squeak

Chicken wings cut into three pieces through the joint (I have a large dog ). I have also heard of people soaking kibble so it is mushy and putting it in the kong and freezing it. Cheese spread, peanut butter, vegemite. You can also mix up a weak (not too salty) chicken broth and freeze that - plug the ends first with peanut butter.

The only advantage I have found with an i-click is that I know which way is "up" - or the fact that you can click just about anywhere on it. Found this out the hard way when I went to training without my clicker and borrowed someone's "tab" clicker. Stormy performed a perfect recall with straight sit that I went to click, but couldn't. It was only then that I found out that you can only click on one end of a tab clicker. Thankfully she is used to me "marking" her correct with a "yes" so I was still able to capture her recall.

In talking to a very well known dog trainer and sometime obedience judge I was told that European triallers do not use stay/wait, but command the dog to sit or down and expect the dog to hold that position until released or another command given. They said that to command "stay/wait" was a very Australian (and possibly UK or American thing but I can't remember), but that they couldn't see a problem with using an "extra" command in this situation. And this is from someone who is very, very much against people repeating commands. Personally,I use stay to mean do not move, but tend to use wait where I don't mind if she changes position as long as she doesn't wander. I have had to teach her wait because of where I work the trainer use wait instead of stay, so there is a good chance they will use the command with her at some stage. This is the same reason that I have taught her to obey both the drop and down command. I am however more strict with the drop command because it is what I use and enforce, but at work she is likely to be told to "lie down" by anyone for a period of time, but they may or may not enforce it.

No (though some will argue) it is not safe to thaw then refreeze meat. Thawing meat gives any exisiting and new bacteria a chance to multiply when the meat goes through what (from memory) is called a critical temperature. This is a temperature that bacteria and stuff multiply most rapidly. Refreezing limits, but not destroys the growth of this bacteria. So if you thaw, refreeze, thaw, you are effectively taking the meat through the critical temperature twice in the thawing so you end up with heaps more bacteria. That's from memory. I can dig up my food safety notes if you want more information.

Thanks for that - it does make me feel better. For "new" stuff or very distracting environments (ie., dog club) I am using the highest value treats I can. For Stormy these are chicken sausages cut into tiny pieces. Strange that sometimes she seems to prefer liver treats, which, for her aren't usually high value. One of my biggest challenges up to this point was that she didn't appear to be particularly food motivated. One of her biggest things is that she likes to meet new people, but I haven't quite worked out how to harness this into her training. I am interested in what you mean by getting my "marker and treat tighter" - I'm afraid that I don't understand and I am definitely open to suggestions. It's been interesting to watch her change since we got her. She had absolutely no idea of manners in the house (she probably had never been inside) and was jumping onto the dining table, lounge... you get the idea. She has "mellowed" from that dog into a very well behaved house dog, once we showed her what our "house rules" were (ie: no dogs on furniture). She also used to jump and mouth at us (a lot), particularly my husband when we were throwing toys for her. Once again, through patience and persistence, she finally came to understand that jumping wasn't acceptable. And then in the last week or two, she suddenly seems to be beginning to understand "training" - starting to link commands/hand signals to the required action and beginning to understand that she has to perform the command to be rewarded. I am concerned that I will take to long to phase out treats and that she will become "dependant" on them. I'm not in a hurry, but I'm not sure how to tell when is the right time. I'm okay with going slow with her - though I will push her boundaries just a bit occasionally to see what she is capable of. And yes, above all I try to enjoy her and any time I spend training with her. I see her as my "L plate" dog - since even though I grew up with dogs, she is the first one that I've been responsible for training. Sorry to ramble so long - it is a subject I find interesting and enjoy hearing other people's ideas.

Dogs that learn in 1-5 reps They actually exist do they If they do, my girl is definitely a "dud" (But we still love her for who she is.) I don't think I'm that bad a trainer, but it has taken me 3-6 months for our girl to start to get the concept of "sit". And it took many more months to teach her shake. We adopted her from the RSPCA when she was 12 mths old and I honestly doubt that she had been taught much in her first year of life. She seemed to understand the concept of bed well and truly before sit, so perhaps that was all that she was taught. It is interesting though that the later "tricks" that I have taught her - bow, speak (she's not at all vocal) and "high five" she seemed to pick up more quickly. And I have also noticed in the last few weeks that she is finally starting to associate clicker/verbal marker with treats and is becoming more eager and focussed.... 9 months after we adopted her!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a paranoid one so I would say vet now! A similar thing happened to our girl just before Christmas. She had been off her food on/off for about 2 weeks. She doesn't normally whine so for her to whine after food was unusual. Ended up that she had picked up some sort of virus and she ended up on a drip because she was dehydrated. Her stomach was slightly hard that morning (hard to tell if it was swollen). I had rushed her to the vet that morning thinking possible bloat. Also, I understand with bloat that some people are questioning if it actually related to what/when a dog has eaten. It is also my understanding that in the initial stages the stomach doesn't sound like a drum - to me it would be enough for the stomach to be hard/swollen to get the dog to a vet.

