bridgie_cat

I watched a wonderful seminar on DVD by Christine Zink (a vet and I believe an authority on jumping?? the seminar was on structure and function anyways) and she was quite definite on 13 months as a desexing age - as by this stage the growth plates would be closed - and after dogs are desexed the hormones that would usually close the growth plates are not present thus they stay open longer and you get uneven growth...?? or that is what I remember from it - probs have some facts wrong there - but for a performance dog it basically = less likely to be as sound as the dog kept entire until ALL growth plates close (as they close at diff ages)... she was very convincing and had a lot of logic behind everything she recommended so I am certainly looking at >13 months as a good age to desex now. Obv this is in the situation where the owner is responsible enough to keep their dog from having pups before this age. Bridget

oiy - feral - did you enter the mt G trial? err - I tend to enter stuff and then if we are buggered or want to save up for a later run I will pull out... I suppose 4 is nice - 6 is ok... 8 is a lot... and expensive :rolleyes: eta - and thats not even thinking if games are on offer!!!

I have a sheltie that goes nuts when we are going down to the beach (barking, lunging... pretty much throwing a tantrum because I havnt let her off yet ) - I like to just stop walking when she is being crazy - the reward is the forward movement toward what she wants... so I will stop - and when she is calm - we move forward... You may need to start a ways from these other dogs... I didnt do this at the time - but the other great thing you can do is get at a safe distance where she can focus and have her do some basic tricks (eg sit, turn around - whatever she knows! Walking nicely beside you would be the best!) and give her rewards for it - then gradually move closer and do more tricks - until she can focus on you right next to these other dogs! I do not see much point in punishing enthusiasm. I want my dogs to play with other dogs and be happy on walks. I would just work on a system of rewarding good behaviour (whether that is rewarding focus with tricks and treats or rewarding sane behaviour with continuing the walk) and not allowing the "bad" to continue - with the "going crazy" it is very self rewarding so you cannot ignore and hope it will stop - you need to train an alternative behaviour for the same situation. JMO - there are always many ways to deal with the same prob! Good luck Bridget

I LOVED Susan Garrett: Shaping Success! also The other end of the leash... wasnt going to read this one as it was old but my training friend recommended it and I ended up really enjoying it!!! Had some seriously interesting stuff in there!!! (perhaps my fav bit was the constant ref to different studies done on stuff - one being the domestication of foxes where it ended up being that white patches and floppy ears developed and were inherited along with a more outgoing temperament!)

heya! I did have a thread a while ago I think on encouraging socialising with a clicker... but this one is more on a specific behaviour I was thinking would be nice... Was wondering what sorta process people would use to train a dog to approach people (strangers) on cue - and also stay to be petted etc... Am unsure what you would build first... the approach to a stranger - or teach the correct approach - put it on cue - then use strangers... (probs the second) - and then not sure what end behaviour I would actually want - do I want an approach and hand target? Do I want an approach and sit beside? I wonder if you could train them to target a hand with the top of their head..... ..... hmmmmmm Lana is ok - but takes a bit of warming up - and with the curse of cuteness ( ) I would love for her to be friendlier to strangers stopping to admire her ... but looking past that this would be a seriously excellent trick for therapy dogs This is certainly on the line of thinking that is "teach an incompatible behaviour" for getting rid of the unwanted behaviour of shying away from over eager hands... if it became an exciting trick and her choice I think she could enjoy it Bridget

I saw a realy change in lana at 2 1/2... but since then she has started being evil again - I am just praying that she is coming into season soon - as that would explain weird behaviour... if not... we have some serious training issues :rolleyes:

he sounds v funny opening the door and letting him go out should be a reward in itself hopefully if you stop treating him for every ring he will just ring it when he wants to get outside. what I have done with Lana a bit is get her to sit if she wants me to open the door to let her IN - thus, no food was used ever (coulda started her with food I suppose - certainly taught the sit with food etc as you have done with the bell ring) since she wanted to come in and sitting was how she got there... Do you use a release for him to go out the door? ie, door can be open and you give him the OK to go out? If so, I would be waiting for him to ring the bell and then opening door and giving release... If not, perhaps you should start making going outside something you control... so when he is allowed he perceives it as a reward I love this idea though! Sounds like you have a good start with him already ringing them bell - just change the consequence to the door opening rather than him getting a treat... Bridget

is a photography website dif to a usual website? I would be interested to know where you can setup a freebie website incase I want to make one in the future

Classical conditioning that would come with receiving treats from strangers + rewarding being near them (regardless of what else the dog is doing/feeling) I would have thought would outweigh whatever minor negatives they are reinforcing?? Esp since these could be added in as criteria later on when the dog is comfortable with the approach and hopefully has started thinking that strangers could = good treats etc...??? or at least this is my reasoning?? Will be interested to see what else comes up here since this seems to be a common issue with shelties and strangers Bridget

- I had to switch off the sound WOW - her heeling is BEAUTIFUL and it looked like when she sat on a stand - she actually stood off your stand signal?!? (ie corrected without you moving forward!) VERY IMPRESSIVE - since mostly it seems "stand" means stop where you are without changing posi - as opposed to the actual stand posi - thus seems to be the hardest to train for actual COP... I too would risk the crowding thing in exchange for this sort of heeling no advice here - I would love to have heeling like that!!! - and I think you will clean up the competition this season once you polish her positions eta - looked like the dif parts for CD were very good - and her heeling is stunning - I see no reason to waste the entry fees on CCD

