dogdayz

State trial is last full trial for the year in victoria. There are qualificationtests early next saturday at kcc.

Cant answer that question for you Im afraid, but for any interstaters considering making the trip to victoria, remember there is also a two day trial at KCC park the following weekend being run by the Victorian Herding Association. edited; to remove an 'also' too many

Bumping this up....closing date is approaching

Same here we train in public parks, fox, dogs and people crossing tracks is normal...We never have to teach the dogs as they progress to ignore crossovers because they've done it from day one. And distance wise, in training the dogs dont work tracks as long as those they trial on. Generally i think tracking with a small group for support and incentive to get out of bed, is the the best way to go, and of course to take out multiple dogs often limits available space.

Easy, send it to me :D with my two now champions, Im missing the cold early mornings. Ive PM'ed you

Spectators always welcome..there are also trials at KCC during july.

As an owner of one stressed out weimie boy Over the past few years we have gone thorugh separartion anxiety...glad to say he snapped out of that one by about 18 months...in terms of addressing it..we always knew its an issue in weims, and from day 1 left him for periods alone...but it was always there...i think what finally cured it was we left him indoors with a big bone and box of toys, instead of outside with bone and toys. Of all the breeds Ive experienced i have to say this dog is the most attached to his bed i have ever met, and clearly for him his indoor bed is is ultimate safety zone. We had dog fear aggression which stemmed from extreme anxiety, which in turn arose as a result of a dog attack at 7 months. Lots of therapy has turned that around...he now plays with everyone Very nervous about being handled by people...too many vet visits at a year old i believe contributed to this, as he was show trained and handled as a pup without problem. Now at 4 years there has been a huge turnaround in him, i dont know if its a result simply of maturing or not, but he is now happy and confident, even scoring 10/10 on stand for exams. While maturity may be it...i personally believe a lot has come from his going Tracking...i think it was something that came so naturally to him, he was never under pressure and could always acheive. Absolutely adores it, and just wants to get out and track, people and dogs around just faded from significance, and i think that has passed on through into all aspects of life. He is more confident that he can do right. As to the original question of is it genetic, i met both his parent before and subsequent and there has been no evidence of weak nerves in them. I believe it may be more the genetics that say i want to work, and i want to please......its more like some people who have fear of failure it gets in the way of them succeeding.

Attached is a copy of the schedule for the VCA State Herding Trial to be held this coming August. Hope to see many of you there. VCAHerdingTrials2007_1_.pdf

Afraid not us Gamby, great to hear you had success with Gambit

Hate to disappoint you Tollers but dont think we are cut out for flyball...my weis attitude is thats my ball, and so is that one, and that one and that one....basically he will steal every ball and stash them somewhere....trust me his bed is more like a nest .... full of his treasures

Thats the big question...suddenly our july and august calender looks very empty May have to dabble in the obedience and jumping rings

Just been directed here...dont often frequent these days... Monday was a huge day for me...my first and second champions within just a couple of hours of each other.....we always knew Becky boy would make it, but skye has been a major suprise. Thanks for the congrats from me and Skye (T.Ch. Zhavera Pride of Key PT) and Beck (T.Ch. Longweis Emerald Katsize)

Nah it did say no late entries accepted but didnt think it would take a couple of days to go about 30 minutes away.... We had same problem , it took 3 days for entry to get from cranbourne to Hampton Park, so we missed out too....think the sorting office must of had a real bad day Well done to those who made it though. Is anyone doing mornington next weekend?

Tracking definitely the favourite, the dogs adore it too. Definitely of all the sports we've tried its taught me most about viewing my dogs individually having two breeds of very different natural aptitude levels, each with their good and bad points. I believe it has also aided my weim heaps with his confidence, just being out doing something he adores and is so focussed too, has really helped dispell his fears around strangers and dogs. I do herding with my collie which we enjoy also. Jumping we do for fun only not competively, and mainly as a break from routine training. Obedience we find hardest...it bores me and the dogs....largely my fault as i have pushed it aside for years only trialling each dog once a year, but we have vowed to give it more of a go this year.

