Mrs Rusty Bucket

backwards heeling - For us it was a combination of heel, flip finish (when dog flips their bum from front to left without going behind you), and backwards "back back" when she was facing me and in front. So I have the "back back" away from me, from in front facing me... And the flip finish - and I'd move so she'd have to do it again, and I'd take a small step back and ask for the flip finish again and say "back back"... reward in position. It was harder to get it on the right - because she'd spin her bum out so she was facing me - or go back around to the left (high value for left). But she's getting it now. So we're working on a sit with her in front of me - and facing away from me - eg her bum practically on my feet (she does find this comfy even if I don't - bony hocked dog), and then go "back back" with her between my legs. We've got forwards but when I ask for backwards - she spins around to face me... it's a fun game to do when I can't let her off lead at the park (sport, uncontrollable treat dispensing ladies, school lunch trash in the playground etc).

dogged support?

Bull terriers should come with a warning that their affectionate head butts will break your nose... But apart from that, some of the nicest friendliest dogs I know. My cattle dog bitsa has managed to catch a very unfit whippet, she could run for longer and turn tighter circles... Her specialities are the collar grab, and the trip and roll. And with her best friends - lots of bitey face. And then you get the owners who think their dog - who keeps going back for more - is being beaten up and is unhappy.

I keep getting told that dogs from the pound have issues... Mine doesn't, well only ones from me, she was 10 weeks old when i got her. She hates busy roads because I've never taught her not to. and "She's submissive or timid" Because she crawls up to dogs she wants to greet and sometimes rolls over. I'm pretty sure if she was "submissive" she'd do what she was told more often and if she was timid - she'd be avoiding dogs and people not seeking them out. And your dog is so well behaved (at dog club greetings), mine is balistic and I can't do a thing about it. Erm - mine was balistic too when she first started at dog club... And for certain friends... we still turn it on. Eddieeeee !!!!!!

Heel backwards, forwards, sideways - keeping in heel position while you go sideways, towards him, and away from him. Left and right side (definitely do as much heelwork on the right as the left if you want to do agility). leg weaves ie he weaves around your legs, come to heel, left or right side and front. Go backwards while in front of you ie he's facing you and goes backwards - with you following, without you following... and then there is this list. http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2010/01/the-puppy-one-hundred-and-thirty-five/ and this one http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2009/02/idea-list-for-shaping/ Should keep you busy for a while. I would limit each trick session to about 5 minutes but you can have several sessions a day and maybe have several different tricks you're working on at any given time. The most important trick would be working through frustration ie when the dog can't figure out what to do to get the reward, you need to encourage the dog to keep trying and not give up or get frustrated (bark, zoomies, scratching, sniffing etc). And you need to manage your own frustrations. And quick games of tug or chase the boss between can be good to break training up.

I don't like sausages - but my dog does... no confict there. Any well educated germ phobe should be way more frightened of the germs that come from fellow humans, than from dogs.

I find kikuyu grows where nothing else will and all over everything else that does grow. But my dog seems to be allergic to it. Gets the most horrid rashes from it, especially in summer. We might do better if we got the sterile sort that doesn't have seeds and flowers so is slightly less invasive - but I'm not sure. For the moment - I just put a tarp with a towel on top for her to lie on, roll on and clean her teeth on... It does get burn spots sometimes - it's worse if she's been on kibble only, but I can guarantee those spots come back twice as green from the extra nitrogen within a week or so. There's no tracks worn in it at all. I'm allergic to buffalo so not very interested in that either. Couch can put up with a hell of a lot of punishment - but it is high maintenance to get it that way. Anyone got a tame cricket ground curator and a couple of those roller mowers?

http://www.robots-and-androids.com/toy-robot-dogs.html I have been known to recommend a stuffed toy dog for some people. In this case even a gold fish wouldn't cut it - they crap too and need cleaning up after.

