Nik

I'm doing Croydon on 4th December. Hopefully we have a cold snap rather than a heatwave. Today is unbearably hot, fingers crossed it's not like this!

Well I've just bitten the bullet and entered my girl in Open for the first time. Guess I'd better do a bit more training! I'm just hoping we do the DC- so I guess that will be my main focus at training.

Congrats everyone on their titles and awesome trial scores And congrats on becoming a doctor TerraNik- that's just so amazing! Hats off to you with the dedication, I know I sure couldn't do it! I have a brag of a different nature. Today Annie and I had our first school with the Responsible Pet Ownership program. She was such a star, dealing with two groups of 45 preps with ease (ok, she woofed a bit when they first came in, but soon settled). Yay!

Hi Nik, Think I might have seen you on Friday, (assuming you are talking about a particular club as it is the only Friday night training I know, plus I noticed just one person in Foundation class) I was teaching the class in the next ring to the one you were in. Unfortunately you will find that instructors have different ways of doing things down there - have just checked out the roster and you will have an instructor next week that won't tell you to repeat things over and over (unless she can't take class for some reason as she comes a fair distance and sometimes has to swap) and I'm betting that you find the class very different. (In fact you won't have anyone telling you to repeat things over and over for the next 3 weeks, just checked roster again, LOL.) Consistency would be nice but you will find it doesn 't always happen and that can be confusing, especially when you are starting out. You are going to find that there are a couple of instructors who can be a bit insistent about doing things their way and it's not worthwhile trying to argue the point with them, but that doesn't mean you have to do anything that doesn't 'sit right' with you - my advice would be not to argue, just smile, say 'I'll work on it at home away from agility equipment, in a less distracting environment, etc, etc,' and continue only giving instructions once. (I don't use cue for 'stay' either btw , once I ask for a sit then I don't expect movement until release.) Unfortunately in a club of volunteers, you have to take the good with the bad. Don't get discouraged by particular instructors, you will find that there are plenty who will do things more the way you are used to. If you have any questions about anything someone asks you to do in class you are welcome to come and talk to me. I am down most Fridays running 2 red and tan kelpies and a tricolour BC. And yeah, there are usually more people in your class, not sure what was going on there last week. Thanks... I've been there a half a dozen times now, but I hadn't been in ages (bloody friday nights!) and I think the whole only person in the class thing was a bit much! Some bits were great, and I know I have heaps to work on- mainly getting Annie to focus away from me! She'll get it soon, she's a pretty quick learner. Just need some time to shape things at home first.....

Thanks, you just reassured me I can continue to do things the same way we were in obedience. I also use wait if I want her to move (when I say)- stay means don't move until I return. I tried to argue the point with my instructor, but he was insistent Bit hard too as I was the only one in foundation class (beauty I thought, private lesson!) but also mean that I couldn't get time to consolidate things on our own. Hopefully next week there are more in my class and I can do a bit more nutting out on my own

Hi all, I'm new to this thread, so thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Nik, and my dog's name is Annie. She's 2 1/2 (almost) and we have just started agility after doin obedience for the past couple of years (we have our CD title and are going to start CDX soon). So far agility is looking like heaps of fun! But there's a few things that aren't gelling with me from what I've learned so far Number one at the moment is being encouraged to repeat commands over and over. I've always believed that a command should be said once (of course also setting the dog up to succeed). But at agility on Friday I was told to repeat "stay stay stay" and "come come come" when doing the tunnel. My poor girl was confused. So I guess I'm asking do others train agility with saying commands once, or does it work better by saying them multiple times? I'm going to go read thru the rest of this thread now :D

Look in the Aussie thread! First page first photo is Leo as a gorgeous huggable pup.

Probably. It's my youngests birthday and he wants to go to the beach. Might go to Altona first, then take Annie home and go to the beach in Willi. All he's asked for is an ice-cream cake and a Ben10 watch.

I'll be there tomorrow. Might see you there snout girl. We just went to the offleash park in Williamstown where the beach is not quite as good.

I know of someone who ate a koala- it was roadkill and he was starving. (He was walking around Australia with little to no money.) Apparently it really cleared his sinuses!! Had a very strong taste of eucalyptus. True story, not an urban myth.

