piper

Great pics Vickie, thanks for sharing. I love seeing good working photos and yours are always so nice and sharp.

Ok, catch up comment time. And I know I won't get everyone. Sorry :rolleyes: Clicking mad - what a splash! And I prefer the first pic of Chester for this week. MTD - What a sad soulful face. Lucky you didn't see that before going to the boarding kennels or she may have guilted you into staying home. PC - love the pic of Flynn herding and Moo looks so over it all. SammieS - Asti looks very comfortable laying there ;) Katalily - love the kiss photo TLC - What a cool looking dude in his hat. Shelly - The playground shots are a great idea. Zero looks like he is having a fantastic time. Helen - Your Abby Rd photo is awesome and the mini looks like it was supposed to be part of it.

I can't find my week 6 of Jazz :rolleyes: I had card reader problems earlier in the week and think I lost it. Here is week 7, not super sharp and slightly out of focus but it is hard to keep her in focus as she is so unpredictable when playing ball. 1 of the neighbourhood kids has lost yet another ball over the fence - saves me buying them ;) Week 7/52 by ricreag, on Flickr I have about 5 pages to go back and look through, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's fantastic work.

This is what Jazz is doing at the moment as well. I have to say the 2x2 method has impressed me so far. I can't believe the entries I can get. All up I went from a dog who had not seen weavers to 1 weaving 12 poles on both sides, at good (not yet great)speed with independant entries from almost anywhere in about 1 month. Susan Garrett says 12 poles in 12 days, by the time I take out the days we missed out due to the heat or only had 1 session for the day I don't think it took Jazz much longer than that. Now the proofing begins, and also working on single stepping. Oh and making some jumps so we can work on entering from other obstacles.

That is more what I am expecting. After some of the horror stories I have heard this is a pleasant surprise but most definitely not an expectation

We often read and hear about the disastrous puppy enquiries but not the great 1s. I know I am being spolit as I am yet to breed my first litter (hurry up with your season Jazz!!!) and the first serious enquiry I have had sounds great so far. These people contacted me last year looking for something for this year and I said that yes I hope to have something pending Jazz coming into season etc. I said I would update my webpage with details once a litter was confirmed. 4 months on they have emailed again to ask where things are at. I once again let them know that I am waiting her coming into season (expected last month) and the reply was that it was fine ans they understand it is not like getting a car - you cant just go and pick it up and they have been looking for years and can wait some more. I know I am being lulled into a false sense of security and it will not always be this good. LOL. I seriously hope they are still around when she finally does oblige me with a season and that we then get a sucessful mating.

2 or 3 for me. Snook - I had the same hassles so I copied and pasted into photoshop so I could place things next to each other and worked it out that way.

And boy did 20 BCs in Rundle Mall draw lots of attention. LOL For what the OP is syaing they are looking for Adelaide should be fine. I can't think of anywhere outdoors that an onlead dog can't go and lots of Cafes are find with dogs at outside tables.

I used the method Dxenion mentioned. I played with google translator with words from the standard and breed descriptions. I ended Jo with a Gaelic word but found I liked the sound of quite a few danish translations as well. After weeks and weeks of struggling I had a list within a few hours once I started playing with the translator. Good luck. And the thing everyone said to me was even if you get your last choice, it won't be long before you can't imagine being called anything else.

Tonight I added the second lot of six poles for Jazz. She has come along so well this week and her response to the second set of sixe was pretty much "what on earth are they?" LOL I basically back chained them in the end - did quite a few reps of the second set then went back to the first set and added the second set on. She was quite a bit slower through the second but her posture is great and I think she will finish off quite quick and stylish. For a bit of fun I then let the nearly 10 year old and haven't done agility on over 3 years Piper have a turn. I discovered Jazz still lacks drive and speed in comparison. Piper went through them once and there wasn't a pole left upright, looked like I was using the V method instead, lol. I am so glad though that Jazz does not feel the need to use her voice on every pole like Piper does. So my aim with Jazz over the next week is to build her speed and confidence which I think will happen quite quickly now that she is on straight poles and really hitting her entries.

That was me then - I got the fun of having Belle I had a few shelties comes through and don't remembner specific individuals (except Belle as she is so unique :D ) For entries you just use the standard entry form and in the obedience or special class area write herding instinct.

