piper

SOunding good Janba, well done. Jazz and Piper can both sympathise with the fool of a handler problem. My last 2 trials on ducks Piper has challenged me at times and I have come out saying "bloody dog" (with a laugh) and been told the dog is saying "Bloody handler!" And poor Jazz, her sides were sooo good and at training 1 day she kept taking them wrong. I would pull her up and resend her and she would try and go the wrong way. After several minutes I realised I hadmy commands around the wrong way and I now have a dog that hesitates and doubts me on side commands Idiot handler!! lol.

Ness I have seen it done using some canvas attached to the bar at either end - just get a pocket sewn in each end and thread bar through top and bootm. Allow the bottom to hang to the ground. It can height adjustable by rolling the excess canvas around the bottom pole. Does that make sense?

This is from a fact sheet about the testing" Cost of testing for TNS is $88 AUD. CL testing can be done on the same sample for a further $55 AUD.

That's a bit harsh. I am quick to the vet with mine in times of concern and not keen on leaving them alone of not well. However I also need my job. Not all jobs are supportive of people taking time off for "just a dog". Not all people have paid sick leave to be able to take a day using that even. Right now I am lucky I am in a supportive work location who would not flinch if I told them that was the reason and I needed to take the time. 2 years ago however there is no way I would have been able to and I'm not sure what I would have done in such a situation. To the OP - I hope it is nothing more sinister with your pup and you get home to a happy bouncy puppy that has rested and recovered during the day

I haven't tried it as I haven't needed to but I have heard of people using the liquid bandaid stuff on clean, stright cuts that aren't too deep.

I agree - read through the active ingredients (and the actual amounts of each 1) and you could be very surprised, I found when looking it is possible to get good quality wormers without paying a fortune. Looking online is good as you can bring up the product specs for each brand of wormer you are looking at.

The other option is to ask him to stand on something on flat ground that feels different to the surrounding groumd. It was suggested to me a few years ago now to use a large sheet of corrugated card as it feels nothing like the usual ground surfaces they are on which makes them aware of their foot movement. Put standing on that on cue and reduce the size then once it is well established on cue, introduce something else that is slightly raised and ask them toi step onto that, sometimes they get stuck and need some help as they may not generalise the cue to the new object.

Congratulations! 5 passes and 2 titles in 1 day is an awesome effort. It is a big step up to intermediate, I'm in the same position as you there, serious work needed to move up.

QUESTIONS 1. What is my relationship with the breed? (ie breeder, first time owner etc) I have owned border collies for 15 years, in that time I have participated in obedience, agility, herding and showing. As yet I have not bred a litter. 2. Where and why was the breed first developed? The breed originated in the border regions of Scotland to herd sheep. As a show sog Australia is listed as country of development. 3. How common is it in Australia? I would say that the border collie is one of the more popular breeds in Australia, as a working dog as well as a performance dog or pet. 4. What is the average lifespan? We had 1 live to 14 and 1 to 12. This seems to be a fairly comman lifesp anfor border collies. 5. What is the general temperament/personality? They are usually very biddable and want to be with you and do things with you. They are easily trainable but this has drawbacks as well as they can quickly learn to do things you don't want as well as what you do want. They are typically lively and active, but should have an off switch. Ideally they are ready to go all day long if that is what you want but if you re having a quiet day they should cope with that too, so long as they receive some mental stimulation as well. I have also found some border collies can tend to be a little anxious - early socialisation and training can assist with managing this. 6. How much daily exercise is needed for the average adult? I find mental stimulation to be as important. They can get by without a walk if you keep the mind busy. Ideally they require a decent walk or run each day. A good active game can substitute - we often spend 30 mins playing frisbee in lieu of a walk. The chance for a decent off lead run every so often is beneficial as well. 7. Is it a breed that a first time dog owner could easily cope with? If they are comitted into putting in the time for physical and metal stimulation and want a dog to be a part of activities with them, then yes. Training would also be recommended both for socialisation and mental stimulation reasons. 8. Can solo dogs of this breed easily occupy themselves for long periods? It depends on the individual - my first boy was a quiet laid back boy and was fine on his own. My current 2 girls I would say no. Being an active and intelligent breed they could be inclined to create their own entertainment if left alone for long periods of time, and it may not be the kind of entertainment you or the neighbours appreciate. 9. How much grooming is required? It depends on the coat. 1 of my current girls needs a good brush every week, the other can get by with less as she has a coat that doesn't really tangle. My previous 2 boys 1 needed a couple of quick brushes a week to keep his pants tangle free, while the other was 1 good brush each week. On average I would say once a week. 10. Is it too boisterous for very small children or for infirm people (unless the dog is well trained)? They can be quite boisterous so training would be recommended to be around young children or the infirm. With training they can make fantastic companions regardless of age. My boys used to do nursing home visits and love it, and my young girl Jazz is brilliant with kids. 11. Are there any common hereditary problems a puppy buyer should be aware of? There are 3 hereditary diseases that are able to be tested for - CL (Ceroid Lipofuscinosis), TNS (Trapped Neutrophil Syndrrome) and CEA (Collie Eye Anomaly)/ Good breeders will DNA test their breeding stock for these diseases as well as xray for hip and rlbow dysplasia. 12. When buying a puppy, what are the things you should ask of the breeder? (eg what health tests have been done (if applicable) and what is an acceptable result to those tests so the buyer has an idea of what the result should be) As mentioned above, reputable breeders DNA test their breeding stock CL, TNS and CEA. It is acceptable that the puppies are not tested for these but the parents should be. If a parent is a carrier of 1 of these diseases it can still be used in a breeding program but the other parent must be clear/normal to prevent any pups being affected. Carrier puppies do not have the disease and will never develop it, but may pass it on if bred from to another carrier or affected dog. If they state that the parents are "clear by parentage" ask if they have any documentation to verify this (it is acceptable not to DNA test a dog where both parents have been DNA tested as clear/normal for the same disease) Other than this have the puppies been vaccinated, wormed, vet checked etc. Benshiva gives some good ideas of things to ask a breeder of any breed :D

