Agility Dogs

Situation: Neighbour up the back has a young lab that I have taken home numerous times - each time retrieved from either my front yard or my garage. (My dogs not happy!) The only response I get is, 'Oh bugga, I should have closed that door - he is so naughty and just slips out any chance he gets - his dad was exactly the same.' :D He 'walks' the dog off lead. By walks I mean allows it to wander all over the road (I have seen cars be forced to stop to miss it) and through people's front yards while he strolls mindlessly in the vicinity. Because of this I am wary of it approaching us when we are out walking. The dog comes up and gets in my boys face (he just wants to say hello). CK will tell it off (head butts it and tells it to go away) and then gets accused of being aggressive - idiot. This morning I was out with Xena only and the dog trotted past on the footpath about a hundred metres ahead of its owner (who had just finished retrieving it's mess from a front yard). His walking mates (one of whom has a very well mannered dog that is always on lead) were laughing and said to him - 'he's done it again, you need a GPS mate!' The guy walked past me and said, this is my favourite part of the morning. I couldn't resist, I had to say, 'you could make it a lot easier if you had him on lead - then you'd know exactly where he went.' His mates laughed, but apparently he didn't see the funny......... 'Get a life,' was the response. I couldn't be bothered engaging him and kept walking. Oh well, I don't have a life, but at least my dog isn't the one 'stopping traffic'. People like this make me so mad!!

Hey all, Seems that while I have one broken dog the other one has decided to take on the responsibility of being an agility dog for a change. ;) (It might have something to do with all the work we've been doing on his confidence, but let's not get too carried away!) We did our second CCCQ trial on Saturday night and managed to win Novice Jumpers for the second time. (not a bad record). He also did really well in the weavers, instead of just saying, 'Nope, not doin it!'. All in all I couldn't have been a lot more pleased. The interesting thing for me was how easy the open courses were - I was wrapped with how CK ran it, weavers and all. If only I wasn't just a touch early on that front cross......' Hopefully we'll get his first ANKC title this weekend! There is plenty of learning in these videos from a handling POV, now I just have to sit down and think about it! The good thing about running CK is that he is SOOOOO responsive to what I am asking that I know exactly when I get it right or wrong. With Xena I have a little more lee way and it makes me lazy. Cheers Tony

This is Mr CK's run in the Novice Jumping ring. I was really happy with him all night - he was drivey (for him) and did a good job in all his runs. He EVEN WEAVED!!! woo hoo. Good start to the year. Nicole - we were sitting behind you with the BC's. It only just clicked reading this. Looking forward to next week now. Mr CK makes his obedience debut and now that Xena is injured I've put her in the CCD ring as well.

In this case though I don't think you should be using a clicker OR you should be leaving him in the pounce position (effectively a stay) for a greater period of time and then using the toy as the reward that follows the click. Sounds to me like you are rewarding the entire chain of behaviour and not just the end position. IMO a click means - you have done your job and are now free to do what you will. Chances are they will come to you becuase they know a treat is coming.

CK is working on improving his weaving with the 2x2 method. I'm also working on his understanding of turns. Wide flowing turns are fine and super quick, but tight, technical stuff shuts him down so we are working on that. We are also doing a lot of pivot box work. We are also working on his confidence in general by doing a lot of clicker work. Xena isn't training that much at present as she has a sore back. I'm working on her heel work though - forwards, sideways and backwards.

The only behaviour from the list that my two exhibit is jumping up on people. Thing is I don't consider it a problem and reward it because it is something I use in frisbee. I can tell them not to and they won't - not a problem. My dogs are perfect! LOL

Yeah we'll be there It'd be nice to finally meet a few more DOLers! lol i'll be there with a shaved shelti with blue eyes Jock AD JD SD and Denver my new 22mth old.. Its his first comp! Yacketsmum will be there too with Biscuit who is also starting out.. Denver and Biscuit will provide evryone with laughter Cool. I don't think Xena will be running, but will be there. I'm stuck with CK . Hopefully he will decide to have a good run. See you there.

We have 2 border collies and about 400m2 of back yard on a 700m2 block. Most of their exercise is on their two walks a day or at flyball/frisbee/agility training/trials each week.

OK, I have to do it - Xena has finally achieved her FM (flyball Master) title after just on two years of competing. CK has just 4 points (or 2 good runs/wins) to go and he will have the same title in just on 18 months. Hopefully this bodes well for the year. Is anyone going to the QAJDC jumping comp this weekend?

Hi I'm not involved in the club at all and have only been once so I don't know that much, but to get there I just jumped on the website and sent them an entry form, then turned up and paid on the day. Next event is on Feb 7. Hope to see you there.

I had to share this - it was very cute. Both my dogs are resource guarders to a degree - the boy learned it from the girl. It is under control/managed so is not a problem. Tonight I saw a slightly different side of it. OH gave the cats chicken necks for dinner. Unlike the dogs the cats are apparently allowed to drag their food all over the house. Xena (BC) will steal food from anyone she thinks will let her get away with it. She was about to take the neck from our really timid little cat Sassy when CK (other BC) stepped in. CK will usually back down from Xena when it comes to food, but he came in and stood beside Sass until Xena backed off. He then lay down beside her and let her finish the neck, then he came and sat between Xena, the wing and me until I removed the 'problem'. Very interesting dynamics.

Unfortunately we've had a couple of days off - one of the puppies is very sore and can't play and I've been slack with the other one. Will be back into it with the one who is still standing tomorrow morning though. I don't think they will get confused between the uprights and weavers - both these dogs know how to weave - one very well ( ), the other struggles with his entries - hence the retraining. The one who weaves well actually got confused because she thought they were weavers and was trying to do her entries like she would on a normal course instead of driving through them.Good idea about the chair. Another one I forgot about is walking one leg at a time into a washing basket.

x2. My two are there every 3 months for a check up. I can't recommend them highly enough. Hope your boy is OK. It's easy enough to say, but try not to get ahead of yourself with worrying about what the problem is until you know what it is. Also, don't delay in finding out what it is.

