Rantino

Update for the last Tracking trial of the season. Grace passed test 7 to have Tracking Champion Rantino Golden Legend. Things didn't go quite as well for me so I will have to wait until next year. Cheers Leanne

Congratulations on such a huge and expensive effort. It takes a lot of time and money to compete at tracking, so to get 3 through is quite a feat. Well done to the doggies. Cheers Leanne

Hi all, I very rarely post but had to on this occasion. My friend, Grace and her dog Cash & my dog Quincy & I started tracking at the start of the season this year. Both dogs were bred by me and I'm happy to announce that we have both achieved our T.D.X. titles. Not only that but half way through the season I started tracking Cash's litter sister 'Gidgit' and she gained her T.D. title the same day the boys got their TDX's. What I am most proud of is the fact that Gidgit is a dwarf G.S.D. and may be the first dwarf G.S.D. that has competed in any discipline let alone getting a title. Please if anyone knows of any other GSD dwarf that has done any thing I would love to hear about it. Cheers Leanne

I'd like to see you try and get a shepherd to fall over I know of a few GSD owners that you might get to fall over without even trying.

Hi all, I have a young (8 month old) puppy that has starting bridging when being stacked... How do I stop this and retrain him to stack properly, he has been shown since a baby and was ok until recently. Any and all suggestions would be greatly apprecciated. BTW he is a GSD. Cheers Leanne

I just want to say Bravo!!!! me too funny how these threads are usually started by someone with a "common" breed. Gee thats strange. I own the 'common' breed everyone is talking about, yet at a recent 'city' show there were only 4 dogs competing, one of which was a baby puppy. So much for being common. Cheers Leanne I should also mention that those people that only show at specilties with German Shepherds don't covert the Aust Ch title. The only thing they are interested in is the grading and critique given by the judge. As far as refusing challenges goes it is the complete opposite. Excellent gradings may be given to 95% of the class and the class maybe 50 animals. To me this is overkill and I find it hard to believe that there can be that many "far above average" dogs being shown. I show allbreeds most of the time but do breed survey my dogs and show at specialities rarely.

No. They'll be waiting a very long time. I don't know about that...they are already a recognised breed in America in the miscallenes(spelling) class. Its called a Mi Ki Mi-Ki A toy sized companion dog the Mi-Ki is a loving and friendly pet. There are several theories as to how exactly the breed developed. One of the theories or origins is that it was developed in the 1980 in Wisconsin by one breeder named Micki Macklin. In this origin several toy breeds were crossed in the lines including stock from the Yorkshire Terrier, Papillon, Shih Tzu, Japanese Chin and Maltese lines. Other theories of origin from different clubs include the same general foundation breeds, however not all include the Shih Tzu lines and some have almost no records of the exact toy breeds used to develop the Mi-Ki. Regardless of the foundation lineage the Mi-Ki does have breed standards and is recognized by many of the individual registries although not currently with the major Kennel Clubs. The Mi-Ki is a toy size companion pet, not typically weighing more than 10 pounds at maturity. It can be long or short coated, either variety is acceptable, but on both coat types the ears have to feathered and highly mobile. The tail is carried high over the hips and is fringed, giving a balanced appearance to the dog. They can come in a variety of colors from fawns to browns and even blue colored coats. Eye colors vary from dark brown to blue and should correspond with the coat color. As with any toy breed dental problems can occur in the Mi-Ki so regular dental hygiene is essential. The shorter muzzled dogs are prone to the same respiratory problems as Pugs and should be carefully monitored when exercising.

All the advise given has been great and does apply to any dog not just Ridgebacks. Some thing for you to think about is the learning phases that puppies and later adolesent dogs go thru. They have specific periods where there behavior changes into a slight defiant zone. Testing the boundries is all part of growing up and learning how far is too far. So keep the training consistent so she learns that whatever you say will be backed up if she doesn't respond in the way you expect. Consistency is the way to acheive success, probably the hardest thing to do in training your dog is to train yourself to be consistant. Cheers Leanne

You could try placing a long soft lead around his middle so that when you say 'stand' you can prevent him from sitting while you remain upright, thus being able to reward him immediately for the correct position. Have you taught him to catch food dropped to him while he is in the heel position? This would be an added advantage 1-he will be looking up at you all the time and 2-you wont have to bend down to him with the treat possibly making him change position before the reward is given. I hope some of this helps. Good luck Cheers Leanne

How are you teaching him to drop? Teaching from the stand and luring down between his front legs and back towards his rear, a bit like a bow but with rear end down, will cuase him to fold up backwards and be in the type of tidy drop you are looking for. I also agree with Ernie that giving the other position a different command(name) so therefore Wolfe learns the difference between drop (sphinx position) and down (casual hip over postion). Personally I use "down" command for stays (already relaxed position) and "drop" (sphinx, tidy) for the heeling and find it works really well. Good Luck Cheers Leanne

First off for my dogs I use a proper s/b article. Once they have learnt the retrieve excersice they are then taught seek back. I start in a paddock with fairly short grass, no start peg and leave they dog in a sit stay. I walk ahead in a straight line, turn around and show the dog the article and then place it on the ground. I walk back to the dog and around to the heel position. Build drive in the dog and let him/her go. Usually the dog will race out so far and upon not finding the article strainght away will then use their nose to track it down. I continue with this type of training until I am walking(by myself) a complete seekback heeling pattern, but I pretend to place the article in different places along the track. Even when I have placed it, I will keep pretending to place it so the dog will not know where it is. Again return to the dog and build the drive then release. As you have probably guessed this only continues until the dog is really keen and finding successfully. Now you start heeling with the dog and dropping the article behind you, but you must go back to the straight short tracks and build back up to full length ones over time. Most of my dogs, once they have started trialling, teach themselves to go back to the start peg and track from there. Good luck I hope I have made some sense of it. Cheers Leanne

Thank you all for your replies. I will be taking her to Monash (vic) I've heard they have a new machine, and they are very experienced at this sort of thing. Fingers crossed for the 7th Oct for some images to appear on screen. Cheers Leanne

Hi all, I was hoping someone here might be able to tell me when is the best time during the pregnancy to have an ultrasound done. I have a bitch that was assumed to be pregnant last time she was mated but there were no puppies in the end. I have done a return mating to the same proven male but would like to know for certain whether or not she is pregnant. The bitch is a maiden. Thanks in advance for your input. Cheers Leanne