Vickie

Come to Sydney, come to Sydney....

you are too funny! and you are much better than you think you are! Remember who it is about . She does have great rear end awareness, the grid was testing her ability to judge her striding, something most dogs need to practice to get right. A couple more sessions & she will have it totally worked out. Erny have you tried bands around his back legs? Like hair scrunchies or something similar. I have seen this work really well. The other exercise I was shown which I really like is setting up a low jump (I know you are not looking for agility performance but this exercise helps feet awareness). What you do is lure the dog to step over (in a walk, not a jump). Any attempt where no legs touch the bar is rewarded & any attempt where the dog touches the bar with any of it's feet is ignored. They tend to work it out really quickly & need to make an effort to pick up their back feet.

Trim's favourite food in the whole world is fresh salmon heads

That's awesome I felt the same way, they didn't even seem to realise.

They both started & learnt to weave with 3 poles & a clicker. I have done some 2x2 with Shine, but more b/c I wanted to understand the process so I can teach it. I like the 2x2 & see benefits in it, but think I will always use the 3 pole method for my own dogs.

I honestly think that in general, it is a combination of the way they were taught to weave & their structure, rather than adrenalin. There are PLENTY of very driven & VERY fast dogs who double step and I'm not convinced that one way is faster than another. Like I said, Trim does both, but is more likely to single step when she's really going for it. I don't think Shine could double step comfortably.

Best place to get answers is your vet. It's pretty hard to diagnose symptoms over the internet...

not sure, Trim often single steps as well. The less adrenalin she has, the more likely she is to double step. She often single steps in a trial, I have video of her doing both. She was totally exhausted in this clip, so wasn't putting in as much effort as she usually does.

I took Zeus in for a check up this morning. He just doesn't seem himself. He didn't want to get out of bed this morning which is very odd for a dog who rarely leaves my side. He has been panting a lot lately & looking very stiff. Good news is that the vet said his heart & lungs sound normal & clear. We did bloodwork & will see if that shows up anything. The vet seemed to think he has some spondylitis which would certainly fit with some of his recent behaviours. My feeling is that he's just getting old, but hopefully there is something we can do to make him a more comfortable. He's such a funny boy but so special to me in so many ways. I know his time is coming & it fills me with dread .

how cool is this!!! I put both the girls through 24 weave poles & they just did it . I expected Trim would as she has quite a lot of experience & LOVES to weave, but wasn't sure what Shine would do as she has been weaving a lot less time & didn't even really have a rhythm until this year. It's not something I will practice, just kind of cool to know they can do it.

another vote for Get Smart Dogs: http://www.getsmartdogs.com.au/

Thank you for replies, both on the forum & privately. Fixed now

What a very proactive thing for you to do. Hopefully someone will come along with some great pre-existing articles.

does anyone know anything about this condition? any information/experience with it in Border Collies? thanks

Maybe train his rears on just one jump first & reward at the upright. This way you won't have to yell "here" as he will be learning the body language you give when you want him to turn. Then when he understands it on 1 jump, move to 2 etc. He should totally understand a rear cross without any verbal before you move on to sequencing with it...same with a front. sounds like a great idea ;) . The more retraining you can avoid, the better you & he will be.

I wish you were still in Sydney, I am working with a dog right now who sounds very similar. We are making sure that she doesn't lose that forward momentum but teaching her (and her handler) turn cues has helped enormously while retaining her speed. :D Maybe you'll have to come for a holiday

A vet visit is a good idea if you're worried...but it is not something that has to be looked at in the next 10 minutes. If your sister is coming to take you later, that will be fine.

He looks great Sam! Enthusiastic and happy. I would definitely keep training him in agility but would be proofing & fine tuning things as you go along. The danger with doing too many different things too early is that you sequence too much too often & never go back to work on the finer points. His jumping looks good but it looks like you haven't spent much time yet working on his front & rear cross cues. Jumping is just like weaving...it needs to be worked from all angles, he needs to learn to send, call, jump into your space, FC & RC. As I'm sure you know, the equipment is the easy stuff in the bigger picture, it's the getting from one piece of equipment to the next that brings most of us unstuck. You will know if you've done too much if you see ANY drop in his enthusiasm... Little Jock is looking awesome too

Unbelieveable! I just read this whole thread and I simply cannot believe that someone could be so deranged.

Thanks guys hmmm that sounds like abuse to me

Trim Shine and a special tandem weave

yes, an agility course has other obstacles, AFrame, dogwalk, pause table & weaves + seesaw when you get thorugh Novice. You can make as much noise as you want to help your dog, but you cannot touch your dog or the equipment. I just went looking & found video of my young dog's 1st Novice jumping run. My friend suprised me by taping & putting on Youtube . It will give you a good idea of a fairly standard Novice jumping course. Shine 1st trial I can post an agility video as well so you can see the different types of obstacles if you like, but don't have any Novice ones that I can find, so it would be an Open or Masters run.

Hi Zug Zug, to get a JD title, you & your dog will need 3 clear rounds within Standard Course time on a Novice Jumping course under at least 2 different judges. Novice Jumping consists of 14-16 obstacles & includes single jumps, spread jump, broad jump, tyre, flexible tunnel and cloth tunnel. There is usually 1-3 changes of sides. Standard Course times for Novice are usually quite generous, so unless you dog is quite slow or stops, most novice dogs make time. To run clear, you need to follow the numbered sequence (you get about 15-20 minutes to learn it without the dog) and not incur any faults. The most common faults are missing a jump or knocking a bar, but there are others as well. The complete agility & jumping rules are here: Link to rules hope this helps... where are you located? maybe someone can tell you of upcoming trials in your area.

:D Noah doesn't do "woo woo woo". Noah does high pitch, ear piercing, irritating, bloody annoying, monotonous bark! LOL, lucky he is easy to stop & doesn't do much of it, but when he does it, it grates on your nerves like nothing you have ever heard. and yes...he is barking in the pic :p .

Awww, gorgeous pics . I love the rich colours. Reminds me of that saying "just too tired to move"