Mindless Brag Page....

[huski]

Daisy finally learnt how to down on voice command only tonight. She needed only a slight hand signal to down previous to now, and she just wouldn't 'get' how to do it on voice. But now she does. Woohoo!!!!!!!

Now all I have to do is teach stand on voice command......argh!

[leopuppy04]

Yay!!!

Go Daisy and Husky - see not the evil beagle at all!!!!

I had another great night with the spunky boy tonight! Open obedience training

He offered me some fab heelwork, but not drop dead astonishing :p

Held his SFE with his most favourite person in the world (he has bikkies in his pocket ya know!) ;)

Great DOR

Retrieve with ENTHUSIASM :D

*ducks from Ptolomy* - Lovely straight broad jump

COP - pretty good as I did it from the furthest distance I have - although rather than moving his front feet back into the sit he came forward into the sit from the drop (but didn't creep)..... not sure if that is acceptable or not

Best of all....

HE HELD HIS OUT OF SIGHT SIT STAY with about a gazillion things going around him as the next class was setting up :p ;) :p

So guess who got some jackpots tonight ;) ;)

[Nekhbet]

OK My turn

The first is my rescue shepherd! He is finally being cuddly and playful, even hopping up on the couch for a snuggle when I ask him. He has turned into such a giant sweetheart! Complete opposite of the fearful, shy and empty mess he was when I got him about 6 months ago

AAAAAAAAAAAND! (Drumroll please)

I helped my first family with their aggressive dog through the dog training business I just started! They have an 18mo 47kg bull arab that would attack the mother and brother while completely posessing the daughter. They were afraid to go to the toilet or be alone if she went out! After giving them an ultimatum on the dogs behaviour I was so happy to visit them this past weekend and see the dog playing happily, anyone could walk around the house at night and even move the dog off its bed without a peep from the animal! I love seeing people confident again in their own homes, I was starting to doubt the dog but they worked hard and pulled it off in 2 months! We have a little more to go with some general obedience but they now understand their dogs limitations and that he's never going to be a cuddly lap dog with everyone and the dog is stress free and chilled out because of it!! The little terrierxchi is even telling him off and he listens

[Rom]

You guys are all awesome and inspirational...keep up the great work! I love reading this thread.

My little brag.....I entered my dog into Novice Sweepstakes last week and leading up to going into the ring everything was shaping up nicely, she was eager and actually trying everything on to make me give her a command to start working. Considering where we've come from its awesome to see her so eager to work.

Enter clutz ;) as we were walking up to the start peg I stepped on her foot, she yelped and swung away from me and as she did she smacked into the start peg and yelped again. The start peg caught her in the flank and as she tried to get away from it she ended up with her back leg on the opposite side of the peg to the rest of her body, so she was basically hooked to it. So now, start pegs bite and we don't want to go anywhere near them. Judge allows us to break for a minute to try and calm her and we start again....still really wary of those biting start pegs....but despite all of that she pulled a qualifying score and came 4th. She mainly lost points in the heel when we were near the start peg...fig 8 etc. I was really proud of her.

There was a behaviourist (you'll know who Husky87) stewarding on the ring and she said to me afterwards that she was surprised that my dog worked at all considering the fright that she got and how she reacted to the start peg. I love my girl...what can I say?!

As an aside, a friend who was watching yelled out in a joking manner as we exited the ring "I saw you kick that bloody dog!" and I said "Well, yeah, we can idiot proof the dogs but we can't do much about the bloody handlers can we?"

I'm thinking that perhaps I should have withdrawn my girl and worked on her new fear rather than continuing with the run out, even though she performed really well under the circumstances....I'm wondering when I'm gonna know and understand enough to stop letting her down?

ETA: Having a rare few drinkies tonight so am feeling a little emotional about it all

Edited October 20, 2007 by Rom

[huski]

You guys are all awesome and inspirational...keep up the great work! I love reading this thread.

My little brag.....I entered my dog into Novice Sweepstakes last week and leading up to going into the ring everything was shaping up nicely, she was eager and actually trying everything on to make me give her a command to start working. Considering where we've come from its awesome to see her so eager to work.

Enter clutz as we were walking up to the start peg I stepped on her foot, she yelped and swung away from me and as she did she smacked into the start peg and yelped again. The start peg caught her in the flank and as she tried to get away from it she ended up with her back leg on the opposite side of the peg to the rest of her body, so she was basically hooked to it. So now, start pegs bite and we don't want to go anywhere near them. Judge allows us to break for a minute to try and calm her and we start again....still really wary of those biting start pegs....but despite all of that she pulled a qualifying score and came 4th. She mainly lost points in the heel when we were near the start peg...fig 8 etc. I was really proud of her.

