Natsu chan

Yep Ness is smart. The thing with the herding breeds is that they are smart, but that the down side of that is that they don't like all this niggly repetitious make it perfect business. They get bored and start rolling their eyes at you. Borders are a bit higher drive than collies in general but they too need things tweaked to keep their interest. Koori gets the head tap too sometimes as she has cottoned on to the fact that between entering the ring and the judge saying forward (which is when the job actually starts) there is a bit of messing about. Ness being as experienced as she is has no doubt worked this out ages ago. I wonder if it's worth doing a few mock trials where you go straight into the start peg and do a short heel pattern then straight out and reward. No waiting no messing around. If she isn't expecting a lull in proceedings between entering the ring and actually working then she might be a bit less inclined to say oh haven't we done this before...ho hum oh whats that over there... Thanks Ptolomy.

I'm not as experienced in the ring as the rest of you so I'm not sure if I should be saying anything really. Is this Ness, Ness? Koori's a sticky beak too, she gets in the ring and decides she has everyones attention so now she needs to wave to her loyal subjects. She's funny animal. I've taken to doing a full 360 spin in training if she doesn't pay attention at 'working' and that's helped. Not sure you could use it in the ring but I use a slightly higher sharper tone and I can see her little brain going "oh! she's about to do that again" which usually lasts long enough for the judge to get to forward. Ptolomy, is it Beans that has the injury niggles? Koori started stepping to the side in COP when her back was twinging (she has on going issues with it from an old injury) so I stopping training it until it settled down but it could easily have become a habit. She'll still drop crooked in COP or the heel work if it's niggling a bit more than usual but it goes once the niggling does. If you were inadvertently rewarding her, she may have come to the conclusion that stepping to the side is part of the exercise? In which case you have to back track and retrain, well I would anyway. I don't know about the dumbbell issues, I always teach hold other wise the collies tend to just drop them. If they know hold you can just preempt things such as rolling and throwing by saying hold the split second before they do it then taking the dumbbell and rewarding, there's a bit of timing involved and you need to be quick but like most things you can then build up the length of time.

LP Kinta was a total star you should be proud of her. I watched you two and said to the OH "watch Kinta she'll win this" and so she did in great style too and in the heat. It was so hot in that sun, in the shade it was fine but in the sun omg! Your two were just fantastic. You did do well a 1st, a title and a second well done! Poor Koo was just so hot, we really should have stayed home. They're cute little boots aren't they but I do wish the girl would stop damaging herself feet included!

Great work everyone! Wowie Ptolomy how on earth do you run so many dogs at once?! Fantastic work though. I know someone else who has something to brag about and quite rightly too! Not us though, I should have stayed at home in front of the aircon! That's clearly what Koori was thinking. Oh well NQ's are character building right?

Thinking about it LP, thinking about it. I don't like taking the coated lovelies out to work in the heat. I'm entered for Southern too, not sure if we'll go she's not fussed about it today but it'll be hotter tomorrow and she's been through the wars the last few months. Still another novice pass or two would be nice...... of course now I say that we'll get a string of NQs! Is there much shade on the grounds? I've never been up there.

I certainly do, but the fluffy one is a ham. She loves an audience and being a collie she draws attention anyway. I get the same funny looks followed by "I wish my dog would do that" or "it must be nice to have such a well behaved dog". There's not much you can do about it and at least if people see you out there training your lovely well behaved dog they can see just how much a dog can do with a bit of time and effort. Well okay a lot of time and effort Good free publicity for your breed too...or so I keep telling my self when people stop watching the under 18s soccer match and start watching us instead!

No, on both counts, I'm pretty sure QLD has an associate register. Jet would have to be desexed and you'd need to register him as an associate dog with your state kennel club, you'd need to be a member too. When there's jumping involved in either obedience or jumping the dogs get measured and the jumps are adjusted for their height (at the top of the shoulder). So nothing to worry about there. There's more info here: http://www.ankc.org.au/home/inner.asp?pageid=70&mainid=2

Don't worry just go and have fun. The worst that can happen is that you make a muck of it and in that case there is always next time. Good luck! Tambaqui I may or may not be trialling at southern things are very up in the air at the moment. But if you see a short person with glasses and very long hair with a collie (there's not many of us around) do pop over and say hello. I'll be in the novice ring if I'm there.

