Seita

You gotta love them! Ella gets like this when I haven't done anything with her in a few days! I missed 2 days of training earlier in the week and when I finally got a chance to do something with her she was bouncing straight up in the air beside me at least to my chest height (I'm 5'9) so pretty big jumps! It's nice when they are excited to do some training!

Yep, once I greet the judge I always get permission before we start. I've probably trialled under and or spoken to at least 20 judges here in QLD (and a few interstaters) and no one has had any issues with it. Should the day ever arise where a judge refused I would politely withdraw. In answer to the number of days training question, I train at a club one night a week and instruct a class that same night. I probably do 1 or 2 short sessions a day but there's probably at least 2 days a week where I just can't be bothered or don't find the time.

LOL... just cos I don't buy stuff doesn't mean I can't help others spend money!!

You guys all clearly need to do some distraction training! Repeat after me: "resist temptation to buy more stuff!" LOL My dog must be sooo deprived compared to all of your dogs! She has one collar and lead for walking/obedience/general use, a chain and lead for showing and that's pretty much it. I have about 5 different tugs here cos I was trying to find a good one and that's about all, a handful of toys mostly from previous dogs and one bed.

That's right, I wonder whether I'll get any comments from judges about my decision not to use the mat! The head of obedience here in QLD is one of those who thinks you've got a screw loose if you don't use the mat! I'll find out soon I guess!

Temperature!?!?! LOL You guys get soo much worse than us! I've never heard of a trial being postponed or cancelled due to the heat like they do in SA! We just get more warm weather that's all! In answer to the question, I honestly have no idea. By the sounds VIC has lots of stuff happening all the time, WA seems to be ahead when it comes to training methods and well QLD seems to be behind the times for alot of things... I'll trial anywhere that I'm going to get a qually! I was thinking about how different states are yesterday when I was stewarding a UD ring, all expect one person did their articles on the mat and the judge (and he's not the only one who feels this way up here) mentioned when setting up the ring that any who does articles on the ground is an idiot... made me think of a conversation we had a while ago about using the mat and how pretty much no one in WA does compared to pretty much everyone here in QLD

From my experience trialling I've never had a judge refuse to let me use my German commands. I did make sure that all my commands were nice and short so there was no way a judge could think I was saying more than one word. Most commands are one syllable except for my "over" command for directed jumping, to make it really clear to the judge that I'm only saying one word! Taken direct from the obedience rule book: "All verbal commands must be in the English Language unless approved otherwise by the judge". So far no judge has refused me and if they did I'd simply withdraw and never enter under them again. Tokkie - if Afrikans is what you speak at home why not just use that so your pup doesn't get confused with the kids saying commands in one language and you saying them in a different one! If you do want to go into competition later on you can always teach the dog the english commands then if you wanted to or do what I do and just make sure your commands are clear and short and get approval from a judge first. :D I use a different language for competition so that other people (mostly my hubby) can't devalue my competition commands by giving the dog commands and not ensuring the dog does it or not rewarding the dog for doing it.

what huski said. Pick any commands you like just keep them consistent and the same all the time. I'm one of these strange people who have 2 sets of commands in 2 different languages, the dog has no issues with it, it's more likely to be her owner who'll get confused!! When I was growing up we spoke Swiss German at home so the dogs all got taught with swiss commands. I think the only reason dogs would get confused is if you suddenly changed the command on them or mix the commands up regularly so they don't fully know what you want. Dogs don't understand words so it won't matter to your dog if you teach your dog to sit on the command sit, or sitz, or spazz, or goose, or honk etc etc! The dog simply learns that when you say a certain word it is expected to complete a certain task! One day I'd love to train a dog with all kinds of weird words for its commands just for fun but I know I'll mix them up and the poor dog will be completely confused!!! :D But wouldn't it be funny to be at the park and calling your dog to come with some bizzarre command like "whoopie!?" LOL

Gotta love kids! LOL It works on adults too! I went camping a few weeks ago with a bunch of friends and the dog, I decided to use one mate to do scent discrim, he was pretty impressed. But change of position impressed everyone the most! ;)

