Agility Dogs

There is a first time for any reaction to be observed, if a dog acts out of character or is startled by encountering something it never has before how is the average dog owner going to know what to expect. There is no such thing as bombproof. It would be nice to be able to guarantee without any shadow of doubt how an animal will react but since they are living creatures we cannot do that. The first sign that my old horse was losing his vision was a totally unexpected reaction to something. Further investigation discovered the issue and we were able to then be aware. We expect a lot out of animals and little out of people. I know what you are saying, but aren't you largely talking about exceptions? Generally people know if their dog is going to react when someone rushes it or whether it is stable enough to be left tied up in public with the distinct possibility of someone else approaching it. I expect the worst out of people and my dogs - its just safer that way. Sadly it is usually my dogs that surprise me by handling situations beyond my expectations.

TOTALLY agree with this. Even different taping on the poles can be confronting for some young dogs. It took us forever to get our weaving up to scratch at one particular club that we trial at - they have much heavier taping on their weaves than anyone else.

I think one of the biggest challenges of translating our training performance into the ring is to achieve the same arousal levels (dog and handler) in both environments. There is sooooo much more happening in the trial ring, the handler is more nervous, the dogs are more excited. Revving the dogs up more in training helps us to translate to the trial ring more quickly. IMO this happens with all equipment/handling, it is just much more evident with weavers. The other thing that is also not specific to weavers is the speed at which a lot of people practice their weave entries. It is a lot easier for the dogs to nail all sorts of hard entries or to stick contacts if they are coming into them after one or even no jumps, but what about 3, 4 or 5 jumps or a tunnel in training? Something that gets them really moving before having to find the entry - comes back to arousal again.

I don't assume that any dog is friendly until I have proof one way or the other so if anyone tries to pat a dog they don't know and gets bitten then I don't have a lot of sympathy. That said - I simply can't understand why anyone would put their dog in a situation that they (the owner) can't adquately control for their dog. Owners sh/would know what could cause their dog to react so surely they would not put them in that situation??

What on earth was the owner thinking allowing that to happen to the dog? I would never let anyone do that to my dog. T

Good luck everyone!! Hope it is heaps of fun.

I could count at least 4 young dogs from WA that have amazing true running contacts...they are awesome!! Judges need their running shoes on that's for sure ;) I know there are some good young dogs over in WA, but I'm not convinced that any of our Aussie dogs will ever approach what is happening over seas - for the simple fact that we don't have full time dog trainers here. The top guys OS are all full time people who make their living out of the sport and that drives massive competition. We can get a lot better, but I don't think we'll ever reach that level.

I don't teach a go on cue as such. I just want my guys to understand that if I am running hard forward then they should be accelerating. If I am slowing/stopping then they should be thinking about decelerating or actually doing it and then turning back to me. I teach this on the flat by starting to have them run with me and throwing a toy/lure out in front of me. Once I have them consistently running past me while I'm on the move I put a toy out and ask them to drive to that. I'm not yet at the point where they are able to keep driving without a toy/reward, but we are working on it. They will drive past me, but not really keep driving hard on the flat - down a line of jumps they will. (OOPS!) I don't really want obstacle focus - I want them to understand that they are to run the straight line regardless of what obstacles or open spaces there are to take. ie: If I run a straight line they should be able to run past a jump so they can come back over the jump if I ask them to. The only reason I want them to deviate is if I ask them to - they should not swerve off their line to take an obstacle. All this is only an issue when I can't get in front of my dog though - fortunately this doesn't happen too often, especially on more technical courses. :) Will have to become a better dog trainer as I get older!

Interesting....... Having just spent the weekend with Greg Derrett I heard more than once, why the hell would anyone teach running contacts. (his dogs do DW in 1.6 seconds and have been taught a stopped contact ) Agree with what CFS said, even the best dogs in Aust haven't started to approach what the overseas guys do. So much more to focus on than running contacts. Another interesting point about contacts' surfaces - GD is still training on wooden contats and won't move to rubberised surfaces until all trials are running on them. He wants his dogs to be weary of slippery surfaces. No running contacts for us at the moment - I can't get the criteria right on stopped contacts, no way I'm going to try and maintain it on running ones!