http://www.dogandcatboard.com.au/ Probably what is news - following the mauling of the SWF by a ridgeback x mastiff (aka big brown dog) at Flinders Park the other day, is that the Dog and Cat management board are reviewing the dangerous dog laws. The guy in charge (I think his name was Ben something) - is not in favour of banning specific breeds because that would not have saved the Maltese's life. He's more in favour of implementing rules that would prevent that kind of attack by any dog and make the owners more responsible. Which is a relief given the stupidity going on in Victoria. I can't find anything on the net about it, but I heard an inteview on afternoon radio on ABC 891 Adelaide. Lots of local councils in SA are also reviewing their dog and cat management plans. The mitcham one in particular contains rules and plans I've never previously heard of - like we're supposed to carry at least one dog poo pickup bag (Charles Sturt - it's two per dog), and they are supposed to host a dog day out - like Charles Sturt has done. Grr. Mitcham - all words and no action.

Isn't Peta the one that wants all animals to live in the wild and let predators do what comes naturally - cos that won't be traumatic or cruel to the prey or the starving predators at all... This is the USA equivalent to RSPCA take on Crates... http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/crate_training.html

My dog likes food better than tug, though she does quite like tug when we're doing agility for warm up. There's a tug called a "tuggit" a furry velcro pouch with a handle - that you can load with food, and throw that where you want your dog to be rewarded ie on the landing side of the jump, not with you. I have a black seat belt frisbee from a $2 cheapie shop, that some dog chewed the corners off, and I stuff goodos or processed cheese into the corners of that and chuck it on the landing side of the jump. That gives me time to get over there and treat in position. Seems to work fairly well until she decides to run off with it, so I might have to tie a light long line to it, so I can stop that.

I think like barking, if tail chasing is on cue - it's ok but not if it's an OCD thing that the dog does - because that leads to pain and trouble. There is some weird thing about putting stuff on cue that changes its meaning or value for a dog. Like the way the Look at That (LAT) game works. So putting barking on cue and rewarding the quietest noise can be a way to teach a dog that barking has value that is not to be wasted. Same with spinning.

some people run their dogs naked... But my dog can be hard to catch when she's naked. I bought a really cheap flat collar especially for Agility. You have to catch your dog and get it on lead *before* you leave the ring. Holding the collar with your hand doesn't count (but is often forgiven by the judge at Novice/beginners level). Sometimes the judge doesn't notice because the next dog can be lined up ready to go before you're out.

We're not supposed to train on the jumps and stuff at club until the dog is 12 months old, and I think competing is 18 months or older. There's a heap of foundation / relationship building stuff you can do before that but you can do that with any age dog. One of the teams at club - the dog was a rescue at about 6 or 7 years old (grey whiskered JRT), and the owner is now training agility and competing obedience with him. It's done wonders for their relationship and his ability to ignore lots of excited dogs all around him. He still looks vaguely worried about it, but he's willing and I think he likes the jumping and praise and interaction with the boss. They're going to have a go at the next games trial too.

http://www.agilityclick.com/prod157.htm That's Cathy Slot's website - queensland based. I've bought stuff from there, works ok.

i think the key bit here is "gone broke" So the licencee (how come the manager is not the licencee), would not be able to pay the manager either. So leaving the dog out of the argument - nobody is going to rent to someone who doesn't have a reliable income. How come the manager couldn't live in the hotel? And bringing the dog back into the picture... If the dog was putting off customers - not surprised the hotel was not making enough money to keep the licencee solvent. Though I'd have sacked the manager well before it got that bad. Aren't managers supposed to make more money than they cost?

suziwong66 I think you'd be safer to get one of those walking/hiking poles that people take on the kokoda track or whatever - then at least you'd have a lawful excuse for carrying it. And you'd have a much longer reach for blocking or fending off an approaching dog.

I was orginally trained to run the course, with my dog, arm up pointing at the jump, yelling "over" for every jump. And then I got the Greg Derrett DVDs. And then Cathy Slot - who is Queensland based - organsied Susan Garrett and then Greg Derrett to visit Australia in their winter, our summer. Whoo hoo. You do need a consistent signalling system. The arm means what you train it to mean. And if you want go fast in straight line - you really don't need to be running with your dog with your arm out, yelling "over"... You do need to practice rewarding your dog for running ahead of you when you're running (or in a running pose) then you only need to use your arms and shoulders to signal changes in direction... and train your dog to ignore changes in direction that don't have arm signals ie if you want to run to get ahead of your dog - you don't always want your dog chasing you - I want mine to take what's in front of her without changing direction until I call and arm-signal ... we're working on that one. we're not there yet. at the moment - she chases me if I change direction. You also have to train a dog to commit to an obstacle - not like what mine does - ie if I change direction when she's over a jump - she knocks the bar turning in mid air. And if I screw up - that's when the dog gets screw up cookies - cos dog shuts down if I kick myself for stuffing up.