For me, find out where to buy a never-ending supply of patience My first task was to teach her how to learn, if that makes sense. She did not appear to be food motivated, nor toy, nor anything.... made it quite a challenge initially. Since she appeared not to be food motivated, I had to physically position her for things like sit & drop. I hear all the "positive trainers" throw their hands up in horror. Trust me, it wasn't the way I planned to teach her, but I had no choice. Since I couldn't lure her with food (I tried, and tried and almost cried) I didn't have many other options. If I didn't physically show her what I wanted, she would become extremely frustrated. I have found over time, probably as her trust in me has increased, that she will work for food. I think it was a matter of her not being used to taking food from someone's hand. We are just now getting to the stage that she will follow a treat as a lure - we "play" occasionally with clicker training, but only when I can see that she is in a receptive state. For her, she needs to be "slightly wound" in order to offer behaviours. I sometimes "cheat" with clicker training and still use a food lure to show her what I want, otherwise she gets frustrated very quickly with trying to work it out. If she shows signs of frustration I will push her, just a little, until I get a correct response that I can reward and then quit. We have both learnt that sometimes her best successes come after she is frustrated. By frustration, I mean she does this scratching thing or wanders away. I don't want to reward this behaviour, so I let her have a think, I take a deep breath, we try again, hopefully succeed and call it quits. I have also found now that she has "learnt how to learn", particularly when we are "playing clicker" she is starting to offer behaviours slightly more readily. They do tend to be the one's that she has already learnt, but it is like she is trying to figure out what I want, so I think that has to be a good thing. Sorry to ramble so long, but it is something that I think about a lot.

Thank you Rom for balancing my pessimistic view of the world with that from an optimistic (That is meant sincerely, not sarcastically, BTW)

Thanks haven - I truly appreciate that.

Nope - that is also what I had hoped, but I was told that assessment materials for all students were going out at the same time. It was also confirmed that by doing this that some students would have an additional 2-4 weeks - and they couldn't seem to see the problem with this.

I am studying, I have spoken to the NDTF course co-ordinator and have written to Precise Training. Just trying to gauge other students reactions to the time limit, to see if I am over-reacting or out of line. I have not yet had a reply from Precise Training. And no, at school we didn't get the exam up front, BUT we did all sit the exam at the same time, which is what I would expect to happen with any assessment.

My only gripe is that the students in Block 2 & 3 get an additional 2 & 4 weeks respectively to complete their assessment. Those students (like me) in Block 1 have an assessment due on 30 April - less than 8 weeks away, and we have no indication of what that assessment will be. I would have thought that it would have been more "fair and equitable" either for this information to be disclosed in the initial booklet when we were all encouraged to choose our block dates, or otherwise have the same due date for the assessment for ALL students. Now that I've had my whinge, can anyone tell me when we will be receiving our assessment task that is due on 30 April. If someone can assure me that it is a "relatively simple" (those terms obviously being subjective to the individual) assessment task, or give me an idea of hour many hours it would take an "average student" to complete, I might just stop stressing about it!!!!!!!

I've got a feeling that sometimes it might be because it was the first piece of agility equipment taught to the dog because the owners wanted to teach the dog something but it was too young for jumping stuff.

Downloading and filling out the form is an excellent idea. And Sutherland seems to be pretty flexible as far as collars go - flat collar, check, martingale/limited slip collars are all fine. Different instructors seem to have different preferences, but go with what you're comfortable with. You'll also see a fair number of head halters there as well. There seems to be a preference towards nylon/cotton webbing leads, but that's only my observation. And as far as treats go - the yummier and smellier the better. I use cooked chicken sauage cut into tiny, tiny pieces (the size of my dog's nail). Other people use "Nature's Gift" treats, frankfurts or roast chicken. Just remember it is going to be a really distracting place for your dogs, so you need to use the "best" treats you can get your hands on. Gorgeous dogs, BTW.