I don't use shampoo, I use Coal Tar Soap. Their coats have never been blacker or whiter and no more dandruff.

Must have been the night for idiots. Before we went out I saw two young (no more than 6 or 7 y.o.) girls walking labs without parents/adults in sight. I know the dogs and neither should be walked by a young person who cannot physically control them. Then to top it off when we were coming home from our walk a guy was walking up the road towards us with his ACD looking dog that was straining at the end of the leash to get to my two. He was seriously jerking this dog around while continuing to talk on his mobile phone. Then just as he got off the phone his dog decided to have a serious lung and bark/hissy fit at my two (who were still at least 5m away from this dog). The guy yelled at the dog and then belted it with what looked to be a purpose build bit of lead/rope or something similar. I couldn't believe it and told him so, along with suggesting that the dog didn't understand and that I'd probably be pretty upset if I got belted every time another dog came near me too. He seemed genuinely surprised that someone would call him out for hitting his dog. I just don't get why some people have dogs if this is the way they are going to treat them.

Hi, Rear end awareness = *walking up and down a ladder on the ground. *Pivot box - circling the pivot box with feet remaining on the box. (About 200mm x 200mm) *Walking backwards (heeling and walking away from me) *walking on hind legs *Am about to make a wobble board - just a piece of board that measures about 600mm x 600mm with a door knob on the underside - puppy has to stand on it and follow me walking in a circle. I'm open to any other suggestions.

Hi all, After all our problems last year with CK and his weaving or lack there of I have decided to retrain him using the 2 x 2 method. I think the problem comes back to him not really understanding what he needs to do with his bum as he enters the poles at speed. Hopefully this approach, combined with a heap of rear end awareness exercises we have been doing will give him the help he needs. I thought for kicks I'd let Xena have a play as well - it might improve her entries and build a little more independence. At worst with her I'll end up with what I have now which is pretty good any way. I thought I'd do a diary of sorts for anyone who is interested in the 2 x 2 method. Day 1 All of this is done without any physical or verbal cues so the first stage is to build value for the poles - as opposed to the handler or the toy. (starting with just 2 poles). Both dogs have done one jump stuff which uses the same principle so that didn't take too long. SG trained it just with verbal markers and food rewards, used a clicker and food. The puppies picked it up in 2 or 3 goes. Next step is to get them offer to run between the poles - same principle as above, still using food reward. This took about the same amount of time - 5 or so goes. Then you start working the arc and always rewarding on the same line. This is also where she moved to toy reinforcement thrown out to the line - building drive and understanding of the entry. By the end of the 30 minute session (2 dogs, 3 lots of 5 minutes each) I had one dog that was REALLY driving HARD out to the toy and not even pausing to look for me as she went through the poles. CK was driving pretty well (as well as he ever does when live prey or a frisbee is not involved) and he too was not looking at me. Both dogs were looking for the poles and knew that if they drive through them they would get a good game of tug. My only concern is that I might be diluting Xena's understanding of her entries, but that will fix itself as we move onto the next stages in the process. (Working the ark from both sides with just two poles requires the dog to do what almost looks like an entry from the wrong side. Adding in the next lot of poles will fix this though.) Will try and include some video over the next couple of days. It will be interesting to see the progress! Let me know if you find this interesting.

Your boy was very excited to be there and ran really well in the heat for a big puppy. Those staffy's were just mad. The little grey was just gorgeous. I love watching the dogs doing what they were bred to do. If you saw borders - they were my dogs. We were the only ones there.

And CK in drive........

Both dogs in drive.

This is Xena in drive......

Yep, we were down there. I had the two borders. It was our first time and they had a ball. I thought Xena would be the one to say - 'You want me to do what?' But she went really well. CK got about half way around the course and decided to head for home - not sure if he got bored or just gave up because he couldn't catch the lure! We are really looking forward to the next one.

I have a similar problem with my two. I just put them on lead and walk them up and down the street. Xena has settled down and doesn't patrol unless she hears anything. CK patrols constantly if I let him out so I'm working on it. Tennis balls are worth more than possums in his little world. I take him out at prime possum time and get him to work. I've only just begun this week, but the next step will be to decrease the value of the reward slowly until he will work without reinforcement in the presence of small furries.

I often say to my wife that I wish I'd known how many single people do dog sport...... Seriously: That puppy farms are evil and that pedigree dogs are not just for dog show snobs. (Learned that the hard way.) That exercise is not enough to keep working dogs satisfied. That I prefer positive methods to coercive techniques. I wish I'd know about BARF. That to train a dog you have to think like one - any attention is good attention and reinforcement for behaviour. That they would chew everything in sight until they were 18 months old. That socialisation is not throwing dogs into a dog park and watching them play nice. That I should have been saving for the last 20 years to buy all the stuff I want from Clean Run. That obedience is not about discipline for the dog, it can be about fun. That I should have bought a block that was flat instead of on the side of a hill. I'm sure there's more, but that a pretty good start.

Great idea. One thing you might want to be careful of is suggesting BYB and Petshops are contributing to the problem. Technically they aren't - it is the people who buy on impulse from these places that are causing the problem. what I'm trying to say is that you need to focus on that behaviour rather than the outlets. By doing this you won't be perceived to have an agenda. Why not focus on the benefits of well bred dogs that are bred for temperament and the benefits of dogs being socialised in the home rather than bashing what others are doing. Hope that helps Tony