Or wait until I see the thread. If you are south of the city, Cass is where I would suggest you go. She is Ringbarka Kelpies and works at Meadows Boarding Kennels (which is where she does the training) so you can get in touch her with her through there or look up contact details for Ringbarka The HAC will be running a clinic in April and also hopefully some training days at SACA over autumn/winter/spring. These days depend though if we can get anyone to transport stock for us which is a big ask. Beast bet is to try and contact Cass for lessons though so you can get regular training. I have managed to get Jazz through to intermediate level with highly irregular training but I knew what I was doing from training Piper. No way I would have got where I am with Jazz and the training we have done had she been dog number 1. There is a lot for the handler to learn with herding - as well as teaching the dog the necessary skills you need to learn how the stock work, how to read them, how they react to you and your dog's presence etc. Good luck. I didn't realise you had been to the come and try day. You would either have worked with Cass or myself on that day.

Well, Jazz did not get Chazer's guide to posing. Week 5/52 - THROW. THE. FRISBEE. NOW.

Well, Jazz and I have been working somewhat inconsistantly on Susan Garret's 2x2 method for a couple of weeks. I say inconsitantly as days of 40+are not conducive to training when you want speed and enthusiasm. Jazz took quite a few sessions to really get the idea of driving towards and through the poles but over the last 3 days since the weather has cooled down she has just come along in leaps and bounds. I filmed last night's session where the poles were only slightly offset and about 1m apart. I was fully intending on leaving everything where it was as she was not quite getting all of her entries and had lost a little speed and confidence. Today though she has been a different dog. Once again everything seemed to click over night and she was reliably hitting every entry this morning and with more speed so I moved them in closer together. Still she kept hitting it and was driving through so I moved them in again so that they were competition spacing but slightly offset. A few goes through there from all sorts of angles and there were no hassles at all. It was amazing me that I was standing at the 4th pole and sending her in from either side. Without any planning I decided to move the poles into a straight line. This will be the test I thought. I now have a girl weaving 4 poles with reasonable speed (it did drop a bit but it has done each timee there has been a reasonable increase in criteria) and taking entries through an arc of 180 degrees. I did not push it beyond that. I decided I have pushed it enough for 1 weekend!! And of course there is no video of that exciting 5 minute session as I had not been planning on moving the poles into line.

I hope it works for you guys. Jazz is funny. She is 3 now, I still randomly throw something down but most the time she doesn't see it unless I point it out. But when I open the front door and she wonders out she rarely goes more than a metre from the door. The other thing I didn't mention was teaching a good wait at the door until released. All of them (even the evil beagle who will look for a gap and take it) will stay out of the way with a door held wide open if told to. Jessi the beagle actually walks backwards away from the door as soon as we tell her to wait as we open the door and the longer you hold it open the more she moves back. Doorway waiting behaviour was taught at a "low value door" (just the bathroom door initially - they are usually not in a rush to get in or out of there). I don't require a sit, stand or drop. Moving and change of position is allowed but not past the line of the door. So I start to open the door and if the dog goes to go through the door gets closed. Open, close, open close etc until they hang back a second then give a release word and allow them through. Once they get the hang of it you increasethe challenge - wait longer before releasing, walk in and out, open and close the door several times, say other things, throw a toy etc. Then move it to a different door - bedroom, backdoor etc. Finally when it is a solid reliable behaviour at a variety of doors go to the front door and repeat there. Use a long line for safety so you can put your foot on if needed to stop them but usually by then it is quite solid, however if you want to practice releasing to outside and are still working on the recall side of it then you want the long line anyway. Oh yes - sometimes allow them through the door as the reward, other times givem them a reward on the same side of the door as being released will not always mean going through the door. My generic release is OK and it is important to still release and reward even if not letting them through the door.

That is stunning Huga

dwilds, I hope you survive the night unscathed. It is awful watching it on the news and knowing nothing can be done to help. I can't imagine what you are all going through up there. As to how long - I ordered mine boxing day and got it I guess 2.5 weeks ago? So it was around 3 weeks. I think she says 2 - 3 weeks then postage time. Last time I looked on her blog she said she had a lot of orders so the time was a bit longer than usual.

