JulesP

Don't have that problem with treats at my club WMR.

Brock is liking those Cool Treats at the moment. He can certainly eat them nice and quickly. I tend to change treats alot. I get the ham rolls a fair bit too. When he was a pup he wasn't interested in food as a reward at all and it was cat kibble that got him interested! Loved the cat kibble. Kitten kibble would probably work well of a little dog.

It was a major jump in distraction levels IMO. Brock just sat up and looked really worried. I am not worried about him doing a runner as he is too much of a mummies boy and is just going to come to me. His main problem is me going too far away or other people yelling at their dogs near him.

Don't know why I keep ending up with soft dogs, lol. Anyhow had a bit of a tiff with my instructor today regarding distraction work during stays. My theory is that the dog needs to be very solid and you need to be able to get to the dog quickly if it breaks during stays, otherwise I think you are teaching the dog that it can break. Thoughts? I have also found (3 sooky dogs now) that the more distraction type stuff I do with these sort of dogs the worse they get. They just seemed to get more worried and want mummy more and are then hopeless for the rest of the training session. I avoided any distraction stuff with the last dog I trialled for this reason and she had rock solid, out of sight stays. Anyone found that their sooky dogs have got better with distraction work or worse like I have found?

What is the go with that Zwipeak food? It is rather expensive. Anyone using it??

Fern is looking much chirpier! She is back to meeting me at the gate and is generally moving around much better. I am hoping that this means that it is arthritis in the spine rather than anything nastier. I have to take her back to the vet mid-week and will discuss long term treatment then.

Not a kibble but what about trying Phuds? It is sort of a porridge, you just add a bit of mince to it. Can be found at http://www.brownsanimalherbals.com.au

"Strays"?

That is great Dogdude. Have fun doing those stays!

Bit of both. I don't like tricks but have to show one to pass the class, so I had to do that. I did targetting because I could see some use in that. I told the instructor not to do something last week as it was upsetting my dog. I will refuse to do something if I think it is going to stuff the dog up. I also did something that the instructor thought was wrong (and it is usually but I had a reason for it and it worked). Mmmm so I guess I decide!

Fern got her CD in 3 trials but I am really slack and hate driving so from encouragement to 3rd CD pass took a year because I pretty much did it all at Croydon! I did manage to drive to Knox. She just about 18 months when she got her title. She had started puppy school at 8 weeks and I was fairly serious with her from the beginning. She hurt her leg and couldn't jump so that was that. I will probably not even start Brock until he is 2yo. He is much more insecure then Fern was and needs the time to grow up. Fern just lovvveddd working.

OMG Countryjoe - how embarrassing!! :D

The main reason that I don't have a problem with some level of negative correction is that dogs negatively correct each other. Therefore I think that they do accept some level of negative correction and do understand it.

Obedience a drag?? Not if you have a border!

Actually the xH was looking at spinal surgery but is almost back to normal after being treated with acupunture.

After laying like she was dead all day Fern has now perked up a bit. She is still can't walk very well but isn't looking quite as sad. I am not a fan of Rimadyl but she was pretty bad. I'll keep a good eye on her for side effects. There is a vet near me that does accupunture so I will enquire about that.

The vet diagnosed the spine problem. She was quite ouchy just behind her shoulders. I don't think we get those ticks in this area.

The problem is in her spine. It could be a disc problem or arthritis. Her back leg responses are slow but still working at the moment. She is on rimadyl for a week, then she has to go back. The poor thing can't even get into her tramoline bed. I've had to put her bedding on the ground. I had to have my last dog put down when his back legs went, he was 15yo though.

My BC girl is having lots of trouble walking. She is struggling to stand and is moving really slowly. She ripped a ligament about 8 years ago and it was operated on but didn't heal properly. I am not sure if it is that though as she is putting the leg on the ground, usually they hold it in the air with a knee problem. She is in a fair bit of pain too. She is super brave (didn't whimper with a broken leg, torn ligament, c-section etc) so if I can see she is ouchy it must be bad. I am waiting to go to the vets and am really stressed out. She is 11yo.

Wayyyy not close for me!

Nice to see you all again! Thanks for the feedback etc guys!!

I actually wouldn't mind doing some training in the rain. Brock hasn't seen much rain and broke a stay last weekend when it started to rain! The big sook! He stayed there with the kitten jumping on his head and carrying on and the first rain drops he got up to bolt! I'm about half an hour from Knox thu so will check in here before I leave in case everyone pikes! Hope you are feeling ok Dogdude!

yeah!

I'll be there!

My puppy class was an hour but that included time for the pups to just play at the beginning and lots of talking (during which the pups would be given relaxing pats). I started at about 9 weeks. This is an important time for pup to be learning stuff about the world, so I wouldn't be waiting until your pup was older. If you think your pup has had enough you could excuse yourself and go home early or just sit and watch. Something that worried me about your post was you said 'chain'. Are you using a correction chain? I'm not keen on using them on pups. A flat collar is plenty.