MrsD

:nahnah: I love the exploding head & the magical hand too, he's such a funny man, he should patent them . I was the one sitting down the front next to Dagboy who was operating the DVD player, I was also on the raffle ticket table for a while until about 15 mins before it started.

Glad you enjoyed yourself, he is extremely entertaining & funny & so full of info. When he does a weekend workshop (like the one we are going to this weekend) it is non-stop fun & action, he even gets everyone up dancing (for the DwD workshops) up & down the length of the seminar area :nahnah: . We were very worried that the rain was going to foil our plans to have the demo half of the seminar outside but in the end it was fine & it worked really well.

yep it's some I made, there are 2 different necklaces, one in silver & one in gold so the winner can pick which one they like best.

Huski, sadly I will know that you are only pretending to like it as it's jewellery that didn't come from a jewellers . Maree , come on now, Chook isn't that bad!

I don't know whethere to do "The Entertainer" which has more in it and I really like the costume or "Tequilla" which is faster for Chook but I have to cart and set up the jump. or should I just do Chook's HTM routine "Popcorn". That is if he does anything at all!!!!!!! Hey! Why not do all 3? :D ;) Huski, good idea, with the weather the traffic will no doubt be shite. ETA - I have just finished putting together the 2nd thing for the raffle, I hope whoever wins it likes it .

Yeah I am getting even more excited about the weekend, Friday night should be interesting as I'm sure everyone will expect Whisper to do a routine now & I have no costume for her routine & between Jarrah taking jumping bean syrup & biting the cane I think my whole routine is going to be a bit of an experience . Plus I don't have my new routine ready yet, so it will have to be the old I Will Survive one, everyone will be groaning & shuffling in their seats ;) .

staffylover, great to hear ;) . GG ask someone tonight!

Dagboy & I have always said that everytime we do a workshop or seminar with a different trainer, there is always something else new that we learn. ;) When it comes to training dogs, I think that the day we stop learning is the day we may as well give up training . I love Richard so much because he's a great people teacher as well as dog trainer. I've seen people who are undoubtably great trainers who can't get their point across to the person on the other end of the leash & that is such a waste. I'm off to finish making one of the raffle prizes - nothing like leaving it to the last minute .

Only 1 more sleeeeeeeep!!!! :D :D :D <------------ that's me dancing cos Richard is here .

Ahhh that's a shame, nevermind, I will see you on Wednesday :D .

Teach her the "stand" as a separate exercise to heeling with a clicker, as Tiggy said the kick back stand is a good one, but it doesn't really matter what way she does it as long as she understands the command. Once she is confident doing that move it slowly onto giving the command when she is in the left hand heel position.

OK dinner at Seita's place at 6pm :D . Ptolomy, you would have loved it, go on, change your flight back, you know you want to . We (read - I ) are getting so excited, we had a check of all the audio visual systems the other night, only 3 more sleeps til the seminar & 5 more sleeps til his workshop at CT :D . ETA - huski, are you doing the beginner's course, cos I even got myself invited to come along & help instruct just for you! ;)

Just got this from the DwD club president & am posting it here as some people didn't supply email addresses when they registered. (not saying that they were the people off DOL, but just in case there was someone from DOL )

Just to let everyone know, there WON'T be any food available before the event as they haven't been able to find anyone to do the catering for them. There will be tea & coffee & cake after the seminar, it might stave off the hunger pains until you can get to Maccas .

The beginners course is filling fast, they have enough dogs to go ahead with it, but there are still a couple of spots left if anyone is interested. I don't think I will be there the first week but will probably be there helping out with instructing the other 3 weeks if you want to come along & say hello .

Jarrah is like this, if you get out a toy he just stands in front of you shaking & is completely oblivious to anything else. What I have done is teach the exercise with food (luring if you can) & then when the dog has a clue bring out the toy but go back to absolute basics like the dog has never done the exercise before in it's life. When you first get the toy out he still stands there shaking but if you go back to teaching it all over again ie luring etc he picks it up albeit slowly. For the first couple of times I had to hide the toy, get him to do the command (however sloppily) & reward with the toy, then slowly advance to where I could have the toy in my hand Some things are much much harder for him doing it that way than others eg I have taught him to cover his eyes with his paw, how hard to you think it was to get him to cover his eyes so he couldn't see me me when I've got a toy in my hand that I just MIGHT throw? - but in the end if you persevere they realise that the reward ONLY comes after they do what you ask they will get better. I have to do the same thing (start with food & then change to toy & go back to basics) for EVERY separate exercise I teach, but it works & now I have a dog who has so much drive in training it's unbelievable. Hard work to start with but well worth it. As for treats, my dogs love the VIP chunkers but then Jarrah will work for anything that I have, even sawdust or a grass stalk , if I have it, he wants it. I also use cheese, BBQ chicken, devon, ham etc, Jonty wouldn't touch food when he was a puppy but now he will almost take your fingers off for a chunker or a piece of cheese so their food drive can improve as they get older.

