piper

Wow Harminee you've been busy today! All fantastic of course.

I have border collies and used to do them in the bathtub and then blow dry with a normal drier or when possible would go to a friends place and borrow her setup. Then I got a shoulder injury and just couldn't cope with the bath at home anymore - too much reaching and stretching. So I would use the frieds set up which does a great job and also helped eliminate some of the grooming by lifting so much coat out with the force drier. It was so good and that I have now invested in my own The hydrobath got it's second use today. My dad had thought I was mad spending so much on a bath but he was here when I was using it and was amazed at how much quicker and easier it was. And the huge bonus for me is that I can actually bath and groom the dogs again without ending up in agony. So if you can access a hydrobath and drier or get your own I would highly recommend it. And it just seems to give a better end result.

I went on holiday to Singapore recently and decided to OOB this pic of a Spoonbill during a free flight bird show at Jurong Bird Park. I'm thinking I will have to do something with some of my Singapore Zoo shots. If anyone i interested my Singapore Pics are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8799389@N04/show/

THanks That was something unintentional, I dropped the transparency of the fram layer to make it easier to see what I was doing and decided I liked the efect. Here we go, 1 of Harri for you. Not easy when the original pic is so small, but this was a quick and easy edit

These 2 are this evenings efforts. Both of Piper

Here is an attempt at OOB that I just did on a pic of my old boy Ricky, not totally happy with it. I tried to go back and change the frame after I had created it and somehow got into los of problems so gave in and went back to this point.

hmmmm guess I must be a dog sport whore. Piper has titles in obedience, agility, jumping and herding. As a puppy she was shown in conformation, is trained to about TD level (just no time to actually trial her) and we do freestyle for demos and fun. Also started ET training last year. At the moment the herding is my "main" thing. Due to injury to me we hardly do agility anymore but she loves it when we do and it is also why I gave in on attempting the ET. I got bored with obedience (Ness will verify how long it took me to pull my finger out and finish that title! lol) I guess I am also a whore for how long I will travel to get to training, I drive 2 hours each way to get to herding for either a 1 hour private or 2 hour group class. It pretty much takes up my Saturdays. At 1 point I trained 4 nights a week in 2 disciplines with 3 clubs, then I started taking puppy preschools and gradually cut back, dropping it back to basically nothing once I got injured. Sometimes I miss it and other times I wonder how on earth I did it all.

Cool, you can shout me a trip to NSW then Seriously though, some of the links provided for tutoials give really good, clear step by step instructions. I just need to get around to putting photoshop on this new computer so I can get back to doing some stuff. A task for this weekend me thinks...

Piper used to do that too - she would spit it out, sit, then reach down and pick it up again Not overly helpful though! Otherwise her retrieve was great and she knew to come to front with it, just didn't connect she could sit while holding so I ended up having her sit, giving it to her then shuffling back just a fraction so she needed to shuffle forward. I increased the distance that I moved back until she had to raise her bum a little to move forward and then until she stood up, stgepped forward and sat. I did not reintroduce throwing it until I could walk back 3 or 4m and she would come in and sit. Hope that helps.

Here's a non dog 1 that I did awhile ago using the burn tool. I think I may have applied a filter effect as well, but can't remember now. All my dog 1s are on the dead pc

Yes you can walk through the gates in PT if you need to but it sounds like it won't be a problem for you I agree it seems silly with a dog that has trialling experience in another venue that you have to go back to IC but alas these are the rules It depends on the organisers if the leads are supplied or not, here in SA we have a few available for handlers to borrow. Maybe contact the trial manager and check?

What about the Ziwi Peak treats? I haven't tried them so not sure how hard/big/easy to break they are but am thinking with a little dog and limited calorie intake you want something with nutritional value and I keep hearing good things about these treats. Just haven't been able to find any to try them out myself

LOL I can understand that, I have started a young BC for a friend recently. She has lovely drops but once she gets there it is like she has never heard the word in her life so at the moment I accept a stop of movement from her and if she lays down by choice it is a bonus. I have found when working Piper though that I don't often want her to lay right down, just stop moving. The exception is if I am doing a hold like in the open pen in intermediate and advanced A, in that situation I want her dropped in the mouth of the pen. It is great seeing how the different breeds work, I haven't seen a belgian of any variety work yet.

Hi CTD, I can't see you would have a problem with Tia for instinct cert. The judge is usually in the ring with you - some will stay right with you, others stand on a fence line ready to assist if needed. The couple that I have judged I have hung back on the fence out of the way unless the handlers seemed really unsure in which case I walked with them to talk them through it. And in 1 case the dog was starting to get a little excitable so I moved in off the fence ready to assist if needed but wasn't required as the handler got the dog back to them. They will usually want to see a stop (wait) and a recall first done on a long line. They shouldn't specify a sit/stand/drop just that the dog wait although I have seen some judges ask for a particular position. My opinion on this is it is herding, not obedience and a wait is sufficient. After you have demonstrated a wait and recall they will want to see the dog "show interest" in the stock and the long line will nbeed to be dropped or removed at some stage. She doesn't have to work the sheep in any way in particular just show that she wants to do so the judge will then ask you to get her back and that is that. It normally only takes a minute or so, some judges keep handlers in there longer and you have up to 10 minutes if needed as some take a little while to settle and feel relaxed enough to show interest. I had 1 that I judged took about 8 mins cos it was busy checking everything out and once it was over that showed very clear interest but it wanted to see what else was there first, lol. Good luck on the weekend and let us know how she goes. Are they doing 1 or 2 tests that day?

