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The vet checked right into her ear with an otoscope (not very nice for the dog :rolleyes: ) and told me that her eardrum was perforated.

Find a vet who can see you tomorrow, next week is not good enough. Potential ear infections are not to be messed with! I had my dog in at the vets within hours of first seeing the signs and she now has a ruptured ear drum

Wow thats an awesome pass rate Ness - well done!!!

Well we're at day 5, spoke to the vet Friday who said that if there was something in her ear she'd be really bothered by it, and to call back again Wednesday for another progress call. She seems ok, still flipping her ear occasionally but I imagine thats because of the drops I'm putting in her ear? Her ear looks clean (except for the residual of the drops obviously) but am still a bit worried as it was so hard to pick up last time and was already quite nasty Still looks a bit red but once again hard to tell cos I'm stuffing around with it twice a day. I think I'd rather take her back in and get it properly checked to make sure... Anyone got any advice???

Just seen this in OT (for human use) but am curious on whether anyone has used it on their dogs and how they went? Particularly interested in the products for clearing up ear infections and general skin itches? http://www.herbal-treatments.com.au/ Thanks! Edited to change link cos it was the wrong site ***blush***

Some dogs (particularly smaller dogs) have a natural stride pattern that allows them to hit contacts with minimal training - a natural running contact. Anyone who has that is very lucky! Take it from someone who's dog willingly flies off them from about an inch above the colour Take a look on youtube under "agility contacts" and then maybe "running contact" and "2o2o" etc, you should get some ideas there. Warragul has a double trial on the 17th and 18th November if its not too far for you to go and have a look! :D

Just wondering what peoples experiences have been in taking on an older dog and working with them in obedience? My dads kelpie bitch is 6 yo, she's not coping with him being retired and the daily 20 mins walks are not enough to keep her mind busy. Not surprising! :D She's a typical kelpie, loves to work and a pat will keep her happy. She can be very sensitive of loud noises etc and she's not a dog you can raise your voice with (courtesy of her breeder/trainer :D ) I'd like to take her on and give her a go obedience wise, but not sure how a true working dog would go? I've worked with both sides of the line but never crossed it! I'm thinking of taking her to training tomorrow. Even if she stayed where she is with M&D but I take over her training and exercise. No 20 min walks here I can tell you! ;) I'd give her a go at agility but she's a dud jumper, can barely make the back of the ute on a good day!

Its mostly so you have a clear contact criteria for the dog - so you use whatever word you want to train the criteria you want. The touching of both ground and contact is a clear criteria for a dog, just touching the colour at the end means nothing to them at all. I experimented with a running contact for a few weeks, but found its too hit and miss - especially when you only have access to A-frame and dog walk at training once a week. I've gone back to 2o2o because at least I can work on that at home easily. Plus its a control point for me, my dogs quick so I can make her hold that position and catch up to her if I need to! :D

Thanks for the info guys - its very helpful! I rang the vets this morning, they asked if the ear was bothering her much and I said no, but it wasn't bothering her much at all to start with which makes it hard to tell So they said keep up the treatment and ring them back next week. The vet reckons if there was something in it it would be really bothering her but she's her usual bouncy self. I took her to training Tuesday night with the vets approval and she was fine, even a little more nutty than usual! Forgot to ask about getting something to clean it out with, its still a bit mucky I hope from the drops & residual of what was there originally I've given the top of the ear a gentle clean with a tissue and then a few cotton buds (top only not anywhere near the canal itself) just so I can guage how gunky it really is... if its grotty in the morning she's going back to the vet! Dax I didn't even see the bill other than to know its around the $95 - $100 mark total - I get paid monthly on the 15th so I told them I'd pay it then. Funny how with the horse I get a 30 day a/c but with the dog and cats it needs to be paid within 7 days max! Oh and she won't be getting any more food either - I put her on the scales while I was there Tuesday and she's put on a kg!!! :D Guess who's back on a diet this week!

Quick question about ear infections, I had Darcy at the vets Tuesday AM for a nasty ear infection - she's got a perforated ear drum :p Anyway vet checked it out with the scope, doesn't appear to be anything in it and gave me some cortisone tablets for her and some antibacterial drops. Wouldn't you treat an ear infection with antibiotics??? Thats what I thought the drops were until I checked out what they really were. I have to call the vet back and let them know how she is tomorrow morning, if there's no real improvement then they're going to put her under GA and check it out properly.

Thanks LP & Helen I'm very proud of her! Helen, I got Darcy as a FTGH when she was a pup, she was the result of a mismate litter between a registered Lab bitch and a stud Kelpie dog who decided that no 2m high fence was going to stop him The bitch was hip and elbow scored with the plan of breeding her later, but the dog had other ideas! He was supposed to be helping with the shearing at the time.... bloody boys!