You can buy them from the VCA Angelsun, I wouldn't buy one right now as the rules are being reviewed. http://www.vca.org.au/assets/forms/order%20form%2009.pdf There's a pdf of the current rules here: http://www.ankc.org.au/home/inner.asp?pageid=70&mainid=2 I prefer my little book because it fits in my back pocket for easy reference when I'm out and about...not that I need it mind you given I've memorised it.

Well done everyone! Congrats on all your achievements. All your royal compeditors are brave you couldn't pay me enough to do the royal. It's such a long noisy day. I'm glad you all had such a good time though. And well done to TSD and LP for doing so well, under what are challenging conditions at the best of times.

Well done Heidii, and Jordi too. That's just fantastic and it's so lovely to see a Collie out there proving they are more than just a pretty face. What a brilliant result for a first try.

The gazette and the website they mean. I'm sure they're moving the website as geocities is shutting down in a few weeks hopefully the new web address will get printed too as I don't the the vca website can up date things like that at the moment.

There are some in October I think. Have a look here: http://www.vca.org.au/assets/pdf/notes-from-otec.pdf

Some people take a gazebo but honestly most trials are held in the cooler months so a crate is usually enough plus a chair for yourself. We usually take a chair, a travel rug and a bag with various bits and pieces, number holder, water, bowl, a towel, and a reward container for Miss Pants. If it's warm I take a cool coat as well. You can buy a lovely soft crate on ebay that has an insulating fabric in the roof. The Vic obedience website is on geocities, and since they're closing all geocities websites my guess is they're in the process of moving the site else where. The OTEC generally advertise the run throughs in the gazette. Be aware that they may or may not accept a desexing certificate. Because of the rules they tend to vet check regardless, I've noticed some don't even check for ear tattoos.

Tambaqui, you'll find even desexed girls need to be checked, also you need to collect your number at the check in. This allows scratchings to be noted so the the judges aren't left calling for absentees. The check in vetting is usually just a tissue or cotton ball wiped over the girls nether regions. Also the three qualifying scores need to be a minimum of 50% in each exercise (if you bomb on one exercise that's it even if you have over 75 points) and they need to be under at least two different judges. So if you get three qualies but they're all under the same judge then you still need to get one more under a different judge. Does all that make sense? The score cards are handed out at the presentation after all the rings and thus the trial are finished. If a club holds a double trial they'll do two presentations. Good luck with it and be sure to let us know how you get on. It's great fun.

LP this side of town is probably too far for you but perhaps next time you come up to KCC you might want to try the butchers in Palm plaza in Dandenong. There's a couple of butchers there and a few more on lonsdale street. Most of the butchers in Dandy sell fish as well. Also there's a couple of wholesale butchers one in Amberly cresent which is off Frankston Dandenong Rd (forty winks is on the corner), and the other on Hallam Belgrave Rd between the Hallam hotel and the seven eleven

Oh don't you hate that LP, I saw you were entered and kept an eye out for you. Pity you weren't there you'd have saved me from getting pinned down by the collie club obedience sec who keeps telling me Koori needs to win a class....Oh I can really see that happening. ;) Koori was crawling around in the heel work, dragging her feet with her head down and ears flopping, all while giving the judge long sorrowful looks. In the end he stopped us, he was so concerned. I just looked at Koori and said Koo Bear what are you doing? And what do you know the ears reappeared! Poor old judge wasn't convinced but after he'd seen her do the rest of her heel work really nicely and do a foot perfect SFX and recall (well the finish wasn't quite perfect). He had to laugh at her too....this is why you hear judges saying Collies are too lazy for obedience. She's a complete ham, she adores obedience trials but she always does something strange. Embarrassing animal. You should have seen the look I got in the SFX I swear to god she was laughing at me the cheeky beast. This is the same dog who's been know to do some gardening in a drop stay. Just merrily plucking grass and throwing it in the air, not breaking mind you just entertaining herself. This is the same dog who thinks it's terrifically funny to poke judges in the back side during figures of 8, there's no end to the weirdness let me tell you. And the CCV obedience sec wants us to win a class.....oh my Well done Dogdayz! Nice to know it's not just my Collies that do this sort of thing....

