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Thanks Clover I'm sure she'll do fine.... providing I don't get too nervous. Ballarat's kinda home territory as we trained there til Darcy was 6.5 months and I drop in there for agility occasionally so its a good place to start trialling Wags - Clearing showers 18C with 30% of less than 1mm of rain - been keeping an eye on the weather all week

Slightly off topic but I can't believe how many people on the training forum are either horse-people or ex-horse people (I'm in between, only have my old retiree left ) I've had a private lesson with K9 for drive, and found it very helpful. I'm 3 hours out of the city so finding people for private lessons isn't that easy - its certainly something I'd like to do from both an agility and obedience side of things

Me!! Entered in my first obedience trial with my first dog I'm actually quite excited at this stage... what I'll be like Saturday morning could be an entirely different matter

I was always told not until at least 12 months old due to the pressure on the dogs back when weaving... watching that video though the pup is small enough to get away with not bending its spine like a bigger/older dog would need to. That said I still wouldn't be doing it with a pup that young I hope that now they've taught it to weave that they leave it alone until its old enough to be weaving properly

Never lost my temper, I've been frustrated a few times but everyone has bad days, both dogs & humans. If it gets to that then its time to quit, have a game to finish on a good note and find something else to do for the day.

I'm a member with two clubs, mostly for agility than obedience, but I do obedience with one club and not the other. There's no reason why I couldn't do obedience at the second club though :D

I make sure training is fun for my dog, I like to quit while I'm ahead (end on a good note!) and I stick to the 80% rule - make sure she's getting it right at least 80% of the time in more than one training session before moving onto the next session. My dog gets trained every day unless I'm away for work - I use brekky and dinner time as a short training session, might only be 30 seconds but its a good opportunity to keep things fresh in her mind. I use any opportunity I get as a short training session. I expect my dog to be well behaved in everyday life, and that makes a huge difference in training for obedience because of the consistancy of training. I also enjoy challenging her now and then and seeing what she'll do and where she's up to... no expectations and nothing negative for the wrong answer. She's surprised me on quite a few occasions and I've always dished out big rewards for those times

Excellent idea - haven't been to Mt Gambier since I was a young'un. Ballarat's my second training home these days so a bit of home ground advantage there too!

Thanks DD - have been to the Portland for the agility/obedience trial last year - problem is I rocked up too late for the obedience side I think there is also trials at Ballarat and Geelong in between so will maybe have a go at these as well :D

I agree t(AD)pole I'm also deciding which trial to enter my dog in for CCD... first ever trial for both of us. I'll get to see my 1st ever obedience trial this weekend at Warrnambool (I'm stewarding ). My instructors encouraged me to enter this trial on home territory but not having seen a trial before I decided to wait. I would also prefer that Darcy be at a level where I can be confident as opposed to entering on a "suck it and see". Absolutely leopuppy, I was not really intending to trial in obedience (well not yet anyway) but my instructor pointed out the constantly wagging tail on my dog in class the other day (he referred to her as "the energizer bunny")... of course I never watch my dogs tail in class, so never twigged that she was in fact really enjoying it. Nowhere near as much as she loves agility but its good to know its not boring her stupid! But yes she is doing much better in the higher classes.

I agree shoemonster, stuff that I gave up on when Darcy was young because she clearly didn't "get it" and along the way its suddenly just clicked into place. Retreive was the same - started out as a game of "I've got it, you come and get it". Now at 15 months she has one of the best retreives in my class, if not the club. Back to the main topic, I started introducing Darcy to everything I possibly could as a young pup. If she tried something she got big praise, even if it was just to check something out. Tree stumps, log seats, old tyres, any sort of (safe) obstacle I could find. I started her in obedience as a puppy, and in basics agility as a 6 month old pup. Worked a lot on her drive and focus, and kept up with the positive attitude to everything. Also TOT from a young age to work on the control. She will try new stuff at agility class with no problems, because she gets big rewards for the attempt. I still do obedience with her, now its getting more challenging she's enjoying it more than she did in earlier classes, even gets the tail going for most of the class

Ah yes the "tunnel suck"... Darcy the tunnel tart knows all about that Darcy grew to love the tunnel because when she learnt it as a pup, she figured out that if she got up enough speed, she could fly past me at the end of the tunnel and rack off to do big zoomies round the rest of puppy class.... we put a stop to that game quick smart but she just loves the tunnel. For our Christmas break up we have doggie games, one of which is all the tunnels lined up in a big circle, with a few in the middle, and you have to do as many tunnels as you can in 1 minute.... we did 29 (well Darcy did!) and won!

