Ptolomy

Its probably not #1 on her wish list....but it would be a close 2nd, and good on her for doing it with a dodgy ankle.

Ness has BIG brag - where are you.......

I was lucky enough to have a working spot at Cathy's Perth seminar with my very inexperienced, long in body duck dog, who has no fear and is more intent on getting to where she is going rather than worrying about what is in her way. We had tried the jump grids - using bars higher than what she would normally jump and also tried using heavy wooden bars to no avail. Its now 4 months down the track following the seminar and have to say Lexi's jumping technique has improved heaps and last week she was in her first agility trial and went clear. She still does have bars down - but usually its only 1 and not the whole 16 in a jumping trial like it was a few months back LOL. Jump humps are cheap to make and you can also teach very young puppies how to jump using them. It certainly prooved to me that not all dogs know how to jump and also that using high bars is not the way to go. Lexi is now also able to judge distances between jumps really well allowing Helen her handler time to get to where she need to be.

I did a jumping workshop with Cathy Slot from Queensland - it was fantastic and actually taught the dogs how to jump and to judge distances between jumps using jump humps. Simone from WA actually did a write up on the seminar on her blog http://ravencypher.blogspot.com/2008/01/ca...ng-weekend.html. It is worth a read and no not all dog know how to jump naturally.

Sexi Lexi had her first agility trial yesterday and went clear in novice agility and snooker. Had to stop for a poo in novice Jumping though It bucketed down for most of the day yesterday which made it tough for both handlers and dogs. I can't take the credit for Lexi's passes either as she is run by a friend who has taught her everything she knows. Lexi is a bit special in that she gives Helen 100% attention and I can be standing 2 feet away from her with a pocket full of food. I can then call her into heel and do obedience with her.

OK - posted in the brags thread about Saturday night - what I didn't post was that Beans lasted 15 seconds at most in the heel work before I said to the judge - er I think we will leave it there. Then I said perhaps we could do a SFE so at least I have something to reward. Er nope - nothing to reward - moved all 4 feet. Hmm perhaps we could do a dumbbell on the flat - which the judge was happy for me to do - er nope needed two commands to fetch. OK - last chance change of positions - instead of about turning and halting when the judge said - I kept walking back until I was about 2m in front of her. Yep she dropped Nope she didn't sit - ARGH So we left the ring I asked for a hand touch and I rewarded that. whew... Back to the drawing board! Anybody want a toller LOL

Daxilly - Interesting to see your kids last titre results and the fact that you opted to go for another C3. (I spoke with a couple of vets who also strongly recommended this course of action). I too have a problem with my kids distemper levels being 1:5 and their parvo levels being 1>80. I investigated a single distemper vaccine - however there is not one available in Australia. I then spoke with my vet again who believes that the low distemper levels are possibly due to the fact that the kids have not been exposed to distemper. I have opted to repeat the titres in 12 months time and to hold off on the C3.

Scoota managed a 3 minutes sit stay :D and I want to tell the world!

I went to Qld last year from WA for the Obedience Nationals with a dog entered in novice with no previous novice attempts.

I buy them in batches of 100 as I don't then have to pay a dispensing fee.

Allpets don't have any agility equipment. Tunnels generally they have to come from the Eastern States. Speak to Yvonne Haynes at ACWA training I think she is looking at buying some more for Southern River so you might be able to get a discount bulk price.

I know my partner paid $50 for 1 PVC jump from the guys that make them for ACWA which is why I started making my own. If you get stuck I can always ask Brendan what he would charge.

If you get stuck - my son makes and sells see-saws, but as Amypie said the jumps are easy and you can make those. Good Luck!

Woo Hooooo Congratulations on your title - You should be tickled pink that you both got it together on the one day. Good luck in open

BIG Congratulations - you must be tickled pink....... Now how about fessing up to the mistakes you made - so we have it in writing that you wont make them again LOL

Last night my little red man won UD at the Western Classic. So he is now....... OC Scoota

We are happy campers following last nights obedience trial - our first for the year. Scoota won UD with 193 Blaize blew me away (since she is either brilliant or bloody awful) and won open with 196 . Beans in her first open trial tried hard and finished 4th with 192 . But the best round would have been Scoota's open round where he lost only 1 point in his ring work, but unfortunately dropped during his sit stays Now if I could just bottle the kids enthusiasm from last night I could make a fortune......

