sidoney

That is a good attitude - have the patience to get things right. It's the ones that want to "run a course" on their first night that end up spending endless time trying to fix problems - if they get them fixed at all. Your dog sounds like he has potential - you will do you both a favour in learning how to develop that in the most effective way.

Really I can't train you over the net. Get those videos and get the foundation work happening. I have learned that overall, agility in Victoria is not as far advanced as it is in NSW, Perth, places like that ... Vic doesn't get the international trainers bringing over the most effective and more recently developed training and handling methods, which a number of handlers learn, and then dilutes outwards. I went to a workshop with Stacy Peardot at Jugiong recently and there were a few Vic teams there - people like them bringing back recent info can only help. ETA: No, the answer is that you run a shorter line. Say you have two people running circles, staying about next to each other, but one is running a circle on the inside of the other one. The outer one (the equivalent of the dog) will be going faster and covering more ground. That's how you keep ahead of a fast dog. You take the shorter path. Lateral distance is an essential skill with a fast dog. Make sure you learn all this stuff. ETA (again): When you get the foundation work down, running a course all comes quite simply. It's getting the little pieces right and then putting them together. If the pieces are right, they go together really well. If you have the wrong shaped pieces, or pieces missing, it can end up a mess.

IMO keep up the excitement but make it more controlled, excitement while he does the work smoothly but fast. Rule number one in agility: NEVER SLOW DOWN YOUR DOG Doing the foundation work and for you, esp. working on the fast but controlled flat work with your dog will help overall.

BTW as you progress rewatch "great dog..", I've been to a couple of Greg Derrett camps and really like his way of handling, it works very well for us. Note that something he, Susan Garrett and some others worked out after using the methods for a while, and not specifically referred to in the video (as it came later), is that their younger dogs were better than their older ones, and that these dogs were cueing where to go from the handler's position on course - they are calling it "positional handling" - so be very aware of the "do your turn as close as possible to the next obstacle" principle (or somewhere along the line joining the inner wings/sides of each obstacle if you can't get that far ahead) - Greg was saying that in his opinion, handler position for the turn, relative to the obstacles, was more important than timing of the turn - since the position gives clear direction to the dog.

"Great dog" is the second Greg Derrett DVD - the foundation one is the first one - get that if at all possible, you will find it very very useful.

Foundation work typically includes a whole bunch of really useful stuff that will help you get around an agility course, but which doesn't include equipment. As well as some stuff on things like contact planks, wobble boards, and so on. ETA: I'd be extending on the "heeling" work and including circles, post turns and front crosses, working up to both of you running in sync but with no agility equipment - great for working out body language for coursework but without equipment so that you can concentrate on working as a team without having to worry about extras.

Barking and nipping often happens when the dog isn't getting clear enough direction, it can be a frustration thing ... make sure you get your foundation work in, where you learn to work with each other as a team and read each other's body language ... the Greg Derrett foundation DVD is a great start - well both GD DVDs are excellent. Otherwise as you are doing sounds like a good approach. But do make sure you are doing your part of the partnership, that is, training him to understand your direction, and giving him clear direction.

Maybe attach acceptable chew toys to the bed in some way, so that they are available without him having to move off the bed?

Eeeww Lia, that is scary. ONCE!!!!

K9: I didnt invent the word, but I would suggest that it stimulates the dog into understanding the current behvaiour is negative...But you might ask the person who attached the word originally, I use it as it is a recognised international term. IMO the word comes from standard medical/biological based terminology, that is, stimulating the nerves to give a sensation. Nerves that are activated by electrical impulse (and note that nerve impulses ARE electrical in nature) are generally said to be stimulated in some way. Subjectively, having tried various ecollar levels on myself, the lower levels are more akin to some kind of stimulation and not painful until much higher, with quite a gradient in between. There is the potential for pain there, yes, and that's why the comments about having training supervision (as per Victorian laws) are relevant and appropriate.

Little red dots can get dogs obsessed about reflections, shadows, etc.: stuff that you can't control in the environment. I know dogs that have done that. If all is going well with other stuff, I wouldn't go there.

