RallyValley

My old mongrel bitch Lilly (RIP) ripped off a front dew claw jumping out of a hyrobath, it always had problems after and if it was uo to me I would never have dewclaws on my dogs.

;) Woohoooo RV - that's been quick. And I like that you're adjusting your goals to suit Toby - my bet is you'll find that as he gets more confidence, you'll be able to come back to other things. Tracking is great to give dogs confidence - especially dogs who don't like to work in too close ;) . He dosent mind bikes going forward and my bike but dog forbid you turn the tyre of the bike or there is another bike nearby - especially one with a child on it! :D He jumps a mile... so its just straight lines for the time being.

RS you should have a go with Toby... then you will be thanking your lucky stars for Ruby He is a special kind of challenge being a dog that does not like being petted, is not particularly food motivated and switches off from toys away from home. He will shut down and go into stress mode in everyday situations for unknown reasons or alternately become overaroused (usually playing with other dogs or playing with toys at home) and start humping me or other dogs. Not to be a total sook though cause he is my boy and I love him to bits and when we accomplish things (like being able to teach him a front when he is does not like coming to close when we are training or finally being able to get on a bike with him today!) it feels even more special. Plus I am just altering my goals to suit him... So we are doing tracking this year and aiming for Rally and ET.

How exciting about the possible pup CareyJ! And the wedding... Off to work in an hour... but then a week off!

I dont mind watching a bit of obedience or agility but I dont enjoy watching dog shows - think its different if your dog is involved but I would take great offense if someone did not like my dogs physique :D I think it depends on the company you're in, too. I had a great night NYE with Ptolomy and RallyValley, and catching up with mirawee and ozjen. If I had to sit by myself and then get told my dog is crap well I wouldn't like that either But if you're with others (and your dog is still crap) well you've had a great night! Nay, we still don't like people thinking our dogs are crap. But yes good company can lessen the blow. Agreed I'm hoping when I get my showdog one day that we might do a half decent job :D :D Being called crap I would just take straight to heart - but as long as my showing party have drinks and chips n dip waiting for me to console me then it's all good You must remember that it's not you "doing a bad job" if you don't get put up just that on that day the judge thinks another dog has nicer conformation then yours which is just one person's opinion, and at the end of the day everyone except the BIS winner is a loser so you aren't alone. ;)

Yep with new batteries ready for another year If there are no meetings on K9 will close at 5 - so we might have to ring during the day to check. Sounds like a plan. It's my week off so it will be fine whatever time!

Back to training Monday!

I would be happy to support it! Do you know the possible venue?

Toby gor the rabbit for X-Mas and it arrived a few days ago. The guts is showing in one place but it's still in one piece so doing ok!

Toby got a massive order from here for Christmas; http://stores.ebay.com.au/Dog-Food-2-U The products are really good and Toby is enjoying his stash one piece at a time.... it should last him 6 months.

Well I have both size leads so I will just experiment.

Don't worry answered my own question! Thats an old version of the rules! Would a 6' or 4' leash be fine then?

Just a quick question - the rules state a 2m leash is needed but I have yet to find one, does anyone know where I can buy one? Or alterately can I use a 1.8m leash?

I need to get a bike first What track? The gravel one at the back of your place near the rifle range or the one that goes to the HV dam at the end of HV road? Well not soooooooooo near my house as that :D This one is very good: http://www.railwayreserves.com.au/Pages/home.aspx

Very near my house is an excellent track for ET training I noticed a few people in the ET thread are from WA so maybe when it cools down we can start to have some biking meets

Because I didn't have any pictures the last two days I am cheating and using two today:

Zoomie tooshies!!

Here is the start of my training for ET - we had a behaviourist session last year about his bike fear but we have been having a clicker session at least once a day this week of positive counter-conditioning. He went without prompting and touched the bike with his nose a little bit ago:

Week 1/52 Toby all happy He must of heard he gets photos for a whole 52 weeks

I found my memory cards!!! So I will be taking a picture today

Can you not build a dog run/compound near the house? Otherwise it sounds a bit ominious for you poor Kelpie.

Yep, OH has a coated dog with a horrible spay coat. It's not constant across all breeds, or indeed all dogs within a breed. However, there are advantages for some. The point of my post was to show why it matters to fairness in some breeds. Sorry not aimed at you. More just a general question.

Don't many dogs get awful spay coats?

This is what I did for Toby's sits Now if only he didn't think down mean lay down facing diagonally, he is still touching my side but his paws go in front of my feet :D

There is a minimum age (2) and a maximum age (8). A link to the ANKC website with a PDF of the rules is here TC001, hasten slowly with your young Lab and a bike - I'd not be doing any sort of distance for quite a while yet. His bones are still growing. Second that advice. Strenuous exercise in a puppy can be quite harmful. Gentle excercise only up to 12 months. Introduction of extended exercise 12-18 months, 18 months + they can work all day. If you give your puppy too much exercise you run the risk of strains, sprains, exhaustion, and in severe cases, dysplasia. Please take it easy. That would be one reason for the 2 year minimum age level for the ET. M thanks for the advice. We do gentle walks ie 2km in 35mins. Is 2 walks a day too much for a puppy? How old is the puppy and what surfaces? There is absolutely no way that I would take a lab pup 4km on a bike per day, the repeated percussion on hard surfaces would be awful for thier joints, especially a large breed, still growing and prone to hip/elbow problems.