Leopuppy; i have the advantage of always being a pessimist, so whenver we finish heeling i assume we have failed, as i have considered her to be out of position or slow sitting etc, so am alwys shocked to see a high heeling score

I think its hard to enter without expectation, i train mine above requirements but i know my nerves will play a huge part in the final performance, to the point we may fail. Certainly with my collie i dont look at the scores until the end, i know her stays are iffy (she wont leave the spot just change position), and it would just make it worse if i went in knowing she could pass. Last year we were doing tracking and did not expect too much success with her, and had her entered in multiple trials, when she passed one we upgraded. Suprisingly she turned her best track ever in at that trial though not trained for it, and a couple of weeks later did the same when upgraded to the next level, and Im sure its because i went in with the attitude, we didnt expect to be doing this but what the hell, we may as well take our chance. Removing my expectation or desire for a pass helped hugely. I know on a couple of occasions i have thought she isnt going to start a track, and just as i reach the point of turning to the judge to say we wont be doing it, she has suddenly shot off. The nerves communicated down the lead is enourmously underestimated. Im interested to see what happens later this month in herding tests. We gained our second pass for our PT title last weekend, Im going to enter the same class later this month, and see what happens when the pressure of needing the pass is gone.

Excellent news

I would be getting him a lesson somewhere Juice...one of his sisters after all was fabulous on sheep when she was as young as 4 months of age, last i heard she was progressing well. Maybe Sidoney can update us on any progress there. The other sister never had much of a look at them, showed lots of eye playing with dogs, but was scared of sheep, and i rehomed her much quicker so she only ever had the one try. ETA: apologies for the old thread getting resurrected, think that was my fault as i linked to it in another thread .

Have PMed you

Shek ill PM you later, remind me if i forget. I have an epi dog for a few years now, we have him on BARF and Creon, and we dont tie ourselves in knots over %ages of anything, basically he can eat anything. The diaarhhea is just part of epi, once you have an effective meds dose that will stop. Does it work...well currently i have a weim who is a good 10kgs overweight after a few months without hard work (and is now dieting and upping his exercise) despite being severe epi and who was very nearly pts a couple of years ago because we didnt know why he was losing so much weight.

Two dogs This time of year just starting after summer break, but generally probably 3 or 4 dedicated sessions a week, then just bits and pieces while we are out walking/playing. Scarily enough they are 4 and 4 1/2, scarey becuse the time has gone so quick, i still call them pups I train them individually, and because we do several sports time can be a problem. To try and get round it i have set the major goals and trials for each dog for the year, and will aim to those, anything additional inbetween is bonus. I have one weimaraner and one collie rough totally different. The collie is bored easily, very moody and when she goes into sulk mode you have no chance of her doing anything. The weim is always willing to work and be happy, but he is very sensitive and occasionally his brain melts (probaly picks up my nerves ) and he does something terrible, at which point i declare he will never enter anything again....sometime later i am persuaded back as everyone can see a great working dog in him just waiting to be let out, maybe this will be the year .

I always fed some raw with dry just because i figured the dogs liked it, but made the full switch when my weim was diagnosed with pancreatic insufficiency and allergy to chicken/egg making it hard to feed any commercial foods. Then decided if im doing it for 1 why not two, so thats how we have been for a couple of years. Would i go back - not for the adults thats for sure, and my adult fosters have been raw fed. However i know i dont go into the hugely accurate detail that some do with their raw feeding so Im not sure i would be confident enough to feed a pup a full raw diet. Certainly foster pups have been raised in the same manner my own were, a premium brand dry combined with raw, and i know many will question that decision as I have effectively unbalanced the commercial foods by doing so.

I have a feeling that once a dog has its endurance title it cannot compete again, so maybe I will end up running with all the dogs from our club that belong to the less fit ;) Cool I will book him a flight to queensland for next year :D

Gee Im finding it scary enough to go that far on a bike...and you guys want to run it ;) Now of course if anyone wants to volunteer to run it for me :D

I wasnt going to answer as i have hardly attended club in a year, but maybe thats why i should answer Weekend training is hard once trialling especially doing multiple dogs and multiple disciplines we generally are committed through most weekends of spring, autumn and winter. Classes are too long, my dogs dont want to do a full hour, i believe shorter 20 minute sessions especially for more advanced dogs are better, too many dogs get bored by doing heelwork for 60 minutes every weekend for a year. Yes i could take my dog and just do the first 20 minutes, but then my dogs will never move up a class because they dont complete the full session. Maybe the clubs that hold regular testing days have solved that one Short specialist classes/workshops concentrating on a single exercise for the trialling dogs, though obviously you need instructors who have trialled for this part. Even specialist classes for say trick training to encourage people to continue bringing their family dogs and kids to. Generally i would like to see a move away from being a dog obedience club to a dogsport club, not just to bring in the agility side more but also the other sports. While i do other sports with my dogs at no point has anyone from the club i attended from the time my dogs were pups encouraged or even mentioned other disciplines like tracking, herding, flyball. If a club cannot provide the training itself, i still believe they should maybe have invited trainers or at least info on local clubs that do. My personal view is the club should be there to promote the dog and owner relationship for its entirity not simply the initial first steps, and if that means sending members to other clubs to explore other disciplines or combining efforts with other clubs then do it.