CaseyKay

Can vouch for this :laugh: Lovely pups, hope the time goes fast for you :)

Rottweiler when I still want to do dog sports but too old n decrepid for agility. A boofy boy one. Just love them. Saluki (or long-haired Whippet) to lie around looking gorgeous and to buy pretty sighthound collars for. Various obscure HPR gundog breeds not available in Australasia. Either of the breeds we have (Border Collie and French Brittany) in black tri-colour. We have 4 dogs and the oldest is only 7. Four is a hard limit for me as they all compete in various things. Future dogs are a long, long way off.

We have two Brittanys. They are the smaller more spanielly looking French type, which is the much more common type in New Zealand. We use them for hunting, field trials, agility and rally obedience. They are great house pets as they are really happy to hang out with you at home, doesn't matter if you aren't doing much. Having said that ours, and others we know, don't like being left alone. If the weather is bad or you don't feel like a walk today, they don't mind as long as they get to be with you. But when you take them out they have PLENTY of go. They are a nice sized breed. Mine are both girls (mother and daughter) and weigh about 14kg. They make great snuggly lap dogs. They like their creature comforts and appreciate sharing the couch with you. They are very loyal and devoted to their family and friends but the ones I know are reserved around strangers. Not unfriendly and will happily be patted and made a fuss of by new people, but they aren't your typical "everyone is my bestest buddy" gundog. I also have 2 border collies. They are both VERY bright breeds but the Border Collies are better at being told what to do and the Brittanys are better at problem solving. I say to people that the main difference between my 2 breeds is "because I told you so" is a perfectly acceptable answer to a Border Collie :laugh: They have a nice short soft coat. Possibly they shed but nothing like my collies do.

We don't have an epileptic dog now, she died aged 11.5 years (from cancer not epilepsy) in 2013. She started seizing at 20 months, we owned her from a puppy. She used to cluster seize and went through a very bad time around 4-5 years old, so she was put on Potassium Bromide as well as Phenobarb which she started at 20 months. KBr can make them ataxic and prone to pancreatitis but the clusters were life threatening so we had no choice. Our girl had 2 bouts of pancreatitis, the 2nd time very severe aged 9 years and thought we would lose her. But she never clustered again after starting Kbr, instead having one grand mal seizure every 3 weeks no matter how we tweaked the 2 meds. The second time she got pancreatitis she was put on a very low fat kibble for recovery and that is all she ate (previously on a raw diet as I had read that helps). After starting this diet her ataxia became better, she stopped seizing and we reduced her meds. She did not seize at all the last two years of her life and I never dared feed her anything but this kibble...which she ate grudgingly. She died of pancreatic cancer so I often wonder now if her seizures were related to some medical issue and were not idiopathic (diagnosis) after all.

We have had: Gus Coby Maddie KC Now have: Gael Kepler (I think my favourite dog name I have had, usually called Keppy) Scout Camo Future Brittany names: Pilot Recon Future BC name: Fen

Nova is very handsome. Congrats on his RN! Here are my current 4 dogs on the couch, showing there is probably no room for a saluki :D Gael is 7 year old border collie, she's my BFF. She is an awesome dog to live with and I'd keep her with me 24/7 if I could but for some reason she's the hardest dog I've done sports with. She is very handler focused and very reactive to tiny movements. Next to Gael is Camo, who is a 12 month old Brittany and I just love her to bits, she is the only dog I have had since their birth and she is the sweetest thing, who can do no wrong in my eyes. I wasn't much of a puppy person until Cam Camo also got her RN recently. Scout is a 4 year old Brittany and Camo's Mum. She is far more my husbands dog and I find her a little difficult in many ways. She is very bright but doesn't use her brain only for good. Kep (2 year old border collie, Gael's nephew) is the only boy dog I have had for a long time (my two previous BCs were also girls). He is a big squishy doofus. Total mummy's boy and would love to be a lap dog. Unfortunately he is extremely licky. According to the general public he does a decent impression of a husky...

