The Spotted Devil

Hi Toto - do you have some more details? Can you tell us the age, breed and history of the dog? Bitch or dog? Is this a new or a long term behaviour? Do you know what the dog is nervous of - dogs, people, noise?

Thanks - I was really pleased with how she went - she made the hard stuff look easy and the easy stuff look impossible :laugh: Look forward to all the newbies dipping their toes into the RATG water!

I would double check what others are feeding him first. Have you discussed this with your breeder? They should know the quirks of their dogs better than anyone. There is plenty of info on the internet on dog food and Dally diets as well.

Not good cfs Best wishes for Murphy. I hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Nope. No need if you are feeding a decent dry food. What supplements do you want to feed?

As I posted, my dog eats twice as much - 4 cups of food a night. It depends on how much exercise your dog is getting, whether they are entire etc

3 cups Artemis dry and 1 cup Proplan sensitive OR a large meaty chicken frame (frozen). Plus chicken pieces if he's on the thin side. One or two raw eggs a week when the chooks are laying. One or two Eukanuba large biscuits at bedtime. Training treats daily include Natures Gift chicken strips and treats, raw or cooked chicken, boiled egg, cheese, 4 Legs roll and balls. Ziggy does a lot of exercise and there is not an ounce of fat on him.

We entered the ESS club's RATG today. My main reason was to expose Em to some different grounds. The club used standard canvas type dummies for all dogs which I think is an improvement on people supplying their own. Em's heeling was AWFUL in the obedience test :laugh: She was level with me but a way out to the left. Apparently there were lots of bunnies in the area which accounts for the distraction. Recall was really good. First mark was about 50m - down the hill, through a gully with fairly heavy cover and (hidden) water and up the other side, with the dummy landing in moderate cover. Em's heeling between the pegs was much improved, she marked the fall well and was steady. I was really pleased with how she 'attacked' the cover - she didn't hesitate or even acknowledge it which is great progress. She flew up the hill and slightly over ran the mark. Hunted systematically so I left her to it - I reckon she picked up the scent of every dummy that had fallen on her way to finding hers. She hesitated before picking up the dummy as it was quite unfamiliar. Bolted straight back to me, through the creek and then dropped the dummy - needed a couple of reminders but picked it up and delivered it nicely. Probably a hangover from last weekend and a lack of training this week (4 big trees down on house, water tank, fences etc amongst other things) but cost us 50% of our points so we only got 15/30. Second mark was about 70m, minimal cover, ground slightly undulating. I think the distance threw a lot of dogs but it was an easy one for Em - she flew out, picked it up and bolted back, delivering it beautifully. She must have scored well on that one as we ended up with 81 points overall and 4th place. 3rd was 82, 2nd was 83 and 1st was 88. So a nice positive experience for her and her confidence in tackling novel cover is growing :)

Fabulous work bedazzledx2 and Brookie - how do keep YOUR head together for 3 rings, let alone the dog!!!! :laugh:

Amen to that :D

I've drunk the wine and eaten the cheese. Time for cookies and cream icecream. Told you it's been a rough 24 hours :laugh:

I'm broken with you Aussie3. If I'm stressed I'd prefer beer and pretzels lol

I don't HATE chocolate, but I prefer wine and cheese ;) Although when 4 trees come down in one night I could be tempted to try all 3

Good for this elderly lady & her cat. She is as she is... & does not deserve to be held up as some cautionary stereotype. She has the same value as any other human being. I'd wish her some gentle understanding and care. It's also against confidentiality rules to be posting about patients on an internet forum, even without mentioning names! actually so long as you don't mention names, photos or identifying information its free game. how do you think conferences and seminars get their info? you think they get approval from patient x and y for every published case study? noooo dear Yes, they should, it's called ethical consent and you cannot publish without it. Human Ethics Committees. For example

Cats process amino acids in a unique way, thus they have a higher dietary protein requirement and their poo tends to be higher in protein as well. Very attractive free feed for dogs :D I would suggest you confine kitty and take him to the tray regularly after a meal, play etc (just like a puppy) with lots of praise if he shows any interest in using the tray - otherwise there is nothing to help him learn to toilet in the right place. You might need to try a different type of tray/litter/location and also add an extra tray. He's not being stubborn, he just doesn't know any better :)

Yes, I suspect 'fur' might get interesting here too :laugh: See, I reckon retrieving to hand is the easy bit! Especially after training a Dalmatian ;)

M_G.....I don't know much about Clumbers but I think they are pretty rare in Australia so you would want to carefully research the lines to get something with working capability. Have a look on ANKC for the regulations surrounding field trials for spaniels. They are quite different to Utility Gundog Trials, reflecting the main features of spaniels: quartering, flushing and retrieving :)

And I love your retrieving photos, Lara, so please bring your camera!!! Vickie - you are all doing an amazing job. What a huge undertaking! I'm really looking forward to it now.

Not necessarily, but it might mean giving up your life :laugh: Too true! I would like to give field trials a go one day but it is probably easier for Em to get proficient at retrieving first. I'm told that the way she runs so straight to the mark is unusual for a Springer. They normally run short, then quarter and hunt - she actually tends to over run more difficult marks which is a MUCH better problem to have. She needs no encouragement to quarter and hunt though.... getting her to stop on live game might be a whole other story :laugh:

Perdy I can't help you the March flies - they got stuck into me a few weeks ago at a friend's place. Ow!!!! Sounds like you are having fun RV - do you intend on doing retrieving and field trials? This week I am working on distance for handling (dog to dummy and me to dog) as her backs revert to overs at a certain point. Plus marks into odd bits of cover - have found a few new parks that aren't perfectly manicured. Good progress yesterday and today. Oh and independent weaving poles for something different ;)

I am so so sorry MM I have been quietly following this thread and to see this update is just so sad What a tragic ending. Take care MM

Entered :D

Thanks gals - it was a really good weekend. It is a really steep learning curve, that's for sure and it isn't easy being at the bottom of the knowledge tree all over again!!! I managed to catch the last run of All Age on Saturday which was fabulous and just a couple of dogs running AA on Sunday. I had Em in the gallery and her eyes were just popping out of her head seeing all those lovely marks - well, they were lovely from that angle :laugh: Something to aim for, that's for sure!!! RS - I treat the trials as a paid training session :laugh: Especially as a newbie getting a handle on running a young dog in trial conditions, let alone the stuff you didn't dream would confuse them. There are more scenarios than my brain has room to process at the moment. Hopefully bees won't be an issue in the cooler months for Ruby and she will learn to out run them :D I meant to say also that Em didn't even look sideways at the thrower all weekend - it did confuse her at the first weekend of trialling and she got a bit spooked by all the new people. I swear she is a bit hormonal at the moment too and am surprised she didn't come into season on Saturday morning. I'm playing LAT with anything that is spooking her and it is really, really effective. By the end of the weekend she was trying to smooch up to everyone and was much better free running with a couple of the big dogs. Oh, and I had to ask LL to hide when we were running because Em just adores her and thinks she is going to throw dummies. LL walks past my car and all she can hear is thump, thump, thump from Em in the back :) There were so many positives that came out of the weekend......not to mention that Em kept me warm enough at night so as not to have to unroll my sleeping bag

So pleased for you FHRP that Rogan is so well I think we need Polo video!!! See you at the Nats!

Kinta looks fabulous LP What's all this talk of red puppies????? I thought you were coming to the Springy Ding Dark Side :D