Seita

That round sounds alot like many of my novice rounds with my old boy. I could do a whole heel free with him 3 meters to my left and 2 metres behind me with his nose on the ground the WHOLE time and there would be at least one forray from the ring to investigate something or someone! It got worse but I'd be too ashamed to mention some of them! But as they say, that's trialling for you!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

Ok guys, this is going to happen and we're just sorting out some final details such as topics, costs etc. It will be on the first weekend of November (1 & 2) at Camp Tailwaggers. Topics that people seem to be most interested in are: training in drive, aggression, e-collars, behaviour, but Steve is happy to cover anything that you guys are interested in. Can I just get an idea of how many people would come for the whole weekend and would be staying at Camp Tailwaggers? Also let me know if you're happy to share a cabin or want your own?

it's run by the sporting terrier club of qld - they did have a website but not sure if it's being updated regularly, just do a search on google for the club and you should find their website. Offtopic - miss B, HI! I was the person with the border collie there last week, won't be there tonight but maybe next week.

I also would recommend the classes at Durack if you're on the southside. There is also a class on the Northside I think near pine rivers... maybe pop this in the show forum and you might get a few other responses!

Kavik, perhaps try doing nothing with him for a few days then take him to the front yard and see if he'll tug. If not put him away for another day and try again, repeat the process till he is so frustrated from doing nothing that he'll be more than happy to tug in the front yard. Basically give him no other choice because that's the only way he'll get any sort of fun, you can then repeat this process in other areas as you build him up to the level you want.

sorry to hijak, Kavik have you tried working in your front yard before moving out to the park, or on your driveway/footpath and then gradually move to less familiar and more distracting environments. In answer to the OP's question - I like using a tuggie much like dogdude suggested (thanks for that by the way, I need to make myself a new one) or a ball on a rope. It does depend on the dog though, some like to tug and others are quite happy just to capture the ball and bounce around with it for a couple of seconds. My girl started out just being happy with a capture but gradually wanted to tug more and more so I switch from a ball to a tug and she loves it!

Ok, the course will be a weekend Sat/Sun with the possibility of an info session on the friday night. You can bring your dog or you can choose not to, it's completely up to you. The idea is for most of the people coming for the whole weekend to stay at CT but some people may not want to or may only want to come for one day. There is definitely a point in coming even if you don't bring a dog as there will be heaps to learn and this is often best done without a dog to worry about. Note- at this stage we are unsure if this will be going ahead as we can't seem to get in contact with ROM who is organising this but we'll keep you posted if anything changes.

As far as I know you can get the kc vacc seperately and there is currently no titre for it so you kind of need to get the vacc done. As for the others, titre tests are currently available for the three core viruses/diseases (sorry I can't remember what they're called) but I could be wrong and some vets might do more. I think most clubs etc want a minimum of c5 (which is the 3 core vaccs + KC + something else)... but if your dog has fine immunity against the first three then you could probably convince your club to let it through because it's highly likely that your dog will be fine for the other one (if they have a winge about it). Sorry I don't have all the right names and things but I'm sure someone else will be along soon to give you some more info.

BUMP K9force, is this confirmed with you yet? ;)

Looks good but not compatible with all web browsers. The dot points end up in the middle of the page instead of on the side if viewed through Firefox (my browser of choice). Aside from that looks great. Agreed about the photos!

Agreed! I've done Steve's distance learning package and been to a workshop and just got my hands on the balabanov dvd's and still want to know more!!

I've used the black one for my black/white girl to help fill in colour on her nose and it seemed to do the job.

I have the same problem but I feed barf and still get the scratching. I've got her on an omega oil blend and find that the itching only really becomes a problem when she's not getting some extra oil in her diet. Just wanted to comment because it may not neccessarily be the kibble that causes it and if the sardines stop it then keep feeding the sardines!

Congrats on the new baby erny!!! I'm sure you'll have a ball with him! ;) As far as names, all of my dogs have had 2 sylables in their names and I've never had an issue with training - Ella is a top scoring obedience dog and I don't think it would matter if I called her ella or something with 10 sylables - she'd probably still do the work!!