There was a behaviourist (you'll know who Husky87) stewarding on the ring and she said to me afterwards that she was surprised that my dog worked at all considering the fright that she got and how she reacted to the start peg. I love my girl...what can I say?!

As an aside, a friend who was watching yelled out in a joking manner as we exited the ring "I saw you kick that bloody dog!" and I said "Well, yeah, we can idiot proof the dogs but we can't do much about the bloody handlers can we?"

I'm thinking that perhaps I should have withdrawn my girl and worked on her new fear rather than continuing with the run out, even though she performed really well under the circumstances....I'm wondering when I'm gonna know and understand enough to stop letting her down?

ETA: Having a rare few drinkies tonight so am feeling a little emotional about it all ;)

:D you clutz Rom :p

I am a master at confusing my dog :cool: . I got so excited when Daisy did her first down on voice command that now all she wants to do is down. We do heel work and she will automatically sit.........and then down She looks up at me like "See, I did it before you even told me to! I am SO clever :D"

She hasn't 100% got stand on voice or hand signal, it is proving quite challenging. When she's confused and doesn't understand what I want she will just drop instead

[t(AD)pole]

Yesterday at the western port agility trial we were the only team to run the Novice Agility course clean and under time! ;) After completing the last jump Abbie decided she would keep going and jumped over the fence and out of the ring. Someone outside the ring grabbed her (obviously trying to help) so I took the lead and went to get her. We were DQ'd because I did not put her lead on in the ring! I chucked the Q and 1st down the drain without even knowing, but it was still a clean run so I was very pleased with Abbie.

We also got 1st in height group in Open Agility. Only two people Q'd and we only didn't because she knocked the bar on the second last jump. (where is the strangle dog emoticon? :D ) We came home Q-less once again but overall it was a great trial and I was very happy with Abbie's performance.

[ness]

Bad luck with Abbie - thats a bit harsh at novice level if they haven't warned you first. Oh well next time I guess and now you know. You should still be proud of her to get around the course and go clear . Well done in Open as well - gees and Abbie and yourself are only a novice team well done against some no doubt much tougher competition.

Any other board members competing?

[kelpiechick]

Well done t(AD)pole

Even though technically 'them's the rules' I also think it was very harsh at Novice level, and some judges will just turn a 'blind eye' or give you a warning. (Bet I could name the one who DQ'd you!)

All that's been taken off you is a bit of ribbon and a bit of cardboard really - yeah I know we all love those bits of cardboard - but no one can rob you of the feeling that you get when it all comes together and that's the biggest buzz of agility.

Hopefully you are still proud of yourself and Abbie, now you've done it once you can do it again and all that hard work is paying off.

(And this is way better than a 'mindless brag'.)

[JulesP]

Oh bugger that you were clear t(AD)pole! I was the grabber! (well she jumped in my lap technically!) I think she bolted over because your dad and all your stuff was there. Maybe don't set up camp right near your ring?

My brags for the weekend are Brock passed his first agility class at club and I taught my first class! A puppy class. Everyone seemed happy at the end of it so I guess I went ok!

[ness]

On this issue maybe you could try and put in place a few strategies to present it happening again. For example you could teach Abbie to jump into your arms . A better alternative would be to ask Abbie to drop upon finishing a run and then release her only once the leash is placed on. If the dog is likely to go silly upon finishing then I think the drop is a nice stable position and allows you to regain control. You can then play tug or run to a jackpot container (presuming you reward in some fashion after completing the run)

Whatever you do I would make sure you are consistent at both training and when you trial.

I am sure you will get there and can totally understand your disappointment with having a quallie taken away.

[t(AD)pole]

Thanks everyone! Don't worry I'm still super proud! Just because we didn't get the ribbon doesn't change the fact that we were the only ones to run it clean. :D

I actually thought we had got a refusal because she hesitated before the DW so I didn't realise until the scorer shouted out "Does she know she was DQ'd?" obviously because I was very happy and why not it was a good run regardless of the score.

JulesP- It wasn't actually you who I was talking about. There was a man who was also holding a border collie standing in front of you. When I saw him grab her I decided there was no point calling her now and went to get her. It was a spur of the moment kind of thing- she had run to where we were going to walk anyway so why call her back (I was not aware of the lead on before exit rule) and also someone had caught her. If I had decided to stay and call her more she would have come, even if only after saying hello to everyone.

As for the setting up in front of the ring, we only arrived in the arvo and that was the only place left with shade. I wouldn't usually but because the main part of the course was at the far end from our crate I thought it would be fine (well it was really).

