BittyMooPeeb

BRAGS :p Peebs and I have been in level three agility for 18 months because we (he :p ) cant weave. I have been training with him on weavers every day since March this year (before that it was only once a week), but I only have room for four weavers at my place, and currently have them offset at about 7cm. We rejoined classes last night, and after a few goes, he went through twelve weavers offest by only 5cm. This is such a HUGE acheivement for us - I could have cried!!! Blossom started agility 8 weeks ago. I was unsure at first as she can be timid, and is uber un-athletic and unsure of anything requiring physical dexterity (she cant get into or out of the car even). She has proved to be a star and I am so proud of her . She gets over her initial fear really quickly (after a few goes being lured she realises it is safe and FUN). And even better she loves it and is so motivated and happy in classes. She's already doing all obstacles (at lowered hights) with enthusiasm and her contacts are good. In comparison Peebs - after two years of training -is still hard to motivate and still has terrible contacts! I've told Blossom that she is my new favourite but that she is not to tell the other dogs

Hi Sally, For a spring/autumn length coat (not too long, not too short) for my Maltese, I use a size 3 and 3/4 blade, which leaves the fur 10-13mm long (see pic below) I only use the clippers on the top of her head, and do fringe and muzzle with scissors. I used to use kitchen scissors, but bought some proper wahl ones and there is a lot of difference in the final look! I also use scissors on her legs. To do the fringe, brush her hair forward to cut it, otherwise it will look wierd, and when you buy your blade(s) make sure you dont get a skip-tooth blade by mistake/

One of mine dogs would be happy to not eat every day, but others really need to eat twice a day. I've never been able to feed some and not the others, so they dont get fasted, they just get the right sized portions fed every day. Humans are supposed to benefit from fasting too, but not many of us actually do it. It's not that I wouldnt like to, I just dont have the willpower, and probably dont eat a good enough diet to sustain me for 24hrs without food. Thats harsh! It is much easier to dole out appropriate food to your dependants than it is to yourself where plenty of other 'needs' (emotional, pleasure, habit) compete for top priority in decision making. You only have to go to an agility trial to see fit, healthy, trim dogs with portly handlers to see this (and I am one of them )

Hi Stormie, did the vet say anything about her eyesight? I've experienced dogs who cant see well getting defensive at night when they can see even less - I assume it is fear motivated. Maybe her eyesight is reducing as you suggested, and she is worried about an attack from another pack member, or she may not recognise them as household members if say they are on the other side of a window and she cant smell them. My cat (now at the bridge) had a non-malignant brain tumour. It was very large, and was successfully removed at Sydney Uni Vet hospital. It turned out that the tumour was masking an agressive cancer though, and once the tumour was gone, the cancer took over and he died a month later . So tumours can be removed, but get a thorough health check first before progressing down this path. (which we of course did too, but the cancer wasnt picked up) Best wishes for your girl. If she is feeling defensive, try to put her somewhere she feels safe at night - maybe in a crate or a puppy pen where the other animals cant get to her.

Congratulations! We did our first CCD trial recently too. I was overwhelmed with how nice the judge was. I was sooooo bad and she spend ages with me explaining where I was going wrong, giving me tips for improving etc, even though it meant running over time. Thats interesting, as I was told it was OK to touch my dog, as long as I didnt pick him up. (in between stays the judge said to relax our dogs, so I picked my dog up and gave him a hug and a kiss. ROFL. Well, he finds that relaxing .... He got a higher score than Blossom LOL. I didnt even know there was a rule book . Where do you get them?

Well we've had an 'event'full few days (lots of smelly, painful 'events') and Bloss now seems to be recovering . I've been feeding her every couple of hours with the tinned food (yuk) and fibre and it seems to have done the trick. She seems like her old self again tonight (albeit an 'old self' with a very sore bum and still tender guts). The first few poos she did I went through them with a fine tooth comb and found several sharp bits . I stopped counting when the smell got worse and the poo runnier (and cause people were watching me do this while out on a walk ) I'm very relieved!!!! How amazing that it is sort of common for dogs to eat glass - and be OK (with some intervention)

I heard a smash on Sunday morning and went downstairs to find Blossom had knocked a wine glass off the coffee table (I am a slob and they were there from the previous evening). About two hours later she suddenly went quiet an started shaking and yelping in pain. I thought she'd been stung as all the dogs had been playing outside, but couldnt find anything. We took her to the vets when it opened two hours later and she hadnt improved. The vet found that the pain is coming from her stomach area, and we (the vet and I) now think she must have eaten some of the broken glass . She's had an x-ray with barium which showed no perforation of digestive system thank goodness, and is on pain relief and something to help her stomach recover from ulceration. Now I'm just keeping her quiet (easy as she just wants to lie down) and feeding her tinned food with metamusil mixed in to try and get something bulky passing through to take the glass with it. It must be on the move as she keeps yelping and looking at her bum (then at me because she is sure it is my fault :D ) I never would have though that they would eat glass. She does have a habit of putting anything and everything in her mouth though, then swallowing quickly if she thinks you are going to take it off her. It must have tasted nice because of the wine

:rolleyes: Thanks - I started using the drop signal tonight. they picked it up very quicky.

