J...

I always knew I preferred agility for a reason - so much better at keeping you warm on chilly mornings Baby Zee turned 1 today - she got some new toys and both dogs got a rabbit each for brekky which they both love. I can't believe she's 1 already!!

what ;) bloody idiots Well you can add me to the bloody idiot brigade! I've had this recommended by one vet and okayed by another. It's not something I use unless desperate, but when you've got a dog who won't drink in hot weather, if diluted powerade or gatorade gets her to drink then so be it!

Hey any suggestions are potentially useful Ptolomy! I excused myself from the last Novice trial because Darcy dropped - I remember reading it somewhere on here and it made sense not to go ahead with the drop stays. We don't spend any time at all practising down stays as Darcy is rock solid on those, she won't move on a stay but it's just the dropping in a sit thing. The lack of stuff going on around her is an excellent point, I'd never thought of that. More stays with boredom coming up I'd not really thought of doing shorter stays as I'd always been told not too, but given how I start training agility waits with a young dog I reckon it would work. The opposition reflex idea is interesting too - dunno how Darcy would go with that, she can be a bit soft and I reckon she'd end up belly up on me. Already do TOT but I don't do much of any kind of sit work in the house, I have polished board floors and it's too hard for them to hold good position on such slippery floors.

Just looking at the brag's thread and notice that dropping in sit stays is a bit of a common bug bear Given that's what blew our last pass in Novice, just curious as to how people work on it. I do longer than the 1 minute sit stays and reward really well for sticking it. I also work my young dog around Darcy as a distraction while she's in a sit. She's not bothered by other dogs at all so I don't believe it's that. What do people do when their dog drops? Remove the opportunity for reward? Return and ask the dog to sit and do it again? How do you put them back into the sit? Is it just practise practise and more practise? How often would you do a sit stay?

Yes, it's rough but getting better at it all the time. I have a weekly plan for both dogs on the white board, I normally pick a few skills to work on each week. I also have a notebook where I record what I did, what worked and what didn't - tends to be more trial based at the moment but I use the "what didn't" part to form part of the next week's training plan. Doesn't always work as well as I'd like - but it's far better than what I ever did, which was nothing.

Bugger about your car - can't believe those scummy buggers still haven't had it fixed, how long has it been and what's their hold up?? I can sympathise on the heater - I have the little foot heater on for a bit to warm the room up and I can feel the temperature drop when Darcy decides to effectively sit on it! That and not being able to move my feet or stretch my legs because both dogs jam themselves under the footwell of my desk where the heat concentrates. What happened to our nice sunny day which was forecast? Getting more overcast here by the minute

Side loading is jumping onto the travel plank from the side, which turns into being able to do the same thing on a down ramp on a dog walk later on. Once they have a heap of value for 2o2o position you can start them off really low and work your way up. Zee will jump onto the side of the dog walk now from about mid thigh height - she's not going any higher until she's older It's a similar principle to the "extreme bang game" in Speedoggies You tube - google it, it's amazing. They know exactly where their feet need to be. How much agility rear end stuff have you done - obviously you have for obedience turns, what about ladder work, jump bars on the ground - can she walk backwards, forwards over things on the ground like that? Walk down steps one foot/step at a time, walk backwards up a set of steps? The other thing is stair work for your 2o2o - get her used to using her bum end muscles to hold her position and build up her strength. Darcy's get worked all the time yet I still have to give her a few sessions for obedience because they seem to be different. Wobble boards and dura discs are great for strength and getting them used to stuff that does move.

