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Thanks corvus and Jigsaw. Hope the dog can sort his onwer out soon. Ta!

Does anyone know good behaviourist in this area? He is a young Tenterfield terrier and I thoufght he was a lovely dog when I met him recently. His owner has had some problems with him. He was bred locally and he is such a nice dog I was hoping to find somebody to help. When the owner was worried before she consulted with a rather expensive trainer who took the dog away for weeks and returned a rather changed little dog who still has the same problems. I thought somebody who could come to her house and teach the owner would be more usefull.

I have been interested in this thread. And maybe I should not be so sure that positive training is the only way to go. ( not that I know much) As poodlefan suggests maybe it is not so bad to have some different views in the mix. And I will confess I notice a difference from working with rewards on offer and maybe what happens later when the dog knows you haven't any treats. THere was a club in Newcastle that offered reward training and non reward training. Is that The way to go? There is a man in my class now who doesn't use treats but his dog will ignore him and go to other people who have treats. How hard is that? Offering a choice like this is beyond the means of many clubs as there are not enough instructors. Regardless of the type of methods used - one trainer I have who is very good with her dogs insists the biggest thing is to be CONSISTANT! When you have a trainer who is so spot on with their dogs it os a bit hard to realise that sometimes it is just us that is confusing or holding back our dogs. The clubs do the best they can. At my first club in the country a man turned up with a particularly aggressive unsocialised dog. He was an unlikely person to find at the club. His dog was trying to attack everything and he was cursing his dog and waving his fist at it in a very threatening manner. Many club members were disgusted. But surely a man like this had the most to learn. Some instructors hoped he would go as it was fairly distressing to watch. But as time went on he turned up every week and tried another method besides cursing and hitting his dog. Once shown another way he tried hard and ended up changing a lot. The club awarded him the trophy as most improved that year and I remember him clearly. The way he treated his dog was all he knew but he came to learn and change. If I was clever enough it would be an interesting poll to see what methods or combination of methods clubs were using?

I think SBT123 has a point. I have moved recently and have been having hassles getting safe fences put up. A friend was staying for a while but I worried about after they left. I considered doggie day care but my dogs (specially one of them) would consider it their worst nightmare. If I had an older happy go lucky boofy dog I might think OK but not mine. I know thay would not like it althou they are socialised and like a polite get together and bum-sniff like most dogs. Hope you work it out. Good luck.

I have found this topic an intersting read. I have 2 clubs in my area which seem to be different in their views. I train in one with agility and miss their obedience classes only cause it is too early Sat morning but it is mostly positive. And I go to another club for obedience although this is not an area I compete in. However I go cause I like to work with my dogs and I like to socialise with like -minded people. I was not very experienced with dogs and when I adopted my first 2 six years ago I remember fronting up to the first day in class armed with 2 chokers. Do you know how hard it is to find 2 choker chains to fit 2 midget small dogs? I looked everywhere to get 2 small enough. I roll up to the first day of school and line up with all the other proud owners. I remember the instructor sizing me and my dogs up and asking if my dogs pull a lot. I shake my head and she asks if they are hard to control. I shake my head and she asks why the check chains. She explained flat collars are OK. Until this moment I thought all dogs were trained in check chains. So I learnt all about the other way to train with positive rewards. Five years later and the same dogs I roll up in a new town with another club. On joining the club you get a limited slip chain collar and another set of training guidelines. Hopefully now I know more and I wade a path thru 2 seemingly different methods to find a training style that suits my dogs and me. To highlight the main difference in the 2 clubs - My first club had the motto that you ask and if the dog doesn't do it he gets zip. The second club uses the motto that you don't ask, you tell!. I am not confused about which method I like which is the first but I have been wondering how many clubs out there teach like the second method? Althou I must point out that not everyone at the second club follows the motto and many are using more positive methods. I appreciate the time and effort people put in to help at the club and we are lucky to have many experienced dog trainers giving us advice. I have been thinking I could put my hand up to help but have only stood back as the different methods confuse me. Maybe I should offer to help and see what happens in the future. Thanks for the post as I thought my first club was different and I was curious how other clubs worked.

Thanks for your replies. I looked at that site Serket but as I have found with some other companies there is no medium size? I am trying to match doors to 2 different sized dogs althou they are a mini and toy. Erny - it is a good point about the breeze in winter as where my door is set could mean it gets a fair ammount of breeze. So as WoofnHound says maybe I should reconsider and go with a real door in the wood with the closer flap and do the hole in the older screen door. The screen door is half solid with netting on top but is what they call a safety door not 100% secirity. THanks for the help. Been so caught up in fencing over christmas that I forgot I need to organise the doors too. If the dogs can be inside while I am at work I hope they will be more settled and less likely to try to escape my yard.

Can anyone suggest good dog doors for security screens? I haven't been able to get them before as I rented. I was thinking about simply cutting a hole in the solid wood door as it is fairly old. And buying a door only for the security screen. I have a toy and a mini dog (40 cm at shoulder) so will go for a medium to please both. I was going to go with E-bay but would like any suggestions? Thanks all.

