DeltaCharlie

3 Sheep Trials This is the calendar for the 3 sheep trials but I have no idea where most of those places are :laugh: Its not as much of a spectator sport though so not sure how long the kids would sustain interest.

ADAA Calendar Any with a green N on the left hand side are NSW. You want either Kanahooka (Dapto) or Wollongong. Flyball Hover over What's Going On and then Calendar of Events. There is a comp at Dapto on the 25th May at this stage, although they are constantly adding new comps to it so you have to just keep checking it. Later in the year there will be one at Ulladulla. The only ANKC agility comp left down that way this year would be Wollongong on the 26th May.

Whereabouts on the southcoast are you? There are plenty of ADAA agility comps held at Dapto, there are also ANKC comps held at Wollongong (26th May), Nowra (was a few weeks ago), Bemboka (in April). There are also flyball comps held at Dapto and the Milton/Ulladulla area.

My dogs don't have a cue for a jump so it wouldn't cause a problem for me :) I don't have enough time to run a course telling them to do each jump, they just have to do it because it is in front of them :laugh: Perhaps it is the same with Sandy? Once the dog is trialling she is no longer telling it to jump so the cue becomes something only used for the backjump? Oh, and I don't call it a far-cue :laugh: I just say far :) I use "tight" for a tight wrap.

Tailwag has been teaching it as "out round" pretty much a combination of "out" which her dogs understand as "move away laterally" and "round" which she uses for a 180-270 turn. Her dogs seem to be picking it up pretty well. I find it too hard to say and too ambiguous for my brain to handle so have been using "far". Stolen from a trainer who likes to teach the "far cue" (read it aloud). Most people I have seen use the word "back" but that means something different to our dogs.

I have to disagree with this. You should be able to easily feel their ribs and they should not be carrying even a small layer of fat. BC puppies are notoriously active and the last thing their growing joints need is to be carrying any additional weight at all. I would rather a pup be too lean than carry any weight. You are just asking for problems down the track. Take it from someone who has learned this the hard way. Our current litter is just under 4kgs and they will be 8 weeks old on Sunday. They are heavily built working pups, I suspect yours would be a lighter build. Their ribs are very easily felt and they are nicely tucked in at the waist. I don't want to be able to feel spine, but a tiny bit of hips isn't a bad thing (don't want to see hips or easily feel them however). A good guide no matter how old your dog is, is to make a fist and run your other hand lightly over the big knuckles. Ideally, that is how their ribs should feel when you lightly rub over them. That is for a regular dog at any rate, certainly an active or performance dog. I think the show ring requires them to be fatter than that for some reason. As for the number of meals it depends on what you are feeding them and how much they are requiring in a meal. Delta was on 2 meals a day from 8 weeks pretty much. But she was on entirely raw (so smaller meals as she used everything she got). Given that the meals were smaller she didn't need them spread any further as the size was fine for her stomach to handle. Whip had some puppy biscuits too so he was on 3 meals for the first few months. By 5 or 6 months he was definitely down to 2 meals though.

Hmm... nobody ever sends me messages so I wouldn't have thought so :laugh: I'll message you my email address :)

There are some photos in this album that you are welcome to use if you like :) It is from the Dog of the Year Finals for NSW in 2011, and a few from AD from memory. There are a pretty big range of breeds featured. Festival of Agility 2011

Our litter of puppies are currently 7 weeks old and are between 3 and 3.5kgs. They are an ideal weight, ribs are easily felt but not spine, visible tucked in waist even with the fluff. Puppies should not be carrying any weight at all, they have growing joints and there is no point stressing those joints by making them carry extra weight. If she isn't eating lunch but happy to eat other times my feeling would be that she just isn't hungry then. What is she eating for the other meals? If it is the same for every meal then I would assume she just doesn't want lunch.

Interestingly enough, I have only ever had >80 results back for both parvo and distemper. The parvo I can understand as they are exposed to it a fair bit through all the trialling we do, I didn't think distemper was all that common though so it surprises me every time it comes back like that. 2008 Delta and Charlie both >80 for both P&D 2012 Delta, Charlie and Whip all >80 for both P&D

Great price for it Trishm. Although the postage to my place was going to be $15 something so not much difference in the long run to natural pet store who have it for free postage. I had never heard of vet stop though so one to add to the long list of places to check for things :)

get your dog to walk to the shop to buy it & she may lose some weight, then you wont have to give so much :) Losing some weight would have to be better for her joints too, I would imagine. In the summer, someone commended my dog and said she was the thinnest Labrador they have ever seen. I was happy with the praise, and then I decided to add an inch more to her food and whamm! it was out of control again. She gets fat quickily & easily! You're right. The thinner it's the less problem they get on her legs. She's on a diet now (again). Just because she is the thinnest lab that person has ever seen doesn't mean very much. People seem to think that they should be fat, because that is what the breed is FWIW, this is how I believe a Lab should look. Lean, muscular, athletic, and minimal stress on joints.

Depends on whether or not it is also AKC registerable. As far as I know, ANKC won't recognise UKC registration- it has to be AKC. Dogs in the US can be registered on both.