I wonder if breaking it down into tiny tiny pieces & making it different would help? I started my youngster on a travel plank and we've done heaps of work on that with her 2o2o with a nose touch. Next I shoved a small step under one end and got her happy and confident with "side-loading" and then when she was comfy with that I starting asking to jump onto the step end run down into the contact. From there I increased the height of the step and repeated. Part of the game has also been teaching her to walk backwards onto the plank and along the plank on the ground. Same thing with the step underneath. From then she was confident enough to start backing her into 2o2o position of a standard dog walk and offering a nose touch. Then we did some side-loading slowly at first and then faster. Finally we did some backing up the contact and she can do that as well. At no stage has she been across a full sized dogwalk yet. She's been asked to jump up onto the top section of a short dog walk and turn left and right with me on either side so I know she's fully comfortable with that dog walk, it's width and turning both ways. She is totally confident where her feet are. She's not been over a seesaw either but has had plenty of reinforcement for the bang game. I'll teach her the full dog walk first (she doesn't need the seesaw til excellent anyway) and then add the seesaw only when she is 110% confident of the dog walk.

It looked pretty well fenced when I seen it back in late April, given the number of agility people who had their young dogs in it - I gather they thought so too

There is a huge area right next to the Geelong Dog Obedience Club, or if you want really secure they now have a run in the Obedience grounds themselves. It's on Breakwater Road, Belmont Common. It's just down the back of Anaconda/Spotlight.

Seems fine, no sign of coughing since yesterday morning. She was a bit flat last night but that's about it. So dunno if she's got it or not. Not taking any risks just in case so have scratched Darcy from Saturday's trial and Zee from training Sunday. That's great about Gus tez - sounds like he's settling in beautifully! I hope he stays nice and mellow for you Gorgeous dog tlc, gotta love the big guys! Good luck with the council JJ - are you finding it difficult to get the permits for extra dogs in town? I wonder what they are like here?

Does she have a good understanding of a drop at that distance? Darcy has a good DOR which I never really trained, but I can drop her from any distance where she can see/hear the command. Zee at 11 months did a lovely DOR the other night (I was experimenting ), and she will also drop from about 50 m out.

Glad you got the esky back JJ Thanks tlc, Darcy's had it before - most likely from me playing with a dog who didn't have KC, but had "housemates" who did. Scary how contagious it is. At the moment I'm still not sure 100% sure Darcy's got it but I'm not risking it. So no trial this weekend and no agility class for Zee either On the good news side - M the rottie went home to her breeder yesterday, they came down to collect her which is excellent news Once again a huge thumbs up to those breeders who are so responsible. You rock!!

Argghh got that here too 1/4 acre block but too slopey and a bit uneven. I'm starting to look at the bright side of it - I'm not doing 2.5 hours on the road to get to training anymore.... so much more time for housework But definitely more time for training

I can sympathise Tassie, I'm in a similar situation. Makes it bloody challenging but not undoable. I train when I can - maybe once or twice a week for agility work where I'll set gear up. Always just very simple sequences; working on the "what didn't work" list from my trial/training records, double box work or simple jump grids which I try and fit in before every trial. Most nights they get mixed fitness work - free running, off the bike, hill work/hiking or a game of frisbee/soccer/gym ball. Often I'll throw in a few minutes of ground work skills for both dogs. I also do a short session inside most nights as well. Add some strength/balance work to this as well. Sunday training is only about accessing contact equipment and some distraction work for Zee.

Go the latter, if they are scummy enough to thieve it they probably won't give it back easily. Scumbags!! I think Darcy's got bloody kennel cough! Put both dogs out this morning while I did my usual morning stuff and then went back out to give them their brekky bone as I went to work and Darcy was coughing. Just come home this arvo to see how she is with no sign of it, so I'm hoping it's a really mild dose which is being exacebated by the cold and damp this morning. Just trying to figure out how I'm going to keep Zee sane if they are both confined to the backyard for any period of time Been wracking my brains to think of somewhere dead quiet I can run them but there just isn't anywhere within 5 to 10 mins drive and any further it gets too dark! If Darce has got KC she picked it up on Sunday at training - so keep an eye out for coughing dogs and owners who take them out anyway!