Fantastic! Love the action photos, Xena looks like she gets good air! Any dog of mine would be seriously handicapped with my frisbree throwing skills. Jazz loves her frisbee, shame it is lost over the fence yet again What a huge achievment for you and CK. Good luck for the games.

Oops, I decided to wait for the 2nd 1 to upload and add them both at once but hit send without thinking. It's been a looonnggg tiring weekend! Her really rough and ugly first run: ANd I should add that it is not really a bad run, just not like what I am used to from her. The outrun, was entirely my fault and caused a large amount of the points off. I should add that I trimmed over 2 mins of waiting at the peg for sheep to be set. She had started to sniff and I didn't get her attention properly and send her I just said her name and ok which she correctly took to be approach as you like.And the other run that I described before:

This is Jazz's second run for the day. I was thrilled with her cast/lift/draw and how calm and smooth it was off of a person and a pile of grain! We had a pen issue both trials, in the first trial she got stressed about stopping on the fence in front of the stock - she likes out in the open and ended up coming away from the stock and following me. This run she did similar. I though afterwards what I should have done, oh well. And the big stuff up ear the Z chute is my fault - gave her the wrond command. Thanks to Dova's OH for recording this 1 for me

You should be pleased, your guys are coming along really well. You should have no problems by the time we get to our next trial. Today was duck day. I had Jazz entered for 1 run - wasn't sure how she would do so didn't want to blow too much money. Well she passed with 84 and Runner Up High In Trial. It was a not very pretty run, the outrun/lift/fetch was really ugly as we struggled to get them back on line then a few hiccups going to the Y and not bad other than that. Piper had 2 runs in intermediate, gained her title on the first run and High in Trial. We originally thought Jazz had won but found an adding error and Piper won by half a point. It was kind of like that with her - we only had half a point to spare on the hold exam pen. Her second run was similar and was again high in trial. Both dogs are severely handler impaired when it comes to ducks. Wherever I went it seemed to be in the way ad stopping ducks going where I wanted them to. It was only sheer luck that we managed any passes at all, let alone 3 passes from 3 runs and the best 3 runs of the day.

I had my brag in the bc thread. Jazz titled with a ratty run for her due to crap handling from me at the start. Apparently she doesn't cast if I give a vague wave of my hand and just say ok! So she went straight and split the stock then took a bit to settle. Second run I gave a decent command and was rewarded with a superb cast and lift therefore a smoother run. I have them videoed so will try and upload tomorrow after the duck trial.

Saturday we will be there aaalllllll day! Around 40 runs I believe with over half of those trial runs. Which for Adelaide is just awesome. Given that not much over 12 months ago it was pretty much me, myself and I trialling! Sunday we will be there til around lunchtime at a guess, we don't usually get as many for ducks. And a few dogs have started titles now but are not ready for intermediate yet. Probably only around 15 duck runs.

Should be a good weekend. Lots of runs and more trial dogs in than we have ever had before. With any luck Jazz and PIper will both finish titles. Jazz needs 1 more for started on sheep and we have 2 runs (plus her first ever run on ducks at a trial) and Piper is after 1 intermediate duck pass from 2 runs. She has a major handler handicap in me - I am shocking at positioning myself with ducks. Dova - my piece of advice... don't forget to go around C. Some new people get so excited to get the cast they head straight to the Y after b rather than going all the way up and around C. And yeah, keep moving especially as the stock get into the obstace. Take your time. 10 mins is heaps. Going against my keep moving advice I will also say if lost or usure where to go, stop your dog where it will hold the sheep and think for a moment before moving forwards. These sheep flow really nicely so you should not have a time issue.

I found they were useful for people to be able to use to take the dog for a walk and give it exercise without it pulling while workng on training the dog to not pull at other times. For example the people who like to walk the dog to school to pick up the kids and want to keep doing that and want to train the dog to walk nicely. A harness or head collar enables them to continue doing that without continually reinforcing the pulling on a lead while they teach loose lead walking as a seperate exercise at other times. Granted there ere unfortunately many people who see them as the solution and stop training once they are on but it was not how I recommended their use.

