Purple Julie

I'm not sure if I'm interested. Would Jyra be able to come to an activity day, considering she doesn't like other dogs? The date would also depend, whether I am working or not, and how busy I am with assignments, etc. I would like to do more herding practice too, but not sure if I could afford it, with hopefully getting a mortgage.

Jyra has all the usual obedience commands, in addition she also knows: "Relax" (rolls over onto her side) "Breakfast" "Dinner" Words producing a prey drive response: "Where's the pussycat?" This gets the biggest response "Where's the/your birds?" "Where's the bunny?" Referring to soft toy bunny "Where's the ball?" "Where's the stick?" "Are you ready...Go!" If we say "Where's..." followed by my name or mum's or dad's name, Jyra will run to the front window and look for us coming home. Even if we are inside and sitting next to her, she'll run to the window and look out. "Go quick" Do her business "Don't" Warning to not do something "No" She's done what she's not supposed to do "Yes" She's done something right "Mat/Go to your mat" She runs to her mat and usually drops, in anticipation of receiving a food treat hopefully. "Into your kennel" Goes into her kennel. "Bye" She understands this to mean that we are going out and she usually walks into her kennel and lies down. I've been trying to teach her to "crawl" but I haven't really been trying hard enough and haven't had success yet. She can crawl if I hold food near her and pull it away, but if I increase the distance, she'll just get up and walk over to me! I'm also trying to teach Jyra "give", but I haven't been working on that intensively either. The doorbell tunes get Jyra thoroughly excited also.

I'm like that too, Jyra's only 3, but I when think about the day in the future that it'll be her time to go, and I read stories like the one called "A Living Love" that Hesapandabear posted, it makes me cry and I really don't know how I will cope when Jyra goes. I really feel for you. It's a hard time. Hugs.

Well I definately won't be there on Sunday, and although I think my Dad would probably take Jyra for me, I think it is best that Jyra doesn't go this time, for her own good - she has cuts on her toe pads, probably best not to put so much pressure on her feet with lure coursing and just let her rest and let her toes heal. Although it wouldn't bother Jyra!! She's not in the slightest bit fazed by her cut toe pads and chases the birds around the garden as usual!

I'd reduce the amount you are feeding your dog. I have a 30kg GSD who eats a raw diet and she gets approx. 600g of food a day and this maintains her weight as it is. I based this on giving 2% of the bodyweight as food.

Jyra's results Prey = 60 Pack = 40 Defense - Fight = 40 Defense - Flight = 10 These are probably not a true indication of actual though, as I tend to be an in the middle kind of person and did 'sometimes' a lot!

Gosh rosie, so sorry to hear that you'll be losing Smitty! That must be so hard for you.

Hi! I'm slightly on, slightly off topic here. It seems that whenever I am taking Jyra's food outside to the grass for her to eat, she is so excited about the prospect of eating that she bolts super fast out to the grass, and THEN she sees a bird!! and keeps on going! This happens nearly every day! And then she spends a while running around the garden in prey drive before she's interested in coming to get her food! So it's like her food is almost a trigger for going into drive!! Maybe she switches from food drive into prey drive or something! Poor birds, they have unwisely build a nest in a tree in our yard, and the nest is only about 2 metres from the ground, so it ellicits a lot of interest from Jyra. Feel sorry for the babies when they are learning to fly! I guess they'll want to learn quick!!

I'm not sure if I'll be there on Feb 12th, but Jyra probably will be. I work on all the Lure Coursing Sundays. I work every second Sunday and the Lure Coursing always falls on the Sundays that I work! I took the Sunday off for the last Lure Coursing, but I might get my Mum and Dad to take Jyra on Feb 12th. In April, well we'll wait and see what I do then.

Tim, the GSD in the photo looks very Jyra-like, so I think it might be her.

It doesn't look like Jyra, I don't think. The rear leg is too dark for her. Anyway, FINALLY, I get this last lure coursing sidelines picture up!! It took me over half an hour to upload it!! Little Jyra taking a short-lived rest!