No wonder he's feeling off, poor Seb. So hard when they can't have so much stuff, Darcy is hard enough with no grain and preservatives! I crumble occasionally and let her have something she shouldn't (50 cent cones in a lid from HJ or Maccas usually) but seems we get away with it as an occasional treat. What does it mean when their muzzle deflates? Is that just a Shar Pei thing? You learn something new every day - I had no idea. Omega 3 and 6 oils are great for itchy skin. So fish oil tablets or processed linseed oil, you can get the linseed oil out of the health food section of the supermarket. Either 1 fish oil capsule per 10 kg of bodyweight or my two get 10 ml of linseed in their dinner every night. Apparently the linseed has a better balance of omega 3 and 6 for itchy skin but both are good. I think the greyhound shop has an omega supplement which might be more cost effective - just make sure it has more 3 and 6 as they are the anti-inflammatory ones. Comes in a white generic looking bottle, not the expensive VAN one.

Thanks tlc I will pass that on. Good small class sizes which is excellent. They adopted him from Ballarat, just had a look to see if I could see some info on him and they have a cream kelpie up for adoption :D but no info on "Chucky" I think the girls have called him. He's about 18 months to 2 years old, they will be coming from C'down.

Hey guys can I grab some details on training at Brierly - one of my workmates has just adopted a beagle from the pound and are really keen to get him into classes as soon as possible so he can be a good doggie citizen. They've just missed WDTS's latest block and there is no further dates on the website. So training times, cost, structure, location would be great! And of course some contact details so I can pass them on

Looks like it was a great day - I didn't end up getting there as I got held up talking at training. Good thing I didn't go, would've been another 2 mutts in the crowd I have to admit concern about this is why I've stayed away in the past. Too many run ins with "Joe Public" here but I would imagine most people at such a thing would be a little more dog savvy than most. It's a pity that they don't do something to show what dogs can do - even a short obedience or tricks demo can be a great inspiration for people to get out and have fun with their dogs. I know I was in total awe the first time I watched the Class 4 people at obedience when Darcy was a puppy. And they were only doing stand stays!! Bloody awesome though considering I couldn't even get the stand happening.

Tell him the Western Vic DOLers will come and kick his arse all the way back to Melbourne if it even looks like happening again!!! RIP neighbours dog - what a horrible way to go. Tez any night is fine - I'm up the showground most nights unless I manage to get off work early enough to take them for a run at the lake in daylight. Pands big gentle hugs to Seb. Does he suffer from allergies or just doesn't tolerate certain things in this diet? The latter is hard enough (personal experience with Darce) but dealing with allergies would be so much harder. Wow our thread must be interesting, just seen there is 15 guests reading....

You don't see them too often here in Vic. I think it was late November that I last ran a course with one in it. There is one judge here who always seems to have on in their courses. I admit I don't like seeing them on course as there are too many here which are not well built and either risk injury or are downright dangerous. Add a few put in courses at very bad angles - I'd just prefer not to see them.

I'd love to have a go at a few trials in each of the states if I could, especially for agility. I like seeing the different courses the interstate judges put down and the slight differences in standards, as well as seeing some good handlers in other states. That would be a good fun goal I reckon - do a trial or two in a different state. SA and NSW are easy, from there it gets a little more tricky especially when you don't fly One of the Tassie doubles would be good fun too.

The poles hang out about 50cm past the fabric. If I stretch it any more either the poles will snap or the fabric will rip Does it help any to get the poles in if it's already standing up and suctioned to the car? When I am at this point I still have it lying on the ground. It's the step after this one where it says to attach to the car. Don't think so, I set it up for the first time on it's back and then flipped it over onto the car that way. Was ages ago, but I do remember it being a very tight squeeze to get the hooks on the bottom. I don't use mine any more as I use the compact gazebo as I can chuck it over the tailgate of the wagon if I'm set up close enough or I can set up separate from the car if the parking is too far away.

It's just a tight squeeze to get the ends in first time given you're allowing for some flex in the poles and the material to stretch.