DeltaCharlie

As it says in the title, does anyone have any experience with using Activyl for fleas? Being a relatively new product in the grand scheme of things I would like some personal experiences before considering it. We try to be as chemical free with our dogs as possible and only treat for things if they are an issue or deemed absolutely necessary. Unfortunately with the number of bunnies hanging around the flea problem is getting on top of us and we are having to bring in the big guns. We have been vacuuming and washing bedding daily, dogs are routinely fed apple cider vinegar, coconut oil and diatomaceous earth. We have also tried dusting them in the DE and sprinkling it everywhere. We stepped it up to bathing everyone in flea shampoo and also tried a permoxin rinse (which gave us a 24hr reprieve before the little buggers were back with a vengeance). Unfortunately with 12 dogs it is a mammoth task to keep on top of it all. We will pick up a few packs of Advantage for the border collies but our little dogs fall into 2 different weight ranges and it just isn't ideal to buy them a 4 pack each. Activyl comes in single packs though which would work well.

Have already contacted her via FB :) She thinks there is some at Hillsborough but not sure what day or any contact details.

Asking for a friend :)

Our BCs may be Main Registered but I suspect we would be laughed out of a show ring :)

Does anyone know of any show training in the Newcastle or Port Stephens area? Would prefer not to travel to Sydney if it can be helped. It is for very experienced dog trainers who have absolutely no experience with showing or how it works. Or someone local who can give up a day one weekend to go through the basics for now, then again in the future as the pup matures. Pup will be arriving soon at 8-10 weeks of age so there is a bit of time to work with.

Ours have stopped contacts and don't leave until we let them so it wouldn't even occur to them to go from a frame to tunnel unless we told them to. In fact I think it would be harder for us to get the turn away to the tunnel than it would to just ask them to wait on the contact :) Ideally the other dog would already be heading into the tunnel as soon as the yellow is hit so that dog won't even be in position yet when the other dog is leaving it.

Love it :laugh: Of course you have to get your priorities right :) Hahaha, we settled on the property near Canberra so starting to look around now :) Renting is definitely a pain, especially with this many dogs!

The faster the dog is travelling, the easier it becomes. A fast, long striding dog will come out of 14 straight for at least 1-2m which would give them a pretty straight on approach. I think it would be harder with a slow dog personally as they will turn towards you sooner out of the tunnel.

When we buy a property that will fit our equipment will give it a go :) ETA We might be able to set something up this weekend with the tunnels, jumps, weaves side of things but might have to mark out DW/ AF position with poles or something as "do not cross" markers.

I'd send to 13 from near the upright of 11 (or even send them back over 11 as dog is descending a-frame if it sets the line better) then make a bee line from upright of 11 (or closer to seesaw if I was able to send from there) to other side of DW. I would expect my dog to find 14 easily enough and I would trust them to find the weaves (but should be on the other side of the DW to help out anyway by that point). Under the current rules it doesn't matter if they miss the entry, you just reset and put them in properly, but they should have plenty of notice coming out of that tunnel to correct themselves for the entry.

Would probably run it slightly different with our dogs. They have speed to burn and big strides so we make the most of that where possible and of course the less changes a team makes the better/faster. So dog 1 would do 1-7 and the dog that does 11 would also do 13-15 (as soon as other dog hits the colour on the a-frame they would be in the tunnel so much faster).

Do you have video? I'm having a blonde moment and struggling to get the rear cross at #4 part :) I can see the rear cross at #3 if you are starting with the dog on your right, but wouldn't you then be rear crossing them at #5? Might have to set that part up and have a fiddle with it. Sorry, but I wouldn't run the rest of it though, I'm not keen on having my dogs do a pull through off a tyre and would withdraw from any course that had that in it as I see it as a major safety issue.

That sounds about right, where possible we combine with someone else and put 2 puppies into the crate and share the cost.

I didn't think BH was Australian anymore?

