Kavik

I know that show grooming SCWs is hard work and that pets are often clipped. I looked at them at one stage as they have a reputation for trainability amongst the terriers and considered getting one. However, if I wanted a dog that was a difficult to maintain as a poodle in the show ring, I'd have stuck with the poods. Any coat that has length and fullness is not going to be a cinch to maintain, especially if it is pale. This dog's coat was much more difficult to maintain than I thought it would be. Seriously it would mat between the time we groomed him and the time he went home - was very frustrating! I suspect the owners did little in the way of grooming at home though. He does however have a great life and gets to swim in the dam etc but boy does he pick up stuff in that coat! At least now they are clipping him so it is shorter. The ones I have met have had a lovely personality, but I am the first to say I am not a fan of that much grooming.

Their coats can need quite a bit of work PF. We have one that comes into work who we groomed as well as staying in the daycare and you could literally see him matting up before your eyes! I know they are not all like that but this one certainly was!

I wonder how the OH who doesn't like dogs would react to a terrier ... OT but we have had a couple of Wheatens at work lately - they have been really nice dogs! One of them seems very clever too - wonder how he would brush up with some good training. Don't think I've ever seen any apart from at work though

If you don't like noise - don't get a Beagle Their howling can be heard ages away! And their bark is very big and deep and they like to use it! They also shed a lot.

Mine are work, but very enjoyable My breeds would be unsuitable for the OP as: They shed (GSD copious amounts, the Kelpies not too bad in comparison) They are not quiet breeds They require lots of work/training/stimulation - with all this rain it is hard to get them out as much atm and they are full of energy! They are not 'calm' breeds. They are good in the house but can be exciteable when out. But this is what I like about them I am not interested in a calm breed that likes to hang out around the house. I like dogs with lots of drive and 'tude. I like to exercise and train them.

Clubs are great Some people at my clubs compete, and others just do it for fun and don't compete. If you don't like big classes, there are clubs which are small, or ones that are privately run. They will give you a good start at least, you can also practice stuff at home. I like that there is a lot you can do at home once you know how, means I can still train for agility on my walks with no equipment.

Greys are surprisingly big and strong Many of the dog day out events have a Greyhound stall if you wanted to go have a look.

Lagotto might tick the boxes with the missus. Curly non shedding coat, more solid than a Poodle, nice size. I have only known one in person, he was a lovely dog, responsive, not noisy. Not sure how active they normally are (met one at work, not a normal situation). Honestly, running with a dog is not the best way to keep them happy. They are more likely to be happy with a romp, some training, some tricks, maybe some fetch, stuff that is more interactive and uses their brain, running on its own is boring

There is a lot you can do at home There are a lot of handling skills you can practice at home: Sending to a reward. Circle work Hind end awareness with a ladder or the 'elephant trick' Walking backwards Rear cross flatwork Lead outs (sit stay release) Targeting With limited equipment: Walking on a plank on bricks Contact behaviour on a board (2on2off or running PVC box) Wobble board (you can make one) Tunnels are not too expensice (Airdogs sells some - not competition quality but good enough for backyard work. If you have a small dog, you can use children's tunnels) PVC jumps can be made or again not too expensive to buy You can use stakes in the ground covered by PVC for weave poles

What sort of breeds do you think your missus would like? This might help to win her over. A dog that is able to jog with you for an hour a day is likely to be quite active and not likely to just sit around the house. Is it more important to have a quiet type dog or one that is active enough to go jogging? A heavy dog like a Staffy is not likely to be keen on an hour long run. They are active dogs, but more in spurts of intense activity than sustained activity Also a dog that is likely to alert you to intruders is not likely to be quiet Dogs that don't shed at all tend to have high maintenance coats like Poodles. Some of the single coated breeds (like the Greys) don't shed very much, double coated breeds shed a lot. I'm trying to think of large breeds that would be suitable.

None of the dogs on your list - they are all high energy breeds. Labs and Staffords in particular get quite destructive if not kept busy.

I don't think they/(mine anyway) actually "know" to be calm in their crates. Mine need to be crated too out of sight of the rings. I think it's more a case of not seeing or hearing what is going on than actually being trained to be calm there. I think they are calm b/c there is no expectation that they are about to perform. I have never taught them to be calm at home, they just are because I am not initiating anything with them. They can be calm on lead a certain distance away if there is no expectation that they will be entering the ring...but walking them (especially Trim) past the ring is near impossible without them trying to drag me into it. People always think they are stimulated solely by the other dogs running, but I think they are actually stimulated more by the commands the other handler is giving in the ring. Trim once finished a course with me, jumped 2 ring ropes and had done about 4 obstacles by the time the person in the other ring realised she was running my dog & not her own . Kaos is pretty good in his crate May be different when I have another dog and am running two though, I'm sure that creates its own set of training issues to deal with! At home when I am training them, the others are behind a fence and do bark when I work one, so I would have to work on that for sure! Trim is hillarious