What I did with Jazz when she was a puppy was heaps and heaps of hanging about outside on a long line so that being out the front was no big deal. I also (and this was done on leade for a long time) would when taking her out with me scatter food on the ground by the door for her to pick up while I locked up and again when I got home while I unlocked. Then I started putting less food and waiting for her to look up at me then dropping more. All of this encouraged her to just hang around the front door and not go anywhere as that is where she got heavily rewarded when outside. We have a beagle as well, she was my partners before we were together. And unfortunately she had a learnt pattern of not being allowed out the front and then when she managed to push out she had novice owners that paniced and ran chasing her and shouting and grabbing. So she is a dog that puts head down and BOLTS if she gets through a door. I have not done anywhere near the work I should on this (I am guilty of relying on 2 things - her arthritis that now stops her going far or fast and the fact she is a beagle and runs 20 steps then doubles back 10 to find the smell she raced past.) On the occassions she has snuck through I have resisted the urge to run or shout and taken a few seconds to go and get food. With food her recall is quite reliable as it is in most other circumstances - just doors due to her early history. When we moved in toigether I did lots and lots of long lead work with heaps of recalls for high value rewards. Usually I can walk quietly to 5m or so away from her and call and she will come back for food. Last time she got out I happened to be near the car and she got past my Dad who was visiting, she shot past me before I knew and I instinctively opened the door and asked her to go for a ride and she doubled back and jumped in. LOL. But the point of this rambling is I was determined with Jazz not to have this issue so made hanging about outside and being allowed out no big deal and the front door was particularly rewarding. It has worked well for me. My old girl Piper I did not do any of this with as we lived on acreage at the time and she has always been a dog that stays under foot. With your dog you could also do lots of wait/get backs at the door then invite through once you have gone through and reward next to you so that they learn to come out when invited. Good luck and I am sure others will have some great ideas ;)

LOL. Piper wouldn't have cared. She always preferred finding her own courses anyway!! ;) I sill remember Ann Croft saying "Ok that WAS the dog's fault" as she had turned the tunnel entrance so it was not visible, then blocked the tunnel with her legs and I was running in the opposite direction. Piper did the previous jump, hunted for the tunnel, pushed Ann out of the way, did the tunnel then proceeded to find me.

I meant this as a mixer with the raw meat, now why do people feed dry food in general. Instead of buying a big bag of low quality dry just get some homebrand rice/oats and a mineral/vit mix. Skip the byproducts totally, thats all I meant Sorry misunderstood what you meant When people I ask I say that ideally I feed raw, unfortunately though in practice it doesn't work for us 100%. But yes a raw meal is a raw meal and kibble is for days when I haven't got any/couldn't get any bones. My local butcher used to be great but alas is not any more and I got sick of stopping in just for good meaty bones and them having none. I don't mind a special trip if I know it will be succesful but I don't have the time to check in every day in the hope they have something. Oh another thing - get to know when your supermarket has meat reduced to clear. I know I can almost always get offal at 50% off after 2pm on a Sunday, so I do a weekend shop which works well for cold meats for work lunches anyway.

Agree with the try them out. I got all excited the other night at a show that they had some scissors on a massive sale and I want a shorter pair than what I have. They were not comfortable at all for me. The weighting jus felt all wrong. So even though they were a huge bargain I put them back as I would end up reverting to my longer but really comfortable to me pair.

Because I do not have a large freezer and nowhere to put 1 (I want 1 though) and I am not going to go to the shops every other day whenhalf the time they don't have much suitable anyway. Whenever I am at the shops if the bitcher or supermarket has suitable stuff then I will get as much as I can keep in the frdige and reasonably feed without it going off. If they do not have much there or I don't get to the shops then they have kibble usually with eggs or sardines or yoghurt added to it. For dry food you could mix a higher quality kibble like Black Hawk with something like Coprice/Uncle Albers/Breat Barko to bring the average cost down. You woudl need the ability to store a large amount though as they are all 20kg bags. I have thought about it when money is tight but then get back to the lack of storage and also how long it would take to get through it issue.

Jazz decided her bone was for burying: Week 4 of 52

I would also just use sit. Ask for a sit, delay the reward and give a release word so that sit means sit until told to do something else. It has worked for a few border collies I know who decided that stay meant remain in that spot and the position is optional

Well I persisted with the toy and got 2 sessions in today. This morning was a little better than last night but she was still tending to stand and stare (only forwards between the poles not at me, lol) before moving. This evening after work she did really well and was driving to them from 3 or 4m away and all sorts of angles and very few misses or stand and stare moments. Time to rewatch the next section of the DVD