ness

Way to go Zig and TSD - fantastic work .

OSS you can order scent discrimination articles through here - http://obedienceproducts.com/

The only reason I asked about the play retrieve is if its just a case of won't hold it while sitting in front have you tried asking for him to walk with it in his mouth and then asking for a sit. It might help it might not.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ness#p/u/3/ZKtPKLMQJu0 I guess this is kind of the set up where you might throw the reward - although in this session I had the tug placed ahead of the jumps rather than throwing it.

Does Mack have a play retrieve Seita? Will he fetch and hold things in his mouth aside from when your trying to shape him to hold and carry things? I know he tugs as I have seen video but obviously don't think you want to start with holding a tug toy. I had a similar issue with Ness and had it suggested to shape a retrieve using a toy that she was happy to play with before introducing a DB. So I went away and taught a hold using something she was happy to carry - a stuffed bear. That enabled me to build a little duration on the hold so when I came to reintroducing the DB we had a little more to work with.

Many of the clubs in the state will recommend a check chain but I am not sure any insist on them. I don't use one/wouldn't use one and my two are both trained on standard collars (well mostly off-lead anyway).

Hi Jules, I wouldn't think 7 is to old if you just want to have a bit of fun. I am sure it will be fine. A dog is never to old to learn new tricks. I have a 10.5 year old who is still training at obedience club weekly and would hate to think she wasn't allowed her turn. She is also still trialling happily enough. Not sure who is running the club but what about using a flat collar for obedience rather than a check chain. Harness's aren't great but if the dog is under control and not a problem then I wouldn't bother with a check chain and would just use a normal standard flat collar. On the last point about signals and bending down. In the end you shouldn't need a huge signal for something like a drop (you could just as easily use a verbal only in your situation). My suggestion would be to start training it at home and train it with the dog on a table or you sitting on a lounge and the dog on the floor. Once the dog understands what is required and has the drop on a nice verbal then you could work at having you stand up next to the dog and give the command. Might save your back. Hope some of this is helpful .

lovely clip - thanks for posting the link Ptolomy and thanks Caffy for finding it.

I know caffy - very sad . I thought it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and loved having Sue here .

Poor Chip Kiesha .

Ptolomy - a new business venture - sounds great.

Yeah here is the video I have - a little bit of 2 food game, then I switch to using two i-squeaks instead. Not the best footage mind you.

At least my see-saw is now completed but typically so much for thinking I actually needed one for practising - dog was perfect . I am sure I will find ways to break it later.

Practice your DB throwing without the dog or warn the judge and stewards to wear a hard hat . I don't really find a huge difference between Novice and Open. I guess the real difference would be that Open is a little longer in duration so you might want the dog use to working for a little longer before it gets a reward. Suppose its also useful if you have built up a range of secondary reinforcers that you can take into the ring with you and use to keep the dog enthused over the course of the round. So things like hand touches, quick tricks etc.

I would suspect just keep going the way you are going TerraNik - if Jedi is happy with the exercises then no real issue.

did the fly to Perth thing twice - not just to see Sue .

Nope they weren't TSD - I heard a lot of whinging . Its a shame because presenters won't make the effort to come back if they aren't well received.

Nawww TSD was the SA Sue H weekend really that bad - I made it easy I sought out bringing Sue guru over here . Was a great weekend though - pity lots of people weren't impressed - so typical when we get seminar presenters to SA. Also just a shame that they didn't think there would be enough interest for a straight obedience weekend so had to split the time with a day of agility (not that that wasn't interesting I would just have preferred longer on the obedience).

I would be keen Jess if nobody else has grabbed it.

I think I can trump the ducks - we have possums at training that deliberately love to run in front of the dogs while they are doing stays . Neither of mine have touch wood ever bothered with them but I can assure you others have .

Wahoo go Strauss .

K9Pro wrote: They may start totally fixed on one style or type of prey, but when that option is removed, reward pressure creates behaviour plasticity and they will transfer their interest to another. Both appropriately and inappropriately. Though I guess its like anything the more exposure to variety the more adaptable to they are to different styles or types of prey in the future. So I guess it comes back to if you want a dog that accepts a variety of "toys" as prey items then you expose that same dog to a variety of objects before they have a chance to become totally fixed on one style. Assuming the rate of acceptance increases the more the dog is exposed to a variety. ETA. JulesP wrote: K9Pro can a dogs modified prey drive (ie herding) be so strong that playing with toys is meaningless to a dog? Both my girls have very strong herding drives. I guess is that not the same for those dogs who "appear" to have strong herding styles when playing at the park with other dogs but yet do not exhibit the same behavior when placed on stock.

Having a dog that is on-lead while your teaching it to jump can also interfere with a dogs jumping action - just something I would never consider - and as poodlefan wrote I would also struggle to consider something "agility" with a lead on. I also would never want to train a dog on-lead over obstacles that I was going to trial later. Just to many issues and much prefer to have a dog trained to be focused and attentive and not have to worry about the dog taking off. I just happened to watch one of the most recent Clean Run Foundation agility dvds today and the women on there (sorry would have to look up who) said the same. Get the focus, the team work etc happening before introducing equipment into the picture. ETA. Zug Zug grade 5 is a pre-requisite for agility at my obedience club but I wouldn't go so far as to say that properly equips the dogs either. There are still off-lead control issues with dogs graduating grade 5 - especially in a high energy environment like agility.

Hart sports sell them SecretKei. http://www.hartsport.com.au/ Else kmart sometimes have the small ones in the human fitness section going cheap.

about WA and windy weather. I remember all too well the one and only time I threw a DB over the solid jump and it blew back into the jump. The Judge who I think from memory was Anne L-H permitted a rethrow and we still got full marks for the exercise in the end . You can bet the first thing I did when I got back to Adelaide was switch to a plastic DB in case I decided to trial back in WA again ;) .