Seita

You must have lots of time on your hands today Ptolomy! Loving all these questions!! No I wouldn't, my dogs get trained not to go into drive for other people. But with my first dog yes, I even sent him away for a weekend of trialling with someone else cos he worked better for them than for me! But he was trained very differently to my current dogs.

not really, if I do too much warm up (particularly when the weather is warmer) I loose drive and end up with a dog that still looks like she's doing it but I can't "feel" her with me if you know what I mean. I've been doing some COP stuff before going into the UD ring lately just to remind her what my signals look like cos she's a cow and tend to look away at that point and misses signals but I don't find there's a bit difference between no warm up and doing a tiny bit of focus work before going in. I want her litterally jumping out of her skin when I pull her out of her crate (you should check her out on the way to the ring tonight), then outside of the ring I get her into work mode and she switches all that over the top enthusiasm into really nice drivey work. Yes sometimes she's a bit forge-y but that's a training issue that I'm working on and I'd rather that than a more lacklustre performance. Plus I need that drivey work to get through UD or I lose her by the time signals come around. I remember doing a few trials late last year, the first 2 she scored her top scores yet (196s) in Open and the third trial I for some stupid reason did quite a bit of warming up with her and ended up with a dog that was not quite focussed and sloppy and gave one of her worst heeling performances to date. I still don't know why I did so much warm up that night but it certainly taught me a lesson about pushing it too far! Most of my problems are with stamina due to an unfit dog, the more I take out of her before going in the less I have to play with while I'm in the ring and UD takes such a long time that I want to have as much fuel in the tank when I go in as possible. This is mostly due to fitness rather than her ability to stay switched on, she'll keep trying but the tired-er she gets the sloppier her work becomes. I'm trying to build fitness at the moment but the tick she had last year is still causing some trouble with getting her fitness levels up and then my lack of motivation to get her out with bike etc is the rest of the issue with it!

I've never done much warm up with Ella or my previous girl, usually straight from car/crate to ring with maybe a sit or something thrown in. I used to be chronic with warm ups with my first dog but by the time the second came around I realised that I was better off saving the energy that my dog had for the actual trial rather than wear them out before I went in. Ella has never really needed warming up, I give her working cue and she knows it's time to switch on and work, even when I first started trialling with her.

I usually aim to get there by the time vetting starts, vetting is usually an hour before the trial starts, that way if I'm running late (most of the time) I still have enough time for vetting etc. Once vetted I usually give Ella a big run so she can (hopefully) poo, she pees on command and gets another toilet stop just before we go in. Once she's toiletted she's crated until 2 dogs before her when she gets another toilet break and then back in the crate. I don't bring her out until the dog before us is on it's last exercise and then do very little with her before going straight into the ring. I sometimes do some finishes or change of positions before I go in but try to do as little as possible to keep her ultra keen to go in.

CEA clear by parentage, I'm pretty sure she's got no issues with sight. She does occasionally have trouble seeing the box in poorly lit rings but I think that was a training issue more than a sight issue, once I started training in really really bad light (worse than any grounds here in Brissy) she stopped having the issue!

Judge was standing to my left... I guess he could have put her off, he's a pretty scary looking person! She doesn't normally get put off by people standing there though. Yep I'm doing pine rivers and I think Kath is doing it as well it's her club. I might actually do some training this week... that might be why we had issues last night LOL

We had a trial last night... not so good, missy was off with the fairies and went on a giant adventure in search of her seekback and was called off after a couple of minutes, she looked like she was scenting but she wasn't really as she ran past the article twice (within a metre or two) and should have picked the scent up if she was really sniffing... either way bit disappointed with her about that. But just wanted to share a video of her second directed jumping... she got a 0 for it as well but I was proud of my girl, she took off for the wrong jump and half way there she realised she'd stuffed it, changed direction and went and did the right jump! We got the 0 for an extended signal but I was still proud that she corrected herself! I just can't figure out why she went for the wrong jump to begin with, I can't see anything in my body language and she looks at the right jump just before I send her and then looks at the other one and goes for it instead... oh well. Video here: She also brought back a wrong article but scored full marks on the other two that she got right. So overall what she did she did VERY well it's just what she DIDN'T DO!!! But not one single dog quallied in that right last night, not sure why but they were all a bit off.... maybe it was from the overpowering smell of fertiliser that was everywhere on the grounds! LOL

Next year Jan 2011 is when it's supposed to be an official competition, there are rumors of it starting next year but I don't think they're true. I know none of the clubs here in QLD are ready for running competitions, plus they haven't figured out who's judging them or how yet! But I think plenty of clubs are intending to start running mock trials and workshops etc on it next year to get people ready for it!

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. :D 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.

Yeh I figured that was the case as my two are both fed the exact same thing and the puppy gets pretty much the same amount as my adult at the moment and his are firm but brown whereas hers tend to be drier, crumblier and yellow! It's annoying as she's one of those dogs that has to walk and poo so she leave all these little yellow crumbly nuggets all over the place! A real pain to clean up!!