I personally wouldn't feed either of them. RC is full of crap, no better than Science Diet IMO. Black Hawk has some good ingredients but also contains Rosemary extract which is a neurotoxin and can cause seizures in dogs predisposed to fitting (which a lot of isds border collies are). We don't feed a lot of kibble but when we do we use taste of the wild or Artemis.

Actually, it is quite the opposite for agility :) A dog with front dew claws has much better traction when turning corners and is far less likely to slip than a dog without them. I have seen some serious shoulder injuries occur with fast dogs that are lacking front dew claws. When the dog goes to push off their is nothing to grip the grass and the whole front let slips out from under them. Very important to keep them short however (as with all their nails). Obviously if they are causing constant grief I would remove them but preference for a performance or working dog is to have them. Back dew claws are a whole other story and we will remove any from pups at a few days of age. They tend to stick out more though.

I think it depends on the individual dog and breed plays a part too. We could sit a fresh marrowbone on the ground and the border collies would turn themselves inside out trying to work for the kibble in our hands and the opportunity to interact with us. The terriers on the other hand would show us the finger and run off with the bone :laugh: Even within the border collies there are big variances. The ones who would work the hardest to please us are the dogs who have been raised with the philosophy of "interacting with Mum is the most funnest thing in the whole wide world". The older ones were victims of the older style training methods and "don't tug with your dog or you will create dominance issues" way of thinking. They have come a long way but will never have the same intrinsic value for working with us that the younger dogs do.

I was going to say suprelorin too :) Not marketed for bitches but I know my vet uses it on hers (and has later bred from them) so it is an option.

Ahh, I thought they misspelt Boarder as in Boarding Kennel :) I hadn't seen the other thread so was a little confused.

How do you know what kennel was used? I can't see it mentioned anywhere

I find GSPs (and indeed all utility gun dogs) a lot more full on than Pointers. I was about to say the exact same thing! GSPs (wire or smooth) are a completely different breed to Pointers when it comes to working temperament. Around the house they may be similar but GSPs would be more similar to a Viszla (in my experience) than they would a pointer :)

If you haven't picked them up yet then you can be legitimately communicating with them re the dogs in their care. I would be emailing them to ask that the please ensure the dogs do not have line of sight with each other (as specified when you first dropped them off) to be sure that nothing else goes wrong. Do everything via email if you can from now on so you have a paper trail (of sorts).

I thought it must have been you :) We have 12 altogether, 2 that are 100% retired, 1 that is nearly 2 and will hopefully start trialling this year and a 6month old puppy. They keep us busy, that's for sure!

I was at the trial yesterday too :) Were you a steward? If so, I was the girl in the fluoro pink shirt who was organising everyone in the morning until Carmen arrived. We were running 6 border collies yesterday, aged 12, 8, 7, 4, 4, and nearly 2. We also have a 10 year old and a 13 year old small terrier mix who trial occasionally. Definitely no age limit if you keep them fit and healthy.

As the dog is coming out of the tunnel (12)I would be positioned on the take off side of 13 just back a little from where you see '13' I would be cueing my dog that I was going to do a FFC with my hand closest to the jump. With a "FFC with collection" you cue the dog with the hand closest to the jump (similar to a LT but you are more perpendicular to the dogs path) You flick the dog over & walk backwards & either bring the dog around the opposite wing (where you see 4) & either front cross or blind cross to the next obstacle. In this case I would do a blind to bring the dog around the wing & send it straight to the tunnel (14). The broad wouldn't even come into it. This is a FFC with collection using a Blind That is what I wanted to do :) I just know how particular you were with how you wanted these moves done and wasn't sure of your expectations. For me it would depend on the dog. Shock I would likely wrap the closest upright, I could commit her to it from a fair distance and for her it would be much quicker. She is very tight around an upright and gets into stride quickly. For Whip, the ffc (like in the video) would be the fastest option as his stride is huge and he is much happier slicing a jump than wrapping an upright. I would get a much tighter turn around the far upright and a full stride in before the tunnel. Delta would be better on the near upright but hasn't got the commitment or tightness to make that work quickly so her fastest route would also be the far upright.