The Spotted Devil

I don't participate in DOL pointscore but absolutely agree with ST on the bolded point.

Em has a long ritual when I get her up in the morning that I now allow extra time for - yawns, rolls over for tummy rub, stretches against me with her front legs, snuggles.....and then BOLTS down the hallway Apart from that I can't think of anything that my dogs do regularly....maybe because every day is different here - the routine is there is no routine!

Oh, another thing I used to do was rapid fire every treat I had left when it was actually time to put Zig on lead. To the point where he comes bolting back when he sees me pick up the lead to put on him.

OK, so you've TRAINED the recall, now you have to PROOF the recall under varying conditions. She may be gaining in confidence and is not such a velcro girl as she was before. I like to consider it as Me vs The Environment :D With an entire male Dally who just wants to sniff and pee and flirt with the ladies & a working Springer who is bred to chase birds and rabbits into the distant sunset I've had a bit of practice These are things I do (still!).... If you are using food as a reward, make sure the dog is hungry before you go on your walk. It's all about motivation. She won't be motivated to come for a food reward if her tummy is full. Produce awesome jackpot food rewards under high distractions. Find out what sends your dog absolutely SILLY and use that. At a trial on Saturday I gave Zig a bite of MY egg sandwich before his run - he ran so hard in anticipation of getting some more at the end! Which he did, of course. Learn to read their body language and call them BEFORE they bolt with their ears painted on. I know just when Em is about to flip into "chase the birdie" and either call her or give her a "steady" command which brings her back to reality. Do multiple recalls and jackpots on your walks and then release to play again. If the dog doesn't come - this is one for Ziggy when he is off in hormone wonderland - I walk over quietly, snap the lead on and say "oh well" which means "you stuffed up, my friend....no treats, no rewards and the fun ends here...but you will have another chance at begin rewarded". Inevitably he starts offering me beautiful heel work to seek a reward - then I let him off, recall, he comes like a bullet and I reward him handsomely. That's all I can think of for now - it's been a long day ;)

I bought enough for 7 jumps.... I can see lots of box work in our future

And we're done Don't ask how much. Please.

Ha! If you can do it I can do it too :p

Yes, it's been quite a year indeed! RS - the Performance Award encompasses any combinations of ANKC sanctioned sports.....basically anything other than showing. lilmissascha83 - my forum name isn't "The Spotted Devil" for nothing you know ;) Zig is wonderful now - so willing and keen and easy to live with but, oh my goodness, there were many times in those first few years that I was just about ready to ring his Spotted neck It was a case of getting inside his Spotted head and finding out what makes him tick Go TO and Jovi

Ziggy received the Dally Club of Victoria's award for "Performance Dog of the Year" last night. I supplied the photo but I was so chuffed with the effort the committee went to with the plaque - it's just beautiful

And if you want to appear really knowledgeable that also means her dog is eligible to compete in.... Excellent Agility Masters Jumping Excellent Gamblers Excellent Strategic Pairs Excellent Snooker

Yes, I already noticed that

And here I was thinking my order was ready to finalise...... Gawd you lot are norty

Surely you have those the wrong way around?? Yes I do - my bad It's your bloody fault I want a Giant anyway

I think 2012 is going to be a very busy year with the Agility Nationals in June, Dalmatian Nationals in November and a debut for Em in retrieving, obedience and agility Ziggy & Me Concentrate on fitness - strength, speed and endurance.....tugging, begging, rear end awareness, sprint work and running with the bike. Obedience - pretty much the same as last year - duration heeling, fast drops for DOR, tighten up dumbbell work ready for Open obedience Agility - will be concentrating on independent contacts (keep the criteria tight!!!!) and weaving, learn to trust my dog , stop looking at the jump I DON'T want him to take, learn to run in a straight line for serps , speed and tight turns for a big striding dog will be the main aim of the game! ET - Dally Club trial if the stars align! Em & Me Try and keep up with her ;) Obedience - a little more self control needed in the recall and stand for exam (no points for mugging judges for cuddles!) Continue to tighten up the flip finish. Happy with the retrieve although it does require a lot of concentration for her to deliver it calmly I would like to skip CCD and get her Novice title in 2012. Agility - have her ready for Novice Jumping, Novice Agility and perhaps even Open in time for the Nationals. Too much to work on to list individually but she will be quick and keen so it will be a case of me keeping up with her! Retrieving - not too many goals here other than to enter Novice Retrieving trials - I think she is ready but I'm happy to stay in Novice for a little while and gain some experience for both of us. I really won't know where she's at and what we need to work on until we enter a few trials. In terms of training, we will continue on as we have done and train towards Restricted. Need to shoot over her before January so we can enter the Gundog trial!

Group 1 - Papillon, CKCS, ?? Group 2 - Soft Coated Wheaten, Border Terrier, ?? Group 3 - ESS (working) [lots of these :D ], Irish Setter (working), ?? Group 4 - Whippet, Beagle, Afghan Group 5 - Aussie, Maremma, Sheltie Group 6 - Bernese, Schnauzer (maybe Giant?), ?? Group 7 - Dalmatian (LUA), Poodle (mini), Poodle (standard) These are breeds I would strongly consider living with, not just admiring from afar - which is why there are so many gaps There are other breeds I really like but just haven't seen dogs in the flesh that really grab me. I know they're out there though!

My dogs generally don't get herding breeds At an agility trial on Saturday and I was wandering around the grounds with Em. She is very focussed and would rather train than anything else but I started chatting to a fellow competitor (and one of my first instructors) who has a lovely team of drivey Kelpies. She had her youngster on lead who barked and play bowed to Em in the most enticing way. Em tried her submissive Springer belly crawl but they just didn't understand each other Finally Em started barking and play bowing and crawling but the Kelpie had lost interest by then...very amusing for the onlookers as well. The same lady had her old Kelpie in the exercise area and I was there with Ziggy as well. She was quite concerned as the old girl likes 4 dogs in the entire world. Not anymore - Zig is number 5 This lovely little dog bounded up to Ziggy, play bowed and then did the old dog equivalent of puppy zoomies So adorable and Zig has another to add to his harem.

We have an X-trail...I love it although would get a diesel next time. I didn't get a wagon as sitting up higher is much kinder to my back Plenty of room in the back for both dogs behind a safety net - leads and a bag for training gear hang off that and the rear seats. Trialling gear (gazebo, chairs, crate etc) easily fits on the back seat. If we go camping, the tent goes on the roof racks alongside the travel pod. This saves me pulling a trailer and works really well.

Wonderful work with Sascha! Lovely brag It's all about TRUSTING your dog....trust me I should know Thanks Tassie...so chuffed :D

The Chilly Buddy had it's first outing at an agility trial on Saturday. Not an overly warm day but it was quite muggy and the sun was very hot/glare-y when the cloud cover cleared. My Dally doesn't work well in the heat and he had 7 runs. In the morning I used the coat dry to help him recover between runs and then wet it down as the day progressed. I was really happy with it and will be interested in how it goes on a warmer day. On such a variable weather day it was great to be able to leave the coat dry initially and thus preventing him becoming TOO chilled. Ziggy had 4 passes (2 x 2nd places) and gained his ADX and JDM titles so it was a bloody good omen if nothing else

Vebopet here too....mine is dual purpose.... transported goat kids yesterday

Congratulations TO - that's wonderful! Thanks all - I'm exhausted today......really looking forward to the Summer break! Hey Jess - thanks so much for bringing the books too - most helpful in narrowing down my choices We had a Community Fireguard meeting at our house this morning.....fortunately someone else brought homemade cake

Thanks gals! Still grinning :D :D :D

Wow. What an incredible way to round out 2011. Today was our last agility trial for the year....Ziggy ran so beautifully all day and came away with 2 Excellent Agility passes (both 2nd places) and 2 Masters Jumping passes. Incredibly that was just what we needed for his... Excellent Agility and Masters Jumping Titles To top it all off I won the raffle and Zig appeared (alongside Josh Thomas) on page 2 of The Age's Green Guide this week! Nice work My Spotted Devil.....Yarrowfell High Society CD ADX JDM (pending :D) Thanks for a wonderful year Enjoy your sleep in tomorrow!

Oh norty Having a wonderful time with Miss Em at the moment - Uni/work is stupid busy so I'm having to be really disciplined about training time...quality over quantity! I have been doing a fair few handling drills so meanwhile she forgot how to take a line to a blind! I helped her out for a few sessions so she was falling over the dummies and today she was taking a nice line to orange dummies - confidence is going through the roof and she is rumning really hard Had another training session with RubyBlue last week - great to see her girl switching onto the concept of marking plus she threw singles and doubles for Em who was just about beside herself with excitement A small reminder about steadiness was necessary!!!