Hi again Yacket's Mum I did wonder about zoomies but only as I do see another lady compete with her lovely greyhound locally.The dog is more laid back and reserved. But it makes me smile when during a agility run the dog gets more excited and starts doing little zoomies. It may not be so funny to the owner but I wish my dogs enjoyed it that much. They do well the times I have seen them. I just taped my tarp together to let them get the idea but after the initial times they are fine with the cloth tunnel and I never did it again. Just going thru one at training and thru every different one we could find did the trick. In fact my little girl was charging madly thru a cloth tunnel at training last week and I was thinking it is maybe becoming her fave item. And I found weave was the biggest thing to try and get. When I had no club handy I tried a few ways to teach weaving. Lately I moved to a place where training was available. I was taught the Susan Garrettt 2 x 2 method and with one dog this is looking a sucess. But I just couldn't seem to get my chi x to go ahead without me. I think our agility career is limited and decided to try another method from a Clean Run mag with her. She is getting there but it is slow going and will never be as accurate or fast as the other dog. But I think this method ( said to be for "pigs fly " dogs) will be more suited to her. Have fun with your training.

Hi Yacket's Mum You don't say if you normally get to practice on a cloth tunnel? I would just modify the one you have. Close your tunnel up so it is short and put different things over the end. My small girl found cloth tunnels a bit daunting to push thru so at her first trial didn't like the tunnel. So I went home and put a soft cloth, then a blanket and finally a piece of tarp with a blanket for weight. And a grey hound is taller so it would be understandable if he found a cloth tunnel a bit cramped. Good luck in Jan.

HI Amypie Luv your dogs, please post back what advice they give you at training next. I have a mini dog learning contacts. We have no target now and he was going well. But at his first trial and on full height A-frame he flys and then can't get the stop. If he overshoots, he steps back to touch the A-frame but this is a fault. I put a short plank at home on a more pronounced slope and practiced the contact behaviour. At first he "blew me off" as it does require a more effort. He looked at me as thou to say " You are joking?". But I am hoping he is getting used to the fact that even if the slope is steeper, you still gota find the position. Good luck!

Hi , not sure if any advice I give would be useful as its late , just got home and I've had a few drinks. However I would like to offer encouragement. It is lovely to see the ammount of effort you are at least putting into your dog. I have a rescue dog that I found a handful at first. Maybe just him would be OK but I went for the second ( glutton for punishment). They were so wild I did get in 2 professional trainers but that did only cost me 50$ for 2 trainers for a quick training session. I got a few pointers and since then have learnt heaps. But my boy dog did nip me twice in the very beginning, once in the face. Once while he was on the dog bed and again when he was on my bed. The first I was totally unaware of the dangers of direct eye contact with a timid previously mistreated dog. And the second from bad judgement on my part. But there is always a way to improve and now my dog is a changed boy. So much so that if I go to my bed now and he is on it, he leaps off and waits for permission to get on again. When my small girl is let out to toilet early in the am, when we get back to the bedroom, he leaps off the bed and waits for my signal. I am still half asleep so it is like - get back on the bed already. I have to be clear otherwise he waits to be sure I meant it. This change just happened and it was after normal obedience and agility training. I control everything in their lives and they accept this. I used to let them go first thru doors or run in front of me. Now they wait did I let them out the door. Even more so if I think they would not stay, I demand they wait. I am a bit easy going sometimes ( read "inconsistent") but I do know a few more ways to improve their response to me as a leader. Posting here is useful, books on behaviour rather than training such as "The other end of the leash" by Patricia McConnell. Until you get a handle on your dog and his bed guarding behaviour, avoid the situation so that you don't practice bad behaviour. I'm sure you could make yourself exciting enough and look enough like a idiot that he would fly off that bed without any physical force. Would be interested to know how you go. Good luck. Your dog is lucky he has you.

I don't know if all would be like my friends Shiba Inu. But they caused a lot of smiles at obedience. It was the recalls that did it as he was happy to stay. And stay! and stay. My friend would walk away fine but when she called the dog it would ignore her. Sometimes he would find it in his heart to stand up and wander over but in his own time. I know maybe she wasn't the best trainer in the world but I think the dog was a challenge in some ways. Sweet tolerant dog thou. When on the odd occasion the dog did return with slight enthusiasm, most others training would give a cheer.

Bunnings do sell 3 way connectors otherwise a plumbing shop will certainly. The 4 ways would be good but I can only see them available from Clean Run in US. I have made some jumps and a tire jump from PVC. They work well but I am sorry now I bothered making the jumps. When I started at a club a while back the instructor suggested something else for jumps. I brought those re cycled dark grey plastic stakes from the garden section at Bunnings. My trainer uses these and the cups are a hook in a square of wood which slides up and down the pole by a circle of elastic rope. I didn't have a drill so couldn't make cups like this. But I cut PVC pipe into a thin slice and halved it again to make 2 u - shaped pieces of PVC.. I then taped the piece at the correct height. So when I go to the park or out to train I just stab these stakes into the ground and put poles across. The only thing is the poles must be placed a certain way across to work but this also means that you can jump both ways. If you travel out to train these work well. Sorry , really hard to describe. Happy building anyway.

