Kavik

I did this at the park the other day too - I used trees. After the first few times Kaos was understanding to go around the trees Do you use a command when you do this?

Good luck! With an allergy dog myself I know how frustrating it can be.

Thanks for the videos! That looks like a good idea! :D

The only thing about the duck formula is it does have some chicken somewhere (I checked on it when researching for Diesel) so if your dog gets chicken now it will not be a novel protein. For elimination diet, best to carefully check the ingredients. The fish one should be OK for that, if your dog has not had fish before.

Seeing the vet would be your best bet - they can be allergic to a lot of things! Diesel has allergies too - have been to the vet etc heaps and still don't know what it is. We suspect it is grass or something similar. We have done an elimination diet and with Diesel it is not food. If it has happened recently I would check out plants or anything that has changed. If the vet suspects a food allergy, you would be best to do a proper elimination diet to rule it out. This means feeding a diet with a novel protein only for 6 weeks. If your dog has not had fish before, a fish based diet would work. Otherwise, to be safe, a food like Hills z/d might be best as it is especially for this purpose. For general improvement of coat and skin the Eagle Pack fish is supposed to be really good. We use it at work for treats as the dogs really like it and the boss's dog is allergic to beef so it is fine for her.

I admit I have lost my temper before :rolleyes: Mainly when I was taking Zoe to classes, I would get frustrated with her aggression towards other dogs.

I know lots of people that are members of two or more clubs, so I don't think it is a problem.

I let the breeder choose my pup - I didn't even see a picture before I got him! I told the breeder what I was looking for and trusted her to choose the one best suited to my purpose. I was able to view the parents on the internet. The breeder came well recommended.

I'm going to vote for build frustration with Lablover. The enthusiasm Diesel shows for his dinner when I use TOT is amazing! And the way I taught Zoe her 'dig' behaviour for the scent detection course was to put food under something where she could see and smell the food but couldn't get to it. Worked really well!

I actually had to do this with Diesel for a while. I normally use cheese but we were trying to rule out food allergies as to why Diesel is always itching, so we did an elimination diet with Hills z/d food. I had to use it for treats for training as well. As Diesel is not as food motivated as my other dogs, I thought his performance would drop, but surprisingly it didn't My guess in my case is that they try really hard to make the z/d food tasty so that the dogs will eat it and owners would be more likely to stick to it. Sorry, not exactly what you were asking

That was pretty cool! I swing Kaos in the air with his orby ball.

I will preface this by saying I am an absolute newbie to herding But what are they trying to determine with this video/method? Can you determine herding instinct by how a dog interacts with a rag? I will tell you that Kaos is very different with a tug/ball/rag than he was with sheep. I have been doing drive work with him since I got him, and he likes his tug and ball on a string. But with the sheep it was like WOW! Interest plus! They know that a rag is not alive and a sheep is.

Hi StaffLab There are lots of topics on crates but here are the basics and answers to your questions: Who should use a crate - All of my dogs use one Advantages: * The dog cannot get into any mischief ie chew or destroy things * The dog has its own space away from the hustle and bustle of the household * The dog has a portable home if you take him with you on holiday, to a show, training or trial * The dog is used to being confined if needed for visits to the vet, grooming, boarding or injury * The dog can be transported in the car or plane etc safely and cannot distract the driver or chew the seats and is safe if there is an accident * My experience is landlords don't seem to have a problem with them, so it allows the dogs to be inside in case of bad weather, tradespeople and to prevent barking issues even if you are renting * Crates help with housetraining as dogs do not like to toilet where they sleep Crates have a door which can be closed so they can be locked in if you wish (mine have the doors closed at night but otherwise open) Crates are normally either wire or plastic and so do not provide protection from the elements (unlike kennels), and are light enough to take with you (well, relatively! depending on size)

It might be better to have Vickie or sidoney explain - they will do a much better job For the contacts in agility, I am teaching Kaos to stop on the contact zone with two paws on the obstacle and two paws on the ground (2 on 2 off). At the moment I am using a board flat on the ground, not an actual obstacle. It is proving to be a bit tricky! We are improving, but I can see that Kaos sometimes cues when to stop on my body language.

Don't take this the wrong way, but Labs are one of the breeds I am careful with with my guys, especially Kaos. Simply because they can be the run over jump on you lets wrestle now type of dog, and Kaos especially likes to get the know the other dog first. Diesel also prefers to wait til he says hi to play, but he tolerates being jumped on better than Kaos.

Diesel is 3 and I am just starting to think about getting him ready to compete in obedience. We need to work on stays and dealing with his excitement/stress in new locations/situations. But he has matured nicely and has good focus now and is calmer. There is no way I would have tried to compete with him before, neither of us were ready (this is the first dog I have gotten this far) and I certainly don't see it as a failure. We still both have a lot to learn.

This is what I have done so far with Kaos who is 11 months in preparation for agility: Drive Building Recall Sit Drop Stand Send Away (Go!) - I am training this as go to a target (plastic lid with food on it) - he can do up to 40 paces Contact training with a flat board 2o2o (I still need some help with this one) Hind end awareness with raised surface Tunnel Open channel weaves Groundwork like front crosses Recently started Stays Ladder for hind end awareness Gees that looks like a lot! It isn't really

Hi Jack@sandysmum Even when I was renting and was only allowed the dogs outside, the landlord had no problem with me crating the dogs inside. It's not like they were running around the house. Actually for some things, especially when renting, I don't see how else you could do it? When we had plumbing problems and they needed access to the yard, or when someone was mowing the lawn, we would have been really stuck without crates! Tradespeople do not appreciate friendly dogs jumping on them and running around when they are trying to work, and they often leave gates and doors open.

I agree with the others about bringing the dog inside, and crating works really well :cool: My 3 are crated at night, in the spare bedroom, not a peep until morning :D When I start crate training a puppy, I put the crate in the bedroom, so I can hear when puppy gets up and needs to go to the toilet. It generally only takes a few nights for them to get the idea and not cry in the crate. The laundry would work too if you don't want to use a crate. When I got my first dog my dad was adamant that she would sleep outside. That didn't even last the first night with the whinging she did Belle ended up being the only one of my dogs to sleep on my bed

Western Suburbs Dog Training is held at Bressington Park, Homebush. Saturday afternoons for pet obedience, Tuesday evenings if you are interested in trialling in the future. myszka and I go to Tuesday evenings. http://www.sinch.com.au/wsdtc/

Nice run! Kaos I think at the moment is handler position dependent with our contact training exercise although getting better - looking forward to an agility meet with you guys so you can show me what I 'm doing wrong

Leerburg stocks the ball dropper vest, it is also featured in the Training Drive, Focus and Grip DVD It allows you to have the ball in the vest and so you can practice your heeling with the body language and arm movements you would do for the ring and have the ball in the right spot for a reward. First you practice holding the ball at your shoulder. I haven't tried it (Diesel doesn't have enough drive) but it looks pretty neat. http://www.leerburg.com/1060.htm http://www.leerburg.com/1087.htm

Crate is the way to go! :D

A damp cloth should get the dirt off as Staffies have such short coats. My yard is mostly dirt at the moment and only some grass, and the dogs have been known to get rather dusty. If they are coming in or we are going somewhere and they are dirty I wipe them down with a damp cloth, no problem. They get a bath about once a month.

Very nice work It is a very tall Dobe!