How was it? As for the trial, I didn't actually think it was that difficult - I expected much worse and she really worked very well, my only issue with it is how they drag the day out soo much. Like they took a morning tea break after the first 5 dogs had been judged, then with 2 dogs left to judge in my class they took an hours lunch break... looking forward to being in UD next year and getting to compete inside the tent rather than outside in the heat! :D

Unfortunately no good for us. Top score went to a german shepherd in UD with 198/200 followed closesly by a border collie in UD with 196. Ella was one of the very last dogs on and she'd been stuck in a crate for 6 hours and was over it. She worked really well but lost concentration on the distance control and didn't drop. She would have ended up with 175NQ had I done the stays but I pulled her out of them. It would have been her best score yet (195) if she'd done the damn command!!! :D :p But she worked soo well on everything else that I'm still happy, plus she got her title last weekend so it didnt really matter! Goodluck in the doggy dancing!

Ella finished off her CDX title today, she got her 2nd pass last night with 188 and 1st place and then finished it today with 193, 1st place and highest score in trial!! I'm a pretty happy owner today! Time to get started on some of that UD work now!!

Generally you can start obedience classes once your puppies have had all their shots so you will be fine to join a club for that. A lot of agility classes won't take dogs under 12 months but there are some that do foundation classes for younger dogs. For Obedience clubs in south/west brisbane there is: Brisbane Dog Obedience club at Oxley, Southside dog obedience club at Runcorn, Ipswich dog obedience club at Tivoli and Bonnies also runs obedience classes at Durack. As for agility clubs there is: Qld dog agility club at Mt Gravatt, there is another dog sports club at tivoli and there is also vip dog sports down at Yatala. Generally with most clubs you pay an annual membership fee (around $20-$50) and then a weekly training fee ($3-$10) for each week that you come to training. I would recommend that you do some basic obedience training before you start agility just to get a good level of control. There may be a few other clubs that I've missed but if you do a search on the forum for brisbane clubs you'll probably be able to find one of the many other threads on this same topic with other suggested clubs.

I generally use a vitamin/mineral supplement which contains kelp, brewers yeast etc plus some form of oil that is high in omegas like flaxseed

Oh wow, that'll be interesting then! Had good practice last weekend in that case - we were at Durack, the trial ring was set up between the bottom road and the sheep yards (where the showies regularly toilet their dogs)... needless to say there were not a lot of qualifies that day either! I think I might attempt to bring the gazebo and just get there early.

Just wondering if anyone has ever trialled at the Ekka before and can tell me what the grounds etc are like. I've never been to see the obedience/agility trials before so was hoping to find out whether there is any shade/shelter available, is it outdoors etc? Should I bring my gazebo or would it be too much hassle trying to cart it in? Also how long does the day usually go for, I assume it'll be a pretty huge entry. Thanks in advance!

Hey K9 and Rom, I spoke to Anne from Camp Tailwaggers at a trial yesterday and she said you guys had better lock a date in (even tentatively) as they are filling up fast!

You may not necessarily need a prong but personally I preffer them to teach a dog to walk on a loose lead. Speak to Enry or K9force and they should be able to get on the right track for loose lead walking and be able to make sure you use a prong correctly if that's what is required.

Ella and I did our very first Open trial today and got our first qualify!!! We scored 176 and got 3rd place in the end... not her best work - she decided that sit was optional and missed a number of them and decided that behind me was good enough for the finish after the recall - she sat and looked up at me and everything only behind me not beside me!!! I'm pretty happy with the day as I haven't done anywhere near enough prep for this and we were trialling on the grounds that most showies use to toilet their dogs at the CCCQ's grounds. I'm really thrilled as this is my first open qualify ever, I've had 2 dogs at this level before and another dog that never quite made it out of novice but this is the first time I've qualified in Open!!! :D I'll load a link to the video later on. ETA: - video of trial for those who are interested!