Ptolomy

Just a warning on the fish oil - my girl has severe allergy problems and was put on 3000mg of fish oil per day by a dermatologist. A recent hair analysis done on her showed the highest level of mercury they have ever seen in a dog along with arsenic - from the fish oil. I was buying fish oil from a Pharmacy - so no not all fish oil is the same and not all is mercury and arsenic tested. Must also say that some companies say they test and when you email them for details they fail to provide them. I am now using a fish oil that you can only get through a vet. It is a liquid variety and is proven mercury and arsenic free.

My dog is atopic and I am supposed to bath her a couple of times a week. I am using Pyoderm S on her body and Malaseb on her feet. Have you tried any anti-histamines? Remember spring is the worst time for contact allergies.

No pressure eh Think I have cured my desire for donuts for at least another 12 months. Now where is your brag Ness about getting 25/30 for heel free on the weekend!!!!!

Perth Royal 2007 2nd UDX 2nd UD 1st Open 1st CCD 6th Open agility 4th Masters jumping 2nd Masters Strategic Pairs whew....... and I ate 2 donuts every day I was there hehehehehe

I use it as training treats but it does leave little bits in your pocket :D They have a new variety out turkey and gravy - which I made the mistake of freezing and then trying to break bits off to put in jackpot containers and it doesn't break like the other varieties. We get it from Coles and its usually about $4.99 a packet.

I have an apt with Liz this arvo. The initial consult is expensive and then she will probably see the dog a few more times. I think a review is about $49 if she uses needles - so make sure you take your credit card :D Good luck - let us know how you get on

What do you mean?????? Can you explain please......

Arya - What sort of dog do you have, how old are they, are they clicker trained, do you use food and is this your first trialling dog? OOps - sorry about the zillion questions

I would love to get my hands on this dog and prove your friend wrong that she doesn't need to wear the dog out before going into the ring. Give me a high drive dog to work anyday - much easier than one that you need to motivate. Arya - whats happens when you go into the ring and line up at the start post?????........ now come on tell all.......

90% of the agility people in WA use Liz Frank who works from Millpoint vet Practice opposite the zoo in South Perth. She specialises in myofacial pain and dysfunction, chronic pain and arthirits. She only works Monday afternoons. Ph 94741043 I have also tried bowen therapy and recommend Tracy Hockley in Jandakot 0414721373. If my dog was sore I wouldn't be seeing a normal vet I would be seeing either of the above two - just depending on which dog was sore. Good luck

I would only enter my dog if I knew they could do everything I wanted of them (having said that I did enter my baby in CCD at our Royal Show on Friday and no she wasn't ready - but she blew me away by winning and she worked a dream). So if the dog warmed up well and then got into the ring and I was asking them to do things they normally would do - I would not finish the round - I would excuse myself from the ring - the dog would be returned to the car and would be put away. I would either go for a walk - or I would get another dog out and would do something with this dog and would reward in front of the dog that had just been returned to the car. I would then later give the dog that was returned to the car the opportunity to do something for a reward. If they chose not to work - then they would be returned to the car and definitely not rewarded - too bad so sad! If the young dog I took to the Royal had chosen not to work - then this would have been different since it was a big ask - she wasn't ready for trialling, there were huge distractions that we hadn't trained for and I would have taken her from the ring and asked for things like a hand touch a line up, a straight present - all things that I know she could handle and cope with and all of which would have been rewarded heavily. I guess I am lucky since all my kids would walk over hot coals for the possibility of getting a reward.

Most of our trials in WA are at our K9 grounds - so we can all park on the edge of the oval which is about 20-30m from the rings. I have a combo van - so I open the back doors and the dogs can sit in the car and watch what is happening. They all get taken out when I arrive to go to the loo and then they get taken for vetting and then they are put back in the car where they can chill out. All my kids bar one, can get straight out of the car, walk into a ring and start working. However I usually reward a few straight presents and perhaps a dumbbell hold or depending on which dog I may practice a change of positions. My 2 year old has attention issues so I usually do a little bitt of heelwork, rewarding for attention and a SFE prior to going into the ring with her. All the kids go to the loo prior to going into the ring, the older ones go on command - the younger ones are usually a bit slower at it. After their ring work they always get jackpotted - if their work was off then I will ask for something extra on the way back to the car and they will be rewarded for this. They wait in the car until just prior to the stays when they will be taken to the toilet again and we may practice a short sit stay where they will be rewarded many times for sitting. This is probably no help to you whatsoever!! I have 5 dogs that I am trialling The oldest will be 11 in December - then they go 7, 3, 2 and 17 months. I usually only tie two of the dogs in the car - the others sit there happily waiting for me to say its their turn. Training routines when I take them to K9 are very similar.

