? One of the reason that Susan G has introduced dozens of verbals is so that she can direct the dog without being in position. That said, I agree with you and I would train the stopped DW. In terms of saving time, Sylvia commented that you normally only go over 2 - 3 contacts in a run and do many, many more jumps - so the place to really save time is to teach tight turns vs long strides etc on jumps (hence her sic sac).

sorry to go OT, but YOU HAVE A NEW PUPPY? Please point me to the pictures...

Every lagotto I have met has been weak nerved and reactive - and predictably so.

Next dog will be running AFrame (because the angle is so big I think stopped contacts put a strain on elbows and shoulders if they drive really hard to position) and stopped dog walk. I'll use either Sylvia Trkman (sp) or Susan G's method for running contacts. Daisy Peel has an online course too for her method, so I might look at that to see if it is a goer. Not a fan of run and pray. I used to do this with my boy and he always hit them but my next dog will have a higher drive and I've seen some dangerous jumps in comps from the "run and pray" trained dogs.