Kavik

Agility is a high action sport. Could it be possible that Spud was excited/overstimulated? In such an exciting environment, when the people and dogs are revved up and often running fast and the adrenaline, feelings can run high, and sometimes dogs react when they normally wouldn't in a calmer environment. I would keep an eye on him and see whether he seems overaroused. It may be that you have to watch him when he gets too excited and not let him visit other dogs until he is a bit calmer. What do you do to keep his focus on you/engagement/relationship building? I wouldn't be too stressed out about it.

My OH is the same :laugh: He is a gamer through and through

I get my puppy on Saturday! So excited!

I very rarely venture outside of Sydney to trial After a recent experience I would definitely take into consideration the judges if I was going to travel that far to compete.

Kikopup also has a tutorial on YouTube for teaching the positions. While the video title says teaching stay, the first bit is how to teach sit, drop and stand and to be able to have the dog moving in between the positions. She uses luring.

Andrew Marchevsky at SASH in North Ryde.

Susan Garrett has a video on how to teach the stand https://www.facebook.com/SusanGarrettDogAgility?sk=app_102515556471926&app_data=3Alaska commented about 3 hours ago

Those are good points Vickie. I know Kaos could be quicker around a course, and I am trying to work out best how to accomplish that and actually get him to turn :laugh: Certainly I learned a good lesson at training last week - that I have been neglecting training my turning cues lately (in favour of other training with Recallers etc) and he did not read my pull through cue at all, so I know what we will be working on!

Depending on what breed we are talking about then yes, you can research the range of costs within the breed before you contact the breeder. Websites, and as others said breed clubs can be helpful. For me, with performance sports in mind, the price didn't bother me, I am more interested in finding the right dog for what I want to do.

Asking about things to do with price and breeders is a ticklish business. I think researching the general range of cost for the breed is a good thing, so then you know what sort of price to expect to pay. In my breeds some breeders state this on their website. If not stated on the website, I ask the price after having a conversation with them where I discuss what I am looking for and the sort of dogs they have, so not the first time I talk to them. Finding out which vaccinations the puppy has had is important, but changing the price due to vaccination status (unless to increase the price if they have given more than one) is not common, most puppies come with the first vaccination.

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Here you go: http://susangarrettdogagility.com/2013/03/what-does-internationalization-in-dog-agility-really-mean/

Yeah I read Susan's comparison, it was very interesting. Must be very tough in those places where you have to come first though, how disheartening for a newbie! Especially if you are competing against experienced competitors with up and coming young dogs.

Ferrets aren't rodents

It is much harder in the UK - you have to come first in your class to progress!

My GSD doesn't have a lot of prey drive either. Has some food drive, but is overall much lower drive in general than my Kelpies, he is MUCH harder to motivate for training and I found this tricky and rather frustrating. He does however have higher pack drive in that he likes pats and praise as rewards and will work for those. If this was my dog my first priority would be to build up something they could use as a reward. They could check out Michael Ellis, he has some free videos up on YouTube and to buy from Leerburg. That might give them some ideas on how to make their rewards more exciting/interesting.

Yay go Zig!

Dogs are predators. Like it or not, aggression is a part of their makeup, just as it is with cats. To deny this is to let yourself in for a world of trouble, if you think that just because your dog is a domestic animal that it will never chase an animal or display any sort of aggression. You wouldn't like it if a stranger tried to come over (or even a family member!) and steal the food on your plate while you were eating, especially your favourite food. Please extend the same courtesy to your dog, and don't let others try to steal his food. ETA: Oh, and I think rats make GREAT pets!

My training sessions are 5 mins, maximum, often shorter. I find I can keep both of our attention and attitude up if I keep them short.

ADAC is not running anymore though! So now NSW just has ADAA and ANKC Bummer! When did that happen? I hadn't run ADAC for a while, so I am out of the loop with them!

There are no breeds that I know of that were developed for agility or obedience, so in your ideal world what breed should the top level competitors choose as the dog for their sport? Considering that a lot of the top level competitors have BCs.

That's a silly argument! As long as you provide enough activity and mental stimulation, it is fine to get a breed for something other than it has been bred for! What about all of us who have herding breeds primarily for other sports such as agility or flyball? Or who get a GSD primarily for obedience? There are several people who are very successful in agility with various pointer breeds - GSP and Vizsla mostly. I don't think those things are any better. I think it's a little sad that the BC has become an agility and flyball dog instead of a sheep dog. I believe they should most definitely be used for herding too.GSD's were never shepherds in the real sense of the world, they were more a shepherd's dog and have been bred for SchH and other work (army, defense etc.) for decades. So many breeds have lost their purpose already, not every dog needs to become a "pet only". I'm sure there's plenty of breeds to choose from when wanting an all-round family dog. To showdog; the poodle has lost most of its utility traits and it's a real shame. Because they have been bred to be pets and show dogs for so long I don't consider them much of a hunting dog anymore. They even belong to FCI group 9 these days (companion and toy dogs). Although it is heartwarming to see those few breeders that still breed fit for purpose type poodles. Kavik; I never said they wouldn't do well in several sports including obedience and agility. They're most likely going to be absolutely brilliant in them. However, I don't think that should be their only purpose and job. I think that people breeding dogs should keep in mind the breed's original purpose and it would be great if they all evaluated their dogs' abilities. For those of us not interested in breeding, I say go for it and do whatever you like! There is a reason why a lot of people choose Border Collies and other herding breeds for sports - because the traits that make a great herding dog often translate to the traits that make a great dog for many sports. People who seriously get into their sports dedicate a lot of time to their training and exercising and that is what is required to keep a dog happy.

That's a silly argument! As long as you provide enough activity and mental stimulation, it is fine to get a breed for something other than it has been bred for! What about all of us who have herding breeds primarily for other sports such as agility or flyball? Or who get a GSD primarily for obedience? There are several people who are very successful in agility with various pointer breeds - GSP and Vizsla mostly.

In NSW there is ADAA and ADAC :) ADAA has higher jump heights and contact equipment than ANKC, and the A-Frame is a different height depending n the jump height class. ADAC has a top jump height of 500, the 'normal' size seesaw not the weesaw, no broad, spread or table, and the courses tend to be more open.

I don't want stress around feeding time, so the easiest way to do that is to feed them all separately where they cannot get to the others' food. It is my old girl who is 13 who would steal all the food otherwise - she can be a bugger! Teaching the cat to leave the dog's food alone or teaching the dog to tolerate the cat coming up while he is eating would both be difficult to teach, and would involve more stress and be less trustworthy than simply separating. Teaching the cat to leave the dog alone while eating would be more polite. If your dog is like mine it only takes 30 seconds to eat his dinner anyway!