LOL. That's what I've been unwittingly doing until now, and want to swing things into the dogs favour

I regularly practice distance handling at home, so would like to change my signals now, and have them sorted for my up-and-coming dogs too I have classes from 7.30 to 9.30 - if you've got an 8.30 class maybe we could meet at 9.30?

I've searched past threads but cant really find what I want, so .... What hand signals to people use for distance work in trialling? I dont like any of mine! My sit and drop hand signals (which are pretty much just what I came up with in beginners classes) are in front of my body and I dont think my dogs can see them very well from a distance. My stand signal is just plain wierd as I try to copy the same signal I give during heel work and end up looking like I am rap dancing . They are also quite exaggerated movements, and I was told in a CCd trial (my first!) that my hand signals were not appropriate. I'm happy with the ones I use when we are heeling, so would like advice on what to use for distance work for drop, sit and stand. Thanks in advance. (ps I did view the youtube vid posted by a member, but as it is taken side on I cant see what the sit and down hand signals are )pps working out these hand signals is my 'homework' for novice class this week. As is walking in a straight line but we wont go there ETA I've also looked at the deaf dogs site that was recommended in a few threads, but the 'sit' command is the same as I am using (and want to change) and I cant for the life of me work out what the stand command is - it looks like I need to get my hand reattached backwards first http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...hl=hand+signals

Might just be there . If I can find out what the correct hand signals are before then

;) Who would have thought that the tiny sweet little dog who slept curled up into a ball on your front seat during the drive south could turn out to be such a naughty girl who delights in embarassing her Mum in public (Joke!) Cuddle from Bloss is on it's way back to you too.

Thats EXACTLY what she was doing! Every single thing you mentioned - even the sudden urge to get to friends they know are *somewhere* on the ground. BF and I were trying to work out last night what she could have been trying to get to , as there were no people or dogs she knew there, but from what you and other posters have said it is actually 'displacement behaviour'. She does all the exercises well when we are on our own, and a bit less well when we are in class, and a lot less well in a trial. Do you have a suggestion for how I can make her feel more comfortable when there are other people and dogs around? I'd thought of going to the next competition day and just working with her on our own so she gets used to the environment, but this only happens every 8 weeks. Thinking about it now there were other things on the day that were new to her. She was crated while I was with my other dog, and she didnt like this. We also were there for 2.5 hrs waiting to compete, and she is not used to waiting around at the club. I tried to keep things positive - we played games throughout the morning, I bought a toasted ham and cheese sandwich so that she could have a bit (our last instructor gave the dogs this treat during class, and she just loves it), and she seemed fine. Until we got into the ring and I asked her to do something that is. To try and make her feel better I played games with her in the ring which she happily particpated in, but as soon as I stopped the game and said 'heel' in my best happy voice, she went into "displacement' mode again ;)

The fourth?? Did they have a trial on FRIDAY? Congratulations Saxon and Bear . If I had known there was a trial I would have come and watched (how did you know?). Only one to go eh? Then :mad . We have a brag too. We got our first CCD NQ's today . No quallies in the bank yet . I was most embarrased to find out that there are things you are not supposed to do in a trial (ie my usual hand signals) Good luck for the next trial

;) Hmmm Bloss had her worst ever session. She refused to even acknowledge my existence and so did not do a single exercise :) .(except the stays - go figure ;) ) I've found in the past that when she feels uncomfortable (new classes, tests etc) she reacts by ignoring me, sniffing a lot and pretending something interesting is happening elsewhere. I'm not sure yet how to get her over this. I made a rash decision to also enter Piobaireachd in CCD, even though he has never trialled and has not done any obedience training for two years, and he came FIRST . We missed out on a qually by 2 points though ;). All my fault apparently - as the instructors so often say to me, great dog, shame about the handler . Well I didnt know that there were certain ways to do hand signals, and that when the instructor says (between stays) "relax and reward your dogs" that you shouldn't pick them up for a big kiss. (the toungy is Ok, just not off the ground ;) )

