Kavik

I hadn't postef in here yet as I wasn't sure how I'd go with a baby as well. Baby is here now Goals: * Improve our 2o2o performance on the dogwalk (sometimes he stops 4on). at the moment doing lots of work on travel board at home for proofing * proof weaves especially rear crosses an times when I slow down when he is in them (sometimes he stops or pulls out) * Manage to get to a trial and compete while having baby with me (have entered two next month) * Get an Open Jumping and Open Agility pass (we can get the distance challenge but usually have a problem somewhere else!) * Get more passes towards JDX ADX and GD

Yeah while my Kelpies are good with the kids, they are not into being dressed up etc (more the active stuff), the GSD on the other hand would tolerate it much better I'm sure :D

That depends on the size of your house Labs are pretty big and heavy. My house is tiny. When the GSD is inside it feels like he takes up the whole house so a Lab would be similar. The Kelpies are a much better size to be in our house.

I am soooooo guilty of this!!! My dog works relativelly ok in training, good enought to get a comfortable pass Id say. Yet all we get is a fail in a trial. I am super stressed, she walks 3 meters behind me in the ring!!! What do I do to fix ME in the scenario??? Do agility instead All joking aside, I have found that competing in agility has boosted my ring confidence. I was way too terrified to enter an obedience trial, everyone seemed to take it so seriously and I also got very stressed and Diesel shut down. In Agility, being more active and less pedantic about the way the handler moves/acts, I was less self conscious and less stressed. And it is fun and while some people take it seriously, it is also very social and fun and people help you out. I was still very stressed at the beginning, but now that I am more experienced it is not so bad. I think I would be better now if I entered an obedience trial than if I'd entered one before doing agility. ETA: it helps not to take it TOO seriously. I probably still wouldn't be trialling if I hadn't been pushed into it by my friends! I had a period where we had trial problems and I had to modify my goals significantly until they were fixed (shortening the course so no chance of a pass) but it was so worth it in the end. Also in agility you can do several runs in the one trial and they are short, so you don't have to worry about messing up the only chance you are going to have that day.

I love that video

It was a joke Corvus but while we're on the subject 'enthusiasm' or 'drive' is genetic, the dog either has it or it doesn’t. It's not something you can simply inject and you're away. 'Drive' in working line dogs when compared to non-working line dogs is light years apart. I see too many people fluffing around making more of a commotion than the dog trying to build drive in something that simply doesn’t have it or is very low. Quite funny to watch actually.............lol Drive is not the only issue when it comes to working in the ring. Dogs aren't silly - if you wear a treat pouch and praise/reward a lot in training but don't in the ring and haven't weaned them off for the amount of time in the ring, and worked out a reward sysytem for it, they will figure it out.

There is SASH and VSC in North Ryde http://sashvets-px.rtrk.com.au/ http://www.vetspecialist.com.au/

This Next time I give competition obedience a go I will do something like this. Similar to what I do for agility. Get a good send to the reward, then get them to do a little bit of work and send them to the reward and work up to being able to do the whole routine. I would also teach touch/spin etc for between exercises.

As I understand it you get a course fault if you do not complete the weaves first attempt after a correct entry.

Whoops that's what you get trying to multitask and feed a baby at the same time Have you checked for spey incontinence or are you sure its only the weather?

Is she desexed?

The hardest thing is when they reach a moment where they suddenly stop offering anything and just stand there. The key is to wait them out but it can be frustrating at the start.

Also, when you are training, competing and visiting others with your dog, you will WANT your dog to toilet on walks and on lead. It is very stressful if your dog won't toilet on lead or away from home, and you know they need to go and want them to go when it is best for your day. So that they won't go in the ring during your performance when they are off lead etc.

While you cn certainly teach them to toilet on command (my command it 'toilet' though I admit I haven't kept up the training for the cue lately) I am pretty sure that they won't understand that you putting a "No" in front of the command means they are not supposed to do it. Dogs don't think that way. Eg we teach sit = bum on ground. simple. No sit? Really all you are saying is reprimand word followed by command so the dog should sit. I also don't understand when people say 'good sit' when the dog is in a sit - it is already there, sit is a cue for a behaviour, so you are recuing when the dog is already in a sit.

Hmmn might be an idea if he does it again, I really wanted to hit him in the face myself but I didn't think it would help the situation and I might get charged with animal abuse. Man I was beyond furious though. He is a dog. They pee on things sometimes or at certain stages. They are not all perfect. I think you have a "thing" about it. Slight over reaction from the above. While its not acceptable to pee on people he is not going around like an elephant hosing the population at large with his trunk. Its happened twice under the same circumstances. Teach him one word that means toilet, mine know piddles. Then when he sees someone to greet you say no piddles, or whatever word, to remind him. Or keep him on the lead to greet people & remind him, no piddles. It does happen sometimes - Diesel did it once a the park the only one of my dogs to do this. However I wouldn't say no then their toilet word - likely they will hear the toilet word and think you want them to go

Yes it would be a great use of NFC runs!

I guess with the weaves my main concern is popping - doesn't happen all that often with Kaos but popping at pole 10 is common and VERY rewarding if you continue and I think likely to create a popping issue. I haven't encountered a smaller seesaw yet so not sure what implications it has for our training and performance, though its difference to the large ADAA seesaw at training will be noticeable My seesaw at home is adjustable so I guess I can use that if I need to retrain. Not sure if the drop rate is the same as before? Mine is competition standard. I don't think the change in the table will present much of an issue for us.

I have heard that there are new rules for agility coming in next month concerning the table, seesaw and some changes to the weave faults. I thought it would be good to have a thread to discuss the changes, effects of the changes, any modification to training or running as a result. Is anybody going to retrain the seesaw or table? Do you think not being able to go and complete the weaves if you missed one will cause your dog to pop or miss them more often in competition?

What about placing them right next to each other?

I think you should have as many types of rewards as possible. Gives you more choice. I use different rewards depending on the type of behaviour. Shaping and static exercises I use food. Sending and active exercises I throw a toy.

Agree with this (I am the same, enjoy training some of my dogs more than others) and to your analogy!

Just saw a video of her 19 week old pup recalling off of playing with her other dogs - it was amazing Super, super fast!

What percentage of time would you say you do at home and at a club? Im so curious if people train with a trainer/ mentor one on one or more in a club situation. What stops people having private lessons? Money, time, not as social, happy with their current progress? I used to have weekly lessons with Keith Edwards (like half of Sydney, lol) and my dogs and I improved at a greater rate than when I was in the club situation, especially when I had the deaf girl. A friend who was very successful (won both the open Agility and open Jumping at Sydney Royal one year) did most of her training at home. I used to do quite a lot at home (have a 10 week old baby atm so not doing quite as much right now lol). The foundation work for my 2o2o I do at home, even now as I am trying to improve his understanding and get him to do it if I am behind him or stationary, I also have a seesaw, weaves, jumps and tunnel so practice 1 jump exercises, bang game, sending, weaves (entries, proofing), serps etc. I also do lots of rear end awareness training and balancing on random things on walks (logs, trees, rocks etc). Training is great for contact equipment that I don't have and the space to put it all together in sequences and work on handling.

I like that I can make my criteria very detailed in agility if I want to :D ATM retraining my contacts and trying for detailed criteria for my 2o2o (pounce into position both front feet at the same time, speed) and of course always working on weave entries and proofing these (need lots of work on that, especially rear crossing them and me slowing down while he is in them). There is always a lot to improve on in agility, including single obstacle performance.

My Kelpies adore people and my working line is quite a cuddler and bum wiggler for attention.