huski

She's only about 4kg so she's easy to carry up and down, but our kitchen/dining/living area is on the upstairs floor, and I don't want her down stairs by herself all the time

Josie we train in food drive but it would depend on what Scarlett's strongest drive is. Definitely get the clicker out and do some reading up on shaping, you can teach them so much and it really gets their brain engaged.

This is probably a cross over between health and training, but I thought I'd pop it in here in case anyone can help with the behaviour stuff. Cherry is 12 1/2 and she's lost most of her sight now and I think her hearing is starting to go. She was already a dog that was nervy but this loss of vision has made it worse. We had a two story house and she had a bit of a fall down the stairs (which she was already getting really cautious about going down due to her sight) and now refuses to go down the big stair case. She barks at the top of the stairs when she wants to go out to toilet but nothing I can do seems to work to encourage her go down herself, she is terrified of them. She will go up the stairs and will go down into the garage which is only two stairs. She's also barking at things a lot more because she can't see what they are, i.e. power cords, the fridge, the vacuum cleaner (when it's off). She also gets a fright and cries if you pick her up without an exaggerated warning - which is something that is easy to accomodate, but just another indication of how she is changing now she's getting older. She's had a recent vet check up and she's pretty healthy for her age apart from the lack of sight, she's still quite switched on, but I was wondering if there is anything I can do to help her increased nervousness now her senses are starting to go?

Well done TSD and Ziggy :thumbsup:

Hi Panzer, I think by frustration training you mean building drive, which if you search for here you should find quite a few threads as drive building has been discussed quite a bit in the training forum. This is a really old thread for example but may be worth having a read through; http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/43795-prey-drive-control-focus/

Yep mental stimulation will tire my dogs out more than physical exercise Drive work, shaping, scent games, training targeting etc.

Another vote for Steve from K9 Pro here, he's helped me tonnes with my beagle!

Good work huski, you just cost me a bomb! Oops sorry, wait no I'm not, I already spend a fortune on that site But if you use the FB discount code, you are technically saving money...

As a non-agility person I didn't get how 2x2 weavers would work until it was explained to me and then I had a lightbulb moment and it was so obvious how easy it would be.

Toshman I got my squeaker mat from www.k9pro.com.au - they are awesome!

Kedron Brook?

Nice work with Strauss! Why was he going to be only be a stud/show dog?

Aww we used to train at Shaw Rd oval almost every day for YEARS before I moved! Wish I had as a good a spot as close by to train where I live now

I just got Daisy a Kyjen squeaker mat toy from K9 Pro and it is awesome!! She LOVES it! And, K9 is doing 20% off on them this week if you are a fan of theirs on FB. They just added a whole new range of toys to their website. My credit card is in danger http://www.k9pro.com.au/categories/Dog-Toys/

Micha has broken out of a head collar before, it was a halti brand I think that came apart at the plastic snaps.

I'm awfully picky (just take the 20 page what breed for me thread I did at the start of the year) so in reality I know there are only very few breeds I want to live with.

Hmmm no I haven't Murve thanks for the tip! I just needed something tonight so got my sister's old ones, the grounds were wet and muddy - they were awful to walk in but my feet did stay dry

LOL yep already on the list! Kinda hard to avoid it after watching the vids back but then again that is why I video myself I don't think I've posted a vid of D working since the end of last year probably? Lazy trainer

Does anyone find their dog works harder when it starts to get quite cold? We were freezing at training tonight but Daisy loves it. A little snippet of work from tonight My foot work is atrocious - it is terribly difficult to walk in gumboots especially when they are too big! And another one... don't mind my hands, I was mucking around with the reward placement to see if her eye contact would falter much.

PF where do you find info on Dr Zink's trip to Brissy??

Just thought I'd bump this up as K9 Pro just posted the latest Busta update and has announced they will be keeping Busta as a new addition to their pack http://www.k9pro.com.au/news/27/Busta-Update-Number-5.html

What PF said! They certainly do allow mixed breeds to compete in obedience and will definitely do with rally-o

Do a youtube search and you'll find heaps of videos of a range of dog sports But to answer your question above in short - obedience is the sport where you see the dog working with the handler to do things like heelwork, a formal recall, stays, changes of position etc depending on the level you are competing at - higher levels will get the dog to do scent discrimination, directed jumping, dumbell retrievals etc. Agility is the sport where you see the handler directing the dog through a course of obstacles (jumps, dog walks, a-frames, weave poles etc).

Wow OSS - amazing work with Lewis!! What a lovely boy

Tumbleweed like others have said work on getting focus in short bursts in low distraction environments and then slowly amp it up. If you can only get four steps of nicely focused heelwork then do three steps. With Daisy getting five seconds of focus used to be a challenge so we started with that and built it up from there. Maybe you can video a training session for us?