SmoothieGirl

Jeez my head is spinning, everyone is doing so well. TerraNik, is Abby the Lappie in your sig? She wouldn't be very old at all would she? And already two CCD passes, what a clever girl! I've got Bronte on a lifetime treatment for her Skin Barrier Dysfunction, so it sounds like we are getting these itchy, scratchy dogs under control so they can really enjoy life.

I'll see how I go Melody, if I get out of work on time I might come down, but might be breaking my neck to get there by 6.30 in that traffic. I'll have to help with packing up btw, I'll never be there in time to set up. Hopefully I'll be there, if its dodgy weather I might give it a miss though, I had enough of that on the weekend between trialing in the rain and refencing a horse paddock on Sat. :D

Oh that's not right. If I get a pass this weekend I'm going to give Southern a miss, I wouldn't feel right in the class when others are trying to gain their passes. I'll do Gisborne though, but like I said, I've probably jinxed myself now and it'll take me another six trials to get my next pass.

Thanks Janba.

Just an update on our goals for this year peoples: Last Sunday Bronte successfully qualified for her PT title with two lovely runs on the sheep. We are going to hold off trial level herding until next year to ensure that she has enough training under her (our) belt, rather than rush her. And tomorrow, barring the 'Great Flood of 2010' in Victoria (it just started raining in the last two minutes), we are going to compete in our first CCD class. She's a dream dog with an ever increasing work ethic and I'm a very proud and happy owner. Come on gang, we need updates! Well our first attempt at CCD during the Sept floods was a categoric disaster. The day was horrendous and the ring was under two inches of water in some spots and she DID NOT WANT TO BE THERE - TAKE ME HOME MUM - NOW! The only thing we got out of it was me being struck down with a cold/flu for the next week and a half. However since then we have competed twice for two passes so her CCD sounds like a possibility for this year.

Hi all I've read the rules and I can't say I'm any clearer on how this all works. I have two passes from two different judges towards Bronte's CCD already. I have two trials this weekend and I would like to enter another in November at CCD level. Now here's the question.... If I get another pass on Saturday, does that mean I can't do the trial on the Sunday that I've already entered, or because I've already entered they will still let me do it? And as well, I assume it means I just flat out can't enter a CCD class in the Nov trial, does that sound right? I've probably just jinxed myself after asking that, I'm not being cocky, but she is working really nicely at the minute and I don't want to do anything against trialling ettiquette. Thanks Edited - Can't type.

Great results everyone. How cool is TerraNik's brag - go get 'em.

Well done Smoothie Girl!!!!! I wasn't entered and thought I would come down for a watch. Came 1hr after the trial started and you were all pretty much finished - only stays left in the Open/ UD rings!!! :D I think there were NO passes in any of the Open/ UD rings!!!! What SG has failed to say is that the ground conditions were awful and I would say that 90% of the dogs failed to sit/drop etc or hold their stays - yes even the experienced dogs!!! so many people who normally score highly on their heeling (extremely highly actually) failed their heelwork from lack of doing a position or poor heelwork so SG - be proud of your girl. I didn't see her work, but to score such a lovely mark in such conditions is pretty amazing :D WOW PTOLOMY!!!!! Huge congrats on your results!! that's amazing!!!! And well done Terra nik!!1 I wish we had neuter shows down here . Leo is very jealous!!! Thanks for the congrats everyone. LP, I think I saw you with Leo playing after the trial, I wondered if it was you. As soon as I saw that devoted Aussie watching your eyes as you walked down the hill I recognised you both from the videos you've posted. Damn, I should have come and said hi. Yep, the heelwork undid most duos, but our little group stuck our stays, after the judge walked and walked to find the driest spot in the ring - the only dry spot. JulesP - She stuck 'em, bum and belly in a wet patch and all.

Yay for us! Bronte got her second pass in CCD at the Eastern Trial with 90/100. To top of the day she also won the ring, clever girly.

Comments like this scare me though as a future competitor. I can't guarantee that my dog won't break and go jump on another, even though she's never done it before in training. She's not a robot... I definitely understand where people are coming from with serial breakers and dogs that are obviously not ready. But sometimes it really is innocent. If your dog broke and interferred with another dog your dog could get hurt. I think it's more about people not doing the stays if they know their dog isn't solid at them. Don't get me wrong, I agree, I'd be pissed off too. And I agree we don't have to be on DOL to be into dog sports and definitely not nutty, or if so I'm putting myself in that category too. My point is that no one can ever 100% know that their dog isn't going to do something wrong, the fact is they are not inanimated ojects and will make decisions for themselves, despite our training and new trialers (or is it traillers???) may be made more nervous entering this sport if we don't offer some patience now and then. As wuffles said, sometimes its innocent, but true, serial breakers are clearly not ready. You know, it will be karma against me if Bronte breaks today in her trial.

Great photo of Charlotte and Bronte, unfortunately about five mins before Bronte fractured her leg. This is compressed very small, but I can provide the original files for these if required.

Sparkling white Bob.

I love this one of Sohvi. Thought I had a great one of Bear but I can't find it at the moment.

The lovely Alexis...

Here's one I took, because I'm biased.

I don't envy you CF, this will be hard work with so many good shots. I think Evolving may have taken this one, Bronte and Echo.

