ness

What about having somebody she really likes lay a short track. So go and hide behind a tree or something. Then have her find them. On fresh tracks if the dog is really keen they pretty quickly pull into there harness. Or even lay a track yourself with food at the end.

Way to go Inevitablue fantastic work with both dogs .

Yep my CR orders have all normally been ~10 working days or thereabouts.

Well done Seita and Ella .

The chances are they haven't been Zug Zug unless littermates have been placed into show homes or there has been a need to. Although I know some dog sports people will xray as a matter of course. I can think of a few breeders I have seen will place into their contracts that dogs are to be xrayed at the appropriate age and so they are therefore scoring the majority of a litter.

I have a copy RS but a little far .

Like I said if your worried then just hide other things for the dog to find . Neither of mine have had to many hang ups with seekback even on our non-bowling green training grounds so suspect you won't have to many issues. You could always do something like teach them baby tracking where you walk a track, have them track to the end and use a food reward at the end.

I have never seen positions in the seekback heelwork in SA - not sure what its like in WA. Our judges also only use one pace. I think I wouldn't stress to much about rewarding a slightly lesser standard heelwork if sending them for the seekback isn't the reward. I guess it depends on how often you do it. I have even been known with Ness to use food in my hand to get the heelwork I want before sending . I think it very much depends on exactly what you feel is lacking and whether it is ok - just not brilliant or where it fits on the spectrum. Kenz's heelwork in seekback is seriously ratty and it tends to push her up a notch and it can end up a mess.

I tend to hide toys and have the dogs find them if I want to do that method - ok mostly Kenz I haven't really ever bothered with Ness. I am a little more careful with Kenz re the sending and potentially rewarding sloppy heelwork because she can present a seekback and then spit out the treat or won't take the toy so the seekback is the reward - although not so much an issue now. I am less careful with Ness, but she is more doing the seekback to get the treat. So I guess RS I would ask do you think your guys are doing it for being allowed to complete the seekback or are they doing it for the treat or toy at the end.

Way to go Ruby . Fantastic work RS.

Shell does with Zero.

Oh they are just helping suggest housework is an optional extra - hmmmmmm Kenz's preference was mobile phone chargers!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been told mostly the first couple of tracks will have a person at the end and with the older tracks they tend to just leave a t-shirt but they will leave a reward at the end if you provide one.

Hmmm owned by a couple? - don't tell Pele she might get jealous . He has been out on Tuesdays maybe just not training on Thursdays as well. And yeah Cassie nothing has changed about Kenz she is still a tart . Although a very broken tart at the moment.

Hmmm we give the tracklayer food, dog gets a few bits from tracklayer before they disappear then send dog after the tracklayer . As you know my youngster is more toy motivated but she won't take a toy reward off a stranger so therefore the tracklayer has treats to feed her when they get there. Sometimes we just have a t-shirt at the end of the track so I'll carry a jackpot container and feed it to the dog when we reach the final t-shirt.

Kenz is only 13kg so yeah he would giant her but she still doesn't do pups so will wait until he is older. She is in love with the one that goes tracking training on Tuesday - little tart.

Cassie - Kenz says sign him up for a play date when he is a little more grown up :D. She doesn't do pups but Berner males are her favourite .

Sorry to hear about Em TSD and thanks everybody for all the healing vibes and good wishes for Kenz. Wish I had a crystal ball that would tell me what the answer was. I guess the cost side of things is one of the reasons I wouldn't be keen to open it up but also I find it hard to go to opening her up when they still don't know. Part of me is scared that it will make a problem that we are living with and I think is bothering me more then the dog into something much bigger. The specialist was a little vague and it was more we will see what the situation is when we open it up and then treat what we find. That might open up a huge can of worms and I am really not sure its a path I want to go down until we have exhausted absolutely everything. Besides which the specialist was still pretty convinced it was one thing and the chiro vet is pretty convinced its something else. Hmmmmmm normally you would side with a specialist but I just didn't get a sense out of her that it was anything more than guesswork. Even with her knocked out under GA she passed no comment on the laxity in her shoulder which the chiro vet was clearly able to palpate without her even being under. Specialist seemed hung up on it being biceps tendonitis even though the results were inconclusive. Lots of sleepness nights have been had in the last few months I can tell you that much . ETA. Have PMd you inevitablue.

