ness

well done leopuppy at least leo passed 1 trial - Ness on the other hand seems to find passing a trial in South Australia very difficult. We failed again today due to anticipation of the retrieve on the flat in open. Little devil dog. For any of you video obedience nutts I have posted my video under the obedience videos section.

Well ok so we didn't pass again but we did get some lovely work so here are the links to todays obedience video for anybody who wants to watch it. Today we got: 22 for Heel free with 1 missed position. 20 for SFE. 26 for DOR. 0!!!!!! For retrieve on the flat. Her fault she thought about anticipating and stood up then decided against it. 26 for Retrieve over the jump 0 for change of positions - my fault though I tried to just use signals like you would for a UD silent signals but it backfired and she didn't drop. Overall the attitude is there which is nice and hell I don't mind the anticipation its just a minor inconvenience. Although maybe somebody is telling me something and I better move to Perth LOL.

Yes I think Ness would like a home where she didn't have to work for her food either and could eat as much as she wanted

Maybe they could make it that only passing dogs are eligible to compete in stays. I know I would only do stays with a passing dog anyway and it wouldn't totally remove the problem because you could have dogs that are brilliant in there individual work but can't do stays however it may alleviate some of the potential problem dogs.

Nah leopuppy - I think the floor rug threat works a lot better than the shelter - who knows Leo might prefer a new home

Who says it hasn't LOL

ROFL leopuppy's world is going to end if Leo doesn't pass on the weekend . ETA well at least if the world does end it doesn't matter then does it!!

Tempted but then we could just both go on a trip to Perth and camp outside Sue's place . ROFL hmm nope I think mine has more and would make a wonderful demonstration dog . More so because she has to put up with me in the ring . Dianne said to send her a profile to which I answered hmm just ask Sue what I haven't emailed her about as a problem .

Besides its a long way to go for a weekend - if I went to Perth I have a few people who I missed last time that I could catch up with.

Awwwwwww PAX don't you start on Sue H and NSW I am so jealous. I was going to come but bit expensive for what it is IF I can't take a dog and I still have to find accomodation. Nearly just as cheap for me to go West and get a few 1 hour private lessons :D .

LOL PAX - she was so cute about it to. Hmm check out the retrieve over the solid. She decides the ring post is in the way on her return so she goes around the ring post and still manages to come back over the jump :D . I nearly died in fits of laughter. Actually it was good that she failed the heelwork because I would have chickened out and done broadjump since that is the "safe" option in open and then to get full marks on the change of positions I was thrilled with (as were everybody over West who really wanted me to do change of positions anyway) We weren't entered to pass rather to see where we were at after we got back from Perth. The lack of positions in the heelwork was only a minor fault (for me anyway) in an otherwise outstanding round. She was up keen, happy and enthusiastic the entire round. No moments of switching off and it was certainly a much improved performance over her work in Perth (even the Perth people agree).

Ness's Obedience Round from the GSD Club trial on the weekend - would have finished up with a 174 N/Q if we had done stays. She mucked up on the heelwork because she decided she would have a non dropping, non sitting day - the rest of her work as the judge said however was very nice. So we got 10 N/Q for heelwork. 20/20 Stand for Exam 28/30 Drop on Recall 18/20 Retrieve on Flat 28/30 Retrieve over Jump 20/20 Change of Positions

Some would say Ness's lack of positions during her heelwork on the trial at the weekend was disobedience. I prefer to think of it as we have spent so much time focussing on getting enthusiastic heelwork now we need to go back and concentrate on positions. Yes she knows them and it wasn't due to a lack of attention but she was doing all that she thought she needed to do. Maybe I wasn't doing something quite the same as I do in training or maybe its been a while since we have worked positions. So yep we would have finished up with a 174 N/Q if we had done stays (which I hadn't because she wasn't passing). She only lost 6 marks for the rest of her open exercises and worked the round of her life. I don't think that is disobedience. Her eyes didn't leave mine for the entire round - including between exercises. Never mind life goes on and there is always the next trial. If anybody is interested in watching the videos from the trial I have posted them all up at youtube.

Not disobedient - just having an off day. I mean everybody (human or dog) makes mistakes even with things they know really really well. Half the fun is that they aren't robots isnt it.

Yep that was my pet peeve about nationals as well FHR - we were just lucky they we didn't have to many courses which we didn't get a fair way through. Some if you made an error right near the end they let you continue anyway. ETA Some things like wrong jumps if there are two jumps side by side or something I won't bother fixing and will just continue on - mainly things like contacts or weavers. Touch wood though I haven't had to go back and fix to many contacts recently.

Hmm I would put my dog back through the weavers and continue the course. Same with contacts - back on the contact and continue on. Most of the judges here are fairly good in that respect and as long as you aren't wasting to much time your allowed to continue. So no constantly schooling the dog multiple times but if its a case of 2-3 seconds then that seems to be allowed.

LOL Jesomil I felt exactly the same last night/early this morning and mine doesn't even count towards a title since she already got that title last year .

Open - whats that - hmm asking myself the same question and am trialling on Saturday .

I got a dog that throws heeling at me - does that mean she enjoys it . I love heeling when she is pushing and working nicely .

Simple answer - not very well - usually get dragged kicking and screaming into the ring . Just kidding but if I hadn't given a friend a whole pile of entry forms to do trial entries while I was away I still wouldn't have entered open and wouldn't have her CDX . My first trial in novice I only entered to keep a friend company then walked out with a 187 and second place on count back. Agility I don't find as stressful as I think its a much more intrinsically rewarding activity for the dogs and whatever happens its usually fun. Not sure I can say the same about heelwork and obedience necessarily.

Then I honestly probably wouldn't do anything to fix it and its probably not an issue. I know of a few very up dogs that end up dropping back slightly in the trial ring anyway. Its much better to have a dog working slightly forward then slightly behind. By law of averages they then end up roughly right in a trial .

Hey JulesP, On the issue of forging one very easy way to tell if the dog is to far out is to try a turn. I find the u-turn left abouts virtually impossible if the dog gets to far ahead. Might give you some gauge as to whether he is to far out. If the dog can't hold a nice position on a turn then chances are he is forging to much. Remember also in a trial you will get pinged less if the dog maintains a consistent position, so even if the dog is consistently slightly forward you might find your ok so long as the position is consistent. Its a bit like a dog that consistently lags scores better then one who holds a good heel position in some stops and then lags in others or alternatively forges in spots.

Yes its not that I couldn't ask for it its that I don't because like leopuppy said its so physically demanding. Not saying you do MrsD but I do know of people here who insist there dogs heel for an entire walk - so therefore there definition of heel is somewhat loser than the precision behaviour that I want of my dog in the ring. Never mind the fact that she throws precision heelwork at me on a walk anyway .

Ah ok see I have a specific heel position which I reserve totally for training and in the ring. I would never ask for heel outside of that time. If I want her attention on a walk I might ask her to watch me as another dog walks past or something I might think is tempting for her but other than that she is free to sniff do whatever so long as she doesn't pull.

Ok I have a bit of a follow on to this. Does your preference for heel position depending on whether "heel" is used strictly in a formal obedience trialling sense or whether you also require your dogs to heel during a normal walk rather than just walk without pulling when on lead (outside of training).