Keshwar

In my experience these are the two most important attributes you can take into the ring. There is nothing like looking down at your Afghan laying on his back waving his big fluffy feet in the air in the middle of a heeling pattern. My thought was "well at least he dropped." Bear.

Yup. I had a few people ask me if Faxon was now retired. Nope we are going to see how we go in CD. Again I know he can do all of the exercises it is just a matter of getting him to want to do them on the day. And of course there is the additional challange of having a sighthound off lead. Bear.

Unfortunately Faxon's paws are too big to use the keyboard but he gave me approval to answer for him. Lot's of patience, positive/motivational training, kept training sessions short - max 15 minutes, didn't work on the same exercise repeatedly, made training fun - tried a variety of ways to train exercises, made trialling fun for both of us, developed a sense of humour when it came to trials. Oh and not laughing at him when he played up for the judge or an audience! In the last six months we did very little training except for a very quick run through of the exercises. Even then we didn't do a proper heeling pattern but just did different aspects of the heeling. eg. heeling in a straight line at the 3 paces or just doing right turns or just left turns, although I would always try to include a couple of figure 8s in a session. HTH Bear.

Actually it's arsenic in Apple seeds. I agree with everything you say tho'. Bear.

OK you can stop now! You've proved that pugs are smarter than Afghans. Seriously - Congratulations. Bear.

Practice your heeling without your dog. I have been know to do a heel pattern down the corridor at work - people know I'm a crazy dog person so just smile and look away. Practicing without your dog means you don't have to worry about meesing up your dogs heeling while practising your own. Bear.

I ended up doing this by accident. If Faxon didn't come on the first "Come" in the recall the Judge would ask me to call him again, which I did. Doh! He very quickly learned that in the trial ring he would get a second chance so didn't need to come the first time I called him. This took some significant re-training to fix. Now he mostly comes on the first call - unless I get my voice wrong - and if he doesn't I simply return to him and put his lead on - no praise. Some judges have found this strange but it has helped our recall. Bear

I've found that tone of voice is really important with the "come" command. I've had a problem with Faxon ignoring the recall in trials. The problem wasn't occurring when we practised so I was a bit perplexed. At a recent trial in Cooma both the Judge and someone who was watching made the same comment - when I gave the "come" command it was quite harsh. The second time I called him it was with a much friendlier tone and he came immediately. Since then I try to use a friendly tone of voice when calling him. Seems to be working so far. Unfortunately haven't had a chance to try in the ring yet. I have also used running in the opposite direction. However this was at Lure Coursing where he was obsessed with the lure and running away was the best way of getting his attention. Disclaimer - I am talking about an Afghan Hound here. Bear. edited to fix typo.

When I was trying to sort out Faxon's recall I took a container of chicken necks along to a training session. Once he worked out that he got a chicken neck every time he did a perfect recall I was getting the best recalls ever. :D Also helped with heeling - heeling pattern if it was up to standard he got a chicken neck. Nothing like a raw chicken neck for a bit of an incentive. At trials now I take along a container with a couple of chicken wings in it. If he does well he gets a chicken wing as soon as we come out of the ring. Same with the stays. I think this is working. :rolleyes: Bear.

I use a variety of things; Roast chicken Cooked chicken breast Sausages Steak Cheese Devon - or variations of Smackos Liver treats The first four items are basically leftovers from human meals - no meat product in our house goes to waste. :rolleyes: Bear.

Strangely enough I was thinking about these last night. I was thinking along the lines of the vests that photographers use or that hunters/fishermen use. They both have heaps of pockets and wouldn't be too hot in summer. Unfortunately I have no idea where you would buy them from except maybe outdoor type shops. Cheers Bear.

I actually have two commands - heel for formal heeling and walk or let's walk for loose lead walking. For me loose lead walking is about letting my dog walk on a loose lead 360 degrees around me. My only condition is a loose lead - dogs are not pulling at the end of the lead. I also let my dogs sniff when we are "Walking" however I decide how long the sniff goes on for. I should add that I do use heel whilst we are walking. Usually when we approach a road or if there are people or cyclists approaching. hth Bear.

Thanks Rom. Leave it with me. It's late now. I'll try it tomorrow. Extracted from ASIC's database at AEST 07:50:37 on 16/10/2007 Name WYLIE'S WORKING DOGS - note the different spelling of Wylie. Registered state/no. VIC 1383975P Type Business Names Registration Date Unknown Next Review Date Unknown Status Business Names - Removed Principal Place of Business not available Jurisdiction Office of Fair Trading & Business Affairs,Victoria No document list available for this organisation type Partial Extract The following details were extracted from the Register at 07:49 AM 16/10/2007. Business Name WYLIE'S WORKING DOGS Business Number 1383975P Nature of Business DOG BREEDING Date Registered 26/05/1998 Date Deregistered 26/05/2004 Renewal Date 26/05/2004 Trading Suburb Trading Postcode MUMBANNAR 3304 Purchase Business Name Extract A Business Name Extract includes additional details including business contact and owner details. See Demonstration for an example

Strange, I just tried searching the yellow pages and the white pages for all the variations I could think of for "Whylie's Working Dogs" and only came up with two residential addresses in Victoria for Whylie. To protect the innocent I won't put the search results here. :D As you say if they are big enough to be considered representative of industry members they would show up somewhere - particularly in the white or yellow pages. Sorry I can't be of more help. Bear.

