squeak

I am not sure if you mean putting dogs at a club through it or putting your own dogs through it? I can tell you that Mrsdog runs the course at our local club, so it might be worthwhile PMing her.

It certainly sounds like you and your mother did everything within your power to fix the problem, and then were forced to make the toughest decision of all, which I believe takes an incredible amount of strength. I wish you both continuing strength to cope with your grief.

I do not know much about agility, but that looked like a tough course, with the twisting and doubling back.

I'm sorry my little friend, we didn't know you were sick until it was too late. Please forgive me for not being there with you when you died. I wanted to, so you wouldn't be alone and thought that taking you to the vets would help you heal, not to have you die in alone, in a lonely place. If I had of known it was your time, I would have asked the vet to set you free last night with you in my arms. Perhaps it would have been better if I brought you home, but I didn't want you to be in pain at the end, which I realise now you might have been. Treacle was our second guinea pig. We think she was about 4-5 years old. We got her when she was a bub to keep our other guinea pig, Muddle, company. When we went to feed them both last night, Treacle was extremely quiet. This was very unusual, as she is usually the noisiest of the two. Hubby picked her up and immediately realised that there was something wrong. Her abdomen was all swollen. I took her to the after-hours vet, which unfortunately has only vet students rostered on after hours. I truly believe he did his best - he phoned several vets to find out what he should do. I do not blame him, perhaps blame myself for not making a longer trip (1hr+) to a different vet. He thought at the time it might have been gastric stasis, where their gut stops moving. The vet I spoke to this morning thinks that it might have been heart failure, which would apparently explain the build up of fluid. I know that I shouldn't have "favourites", but I think because we got Treacle when she was a bub I grew more attached to her. She was very nervous and submissive when we first got her, and lately there seemed to have been a "changing of the guard" where she was becoming more of a boss than Muddle... who is a real grump... but forgiven for that since she was at the RSPCA until she was almost 12 months old with very little handling. Anyway, I ramble.... you'll be missed my furry little friend, particularly the noise around dinner time. Travel safe and find all my family's past pets at Rainbow Bridge.

Which state?

COUNT ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would love to get together, particularly to have a "run through" of the stuff that we need to do for our practical assessments for the next prac block. I am not currently teaching, so if I could get some practice with fellow students, that would be brillant. I am willing to travel just about anywhere in Sydney. However, the Central Coast would be too far for me.

I have a shelter dog who can be very excitable and bouncy in situations with new people and other dogs (ie., any obedience classs!). My choice of training collar is a martingale collar. I have been told by various instructors, some even before they have seen my dog work, that I must put her on a check chain, halti, etc. My dog, my choice in what I choose to train her with. These people used to get to me, but I now believe that they are the uneducated ones, particularly since they didn't have the decency to find out why I chose a particular training collar.... which is because I am unsure of my ability to train with a check chain (I don't know if my timing is all that is needed & my dog also reacts to the sound of chains in a fearful way) and I personally do not like head halters - I see too much potential for injury. I chose a martingale as I am worried about my dog backing out of her collar and I like the fact that I can give a limited correction. I have very little respect for the instructors who have told me "you must", which is what I think you are expressing. I have much greater respect for the instructor who held his tongue for 12 months, and then when we passed our grading into Class 3, said with great humour "I held almost no hope for either one of you when you first started"!!!!!!! Not only is this gentleman a good instructor, he knows when to hold his tongue. Had he said that to me when we first started training, I would have been shattered. But, since he was actually using it to point out both my and my dog's progress, it was truly a compliment. I had a quiet chuckle to myself, as this is actually the guy that insisted that we go for our first grading!!! So, even though he held little hope, he was able to encourage us to get out of class 1. Mind you we had been there for about 4-5 weeks, but most people only spend 1-2 weeks there.

I tend to agreed with leopuppy's comment on superstitious behaviour. I have also been told, and agree through observation of other people's dogs as well as my own, is that for superstitious behaviour, it is very often the very first "trick" that you ever taught that the dog will offer when they are confused. So, if this is true, I am extremely grateful that I chose to teach "paw on knee" (I was trying to teach shake!) instead of "speak".

