Kavik

What sort of problems are you having? Different handling system? Different way of training obstacles - wanting to train contact obstacles or weaves differently?

I have seen many dogs beign walked on flat collars dragging their owners around and choking themselves too, don't see your point on that one.

Hmmm - how to persuade OH to watch that instead of Masterchef

Good work TSD

Nobody is slamming positive trainers. Many of us ARE positive trainers. I think knowledge is important. The more you know about training, different methods and tools, the more you can decide what is the best for you and WHY, and see what works in what circumstances for different dogs and people and what you feel comfortable with. But it is hard to make an informed decision when you don't get to know all the facts and information first. When you are not ALLOWED to ask questions.

There is certainly stress involved in free shaping. Certainly frustration. Also helps to teach the dog to cope with failure.

Yep, heaps on Youtube! If you search Buddy Papillon you should get some.

I have absolute trust in the person I spoke to about Delta. She is a positive trainer and head instructor of one of my agility clubs. I asked her about it out of curiosity as I wanted to know how different it was to NDTF. She would not make it up.

A brag for a friend - at our ADAA double trial The Pap on Crack got 1st place and Q in Open Jumping x 2, 1st and Q in Open Agility x 2, 1st and Q in Advanced Agility and got his MAAD3 and IAD (International Agility Dog) title Way to go Buddy!

Have you tried walking the dog with the baby in the pram? (or carrier - not sure how old baby is). Not as relaxing as walking without bub but it does the trick!

Nice work Amypie :D

This is one of the reasons our club has a 'control test' that dog and handler must pass before starting agility. It's not competion obedience stuff but focusses on analysing whether the dog has offlead control under distraction (including other dogs). This particular club is VERY small. A control test is a good idea. Maybe the head instructor was thinking this would be better than nothing at all, if they were told they were not ready and wouldn't be bothered to do anything with the dog? Not sure. I did end up having to spend more time with them than with some of the others. Though I think it evened out in the end, there was also one pair that had a lot of potential so I gave them some extra advice and tried to get them doing more complicated stuff.

We had an interesting beginner agility dog case about a month ago. A young, strong Amstaff x Lab I think. Male owner who had problems controlling him and had no idea how to get his focus. Turns up with dog on head collar, flat collar AND harness! Owner worried about not being able to control the dog unless it had all this gear on. Of course in agility the aim is to be quickly off lead! So the first exercise I did was a focus exercise with clicker, then recall with long lead (provided by club). I tried to help him get the dog's attention and also to get him to be more enthusiastic when he called the dog. It was more difficult when it came time to teach the beginner equipment as what this pair really needed was some pet manners or obedience work first, they were not ready for agility. He needed some help on how to communicate with his dog first, and get some trust in the relationship.

Well done on your results - but can I ask which dog it was with? Did you get any of the runs on video??? This was with Kaos I didn't get any on video - every time I get video it ends up a shocking run so I've stopped videoing for a while I should video again as we have gotten heaps better.

Well done!

We had two ADAA trials this weekend and some great results! We got a quallie in Elementary Jumping and in Starters Jumping today! Very nice, fast, focussed work. Really close in the agility too, just one refusal because I couldn't get there in time to support the line (nice fast courses today). His contacts were great both days. Yesterday we had issues with off course tunnels but some nice work too (more twisty courses yesterday). Edit: We came first in both Maxi Elementary Jumping and Maxi Starters Jumping Getting there!

I don't keep toys in the yard in general (Zoe can be possessive). They only get access to toys in training. I run my dogs together and they play during the day. I feed per usual the night before a trial. If training is in the evening, I feed when I get home from training. Mine only get treats for training anyway. I crate at training and while at a trial if I am not working Kaos - not sure if that counts as restricting activity?

I remember grooming a very big long haired Malamute who could be a bit cranky when being brushed - always smelled damp and not pleasant. Took a long time to do as well. They can be quite dominant and large - if you are not confident in handling a large, potentially pushy temperamented dog there are many on our list you should avoid.

I see people use a variety of commands - and the amount they talk on course varies from a lot to very little I like giving the tunnel a command as I can use it to send to the tunnel from a distance. The good thing about agility is that there are no rules about whether you have to use verbals or not, or whether obstacles have to have a different name - it is up to you There is a game in ADAA which is on the trial this weekend called Mute Jumping - where you are not allowed to talk to your dog during the course. It should be interesting to watch!

AFAIK only illegal in Victoria

Colour dilution alopecia. Can happen in other breeds as well (like Kelpies, Dobies)

I've only seen blue brindles.

My friend homed a Golden Retriever pup with a family with an adult Border Collie. The new owners were advised to keep the pup separate from the BC until it had finished growing. This wasn't to prevent the pup from being squashed but from over working its growing body. The advice was ignored. The pup spent much of the day chasing and playing with the BC. The owners thought it was so cute. At 5 months of age, the pup started limping. Off to the vet they went. Diagnosis: stress induced OCD. Breeder was blamed for selling a defective pup. She gave them their money back, collected the pup and had the OCD surgically treated. Vet said went she opened the area up, the affected joint was basically powder from being over used. The advice I give may be on the cautious side but you only get one chance to raise a pup without breaking it. Interestingly the only issue I've had with pups playing with adult dogs have been when the pup was a large breed dog and the dog wasn't! Diesel broke his leg by doing zoomies with Zoe and having a collision with her and landing badly. Never seem to have problems with the Kelpies running around though, only the klutz GSD ;)

Lots of dogs in my agility club do both agility and flyball. I have heard that the low jumps and flat jumping style needed for flyball can create a flat jumping style and knocking bar issue in agility, and some of the dogs that do both do exhibit these. A couple also are extremely fast in agility but want to make up their own course (same ones that drop bars actually). Not sure whether this is to do with minimal handler direction in flyball or simply personality of the dog and the way they were trained though. There are some very successful dogs that do both as well.

There is also Manly and Districts http://www.northernbeachesdogtraining.com.au/index.htm