Ok, we went to the club today and did some stays - there were no other dogs at all there, and I sat her with her back to the clubhouse so she didnt have to be worried about suprise attacks from behind. She was happily doing everything and when I said 'stay' and started to walk away she jumped into the air in fright . I settled her again and she did a 1min before breaking - but the whole time she was looking around nervously. I made a huge fuss of her at the end though. I wish I could tell when she was going to break so that I could intervene - I'll have to do shorter times next session. Wish us luck! (or an examiner that will let us do the stays in a ring on our own)

I agree wholeheartedly Amhailte. I am very upset at the affect this has had on the trust in our relationship. As you have pointed out, it is my job to leave her in a position where she is safe, and to intervene if something happens. I left out some details for the sake of brevity - one was that I acted immediately to get this dog off Blossom but he (being faster and closer) got there before me. He broke his stay by running directly at Bloss, so was at her in a matter of seconds. Being so small I find it difficult to get her away from under another dog as there are not many bits I can reach, so I usually go for the other dog - grabbing its collar or hind legs and pulling it away as soon as it releases her (or whichever of my dogs is being attacked or just jumped on). In this case that is what happened - I grabbed the dogs collar and (as I'd seen it release her twice already) waited for another release then janked him away.

Hi FHR, thanks for your offer - I would love to take you up on it. Now we just need to organise a time (the hard part). It would really help her I think to experience some stays that didnt result in chaos (with her often unwillingly involved) I didnt know there was an incident book. Is it in the office? I'll get something written in on Sunday - though I dont know the name of the other dog nor the handler. Poor girl is limping a bit still and quite tired today. I have to make myself stop fussing over her

My poor little girl got attacked during our practice sit-stay at the club last night. We are supposed to be 6m away from our dogs during this exercise and because of this incident, she now runs behind me even if I stand right in front of her (she only got minor bruising thank goodness - and of course was terrified too) This is the *third* time she has been jumped on by a dog ten times her weight during stays. One other time in class, and once during a test. The other two times the dog was being boisterously friendly rather than attacking, but if a 35 kg dog jumps on you when you only weight 3.5kg, whether they want to play or not doesnt make much difference. Our test is this Sunday and I know that she wont do either of the stays now. . She's also reverted to some of the behaviour she had when I first got her (barking at any other dog she see's to ward them off before they get too close). I'm going to ask the tester if we can do our stays without other dogs present, but I am pretty sure will get told 'no'. I'm also going to take her back to the club tomorrow for a fun time so that she doesnt fear going there. Any other suggestions?? I'm so disappointed as we have worked really hard for the past 8 weeks. ETA: just to be clear, each incident was a different dog. This last one is known to be dog agressive and is kept on a long line, but the owner stood close to the rest of us so that the dog could get to ours before getting to the length of the line. I wasnt told that the dog was dog-agressive at the start of the class or I would have moved away myself. The owner didnt even call the dog back when he was running at mine, was very slow to pull the dog back by the long line (he'd already grabbed and released Blossom three times before she even moved), didnt tell the dog off afterwards, didnt ask if my dog was OK, didnt apologise etc etc. I think you can guess that I am

I taught Blossom how to do this when she was a pup (but without the retrieve bit - she just takes my sock off then goes to play with it). Only problem is that when we visit people who have carpet and therefore are prone to walk around the house shoe-less, they are likely to feel some sharp, pointy teeth trying to wrench their sock off as soon as they stop moving! It's a great game though - we do this every night in winter. Once Bloss has taken my sock off she is allowed to get on the bed and play tug with it (with me). After tug we go to sleep, and she usually has her head on the sock.

I've seen someone do this by holding the food in a closed fist, and if the dog tries to get it, he quickly lifts up his fist and uses his knuckles to hit the dog on the top of the nose. It worked, but I dont like to use pain as a training tool, so I either: - offer the food in a closed fist, and the dog doesnt get it until he stops and waits for it. - teach 'leave' and 'take' with the idea that the dog will only take the food when given the command 'take' and will therefore not be snatching at it. This is reinforced with 'meal time manners' - my dogs are not allowed to approach their (fully laden and on the floor) food bowls until released, so even if food lands on the floor they wont try to get it. (in theory :wink)

I havent competed yet, but have timed etc at trials, and I though a refusal was where the dog missed the obstacle and ran past it. If pausing is a refusal, or veering the wrong way but still making the obstacle is a refusal, then I will be in trouble Can someone pls post a link to where I can find the rules for jumping and agility. Bout time I read them

How do you teach this? Peebs still plummets down the A-frame nearly going head over heels (or crawls down at a snails pace!)

BREAKAWAY COLLARS: (to prevent strangulation if a collar gets caught) http://www.barfnsw.com.au/breakaway_collar.php