Dog's seem to adjust to the change of height better than we give them credit for and some seem to jump better at the next height up from their official height. Piper is a bar knocking BC and yet she has less problems with knocking them at 600 than 500. I think because it is obviously higher than her, she puts more effort in I would say ring and see if they can measure on the day and train at 500 in the meantime. Good luck!

Good description With that philosophyI have 1 dog with an AD JD CD and HSAs, 1 with an ADX and 1 with an AD. The 1 with multiole titles should have mire but as Ness will agree to it actually involves me ENTERING trials. lol She got 4 passes of her ADX in 5 or 6 trials, that was over 2 years ago since then I have hardly bothered training her (personal reasons) and only entered 2 trials, 1 of which all she did was knock the last bar. So the lack of higher level titles on Piper is only because of me not bothering to compete. I'm not a competitve person, I love training and teaching new things but competiton really doesnt inteterst me that much. Based on what someone eelse said though about manners outside of the ring my 3 all have that. Piper in particular has a fantastic recall and will respond to commands without requiring treats in very distracting environments, such as being off lead on stand at the Pet Expo for 3 days and except for following 1 person carrying a nice bag of dog treats never went anywhere and on the occasion she went walk about recalled back through the pavillion and crowds of people.

Yes my friend was having video camera driving problems, lol. And the lady watching who commented as we got to the Y chute that I should be happy with it had been through with 2 of her dogs and bombed with both and thought the comments were in relation to the way Piper was working not the videoing, lol. Mind you the wheels did fall off later in the run. As is always the way the good runs are not on video As for video of instinct cert - theres not really anything to film, the dog's don't actually have to move the stock in any particular way, just display interest. I do have 1 of Piper's HT passes on youtube - that was awful work as well, lol

Here is 1 that I forgot I had on youtube of Piper working last year. This was her second pass in started A course. It is definitely not her best work but is the most recent that I have on video. In fact I am glad I found it as looking at it I can see how she is still improving and so much calmer. The filming is not the best for the first minute or so but gets better. We had some hassles moving to the centreline panel with the sheep hanging on the fence and Piper hates going between sheep and fence, also the rest of the sheep are in a pen just down that fence line in the corner so it is a very strong draw for them. That section of the course is always my trouble spot at SACA due to the draw down the fence, needing to turn them off the fence and Piper hating getting them off the fence I dropped her where I did when I got to the pen to prevent the sheep bolting past to the corner where their mates were while the handler got the gate, as had happened with others. The sheep were light that day too and if I recall we were the only 1s successful in the trial class that day.

I am North of Adelaide as well. There is a Petstock pet shop next to the Bunnings at Parafield. They have a great range and do not sell puppies

LOL, the most damage i have heard of pups doing was siblings in a yard together for long periods of time. Was definitely a case of double trouble. Hopefully this is not the case for you guys. The main thing I would suggest with 2 pups at once, especially siblings is giving them 1 to 1 time with you to enable them to develop bonds with you as well as the 1s they will have with each other. This can be training them, having some play times, short car trips and when they are old enough short walks. Also it gives them each a chance to get used to being alone if the need ever arises - you never know when 1 may need a vet stay or who knows what, so it helps if they have had chances to get used to being on their own. Give the pup being left outside alone a stuffed kong or nice bone to chew on to keep them busy and make being on their own a good experience. Good luck!

I have been along to a couple of seminars presented by Kersti Seksel and Gaille Perry, and Kersti quite openly states that the reason she does not currently have a dog is it would not be fair given the amount of time she spends away travelling doing seminars and lectures. A responsible attitude IMO. I can't remember if she has had dogs in the past, just that she explained why she doesn't have now.

This was an issue with the first dog I trained. Ricky was a really bad bar knocker and then I got told to shut up and let him work it out. Seems he took off when I said. Not sure how true that is but he certainly worked better when I was quiet. With Piper I find she often responds better to my body language if I am quiet. I get a better resopnse if I need to do a sharp turn or call her off of something if I use body language and voice provided I have not been using much voice prior to that on course. If I am calling each obstacle out she pays less attention when I give an important call.

I have a coat king and use it on my border collies. LOVE it, gets rid of all the old under coat so easily.

Good luck at the vets. I just went through this with my 10 year old BC last week. I hope you end up with the same results that I got - just an old dog fatty lump and nothing to stress about.

I've got no experience with the new black dog head collars, have been meaning to get 1 to try out for ages but I have had some succes with a harness brought out by Gentle Leader. I forget right now what it is called though :rolleyes: It's not the sense-ation, that is another brand but it is similar. They work by the leash being attached to the front of the chest so they remove the opposition reflex. I tried 1 on a very bouncy boxer in a class. The owners reactions were just not quick enough to read this dog and she would be walking nicely then lunge to sniff at something, catching the owner unaware. When she did this with this harness - the EZY WALK (Knew I would remember!) - she ended up facing the owner. And very quickly changed her behaviour as when she pulled it got her nowhere. Having said all of this, this dog was not reactive to other dogs and personally my preference with a reactive dog is to have control of the head. In which case I would use a head collar. And from what I have heard with the infin8, you do not have the same head control either. Sometimes a change of brand with head collars can help as some styles fit different dogs better than others, however it sounds like these dogs have learnt to pull with a head collar anyway. Ideally I would recommend having a look at the Delta society webpage - http://www.deltasocietyaustralia.com.au/in...ctors_index.htm to find a qualified instructor in your area. Good luck. (edited cos I can't spell)