I'm more likely to train inside first thing in the morning cos I don't like the cold!! But yes I do, much to OH's disgust, I tend to work on turns, finishes, fronts, presents from odd angles, small bits of heelwork around the house (I can do a circle through the lounge,dining, kitchen and hallway which helps), and I often to scent inside too cos I can't convince the OH to come outside to help me with it so I allow him to sit in the recliner and throw the articles he's scented onto the rug instead! I don't train anything inside that may cause my dog to leap around like a fool or have to run after something as when she gets into these states she tends to forget everything else that's around her and things break! Just the other night OH was doing something with her and she bumped into a shelf stand thingy and smashed a trophey she won last year by accident! I hope she means to say that she's going to smash the score she got when she won that trophey (196)

That's awful Daisy! I used to get that sort of attitude at another club I trained at but by the time I switched clubs my dog already had her CDX so I've never really been working on advanced stuff beyond my dogs current level at this club. I wonder what sort of comments I'll get when I start training a new pup there in the next few months! You'll just have to catch up with me more often to train! To clarify, I wave in the direction of the track, never at the article cos I haven't got a clue where it is anyway. I'd rather not point at the ground in front of me cos I want my dog to go back to the start peg and search from there so I just flick my hand off in the direction we came from if that makes sense?

Seekback I use FIND Scent I use FIND Gloves I use FETCH Dumbbell I use FETCH and even with only 2 commands sometimes I still bugger it up Stays for anything (recall, sits or downs) I use WAIT Ditto but in German. Anything involving nose I use seek/find and anything involving fetching is bring. I use the same hand signal for scent discrim and retrieves and seek back which is some sort of obscure wave of the hand in the direction I want the dog to go, I never really bothered with these hand signals as she's not usually watching me rather the track/dumbell/articles etc. For Gloves however I bend down slightly and point with a kind of outstretched arm and hand next to her head pointing to the glove I want her to get. If I were to use too many different commands I would get confused, I already struggle enough with bring and seek at times!

Seita - We will let you read the book Deb and I have written called 101 ways to fail directed jumping Just wait until you bring a judge into the equation it changes everything The story for most going into UD - your first trial you know your dog can do everything so although you are scared you have put all the work in you need. Things go well for the first couple of exercises - there are a couple of minor hiccups - but you are still on a pass. You get to the signals exercise and your heart starts beating extra fast - only 2 more to get through + stays and you will get your first pass. Signals and they miss a position - hmm not done that before in a trial. Judge tells you to leave the dog - which you do you about turn and you give the signal for the down - the dog hesitates but does go down. You give the sit signal and it is like you have just signaled the Queen Mary to do a U turn, the dog looks at you like it has never seen that signal in its entire life - and there ends your first UD experience...... so close and yet so far. LOL! So I should start practicing directed jumping with random people milling around?!? I'm sure Ella with find some interesting ways to stuff it for me... don't tell her any more please!!!

I have a trial really roughly pencilled in for late June for our UD debut (both mine and Ella's as I've never done it before either), it's my club's trial so I might not do it cos I'll be too busy being the trial secretary instead but if I don't make that one I've got a few in July marked as potentionals. So far nothing has broken, still proofing everything as much as I can. Glove 2 can be hit and miss at the moment so still cleaning that up and working on doing tougher seek backs. Our biggest problem is likely to be signals change of position, if I happen to be unlucky and have someone in a nearby ring call out "come", "fetch", "box", "over" or anything else exciting that Ella really loves doing I just might lose her focus enough for her to miss a comand. I'm working big time on this by training her right next to someone else doing recalls, or send aways or directed jumps or retrieves... even as much as getting someone to stand beside her and call out random comands! ;) She's doing well so far but it's going to need a bit more proofing for me to be completely confident. I think the only exercise that I'm almost 100% confident on is the directed jumping!! I'm about 90% confident on scent discrimination, and that's only cos she still sometimes likes to mouth the other articles while searching and I know she'll get pinged for that and if she does it enough times she'll get a NQ score! Just the thought of going into the UD ring kind of scares me at the moment! I'm looking forward to getting our first trial out of the way so hopefully the nerves will subside a bit!

Every time your dog gets to the end of the lead change direction suddenly don't say anything to just change direction and let him self correct cos he's going the wrong way. You'll only have to do it a few times before he will start keeping an eye on you and watching what you're doing. But you have to change direction sharply and suddenly, and be unpredictable turn 180 degress, 90 degrees, 360s etc etc in all different directions. He'll be on a loose lead within one session if you're consistent. I just used this method to retrain my girl to walk beside me rather than in front, no corrections required aside from her getting a small jerk on the collar as I changed direction. You just have to be consistent and always do it, if I really need to get somewhere then I just do 360s in alternate directions to keep her guessing.

