Ptolomy

Barb you are on a roll with Miss Kirra - you now have spare masters passes - well done. LOL never heard it called strategic mayhem before. Running with Caffy - the toller boys never get it wrong and she is a terrific partner. The girls though are a different kettle of fish

and.................................................. I remembered to yell GO Thanks for the save at the end Caffy - I owe you one AGAIN!

Today B1 (Blonde 1 thats Jaffa) and B2 (Blonde 2 thats Beans) made an absolute mince meat of the course and any strategic plans Zoe and I had when we walked the excellent strategic pairs course , but blow me down still came away with a pass and their title. Sitting here shaking my head - it was awful - or more to the point ugly I think describes it best Hard to believe they are now in masters

Does the advanced training at Gosnells cover more than the Southern River pre-trialling class does? Roy with the GSD takes the Wednesday night classes at Gosnells - he trains with Sue H - and I know he usually throws a lot of variety at the class.......

The small i-squeaks arrived and are a BIG hit I can fit three i-sqeaks in one pocket :D

I have had a similar distemper result + >80 for parvo. Unfortunately you cannot get a distemper only vaccine. After discussion with my vet, I have opted not to do a C3, but will re titre test in 2 years time. It is possible that because the dog has not come accross distemper, her immunity is there, but is low.

Rubystar where are you .....you have something to brag about..... Tonight Scoota Moota got the last leg needed for his masters strat pairs title. Thanks Miss Caffy for teaming up with us The red boys do a great job and have a lot of fun along the way. Scoota also won UD last night - I was tickled pink with his work since he has been having a mental meltdown for the last two weeks while I have been packing boxes getting ready to move house. Poor boy Beans and Jaffa managed their 4th pass in exc strat pairs and Beans also got a qually in exc snooker.

Terrific to hear you are making great scent discimination progress - well done. My question is why would you ask your boy to drop on the articles and not pick them up and present them to you - if he is already doing this with SD?

ARGH Miss Caffy - the cause of her problem was hormones not i-squeaks So you are not guilty .....

I have just returned from K9 and nearly had heart failure as I thought I had lost the favourite RED i-squeak. Very hard to watch 7 dogs - chasing after 3 i-squeaks and a bumper and to keep track of everyone and everything. Luckily I found it next to a tree where one of the boys had dropped it whew. Scoota likes squeaking them the most.....

My dog taught me a very valueable lesson about how predictable I was by running off and jackpotting at the end of an exercise. In two UD trials we got to the gloves exercise, I sent him for the glove he brought it back the first time he threw it at me and ran off towards the car - the second time he sat in front and threw the glove at me, it fell on the floor, so he picked it up and threw it at me again, this happened 3 times before I finally caught it. He wasn't being naughty - and he was so enthusiastic. All of this was caused by me jackpotting in training at the end of the gloves exercise on a regular basis, so he was anticipating his reward. Now I am very careful where I jackpot and make an effort not to leave it until the end of an exercise.

Woo Hoo thanks Laffi ........

Somebody I know put the 12 month implant into her 2 1/2 year old boy in May last year. Last week the dog tied with her bitch - so the bitch will be taken for an ultrasound at 28 days to see if she is pregnant or not. Emailed the makers of Suprelorin who said its impossible for her to be pregnant - I guess 2 1/2 more weeks and we will know for sure. Another obedience trialler had a 6 month implant put in 15th March last year for the first time - in the last week - the dogs hormones have come racing back - almost 12 months to the day. She is off to put another one in :rolleyes:

Yep have an i-sqeak in all my pockets - play with the dog and then leave the current i-sqeak on the floor and start heeling again. This acts as a distraction and you can either release the dog to get it when you reward or produce another one from your pocket.

Going to throw a spanner in the works and tell you that you really need to take a dog and get a working spot!

WOW what great value - Gees I might need to consider coming over for it..... :rolleyes:

Dare I say......buy an i-sqeak (or two) and use it to play between great bits of work - it really revs them up. Have one in each of your pockets and keep producing them for the dog to play with.....

You can also do some distraction work - so have toys and food containers on the ground and do figure 8's around these.....It's very hard for some dogs to ignore these distractions - not sure how a Dally would go When I do this game with my kids they know they are being set up and make an extra special effort to pay attention - the look on their face is priceless. You can also do some duration heelwork - so split the dogs dinner into 2 containers. Have a time set in your head on what you think the dog can achieve without losing focus eg 15 seconds and if you get this - then jackpot the dog to half its dinner. If the dog does lose distraction - then its too bad so sad back in the car for 5 minutes. I find when I bring the dog out again they try a lot harder if they missed out the first time. You then repeat the process and if you get another lot of good work - eg 20 seconds then jackpot and that ends your training session for the night.

Unfortunately, the next one is in Sydney and I think is fully booked for both auditing and working spots. Have you tried the Hansel and Gretel game? doing, large circle heelwork with the dog on your inside, when the dog is in the correct heel position and driving hard, you click and throw a piece of easily seen food eg cheese with your left hand towards the middle of the circle and slightly back and tell the dog to get it. You keep walking the dog runs off the get the food, and will then come back and join you heeling again - once again when the dog is in the correct heel position and driving, you throw the food again. It doesn't take the dog long to work out the click happens when he is in heel position, so they start to dive on the food and come racing back to you. You can vary how much heelwork you do before you click and treat. To begin with as soon as they are back in heel position I click and treat and then gradually start to ask for a bit more before putting it on a variable schedule. You can also mix exercises up - so do 15 seconds of heelwork, then back to the start post and throw/bounce a ball or toy for 10-15 seconds, then back to the start post and 10 seconds of heelwork and break it off and then back to the start post for a change of position and reward and then back to the start post for a SFE, reward, another play with a toy, and then another 20 seconds of heelwork. In total the dog has done 3 minutes of work - but you have achieved a lot with high intensity and the dog loves the variety. It also makes the start post a fun place to be. I have been doing one scent article followed by a short bit of heelwork then another scent article followed by the COP signals, then another scent article and a bit more heelwork.

Jo - mostly clicker work. I don't do hand touching for heeling. Maybe I could teach him to heel on the RHS? Might be good physically and mentally. Are you going to the Sue H seminar?

squeak squeak squeak I am excited - just getting in some practice....... ;) Thanks Laffi

Happy for you to combine my I-Sqeak order ;) with Rubystar. I will PM you my address.....

Wow that's amazing!!! Congrats! Gabby is a star in the making Danni - good luck with her open debut in a few weeks......

Well done NC (and everybody else on some impressive achievements) In agility if we get a title before the next trial (even after closing date) we can usually phone the trial secretary and they will move you up to the next class. I am not sure what happens in obedience since in WA we are usually after scores for the Western Classic - so we are happy to have an extra go in the lower class. I think I have also used it as a training round in the past - got some nice work and jackpotted out of the ring. The look on the dogs face is usually priceless!

Goodonya Reddii for starting this thread - and well done on a great start to the year. Keep up the good work. BIG cheers for Rubystar and her pass at the Western Classic - only her second trial and it wasn't easy with Eastern States judges :cool: I was tickled pink with Miss I have absolutely no agility skills, Beans last night being 1 of only 5 qualifiers in Open Agility. She knew she had been a good girl and the speed that she ran back to the car for her jackpot was worth seeing Scoota showed that obedience dogs can also do agility with a 6th in masters jumping and a 6th in open jumping. Its a big call, but the night before Scoota put in his best open obedience round ever. :D Can't wait to see it on video.