piper

They can work for some animals. You can try a simple version with either a bandage wrapped in a figure 8 (in front of chest, over shoulders, then under belly and over lower back if still length) or a small t-shirt that fits snug (tie bottom of shirt in a knot to take up slack around belly). I have found the majority of animals with sound phobias often have issues being touched (can be subtle) around the back end or mouth. Doing TTouch work around the body can help reduce this. A lot of this is about helping the animal improve their self awareness which tends to not exhist much when they are in a manic state. Your seeing the relaxation from this when you put the harness on. Thanks for your reply. I will try the bandage next thunderstorm. I used to use some kids long sleeve t-shit/skivvy type tops on my thunderphobic boy. I think it was about a size 3 or 4 in a stretchy type material and fitted quite firm over the body and down the front legs. He was still stressy but better than without. The most effective in keeping him calm was to put him in that and then crate him at the end of the passage with doors shut so he didn't get the lights flashes and put something over his crate. This would reduce it to just the occasional whine and a little stress panting rather than the screaming, mad running we would get otherwise. With just the t-shirt he would pace and cry and just crated he would cry and scratch at the crate.

It was. We had HEAPS of runs compared to what we normally do. 44 on sheep and 25ish on ducks I think. Quite a few titles gained at trial level on both stock types as well as instinct and pre trial tests. Hardly anyone walked away without at least 1 pass over the weekend (I was 1 of the few but only had the 1 run).

Definitely handler skills as well. You need to learn to read the stock to know where to position yourself and the dog to get the stock where you want. For example yesterday on the ducks I was standing too close to the obstacle so the ducks would not go in no matter what the dog did as I was essentially blocking their path. Learning to read the stock takes time and patience - watching others is good as oyu can see what happens more easily than when you are trying to think about the dog as well.

Thanks Ness. She blows me away at times. The level of work she was giving me this weekend was so far above what I have ever asked and she hasn't seen sheep since last August! I was disappointed not to be able to collect the strays on Saturday but it was her only hiccup for the weekend and a difficult task. Her hiccup yesterday was that her handler was useless Today she was literally pushed into the paddock twice (under the fence) and each time found the sheep and brought them back unassisted and in a nice calm fashion.

Where is Dova? She has a brag or 2 or 4 or something! It has been a huge herding weekend over here. No brag for me, jazz only had 1 run as I was also judging and we ruined our perfect record because she needs a new handler. I am thrilled with her work outside the trial ring as I have asked her to do a lot this weekend even finding sheep that she could not see and fetching them to me without me entering the paddock.

I know the part you mean but not had the problem to know the answer, sorry.

And we have a reasonable entry for a duck day too :p Jazz gets 1 run which is likely to be a disaster then I have to put on my judges hat and judge trial classes for the first time.

They are hard to find in Oz - so you have done a good job finding somne - but these are a lot more expensive. The last lot from the US worked out at $4.50 for a small, $5.50 for a medium and $6.50 for a large + $5.70 postage. I guess if people didn't want to wait for a bulk order then its a good alternative. I found them for $6.99 for small up to $9.99 for large but they wanted $14 to courier to SA. Within NSW was only $5.

Clubs North of Adelaide that do obedience and agility are Para Districts at Salisbury. Obedience on Sundays and Agility on Friday nights. Munno Para with obedience Monday nights and agility Tuesday nights or Gawler at Willaston, obedience Friday nights and agility on Wednesday nights. I think all 3 run puppy agility training as well. I would suggest going along and watching and seeing what you think as everyone has a different opinion. I currently sort of train at Gawler but tend to do my own thing and didn't go through the classes as I had already done a fair bit of training at home so can't comment specifically on the classes.

Use what you are comfortable with. It has been awhile since I have done any agility but all 3 of my dogs had "tunnel" for both types - go into the round hole. And we used over for all types of jumps - if all 4 feet are in the air it is an "over" I am like the others though in that I think too many commands just becomes noise. Some of my best runs were when I chose to run without commands - if the obstacle is in your line take it and if I don't want you to take it my body language will indicate a change of line. And if needed I would use their name and "here" to pull them back towards me if they were heading to the wrong obstacle. My main commands were: OK - release from start line/contacts Wait - start line and table Spot - go to your contact location Walk on - A Frame and dog walk See Saw I also used "go on" - keep going the direction you are going and taking whatever is on that line and "out" - move out away from me laterally. 1 of my dogs I also taught switch and wrap as previously described.

Yeah, GO GRIF!!

I got all excited then thinking you had a result to share!

Ok, so I had to google it - I am guessing you mean the second pic that came up in my search. ;)

Even more so as they just won breeders group for Working. Go team Nahrof!

Your photos always have so much feeling. They look like they had a good time, I imagine the clean up was not so much fun though, lol.