Used to be able to take my dog to the local surf club cafe - not any more. Saw one dog owner - just let his dog roam around without him - outside the cafe area instead. It had the runs and crapped everywhere and he did not pick up any of it. There's a huge part of the Glenelg foreshore precinct that used to be public land but is now a shops and cafe development - which is no dogs allowed, it's well sign posted and I go somewhere else for my coffee and icecream. I can't get over the number of places that state "health laws" for excluding dogs. I think the only health law is - dogs must not be in the food prep area. They can be everywhere else. The most unhealthy animal - to a human - is another human. Maybe we should exclude people from hotels and cafes.

All the episodes shown so far are on iview. http://www.abc.net.au/iview/?WT.srch=1&WT.svl=TV_iview_au weddings are incredibly stressful. I listened to a bit of an interview on Abc radio by someone who calls herself a photo artist - so she doesn't get asked to do weddings any more. She collects clothes around Adelaide CBD - the clothes discarded or lost by people after a night on the town... Assembles them into something that pleases her artistically and photographs it. Apparently inspired by a NY? photographer who makes whole new garments from the found clothing... I thought Vince and Dick Smith were so gentlemanly in that first episode and the girl whose work I was completely oblivious to - wasn't helping her photographer much. But that photographer seemed to have the most idea about what she wanted to do. The others seemed overwhelmed and I couldn't watch. There's been a couple of other shows about painting or making visual artwork by hand that I quite enjoyed but those people seemed to have some education about how to make an artwork ie they'd been to art school or equivalent.

i thought research and RSPCA said they were better off with their mums and littermates until at least 8 weeks - for immunity from mum's milk and for social skills with mum and litter mates. They shouldn't be in the pet shop until at least 8 weeks. sigh. But I agree they'd mostly be better off in a home than the pet shop.

Hi Squinter If you wanted to breed and show an ANKC registered dog and you discussed this with the breeder, and this breeder is not supplying you with a main listed ANKC registered puppy in good health - it should be good grounds for a refund via consumer affairs or office of fair trading because you have not got what you paid for. It would be easy to prove if the discussion is on email or similar. Not sure about the threats to PTS the puppy if you returned it for the refund. This seems like blackmail to me ie forcing you to keep the puppy so she can keep your money. Also seems illegal. Again all stuff for your lawyer. And if this breeder is listed on DOL - I would also report your problem to Troy. And good on you for reporting to the registering body.

I know someone who used to put them in the letterbox. Not sure if they were in doggy bag or not. I would leave a note - first one is wrapped, subsequent offences will be returned unwrapped - to the letterbox.

What they're doing is training the dog to hate other dogs, that's what their method does. The fences are clearly not good enough to contain that kind of dog. And a menacing dog can be declared dangerous, and then it will need to be kept in a run with a concrete floor and a mesh roof. It will become your neighbour's problem - where it belongs. I wouldn't bother trying to help them or reason with them or any of that, it will only make them angry. I can't help thinking their last dog was probably taken away from them, and that's why they have a puppy now. So they may well be known to police and at least once council already - because of the dogs they choose to have and the way they train them. Keep your dog safe. I guess if their dog bounces on the fence, you can reduce the attraction and fun of it by taking your dog inside each time (give him a treat or attention) and only allowing him to stay outside if their dog behaves acceptably. It's hard on your dog but would keep him safe. And not reward the other dog for being inappropriate. And hopefully get it punished less often too.

bedazzledx2 Awesome work on the RallyO - I could get excited about heelwork like that. And some moves I've been doing with my dog but had no idea they are part of RallyO (or anything but dances with dogs). Congrats to everyone else - especially those who made it to the Agility Nationals.