bedazzledx2

Congratulations TerraNik :D You should be very proud!!! Now onto Novice

LOL Its when you tell your car to stay you know you've got issues!!!!! ;) :rofl: ;) ..... for a while, I was in such a habit of leading off with my right leg (back way when we handlers were in 'training' and 'drilled' this way) that I found it had become habit to even do so when I was at road crossings (without a dog).

Well done today!!! Title at the Nationals...what more do you want!!! ;) :rofl: Rach, I will be there around 7.30 and others in our group (Amypie, OzJen, vCBR) might be earlier. Our Cabanas are on the corner closest to the car park on the road side If that makes sense ROFL. Had a good day today... mostly Abbey got her last leg for ADX and qualified for the finals The other dogs all bombed though ;)

Great insight there ZAUBISTAR Its the journey that counts. Get your foundations in place and everything else will fall into place. Remember split, don't lump! Split.split.split!!! I had been taking things really slowly with Acteon right up until we got our CD. Lately he has regressed pretty badly and on things he was always 100% on. I think I've pushed him too far too fast and so I need to retrain myself to set the dog up for success and not 'test' him so much. I hope to get him into one end of June but it will depend on the next few weeks. Good luck with her and don't worry, if she's not ready, she's not ready. You can always keep training and put her in a later trial.

For information on sizing....I have a male Aussie and wasn't sure about what size to get him. I am always bothered about choking hazards so wasn't going for the small. I ended up getting 3 medium and 1 large. He loves them all but especially the large!!!! It has a slightly different sounding squeak...(sounds like a duck!!) and it doesn't roll under the couch....bonus!!!!

C'mon guys!!! I know there are a few brags from Dolers competing in the National Agility today!!!!

Its different when you are doing signals in Utility Obedience trials. You are not allowed to speak so your signals become very important. I like to be consistant and always step off with my right foot for any type of stay. In the distance control part of signals you signal your dog to stand, the judge tells you to leave and you can use a hand signal but its great to have a consistant legal foot signal to go along with it. It becomes habit and I couldn't imagine leaving on my moving (heeling) foot.

Caffy took that one!!! How good is she?!! Thanks, they are lovely kids and we figured they deserved to be cover boys!!!! I don't know who it is (but could probably find out). However, haven't the new rules for WA come in to take us in line with the other states now? Ptolomy and Bedazzled, brilliant photo

Ditto

nice work Thanks Bedazzled, I've seen that one before and it's great! Daisy was a really good girl at training tonight, here's a snippet of some heelwork; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31OwniDW8hE It was not the best from the whole night, but alas at least we caught something on camera!

Here's Brookie's Drop on Recall taught this way. I taught him a fold back down first so that is his default. Thanks will try to get him more responsive to his drops (maybe as a game ) , i was told a method that held some concerns for me and i felt would cause some hesitation with the drop and the speed of recall later on down the track . so i thought what better place to ask for advice !!!! Thanks will give this a try .

Good one Huski Gotta luv latent learning!!!! Here's a good link http://www.youtube.com/user/agilityparson#p/u/0/K0myW8ukm94

I think most beaches in WA are pretty safe unless they are very remote, many are designated as dog beaches. Might pay to check with the Department of Agriculture and the Tourist Department on Tuesday. I would think that pastoral and National parks areas would have a poisoning regime in place but most places reasonable close to towns would be pretty safe. Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of competing in the agility nationals if we didn't have the dogs????? We did a pretty quick trip over (6 days) and the dogs were on tight leads from about Eucla until we got to Perth. I know there is somewhere at Eucla that we can run them from talking to a local lady who worked at the SA/WA checkpoint and across the nullabor they will be toileted 1 at a time and under close supervision like they were to travel over. We had heard that there were some dog friendly beaches along the coast of south WA that were pretty safe but not sure whereabouts they are. With 7 dogs, it is not something we want to risk unless we know that the area is bait free as you simply cannot keep an eye on that many at once. At least at a beach our guys generally don't leave the water, especially when something is being thrown into it (ie ball).