My inspiration comes from much closer to home. I LOVE the stuff that SG and GD put together and find it really useful, but it doesn't inspire me as such. There are 3 Trainers who have really inspired me to do some great things: Cathy Slot - not because of what she does with her dogs, but because of how she analyses what is happening and thinks through ways to solve problems. Eric Tighe - Amazing working dog training. Very focussed on achieving results with the dog that an individual has and with individual dogs. He tailors his approach to fit the handler and the dog and works until he gets results. Linda Orton-Hill - Works for Susan Garrett and uses her methods. I really credit her and Cathy with helping me get my boy up and running as well as he is. Aside from that there are a lot of people I compete with and play with on a weekly basis who are just amazing and I take a little bit from every one of them.

this is the really important bit. Don't start treating your dog with anything before you know whether or not they are affected. It can make the problem worse. It may not be an issue since you've just moved into the area, but be really sure before deciding on a course of action.

My next puppy will learn the value of having fun self control having fun their crate having fun immediately responding to requests having fun being allowed to go and investigate things remembering that the best fun is time we spend together. Everything else will flow from that. It's all about making our time together FUN and rewarding. Once he understands that our relationship is the source of the coolest fun its pretty easy to teach them just about anything - manners, formal commands etc etc. Mistakes with my current dogs: you need to use corrections to teach behaviour - just slows them down and takes the fun/joy out of it for both of us. you need to control your dogs' behaviour - far better for them to work out what you want and how to get what they want than to force and/or direct them to do something. dogs should be able to run and play together from the moment they get home - not until our relationship is sorted! just because they don't want to do something they don't have to. 'shutting down' is just as rude as boisterous behaviour - just a different manifestation of the finger. making sessions last too long - any dog, puppy or adult that doesn't understand what I am asking for will not enjoy training, not matter how drivey they are. Lumping - exercises need to be broken down into TINY compartments to help learn and proof behaviour of any sort. I'm sure there is more, but that's what comes to mind up front.

Toni Lynch practices at Montville or Maleny (I can never remember and always get in trouble). She come very highly recommended by a number of friends. Again though, she is not 'just' a chiro and charges accordingly. Much gentler manner (with the owners, not the dogs) than Rowan as well.

How can a council make a destruction order over a leashed dog versus a dog wandering at large in leash restricted area? When councils investigate a dog attack, they look at the actual attack - who attacked who, damage done and so on. Leashed or not leashed is a consideration, certainly, but not the ultimate determinant of which dog is at fault.I know coz I have asked. If your dog is involved in an attack and does damage to another dog/person/animal, regardless of who started it, you risk losing your dog. A muzzled dog cannot put holes in another dog or a person or another animal for that matter. I would say muzzling is good risk management. This. I have a friend who's large cross breed dog has been declared dangerous. Said dog was lounging at the neighbours tennis court enjoying sandwiches as it did every week when the ladies came over to play. One of the lady's husbands brought along his JRT which decided to latch onto my friend's dog. Said dog took offence to the little dog and picked it up/shook it doing damage in the process. (Puncture wounds, but nothing more serious - if the dog had really meant it the JRT would have been in serious trouble.) The owner of the JRT complained and my friends dog is now restricted. Fault is not always a good indicator of who will get the blame. Prevention is far better than cure IMO.

My guys go to Rowan at Animal Options. He isn't the cheapest around and is VERY matter of fact with his assessments, but he's worked wonders for my dogs on a number of occasions. I also like that he is a qualified vet to go with it. We also see Esther at Acupet who works out of Greencross vets at Mt Ommaney. She is a qualified vet as well, but focusses more on muscles.

All 3 of my dogs go to the chiro at least once every 4 months. Often he won't adjust them, but it gives me peace of mind that if there is anything out of shape they are getting the treatment they need before it causes anything major. Sometimes the treatment is a chiropractic adjustment, other times it involves more massage and accupuncture, just depends on what the issue is (if anything). I'm not convinced that all regular vets are good when it comes to structural/alignment issues and my dogs work too hard not to have check ups. I don't think dog's 'need' chiropractics, but I do think that it is at least another piece in the puzzle that keeps them fit and healthy.