There is a Dane I see doing agility around victoria I think... or SA... we are close to the border.. I get confused Max height = 600 - so he just steps over the jumps Do it! See if he enjoys it! Just make sure you keep him at a good weight - the bigger the dog, the more stress it is on joints etc to be jumping and carying any extra weight ;)

yup - ours seems to be the opposite to this - in that there are perhaps too many ideas presented at random to newbies and no organisation... I would imagine it would seem a bit overwhelming to them THANKS for the replies!!! - sounds like some wonderful training setups hmmm - think that may give me some ideas to take to club

Heya :D I would be very interested to know how different clubs run agility training. I am part of a small club - where instructors are still learning etc - we do well with little experience - but some feel it would run better and attract more people if it was more organised (atm, we set up a random course, sit down and chat while people take turns running their dogs over it :D ) Would love to hear: what sort of stuff is set up (ie a course, small sequences, single bits of equip or training drill type stuff), how groups are divided, what the instructors do... actually would love to hear what an avg agility training session is for ppl - ie do you have a drill or course explained and then take turns going over it? is it free-for-all (as it is at my club :D )? is there always someone recommending how to improve what you just did? How do they teach contacts? at what level? any baby equip used? Very importantly - what do the newbies do? and how are their training sessions run? (would love to hear any recounts from newbies that enjoyed their agility training!!!) Thanks! Bridget

with my limited knowledge... at a guess - you need to watch feeding raw eggs - however feeding the whole thing you should be fine. (supposidly the yolk has something in it that cancels out the ill effects of the raw whites). 5 necks sounds like a lot to me for a beagle on a diet - although, since he is losing weight it must be a small enough amount (my largish sheltie gets 3 necks and a handful of dry) dont know what veggies are good and bad for dogs - am sure someone who feeds this type of diet will jump in to answer that part... Sounds like a LOT of fish - good or bad? dont know - although you are probably in an excellent position to either back up or prove wrong the theories of fish oil making coats shiny! - so is it shiny?? :rolleyes: If he is losing weight, getting more active, coat and eyes look healthy etc... then I would say the diet is going well! Hopefully you will get some of the keen doggy nutritionist types coming through to help you with any improvements

I do not like to judge healthy weight by breed standards - as you say, he is tall - and then you have many different builds within a breed etc... I judge by how the dog feels - ie I like to be able to feel a couple of ribs without digging through a wall of fat

wow - thats an impressive menu - how is his health on this? ie weight good? energy levels? Lana just gets dry in the morning and meat at night - so I have no advice for ya sorry

just on the "no reward marker" - I use "yes" as a "thats right - but keep going" - sometimes I will reward a yes still (otherwise it could become meaningless - more background noise if it never leads to something good) - and the click as the end behaviour... havnt tried one of those though.

run free little miracle

hmm... deferz depends. if they are not reliable yet - I would perhaps run the other way for a few to get them keen - but I would not do this AFTER they didnt come... I would do it as I said COME - so the chasey game reward is for leaving their stay... do NOT want to reward the wrong thing :D with a trained dog - I might wait... if they heard the call... but more likely would give a second call and go work on it with better treats or the running away thing to get them coming on the first again. if they didnt hear the call then I dont very well want to wait for the to break a stay when they thought there was no command ... would repeat it ooh... just worked out we are not talking recalls with distractions - if they dont come back, it means we havnt trained to that level of distraction. Thus whatever I do is not a training thing - it would be just to get them back with the knowledge that I need to build up to that sort of distraction in a less distracting enviro. Lana is not overly reliable with distractions of running dogs etc. Running the other way only works if I am more rewarding than they are - and usually it is not the case - she will listen when I am closer - so I tend to walk over then call her off - I dont like to do this and put her on lead all the time - often if she comes back OK (ie not perfect - but does come back) I like to touch her collar and tell her "OK" so her reward is to go run again - hoping she will be more likely to come back to me since it is not a definite end to her game - seems to work alright

I feel the better question with a border or kelpie is what CANT you do sounds like you are doing lots already! endurance, doggy dancing, frisbee, tracking... eta - with tracking, are they food mad? you could try the thing where you put a bit of food into each step etc... but you have to be careful about how you lay the track etc so as not to confuse them!

- one thing - if you enter the easter obed/agility I doubt you will have much luck getting between the show and trial on the same day... tends to exclude each other a bit... although if you are lucky with your times - it is only a short drive to everthing in Mt G

if you hit some of the country trials - eg Mt Gambier - or the riverland appeared to have a big one... also S something... then they usually have double obed/agility over two days etc so the locals can fit in several trials in one hit - makes it worthwhile to run - and also worthwhile to travel to

I am the same - they dont heel on walks :cool: - infact, they are seldom on lead for walks (but I am lucky in having lots of off lead/loose rules areas around to do this in) and when they are the pull lots, stop and sniff stuff, get in the way etc etc - I like to joke that "having this well behaved dog out in public is the whole reason I went to dog obed in the first place" she loves her walks - and I love watching how much she enjoys just being a dog and going silly etc

2. I have a couple.... since Lana loves the herding/chasing type game I can get her worked up just darting off and when she runs that way I go back the other way - simple. Sometimes I with push her around etc to make it more fun... sometimes I will do this to wake her up going into the ring... but more so I like to use it inbetween exercises in training etc as a reward/wake her up again type thing... I also like to play the "sneaking" game... I will get really quiet and take slow steps then say GO and start running... sometimes I will add a shhhhh or "you ready???" under my breath - always quiet... so now if she hears this or sees me start to creep she starts bouncing and going silly! I was doing this earlier with her just walking out back and got my brother really confused as he couldnt see what I was doing and she was going mental eta - the silly tricks like spin etc are good also as she associates this with lots of treats and fun training etc... also gets her a bit focused on what I am doing...

thanks dogdude