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Thanks ness, those youtubes are great I imagined that it would be nearly recall distance but it appears to be only about 10m? At the moment I'm doing the push-up sit with her in front of me, so she can't really move forward much. Every now and then I take a step back just to see how she goes and only rewarding the ones where she does the push-up sit. Most of the time she's getting it right but probably even a jump bar in front would stop her moving forward, but I prefer to keep things simple Thanks for the info guys - very helpful

UD!!!! You're kidding! Seriously though, is that the actual sequence required? I'm presuming thats stand your dog, leave to whatever distance required, then drop, sit, come and finish? Wow thats easier than I thought, I was expecting a sit to stand in there somewhere. We've already done some "push-up" stuff from the drop to a sit. Her drop at a distance is instant and dead straight so its only the drop to sit part that needs work. We did have a kick-back stand somewhere but its apparently been lost along the way! :p Edited to add: What do you mean COP for open is the end bit of silent signals? Does that mean that its all signal work in UD or all voice commands? Edited again cos I forgot a word.

Can anyone please give me a brief rundown on these two requirements? Been working a lot on obedience while its been to hot to do agility (plus nice to take a break for both no matter what level the addiction! ) and her heel work is finally starting to come together, a long legacy of being taught a crappy version of it at puppy level She already knows all the novice requirements so I figure I might as well start on Open stuff to keep her mind at work and mix it up for her. Retreive will just need some tidying up as she loves to jump and retreive so that will be easy enough, but I'm not familiar with whats required for COP/Broad. Is there one that tends to be chosen over another? Any pitfalls I should know about :p Thanks in advance!

I have just bought a bag of the Innova Evo as my "backup" food - i.e if I'm home really late or forget to defrost Darcy's vegie/fruit mush. I gave her some the other night and she seemed ok on it, I like the idea that its not based on cereals!

Seen a very similar thing in Rays Tent City today LL - $69. Only difference I can see is that the one at Rays had a floor in it.

Unfortunately my backyard is out as it is too steep, even though its a great size and would be ideal. She's completely reliable off-lead - nothing else in the world matters when there's some equipment in front of her so thats not the issue, its just a lot of the parks around here are too small or have heaps of small shrubs/trees and seats around (lovely parks but just not enough open space!). Soccer ground would be perfect as it has car access, flat and plenty of room but the council don't maintain it very well and its usually got too much long grass, footy field is of course perfectly maintained but no dogs allowed. The only other places which would be suitable over summer are the two school grounds but I'm thinking thats probably not that "socially acceptable"??? I could always give them a try until someone kicks us off... Skip - for the bindi there's a range of specific herbicides that get rid of it... possibly too late now but worth spraying the lawn in Autumn or early Spring next year. One I used was called Bin-Die, I used it to get rid of the clover in my lawn and it was very effective.

Just wondering where people train outside of training, other than their backyard or their usual training ground? I've finally managed to get myself a reasonable collection of agility equipment so that I can set up sequences and short courses, and now I'm having a lot of trouble finding somewhere suitable to train So where do you do your training?

This year was my first year trialling so I can't remember if I had any goals from last year, I'm fairly sure I wasn't planning on trialling in obedience. This year we've managed a CCD JD GD and 1 pass in JDO. My main goal is to improve my handling skills - I've improved a huge amount in the past few months thanks to my fantastic instructors, but there is plenty more room for improvement! Occasionally we manage a truly awesome run because I manage to get my act together - I'd love to acheive those runs a little more often I might even have a go at Novice obedience - wasn't something I was planning on doing but with some more trialling experience under my belt maybe the nerves won't be as bad

Last agility trial of the year yesterday at Warringal and Darcy's 2nd birthday! We've only just started novice agility due to contact and weave issues, but she did two lovely runs with a dropped bar in AM and jumping off the table in PM. Fantastic weave entry in the AM trial, even the judge commented on how well she did We also got 1st & a pass in open jumping with a time of 29 seconds and a pass and title in Novice Gamblers. Unfortunately tunnelsuck-itis is causing some major issues at the moment which blew our chances in excellent jumping - I'll add that to our list of summer training goals! I wasn't the only DOLer to head up and collect pass cards and a ribbon yesterday Come on LP!! :p Edited to add: looks like she beat me by a minute ;)