Right, well that was fun to watch - NOT! That was sickening and I had to turn it off part way through. You can hear the dog getting more and more agitated and concerned as he throws it around. Towards the end it sounds panicked and aggressive and bloody hell, why wouldn't it be, how can that be a good outcome? Surely his response, attitude and physicality was making it so? IMO a dog is a partner and not just a tool in police work. If the dog isn't cut out for it then don't use it, sack it. But bullying an animal of any kind let alone one you want to work somewhat safely amongst the general population, rarely ends well in the long term. Ok, nuff of a rant, I'm going to open a bottle of wine now to drown the yelps out of my memory. Edited because in my huff I forgot how to type.

At least they are only scraping through - I watched a CCD ring recently where dogs on tight leads were scoring in the 90s. Many held their leads in their right hands and then braced the lead against their left hip area. Also watched an experienced trialler correct a dog harshly in the figure 8 behind the judge's back. Same dog placed on a countback. I remember one trial where someone in CCD was yanking the lead to get the dog's nose off the ground while heeling and when it wouldn't auto-sit, they'd click their fingers as a double signal. It wasn't a pretty round, but, they came 1st! I would hate to see the new qualifying score make obedience numbers drop even more, but at the same time, I hope it increases the standard. I wish it had been tougher when I started with Ruby, we mightn't have jumped in so quickly. And while I am still struggling with her in the ring, I wouldn't like to see the exercises get easier just to pass, I am aiming to get BETTER and if the exercises got harder to pass, well that's ok too!! Something to work towards While they got first place, please tell me they didn't get a pass? We've just started trialing and Bronte has her first CCD pass with 83. Mind you, while she nailed everything, her heeling was very average and I didn't expect a pass. To the outside observer she probably looked great, no tightness on the lead, nailed all position requests apart from one auto-sit, but to me her heeling was airy fairy and a bit off the leg. We've worked on that lately and I'm expecting much better things tomorrow at Eastern, but still I'll be crossing my fingers a little that I don't project any nervousness down the lead to her. The rule changes don't phase me at all, distance changs are no real issue unless we start talking 20 odd metres away. Personally I'd leave the returns in to help trainers teach the dog a little honesty in completing the task. What I mean by that is having the dog really wait until it is released from position, rather than doing the exercise and then quickly releasing the dog. But whatever, it really makes little difference to my training and trailing habits. Its all about not rote training our dogs and getting them used to the unexpected, that way they should (we hope) respond on the specific command, rather than anticipating and making it up. Btw, if a dog jumps on my dog in the stays I'd be annoyed as she would probably break, stuffing up our chances for a pass, but heck we all have to start somewhere and we don't always get our judgement right. Trialing is different to our usual training and sometimes us nuffy's get it wrong or our tension creates the wrong reactions in our dogs, but we don't know until we try. I agree that people should be encouraged to wait until their dog is well and truely ready to trial, but we need to be a little patient with others. Some people will never go further than CCD because to them that is a huge achievement in itself and not everyone out there is as serious as the dog and handler that may be standing next to them. To some of us this is our real life (having to work being an annoying distraction) to others trialing is just their recreational past time. This is a little I know, but sometimes I think we DOLers forget that we are all RAVING DOG MAD and that there are other very good owners out in the world that that enjoy their dogs just a wee bit more passively than us. Anyways, thanks heaps for posting the updates. Typical that I've just this week printed and bound the current rules. Oh well, I'll just be back at Officeworks again in Jan now.

She is very very cute. How is she on sheep, is she a bit full on, or has she learnt yet that they aren't cattle and she needs to be softer?

Instead of a kennel, have you thought about having her live in with a dog trainer. Underdog Training (Cosmolo on DOL) do it, just Google them. The dog lives in the home of one of the staff, who are all accredited dog trainers and get treated like their own dogs. Yes is its a bit more expensive, but well worth it. If its just for a short time then you hardly notice the cost difference at all. Bronte stayed with them for just over three weeks in June and had a great time. I don't mind reputable kennels as such, but unless I can help it, Bronte and 'dog yet to be concieved' will always stay in home stays, its just a more relaxing atmosphere for them and so I worry less too.

Great photos everyone. I love love love that one of Alexis between the chairs, its a keeper. Makes sense to keep the Dec Kepala to the 12th if everyone else is going. I'll be attending Dogs Day Out however in a hope to promote the breed a bit and continue to explain that 'no she is not a Collie or Border Collie cross Greyhound' and is in fact a Collie (Smooth).

Love in the Dark Maybe a bit saucy for some, but nice for a dark coated dog. Oh and another - Rotten Love

Hi there Yep, that's us. Ben is such a cutie, you might have to check the back of my car as I leave next week to make sure I haven't snaffled him.

If Charlotte can't be in the pool, it looks like she'll take any water source and get in it.

Wow, so many new cuties this month, Kairu, Mo and Billy just to name a few. Mo would have been snuck into the back of my car if I was there I'm sure - my sort of doggie. Great to see Misha and Milo back in the pack, hi Julie See you in November. BTW, is everyone aware that the Dec date clashes with Dogs Day Out? Do we want to consider moving the date at all, we didn't last year, but what does everyone think?