A member of the American Veterinary Dental society of course. How else do they drum up business? ;) Bear.

I did a workshop with Faxon - Afghan Hound - and it was fine. Mind you for some of the moves it does depend how big you are compared to your dog. Having your dog weave between your legs isn't going to work if he doesn't fit. :D I think most of the more popular moves can be adapted to fit with a larger dog. Good luck and enjoy. Bear

Thanks for posting that link. I just read all the articles. Is there stuff in there that I'd use? Yup! Is there stuff in them that I wouldn't use? Yup! Like all good training books/articles I think it is important to read with an open mind, take what you can use and ignore the rest. Hopefully by doing this we can all become better trainers/handlers/instructors. Edited to add: I train an Afghan Hound and a Saluki so I'm always looking for alternative methods of training that may work with these "hard to train" breeds. JMHO. Bear.

Folks, I've attached the schedule for the November 9 evening trial at ACTCDC - in Canberra (for non-locals ) Cheers Bear. Nov_07_Schedule.doc

So if I have a dog that has 3 passes (not applied for title) in CD: NOVICE CLASS: For dogs, six months of age or over, and of either sex which are not eligible for the title of Companion Dog' (C.D.). So according to this I can't put him/her in CD. Then I read on: NOTES: (a) An Exhibit which has gained sufficient awards to qualify for the title of C.D., C.D.X. or U.D. shall NOT be eligible to compete in a higher class at an Obedience Trial until such time as the owner/s have lodged an application for recognition of the title with the Canine Control in the State or Territory in which the registered owner/s reside, Bummer: Can't go in Open either!! I think it would depend on how "eligible" is defined. If Eligible means has three passes then no he/she can't be entered in CD. However, if eligible means lodged application for recognition of title the I think the dog could be entered in CD until you had lodged that application. I think. Bear.

I think the reason CCD is not mentioned in that note is b/c you don't need to have completed CCD to do CD. You can enter CD without having done CCD or having only 1 or 2 passes. But once you have entered in CD and recieved a qualifying score you cannot go back and finish CCD. As for progressing to the next class I don't think you have to progress immediately you qualify for for a title. To me it looks like you can compete in the existing class until you have lodged you title application with your canine control. Does that now make it all as clear as mud? Bear.

Hmm, I wonder if in that case it has become a learned behaviour? "This is what we do when we go in the ring." What happens if you practice in a ring type environment? I know you've said that outside of the ring she is fine, just wondering if she is the same when practicing in a ring. I know this is difficult to do - I can do any number of mock trials and ring practice but the heeling problem we had only occurred at real trials when I did get nervous. Cheers Bear.

Hi Arya, This struck a cord with me. How are you feeling when you enter the ring and get to the start peg? I asking b/c this is what used to happen for me: I would get nervous just before entering the ring and by the time we got to the start peg I was a nervous wreck. This got worse as Faxon's heeling got worse. What I realised was that when I entered the ring I became a different person as far as Faxon was concerned. I went from being relaxed and fun to being stressed and someone he need to calm down and stay away from - hence his heeling getting worse the more stressed I got. These days I attempt to convince myself that this obedience stuff is all a game and I don't need to get stressed about it. One way I have dealt with this is to steward in a different ring before we go in the ring. This way I am too busy to worry about what is going to happen in the ring. I leave Faxon in the car until we are just about to go into the ring - I get him out the dog before us and then do some warm up exercises and then we're in the ring. This seems to be working for us. But then he is an Afghan Hound and we are still doing CCD. HTH Bear.

If you are going to let Kapo have the run of the house then the only solution I see is to be rigorous about not leaving anything anywhere she can get it. So no shoes on the floor, nothing left where she can reach it on the counters and lots of chewable items that are hers to chew. Yes this is a pain but for her getting things off the counter or finding one or a pair of shoes is a self rewarding behaviour. And hey it helps keep the house tidy as well! Have you tried leaving her with a large bone to keep her occupied while you are away? This may help as well. Bear.

If the problem is occurring off-lead I would put the dog back on-lead and work on solving the issue with the dog on lead. Once you have the problem sorted on lead then remove the lead again. With Faxon I let him have a brief sniff and tell him to leave it or enough and walk off. Usually this enough for him to stop sniffing and follow me. However there is the odd time where it is a particularly interesting smell so he will do the "Afghan plant" - Legs spread and not moving - I simply walk off. As he is on lead he has no choice but to follow. I don't jerk/tug the lead, I simply walk off. Bear.

Also by Patricia Macconell - For the love of a dog. An excellent read to help understand canine emotion. Bear.