:cool: She loves that soccer ball - I was trying to get the "feral" out of her before the afternoon but it didn't slow her down at all. I'm starting to think maybe there is such thing as "too quick" That run with the young boy and the mini poodle was definitely a pass, 1st place and he also ended up being the highest scoring agility trialler for the weekend - he did incredibly well, certainly puts us older ones to shame :cool:

Ahh it was you at Portland dogdude - I didn't see your routines but a big congratulations!!! I wasn't sure it was you so didn't say anything... I was the one playing soccer with the black dog up near the main gate Congratulations to you too Bridgie_Cat - there was some tough courses and few passes handed out in the agility side so anyone who picked up a pass did very well!

If you have to join two clubs to fit it in then do it... I'd love to be in your situation where you had that available I have one club 45 mins away and the other is an hour and a quarter, I'm a member of both. My preference is always going to be agility so I train at the club which offers the best agility training (the furthest club of course!), but unfortunately it means I give up my preferential club for obedience training and the opportunity to do some trainee instructor work because they both train on Sundays!

I was using frankfurts and cabanna but was a bit worried about the fat/salt/spices and preservatives. Now I keep an eye on the meat cabinet at the supermarket and buy good quality meat thats marked down/close to out of date, cook it up and cut it into small treats. More cost effective than the cabanna and frankfurts, and at least I know there's nothing in it but meat!!

I second the martingale - I was never comfortable using a check chain so got one of the martingales from K9 force. :rolleyes:

I'm gathering you were at Warrnambool Bridgie Cat??? Lovely weekend for a trial wasn't it? Well done on your title!!! ;) I had two runs yesterday morning but decided to give the arvo a miss... had a nice run in open jumping but she was going far too quick out of the tunnel and she missed the weave entry because I forgot to tell her to "steady" ;) Was pretty happy with it though! Was glad it was called off, shame for the club and those who have travelled any distance though

What a great idea - a New Years Eve trial!! Guess that means I'm officially addicted doesn't it? Sorry KC I have no idea, I had enough trouble trying to find the information on Blue Lakes trial!

Is there a reason why the thought of trialling puts you off? I never planned on trialling in obedience at all, and resisted the push of several instructors to have a go at it. Then I watched/stewarded my first ever obedience trial and decided that 1) it wasn't as scary as I thought it was and 2) it was actually a lot of fun! Its not just the trialling itself, I have a lot of fun at agility trials - you get some great laughs, quite often at your own expense and I especially enjoy the smaller trials and those 2 day trials where you can camp on site. Quite a lot of people I've trained with are quite happy to just play at it, but the bug has bit a few lately and they are having a go at the club trial for that home ground advantage!!

Sorry people - my final interruption but just wanted to confirm re: dogs running out of the ring, you can be DQ'd for them running out even if they return and you put them on lead. They are not to leave the ring without you as they must be deemed "under control". This is for Victoria btw.