I don't often post in the challenges but I always check them out and if I pick up the camera (not nearly as often as I should) I always try and rememebr the current challenge and shoot something with it in mind, so even if I don;t post it does inspire me Yesterday I went to Adelaide Zoo and was happily snapping away when I remembered that it is rule of thirds this month, which is ok as I tend to use it a lot anyway. Here are some that I got - not as many as I would have liked but I was supervising a holiday care group of 45 kids as well! This 1 was through wire so I was extra pleased as I managed to blur the wire out and keep her in focus Dappled light and pands do not go welll together, whites, blacks, shadows, bright light and with looking after the kids I was having to be quick so mostly used auto, these had a tweek in lightroom to help the exposure. I don;t know what I did to this 1 in lightroom, I think adjusted it the wrong way. I am sure it was not that overexposed?

Good diet, keeping them in a healthy weight range, keeping them fit and active their entire lives. My choice is also to limit unnecesssary chemicals - I don't give the combined spot ons, I just treat things as needed so heartworm monthly, intestinal worms 3 monthly and fleas as needed (maybe once a year?). We are not in a tick area so that has never been a problem. I also have not given annual vaccs for quite sometime - my 2 old boys got them about every 2 years until they were around 7 or 8 and then that was it. And I am another who has had registered pedigrees so can't claim hybrid vigour ;)

1 large and 4 small for me please. Jazz has decided she LOVES her small isqueaks and has lost 1 already

http://www.shophs.com.au/ I know they used to do phone/mail orders.

The Harris Scarfe catalogue specifies Oztrial and has a RRP of $229. The BCF Easter weekend catalogue also has pictured the Oztrail Compact with the logo on the picture but it is a 4 day sale. I think they have other brands there that are cheaper than oztrail normally but right now these specials seem to be genuine. Aussie Disposals have the deluxe for $189 at the moment - I was in there the other day looking at something else and noticed it as I walked past.

Hi Jules, There are no set hand signals and words that you HAVE to use. After all the dog does not understand English. You are going to teach it an association to go with each word. Having said that it makes it much easier if words are distinct and have 1 meaning. So if you use down for get down off of somthing then you will probably not want to use it for lay down. Some ideas for you for alternatives are "off" instead of down or "give" instead of drop it. This then leaves drop or down as an available option when you want the dog to lay down. If your pup is sitting well for a lure but not on command without then you need to fade the food lure. 1 way to do this is to use the food to lure the dog into a sit and reward. Do this a couple of times and then do 1 where you hold your hand the same way but have no food, as soon as the dog sits bring in some food from the other hand and reward so that he realises he does not have to see the food to get the food. The next step I used was if I had food in my hand I would ask for 3 or 4 sits before giving anything but if I did not then I would only ask for 1 sit before bringing out a reward (don't forget this can be a toy, pats or play as well as food) in this way they learn that there is a better chance of a reward when they can not see it than when they can. A general rule that I use to prevent them becoming overly dependent on the food as a lure is as soon as they reliably follow it into position (and this can be as few as 5 or 6 repetitions depending on what you are asking them to do and the dog's attention span) then start doing it without the lure. Remember though if you go somewhere different or there are suddenly lots of distractions around you will probably need to go back to basics to remind your pup of what you want. Also I do not start saying the word when teaching something new until they will follow the lure into position that way the word gets paired with the action you want. Hand signals - if oyu have taught the sit by luring then this same movement without the food in your hand becomes the signal. The same with lay down. Hope that helps.

After a so-so response from my guys Jazz has over the last 2 days decided that small i-squeaks rank up there with the ultimate toy - frisbee. She now spends ages walking around carrying a small 1 in her mouth. She doesn't squeak it just carries it around and if you pass her she will drop it in front of your foot and go into crouch and stalk mode.

Great post Vickie. I agree - we have 3 dogs in the house and a large amount of the time you would not know they are there. We have had an awful afternoon/night due to a few family things so that dogs have had hardly anytime spent with them and yet when I said go and settle down, that is it - they do. Right now there is 1 dog laying behind my chair and 2 on the lounge, all relaxed as they know nothing is going to happen and hassling me will not work.

Ours arrived about 10 mins ago. There were 2 mins of madness while they all went OH WOW NEW TOYS - and then they all kind of sniffed them and walked off. I managed to get Jazz to play - they are round so she will fetch them but she won't pick them up, still nudges them back with her nose.

Jules, In that pic she certainly looks to be fetching rather than driving, but if you feel she drives better and you feel more confident that way then go with it. There is no rule to see in what manner the course must be attempted for started. In fact it will give you a leg up for the other levels where you have to drive sections of the course. Having said that, personally I find if you don't have good control of side commands and stop that driving is MUCH harder than fetching. But that could just be me as my 2 girls have both balanced very easily and naturally so altering my position would force them to alter theirs and give me a chance to put the changfe of direction on cue.