What happened earlier was that he was going into drive, getting over-aroused and when I wanted to leave the game he'd lose it and nip me. It happened about 2 or 3 times. That's not his fault. That was my crappy handling. I don't think that's happened in the last 6 months, and he's 11 months now. My point was, now I can pretty much go out and get him as revved as I like and then teach him something new with a clicker (provided it's something active and exciting) or through some other means and he'll be fine. If I say that's that I'm not gonna get chomped even if he's at the same level of arousal (or higher) that months ago would have seen him come unravelled. He's got a lot more focus and self-control, now, and I don't think that's only because he's older. On the other hand, Erik gets aroused by a lot of things and obviously I would rather he wasn't tearing out of the house barking every 5 minutes because he's so wired he has to do something. Teaching him to calm down around environmental stimuli has been a good deal harder than teaching him self-control in tug games. Back in March he was doing pre-agility and he was so excited about the environment (which was new to him) and all the dogs running around that he did get pretty insane. It was train with him manically so he could do something with all that energy or watch his frustration go through the roof and have him barking hysterically. I was amazed but relieved that I could at least keep his attention as long as I was willing to run him through his tricks and teach him new stuff. That ain't a permanent management solution, but I'm okay doing it and gradually gravitating to doing quiet, low energy activities between running. If I'd thought I was going to do agility with him I would have done more work preparing him for that environment. But he is improving. He was sitting quietly on his bed while the guys mowed the lawns last week, and I've got him doing an itsy bit of lying on his mat when I'm training Kivi. Baby steps. Yeah, that makes sense, thanks. I think I do sometimes ask for too much before rewarding. That's another time that arousal comes into play in training. If I don't reward enough at high arousal, I get frustration expressed with high energy activities, like barking and jumping. If I don't reward enough at lower arousal I seem to get lower arousal and confusion. Don't know if Erik is calling shots in your opinion. I bet he thinks he is, but he is under pretty strict NILIF purely in the interests of not spending most of my time unteaching him things he's taught himself in trying to get what he wants. It's easier to keep up with him if I can give him a framework to guide his decisions. I'd like to meet Eric, he sounds like a hoot Kaos has plenty of drive but I don't get reactions like nipping when training! About staying calm in highly stimulating environments like agility - I have found that having a place that is their own quiet space does help immensely. I use a crate, but you can use a mat if you want. They know to calm down in there. When I bring Kaos out to work he knows it is work time and is ready to go and focussed, but he relaxes in his crate when we have to wait for the little dogs to have their turn. I wish I had utilised them more when training my other dogs! When out and waiting for his turn, sometimes Kaos will get a bit pushy and barky - but this doesn't worry me, and like you we do some little tricks to warm up and keep him busy until our turn.

Yep - normal!

Cardboard box has always worked for me

These are all things you can do with no equipment at all and you can start from when the dog is a puppy. Sending to a reward - Place reward on the ground (toy or food in bowl). Rev dog up, send to reward Then add a cue that you want to be your go forward cue (I use GO!). Once you get a good sit stay on your dog, you can do this in a sit stay too, and also you can have dog in sit stay, give cue and then throw the reward. Eventually, say cue and throw reward once the dog has gone forward. Circle work/shadow handling - get dog to follow your body and hand as you run in a circle with dog on both left and right and on the inside and on the outside Shaping and targetting are done with a secondary reinforcer (clicker or marker word). Shaping is the process of teaching a behaviour with a secondary reinforcer by marking and rewarding increasingly precise movements or behaviours. (Using successive approximation). If you look up clicker training you will get a good idea of how this works. For example I started teaching my dogs to backup a couple of days ago. I clicked and rewarded any foot going backwards and am slowly getting the dog to offer more steps first. Targeting is teaching the dog to touch a target (anything from your hand to an object) with a part of its body, normally with its nose or paw. You click and reward any movement towards the target,t hen raise criteria slowly til the dog is touching the target with the desired part of its body. Teaching the dog to touch your hand with its nose is easy, fun and useful in agility.

Mine are outside in the yard during the day, no problems I have 6ft colourbond fences, which cannot be opened from the outside.

You shouldn't do any jumping or more serious agility on large equipment until the dog is fully grown (probably 18 months with a Shepherd). You can do tunnels and confidence building exercises such as walking along planks and on a wobble board from when they are younger. You can also do a lot of work that doesn't require obstacles - shaping, targeting, sending to a reward, teaching them to follow your body (circle work/shadow handling). Since you have a Great Dane you may want to see if you can find a tunnel that is bigger than standard size to make it easier.

Wow that would be so cool! I have some space in the yard but not enough to set up a proper course. I can set up a full set of weavers, or my seesaw or some jumps and a tunnel. Would be great to have that much space!

Yep I am about 1/2 hr from St Ives Also, if you want something on a regular basis, Canine Fun Sports run classes out of St Ives and Castlereagh Of course now with all this rain it is doubtful my other agility class is going to be on tomorrow

You all need to move to Sydney

Not that far But I am willing to go most places in Sydney

Wow that is a gorgeous collar and lead! Is there a website?

I have watched the 2x2 DVD heaps of times - and will need to watch it more times before I give the 2x2 method a go There is a lot in the DVD and it took me a while to understand the theory and then the steps you would take. It is amazing how she trained the dog on the DVD in such a short space of time!

Anybody?