Ptolomy

LOL - gees I was only planning on ordering 15 medium and I am already up to 13 medium orders - so I will have to revise the order. I will keep taking notes for a week and will then post what I have and costs before placing the order with Clean Run

Yee Har I-Squeaks now have a thread of their own I emailed the makers of the I-Squeak and I am still waiting for a response So I am now looking at placing an order through Clean Run. Depending on the number of orders Small I-Squeaks would be approx $4 (about golf ball size) Medium I-Squeaks would be approx $5.50 (about tennis ball size) There would then be postage to you in Oz when I received the order If anybody is interested can you post in this thread so I can get a rough indication if it is worth going ahead with the order or not.

MIne get thrown in the washing machine

Hey I feel a career move coming on - I could be the i-squeak distributer for the southern hemisphere Huski - I think that the small i-squeak may be too small for your dog - I would be more inclined to get a medium and a small for your beagle, not sure what others think ? Rubystar? If we did do a BIG order of I-squeaks there would then be postage to each state. Hmm will investigate more tomorrow.... and if I think its worthwhile I will start an I-Squeak thread

I just had a look 20 small i-squeaks comes to $59 and postage is $37.20 which means each small i-squeak ball would cost $4.81 and I assume this is US$. I guess thats not that bad. I am just wondering how many more I can order before going into the next postage bracket?

NOT Mine :D Lexi has drive that I have not seen in a toller before and she is the only one of mine who would perform better for an i-squeak than she would for food. Unfortunately, I have not done the work with her like I have with the others, so the finness is missing, or should I say its a work in progress :D

I have added 2 Lexi clips from tonight - Lexi is a very very very novice UD training, work in progress dog who does everything at a zillion miles an hour, but who is just as likely will shut down at the start post

Your kids worked really well tonight Rubystar you should be tickled pink with them

For sale - 3 slightly used tollers, lovely to live with, but each with their own issues. Alternatively - wanted to buy: A Sity Stay, a lockin on the dirtected glove, and a stand without leaping forward and upward All required in the next week - as the Western Classic is only 2 weeks away ;)

WOW - there are people out there with agility BC's who don't have the rear end movement that this guy has. You have done a terrific job as I can only imagine that it is like trying to back a bendy bus :D and I mean this in the nicest possible way. How old is your boy and how long did it take you to get to where you are now with the pivoting?

Zug Zug you sound like I did recently when trying to upload to Youtube. It's my guess, from what I learnt when my vidoes were taking ages to upload, that the file is too big and that you need to compress the file before uploading. You will then find that it should take about 20 minutes or less. DOLers suggested I use Movie Maker to make the files smaller - but I ended up using a program called Any DVD Converter (she says shrugging her shoulders). Well done on uploading the video and you should be tickled pink - you are both doing a great job Is this the dog that is 12?? A little tip - when you do a right about turn - look in the direction you are going, not at the dog as this turns your shoulders and you should find that your dog wont lag. You need to get the food out of your hands because you kept playing with it and swapping it from hand to hand :D . In the COP, make sure you leave some time after the down before asking for the sit - otherwise you will end up with a dog that anticipates. Watching your 2 food game made me smile - My kids will race out and get the food about turn and automatically drop before I give them the signal, I was that predictable - so from experience don't always drop the dog after throwing food and sometimes wait for them to come closer before giving them the signal. You will notice on your recall the dog is actually moving faster than what she does in the 2 food game - this is one reason she is taking longer to drop. When rewarding her throw the food back over her head (so in the direction of where she came from) rather than to the side. Keep up the videos and the good work....

SAS - I am really a softie at heart BUT I am still waiting for you video I am here to help and offer advice to those of you who are looking at entering the obedience ring. I started from scratch and i only wish I had somebody take me under their wing. I used to stand outside the ring and when a handler came out I would ask them 100 questions - living in the country and with my first dog its the way I learnt. I promise I will be gentle.......and it wont hurt a bit

Amypie - You did a good job but you are just taking too long to reward. The moment you step into heel position start shovelling the food in and make sure you break her off before you run out of food. As Ness suggested it is easier if you do it next to a wall - I use the car. As she starts getting the idea you can start slowing the food delivery down.

and then you can post them on the Youtube thread With the presenting too far away - after you take the dumbbell reward her by standing still and throwing food between your legs behind you and tell her to get it - she should run between your legs to get the food - while she is eating it about turn and when she has finished call her and reward if the present is straight and close.

Now I am confused - I thought last year was the last year for the Ekka? From the schedule, all the facilities look exactly the same???

Resort to red wine - I did :D

Try doing it for his dinner - so break his dinner into 3 bowls and if he drops with a reduced signal - then he gets 1/3 of his meal - if he doesn't drop - the dinner goes back on the bench and you walk away for 30 seconds. Make sure your signal is consistent and that you are also giving a verbal.

Terranik - I had the volume off so I heard nothing - now if only we could do that in real life. Cider has a vocalization issue and i have since found out that her dad was very vocal - so its been a case of stopping whatever we are doing if she starts making noises. I would try taking this issue away from training to begin with and playing with the dog, tugging, roughing her up etc and if she starts vocalizing then stopping the game for a few seconds and turning your back and then resuming the game. If you are consistent, the dog should get the idea pretty quickly. When introducing it to training we need to be careful that the dog doesn't shut down if you mark it by stopping training and putting her away. I don't know your dog well enough - hence the suggestion to try it away from training to begin with.

UMMM Nope Might do something after the Classic - I am too busy breaking dogs at the moment and repairing gloves, stays, directed jumping - the list just goes on and on.......

Terranik - I remember now - I would be putting my food in my left hand pocket if I was you and Shell - get rid of that bumbag (it swings, is distracting to the dog and its also at your dog head height), and get some ugly trackie dacks like we all wear so that you can get the food out of your pockets easily. IMO bumbags are great because they are easy to get food out of and you don't have to have nasty slimy food in your pockets BUT they are so visual, and dogs being smart quickly work out bumbag on means I will get fed, bumbag off means I don't..... back in my box now.......

Hiccup

Some of the nicest heelwork I have seen Ness do - pity you were having trouble staying upright. You really need to put Kenzie away next time! Enough said!

Hey Amypie when can I drop Cider over??? Wouldn't you love a red dog to train for agility? You will have to have your running shoes on Trixie is going to be fast :D

Shell you need to get your act sorted it looked like you were going for a Sunday stroll. Walk with some purpose - do some heeling without your dog so you can get your footwork sorted. You dog is doing a terrific job despite your handling. Even though the dog is a novice dog - as Ness said start working on reducing your signals. I would like to see another video in 4 weeks time - NO PRESSURE!

If I was practicing straight presents with a young dog I would have food in my hand so that when they presented I didn't have to dive into my pocket - I don't think kenzie's first present was straight but when you dived into your pocket she didn't hold position, but turned towards your pocket. Ness being at UD level I would expect straight presents from her - the way you are asking her to present you are doing all the hard work. I would be leaving her in a sit and taking a step forward and one to the side and saying come - no excessive hand movements, nothing, and if she didn't nail it - it would be too bad so sad. I know the finishes are a constant work in progress. YOu will notice Ness throwing food between her legs and telling the dog to get it - this helps bring the dog in straight and close. I am doing a lot of this with lexi who has personal space issues.