Sayreovi

I know right! If I could get her running as fast as she does in lure coursing, watch out! :p Though I think people would have to cover their ears while she runs as she does that high pitched Toller scream when she gets excited Ohh most definately, I hope no one thinks I think that just because you have a 500 that you are a shoe in and have it easy, bigger faster dogs will always land closer to and then take off course obstacles alot easier than the smaller dogs and need to work harder on sharper turns. Both require different types of training. I know my girl can turn on a dime and take sharper corners but can't run as fast as a fast BC, a bigger BC can out run her but couldn't turn as quick as her......it's about finding your dogs advantages I guess and training to improve them. ------ I feel my point has been missed though, I guess to sum up what I was trying too say is agility caters towards the majority.....the majority is 500's :) Maybe I should have said something before my first crack at masters after she had won a class or something, as it seems to be misconstrued as sour grapes

I feed my guys raw and never really added it up before. For 3 medium sized dogs between 14-20kgs I spend about $30 a week if that. I buy their meat in 20kg lots and it lasts me about a month, I try to feed it 3/7 days and the rest chicken frames but I tend to be lazy and forget to defrost so am going through the meat within 2-3 weeks at the moment. Once a week I mix together a random assortment of food, so they get offal, eggs, sardines, yoghurt....generally left overs as well, mixed into a slop, I think it's their favourite meal of the week! :laugh: Offal/hearts $5 a week Meat is about $70 for 20kg Frames $1.50 for 3 Last two I could get alot cheaper but it's hard to find decent chopped beef for smaller amounts and the frames are purely convenience related, they come in trays of 3 and usually nice sized with no fat. Eggs and yoghurt I buy for myself and I don't go through them quick enough, so don't really consider it a dog purchase. Can't wait to get a designated dog food freezer!

I never knew that, that's cool, though I can see why it wouldn't happen down here. I wasn't necessarily talking about Moorabbin or just masters either, I thought those courses it was a good mix up of different skills required and enjoyed each course, it definately showed what we need to work on and what we can do well :D From what I've noticed in the past watching masters, the 500's could do most parts naturally, whereas the other heights had to work that little extra. Thought I guess when majority of dogs competing are 500's then it's only natural for courses to play towards them a bit, the rest of us just have to suck it up and train better to beat them :) What an interesting post, never really thought of it that way before.

That's pretty cool about them changing a course, never seen that! Sometimes the littlies get 5/10% extra time down here which I think is great for them. Pro's and con's for both and I am not denying there are fast little dogs, but majority aren't that quick and in the end agility is geared towards fast 500 dogs. You only have to look at most courses put out every week to see that, I know when I run my 500 boy his striding is better than my 400 girl who has to adjust constantly because jumps in particular are spaced out for bigger dogs. Same would go for a larger 600 who would have to collect themselves more and struggle with tighter turns.

I agree! When standard course times first came in (god it is scary to think I have done agility long enough to say that!) I had a very wise instructor who said "why bother worrying about it, it shouldn't change what you are doing as you should always be handling to the best of your ability" He hated that people would hear a "generous" time so go oh good I can take my time and do it slow and safely and was always of the opinion that you should be running the course the best way possible for you and your dog so did not even want to know the time. To this day it is something I have believed. I have come out of courses with no idea at to if it was a "quick run" or not compared to the time o others as I have gone out there, walked the course to find the best path for my dog and then run that course. I have known if it felt quick and smooth for us but not how it rated against the course. I don't go out of my way to hear the SCT but when you go for briefing they always tell you, doesn't make me change how I run the course though. Don't get me wrong I don't think Masters should be easy, no way, it should be harder. There were a few reasons why we didn't make time, that is 100% us, when she is feeling better (which explains the complete lack of enthusiasm, I just thought it was heat ) and I work more on my handling then I have no doubt she will always make time very easily. I just think that alot of course times and courses are geared towards fast 500 dogs and tend to forget that other heights compete as well. When rate of travel is 4m/s it's definately not the 99.9% of 200's in mind! LOL

