Seita

Maybe around the $10 mark for my one 19kg dog. I'm not entirely sure as I make the veggie mix up in bulk once a month or so and feed that a few times a week. Normally I'd spend maybe $5-$6 a week on chicken frames & brisket bones but I do give lamb flaps occasionally which cost more plus there's the extra things I'll add such as cod liver oil, sardines, offal every so often, eggs etc.

I think you need to install a divx player or something, there should be a popup somewhere.

Cool, I was just going to give Seita's advice the big When we've put dogs in the laundry I've always made sure the hoses and electrical cords are out of reach but your girl sounds pretty well behaved apart from the pooing. Only thing I'd say in a "planning ahead" kind of way is that if you're planning to use cloth nappies you might want to crate train instead. Dog + nappy bucket = I do the same thing, although my girl is usually in her crate in the laundry, but when she's in season she lives there when we're out. I think crate training is definitely a good option for when the bub arrives, you can safely have your dog somewhere if you need it to have some time out but you can have that crate in the living area etc so it doesn't feel left out or anything. The nappies thing is definitely a good point, even the disposable ones are pretty appealing to dogs so either a secure bin or the crate will solve this. I honestly don't think it's a dominant thing, your dog might be a little confused about the changes to it's sleeping habits but the most important thing is that you are preparing your dog well in advance. Well done, it's great to see someone think ahead like this. Securing your dog overnight in any way will help to fix the toileting problem, I hope things work out well for you.

Could you crate train her? She'd probably be less likely to poo if she was contained in a crate and unable to wander and it would definitely be better than chucking her outside. Alternatively if you don't want to go with the crate you could pen her in a certain area of the house and get her used to sleeping there - laundries or bathrooms are really good for this!

My girl (border collie) only gets really offensive after lamb or offal. I feed sardines almost every day, her veggie mix contains yoghurt and she gets mostly chicken bones etc but only on the occasions that I do feed lamb or offal is when I get the gas!

Is he food motivated? You don't have to tug if your dog isn't really that into it? Use whatever drive your dog finds most rewarding... play, food or pack (pats/cuddles etc).

I'll add my two cents on figure of eights and between exercises! With FO8 in trials I look ahead through the middle of the FO8 but when going around the posts I look at were I'm headed, so across the posts basically as this turns my shoulder enough to give the dog a guide without forcing it to lag. I also adjust my pace when going around the posts to give the dog every chance of being with me rather than behind. Don't ever look down at your dog on this part it just causes them to lag more. The other trick that someone told me, for dogs that heel very close to your leg and bump into you as you go around with them on the inside, it sometimes helps to turn in small increments rather than one smooth flowing circle. So walk in almost a diamond shape around the post giving more distinct turns to the dog. This really helped with my girl who was always bumping into my leg! Here's a really rough diagram for what it would look like: In training for this I often add a third post to confuse the dog - particularly if I have a dog that is lagging a bit through the middle I'll pick up speed and heel out of the main figure of eight and the dog catches up and then I surprise it with a third post! As for between exercises in a trial, I always praise after every exercise and tend to do little focus exercises to keep the dog keen and focussed. I sometimes fiddle around at the start peg when I'm waiting for the judge by stepping back or forward or around and ask my dog to stay at heel. Or I'll ask her for attention - nothing looks better than a dog and handler standing at the start peg with the dog watching it's handler expectantly.

Me too! Thanks guys!

The tea seems to be working, eye is lots clearer now!

That's the one!!! Now I remember, whenever we had something irritating our eyes as kids mum would make up some calmomile tea and use that! I could remember the smell but couldn't remember the name! I don't think it's conjunctivitis as it's only one eye at the moment and she's been rubbing it a bit which leads me to think there might be something in there that's irritating it. I'll give the tea a shot and if it's not clearing up tomorrow I'll take her in for some ointment.

My girl seems to have a slightly irritated eye at the moment, it's not overly bad but it is a bit gunky. I gave it a bath with some lukewarm water yesterday and that helped a bit. I know that there's a product you can add to the water that helps but can't for the life of me remember what it's called. Does anyone know what I can use to help clear this up? I will be taking her to a vet to get it checked out if it doesn't clear up quickly but wanted to try a home remedy first if I could.

