JulesP

Totally gorgy. What a brilliant present.

The main issue I find is students want to move their hand the wrong way on the circle bit, they bring their hand against their bodies first and then away in a circle. I usually have to go around and show each one individually.

Cool! I've tried to get to WA a couple of times but something always goes wrong, like airlines going bankrupt!

I was thinking Sue might enjoy a trip to the Yarra Valley

Damn! Thanks for asking. JulesP - bet you and I were having the same thoughts. An extra clinic somewhere closer to home? It is rather hard to get away for a weekend with lots of pets!

Why I think this way is quicker too is backend awareness is dealing with muscle memory etc. Think that is a hard call in an hour for a dog with no backend awareness. Plus you have to teach the dog to put its feet on the object first. The person that introduced the tear drop to club was a mad keen Mary Ray fan Tassie, so undoubtedly it came from a Mary clinic.

Here you go - The lady in the clip is moving her leg back. I find you only need to move your leg with big dogs. I can pretty much get all the pups in class moving into heel position in 10 mins. So in an hour you should be able to fade the food and just do it with a hand signal.

Basically luring into position. Say dog is out in front. Left hand, holding treat. Hand goes back towards you, then out in a circle and around finishing at heel position. Hand comes up and dog sits. The luring movement then becomes the heel signal. You could adapt it for the dog sitting to the side. As the dog progresses the circle gets smaller and some will just flick their backsides around.

Do you only have an hour to do this? I would be using the tear drop method. Most dogs pick that up pretty quickly.

I was thinking about doing some pre-puppy schools. Do these get advertised anywhere or is it a matter of giving your resume to the local vets?

Damn! Thanks for asking.

Sam who is organising this seminar is a very experienced trialling person, she is currently competing with her Aussie Shepherd and has her open title and is about to hit the UD ring. She has been around for a long time, and her and her husband have done a lot for the sport Ptolomy do you know what Sue's travel plans are? Is she just coming down/across? for this one weekend?

Do we need to use my 'trainers-that-work-with-nasty-bitey-dogs' tag again???

It would probably be easier to fly to Perth then drive to Albury, lol.

I just did a whereis for Albury

I am a obedience dog trainer (well really it is a people trainer). It is sort of like being a sports coach. If the dog has issues then it needs medical help. That might be a behaviorist (sort of a psychologist) or it might be a vet behaviorist (GP, psychiatrist). I would suggest the vet behaviorist option if I thought drugs might be needed. Hopefully if I do my job well the dog will never need a behaviorist because issues will not develop. I have had 3 young dogs in 4 years that have already had bad enough issues that I have recommended they see a behaviorist.

I would be telling her how wonderful she is whilst I was heeling. I don't think you have your work cutout for you. I think that you could get a fairly quick improvement. I think once she is happy her head is just going to come up naturally.

That is what I was thinking

I don't really know how to say this. From what I can see from the video Shelley looks very unhappy and worried about her heeling. Her tail is right down and has that slow worried wag. She is sort of crouching. I think her head is down because she is worried. I think you need to walk with more energy. You need to be praising heaps. I would be just doing 1-3 paces and telling her how wonderful she is.

The dog I know that has been debarked now makes a horrible noise. Sort of high pitched but hoarse if that makes any sense?? It really isn't any quieter then a normal bark.

Yes different ingredients to the ones in the shops. They didn't have the coating on them to start with. Maybe 5 ingredients. Chicken, rice, guar gum, durum flour is what I can remember. They aren't listed on the website either.

I originally did think it was a plant allergy as symptoms are a rash on her belly and nose. No upset tummy or itchy paws etc. It wasn't until she skipped 2 meals and had a miraculous recovery that I thought 'food allergy'. Neocort was not helping either which is also an indicator of a food allergy. Due to the speed of the rash coming and going I would say it is a allergy rather than an intolerance. The 4Legs actually didn't have many ingredients in it. It was the kennel pack.

Thanks for that zayda_asher. I guess going by that I didn't stuff it up as it does allow you to revert to the dog's original feeding pattern. So now a food allergy is established I need to find the cause.

I'm a vego and would sausage as there is little meat in them well I wouldn't really but you get my point!!! Have you tried the Happy Paws training treats Mason2009? They have roo and goat ones

I am always a bit concerned if the judge has markers on the ground. Poppy loves to target :crossfingers: The other day whilst in a heeling pattern she also felt the need to go and practice her 2o2o on the bits of broad jump that were stacked in the ring. The non-agility judge was very bemused and asked 'what the hell was that for?'