We taught this to our Kelpie x golden retriever. Basically she would go down stairs - pull a rag on the fridge door to open the fridge, get a can out - bring the can upstairs to whoever asked her to get it, and then would go back downstairs and close the fridge door. It was a great party trick! How did we teach it - this dog was clicker trained and is an obedience champion - so it was relatively easy. 1. We taught her how to pull on the rag to open the fridge door and we clicked and treated every attempt to pull the rag until she pulled so hard the door opened and we jackpotted this. 2. We started with an empty can and leaving the fridge door open we taught her to go and get a beer out of the fridge and to bring it to us. 3. Then we taught her to put the two together so open the door and get a can 4. Then we worked on closing the fridge door - which she did with her front paw (she would give it a real bang). 5. Finally we started doing it from different parts of the house until we had moved upstairs.

Where we get the dried goat from is..... A & D Pet Foods Connections 23 Elliott St Midvale 6056 (08) 9250 1030. I also get smaller quantities of dried goat (it's more expensive) and goat shanks from South Street Pet Supplies, South Street O'Connor (08) 9337 8599.

Beans is an extreme case and I still don't know what she picked up and ate at the last trial of the year - but I would have to guess that it was beef of some sort, and her reaction was severe. If she was to eat 1 chicken chunker which occassionally happens she breaks out in a rash on her belly by the following morning and it will stay red for 12-24 hours which her scratching for about the same amount of time. Certainly makes life interesting and she has done so well in both obedience and agility considering her health issues she has.

The dried goat is a local source - I will see if Zoe can pick up a card from the shop or get me the details on Friday when she picks up the next order. Beans can eat.... Most Veges Cheese Yoghurt pork goat eggs most fish/sardines/tuna Natures Own bickies chicken but can't have wheat, corn, lamb, milk, beef. I have also found that if some of the foods that she can eat are processed in any way - then once again we have a scratching frenzie.

Unfortunately chunkers (you can now get lamb and vege ones and chicken and eggs ones - sorry not sure what brand they are) and 4 legs are not OK for Beans They send her into a red raw itching mess. that takes days and days to heal. At the last obedience trial of last year she picked up and ate something tiny on the oval and the following night she had chewed her foot red raw - so much so that she was so lame she couldn't do agility - it took 2 weeks for her to recover from that. She can eat goat so I have sourced 1kg dried goat for $20 a bag which is great and I can also get goat bones, goat shanks and goat meat as well which I can use at any time for her. I did find a bickie she can also eat - so occassionally she will get these as training treats and funny enough she will do back flips for them.

Sweet Potato, Cheese and Pumpkin pieces are all about the same size - small cubes about 1-1.5cm. I usually prepare 4-5 chinese containers at a time and just leave them in the fridge and grab one each night to take training (+other treats and jackpot containers) - or if I am doing something inside at home I can grab the container from the fridge. I had to come up with some alternatives to meat because of my little allergic girl and she can eat all of the above.

I am sure my dogs eat better than I do Chicken necks chicken gizzards chicken wing tips Sweet potato (uncooked) Use lots of this! pumpkin uncooked carrot cheese spare ribs (pork, lamb or goat) diced raw beef, lamb or pork (usually in a plastic bag) liver and kidney in jackpot containers chunkers 4 legs sardines as a jackpot yoghurt dried goat capanossi ham and I guess anything from the dog lollie isle at the supermarket Jackpot containers........the list is endless.....

I had trouble with Scoota having no idea where his back end was, so i turned 2 broad jumps on their side and had them either side of the plank and that was enough to help him through that phase. I taught Beans using a contact trainer and I used the a-frame side - so didn't have this issue with her. To begin with I lured, but she was smart and learnt really quickly where she had to be to get the rewards.