Ptolomy

Try sardines in tomato sauce - they love these even more

My first dog was Lara - she cost me $50 from a pet shop and unfortunately or fortunately for me she knew more than I did about dog training. Lara made it through to Obedience Champion - we did lots of retraining along the way and she saved my bacon on lots of occasions Lara got her OC in the times when you needed 5 passes over 185 and 3 of these needed to be wins. I would like a $1 for the number of times we passed UD with a score of 190+ but finished 2nd by a point or two. It was really tough competition with dogs like Kiri, Magic, Spinner, Tina, Max, Jack all who would regularly score 195+ in open and UD. Still we made it over the line and it was a terrific feeling getting that last win The dog deserved all the credit. My next dog, Blaize was a whole different kettle of fish. She is 2 passes off her OC - but I no longer trial her in UD - I didn't think either of us needed the frustration or the grey hair Nowdays I blow the dust off and bring her out in open for the big events and during the year to get 3 Western Classic passes. She is the sort of dog that does best on minimal training and she thinks she is special when she gets to trial. And then there was OC Scoota I did trial Scoota's brother, Dekka and he got his CD title, but lives with my parents and suffers separation anxiety so OOS stays were always going to be an issue. He is also earth bound and built like a block of flats so getting over a jump was also going to be hard work. Followed by CDX Beans who is a work in progess and Lexi who is on hold until we sort out her health issues. If I can offer you words of encouragement - I would say hang in there, try and find a buddy to train with as it does make it easier and you have the guru close by, make the most of it and have lessons on a regular basis as it does wonders for your enthusiasm and frustration

How good is that?? Snazzy is feeling a bit special too...he doesn't like to be outdone Maybe the photos that we took of the two together will have to have a different caption now! Great news caffy

Thanks for the congrats An update on Lexi - I picked the kids up from mums house this morning - took the kids to K9 for a run and Lexi hasn't stopped running and throwing balls at me all day. She is bouncing off the ceiling and walls. To look at her you wouldn't know she had any health issues at all. We head back to the specialist on Monday and I know she wont believe its the same dog that she saw 3 weeks ago

Well done Agility Dogs and Xena98 on a really successful weekend

I have both Brooklyns and Scootas UD rounds from yesterday and today - need to wait until I get home and for Deb to send them to me before uploading them to You tube In the meantime the best I can offer is Bean's open round from last week when she beat Scoota http://www.freewebs.com/antollergee/apps/v...-open-obedience

We actually get 23kg luggage limit. Unfortunately I was sitting at 22.5kg on the way over and then found that Target was having 60% off all their winter clothes - so I went on a shopping slurge on Friday. :D Tomorrow I will work out how many layers I can wear and still be able to sit in the plane seat allocated We gave all the food away to friends

Scoota was definitely suffering from a hangover today:D I have just watched his UD round from today and I have to say there were 2 glaring mistakes and the rest was near perfect. Caffy said the scent mistake was due to an alcoholic haze - hmm not sure what she means by that In open the little bugger did drop during his sit stay before I even got out of sight though - but all is forgiven :D We are celebrating just a bit tonight Between the 2 of us we won 120kg of dog food over the 2 days

um sorry - think its called hangoveritis poor Scoota!

Hey guys an update from today ...... Deb and Brookly won UD with 198 :D Scoota was 2nd with 195 Brookie also won open with 192 Scoota dropped during his sit stay

Umm I don't want to change the subject - but I dont think you have a slow sit problem any more - I think you now have a stay problem! Do we need to start a new thread OOps running away to hide :D

Oh Boy I sure hope Scoota is feeling better than I am this morning Thanks for all the kind words guys - I really appreciate it Now all of you get out there and train

Aw shucks - I am all embarressed now We did get his UD round on video and I actually think this was better than his open round - but the judge had a very sharp pencil Unfortunately Deb and I were in the ring at the same time so didn't get his open round We have had a rough few weeks with one of my dogs being very sick. So for Scoota to come out firing after travelling so far is a real bonus. Have to say a special thank you to Caffy who came to our rescue during the week and every email I have received from her in the past few days sent me a special reminder head, shoulders, hand and toes

A UDX title is brilliant - a UDX title with a 10 year old is priceless. Enjoy it and I hope she got a special dinner tonight! Well done with Tess's first CCD pass to

I guess it comes down to - does your dog hunt for the seekback by sight or by smell??? If it is smell then it might make it hard - if its by sight then it wont be an issue. All my kids do it by sight and resort to smell if they can't find it. In WA its not an issue as our trial rings are like bowling greens.

I'm thinking you took the right red dog....not many can claim a 200 in Open and a UD win LOL we had no form at home and he came out and worked really well. His work in UD was actually better than his open work. I guess not many dogs can jump on a plane - fly to the other side of the country and come out and win open and UD and get 200 Will be buying a bottle of Moet when I get home - its the first 200 we have ever got. Scootas mum came close many years ago with a 199. YEP I did bring the right dog with me

I saw Seita's round today and her dog worked really well and there were no problems with her sits at all - well done

I am not sure at what point you are giving your NRM - I would suggest if this is the way you want to mark a slow sit that you actually give your NRM and step away from her before she plants her bum on the ground - otherwise its a sure fire way to confuse the dog. You have halted, she has sat, and then you are telling her too bad so sad. Sorry - you didn't say that you were paying her for a good sit with a YES followed by a game of tug.

On pay day at work my boss gives me a good girl for all the work I have done but it doesn't make me want to work extra hours - however, if he icreased my pay and gave me longer lunch breaks I may consider it

You can have the dog in a sit next to you and tickle the dogs back foot with either your foot or a pole/stick and you will find that they jump up into a kick back stand. Its best done next to a cupboard to keep them straight.

Gees lots of passes, titles and great performances this weekend Sorry to hear about Snuppie - Smisch My little brag from today is that Miss Beans came out and won open obedience and beat Scoota who finished 2nd. Still shaking my head and asking myself am I taking the wrong dog to Brisbane

In my experience it will depend on the judge. Any chance of videoing what is happening so we can have a look. It sounds like my old girl was doing what you dog does - we were never pinged in UD - but come UDX it made change of positions really really difficult. If you have any intention of doing UDX it would be worthwhile going back and teaching the push up sit or the fold back drop.

Is somebody helping you with you elimination diet or are you doing it alone? The only reason I ask is that before begining a new food - the dog shouldn't be scratching. You posted on the 10th that she was still scratching a bit and yet the next day you started oil. So there is no way you can tell if she is still reacting to the yoghurt or if she is reacting to the oil. We did the elimination diet - spent three months on goat and sweet potato before we were able to introduce our first new food. The new food had to consist of 1/3 of every meal and was on trial for 10 days - if she reacted any time during these 10 days - then we had to withdraw the food and wait until her skin returned to normal before being able to introduce something new. We then crossed the trialled food off and heaved a big sigh. I wasn't allowed to try yoghurt until a long way down the track - before this we trialled lamb, pasta, corn, milk, chicken, beef, rice, I cheated and did mixed veges (I used the frozen packs from the supermarket), but if she reacted then I was going to have to try each one individually, fish, kangaroo, potato, eggs, fish oil capsules and then yoghurt.

I opted not to titre test for hep as my vet said there have been no cases of hepatitis for years in WA. Also you cannot get a hepatitis only vaccination - so if the titre was low and the others were high I wouldn't be vaccinating anyway.

I would just photocopy the results and show the club