Agility Dogs

What height is it that she is jumping - I didn't even notice, she does it so easily!

She's awesome. Love it.

I grew up with BC's and (never say never, but) won't ever have another breed, but I LOVE watching non-traditional breeds out there doing amazing stuff. These guys are really good examples of what can be achieved. Lynda with a Gun Dog running hard. Awesome example of a little dog driven for the game. Amin had only known Devo about 4 days and the little man was running his heart out.

Yes, yes and yes. It simply blew me away how lazy I was on course when I started running some of their quicker dogs. They aren't any more able than our dogs, they are just trained to drive HARD. I don't think it is only our small dogs we molly coddle. Most of the working dogs in agility circles are treated the same way in Aus. They don't treat their dogs badly, they just have criteria and stick to it. The best analogy I can think of is that I want my dogs running as hard on course as they do when they are chasing something that (invariably) they shouldn't be. It's really hard to describe unless you've 'felt' it though. Hopefully with more Aussies going to WAO, FCI worlds and IFCS events we start to see more and more dogs running at that level over here.

When we were in the states last year the little dogs were running similar times to the really fast 500 BC's. The courses weren't changing either. I think it comes back to how competitive the handlers in the class are - success breeds success. In general the top dogs over there are WAY quicker than our fastest dogs in Australia, the really understand how to drive. Our dogs in general have a better understanding of Decel IMO. On the whole - way more exciting to run a seriously fast dog than it is to just get your dogs around a course. (And I include my 'quick' dogs in the just getting around the course set.) The trip gave me LOTS to think about when it comes time to do foundations with my next puppy.

That's the same as ADAA's Open standard. Advanced is 3.5m for agility and 4.0m for jumping. A lot of dogs don't make time on those courses, but I think 3.0m and 3.5m is pretty fair - if you aren't making those times a masters title is devalued a little IMO.

ME TOO!!!

What are the rates of travel for Masters? I'm only used to ADAA. ETA - I don't generally look at ROT even though we do compete at ANKC. I only know ADAA now that I'm starting to do my judges training.

No idea. Will be interesting to hear at some point. Whatever the case - very frustrating.

All is not lost. The venue is double booked for the weekend we traditionally have GP (and that it was scheduled for), but the organisers are committed to finding time at the best possible venue so as to minimise the impact of the date change as much as possible. We should hear the outcome before too long!

GREAT ARTICLE. My dogs will retire when their either lose the desire or they lose the physical ability to run. My girl is only 6.5 years old, but has been retired for almost 16 months due to an injury caused by faulty equipment. She is about to make her comeback and the fire in her eyes when we are training is beyond belief.

Out of a face to face conversation with someone we take 100% meaning. 7% of this comes from the words the person uses. 38% comes from tone. 55% comes from body language. Take away voice and body language and we are left with 7% of the intended meaning. Sound familiar?

The DOL forum is just another type of classified - supports the dog world and is very specific, but is still a form of classified. ie: a classification under which people can sell goods. :)

I think if you changed it to any DOG, that could be considered physically threatening to a human REGARDLESS OF BREED, I would expect the outcome to be similar. I don't think that most people see dogs in terms of breed. They seem them in terms of size/physique and demeanour - even My BC's freak people out on occasion and that is just walking towards them on the street in a nice, polite controlled fashion. It is sad that the dog got shot and I'd like to think I would have handled it differently, but the reality is that when faced with a rushing dog in an uncontrolled environment you don't get time to think. I had a dog that I thought was aggressive rush our three the other night. I've replayed the event over and over again in my mind and it still isn't clear exactly what happened. Suffice to say that screaming at this particular dog did the trick, not sure what I would do with dogs that didn't back down though.

Feeding is a bit like religion - everyone has their own version of what is right and the best thing to do is to work out what you like/what works and go with that. Whatever you do, keep feeding what your breeder has been and then slowly wean your new pup/dog off it. Nothing worse than an upset tummy becuase of a sudden change in diet. FTR - I feed a mixture of raw foods/bones/mashed/pureed veges and tinned sardines. The dogs are better for it and we find it cheaper. Not to say that is the way everyone should go - some dogs just won't stomach it and do better on a commercial diet.

I can't do it with nearly the turn of phrase that you do, but....... I'm sure there is still a lady looking for a murdered man in the bush reserve near our place. I took the two dogs out for a run and they decided they needed to bolt down a hill at just the point where I slipped on some loose gravel. Cue Faceplant. Not cool. Squealing, writhing in pain from a corked leg and with ego much dinted I looked up to see the two of them not really consoling me, but more pushing and prodding me to get up. The second I did they were off again.... Needless to say we don't run down hills any more.

Me too, although in fairness some of the 'extremeness' looks to be due to the way the coats have been groomed. Some of the allegedly healthy dogs look anything but.

Xena has been the same since about that age. The other two have copied her and aren't nearly as driven in that way.

This week's obsession is the 'Clown Cat'. One of our cats has a sore on her head and we've put a elizabethan collar on her. It's a soft one that looks a bit like a clown collar when it folds back. All 3 dogs are absolutely fascinated - after a week they still haven't left her alone. Poor little Sassy cat.

Interesting observation. I have the same with all 3 of ours - they are on a search and destroy mission for any cat or possum (they are the same, aren't they?) that does not 'belong', but they all adore our 2 small cats. Amazing what is and isn't allowed in their canine brains! I just wish I knew what they were actually thinking.

My 3 sleep inside in their 'dog room' in the crates. Xena because I don't need to be woken every 20 minutes to play. CK because he chases possums when on the roof (yes, from inside) if he isn't in his crate. Wikki because she is liable to eat skirting boards or cats (not necessarily in that order) if not crated. Ensures a peaceful nights sleep for cats, humans and dogs. :)

We're working on this with my sister's 7 month old. The instructor at Dog Club is pretty hopeless, has no method so a lot of the pups in our class are struggling. Just as well we've done so much reading, ect, so school at the moment is only for Henry's socialisation (he has fear aggression) Which club are you going to? Don't be too hard on the instructor, they are afterall giving up their time to help everyone with their dogs. Sometimes an instructor without all the answers is better than no instructor at all.

As it should be. Small wonder people get called 'crazy dog people.'

Great news!!! PM me if you'd like a quick run down on the exercises that X has to strengthen the muscles that are around the knee. (Still not ideal since there aren't many, but better than nothing!)

Xena is truly the warrior princess. CK is a big girl's blouse and was named after Calvin Klein (he is a true designer dog - our first pedigree pup so he had to have a designer name). Wikki was going to be the wicked witch of the west (she is from Perth), but as it turns out she is more Wikipedia than a witch.