:laugh: They are sent to try us sometimes and the hard part is she never ever would do it at training so it's just something she decides to do on a whim :laugh: Thanks, yeah it was gross out in the sun, much hotter than expected.....she even got her cool coat put on for awhile! I need to do the same, she can run all day as fast as she can in flyball and does so at her full height so I automatically think she can do 6-7 runs in agility. I need to pull back and only do 3 maybe 4 runs spaced well apart...well that's always the plan! Then hopefully I will see the psycho little nutcase I see at training! I think that too, how on earth do dogs that aren't quick get around those massive courses in the time required? Makes me want to be a judge and do courses just for smaller dogs in mind :p

We had our first masters jumping trial today and went well considering our lack of training. No passes but the nasty little twists and turns we did pretty well, so I was really happy with that and doing 24 obstacles is something we've never done before. One nasty discrimination was 2 tunnels right next to each other touching at a 90 degree angle, nearly all dogs got the first one going to the left, but due to the angle when heading to the next one it was literally a blind entry, the dogs could only see the wrong tunnel directly in front of them not the (correct) one to the right. Hard to explain LOL Caught out a few dogs and Jovi headed to the tunnel she went in first time even though I spun her around trying to straighten her up, she put her head in the tunnel realised it was the wrong one and correct herself. So pretty happy with that :) Somewhere along the line my non tunnel suck dog decided she wanted to blind cross me into a tunnel as well :laugh: Our only clear run she went over time which was a bugger but we were always going to push that one as it was 170m in only 40 secs, she would have full pelt around to make that time! The little fiddly courses with tricky parts will be our forte. She was very all over the place though, need to work on her drive at comps and I need to pick and chose runs. Running from one ring to another with her is never going to go well when it's warm, I need to remember she is a dog that wants/needs a decent break between runs even though she seems fine.

We had our first masters jumping trial today and went well considering. No passes but the nasty little twists and turns we did pretty well, so I was really happy with that. One nasty discrimination was 2 tunnels right next to each other touching at a 90 degree angle, nearly all dogs got the first one going to the left, but due to the angle when heading to the next one it was literally a blind entry, the dogs could only see the wrong tunnel directly in front of them not the (correct) one to the right. Hard to explain LOL Caught out a few dogs and Jovi headed to the tunnel she went in first time even though I spun her around trying to straighten her up, she put her head in the tunnel realised it was the wrong one and correct herself. So pretty happy with that :) Somewhere along the line my non tunnel suck dog decided she wanted to blind cross me into a tunnel as well :laugh: Our only clear run she went over time which was a bugger but we were always going to push that one as it was 170m in only 40 secs, she would have full pelt around to make that time! The little fiddly courses with tricky parts will be our forte. She was very all over the place though, need to work on her drive at comps and I need to pick and chose runs. Running from one ring to another with her is never going to go well when it's warm, I need to remember she is a dog that wants/needs a decent break between runs even though she seems fine.

Sounds like she is trying to get a smaller height dog. A team can be made of any combination, you can have a team full of BCs/Kelpies so they jump full height or you can have a full team of 7inch height dogs. Or a mix of different sized dogs.

What dogs does this lady have then? I would be very curious to know where she got the idea that only little dogs compete? She is going to be in for a massive shock if she ever goes to a flyball comp :laugh:

Load of BS. ANY dog can do flyball, the sport is mostly dominated by the herding breeds, I would say 90% are a herding breed! Little dogs are generally sought after as it brings down the height for the whole team but not essential as long as a dog is taught to jump height. I have an 11inch height dog so height dogs don't even have to be tiny. Our club has tiny little 7inch dogs as well as the biggest dog in Victoria doing it and she is a Maremma cross BC (at a guess, she is the height of a Maremma!), with all different sizes and breeds in the middle :)

How much is lifetime rego?

Awesome work everyone! Makes me want to get more involved in the sport, just need to find the time and fit it in.....somehow!

Seems to be a common misconception that if you like your dog more than people that you are treating it like a 'furry little human', that's not always true.....the reason I like my dogs more than people is because they AREN'T 'furry little humans' and ARE treated like dogs.

There's still the small matter of people lying to agents or not bothering to tell them in the first place. It's no wonder that many people with renatal properties do not want to rent to those with pets. Renters forget that it's not actually their property and it belongs the the landlord. Exactly. I am a renter and I have never ever lied about the pets I own! I find it downright disgusting and so dishonest of others to lie about pets in someone elses investment property!