In a nutshell for Novice Snooker: Need to complete a red obstacle (jumps) followed by a normal one, and repeat that twice more to be able to start the closing sequence (so 3 red jumps and 3 plain obstacles). Also need to gain 10 points while doing this. If you stuff up, as long as you get your 10 points in the opening sequence you're still fine for a pass - the opening sequence is merely an opportunity to gain maximum points! Each obstabcle in the closing sequence is numbered 1 to 7, the number on each one dictates its points. I.e if the D/W is the no 5 then its worth 5 points to you. So you do a red jump (1 point) run to the D/W and complete that (5 points) back to a different red jump (another point) and back to the d/w (another 5 points). You can't repeat a red obstacle but you can do a numbered one as many times as you like. Judged on max points then time. Gamblers: Make up your own course, jumps are worth 1 point, tyre/tunnel and broad/spread are worth 2 points and D/W a-frame and weaves are worth 3 points. You need to accumulate at least 20 points to gain a pass. You have 45 seconds to do this bit, whistle blows and you commence the "gamble" which is the distance component with 4 obstacles (3 metres in Novice). You can do obstacles in the gamble during the first part but only one at a time - you can't do two in a row. Plus if a jump is part of the gamble and you drop the bar, you've stuffed your gamble and you've just missed your pass. Also judged on max points then time. Strategic Pairs: Need to do at least two strategic switches so each dog will at least run two legs each. You decide where the switches will be. If you stuff up (i.e miss a contact or drop a bar) then your pair needs to come in and do that contact/jump again for you - they can either take over your decided leg, or you can go back to the original plan and its only cost you a little time. There is plenty of time in SP, there's no refusals or obstacle out of order, so if your dog runs in the tunnel the wrong way you just go and do it the right way, or they do the wrong jump, just go back to where you stuffed it and keep going!! You can get DQ'd for dangerous handling (i.e risking collision b/w your dog and the other handlers dog) and you can't travel holding your dog while you're not "active". Some judges will allow hand on the chest to restrain, others will allow hand on the collar but you CANNOT move while you have hold of your dog! The non-active dog can do pretty much anything so some people run them repeatedly over a jump/through a tunnel to keep them under control. Judged purely on fastest time. Great fun!!! Good luck! I'm sure others will add stuff to this that I've missed

You are welcome to forward it KC, I should clarify first though. She grabs the toy and I pretty much meet her at the edge of the ring. I'll also ask the question at training tomorrow night and we can compare notes! Good point also about the "telling off" bit - Darcy can be pretty protective especially of her high value toys and I wouldn't put it past her. I did see one trialler standing right near my bumbag one day and allowing her dog to play with it while I was in the ring - thank god Darcy didn't see! ;) Well done BC!!!! Congratulations! I love the Mt Gambier trial, was so disappointed it clashed with Ballarat this year! Will have to wait to Easter

LOL, why else would the judge be standing over the dog walk except to visit her Thanks everyone and too bad I didn't get to see feralpup as I have not been entering jumping so have not been watching. LOL she was indeed at her most feral yesterday!! I have a shocking dose of hayfever and really wasn't up to running even a sequence yesterday let alone our 1st crack at open and excellent jumping. I got lost in the middle of Clives open course and Darcy decided she knew exactly where she was going and did the final four jumps to the finish line while I stood there like a stunned mullet - pity we missed the whole middle section of the course but how can you argue with a dog who's grinning at you from finish line!

Mmmm guess we'll be changing that routine then!! Must be a rarely enforced rule, I've seen a lot of people leave toys/food just outside the ring. Does depend a lot on the judge and their interpretation t(AD)pole. Unfortunately its not up to the scorer to call it - if your judge decides you're DQ'd then thats it. As a newbie I'm finding the lack of consistancy really quite frustrating!

Congrats guys well done!!! :D I missed nearly all of the games runs, was too busy watching the jumping rings

Well done on what sounds like a great couple of runs t(AD)pole!!! :D Correct me if I'm wrong but I think in Vic its ok if the dog runs out, providing you (the handler) don't leave the ring with the dog off-lead? We have a routine where I place a toy just outside the ring and Darcy normally beats me well out of the ring and brings it straight back into the ring to play tug. I always have her leash on before I leave the ring though and I've not been pinged for it even with a judge who has mentioned DQ'ing people for leaving the ring sans lead. Some judges will mention it at every course briefing and some won't - found its just best to play it safe as every judge is different.

The vet could see the ear drum was perforated by viewing it with the otoscope. There was some concern that maybe there was a foreign body in her ear which caused the perforation but without putting the dog under GA or heavily sedating they couldn't tell. Darcy's really well behaved so they were able to see the eardum - I would imagine some dogs wouldn't have let them check that deep. I didn't notice the infection until I took her out for a run, had to tire her out before she started to tilt her head and shake it every now and then. When I checked the ear it was quite mucky so I had her in the vets 1st thing next morning. Was then that they told me re: the perforation. No other signs that there was a problem.... Means I'll just have to check her ears religiously in case she gets another one.