Great work Nik and Annie I don't do broad jump as Ava thinks the best way is to run straight over the boards. Are you going to enter any Open trials this year? I'm thinking I might enter Croydon, which is the last here for the year. At least I know what to work on! I knew our COP wasn't up to scratch, and she eventually did it without creeping forward so that made me happy.

Had a members comp at my club today, with retired judge Margaret Deakes. Had our first go in open, and ended up on 163 NQ. Really happy with Annie as we were both learning our way around it. First go retrieving in the ring, and only lost minor points for a squiffy sit after the solid jump. Failed the broad jump (those boards are for jumping on didn't you know :D ) and had to tell her twice to sit on COP. But she did her stays lost three points in the drop stay for fidgeting.

Had a great training session in Open tonight. Annie did a lovely drop on recall, and a great enthusiastic dumbbell retrieve. She was solid in her out of sight stays, even when the dog next to her decided it was playtime :D Just need to work on the sit from drop in change of position. She creeps forward a bit too much for my liking. Any hints on correcting this? I know i could always do broad jump, but we have only done this a handful of times Have my first mock trial in Open this Sunday

We have a copy of this! The dog Horrie was named after my grandfather, Colonel Horace Plummer who was their senior officer in that regiment! I'll have to dig it out and read it again. I read a few weeks ago a book called "One good dog" by Susan Wilson. About a dog which is part pitbull and bred to fight, and a man unexpectantly unemployed, and their lives colliding. Wonderfully told from the dog's perspective.

Not many quallies today. Rain pouring sideways, ankle deep water. Result a dog that refused to sit or drop. Add insult to injury with a poo in the ring Finished up on 118 and third place. Only one quallie in novice. Open ended up with a few as the rain paused for a bit and the sun came out. Doing winners part now.

Good luck for tomorrow Murve. Hope it's sheltered from the wind and not a wind tunnel!

Good luck trialling this weekend SLLH. Quick question for those doing the Royal. What should I wear? I'm hoping clean jeans and a nice (warm) top will be ok for when we're in the ring.

Annie sneezes when she smiles at me. Do tollers grin at all?

I think there was about 6-8 again, there as well, dont quote me on it but it dose give you an idea :D Thanks! I'm getting a little nervous too! Don't know how I'll sleep the night before. I never sleep well when I know I've got to get up early. I just keep lying there waiting for the alarm to go off!

I'm doing CD. Guess I just find out on the day!

Good luck for the weekend :D, yes it is true, whatever happens, happens and we know that we have put in the work, done the training and we do take the best dog home on the day! I just hope we are not on tooo early Orlando dose not do mornings to good, this is the order of judging UDX, UD, CCD, CD, CDX. I did find out there is only 3 dogs doing CCD including us, 1 other CCD dog entered we beat the other week at a trial. The other good thing 2 of my mentors will be there competing in other classes :D :D My O/H is making me a crate that will fit in my wagon, he has shaped the ends ( back seat & tailgate being on angles) to make use of all the floor space Good luck on Friday- I'll be there Saturday. Had ring practice yesterday, and for the first time ever Annie moved 3 paws in the SFE! Let's hope it was a once off How did you find out how many are entered?

Yup, she's just tied up. I'm trying to let her see that me going out of sight is not a bad thing. I'll tell her to sit while I tie her up, then tell her "back soon" and 90% of the time she's still sitting when I return. Then I give her a treat of some sort. Given we only got our CD title this month, I'm not pushing her, but she thrives on learning new things!

Are you training this with the recall or separately? I have always been told to train it as a separate exercise so that the dog doesn't anticipate it every time you do a recall, as you still need them to sit in front before being told to finish. I'm sure you're doing this I'm working on out of sight stays at the moment. Using going in for a takeaway coffee as the time limit :D. She's staying in position 90% of the time, which I'm happy with as we're doing it informally at the moment. She will always stay where she's told, but 10% of the time I find she drops on a sit stay.

I was just given the links to my last novice round today. It was done by a camera that only films in short blocks, and the footage is not very good, but I thought I'd share our figure of 8. When I figure out how to link it all together I'll post it on here too. Thanks to GSDs4Ever for hosting my vids Annie figure 8