rastus_froggy

My dogs are doing the "ruff love" training at the moment so they are definately being fed AFTER i eat as they have to be hand fed so my hands get slobbered all over!! and i like to go soak in a nice hot bath after that, maybe i should transfer the tim tam and alcohol idea to the bath!! I had had what i think of as lack of respect issues from my staffies - one imparticular, the female, so i am really cracking down on all the dominance things, been doing the "ruff Love" training for only 1 week and can already see great changes.

If you are after a cheap option for a tunnel, i went to a second hand building centre and bought ducting tube ( the stuff that runs under houses for ducted heating) i got the largest size they had and it works a treat!!

I have a Staffy doing agility, I have only met one other but am told that there are a few out there doing it. I got my girl when she was 9 months old and whenever we were out walking she would jump up onto any raised surface, you name it, garden beds, gutters, business fences, peoples brick fences and walk along them! Then she started sitting on top of her kennel at home instead of going in it (yes it was a pitch roof). That was when i decided to look into agility. So we found a school so every Sunday i made the trip - over 100km each way!! Havent been going as regularly lately, as i found she needed more focus on me so we have been working intensly on that and it really paid off at her last trial!! She finished 4 out of the 5 rounds she went in. Still working on getting a pass but it will come. Agility is the best thing i have ever come across!

Might sound crazy but perhaps try attaching a very tasty treat to the end of a long stick so then if you hold the dogs lead straight up and just try get the dog to focus on the treat rather than anything else, I would start with only 4 poles. But hey, you havent been at it that long!! These things take time. My girl is a super weaver now but i really worked at it, and it still doesnt always take form in the trials!! As was said before never give up!!

My little staffy Froggy was easy to teach this trick to, but Saxon my big boy has been much harder, all i can get out of him is a very little whimper, not enough for anyone at a distance to hear at this stage. Everyone seems to find this a very impressive trick!!