Someone from our family has always stayed with the pet for as long as I can remember. It was part of our families philosophy...all the way to the end. I understand and respect other peoples desire not to be there and if you have a trusted vet I think it will always be done with respect and compassion. Being the eldest child and the animal lover, I have been with my pets from a very early age. Not something I like but I feel its part of my duty of care to them. Probably the hardest was my 6 yr old BC, Cody, who had cancer and was referred to Murdoch for further testing and x-rays and I was told it was in-operable. My decision was to not let him wake up but I never got closure on that one as I wasn't there. The vet was wonderful though and he said he would say a special goodbye to him. He had a BC bitch of his own who had the same diagnosis so it must have been emotional for him. He sent me a card which I still have and I appreciated the kindness shown both by my own vet who sent me a card and flowers and the staff at Murdoch. Both my Mum and I were there for our old Kelpie girl who was 16 and had lived a long and wonderful life. That was emotional but expected and again the vets were wonderful and very supportive. We have never had an animal sedated other than Cody (which was for the x-rays) and we have never had any problems with the actual green dream. I am strong until its over and then I fall apart.

Was it a Barka lounge cover that kept slipping Bluefairy?

Its a serious concern and the WA trialling community can tell you of a tragedy that befell 2 agility dogs travelling to the Goldfields for a trial a few years ago. We are all particularly vigilant traveling through country areas as the baits don't always stay in the drop zone as crows can pick it up and drop it miles away. The signs can be pretty small and you have to look out for them. Friends who have traveled in suspect areas have used working dog basket muzzles to prevent them eating baits. One place I know they are available is the Swan Vet in Midvale (East of Midland) I know there is baiting on the way to Esperance as I've recently traveled there to visit family (with the dogs )....I don't know about the other areas but I would check out local knowledge and look out for the signs. If you are careful it shouldn't be a problem and you can have a terrific holiday with the fur kids.

WTG TerraNik!!!!! One more and on to Novice! Great score too!

Woo Hoo!!! She's on form for the Nationals

Corvus, the bitch I used it on was a very strong working kelpie so it didn't have any unwanted fallout. If Erik is unable to deal with any form of time out then I wouldn't use it unless it had already been conditioned. I would be more inclined to use a NRM and self control games. That sounds familiar! When Erik was a puppy I had taught him by about 10-12 weeks to sit quietly to wait for his dinner. Problem was, he then figured out all the little cues that would tell him dinner was imminent and he'd get so excited he was no longer capable of sitting quietly and he was worse than ever! At the same time, he was starting to cotton on to other cues in his life. I kid you not, OH would ring home before he left work and Erik would start barking then and get gradually more excited until it peaked when OH arrived home 40 minutes later, and then he'd stay wound up for a couple of hours at least. He would be so wired that every little noise would have him on his feet barking and off to investigate. OH was ready to send him back to his breeder. He was about 5 months old when he was at his worst. We concentrated on uncoupling the things that were cueing his excitement from the things he was so excited about. So picking up his bowl no longer meant he would get food very soon. It would get dished out and sit on the counter for an hour if that's how long it took him to calm down. OH's nightly phone call predicted that I would go and play a game with him and then we would sit on a mat with a Kong or a pig's ear and he would get a massage. We also started massages at least once a day and coupled it with a "shhh" command that he already knew meant to stop barking. I started teaching him self control with games by winding him up for 30 seconds, then winding back down with "shhh" and then winding back up again so he learnt to bring himself back a few notches very quickly. Karen Overall's relaxation protocol might be worth a look, and Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed book is full of ways to manage highly strung dogs. Bedazzled, do you think the CS "you won a prize" game would work on any dog if done right? I have been loathe to use anything that remotely resembles a time out with Erik for a long time, now. He used to have melt downs if I separated him from us. Proper, hysterical, mess himself melt downs. He is a lot better now and can usually manage a few minutes if it's in a context he knows, but it's always dicey to me. If it's in a context he hasn't experienced it in before I think he'd go right back to just a step away from a melt down again.

Start by training the drop in close. When you have that successfully on cue you can test it by chucking in a drop command anytime informally around the house, in the yard and at the park. Then gradually increase the distance. I never practice a formal DOR but if I call the dogs when we are out walking or they are hooning in the park I'll throw in a drop command. If they do it promptly I know I can join the dots and put it in a formal DOR. I often throw the treat or ball either to them or over their heads.

OK...cake early tonight! Then we can all run it off!!!! ps..I think that means cake tonight Can we have cake before I leave tonight - remember my bedtime is 8pm I always miss out

That's actually a first for him....I think he was a bit surprised as the stewards and officials were at a table very close to the ring so he thought he'd just check them out first....heart attack stuff for me!!!!

Thanks Caffy! Yep Mum's just made a cake and we'll have pink bubbly too!!!! ps..I think that means cake tonight

Sydney Royal videos....out of order as I loaded them 1st exercise 1st...duh!!!!

:p Thats funny!!!!! My boys would line up twice!!!!