The hardest part is I trained her Monday afternoon and you wouldn't know she has the injury she does . Nobody really knows what is the matter and short of opening up the shoulder and having a closer look I think we are only managing to treat the symptoms as they emerge. The specialist suggested if I was going to go to the expense of getting an MRI done to assess the damage then it was money better spent on scoping the shoulder and going in and repairing what needed to be repaired all in the one sitting but she isn't really sure what is going on either despite the ultrasound and x-rays. Nothing really adds up in her case at the moment and its not consistent enough for me to avoid the problem by just avoiding particular activities. Some days she can go on huge runs/long walks and have no issues. Then other days we do bugger all and she is sorer then ever. .

Hmmm not good TSD - I thought since she had been really good the last week or so we might finally have been making progress. Chiro vet yesterday released all the tight muscle spasms but unfortunately it appears that was what was holding her shoulder back together so I was getting really good extension but when he fixed those the shoulder instability returned. The eventual goal is to try and build up enough supporting scarring to hold the shoulder together and still have the the surrounding muscles relaxed. She is on short leash walks till Sunday and then I am to ring him next week and we will decide what to do from here. Surgery hasn't been ruled out of the equation - well at least it was mentioned as to whether the specialist thought she was a good candidate and knowing the chiro he wouldn't have bought it up if he didn't think it might be necessary. He tends to er on the side of caution and not rushing into things like that unless deemed that it would help. I guess on the positive he thought obedience would be ok but given at the moment she is pretty much ruled out of jumping indefinitely I am not sure if she will end up getting past Novice . Never mind the fact its obviously bothering her on her sit stays which is why she has failed the trials she has so far. If she can barely manage a minute in novice, a 3-4 min open sit stay is going to probably undo her anyway .

Poor Orlando - injured dogs suck .

Wuffles I just used normal white paint that I picked up from like a craft place (well a $2 shop ). But I use a plastic one these days.

Having just been through this with a super energetic 3 year old BC who was on 4 weeks strict crate rest and restricted exercise for what seems like an absolute eternity due to a damaged shoulder ligament (its been on-going for the last 6 months or so months) these are a few suggestions I was given: - Scent work type games - Stuffed kongs/bones - Training activities which involve working things out rather than moving Since I was on the position to be home she only had to be crated if she wanted to do to much. Otherwise she was leashed to my desk where I was working and allowed on a dog bed. Was really hard in the first week, she mellowed a little but towards the end of the third week she was well over resting. She got taken out in the car whenever I had to duck down to the shops. She ran errands with me. Mine also loves squeakie toys so I would give her one of those so long as she was laying on her bed and she would sit there squeaking it. Staranais on here gave me the suggestion of driving to a local park or somewhere and having a cup of coffee or something. This worked to a point but towards the end she was absolutely fed up with not being allowed to run. Here is another similar thread with some ideas and suggestions: http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/218947-ideas-for-a-seriously-bored-dog-on-crate-rest/

LMS - Kenz's best friends are the big guys . She is all of 13kg yet her best friends would be a male weim, a gorgeous long hair rottie "Clyde", and a gorgeous Berner at tracking . The thing I tell people is if your a male dog (preferably entire) and the bigger the better then your likely to be her long lost friend as far as Kenz is concerned. A couple of people from agility here have GSDs running with there BCs without to many issues. Coats are reasonably easy to look after and not really excessive even with the show lines ones. Both of mine are show lines and have coats but they aren't bad. They swim and get dirty and always scrub up looking reasonable with no real effort.

I have Border Collies and will make a comment that while they don't mind rough play they seem to take offense to the super in your face nature of some of the gundog breeds. Having said that my youngsters best friend would be a very in your face toller - but she has to set the boundaries first. The would certainly fit well with the rest of your criteria. Drive levels vary somewhat but if you ask around and find a good breeder they should be able to match you with a pup of suitable levels. ETA. Photos for research purposes