And if you think you've proofed enough do more! * Use your obedience classes as distraction training, do a stand for exam while someone else does a recall or retrieve beside you. Find THE most distracting environment you can for your dog and when it can work there you are ready to trial! * Don't get too upset if something doesn't go right, trialling can be very unpredictable and you never know what dogs are going to do. Go into the ring confident and if things don't go right then leave the ring happy that your dog has done it's best and assess why your dog may have done something wrong - it's always your fault, whether poor handling, poor commands or lack of training. I've seen so many people blow quallies and then whine and carry on about why their dog stuffed it... "such and such's dog did a retrieve in the ring next door and my dog lost it" or "so and so was warming their dog up with a game and distracted my dog". The one I remember the most is when I was getting my dog ready to go into the CCD ring and was warming her up with a bit of work and a game of tug, when someone else came over and asked me not to play tug near the ring (I was probably about 10 metres from it) because the dog that was in there at the time didn't like other dogs playing games and would probably leave the ring to investigate if it saw my dog playing. Sorry but I couldn't help but think why hasn't this handler trained for this? * Give your dog every advantage you can, nice clear hand signals, clear voice commands (when allowed), smooth footwork and relaxed body language. * Don't bore your dog in training, keep sessions short and fun. If your dog is not enjoying training then it is most certainly not going to like trialling nor do very well * Find what routine works for you before going into the trial ring - whether that's a simple walk to go to the toilet and a focus exercise or a few short minutes of heelwork or a game. Also whether your dog works better if it's sitting beside you getting cuddles before a trial or whether it works better if it's been left in a crate and mostly ignored. Each dog is different and knowing the pre-trial routine that gets the most out of your dog will help get a better working dog in the ring! * Always end on a good note, if your dog stuffs the last exercise in the ring then go out of the ring and do something the dog knows how to do well and reward for that

You could try Ipswich Dog Obedience Club at Tivoli they wouldn't be too far from you.

Hey sparky, if you need a tug try contacting dogdude on here. He was making some a while ago and was sending them out to people to test them. I have one and they are really great. Maybe he's started selling them or is still sending them out for testing!

Here's my copy of the entry forms, if yours look the same use them until they run out. I just print mine out and fill them in like normal entry forms, some people have fancy ones that you can type all the information into but I broke the one I had that did this!! entryform.doc

No difference as the rules are ANKC rules rather than individual states' rules. Although some people believe that judges pick on different things in different states so that might be something to look out for but ultimately the rules stay the same it's the judging that can vary (but that can be from judge to judge as well as state to state). Good luck up here in QLD! ETA: Welcome to DOL as well!

It must be me, all 3 of my dogs have never been very dog orientated.... well the first was DA and the second was very very timid and the third is a snob. Maybe I just know how to pick em!? Like Kavik said, I'd be happy that he's friendly, nothing worse than having an unfriendly dog!

I made timber jumps out of 2x4 bits of wood. Simple upright bar with nails hammered into one side and a base made out of 4 smaller peices of timber fanning out around the bottom of the upright. I just glued and screwed it all together and then bought a length of pvc pipe for the jump bar. It's nothing flash but it works. Oh and I do the same thing as Ness for a solid jump - just hang a towel or sheet over the bar to make it 'appear' solid!! Actually I think might have a photo somewhere I'll go have a look... ETA photo! Finally found it! Ella posing with her new jumps:

I don't let my performance dogs play with any other dogs at all :D . I'd rather not give them something else that is fun to do which could result in them placing a higher priority on that than me. I try to keep all my training fun as well, but basically I try to make sure I am *THE* most interesting, exciting and fun thing they know. That said my current girl is a total dog snob , she just ignores all other dogs and the only way she'll give any attention is if they come up get in her face and pester her, then she'll snap and tell them off. So my not allowing her contact with other dogs doesn't really affect her at all - she'd preffer it that way!

Lol sure was... but it still helped to demonstrate a bit of what happens when I change the ISO but leave other settings the same.

I got the same for around that same pirce. And ditto on the learning how to use it! ;)

Thanks for the responses! I tried it quickly in my yard today. Set the aperture at around 4, shutter speed at 1/60 and ISO at 100 and got a basic photo of a bush, I changed the iso to 200 and the photo had more light in it (looked over exposed) and when I went up to 400 ISO is was ultra exposed. But I didn't really have much time to play so I'll play some more tomorrow cos I think that I used the wrong shutter speed and apperture for the brightness of the day in my backyard.

I've never heard of duration heel work either but funnily enough I've been doing the same sort of thing for some time now to work on continuous focus!

I'm reasonably new to the world of DSLRs having just bought a Nikon D60 with VR kit lenses (18-55 and 70-200). I've played around a bit with apeture and shutter speed and I think I understand that but I've heard (and read on here) people controlling ISO. Can someone please explain what ISO is, what changing it does to a picture and how to control it? Thanks!

Well done Seita - think she has finally GOT IT I have to smile - think us humans are all the same. ;) We have a minor training break through and we get all excited and have a rush of blood and need to do more and more and more. Well done on stopping before it went pearshaped. :p We sure do! I learnt a long time ago to stop training just as the dog really starts getting into it. I still overstep that sometimes but I'd preffer to finish a session off early and on a really high note than to push it one step too far and let it go pearshaped. With Ella I can usually go for ages because she's always so keen but I think her pregnancy is slowing her down a bit at the moment so I'm trying not to over exert her.