Well done you guys! We did westernport on Saturday and got our first novice pass and third. Not of course without Miss Koori trying to convince the judge that she was dying...funny how she perked up once she got busted for being a drama queen. Granted she has a limp still but it's improving slowly very slowly, pity the acting skills are improving twice as fast! We weren't great but it was a huge improvement on last time so I'm happy.

I don't know I think dogs break stays for all sorts of reasons. DSO, you said your dog was sleepy when you go in for stays right? Well why not try doing some heel work for a few minutes before you go back in the ring? Mine rarely breaks stays when she breaks sit stays she's been either sore or tired. I find if I wake her up and get her back in working mode before we do stays it just doesn't happen. Most of the time when we're training we don't do things the way we might when we're trialling. If you're in a big class at a trial and first in you could easily be waiting a few hours between your ring work and the stays something that doesn't usually happen in training. Stays are about proofing, a lot of people don't do enough work proofing their stays. My girl is anxious about thunder but we got our CCD on a day when we had to do stays with thunder rolling. I've trained stays in storms, with people doing idiot things in cars near by, with dogs running loose around her with people walking all over her, with balls flying around and anything else I could think of. You get the idea, I'm a bit obsessive about proofing......it has to be said. I reward mine in the ring after a stay if she's good she gets a cuddle then we set up for the next one if she breaks she's told to get back in to position but is other wise ignored. You can issue praise between exercises, you just can't use toys or food. Stays can be frustrating though but oh so character building! Good luck, and be sure to let us know how you go.

Congrats! I've watched you and your lad work before and it's always a pleasure. You should be happy about it there's not too many 200s floating about.

I don't know, I don't think Vimtar breed any more either. I did ask Gail but she didn't know. Thunder is lovely a total gentleman too. I'm sure his owner would chat with you about tracking if you're interested she's lovely too. Tracking might be better than herding if his leg's a worry herding can be high impact too. Though I don't think it would be an issue at the HIC level. Did you ever try acupuncture with Noah? Of everything we've done with Koori the red light acutherapy has helped the most.

Oh you will Tess. They're great fun aren't they but they can run you ragged. Dog sports will give him an outlet and a mental outlet will help him. Herding, obedience, tracking endurance, agility there's no shortage of stuff to keep his little brain occupied. The question is can you stand the pace. The lady with the two Vimtar dogs does tracking. Both her boys have their Tracking Championships, and the people with Dalwood Nashville Blu have done agility and obedience. I'm around if you want to chat about obedience too. How's his leg by the way? The higher drive Collies I've seen all seem to come from similar bloodlines, so you'll manage to find another one if you have any energy left after young Noah's finished with you!

Tess don't worry Noah is fine. Some of them are just like that. He's young too and most Collies don't mentally mature until they're 3ish. He's a beautiful lovely intelligent young man who just loves you to utter bits. Koori can be a bit OTT too, very vocal and rather over excited. Some of the higher drive ones are like that, it just that most Collies aren't very high drive and are to be honest a bit lazy. I've had one very like Noah and Koori has her moments. He'll settle a bit in the next couple of years.

I will say though if you do teach a dog to eat only on command you must for their sake ensure that they will respond to that command from someone else, and that people know this. If something happens to you and no one knows the command or the dog won't respond to anyone else, well it's not a very nice for the dog and some will hang in there and not eat for a long time. So by all means teach them and have some fun with it but just make sure that anyone who might be called upon to look after you dog in an emergency knows. We use "take it" as in you can take it around here and they are good. They won't touch with out permission.

You can but it's hard. None of mine will touch anything on the tables (even chocolate left on the coffee table right at nose height!) or dropped on the floor inside, outside requires a bit of watching though. Having said that they usually hesitate as it's been drummed into them since puppy hood and that's enough generally to get a leave it in there. I only have the one now but all mine were trained this way but then collies aren't generally terribly food driven. It's just vigilance and teaching the no and leave it commands. They go to touch and they get told to leave it. Sounds simple and it is but it can drive you nuts when they're going through the puppy stage. We had one baited when I was growing up too. So I know what you mean, it's not nice at all.