Yes it was

I'm checking them out just now. The GSDs are hard to tell apart in the thumbnails, even sometimes in the small enlargement of them. I can tell Jyra apart from other shepherds pretty well, but on some photos it's hard! Look at photo number 65 of PC's photos, that's Jyra having a slide along the ground!

More pictures! I hope you guys like/appreciate them, it has taken me forever to load them up!! I can't seem to reduce them to less than 40k without making them thumbnail size, and that'd be no good! I only have the Kodak software plus Zoombrowser EX and I can reduce pictures using Zoombrowser, low size and low quality, but they have too many KB when they are a reasonable size and to get them to 40K, they have to be thumbnail size. Is there any other way I can reduce their KB? Tohko saying hello to Clover: Iko: One more photo to post, but Photobucket is 'currently experiencing issues'

I like this analogy. I'm not really contributing much to the drive discussion here, but I was thinking, What if it were a rat trap that was going to get you rather than an elastic band? I'd certainly be thinking twice about it then! And getting tongs out!

Thankyou. Also thank you to SP, who commented on the day. The GL really helps me not to get dragged by Jyra. I tried her on the martingale seeing as she had been good and quickly changed back to the GL after a few minutes (chasing the lure from the sidelines). Yes, Jyra did not too bad. Although I didn't let Jyra say hello to the puppies (wouldn't want to risk it), she was very good with them - in proximity, but not pulling toward them to sniff them, which was good, because she knows GSDs and wants to pull toward any GSD she sees, including puppies. She was her usual way with Max and Lacey, sniffed and ignored them. Was fine with Nekhbet's malinois, but didn't let them interact for too long which was probably a good thing. And she met Clover also for the first time again it was only a short interaction and Jyra's hackles went up towards the end of it, thus we decided that was long enough. Other than the hackles, there was no aggression shown to Clover. She didn't like Indy though. For the most part, I think Jyra was too distracted by the lure, to be bothered with other dogs anyway. So she'd be close to them, but her attention was on the lure, so she wasn't upset by them. Ok, now for pictures: Here is Indy saying hello to ? Gotta love the doggie body language in this picture!

I can't find any motivator that would over-ride high distractions. Jyra wants the 'real thing' not my impersonations of it. Like Coca cola, Home Brand cola just isn't the real thing. The check chain is no more effective than the martingale. At least for Jyra it isn't. Hey there, saw you from a distance at the lure coursing yesterday! This infin8 halter does sound alright. Intrigued. I took that on board and required Jyra to drop yesterday before she got to chase the lure. Of course if the lure was already moving, she wouldn't have dropped!

Hi all. Thanks for the replies. I am still undecided as to what to do. When we went lure coursing yesterday, Jyra was pretty good on the Gentle Leader, but I think I have heard that the GL is more of a management tool than a training tool, and I can certainly manage Jyra much better on the GL, but switch her back across to the martingale and she's hopeless! I can walk Jyra around the streets on the martingale okay, but need the GL for higher distraction situations. I think I might try taking Jyra to training with the GL on and see how we go there (unless they tell me not to use it!) Nickyp, sounds like you have a harder time than me! If the dog is in high drive (prey/defence), they won't be interested in food. Jyra isn't then either. But food works for general obedience and low distraction settings for us. Are you going to one of Herding guy's workshops at the end of Jan? If so, which day? I am going on the Saturday. If we are both going on the same day, we must keep our dogs away from each other. Does anyone have a picture of a GSD or a medium/longish coated dog wearing a prong which they could post, so that I can see what it would look like on Jyra? K9Force is the one that would be great to help you and me. But he's in Sydney. Thankyou, I think so too and so do a lot of people actually! She is 3 years old, 4 in August.