Yes, I understand that, but didn't you say that you can get drive in a trained dog with a drive command? Without showing the toy? If the dog knows that it's going to get toy at the end of the routine, surely it will be in drive to get that toy, even if it doesn't see it? (Which anyway is not the case if the person is running with the ball in the hand.) Otherwise not sure how running with a ball in the hand and then throwing it is different to what you are describing. How is "motivating with the toy" different to "building drive with the toy"? Are you referring to the specific drive-building movement? In that case I'm not sure where using a command to put the dog into drive comes in, without showing/drive building with the toy first, and how "motivating with the toy" is not using drive. Are you here referring to using a drive command rather than drive building with the toy to put the dog into drive? I just can't conceptualise the difference that you refer to.

Would you clarify this? And the difference to how you would do it? I am thinking it's because the dog can see the ball while it's working, is that right? Rather than having it hidden? So the sight of the ball motivates the dog rather than a drive command? Thanks. IMO it's more to do with the trainer than the activity. I could not count the number of bored dogs I have seen in agility, because the handler makes it that way.

DL is processed chicken poo. I've used it safely with dogs. My dogs also enjoy fresh chicken poo, horse poo, cow poo ... you get the drift.

I know someone that's competed in it with her Border Terrier, in NSW. I think I remember her saying that they were looking at increasing numbers of trials as there were not very many. You can get an Earthdog title with the Canine Council. Try this link if you are in NSW (sorry, didn't look before posting).

I've been following your progress and so happy that your puppy is coming along. Looking forward to more updates.

What dogdude said, plus keep in mind that there are within-breed variations. Not sure what the sample was for that "study" and what the testing procedures and criteria were, as those will have an effect on results.

Incorporate what I have learned about training in drive.

Would have liked higher drive in the Kelpie but don't know how much of that is her and how much me making mistakes when she was younger, suppressing drives when around me. Still she is great in almost every way and I think I will get what I want from her, might take more effort from me though. Nerves are not "police dog" good but they are pretty good, and as the environment I compete in is fairly stable (changes of venues but other things are pretty consistent) that's OK. I would get another Kelpie, yes, possibly puppy test possibles myself first. And raise with a better idea of developing and maintaining high drive. With my Vizslas, I breed them myself, and I am working towards my ideal, so it's a work in progress. Nerves and drives going well, now I know more about it, I can incorporate it better. However I do have to keep in mind that most of my pups go as pets (although quite a few compete in obedience, agility and tracking and have just had notification of the first dual champion ) so I have to keep drives to a level that pet owners can handle - a balance between performance and pet.

I'd also recommend a thorough clean and deodorising for the lounge. My lot use smell as well as shape and location to recognise doggy things. Plus dogs are very location specific. Could you deodorise the lounges and rearrange the room a bit, putting a dog smelling doggy bed where the lounge is? It might help, at least in the transition phase.

Re crossing from left to right, there is a doggy component there (trained by the person). Obedience dogs have been multiply rewarded for being on the left side (assuming positive training). At any rate, the left side is the best place to be. It takes time for a dog that has this kind of association to realise that the right side is also a good place to be. So you reward the dog many times for being on the right. "Circle work" or "shadow handling" is good for this (it's kind of "agility heeling"). Analogous is the agility dog that has been rewarded so many times for doing contact obstacles that it will ignore other obstacles and do the contacts. The remedy is to up the reward rate of the obstacles it's ignoring. On the handler side of things, I've noticed that many handlers, if given a choice, automatically start exercises with their dog on their left. Even if they also handle with the dog on the right side, consciously handling both sides, they will often start the left. This ends up being the side the dog works on when it's fresher and keener, and may also get more time/repetitions.

I used to obedience trial but nowadays just do agility, no time to do both. "Obedience" in agility is not an issue if you do agility foundation work ... which is more suited for agility than obedience type work.

Use bleach on the paved areas. None of my dogs like going out into the rain to do their business. I scatter kibble on the paved areas I don't want them to do their business on (rather than feeding it out of a bowl) and find that this firstly gives them more interest in finding and eating their food, and secondly they get an association between food and that area, and tend to not go to the toilet on it. Try not feeding her too late, so that she doesn't have much in her intestines before bedtime. What are you feeding her? If it has a high fibre content you may need to switch to something that will give her less bulk in her faeces. Many dry foods will end up with dogs doing huge poos. The better quality ones don't. A BARF diet also reduces the amount of faeces. My own feeding regime is a good quality dry food in the morning, and chicken frame or other raw meaty bone in the afternoon.

Good day out for humans and dogs. Was very impressed by Xander's behaviour - if Kaz had not said anything, I would not have guessed he had any issues at all.

LOL or the ones with such short coats that they stay clean without washing (unless they roll in something horrid).