J...

I see it as the difference between the $100,000 job you enjoy and the $100,000 job you do because you get paid to do it. I never want my dogs to value agility equipment more than they value me or my rewards, however I do want them to still have value for what we do because I believe that's the difference between a great performance and an awesome one.

Thanks for the congratulations tlc & JJ :D Yes I am still absolutely rapt at our achievement :D So very very proud of Darcy, she's one in a million :D Baby Zee winning Novice Agility was just icing on the cake - her confidence is going ahead in leaps and bounds now The link below is the entire Top Dog Jumping competition, we're at 4.37 if you don't want to watch the entire 10 mins. ;) Congrats on your store opening JJ - hope it's all going well for you! I've had a sticky at that catalogue you posted and have my eye on some of the K9 Cube beds for the new car, just need to check measurements of beds/dogs and car ;) I think the big yellow pet store at Ballarat has them in stock to be able to check measurements IRL. Hope all is well with everyone, it's very quiet in here but then I don't post or even read DOL as much these days. Seems everyone is the same

Funny you ask that TSD because I was discussing it with an experienced Top Dog finalist in the morning, I said I had no plans to watch any of the Jumping and just go out there and run my own run. He says he often watched the first few runs just in case there was something he missed, which I thought about during the morning. In the end I was more happy to go out, warm Darcy up away from the hurrah of the Jumping Ring and not watch - I figured I'd walked that course probably 20+ times and if I hadn't identified the issues by then I needed a foot in the bum. ;) Nothing against anyone else's choices - we all do things differently but that was what I was most comfortable with. I knew the team before me had gone clear but that was it, I had a sense that several dogs had blown the tunnel discrimination just due to the noise factor but it didn't change how I handled it. I had no doubt in the world that Darcy could nail every part of that course, including the tunnel discrimination and I just had to go out there and help her do it, and not do anything stupid. I do get a bit nervous but at the acknowledgement to the judge it's gone - I can't explain it other than to say that you could've dropped a bomb outside that ring and I wouldn't have heard it. I didn't hear a thing until I took Darcy's lead from the lead steward. Then I heard the roar and figured we must've done pretty well. I really feel for those who do get really nervous, it's so much work to even get into Top Dog and then have it gone in a heartbeat because nerves get the better of you

Thanks J - I think you're doing just fine with your feral young lady all on your own Thanks TSD, H and Tassie - it was a lovely course, bit tricky to remember but lots of fun. I'm still in a state of shock I think - I was lucky to get a run given I was 1st reserve but to come out and win it - wow! Thankfully I don't get overly nervous once in I'm in the ring and Darcy doesn't pick it up from me in agility anyway. I hear quite a few have it videoed, I'd love to see the run as well as the rest of the Top Dog runs for both Agility and Jumping as I didn't watch much of it. Pic of Darcy with her prizes from yesterday And not to be outdone, baby sister Zee who won Novice Agility

:eek: That's bloody cheap! The cheapest we get these days is a $6.50/entry trial which is pass cards only, no ribbons or prizes. One club offered it as a one off this year due to the number of trials getting cancelled, the other is a small country club which runs a mini-trial. Ours are usually $8 to $9 an entry, one or two city trials and a few country trials are up to $10 each. Many clubs offer extra Masters and Novice classes (& occasionally Excellent) so it's not unheard of to have 3 runs/class instead of 2. If it's a back to back trial, the cumulative entry fees for two dogs get quite big, and that's without entering Open.

pets1 in the DOL marketplace.

I'd break it down even further and go back to a semi-flat balance disc, and then inflate it as he gets more confident with the movement under his feet.

Why's the postage so expensive? I bought 2 Leerburg DVD's a couple of weeks ago and postage was $33.00. Suspect the weight and awkward shape makes it expensive? I'd like to get one of these, probably should wait until the new car rocks up just in case the tail gate set up is different.

From someone who runs a fast dog my advice is - don't slow your dog down, learn to handle him at speed. Yes you'll stuff up a lot but you'll learn a lot and IMHO you'll be a much better handler at the end of it all. I learnt to handle Darcy from behind a lot in the early days because no-one ever showed me how to get in front of her. It wasn't until I started training with a different agility club that they showed me how to get lateral distance and actually manage to do front crosses. Amazing how easy it is when someone shows you how. In regards to your questions 1. Darcy starts in a stand, Zee in a sit. 2. No - if I ever need to catch up on a contact with Darcy, too bad so sad. I need to find a way of handling it that I don't need to catch up, and if I can't do that then there's some gaps in my training. Zee has a stopped 2o2o contact that will allow me to get to where I need to be but I don't use it. 3. As above. 4. Both my dogs have learnt to read my body language by doing heaps of circle work, and they should read my shoulders regardless of whether I'm in front behind or otherwise. I can barely tell my right from my left in an obedience ring at walking pace, let alone at full speed in an agility ring. Some do teach their dogs a verbal left and right but I don't know of anyone in Victoria who is using them successfully in a trial situation.

Hi Casima - long time no see on here ;) Puppies!!! I'm so puppy clucky but I've sworn that I have to wait until Zee is at least 4, I'll live through you for a while to tide me over.