Scout probably runs off chasing stuff more than a sighthound does I'm sure there's room on your sofa for a hound There's likely room on my sofa for YOUR hound :laugh:

Lookswise Saluki's are my favourite breed (sighthound + long-haired = ), but they would probably not fit into my pack of usually exercised offlead dogs that I like to do sports with

I have 2 black roan French Brittanys. It is very rare if someone knows what they are, but I had a couple come over to me in the park last week because HE reckoned they were Brittanys but his wife was SURE they couldn't be as Brittanys didn't come in black. He was well chuffed to be right :laugh:

Do you need to worry about play styles etc with an Iggie in the house? How about a whippet? They seem a bit more robust but similar and there is an awesome one doing agility in Timaru :)

I find it quite difficult mentally to know you can't lose ANY marks in Excellent. It makes it a bit more stressful but also an interesting goal to work towards. Scout never got 100 in Advanced so I decided to leave rally at RA with her. I know it is possible with both my current BC and Camo has a lot better focus and precision than Scout so I will try Excellent with her one day. Novice is achievable for most people who try it I think, you only need 90/100 to qual in that.

Ohutu Gaelic Blues ADX JDX CDX UDX WDX RE aka Gael -Try and get more clear rounds than we did in Agility in 2015 (only 10% of runs were clear). Do less Jumpers A in 2016, as it is too much tricky handling for me and I don't enjoy it. No clears yet for 2016... -Keep working towards RAE title, hard when in NZ you need to get 95 in Advanced B and 100 in Excellent B, plus we don't get to a lot of rally shows. Added one more recently bring us to 4/10...slow process hampered by silly handler errors Eclaireur du Montier JD RA QC aka Scout -Finish JD title (on 23/25, so only needs 2) -Start working on JDX title (will need another 25 CRC as she is unlikely to get it by winning Jumpers B 3 times)long term goal. Scout was spayed in April so hasn't done any agility while recovering -Try and add some more Field Trial CC (with my husband). Added her 3rd CC in April, 3 to go Ohutu Kepler's Mission JD RA aka Kep -RE title Had his first two attempts at Excellent in May and both were 100 so just one to go! -Enter Novice obedience? (not sure) Have decided to be realistic it's just not my thing -CDX title -Start competing in Jumpers early in year Kep won out of Jumpers C at his 3rd show of the year and has started in Jumpers B -Start competing in Agility mid year Had his first starters run in April, weaves are good! Holmbrook Counting Stars aka Camo -I have done Rally with my last 5 dogs so hope to do Novice with Camo in 2016. Camo entered her first Rally Novice in May aged 9 months and got 2 qualifying certificates (98/4th place and a 100/1st place!), one to go for her RN -Natural ability test via New Zealand Versatile Hunting Dog Test Association, next one is in April Passed all sections except the water section, has another go in November!

I like competing with my dogs, I think we both enjoy it. I'm guessing people who trial are all competitive (or goal-orientated) to some extent or you could just train your dog in your park or at club training. So I will say I like doing well with them, that is not necessarily winning although it can be depending on the sport and the dog. I have different goals I want to achieve for different dogs and sports. To me having goals is part of the enjoyment I get out of it. I love running Scout the Brittany in agility but she is not fast enough to win against all the border collies in her height category so getting clear rounds is my goal with her. Same with Rally, my goals with Gael and Kep are to get 100 and preferably the fastest time, but with Scout it was to qualify. I like going to competitions and hanging out with other doggy people. I mainly compete these days in Agility and Rally and I like both of them equally. I like competing in obedience type stuff with the right dog and am not currently competing in obedience but may with one of the dogs I have now. I spectate and steward at field trials that my husband runs in but I don't run a dog in them. I have been known to not enter an agility trial to go watch Scout blaze up a hill at a field trial. I do have to wonder why some of the VERY VERY nervous people you see put themselves through the stress. I enjoy dog sports as my hobby away from my full time day job, but I hate competing in the rain, so I'm not going to give up my weekends being miserable in the rain, I will scratch and stay home instead :laugh:

I have that book, it is good on the basics and would highly recommend her book "Total Recall" as well.

We were at the same agility show last weekend as Podengo and knocked off a couple of goals: