The Spotted Devil

Congratulations everyone on such a great weekend of results I'm glad all of you were out there flying the flag whilst I enjoyed my sleep ins

Glad you had a good session RS. 'Tis fun indeed :D Bloody hell FHRP!!! Two frights in one day is enough for anyone. I'm so glad Polo is ok - poor lad must have felt dreadful. I have heard of dogs cramping up - it's pretty cold where you are I guess. You better buy the boy a coat ;) Give him an extra hug. Sounds like a great training session amidst all the drama. Glad you liked our addition to the retrieving team - she actually tried to pick it up ETA: Patience with the kitty - I understand your Dad being protective. Focus on a settled down from your dogs - also a crate is really useful for calming everyone's nerves

Yes, I heard madness runs in the family

Em's half sister apparently!

Amazing little movers aren't they....half rabbit, half cheetah Em hunts feral cats too

We don't have TV reception but I read on DOL that there was an ESS on 60 Minutes and guessed it was a relative! I bet she was cute and mischievous - seems to run in the family :D Which half, by the way?

How exciting RV - long to go now? Yay, my training partner has returned Lablover finally came back from her training jaunt so we headed out to a farm today...given that we hadn't been at that farm for about 5 weeks we were amazed to see this.... When I got out of the car this happened... We even stopped talking long enough to laugh ourselves silly. Then we nearly got bogged. Multiple times. Lots of swearing and more laughter. Finally, we set up all the bumper boys and they proceeded to go flat in quick succession :rolleyes: More swearing but there was no way we were giving up We did manage to fit in a single mark for Em and she really nailed it. Once the bumper boys went flat LL replaced one with a pile of blinds and ran her dogs on a few exercises with me tossing a few distracting marks. LL suggested I send Em to the pile and made me double the distance I felt comfortable with but said to follow her to support if needed. Smart little thing didn't need me at all Took such a lovely line, just diverging slightly before she reached the pile but I let her be as it was such a confidence builder. I sent her from further away again (100-150m?), which she was more than happy with. I was thrilled to bits as that was way beyond what I've trained Then we did some walking singles but packed up when the youngsters showed they were (mentally) tired. So the plan now is to work more on novel ground and introduce some water.

mollipop - can you put it on verbal cue? Maybe practice with a thrower who attracts dogs attention as you walk a couple of steps so the dog looks forward. And give her a different 'heel' picture with your arms. BTW, just to prove Em's not a complete softy, there's video on my You Tube of her playing in the icy snow, patchy as it is!

OMG That's awesome Ptolomy!!!! You must be TrinaJ - great work! My bike finally arrived (has been on order) so we will aim for ET next year.

Helen - I will PM you my phone number as there is a bit to cover! Will take too long to type Happy to chat over the weekend

Helen - there is another practice day coming up on the 24th July if that helps at all. I don't know of any video links of trials but I did watch the recent Lab trial and I think Geelong will have the same judge. Anything particular you want to know?

Yes - as JulesP said, anything we can do please yell. Loudly :D

Hey Luke We miss you at training Get better soon - my goodness but Mr B. Blue will be absolutely FIRING on his first run back so you better get REALLY well so you can keep up with him. And practice your rear crosses just in case you can't keep up ;) Take care, mate. Sal, Em & Ziggy.

Not Suitable for Sale.

It was freezing! Em was VERY unimpressed because she was on a sit stay and the birdies were dive bombing her I don't often use a coat on her but it's good if she's sitting still, especially when she is soaked to the skin. When both dogs are running around coats come off but I'm a bit of a sook and don't like seeing dogs shivering!

OT, I know, but there was a light sprinkling of snow at Olinda that I thought was worth the 10 minute drive... I also got some funny video of off leash zoomies but haven't got around to uploading it.

I hope Stinger comes good. Both my dogs have Bowen. Made a huge difference to Zig who has had a couple of very subtle 'niggles' in his hamstrings that only I would notice. Em had her first treatment and she was really well balanced for such a full on youngster. A slight tweak to her shoulder was all that was needed. I have an hour treatment afterwards so everyone wins :D No rush for Em - only 9 months old so plenty of time and I'm balancing out her training with obedience. I tend not to enter my dogs in a trial unless I am confident I have done the training - I think they can learn bad habits or lose confidence. Plus I am a better, more relaxed handler when I know my dog is capable and prepared. She's a good little marker but we need to do some more training with water. She's taken a little longer to gain confidence with water entries (swimming is fine) but is now doing 'dock dives' from the bank just for fun. We've done one fun session of water retrieves and she made really good progress but we have a fair bit more to do. My training partner has gone AWOL too - LL is still in Violet Town but has promised me she is coming home this weekend!!!

Well, the apparent temperature here is -0.3C. And guess who talked Mr TSD into doing some walking singles with Miss Em? The sun was going down fast and poor Em had energy to burn - she tried all day to contain herself, Zig was tired after a big agility training session last night and I really didn't want to do any more drills with her without including some marking as it's much more fun/motivating. So we put the dogs in the car and headed to the oval. Em was on fire - just flying over the mud/water - straight out and straight back with ears flapping madly. Lovely to watch and Mr TSD enjoyed himself so much that he wouldn't accept any thanks for helping out. Em had a hoot in the cold weather and Zig had a nice gallop too. Crazy English dogs

That's a good idea - I'll have to keep an eye out for that one although with everything else I'm doing with Em and Zig I don't think I will be in a mad hurry to add field trials to the mix!

Congratulations on your results - worth the drive after all Love the first pic especially! You will have to educate us, FHRP - I would love to hear more about the ins and outs of field trialling. Although I have been told by unbiased slightly biased sources that spaniel field trials are the best :D So you have to be a good shot as well, eh? I think I'd better stick with retrieving!

What's scary is that I didn't include myself in that category. I just thought I was normal You're not normal... just ask your work mates after you've told them that you're driving 8 hours (one way) for the second time in one month to compete with your dog, and you don't make any money out of it! They'll tell you you're crazy :D Or that having retired, you're now working 4 days a week in school terms to fund the doggy luxury addictions - like staying overnight in lovely dog-friendly/dogs inside cottage accommodation so that you don't have to get up at sparrow fart to drive a couple hours in fog and possibly ice to get to a trial. Hmmm.....good point.....I told my PhD supervisors that I was going to take a much needed break from data collection/collation (human-dog interactions in animal shelters) and go away for a week. They asked what I was going to do and by the time I had rattled off meeting up with LL for retrieving training in Violet Town, then going onto Albury to camp with the dogs for an obedience seminar they were speechless apart from wanting to know why I didn't head off to somewhere sunny and lie by the pool????

What's scary is that I didn't include myself in that category. I just thought I was normal

but if his tail is not up to the standard, can he work all day long? I know little about Labs but isn't retrieving from water a big part of the job? And if the tail is not up to scratch could it not impact on the dogs working ability? That's something I won't pretend to understand. Some of the best working Labs I've had the pleasure of seeing in retrieving trials certainly don't have an otter tail and it doesn't impact their working ability at all.

Oh my :love: *faints from cute overload*

Yay Go Leo Well done A! So pleased you had a nice day out too - great confidence booster for both of you.