THanks for this!!! Training last Wed my dog flew up a see-saw and flew off the other end! We had been training at the same place with a lower more solid one and I didn't expect this one to be so different. Either did he unfortunately so I asked him on and ran him up and down, without getting off on either end. I rewarded him for each slam of the see-saw but he still thought getting off once was a better idea. So I was just saying that a see-saw was something you wouldn't make easily. A classmate has made one similar to yours but now you have given me the plans. My classmate said for big dogs maybe not but I have toy/mini. Thanks, I will get to it. You didn'y use carpet as they did? More paint and sand?

Thanks for that info FHRP! It is so good to be able to post on here and find help or information. I was surprised to read it has a 2 pm start. I didn't realise that happens except maybe in Summer. Good enough reason thou I supose. Now all I have to do is hope that I am not going to run too late as I leave early Sunday morning for a trial in Baulkham Hills (ADAA fund raiser). I will just enter and if we have to leave early we can. Thank You!

Can anyone tell me the closing date for the Agility trial held by Sutherland dog training club on Sept 12th? I have just joined Dogs NSW ( or applied for membership) and am not too sure how to enter anyway. I have asked the organisers about the fact I have no member number as yet and that is OK if I give it to them later. A friend was going to show me how to enter but I have no forms as yet. I know the ADAA trial on 13th Sept closes next Friday so I hope the Sutherland one is the same otherwise I may have rushed to join needlessly. Anyone out there know? Thanks

At my training class (early level) we use what we call a "bump" bar . It is a poly pipe which has a much larger diameter cut longitudinally. It is placed before a jump. The dogs sit , when released they jump over the "bump" and are in the correct position to start the jump or jumping grid. I used similar poles on the ground when riding horses as well. Our class does jump grids using the bump, a series of jumps and a target such as food at the end. This exercise is what we do first before dogs begin running sequences. Our instructors are hoping to create a better jump style. We also use this exercise to practice stays and handling the dog from a more lateral position. Anyone else use these "bump" bars? I am new to agility but it seems training methods are changing all the time for the better?

If you could treat the dog thru a muzzle why couldn't the dog also eat thru some types? Sorry, just wondering.

Kynan - Is the book you are reading newish? Patricia McConnell also wrote " The other end of the leash" which I found really easy to understand and explained a lot. I love Italian Grayhounds IggiePiggie. Would the reaction of your dog on lead be similar to the behaviour of many small or timid dogs on lead? I have a small girl who can sometimes act in a similar way. When I read the book listed above it explained how it was more my relationship with the dogs and how our "pack" worked that created this sort of thing. Apparently it was possible that if I allowed her too much /didn't set down rules she would feel she was the boss. And hence she felt she was in charge of me and had to be the protector. Not saying you are like this as I don't know you or your dog. But I found it gave me something to think about. Good luck. I would be interested to know what the professional tells you?

Double up. Read below please. Maybe shouldn't post while having a glass of wine! :D

ADAA wants tunnels- lenght 3metre to 5 metre with diameter 60 to 80 cm. And See-Saw a solid plank lenght 3660mm and width 300m +/- 25mm. I use equipment that is not always to the letter. Like I have small dogs so can use a cat play tunnel to teach tunnels etc. But I might not use equipment that could be unsafe. I wouldn't use a narrow plank for the SeeSaw. Wider is safe still but then you have a promblem when you go to narrow. Maybe you can adjust the See-Saw? Good Luck. I haven't seen any dobes round here doing agility. Would like to thou.

What lovely dogs! Now you have just reminded me of yet another breed I would like to get next. I have only seen one other Brittany, it was at a local off lead park and I was impressed with its lovely nature as well as the energy levels. It bounded over to check out my dogs training and I thought it would be a good breed well suited to agility. Looks like Chazer is having a ball. great to see.

I started at basic obedience when I adopted my smaller dogs. And yes, I found that it was hard to get them in correct heel place. One is a bit bigger and he just had a little bum swing out at times. But the small girl does travel too far away. I do agility but some obedience just for fun. I would like the girl to keep up better, she seems to lag now as she naturally likes to walk just to the left and behind my heels. I would have been happy with 15-20 cm!

I live in the Wollongong area but don't know any trainers to help you. I could ask around if you are interested thou? I am curious as I have chi x's . Yours are young but are they socialised and do they get much exercise or training? Mine bark if someone comes as well but are quiet when I say. The girl is very territorial and can be noisy if we get people hanging around the back lane. Good luck. And I also agree that it is dependant on the trainer in your area. You would need to check first that your Bark Buster trainer is recommended. I would go to the local dog clubs for help first.

Thanks tmc. Clearer now. They certainly held the "felon". At one stage the guy in the body suit had a dog on each arm and was spread on the ground between them. The guys were in camouflage greens so I assumed the army. Maybe police. Chewbacca, when I said the dogs were "physically removed" I meant that they do not release the felon on command. One dog was dragged off the felon with a lot of difficulty. Funny, I didn't get yorur comment on the dogs being "aloof" at first.