Black Dog make a limited slip collar with clip buckles http://www.blackdog.net.au/collars.php Sutherland Shire Dog Training Club (Waratah Park, Sutherland, 8.30-9.30 am Sunday) sell a "half check" collar which webbing collar (I think) with a traditional buckle and a piece of chain. Hard to explain, but it is a little bit like a cross between a martingale and a check chain - but it is limited slip. Then there is also the clever collar, but I have never actually seen one. http://www.clevercollar.com/ Just had another look at their website, and apparently clever collar do a leather version http://www.clevercollar.com/modules/Downlo...Price-Lists.pdf

I'll add what worked with our girl, who I think I had heard bark a grand total of twice (in 3 months) before I taught her to "speak". I will add that she is a very, very laid-back dog and what worked with her I probably would not consider using with a more "dominant" dog. Stormy has a naturally very loud yawn. She also yawns loudly when she gets frustrated with clicker training or cannot work out what you want her to do. So, by combining these two, we managed to get her to make a yawn noise - not what I wanted for speak, but somewhere to start, so rewarded the loud yawns. From there, I realised that when she yawns, she also sits and stares at you, so I stared back, and got the response of her opening her mouth, but no sound coming out - she made the effort, so was rewarded. We worked on this for over a couple of weeks, and one day, I got the tiniest "woof" you have ever heard - it was a true bark. I don't know who was more surprised, me or Stormy. It is still a work in progress, but now I am getting a very, very clear bark, a lot of the times I ask for it. Still required a lot of encouragement, but we are getting there. The other thing that I made sure to do, was to teach the "quiet" command at the same time I was teaching speak. Yes, speak will get you rewarded for obeying, but quiet gets a bigger reward. I think I actually started teaching "quiet" first, since I wasn't getting any sound :rolleyes: So, when I was teaching, and getting sound it was "speak", (barked in response) - "yes, good speak", then "quiet" and then a food reward was given. I don't know if any of this makes sense, or helps, but I figured no harm in putting it out there. As I said, I might be hesitate to use the staring with a dog I didn't know was a laidback as Stormy.

I looked at both before deciding to do the NDTF course. The main thing influencing my decision... Delta - teaches "positive" training techniques only NDTF - teaches ALL techniques I personally felt that the scope of Delta, since the teach positive only was too limited. NDTF also teaches a lot of dog behaviour stuff, but I am unsure of the Delta content for this part.

Culture Clash is excellent - thanks for reminding me that I need to buy a copy. I also like "How Dogs Learn" by Mary R Burch & Jon S Bailey. I think it is a good reference/psychology book.

Thanks - I would love to see some video. I think I understand what you are saying, but seeing it always makes it so much clearer. We're still at the ring on pole stage, and I wouldn't be surprised if we stay there for quite some time. Slowly, slowly with Stormy. At least she isn't throwing the rings around the room quite so much!

I believe that you did the right thing. Perhaps the cops initial reaction might have been that in the confusing they thought that you might have hit the dog. Hopefully Karma gets the driver who didn't stop. to the other guy who stopped as well.

Thanks for the encouragement leopuppy. I sometimes think I expect too much of Stormy. We adopted her 12 months ago from the RSPCA. We think she is now about 2 years old. When I look back, I remember the first week where I felt that if the only things I could get her to do was walk on a loose lead and stay off the furniture, it would be a major achievement. Now, 12 months later, she understand heels, sit, drop (work in progress still), shake hands, touch, puts her paw on my knee on command and we're working on getting her to ring a bell. I guess what I am saying, is that she has come soooo far in 12 months, and there is no way I would have dreamt that it might even be possible to teach her this one. The mere fact that I am trying to and she is trying to work with me is amazing... even if we don't end up achieving it. Sorry, gloat over

I would also be asking yourself why you are sending him. Please do not take offense, but for $1K, perhaps that money would be better spent on a private lessons with a trainer, where you can benefit as much as the dog?