Got it! Found the "free version" icon hidden in the top right hand corner.... Fantastic!! Loved the way the handler barely moved on the course, very very fast dog. Gives me something to aspire to handling wise, Darcy is quick and I don't have a hope in hell of keeping up with her so am starting to work on some distance handling. Need to start working on my contacts though :D Thanks for sharing Vickie! Will put that one in my favourites

I can't see it Tried to download the realtime trial version and they want credit card deets...

I have to agree Lablover, I have trouble tolerating barking.... luckily I ended up with a dog who just doesn't bark, haven't heard her bark for months and was shocked when she gave a quick warning woof at training the other day. According to Darcy, strangers aren't allowed to come to training halfway through agility class

This book would have to be one of my favourites... I've read it several times already and I've only had it a few months I agree the work Susan put into Buzz was just amazing! I've used quite a lot of the information and tend to find more useful info every time I read it...

Just because they may have referred to a post on DOL doesn't mean they are registered members.... maybe you need to be a little less accusing towards those people who have taken the time to assist you with your questions rather than jumping down their throats and calling them f***ing idiots. I for one find the people on the training forum very helpful and while I don't post much, I read as much as I can and I have learnt a hell of a lot from my time here.

I presume you aren't referring to the same type of leptospirosis that infects cattle, and can be spread to humans?

I'd believe that too, having seen my lab x stick her head/neck under my electric garden fence, clearly touching it and apparently not feel a thing... its got a lot of kick in it... 1km unit powering 10 metres of fence so that big thick lab coat must account for something

Makes the one I went too look like a bargain - great idea too! $70 got you 4 weeks PPS then membership at the club for the rest of the financial year. Amazing how many came back a month or two after PPS. Turns out you need to do a little more than PPS to train your dog :D

I'd be requesting money back - sounds very ordinary. FWIW the PPS I took my pup to was an hour long x 4 sessions. It was split up into socialisation with the other puppies/familiarisation with things like balls and toys and people on crutches etc etc (about 10 mins) then about 5 mins of training (1:1 with an instructor) teaching basics i.e sit drop come and a few fun tricks if puppies were more advanced, then 5 mins of toilet time. That was repeated three times throughout the night. At no stage did we have to have puppies sitting for any period of time (other than to get their pic taken for their "graduation" certificate ;) ). When the other puppies graduated then we had to hold them still for maybe 5 mins but that was laps or sits or whatever way you could keep them entertained Pretty hard to listen/pay attention for an hour when trying to keep an unruly pup under control :D

The Labrador 30's a possibly as I have a lab x kelpie.... I mostly raw feed, have dry food as a back up and she gets a small handful with her dinner most nights. Will try the non-Aus sites, Aus ones been down for ages from memory?

Has anyone else tried it on a dog that gains weight easily? What's the kcal/cup on the "light"? Had a look at Royal Canin but can't find the kcal/cup or by 100 g info - real useful when you're shopping for light dog food Am just about out of EP and wouldn't mind trying something different

I had no intention of feeding BARF initially as I was concerned about doing it correctly. My lab x started to blow out weight wise at about 5 months, and no matter how much I cut her food back she was still too heavy for my liking. I was already feeding raw bones. I started with adding some mushed vegies to her diet to supplement, and haven't looked back. Now I only have EP light as a backup, she gets a single handful every now and then, or she'll get a cupfull if I forget to take her mush out of the freezer :D

That I will 2tollers :D I'm getting really excited about training at a different club - I can't wait I think I'm officially addicted