Ness-I think just getting more control and focus from her will help. With most dogs you see them at the end of their run they jump up at their handler as if to say "Did I do good mum?". With Abbie its like " Am I done now? Cool cya." On course I need to be constantly talking to her otherwise she may run off. We really need to strengthen our relationship so she sees me as the one to listen to rather then my dad.

Having said all that I was actually more proud of our open run because we were the only ones from novice and I had never tried open before. I felt a bit silly walking the course because no doubt people had seen me in the novice ring and they were all in excellent and masters. :D

</brag>

[ness]

Yep more control and focus will help but it also helps if you have a routine - before you go in, after you finish so the dogs know what to expect :D . Well done on your open though as I am currently running Masters and still haven't entered to many open agility (and those we have we still haven't passed ). What was the distance challenge out of curiousity. I wanted to get our open jumping title out the way first before focussing on open agility.

ETA On the issue of knocked bars as Ptolomy would say GET OVER IT (god I have had so many rounds lately which would have been clear but for ONE knocked bar so I symphathise with you on that - its darn right annoying!!!!!).

Edited October 21, 2007 by ness

[t(AD)pole]

Ness- We probably do need have a routine for the end of our run but I really don't know what to teach. Just a sit in front of me maybe? I don't want to do anything wrong...

The open distance test was only three jumps set up like this:

...................I........I

..........I

________________________ <------distance handling line

..........................Seesaw ^here

The end of the seesaw touched the ground on the line- thats where the distance challenge started, so it was from a dead stop on the contact. the I's are jumps

Sorry I think I've hijacked this thread :D .

Edited October 22, 2007 by t(AD)pole

[Vickie]

Yesterday at the western port agility trial we were the only team to run the Novice Agility course clean and under time! :rolleyes: After completing the last jump Abbie decided she would keep going and jumped over the fence and out of the ring. Someone outside the ring grabbed her (obviously trying to help) so I took the lead and went to get her. We were DQ'd because I did not put her lead on in the ring! :D I chucked the Q and 1st down the drain without even knowing, but it was still a clean run so I was very pleased with Abbie.

We also got 1st in height group in Open Agility. Only two people Q'd and we only didn't because she knocked the bar on the second last jump. (where is the strangle dog emoticon? ) We came home Q-less once again but overall it was a great trial and I was very happy with Abbie's performance. :p

Well done to you & Abbie!!! :D

The Q's & ribbons are nice but the knowledge that you met all the challenges & ran well as a team is the biggest reward there is in agility. Sounds like she is going great.

[Vickie]

Our brag is that Trim & I got her Excellent Agility title yesterday with a first place :D . She got her Novice title in our first ever weekend of trialling, so it feels like it has taken FOREVER to get through Excellent, with so many very nice 1 fault runs. Now we will get an extra 2 runs next weeknd to prove it wasn't a fluke

Edited October 21, 2007 by Vickie

[ness]

Sounds like a reasonable distance challenge. We had a weekend of bastard ones and then a weekend of lovely ones :D .

I agree with what Vickie said its great when you have met all the course challenges and yep she certainly sounds like she is going great.

As for a routine try one that might work if your behind. Even with a slow BC I can sometimes finish behind her. It could be as simple as you call her and she comes to you and you have her sit. Like I said I have seen handlers who have there dogs jump up, handlers who drop there dogs and go and collect the lead. Give it some thought and maybe try a few experiments at club/training and see what works best.

Well done though and I am sure we will hear of more success in the future.

[Vickie]

BTW, if that rule was enforced in NSW, we would have a HEAP of DQ's. Trim finishes her run, tears around like a maniac looking for where the ring steward has put her lead & brings it to me to tug. Sometimes I am still in the ring, sometimes not. Often there is only a metre between the last obstacle & the ring rope...doesn't give you much room :D

[ness]

Yep exactly Vickie - same would happen in SA. Some judges were going through a phase of cracking down on it and sounds like its the case in Victoria. They did however warn the competitors at the briefing. I think its a bit harsh in novice but what can you do as you said she can be proud of the fact she met all the course challenges - the results will come for her in the end.

[Vickie]

Sounds like a reasonable distance challenge. We had a weekend of bastard ones and then a weekend of lovely ones :D .

The judge of our Open Jumping course yesterday made the following comment (I'm paraphrasing):

It was extremely disappointing to watch handler after handler scream at their dogs through the distance portion. How about some of you try handling it next time & giving a "jump" cue, rather than repeated screaming "Out". He even suggested than some of the screaming was deserving of penalties.

[JulesP]

Hard lesson to learn t(AD)pole! But good on you for looking at the positives, that your dog ran well.