Your little Cavs wouldn't need more than half a frame at the max, you would still be feeding more than one meal a day? If so I personally would cut the frame down into about 4, feed a 1/4 in the morning and a 1/4 at night. I feed my adult male Tollers (who are extremely active and do sports) a whole one with all the fat cut off, my little adult girl who weights about 14kgs and also very active and does sports only gets half a frame :) Mine get theirs about 3 times a week as their meal, the other days they get red meat and one night they get offal or sardines and egg. Works for me and them :)

Only an owner can decide. But owners should be fully informed about the possible consequences for their type of dog if they want to take up a particular dog sport . Breeds vary widely by conformation, and some are much more suited to particular tasks than others. People training others in dog sports have a responsibility to pass on information that handlers should take into account when deciding whether to take up a particular dog sport not. Yes and I (and owner) am fully aware of the downfalls of a dog his size doing flyball. Not why a greyhound isn't necessarily suitable, hence my question. I have an answer and I will pass that on when I see them next. What you posted above is blindingly obvious for those who regulary compete in sports and I am all for dogs that are structually suitable doing sports and owners being aware but as a non greyhound person I wasn't aware of why what appears to be a structually sound dog is ill suited.

Haven't paid much attention to collars but they are GAP dogs and go out in public without muzzles. What makes them have unsuitable conformation? I know they compete overseas, never seen one here and I don't study Greys so wouldn't know what makes Aussie ones different :) Racing greyhounds in Australia have been selectively bred for their ability to run fast on a course with only gentle turns. Last time I let my girl off lead she snapped her dew claw in half doing a sharp turn. This is typical of the injuries that can occur at the time, but there is also the damage being done over time to joints and ligaments that were not designed for this repeated action at high speed. The speed and the high prey drive of the greyhound multiplies the stress on the joints, even if their conformation was more rugged. If you look at the bodies of dogs overseas that are selective bred for live coursing or other activities, they are more solidly built to allow for the repeated stress of sharp turns. There are better things to be doing with a retired greyhound that don't have the potential for so much harm. Interesting thanks for the info. He is pretty cruisy and laid back so I don't think he is going to go that fast but I can't exactly say no you can't train because he may or may not get an injury :)

Haven't paid much attention to collars but they are GAP dogs and go out in public without muzzles. What makes them have unsuitable conformation? I know they compete overseas, never seen one here and I don't study Greys so wouldn't know what makes Aussie ones different :)

When you say sanctioned do you mean just ANKC or can it be another organisation? So they can compete but not train offlead? Unless on private land? Just curious as we have a greyhound starting flyball training and is going great but I've always been curious as too whether he could legally compete or not as flyball isn't an ANKC sport.

Welcome River Toller, lovely to see more Toller owners on here. That name sounds familiar, were you at the dogs big day out at KCC last year? There is a thread in the breed sub sections where alot of us usually post and check, please come and introduce yourself and of course pictures are mandatory :D Here is the link :) http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/28293-toller-time/page__st__6100

Agreed Huski. I've left my dogs in the car plenty of times, what on earth am I meant to do with them if I am heading for a comp a few hours away and need to fill the car up/go to the toilet/unpack/pack? Not just my convenience either but for their protection as well. Of course I always try and park in the shade and leave windows down and like someone else has posted if need be have left the car running while I do whatever I need to......I've never ever returned to the car and the dogs are stressed in any way.

I am another who has all but stopped feeding it Used to love it, dogs looked amazing but then coat started going harsh and dry, they all started itching. Changed to a raw food diet and they have all bounced back. Also noticed the change when I bought a bag that was in the new packaging and that it had different sized/coloured kibble. Bit disappointing.

I have 3 and don't find it too many, I actually find three quite annoying. I can't just take two anywhere, it's either one or all three. Don't mind taking all three as they are pretty easy going but if it's hot I would rather leave the old boy at home where it's cooler. I am planning on breeding my girl (2) this year, so will take my number up to 4. Both my boys (8 & 10) will be mostly retired by then except for the odd trial and I am happy where my girl is currently with training/trialling so will be a good time to have a new pup. Never had a problem with bonding, if anything my oldest is the least bonded too me due to his personality even though he was by himself for his first two years and my girl is the most but was with the boys when growing up the majority of the time.

Thanks everyone, she is my first proper agility dog so from her first trial just over 6 months ago (with a handful of trials and her in season) to being in Masters is a bit of a shock! :laugh: