ness

Yep Adelaide do have a NYE Obedience trial and an agility and games trial .

oops forgot about that SnT yeah we did lots of that too .

I think I kick started with standing her right next to the poles and tossing food . Although I also had a cone monster so I could place an orange traffic cone out in front (handy to mark the reward line for the 2x2 stuff so I had something to aim at) she would then focus on the cone rather than on me.

Wahoo well done Millie .

You can also purchase it as an ebook - http://www.clickertraining.tv/product.html?item=KPDLBKP6DR

I joined a positive gundog list a few years back - wanted to borrow there brains on retrieving drills for teaching gloves for UD and somebody suggested it ;) .

Can I ask what the logic is on that Ptolomy? My thought would be why is it at an issue. Presuming your not using the "bird" as a tug toy. Actually even if you were I am not sure it should cause a problem. You still need to train the dog to hold it with the required pressure and not chew on it the same as you would an obedience dog with a DB or an article. Are you not just training a retrieve and would you not just back chain it the same as you would for anything else. Obviously mine are a herding breed but I don't find any difference between Kenz who tugs and Ness who I reward a retrieve with food when it comes to retrieving DBs or articles. If anything Ness would mouth the item more than Kenz does whereas Kenz has a much more deliberate grip. Unless I am using the wrong logic as to why you might not allow a retrieving dog to tug.

In the end its about using what works for an invidual dog so long as you have something. Ness has only ever been trained using food and she does a pretty good job of things most of the time , except this week when you know you have a trial coming up and it all goes seriously pearshaped ;) .

Hmm Ptolomy so Strauss hasn't hung around Lex enough ;) . You could always send him to me I'll convert him to toys and return him (well I might return him ). And yes sorry RubyStar you were all talking about food specifically so I wasn't really posting in relation to JulesP's dog but rather that toys can be just as useful as food .

Its not that hard guys so long as you have something the dog is motivated by be it food or toy - I'd hate to have a dog who wasn't keen on either.

A friend loaned me all 4 of his dvds - the tug and food ones as well as the heelwork and retrieve one. Only watched the first 3 and not had a chance to watch the retrieve one. Pretty sure they ordered them through Leerburg.

Yep JulesP have watched the Michael Ellis stuff - in fact was watching his heelwork dvd last night. Some very useful stuff.

Weird I had a package of GoDog posted over to me from the US inside a secret santa gift one year and it had no problem getting through.

What date in January RubyStar . Oh wait that would make it even more hilarious - watch the bars come tumbling down :p .

:D TerraNik - Mitch probably thought Soaks was his christmas present :D .

That was the rule at our club to JulesP but I just trained Kenz up to the suitable standard by myself - they couldn't very well say you have to do the classes when she was working better then 90% of what was already doing ring work.

least he waited Ptolomy - Ness didn't even bother to wait for the "fetch". Kenz on the other hand little doesn't seem to forget or if she does she goes 2 steps and then goes hmmmm didn't hear the command I better come put myself back into heel .

poor Brookie and Scoota you can send them both here if you decide you don't want them anymore . As for me I actually decided to train Ness last night and thought I'd polish some of her open work before the weekend and promptly managed to break her retrieve on the flat in the process - urgh. Hopefully I don't manage to break her UD exercises tonight - maybe I should just stay home and take my luck at the trial LOL.

xena98 - Hmmm so it will be at least another 7 yeahs huh . Can't imagine Gabby EVER growing up.

must be about time for another one to train xena98

Have started a new topic RubyStar I am sure others will be interested and it might make for fascinating reading .

A follow on from the question raised by RubyStar in the brags thread: Rubystar asked: So ness, how did you get involved in dog sports with your brother's dog when you were initially scared of dogs? Did you get Ness as a pup and what age was she when you first started training her? Ness was my first dog - she was bought at the age of 8 weeks to be the family dog. My brother was 14 and I had just finished end of first year uni so was 17. I remember going to the pet store with mum to purchase dog food and saw a brochure for the local obedience club and went along from the time Ness was 4 months. We worked our way through the various classes getting through each level in a month (the minimum time required). I eventually made my way into the trialling classes and stumbled on a number of dog lists when she was around 14 months and the rest shall we say is history. I also signed her up for agility when she reached 12 months as that is what the club allowed and being a Border Collie I was asked if I wanted to go along to that as well. Now what are we 10 years down the track, Ness has a huge collection of titles in both obedience and agility, I have now got dog number 2 and we are having a blast. For a first dog Ness has done exceedingly well she passed both her novice and open titles in straight trials - no small feat considering I had absolutely no idea what I was doing and admittedly there was a few years between her novice and her open but none the less I am appreciating that its not an easy thing to do. She had both her CD (under the old novice rules!!! where the dogs had to complete twice the heel pattern and god knows how we managed that) and her JD before she was 2. She also went out to her first obedience trial, primarily as a friend was going long and wanted some company and came home with her highest ever score a 187 and second on count back. I seriously wonder what the judge was on that day because I find it very hard to believe now, knowing all I know. So thats where I started out. Boy has it been an interesting journey so far and I am sure its going to continue into the future.

Hang on I can top all of that Ness was bought to be my brothers dog and at the time we got her I was petrified of dogs . She is the first dog I have had anything to do with and I wasn't even that keen on the idea of a dog when we got her . Who would have thought that now eh . And DSO I watched your JD run with Jess and it was a bugger about the BJ otherwise it was nicely handled. I know all to well about the 1 bloody bar issue that BCs seem to be plagued with. Fingers crossed for the next trial .

Nah Tiggy - the pocket rocket is sooooo fun to run - but then I guess she is just fast not scary fast :D .

:D huski even BCs with hardly any leg can run speedy :D .