superminty

Thought I'd add to this. Dog: Minty Breed: Mutt (kelpie/staffy x maybe) Age: 6.5 Vaccinations: C3 at 6, 8 and 12 weeks, then C5 every year up to now. Results: don't have number results but high positive immunity for parvo and hepatitis, adequate for distemper. Cost $60, results came back within a fortnight. All three dog clubs I am a member of have accepted titre test results instead of proof of vaccination. I find it interesting that there are a few cases where distemper immunity is lower (on here and with others i have compared results with). Any ideas why?

Yay, I finally get to have a brag! Minty and I came home from Ballarat agility trial yesterday with three passes - one open jumping and two masters jumping - and 3 first places In one masters run I fell over in the middle, nearly DQ'd coz I forgot a jump and had to call off and re-send (SO lucky) and still got 1st. Second masters pass was won by 0.03 of a second! So we need one more open pass and one more masters pass for respective titles. Pressure is on

The Brenda Aloff book is AMAZING It covers some of the same stuff as Click to Calm (same principles) but goes much further. It's a big read and I use it more as a reference book, it covers both dog and human aggression issues so you can skip to the bits that are more relevant for your dog's situation. Definately worth the cost, I found Amazon had the best price. Cannot recommend this book enough and she's coming out next year my hero To be honest, I get a little something out of every book I read on aggression and incorporate what I like best into my training program, but the Brenda Aloff book is a great starting point.

Congrats Kavik, it's a real achievement. I started my kelpie out with the techniques from Click to Calm and progressed to Brenda Aloff's "Aggression in Dogs" and we have had some huge leaps of success. It's a great feeling when you can finally take your dog for a walk without them reacting. While many people take walking their dog for granted, when you have a reactive dog, just getting around the block without a reaction is cause for celebration. Keep up the good work!

Lol, clever dog, throws AND fetches! Now if only you could mass produce them, we'd all have self-exercising dogs :D

When attempting to shape a "head" down" pose, I captured *one* attempt where his nose touched the couch as he put his head down. So that routine became *run over to the couch and put your head on the ground while touching the couch with your nose*... With retrieving: when working on getting longer holds of the dumbell - Cash is naturally creative (sits can be hard as they are too simple!) so experimented with paw lifts while holding the dumbell. At the time I was only interested in the hold so didn't fuss about the paw lift. Now I have a dog that is convinced the exercise includes touching his paw to the dumbell while holding it. Superstitious behaviour drives me up the wall, especially because I know I *trained* it!

Add herding to the list, if you have a dog that is an "apparent mix of herding breeds". Titles can be gained.

Thanks :D It was really nice after how people kept coming up and saying what a lovely working dog she was and how happy and keen she looked, seeing as we gave obedience away 2 years ago due to lack of enthusiasm and frustration. I have learnt a lot since then - in particular how to make it FUN! Now I just gotta find a local(ish) trial before the weather gets too warm to finish off the title! Was just a couple of points off high in trial too, something I never thought we'd even get close to

Congrats to everyone on recent achievements. Brag from Broadmeadows today. In her first trial since this trial two years ago (if my memory serves me correct, it was a long time ago), Minty got her 2nd Open pass with a score of 192 and first in the ring!! The wind was shocking and put a lot of dogs off but we came through really well, had a ball and my little girl loved every minute of it (which is the whole point of trialling if you ask me) so I am thrilled. Very very excited

Depending on where you are coming from. I'm in Ascot vale and I've done the trip in 2.25 hrs! Makes it do-able as a day trip

Hey all Brags from the Casterton Kelpie Muster this weekend - Minty won the hill climb! She was fastest in the heats and got done on time in the final, however she was the only dog to go through the gates which gets a 5 second deduction from your time, leaving her with a time of 28 seconds and the win! This makes up for last year when she was the fastest on the day but handler error down the bottom of the hill let us down. I did tell her that she was getting old and slow as she was 4 seconds behind the record she set two years ago. So that's another Casterton trip paid for, yippee. Cash also did really well, handled the crowds like a pro and posed for photos like the prima donna that he is We competed in Kelpie Idol but he got a bit of stage fright (fair enough, don't get crowds like that in training much). However, considering last year I wouldn't have even considered walking him down the main street due to his aggression, I think he did brilliantly. He has come a long way and I was very proud of him.

If it helps, I recently started doing the following: Walk once to get the order then break the course down into 3 or 4 parts (depends on the level, novice probably 3, masters 4). Walk each part separately, work out how to run each part as a sequence then back chain them. I figure that if using training theory is good enough for the dog then it's good enough for me. This has really helped me remember courses, particularly Masters courses of 24 obstacles - near impossible for me to walk it in the correct order and have a hope in hell of remembering the last part.

