Seita

I've already missed my first 2 trials for the year, one last weekend and one this weekend coming... Ella came in season early! But Kathq I'll see you at Metro at the end of the month!

JulesP, I know what you mean! I've decided to scale back on my instructing this year, only every 2nd month so I get a chance to recuperate! It's still worth it for the people you get through who do everything right and who's dogs just respond soo well!

I have boy dogs too! And they are totally useless at the moment. Tyson hasn't eaten in 5 days cos he wants Ella and Mack flirted with every dog at training last night cos he's worked out that he's a boy!!! And I thought I'd be joing Bec & Daisy in the naughty corner with Mack as he's had very little training, but low and behold I took him out last night and he was a star! Kept offering heel position in front of a class of beginners and had beautiful focs even with 6 puppies trying to play and soccer balls flying around! I don't know what I've done but he's soo clever! LOL And to GSDog - my heart breaks for you, it's soo sad when you lose them to something unexpected and before their time is up.

Oh, absolutely! But I didn't think it was rocket science - good to see how it can be done badly because most of the people I talk to online or at trials use it correctly. I hang out with good trainers 4 years of training beginners class and I know exactly how interestingly people can interrupt something. Some days I just want to say "WTF are you doing?" LOL I actually say it out loud! I had a guy in my class last night who refused to listen to me so out loud I said "fine don't listen" and moved onto someone else... Funnily he was very attentive for the rest of the class!

Same here Bec! I was just starting to do some work with Ella in preparation for upcoming trials and the bitch comes in season and puts a halt to all real training!

I love how quickly she clued onto that figure of eight! Mack would just sit at stare at me for several minutes before starting to offer behaviours! LOL

Just out of interest, how would this be scored usually? I've never really thought about it :D The time I can remember doing it, the judge started me again and asked for the correct cue. I don't think I got a deduction which seems fair enough because the dog hadn't stuffed up. I'll ask my judge friend though. It can be a tad challenging sometimes to hear the judge's cues on a windy day. Depends on the judge but generally you've stuffed it. For example I once asked a judge how he would score me if I accidentally sent my dog to the wrong glove and she did what I asked... I would still have failed that exercise as dog did not retrieve glove that the judge requested. Oh, and about the talk about one syllable I'm not sure it's actually in the rules that commands have to be one syllable, most people in UD use OVER for directed jumping that's 2 syllables.

I was very careful in the selection of my commands to ensure that they were all one syllable so there would be no confusion about whether I was saying one command or not. I have had a few judges ask me what my commands for different things are and so far not a single one has refused to let me use them. I do however use German commands which alot of people are fairly familar with so many judges already know what my commands mean. I don't have any issues with the rules being left the way they are but I would hate for them to be changed to completely refuse any language other than English.

Probably because we're an english speaking nation. I use a different language and have not yet encountered a judge who has refused to let me use it.

I am being mean to Tyson, he can focus when we're doing TOT or when I have a handful of treats and am asking him to do something!

Its a shame your further north. There is a lovely blue ACD going around the UD ring in Vic at the moment. I can't remember her name off the top of my head but she seems to be a good little worker. Have a look on YouTube for ACD's doing agility too. There are heaps of video of them doing it in the US, of all places. You could also consider another dog sport with one too, Herding On that note, there is a couple of ACDs up here trialling in obedience but from memory they are all in lower levels but none of them are overly exceptional, there is however a Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog in UD that is doing wonderfully and is a really lovely little worker - they might be worth looking at Bec!

only when he's hungry! He can be Steve's challenge for the weekend - find me something that motivates this dog other than a moving object (sheep or other dogs) or his blasted shadow!!! I can bring the Tyson Monster daughter and Mack's half sister.. She is a toe munching, non stop, happy yipping MONSTER!!!! We'll have a family reunion!!! Mack has inherited Tyson's gogogog genes too but at least he has focus! Tyson has none~!!! LOL

only when he's hungry! He can be Steve's challenge for the weekend - find me something that motivates this dog other than a moving object (sheep or other dogs) or his blasted shadow!!!

Hell no! Why on earth would I change when I have the best breed in the world! (ducking for cover now). Think about the Shelties and Basenjis too!

sure is... just wait till you meet Tyson, he has zero prey drive but doesn't stop moving... EVER! He's going to drive you, Daisy and everyone else nuts!

Meeeeeeeeeeee..! I am giving up a weekend of dog shows to come, so it better be good Me too! But I already know it's going to be good. I'll be there too... with wine and 3 black and white nutbags! Be prepared for chaos!!! We can inspect Tyson the NO DRIVE dog, Mack the work in progress and Ella the ultimate nutbag who has too much drive and not enough sense!

WAIT WAIT I've got it!!! A Basenji!!! They are such cool dogs! :-) Or I'll echo someone else with a Schnauzer either mini or standard, very very uncommon in obedience but you see the odd one in agility Or a pointer, they would probably do well at dogsports but you rarely see them!