Thanks for the pics Nat. I had a quick look at them tonight and will look at them better later. They are all excellent. I wish I could take photos like you. I'm out of Nat's level of action photo shots, so I took a few sidelines pictures. I have one of Indy (I think, maybe Chili) greeting another dog, Tohko, Tohko greeting Clover (I think), Iko, and Jyra resting. My internet connection has been DEAD slow this weekend. It takes 5 minutes to load up just one page. If this doesn't improve, I doubt I'll be uploading any photos. But if our speed picks up I'll put the photos up. Did anyone see Jyra go for a slide on one run? It was rather interesting to watch, but I hope that she hasn't done any damage to her shoulder by that. She seems to be fine by all accounts. Someone mentioned that the fishing wire broke...that was Jyra! Well it broke on her turn when I released her and she bolted out. I think it would be really good if someone made up a lure coursing rig that we could use when the RR club is not running it. I live in a regular suburban house, we have a decent back yard, but not big enough to set up a lure course unfortunately, so we can't have it at my house! (Though Jyra would like that!)

Nekhbet and others, I'll be like you - I'll have an unruly, terribly behaved GSD with me. Dad's coming with me to give me a break from handling Jyra. That might even free me up to come and chat to people without worrying about the dogs being near each other. ISH, I will definately keep away from Chili, don't worry. But do keep your eye out for us, if we need to get past you, with so many dogs around, if I give Chili a wide berth, that will possibly mean getting near another dog, which I'd also want to avoid. I'll do my best to keep our distance though, and inform my Dad also.

How about both my thumbs being injured indirectly by Jyra within 6 days? Both nails were bent right back and bled and one of them broken. I'm frustrated with trying to control Jyra. She is pretty good when there is no distractions and she is in a familiar area with no new smells. But say she sees another dog or a cat or sheep or a lure, she is a pain!! I have 4 collar choices - 1. Flat collar, which I don't use and would be useless anyway 2. Martingale collar (like limited slip). This is the one I tend to use most. 3. Correction chain (trad. choke chain), which I don't use much as I prefer the martingale. 4. Gentle leader, which I prefer not to use, but sometimes just resort to it out of convenience, as it gives me the most control. I really need a prong collar, but they are illegal here and I don't know how to get around that without breaking the law. (However, saying that, I do park on the nature strip near our house and you're not supposed to do that either.) Jyra is what people term a 'hard dog'. She needs a strong correction for her to even notice. I cannot give a hard enough correction on the chain or martingale for it to be effective. The other thing is often, I can't even give a 'pop' as she is already at the end of the lead and I can't give her any slack to give a pop as she would take up the slack before the pop occurs. If Jyra is at a herding workshop (with sheep) or at lure coursing, or if she sees a dog that she wants to have a go at, she is right at the end of the lead and dragging me sometimes! At the K9Force workshop, when Chili was near, Jyra even lifted my bottom out of the seat she was pulling that hard! Anyway, with the Gentle Leader, Jyra won't drag me so hard, but it doesn't stop her from pulling quite hard to get to what has attracted her attention. The other thing is, you can't really give a correction with a GL. I'm fed up with this! On all forms of collar, Jyra is fine in normal circumstances, it's only when strong prey drive or aggression kicks in that she's a terror. My left thumb has only just stopped hurting, and then today it's my right thumb that Jyra rips the nail half off. Sympathy for my poor right thumb Just for fun, a picture of Jyra lure coursing several months ago. All credit to Tess32 who took this picture:

Thanks for posting that question, I was wondering too, as I was away in December and didn't get the dates at all. I should be at Boronia this Sunday.

My aunt's tricolour Rough Collie, Conner passed away this week. I posted about how underweight he was a while ago. I noticed that he was very skinny about a year before his owners did I think. Anyway, I think before he was PTS the other day, he was weighing about 15kg and his waist would have been about only 10cm wide or less. You could cup your hand in a 'C' shape over his back above his waist. After having tests, etc, they found the other day that he had advanced cancer all through his body, even to his lungs and the vet recommended that he be put down. Conner had not been eating much and vomiting up most of what he ate. The vet said that he would have been in a lot of pain, but not showing it because of his placid nature. Jyra met Conner a couple of times and they played together, but she hadn't seen him for probably about two years. I don't have a picture of him, but he looked a bit like Tess32's Ebony. So, goodbye Conner. Rest in peace, free of pain now.

Me too! If anyone has any extra lanyards, I wouldn't mind buying one or two off you also. Iron Chef Michiba, I have a purple hat!! Maybe I should wear it?!

Ah!! Okay! I see.