What about UDX when you have your OC? I'm guessing the UDX is there to stay as that one too is optional. If what Seita says about CCD is true, perhaps I will skip CCD with Millie and go straight to Novice. I don't like that it could be there to stay! Seems a bit silly. Edit: Your quote from the blue book says about highest titles AFTER the name, so wouldn't that mean you keep UD (or UDX) as well as the OC? Yes UDX stays there cos you don't need to have UD or OC to compete in it. And I believe that UD stays after the name once you get OC but this one I'm not 100% sure on. I know that I won't be doing CCD with my next dog but only because I can't see the point of doing the class for an experienced trialler, I did it with Ella cos I'd been out of the trial ring for about 5 years and I hadn't trained a young dog in like 8 years so I was out of practice. I really don't give a stuff what the pedigree name says and really who cares if it says CCD next to UD?? It just says that you did CCD at the start instead of skipping straight to CD.

Way to go Daisy!!!! Really?? I haven't seen anyone do this though Not sure many people who have a UD or OC title would want CCD displayed there though for some reason :D Yep, I don't like that it's still there and I know it'll look weird when I add the UD or OC to my dog's name but on her pedigree the CCD is still there despite her now having a CDX as well. I presume it'll stay there now. You can obviously choose not to write it on websites etc but it'll still be there on the official pedigree. They don't count CCD in that equation cos it's an option class. I just double checked Ella's papers and she definitely still has the CCD on there plus the CDX and I've just been doing the catalogues for my clubs upcoming trial and there are a few people with dogs that have CCD UD after their names. I'm pretty certain that they decided that CCD didn't count the way other other titles do due to it being an optional class and not a prerequisite like the rest of the classes. Happy to be proved wrong but it's still on Ella's pedigree with her CDX so I think it's there to stay!

Really?? I haven't seen anyone do this though Not sure many people who have a UD or OC title would want CCD displayed there though for some reason Yep, I don't like that it's still there and I know it'll look weird when I add the UD or OC to my dog's name but on her pedigree the CCD is still there despite her now having a CDX as well. I presume it'll stay there now. You can obviously choose not to write it on websites etc but it'll still be there on the official pedigree.

I always forget the proper way of writing it is to only have the highest/most recent title...... I think it looks better with all the titles after the name though ;) You get to keep the CCD, just not the CD once you have CDX... something to do with the fact that CCD is an optional class and it's a prerequisite for another class the way Novice and Open are. So if you've got CCD and you get to OC, the dog ends up being OC I'm a star CCD UD plus whatever else you've titled it in! And Huski, it looks like I'll be debuting in UD at the same trials as you debut in CCD at this stage! :p

Looked good! You might want to think about slightly increasing the speed of your slow pace as Daisy kept thinking you were going to stop!! Very Cute! :-) Also loved how happy Chook was to see you at the end there! :D

there is no such thing as too OTT! I LOVE crazy wild dogs!!!

Thats cos it's not a toy Seita, it roo meat soaked in sardine oil :D ;) Though the earlier vids were with a toy though lol. And I've seen your vids too Ella is fantastic! EWWWW!!! Now that is dedication!!! I'm not sure I could do that, I'm so glad my dog is toy driven over food! Not sure what I'll do if I ever end up with a foody dog... scary thought!

I found it too! You have nothing to be scared of your vids were great! Heaps better than my early ones... I've got evidence on film of Ella humping cos she didn't want to play the drive game! I found Secrketkei's as well and I love how your dog leaps around after the toy!!!

Interesting stuff. Thanks for posting it Corvus.

I just got back from a particularly good training session at the park! I thought I'd drive to a park nearby for something different, I've been there a few times and there's usually a few people around and I knew they had football/soccer training on there sometimes but never knew when, well this afternoon there was footy practice on. So we practiced directed retrieve with a football flying into the middle of where we were working, followed by signals with more flying footballs! Also did a few seekbacks to start with while the kids were warming up. Then decided to do articles next to a path that runs around the park, a huge rotti walked past on leash (thankfully) she ignored him and found the article, then a few moments later a cyclist rode past less than a metre from her articles and 2 kids on horses (YES HORSES) rode by just behind where we were working and came only a few metres from us to ask me the time. Ella didn't look at ANY of this!!! I hit the jackpot with distractions and short of a ball landing smack bang in the middle of her articles I don't think I could have asked for much more in the distractions stakes! Very proud of my girl!