I feed my dogs in the evening just before bed & I often train in the evenings before feeding, if I have a trial the next day I will give a smaller feed the night before (about 1/2 normal feed), but only because I will no doubt have trained that night & they will get rewards at the trial as well the next day. Apart from that, no fasting for training, my dogs are all food motivated, even after dinner . I'm not sure what you mean by depriving them of treats, my dogs work for everything in life apart from pats, they do get some of those for free, but only a few . I don't particularly restrict activity before a trial &/or training but I do use a crate when I train (if that makes sense!). I will put my dog in a crate for 2 or 3 minutes before I start training, then bring them out, train/have a game etc & then back in the crate for 30 seconds to a minute, out to train/play a game, back in the crate for another 30 seconds to a minute etc. This builds alot of drive. The only toy that I don't allow access to is a frisbee, mainly because it would be chewed into a 1000 pieces in less than 5 minutes of Jarrah got hold of it . Jarrah has a stack of tug toys of different varieties in the yard & is contantly at the backdoor or at the gate offering a toy. For him there is no drive satisfaction unless a person plays with him, so I don't care that he has toys in the yard, I have a stack that I keep for training, but only because otherwise I can't find one when I need one (we have a large yard, with lots of places for them to get lost!). Jonty & Whisper are not particularly toy obsessed like he is, although Whisper does like a game of tug when I give her one. I don't have to deprive either Jarrah or Whisper of attention from other people (or dogs for that matter), Jarrah doesn't particularly like other people much, so he just completely ignores them, I've never seen him show an interest in getting a pat etc from anyone outside our family. Whisper will briefly say hello to someone, wag her tail once or twice & then turn back to me. Similarly with dogs, she will either completely ignore them or have a quick sniff for a couple of seconds & then turn back to me. Jonty is the only one of my dogs who actively likes people (other than our family) & loves getting attention & pats from other people. He's not particularly worried by other dogs, certainly doesn't dislike them & isn't scared of them, he will have a little play or a sniff with another dog but will readily come back if I call him. ETA - I've just read the responses in the thread (doh!), my dogs only get treats when training, if there are scraps etc then they come inside & have to do something for the treat (even if it's as simple as a sit). I have crated Jarrah the morning of a trial once because it was such a hot day & I didn't want him running around & getting over heated, but apart from that, if they need to be locked up so they are out of the way & for sleeping in at night I only crate as described above as part of the training.

I train at VIP, it can be a bit hectic on the nights of the new intake for puppy class, but it all works out in the end & is a lot less crazy & more organised the following weeks. Hope your class went well & Grace & you enjoyed yourself.

There used to be a lot of male competitors in agility up here in Brisbane, not more than the women, but certainly closer to half than not. Don't know if that's still true or not? In the past there has never been that many men doing obedience up here, plenty of male judges, but not many competing. ETA - Dagboy just said that like dogdude he thought that agility was a bit girly - so he went with DwD instead .

If you look at the link that Gayle gave earlier there is a pic of a Bergamasco & they look like you described - hairy with ringlets! They look like a cross between a Puli & a beardy or OES .

Bouviers in Australia don't have pricked ears. But there are a heck of a lot more than 9 Bouviers in the country?

That's what I thought, I could imagine the music & someone saying "back, high, heel, weave" etc . ETA - what show gillybob? is the royal easter show still on?

Ah OK, I couldn't remember meeting you, that's why I asked . No idea on the next course, if this one is successful probably later in the year but no date in mind yet.

GG, around about 100 people I think.

Our vet clinic is manned 24 hrs to look after the animals & to take any emergency cases that may come in. But it is one of the largest clinics/surgeries in Brisbane & you definitely pay for it. Hope Renae is feeling better soon Jules.