Count me in on that one as well!! Watching some of the lower drive dogs at club, I know which I'd rather have... Mind you I'll probably pay for that comment, it'd be my luck my next dog will be a complete nutter! :rolleyes:

I missed her say that but its great to know..... Says she who just bought over 1/2 a kg of good beef from the supermarket cos it was marked down and is currently cooking it up for dog treats..... I always feel like I overfeed her treats compared to other people at training!

Ahhhh I was right :D I twigged halfway home that it was probably you KC! :p I certainly appreciated it Nice to see I'm not the only one in the "meltdown" boat, with Darcy looking so much like a lab she tends to catch people out (always fun in a jumping trial !!). The kelpie half comes out in the behaviour, slightly less drive but she's quite sensitive and she does pick up on my nerves... I reckon you've hit the nail on the head with the commands and signals - something to work on and think about when we start working more complicated courses in excellent & open in a few weeks :D With the more open courses in Novice you've always got a little bit of time and room up your sleeve, with a tight course like that one yesterday there's next to no room for error.

I'm very new to trialling in both areas but I'm reasonably happy with my pre-trial routines so far... Obedience, I get her out while setting up, set up and then toilet her. Give her a 5 to 10 minute run if I can. Either back into her crate or the car if its not too sunny. Out of crate/car just long enough to toilet again, have a quick play and into the ring. I've only done 2 double trials, the only one I missed a pass on was with a judge who was really slow and I misjudged and got her out too early. Gave me too much time to get nervous and too much time for her to pick up on it Agility, similar routine, but I crate her instead of putting her in the car. I'm happy to have her out with me as long as she's behaving, if its hot she stays in her crate/shade tent for her own good. I also add a warm up and stretch routine before each run and I normally spend 5 or so mins just working her to get her into working mode rather than crazy mode - thats in the morning trial. By PM she's settled down. Keeping in mind that often I travel several hours to a trial, a trial within 2 hours drive is heaven!! :D

The Saturday stuff was great, especially the heel work. Love the idea of ditching heel work for loose lead walking in low level obedience classes until people want to learn competition heeling - I know how much we've struggled with the aftermath of that! The Open and UD level stuff was fantastic :D At least now I have some very rough ideas of whats expected and where to start! The Sunday info was great - I agree with you Helen re: seeing some of the handlers learning to play with their low drive dogs - though I think there was quite a few in there who weren't low drive but didn't think they belonged in the high drive category. Yep that was me Got kicked of the comfort zone with that one... Darcy does distance quite naturally so working her close was completely different, and I was incredibly conscious of how close she was to shutting down on me :D Definitely something I'd like to work on in my own time at training. I must thank the lady who came up to me straight after I did that sequence and gave me some much appreciated feedback, I have a suspicion she may be a DOLer :p

Just hope the weathers holds out... its been bucketing here all afternoon Wet weather gear is already in the car!

Sounds to me like you've skipped ahead too far on the difficulty level.... Your backyard is a very low distraction environment, if you've got good focus there move to the front yard. Once you've got some good results there head for somewhere thats still low distraction but one step up from the front yard in terms of distractions. Start with any potential distractions at a distance so you get the focus-level and work that you require. If you're still not getting the focus you need take it back a step until you're getting good consistant results and try the next step again.

Me Doing both days, would love to do the Friday night session as well but thinking do I really want to drive the 90 mins home Friday night only to do it again 1st thing Saturday morning....

That's why its called Masters, if it was easy everyone would get their Masters title

To get a pass you need to have no faults and go under the SCT. Jumpers courses have quicker SCT's than agility, but still reasonably generous with time. Good luck and welcome to the addictive game that is agility!

Probably would have but Hastings is getting a bit far out the other side of Melbourne I'm not a fan of getting up any earlier than 3 am to get to a trial! Good luck to everyone competing!

Slightly off topic - had to have a giggle at your comment on heelers and breed standards Tonymc - my mum used to breed and show ACDs back in the late 70s. The judges always wanted fat heelers, Mum would spend days prior to the show trying to fatten the dog up for the ring. Then Dad would take him out working for the day, and of course he'd come home looking like the working dog that he was... We used to find the same thing with beef cattle though, what's winning in the show ring is not necessarily a good quality commercial beef animal - and they need to work in their own way just like the working dog. Unfortunately the beef show ring is often subject to fads and fashions, some that may even be quite detrimentals to the animals longevity

I agree with borda - also keep any session you do very short and sharp. Quit the session while she's still really keen!

A big well done to everyone on their acheivements!! :D I have a brag from Saturday as well, we went along to our 4th ever agility/jumping trial at Croydon and Darcy and I picked up a pass in Gamblers on a tricky course, and a 1st and a pass in Novice Jumping in the arvo, giving Darcy her JD title. SCT was 40 seconds, we did it in 21.35 - we must've been flying!!! I still can't comprehend that she goes that fast!!! So very very proud of her, especially since she's not yet 2 year old Given I was on here flipping out over out 1st trial a little over 3 months ago - wow! Was well and truly worth getting up at 3.45 am