Well I know you ruled out BCs but what about one bred for work/performance in one of those cool colours (think Blue merle or sable) - it won't "LOOK" like a normal BC! LOL I had to say it cos I'm a die hard BC person.... I thought about changing breeds and got shivers just thinking about it! Ok as for suggestions, Brittany would tick the boxes, as would a Kelpie or Coolie or of course a Toller but everyone has already suggested them. What about a Sheltie, there can be some timid ones so you'd have to pick your lines carefully but they are wonderful little dogs to own and loads of fun to train! Grooming is fairly easy, just a brush every now and then with a bit more brushing when they are dropping coat. And they aren't overly common in dog sports. Or a Cocker Spaniel, I think some of the show line ones are fairly active otherwise working lines.. same for Springer Spaniels (I really like Springers!) Portugese Water Dogs are pretty cool too! BUT after meeting Sparky's Frenchies if you wanted a small dog that was really unusual I'd soooo go for a French Bulldog, we have a guy at our club who has 2 and they are both really spunky and out there! Or what about an American Staffordshire Terrier, the ones I've met are pretty fun to train and not very common in dog sports OR what about a Belgian Shepherd Teruvean or Groendale (not sure on spelling) they are both a bit bigger than you're average border collie, the show lines aren't too drivey but they still have plenty of drive and are lovely looking dogs and also fairly uncommon.

I tried to use different hands for different gloves after a few people suggested it to me but I failed and kept getting myself confused. Ella will fetch off any command or style of hand signal as long as it's pointing toward the item to be retrieved so it didn't really matter. I use my right hand for most signals except stand and heel where I use my left hand

I haven't done any training with Ella either since before the last trial at the sunny coast so I pulled out our articles the other afternoon with a friend she had never met and she nailed them perfectly! Also found the box again this week and sent her out expecting our usual drop in the box problem and it's completely disappeared... so fingers crossed we don't break anything before Redlands trial at the end of the month! She's only got a limited number of trials I can enter this year due to her maternity leave and my holidays and I want to make some progress towards our OC!

Great videos Ptolomy! How did you teach heel with Strauss? Mack is just starting to learn this but when he's on the phone book he will only stay in heel position if I step towards him he hasn't quite figured out how to step his rear towards me back into heel position. I'm sure he'll get it but I like learning how other people train things too! Thanks!

I was planning to do one with Ella next year but not sure we'll make it as I'm probably going to breed her early in the new year so there probably won't be enough time to get her fitness back up after a litter before the one up here in Qld. For those not sure if they should do it, if your dog is relatively active and fairly fit then they will have no trouble doing it. I did one years ago with my old girl who was used to doing 8-10kms walking/running offlead each day, I only did 3 or 4 training sessions with her of about 10kms each time with one 20km ride and she passed with no worries. Ella could probably just about pass one now, we do rides of about 6-7kms at the moment and with the breaks between each of the legs she'd probably be ok but I want her to be a bit fitter and be capable of doing around 10kms legs before I'd do an E.T with her. So I'll have to see how she rebounds after the litter before I enter her.

Well... I've already changed my goals and it's not even the end of the year yet! I want an OC leg or 2 (or more) next year but it will depend on when she comes in season and whether I breed her so that hasn't changed but I looked at trials and I can definitely get her into enough for at least a pass or two! For Mack who looks like he's staying at this stage I want him to get his nuts so I can actually start showing him and have him at a CCD/Novice level by the end of the year. I don't expect to start trialling with him next year as he's still so young but I want him working at that sort of level. And for Tyson (Mack's Dad) who's on holidays with me until August I'd really like him engaging with me when I train and IF (BIG IF) I can get him enthused about something I'd like to have a crack at getting him into CCD by June/July next year... considering that he currently only knows sit and stand this may not happen!

Wellllll.... UD title Check! OC legs not yet, she missed out on one on Saturday night due to needing to poo in the ring (a certain five letter word starting with B springs to mind). Still got 5 trials left for this year I am expecting a couple of legs towards OC from those. As for the 200.... no such luck yet, considering I haven't put her back into Open yet! Her scores in UD are on the up with each one getting higher. Maybe next year I'll put her back into Open and do both but not this year. I was also really lazy for the first half of the year and did NO obedience and focussed on showing instead where she finished her Champion title instead!! And enrolling in the judges training program - semi check... I sent in my application but due to dogsqld restructuring the program no new trainees have been accepted at this stage until the restructure is complete. Well... I came close a few times to those ellusive OC legs but unfortunately it wasn't to be this year. She has shown me that she is definitely capable of getting them we just need to work on her being more consistent. We'll have to wait and see if the OC happens next year though as I have other plans for her in the whelping box.

It's great isn't it!!! I love puppies like this! On the topic of class numbers, here in QLD at least at the trials over that last 5 or so months UD has been our biggest class and usually the last one finished. For my club's most recent double header we had to contract a third judge for UD as we had 29 entries and one judge was doing the 7 UDX entries as well! There isn't a set way that clubs split classes here, I usually split them randomly "one for this pile one for that pile..." but there are some clubs that split on Dog/Bitch and one club I trialled at earlier this year split dogs in UD on titled or untitled which of course sucked for the judge that got the untitled ring cos by the time he got to me (2nd last) he'd obviously had enough of telling new UD handlers what they could/couldn't do and was rather negative about my run out despite Ella only stuffing up a couple of things.