Another vote here for starting as you intend to continue. I think people are fed too much information and people worry FAR too much about their pups. I love my dogs and am besotted by each of them, but they are still dogs and quite able to look after themselves (as long as they are appropriately contained) while I'm at work. The puppies only sleep for the most part any way so staying at home would just be boring! Our 3 are a good case study. The two girls were left alone (with the other dogs) from the age of 6 weeks in one case (I know, long, sad story and will NEVER happen again) and 12 weeks in the other. Both these girls are totally comfortable being left at home on their own and never make a noise. My boy had health issues that required constant supervision between 16 weeks and 12 months, he was NEVER alone for all this time. Now we can't leave him at home along or he howls. With another dog is fine, but not on his own. I wonder if he would have been different if we could have left him unsupervised?

There is a difference between the crate training you are looking for and what you will find on the Crate Games DVD. The Crate Games DVD is about creating value for the crate, but it is also about using the crate as a basis for performance work and using it to develop drive etc. (Just an FYI in case you hadn't come across it before.) To answer your question - I had a similar problem with our pup when she first came to live with us so, before we managed to work through crate games we adopted plan B to keep the peace. Our dogs need to be crated at night because they 'guard' the house from possums and chase the cats around if the opporutnity arises. (Not to mention their destructive puppy phases.) Wikki was OK sleeping next to our bed in her crate, but would scream if she wasn't right there beside my side of the bed. (From night 2 - she arrived at about 11pm so night one wasn't really a problem.) So I let her sleep there. Then each night we moved the crate little by little (starting with only 15cm to 30cm, but then progressing to bigger increments) until she was out of our room and then finally into the 'dog room' where she still sleeps now. Hope that helps. Cheers Tony

Hi all, If you are like me then you don't always read an insurance policy (esp if it is a master policy) and just pay it. Yesterday for whatever reason I saw this note on the bottom of our club's public liability renewal. PLEASE NOTE: THIS POLICY EXCLUDES ALL LIABILITY ARISING FROM OR IN CONNECTION WITH AMERCIAN PIT BULL TERRIERS, JAPANESE TOSAS, ARGENTINE FIGHTING DOGS, BRAZILIAN FIGHTING DOGS AND ANY OTHER BREED WHICH MAY BE DESIGNATED AS A RESTRICTED DOG OR INDIVIDUAL ANIMAL WHICH MAY BE DESIGNATED AS A DANGEROUS DOG AND THOSE TERMS OR TERMS HAVING A SIMILAR PURPOSE FROM TIME TO TIME IN THE COMPANION ANIMAL ACT 1988 (NSW) AND ANY OTHER STATE TERRITORY OR COMMONWEALTH I've spoken with a couple of other clubs who are not aware of this restriction, but BSL discussion aside it has some pretty significant ramifications for clubs. Might be worth checking your clubs insurance and then back against the club rules to make sure you are covered for public liability. The scary thing for me is that if we have a dog that meets the criteria on the (public) grounds at a trial and there is an incident wer are not covered. Food for thought. Cheers Tony

Border Collies - just because I have to say that and they actually are the coolest! Coolies - pretty, petit and just all round gorgeous. Grey Hounds - majestic, especially in full flight. Bearded Collie - sooooo cool. Saluki's - just love the goofy sense of humour look they have about them.

Just read it - looks like lots of fun!! We'll do that tonight. Did anyone do the field trip?

Australia post can also track it via the number. If you are concerned it is worth giving them a call.

Awesome. If he loves that wait until you play hide n seek II! We are playing it around a shipping container and I've never seen Wikki run so hard. I'm very surprised at how good the course it after being initially very sceptical.

Hence FAIL AUSTRALIA POST. They never tried to deliver the package in the first place - it got to the sort facility, but didn't ever leave there, until it was RTS. It's not a standard post office. Its' a business sorting facility - my packages come to me at work to avoid the hassle of having to get to the post office near home. I'm annoyed at both CR and Aust Post. If CR had sent me the tracking number when I'd first queried it instead of fobbing me off for a fortnight then the package could have been quickly retrieved. If Aust Post had bothered to deliver the package then there would not have been a problem in the first place. VERY FRUSTRATING when there was stuff in the package that I needed and have had to shell out another $200 for. OK, now happy with Clean Run again. They have just sent me a very late in their day email saying they are going to resend the package! GREAT NEWS. Still with Australia Post for not delivering it in the first place.

Unfortunately I agree - it is a forseeable risk that a child could put their hand through the fence and get bitten. Especially since you know they do it and have most likely commented about it to others. Personal responsibility is worringly not part of the equation - we have to protect idiots from themselves. By this I mean we have to protect the poor little kid from his parent's negligence. NOT suggesting OP is doing anything wrong.