Will they let me hold the thermometer? Hmm, temp taking may be ok coz I can get his head between my knees and hold him still. Argh, stessed out already!!

That just won't happen I may have to ring and find out what's involved - if it's just a heart rate check and check of pads he will cope - coz I can handle him myself with someone looking on, but no way will he let a stranger manipulate him in any way even with me holding him. Can anyone who has done an ET confirm what the vet check routine is?

I want to enter this one but... ...what do you do when your dog won't let anyone examine him? My boy won't allow any stranger to touch him and he needs to be muzzled at the vets. What does the vet check consist of? Just heart rate check? Would they allow me to put the stethoscope thingy (technical term ) on him myself (with the vet listening at the other end of course)? Can I carry a muzzle with me? The test itself doesn't worry me, that darn vet check does

Lol, great minds think alike, that's all. I played around with a few different ways of doing things that was the idea I hit upon that made sense to me and most importantly, to the dog. Just on the "ready" cue - my bitch goes into overdrive hearing that cue - yep, all good, just what I want. My kelpie however goes into "crazy stalking I'm gonna herd you" mode - so I may have to experiment with another "working" cue for him if I ever want to obedience trial him

Just my two cents worth... I use a clicker as a marker AND a release i.e. once clicker has sounded, behaviour is ended and we start again. Used to shape new behaviours and sharpen up old ones. I use "yes" as a marker only - must be released and used as a "keep going" cue i.e. you are on the right track but the work's not over til you hear the release. I can use a clicker reflexively - can't do this with voice (just me). I can get a lot of clicks out very fast if I am rewarding, for example, feet on a skateboard - click every time a foot touches and toss treats - doesn't necessarily need to get a treat for every click as it has been conditioned. For me, I find this is easier than using "yes" as my dog may offer feet on 20 times in a very short time - not physically possible for me to catch each one with a "yes", can do so with a click. I am more likely to use "yes" when working on duration behaviours i.e. heel patterns etc that will only be rewarded after a certain number of behaviours have been offered or at the very end. Again, a "keep going" cue. If I am working on straightening sits (single behaviour), I will use a clicker - dogs sits straighter, I click, dog can get up to get his reward. As for getting attention before working - "ready?" works a treat for me Dog knows there are now opportunities to earn a reward. I say this every time I get out the training gear, it becomes conditioned very quickly, just like the way dogs light up when you get out the clicker. They know good stuff is coming. So there are different ways to use markers and you can use them to mean different things to your dog. No confusion as long as YOU are clear on what you want the particular marker to mean and are consistent with its use.

Thanks for your recommendations, much appreciated. :rolleyes:

Hey all Had a double agility trial over the weekend and my little feral was knocking bars left right and centre - on closer examination it seems she is having trouble extending fully over jumps and I'd like to get someone to have a look at her to try and figure out the reason why. So I'm after any recommendations for canine masseurs (is that the right word?) or physiotherapists - even chiropractors provided they do massage as well. I'm in Ascot Vale/Essendon area but willing to travel. Cheers SM

Blossom: Nobivac has a KC intranasal vaccination that covers both bordetella bronchiseptica and parainfluenza virus. It is an annual vaccination.

Awesome Jed I've got plenty of reading to do I see!

Anyone got any links to studies regarding how long the individual components (excluding KC) of a typical vaccination (parvo, hepatitis, distemper) last? If *they* (the vaccination manufacturers) are re-packaging the usual annual vaccination as a 3 year, there must be some sort of evidence that the components have a life of 3 years or more. I have been told (by a vet) that the parvo lasts around 18 months while the other two last 4-5 years plus, hence the need to re-vaccinate before the parvo component "runs out". In the information I have found re: Nobivac, KC needs revaccinating annually. Nobivac has a intranasal that covers this. Same vet also says that KC only lasts 6-8 months and really needs re-doing every 6 months. Thoughts? Oh, also need a new vet (yet again) that does Nobivac if anyone has any recommendations in Melbourne? Preferably female that can handle a nervous dog. Thanks

Go the feral dogs Congrats, bring on started!

Thanks everyone for your replies, very helpful - I think a Walky Dog is the go then.

Brag photos: posted these in the kelpie thread but thought they were worth the double up My boy had his second go on ducks on the weekend and we had a blast - he's really showing a talent for it. (photos courtesy of Patrick Riley Photography)