I think he said he does similar when introducing any new equipment or visual aid. It makes sense.

I prefer the u turn style about turn as well. But I do like the dogs to know both. Not so much with Piper or Jazz but 1 of my first BCs used to drift out of position so it was good having him know both - if he was rushing which he tended to do in slow pace then the go behind the back worked better. My prefernce is always the u turn though, when they have good hind awareness it can look very flash. Piper is lovely at it - I can do 2 or 3 complete 360 degree pivots on the spot with her holding heel position through use of her hind end, looks flashy in heel work to music ;)

From what I can gather with the use of the double ended leash you can transition back to a collar. By having the leash on the collar and the harness you can transition where the "pressure" is by how you are holding it, so keep using the double ended leash attached to te harness until you can do a normal walk without needing to use the end of the leash. Hope that makes sense. Something that I haven't tried is something Ian Dunbar mentioned as making transition back to collar easier. This was in relation to head collars but I can see it applying to harnesses as well. What he said is most people attach the lead and walk the first time they get the head collar on, so the dog learns that the new condition is due to this new thing on it. What he suggested (and he did use some toehr examples other than head collar back to collar, but can't remmber them all now) was when introducing a new training aid, put it on (or in place) but do not use it for the first dozen or so times. So put harness on but walk on normal collar. Continue to do this for a few weeks then commence using the new accessory AND introduce a new cue. He says this way the change is most likely to be attribued to the new cue consitantly being applied rather than the new piece of training equipment, as the dog has already reasonable experience of that piece of equipment causing no change to their behaviour. He says that in doing that you can often transition back to the prefered collar as the dog has learnt the new cue means don't pull as opposed to the new piece of equipment means don't pull. I probably explained that really poorly and missed heaps. I enjoyed Dunbar's seminar but was as sick as with glandular fever when I went so lots of it was missed ;)

I had heard miracle stuff about these front attach harnesses about 5 or 6 years ago and decided I had to give 1 a go. So I bought 1 in from America and then realised that I could walk my 3 BCs on 1 finger so testing it on them was pointless, lol. I had a boxer in class at the time that I thought would be a perfect candidate only the 1 I had did not fit her. At the time they were not available in Australia at all. I found a harness that happened to have a ring in the chest so decided to try it anyway. Well tbis boxers face was priceless. She could walk beautifully on a lead but she would have these moments where she caight her owner off guard and would bounce forward to the end of her elad dragging owner with her to play with another dog. We put the harness on, walked towards another dog in class, boxer bounced foward and due to the conenction on her chest found herself facing away from the dog. She backed up, turned around, tried it again and the look she gave her owner had us all laughing. She worked out very quickly that she could ease to the end of her lead and keep going forward but a sudden bounce would see her facing the wrong way. After that I took the harness I had bought from America and the 1 I had used on the boxer to Jenny Ireland's for her to try it out and see. She had a dedicated puller and was greatly impressed although she found it slipped a little form side to side and over time came up with Harmony harness and double ended lead method. Recently I met the boxers owner again (we have ended up at the same place of emplymnt) and she told me it took only a few weeks for the boxer to stop bouncing forwards regardless of the collar or harness she was wearing. I no longer run any training classes and they were only jst starting to be readily available over here when I stopped but the few dogs I used them on I found them to be a success. Especially for the owners, in that there is not the same reaction from most dogs as oyu get with a head collar. If the dog has worn a car harness before you can pretty much put them on and go for a walk, no settling in time needed.

Jules, As with anything else the dog will learn to generalse. I clicker trained a go around in either direction,. I think I used a foot stool to begin with and then I gradually used bigger and bigger things. But if she is stuck on it use another small object that you can lure around so that she generalises the command to be go around the indicated item in x direction.

You know I nearly took Jazz to agiltiy training for the first time Wednesday night then changed my mind about 20 mins before I was due to leave. So if thought helps at least i am thinking about it! Piper won't ever do it again for several reasons. After I hurt my shoulder my body language got realy dodgy and I tried but looked back to some video of her runs and she was getting so stressed trying to work out my cues and I would go home in so much pain I decided it wasn't worth it. Then she hirt her leg really badly and still has on again off again troubles with it and the vet said when she did it to avoid sudden, unplanned chanes of direction. She was so equipent focused that she would fly at the next thing she saw and then screech to a halt or turn tight as she realised I had gone elsewhere so that is out. I am even cautious working sheep with her now. I figure Jazz on the other hand will only know me with cruddy signals from my left side and will learn wha those cruddy signals look like and adapt to them so it shouldn't be an issue. Her herding is going amazingly wel for the little work we have done and her obdience is not looking too shabby either. She is getting close to ready for CCD or CD. Will probably just do CD as her heelwork off lead is as good as on lead, if not better.

My sort of training brag (it can go here, can;t work out where else to brag! ) At our last herding trial I had my practical exam for my judges licence for A course, all levels and today received official notification that I passed. Yippee!!

Well done! A great weekend and Gabby is still very young and only just in Excellent so a pas in each is still a good result.