Hey Kath, there was a thingy in the QLD dog world some time ago (either last year or this year I can't remember) stating that they were banned by dogsqld. They are legal to use in QLD but not allowed by dogsqld so can't be used at any dogsqld affiliated club or event. Some clubs will still allow them to be used discreetly but don't make that known. You'd have to look through the memo sections of every dog world since the start of last year to find it though... I'm sure it was early in the year but can't remember which year!

thanks guys! I thought the yellow was something to do with the chicken. Might increase the meat content in her diet a bit.

Yeah the judge commented that it was good that her poos were yellow as we wouldn't have been able to find them in the dark if they had been brown! LOL

I noticed recently that my girl seems to have really dry poos that tend to be a bit on the crumbly side and are often a pale yellow colour. My puppy on the otherhand has "normal" brown firm poos. She doesn't seem constipated and poos regularly and seems otherwise healthy. They get fed the same thing - raw meaty bones and veggie slops with extras thrown in. They mostly get fed chicken frames but I do throw in lamb off cuts and turkey fairly often. I never really thought about it too much but now that I have I can't work out why her poos are so different to the pups. Has anyone got any ideas or should I perhaps head off to the vet and ask them?

Maybe you need to try wine BEFORE your next trial!!! I'm a bit nervous about trialling tonight... got some crazy wind happening and am worried that it may cause Ella some trouble with her seekback... I guess we'll see in a few hours! Well the wind died down and we had to deal with the muddiest, boggiest conditions I've ever trialled in and she found a different way to blow her seekback - by having to poo half way through it! Arrgghh!!! It would have been an OC leg too if she didn't do that!

Well I don't quite have a brag tonight. Ella unfortunately needed to poo (AGAIN) part way through her seekback so got a 0 for that... of course she then managed to pass everything else with really nice scores and ended up with a 2nd place as well. It would have been an OC leg if it weren't for that silly poo! And before anyone says it, I did toilet her and she did go!!!

that's horrible! I can't believe they train like that!!!

Maybe you need to try wine BEFORE your next trial!!! I'm a bit nervous about trialling tonight... got some crazy wind happening and am worried that it may cause Ella some trouble with her seekback... I guess we'll see in a few hours!

Haha when I went through CCD I used a 6ft lead and always went to the end of my lead for SFE! If I ever put another dog through CCD I'll make sure I use a shorter lead!!

Ella would like this to apply for Drop in the box too! Couldn't agree with you more Seita! There are some lovely working CCD dogs, and they won't be affected by the new rules. I think it we make it a little more challenging then people won't just enter 'just to see how they go'. I also like the inclusion in the rules about the constant tightening of the lead etc. How many dogs to you see that only turn when the lead tells them their owner is going somewhere! To me - heeling should be like dancing - a perfect synchrony of handler and dog working together... at least thats what I am for... whether we get there or not....... I agree about there being some really nice dogs in CCD too and obviously some that are ready but have terrible handlers (wink wink Huski) there's just alot of really really crap dogs in there as well. I'm glad they've put the tightening of the lead thing into the rules although it should have been penalised for all along... I remember be penalilsed for that back in Novice under the old rules when I started trialling my first dog like 10 years ago

I think it's great that they've made CCD a bit more challenging. It was too easy and as a result far too many dogs were hitting the rings not prepared enough for it. I think a higher pass mark brings it more inline with other classes and making the stand for exam worth a bit more is also good as it's not an easy exercise to train and 10 points was a bit skimpy! I don't think making the stays 4 metres longer should have a huge impact, the dogs I've seen blow it tend to lie down, sit up or go play with their neighbour, that's going to happen regardless of the distance the handler is from the dog. I can only hope that these changes mean people will think a little more before entering CCD or maybe clubs will spend a little more time training and helping newbies before they hit the ring. I don't know what it's like in other states but the standard of work here in QLD in CCD is dismal.

Thanks for posting that! I quite like the idea of being able to get your OC through either UD or UDX and the Grand Champ OC title sounds really awesome! I'm sure we'll see a few of those appear next year! I have to go off and read the rest of the changes now!

I am paying just under $300 to share a cabin, that includes two nights accommodation, meals, the workshop etc. It was more if you don't share. ETA: I will even throw in alcohol for anyone who is game enough wants to pop into our room hahahahaha Alcoholic anyone??? No wonder she sprains ankles when she's playing with her dogs!

Thanks JulesP! I now know how newbies feel when they ask a simple question and get inundated with what the posters I'm sure all think is helpful but actually seems quite critical! It just felt like everyone was going "ahh this is food agression rah rah rah" and you need to do five squillion things to stop it IMMEDIATELY or you will die!!! Ok that may have been slightly exaggerated.... To clarify - My dogs all live by the NILIF principles, all do TOT for their food, all will recall away from ANY food, all have never ever shown any sign of food aggression EVER. My puppy was just doing something interesting that I had never seen before and was curious if anyone else had ever experienced it or why he might be doing it. Question has been answer, dog does not have food aggression nor will he ever develop it while he lives with me. Back to usual transmission!

Yep Warley baby, how lucky am I . Have you seen her sire Tonka? He's in Queensland, he trials in UD. I have!!! I have!!! He's lovely! Congrats on the new baby and good luck with her!!!