Hi sas I didn't see the gorgeous guy this week - however, doesn't mean he wasn't there. I'm in Class 2, which means that we are on the most distant field, which actually sits below the other ones - means we can focus on our class, but unfortunately means we don't get to see to many other people. I'll keep an eye out for him, as I'm going to go to the clicker class next week (if it's on) and it's near class 1, which is the class he'd be in. With a striking black face like that, I think he'd be hard to miss. Also, being a smart working dog, he'll probably be in Class 2 with us in no time at all

That seems awfully early doesn't it???!! Perhaps PM MrsDog who is an instructor there. If you do turn up at 7.30am you will at least get to see some of the instructors training their own dogs, which I think is always worthwhile watching. And as soon as daylight saving finishes, training goes back to a slightly more acceptable 8.30am start

benny. It's really simple to join the club. Turn up at Waratah Oval, Sutherland (next to the cycle track and near Loftus TAFE) and head to the club house. Training starts at 8.00 am on Sunday morning at the moment (since it is currently daylight saving). You'll need to allow about 15-30 mins to fill in a membership form and pay your fees and get sorted - best to allow too much time than not enough. The first week you'll be in "kindy" then after that you'll be in grade one. Weekly ground fees are $3.00, but I can't remember what the membership fees are, but I know that they are somewhere on the web page, so here's a link for you. Hope to see you there. Sutherland Shire Dog Club web page

I looked for you after training today, but totally forgot about the books! I'll drop by training on Monday night and grab them and many thanks for trusting me with them. I was wondering how you were going to organise enough instructors with the huge amount of puppies joining last week. I thought it was curious that Class 2 had three instructors instead of our normal two... where I'm sure that kindy/Class 1 could have used the extra person. And I wish I had one of those dogs that looked at me asking me if what they were doing was right... I can dream can't I??? I seem to have one who excels only in stubborness!!!! I was quite surprised that there were no Class 2 gradings this week, as some people have been there for quite a while and I thought that they would have been ready (Not us though :D )

Perhaps Sutherland Shire Dog Club people would like say which class they are in, who their dog is and post a photo of their pooches (with or without their owners ) so we can keep an eye out for each other at training and say I'll go first: Currently in Class 2 Dog: Stormy - 18 month old female "lurcher" (deerhound x greyhound we think)

Just throwing out some thoughts here.... Training tires a dog out mentally. I can walk my dog for an hour and she could go all day. I train her in a training class for 30 mins and she is literally stuffed for the rest of the day (admittedly I have a "low" trainability breed) When he's in the backyard by himself, how about kongs, big meaty bones (like chicken backs and stuff and cut back his normal meals) or a "home alone" toy (www.aussiedog.com.au). Also, you say he does things only when he wants to - this is unacceptable. If you give him a command, expect him to comply, otherwise you must be prepared to follow through and make him comply. Otherwise you are only teaching him that it is okay to ignore you.

Thanks so much for joho for asking this question and to Greytmate for answering it. I also have a lurcher and have toyed with the idea of lure coursing with her... after watching her zoom around the yard.... and wondered the some as joho if I would be causing problems for myself, since I know that she has a strong interest in cats when we walk. Greytmate - so I don't put my girl at any risk, can I ask what you mean by "fit"??? She isn't overweight, but I'm not sure I would call her fit either - she is totally stuffed after running flat out around the backyard for 2 mins (which I would expect). Is there anything that I can do to help her before I take her lure coursing?

I could be wrong but they sound like "purely positive trainers" which frown on ANY form of correction, even verbal. Their theory seems to be to praise the correct behaviour and ignore the unwanted behaviour... and it will go away. When we adopted Stormy from the RSPCA, I had an idealistic view that I would train her with purely positive methods... well that lasted about one hour I think... during which time she ran through the house and jumped on the bed, kitchen table and dining room table It may work with some dogs, but some dogs I think need a firmer hand and well defined boundaries

D=Dog, H=Handler, A=Advanced, I=Intermendiate, B=Beginner, P=Pup My details: D = B (no agility at all) H = B (no agility at all) Based in Hurstville/Sutherland area, but willing to travel 30-60 mins, if I get enough notice. Saturdays are better than Sundays from February. I'm not sure of our offlead abililty. I would love to come even if it is just to run a trained, or even slightly psychotic dog, so I can have a "taste" and hopefully iron out any problems that I have before I start my dog