Thanks Ness - it's much appreciated The kids all did a brilliant job and I was proud of every one of them. Glad the Royal only comes around once a year though. And very sad that its Lara's last Royal. She turns 11 in December, is going grey, is choosing more and more to put her own twist on the exercises and deserves to end on a high note. Funny she was leading the open competition but dropped in the sit stay 5 seconds before the stand in handler returned to her. Tonight in UDX - she was on her own agenda - but really enjoyed her night out. She is a pet shop puppy and is the best $50 I have ever spent. She is a one in a million.

Are you trying to stop your dog from perving while he is going for a "normal" walk or while you are actually trying to do some training with him?

Helen - just interested to hear if any of your masters strat pairs teams are having difficulty in making SCT. We have had a couple of trials where an unrealistic time has been put on the course and the fastest dogs in WA, without making errors, have been over time. The latest thing is for one obstacle to be put on its own and to be miles away from anywhere else. Well done on your 3rd place too

It interesting the mind set ......... I will still teach a broad jump - but only in the agility sense. I do teach all my kids a drop and increase the distance from an early age - so progressing from a drop to a sit is easy. I also teach the kids an informal drop on recall from a young age too - I pretend to throw the ball they race off to get it then turn around to see where it is and I give them a down verbal and signal - they do it and the ball gets thrown for their reward. Yep had to work hard on Ness to give the broad jump up - came to the agreement that if she was on a fail then it would be COP's. Lucky for me she failed a few trials and then there was no turning back. Funny "Can't" isn't a work I use very often!!!! "Get over it" is! ;)

OK - I will bite - why would anybody bother teaching the broad jump for open when signals is leading onto what they will encounter in UD?? It took a lot of hard work to convince Ness that this was the way to go, but I think I have finally done it since the BJ doesn't even get mentioned in the same sentence as next trial any more ;)

Hey Leopuppy This is how I cured creeping for COP's in UDX. Place an open container of food a foot in front of the dog and a little to one side. Tell her to leave it and then leave the dog about turn and give your positions - so down and then you can jackpot to the reward or down and sit and then reward. You can then slowly move the food pot to next to the dog and then behind the dog. This actually worked much better than placing the dog behind a barrier. You can also do COP's on an agility table - works well. So can I ask when is your first open trial???????

A dog doesn't have to be old to have this happen!!!! and I couldn't agree with you more - its not a pretty sight.

And now I have this offically in writing - so will throw it at you everytime you even mention retiring her in the next 12 months!

Well today my little red boy added a 6th in open agility and a 4th in masters jumping to his Royal Show achievements. This is up against some of the best dogs in the country. Gees I have been lucky to have two brilliant dogs in my lifetime - both of which are currently still competing. Tomorrow we all get to sleep in and recover - looking forward to this bigtime!

Hey this is a bit of a surprise. I am tickled pink with both my kids today and all the distraction work was worth it. Scoota came second in UD as well - just couldn't find the seekback - but he tried ever so hard. As for open both kids worked really well. Lara's heeling isn't as good as Scoota's but after heelfree she very rarely loses a point. Aparently she dropped 5 seconds before we returned in the sit stays. I had somebody else handling her in the stays as Scoota wont work for anybody else. Big thank you to Amanda for doing this for me and it was no fault of yours that Lara dropped. I guess its not very often you get offered the dog leading a competition to take in for stays Took the kids to meet the crowd after the stays and that was a big hit - I had kids, families and grannies all crowding around wanting to pat the kids and to share their fairly floss. Back to the Royal tomorrow for agility

I get mine from Ashridge Kennels (Sue Hogben) in Banjup

I brought some last night from Cloes - it was Fourlegs Turkey and Gravy. I think I paid $4.99?? Like you, I usually use it for treats - and made a mental note I might have to use this in a jackpot container. I am yet to try it out. ;)

Go see Liz Franks in South Perth opposite the zoo first and if surgery is needed she can refer you from there. My guess is either Rivergum or Murdoch