Okay - just had a short session with Stormy. Went right back to the beginning, and I think we might be starting to make some progress. Having said that, boy does my timing need work!!! Started with the ring on the pole. Clicked for touching, then clicked for lifting. Tried to click with her lifting it off and having the ring drop back on, but missed quite a few and she had moved it too far. But I do understand what you are saying, so there is some hope. Also, there was one stage that she lifted the ring off and placed it beside the post and focussed on it. I had actually missed clicking this one, and she seemed to be trying to work out what to do next. She then actually lifted the ring up again toward the pole!!! Not on the pole, but progress. Guess who got a heap of praise and a jackpot! So, many thanks to you leopuppy, I think that we are now headed in the right direction. I know every dog is different, but can I ask you how long it took to teach this one to Leo??? Also, thank you for reminding me that I have a NRM that I can use. It is amazing the things that we forget sometimes, isn't it? Worked well with getting her not to lift the post - she still tried and succeeded occasionally, but actually started to think about whether it was the post or ring she should be working with to get a reward

He has definitely left Hanrob.

Thanks leopuppy. I have just had a few "light bulb" moments from reading your post, which is good. Okay, Stormy is NOT a natural retriever. And the pole comes out of the base, and no she is not picking it up to get a reward, she is doing it because it is FUN!!! I think I will have to get some glue and glue it into the base. So, it looks like we go back to the beginning again and see if I can time my click BEFORE she gets the ring off the pole... I think I have some work ahead of me on that one. I think that she has the idea that she needs to DO something with the ring, as she will throw it in the air and then look expectantly at me, as if to say "weeelll..." I don't have access to a video camera (but working on it ), so we'll just have to make do this way.

Waratah Park/Oval is where Sutherland Shire Dog Club train - just slightly south of Sutherland Leisure Centre and almost opposite Loftus TAFE on the Old Princes Hwy.

Thanks LP. I haven't done much at all. I have been using a clicker and rewarding with food. I have probably only done about three 5-10 min sessions with her. She is also conditioned to a verbal "yes", but I find for teaching tricks so tends to respond a bit better to the clicker - she seems to understand that she needs to think! I initially started with the quoit on the pole, which Stormy took straight off. I clicked and treated this and she thought it was a fine game.... until she found that she could pull the pole out of the base!!! And started running around with that. I have also tried having the quoit off the pole and clicking for her: - looking at the ring - moving toward the ring - picking up the ring... which is where it falls apart She finds it much more exciting playing with the ring rather than trying to work out what will earn her a click! Last night, I thought I would try something different, as she has almost become obsessed with pulling the peg out of the base. Instead of the pole, I put down an empty box, to try to get her focussed more on the quoits. She is now happily picking up (and throwing around) the quoits... and occasionally actually heading toward the box with them. Whilst I know that it will take time, I guess I am just curious as to whether or not I was on the right track or not. I guess where Stormy might be a little bit different was that her first response was to entirely remove the ring from the post. Also, she seems to find it more rewarding to play with the rings than to work for her click-treat... so any suggestions would be good. She is tug motivated, but I find that it sometimes revs her up too much for her to focus on stuff like this. I think I have seen one video, but links to any others would be good.

Okay, now that I have seen leopuppy's dog do it, I want to know how she taught it. Open to any and all suggestions. I've had a couple of short sessions with my dog (sighthound X), but already have run into some problems - she thinks that picking up the post in the middle of the quoits and running around with it like a loon is way more interesting than picking up a quoit - when she does pick up a quoit, all she wants to do is run around with it like a loon and/or throw it up in the air - she seems more interested in take a quoit OFF the peg than putting it on!!!

Let us know if you find one - I would also be interested.

Just remember that Sentinel Spectrum only breaks the breeding cycle of fleas but does not kill the adult flea. I mention it because it is important to some people

Revolution does HEARTworm and fleas. I am guessing if Drontal is a wormer, it is probably for intestinal worms. I use Revolution and still need to use Canex (brand name) for intestinal worms. If Drontal also does fleas, you might be doubling up on the flea side of things. BUT you really need to use something for heartworm. But if it doesn't and only does intestinal worms, then yes you would be doubling up. EDIT I have just looked at their website and it seems that Drontal treats intestinal worms only. Which, as fair as I can understand, should be okay to use with the Revolution. Basically... Drontal for intestinal worms Revolution for heartworm and fleas