I don't believe he's been to Australia before. He does sound really good and I'd like to go, but I think I'll wait for Greg and Laura Derrett in February as they will be a little more local for me. ;)

Got a phone call today which put a big smile on my face :D Darcy not only made it as 1st emergency for our Top Dog Jumping competition, she also made 2nd emergency for Top Dog Agility. Some may not think emergency is much, but given I missed some major trials this past year and the extremely tough competition to get in, I'm over the moon. Agility was a big shock, I pulled Darcy out last year to retrain her contracts, so she's only been trialling in Agility for 1/2 of the points accumulation time. Go the country trial dogs :D

These sound great - do you cook & mash the pumpkin yourself? I had heard you can buy it cooked and mashed in cans ready to use for pumpkin pie but I've never seen them (small country supermarket though!)

Your dog has a heap of value being on your left hand side and next to none on your right. Start simple and just reward her for being on your RHS in correct position (reinforcement zone), then add a step here and there like you would if you were teaching her to heel on your RHS. Keep building the understanding and value until she is proficient at full circles with you and then multiple circles at slow speed and progress to running. Then go back to your 2 poles and work on your right side work a heap more until she has a more solid understanding.

We received a toy like that from an agility trial a few years ago, they were a sponsor's item - I have a photo taken from the same people (I think?) and it's got a Sentinel Spectrum/Novartis logo on it. They toy is around here somewhere but I suspect the logo would be pretty faded by now. Soft-ish but hard wearing, and kind of has a wheezy squeak to it?

I am very careful about which dogs my two get to say hello to and play with. I don't let them play with dogs who are bigger or heavier than them, and I rarely put them in a situation where they would be exposed to random unknown dogs off lead. Zee has unfortunately had a few rough-ups and scares from other dogs, all agility dogs who were supposedly fine and weren't under control :rolleyes: Both Darcy and Zee are happy to say hello (providing they don't rush up to or chase Zee!) and occasionally will have a play, but most of the time they are far happier play wrestling and running around together. They would both rather play with me if I give them the option.

I don't have agility contact equipment and taught a confident and reliable 2o2o contact with my young dog. Started off with a 2o2o on a stack of phone books taped together. Then started putting it on a balance disk, a caravan step, my own steps, anywhere I could think of before I put it on a travel plank. She also has a nose touch in there as well. Any time I had the chance I put it on contact gear, even at club where they do mostly sequences, I would take my turn, do the contact and then reward and get out before someone complained. Best thing about travel planks is you can take them anywhere. At just gone 2 that behaviour is holding up really well, despite having no contact access at all at the moment unless it's at a trial. I do have a contact trainer but I almost never use it as it's so awkward to set up and move.

It's hard to say definitively because it can be about personal preference as well. The dogs I grew up with as "paddock dogs" were the kind of dog my Dad liked for that job - he wasn't into "push button" dogs, more an independent type of dog that while they'd listen to what you wanted (most of the time!) they also had a fair amount of initiative and nouse for getting the job done with minimal direction. Same as when I was jillarooing. Yard dogs, you do want a dog that will work with you a little more and will do as asked. My personal preference would be take a yard dog over a paddock dog - Darcy is only 1/2 kelpie but I had some early battles with her not wanting to work close in with me. She's a dog who's been incredibly easy to train but that was one thing I did battle with in the early days. You could argue it was inexperience on my part too given she was my first dog, but I've seen that resistance to close work in a few others as well in varying degrees.

I find it harder to generalise out of our dogs. I found our paddock dogs tended to prefer working at a distance, some were fairly frustrating as yard/pen dogs as a result. Slightly more independent too, give them a job and let them get on with it. Don't bother telling them how to do it because you'll be wasting your breath. Our yard/pen dogs weren't barkers or hard, just a quiet confidence that was willing to work with you at close quarters. Dogs you didn't have to think much to work them, they were kind of just there when & where you needed them.

It's glyphosate ;) I have one of the small flame throwers, not as exciting as first thought and quite time consuming to give anything bigger than small weeds a decent frying. I have seen the big flame throwers advertised but they are $$$, would love to see the oxalis come back after a session with one of those suckers

Thanks guys - funny enough Zee's height card arrived in the mail late last week. Has anyone done Riverland's trial before? Can anyone tell me how close the camping area is to the rings? Just wondering what kind of set up to take camping wise.

Some awesome brags in here lately, especially Nationals wins and UDX passes - wow!! Just flicking through our results for club presentation night and realised that Darcy has bowled over 7 titles this year ADO, ADM2, CD, CDX, JDM3, JDM4 and JDM5. :D

Unfortunately you're too late I think MEH It was only up for a limited amount of time. I have several pages of notes if you would like a copy, no guarantees it will be the next few days that I get them typed up though.

Question for the SA agility triallers or those in the know... Do you guys have to show height cards when you trial in agility? Have entered a SA trial and have been asked for a HAS as well as a jump height, just worried that I will be asked for a height card at the trial. I have one for Darcy but it took something like 2 years, as a result I haven't received Zee's.

OP - you can't say you sell ice cream with that much chocolate in it and not tell us where we can get it from!! My two get a 50 c cone (ordered in a lid) each occasionally, often on the way home from an agility trial or maybe if we've been to the beach (like today!). If there's no Maccas or HJ's then they have to share a dixie cup. Funny watching their reactions when I drive through the local HJs - I don't eat HJs at all so they know they are getting an ice cream