Delta has no patience for puppies. You don't get a puppy license with Delta- you are expected to act in a mature manner right from the word go :) She would never hurt them but if she doesn't like them then I need to respect that and not put her with them in the first place. If it is a new puppy in the household and they need to be brought down a notch (if we have exhausted all the dogs that like puppies and they still haven't learnt respect) then we will put her with them in the yard. She is actually great for teaching manners as she goes right through the whole range or warning signs. To begin with she moves away, then she gives them a look if they insist on following and being annoying, then she lifts her lip, then utters a low growl, then has an air snap and moves away again. Eventually it leads to a nip on the nose and lots of noise but it takes a while to get there. The puppies learn after a few encounters not to mess with her, but I don't see the point in putting her in that position if they aren't puppies she will ever see again. It just isn't fair on her if she doesn't like them and it isn't necessary. We have another one here who absolutely hates puppies. Whip is nearly 3 and still doesn't really interact as he is still so full on it isn't fair on a dog that doesn't like it. He has been with Delta right from the start so no issue there, he leaves her alone :) My first dog had some fear aggression issues so I made sure I learnt as much as I could before getting Delta. One of the big things that stuck in mind is to never make the dog feel like it has to use aggression to get out of an uncomfortable situation. If she is looking to you for protection then you need to step in and back her up. Otherwise she will stop looking to you for help and just get in there and do it herself. Yes, puppies need to learn to pull their heads but not at the expense of your own dog and her comfort levels. Leave that to the dogs who enjoy it.

I answered 3 different ones for the first one because I leave that part up to the dog. I teach a 2o2o, however, I let the dog decide the most comfortable position to achieve that. I figure that if the dog is in the position that feels most natural to them, they are less likely to push the boundaries and break their position. So, as long as you maintain the 2o2o criteria, what you do with the rest of your body is up to you :) Charlie stands, Delta drops, Whip drops but moves into a sit if I make him wait too long. I teach a 2o2o with all my dogs as I want that as a fallback if need be. A number of overseas instructors have advised teaching it before venturing into the world of running contacts with a high drive dog as you need something to fall back on at times. If you start with a running it is much harder to teach a stopped and keep both performances as optimal. A running contact is not simply a contact where the dog runs through without stopping. With a true running contact the dog is taught to accelerate down the down ramp towards the next obstacle, not maintain the same pace and certainly not slow down. A dog that is taught a stopped contact knows that at some point they will need to stop, so even a quick release would never be faster than a true running. Perhaps the speed over the obstacle itself would be the same if you have a dog that stops at the last second, but the speed to the next obstacle will be faster as the running dog is already accelerating, if that makes sense. I maintain a very strict criteria with Delta and Whip, Charlie was never really taught properly in the first place and rarely runs in anything but jumping as he hates weaves. I have blown many a run for unacceptable contact performances, regardless of whether we are going clear or not. My theory is, it is my job is to give the dog adequate direction out there, it is their job is to perform the obstacles correctly. If they can't do that, then they don't get to play. Whip is still a very inexperienced dog so there are occassions where he gets to remain on course. Eg if I didn't set him up correctly on approach to a contact and he couldn't get his body sorted enough to get the position, but tried as hard as he could. Or if it is slippery and he just slides too far trying to stop. I am not going to crucify him for that if I have never trained him in the wet. In these instances I would still ask for a lie down on the grass, so that there is still a consequence and he isn't rewarded by allowing him to continue the momentum. If he just fails to get his body sorted for whatever reason, then that is his fault however. At the moment he is pushing to early release, which will see him marched off the course in a trial. He has incredibly good contacts and there is no way I am going to allow them to be compromised. If he really badly misjudges an A-Frame or seesaw, I will usually ask the judge if they mind us repeating it before we leave. I don't do the whole speedy lead up to it, that is for training at home, I just want to remind the dog of its job and then we walk out after a quick pat. With Delta, there are no exceptions to the rule whatsoever. She is a masters dog with exceptional contacts so I will not accept anything less than that. I know of people with very experienced dogs who will say things like"I let them keep going because they tried really hard to get into position but they had lost control over the apex". As far as I am concerned, you are trained, you know how to perform the obstacle, if you lose control over the apex well then you had better work damn hard to still get your position and next time remember to maintain better control over the obstacle. She is walked instantly off a course for any of the following: - Not stopping in a 2o2o (includes coming to a stop on the grass after sliding through contact zone) - Not waiting for a release word regardless of how long I have left you there - Seesaw flyoff. I gave her a little bit of leeway initially with the weesaw if she still performed it safely and correctly but landed on the grass. She is now very good at it, although she occassionally gets bounced off the full height seesaw in ADAA in her first run until she remembers to adjust. Not having access to both seesaw heights to train makes it a bit harder so she generally has a bit of an allowance for the first run of the day if we have changed between ANKC and ADAA, provided she does perform it properly and safely. She usually bounces off the end and looks at me with such surprise and an "I'm really sorry Mummy" look on her face :laugh: After the first run, however, she is expected to know the difference and in all honesty she has never had an issue in the second run. As far as distance goes, there should be no difference. My dogs are taught to perform the obstacle independently of me, so it should not matter where I am, their job remains the same. Even if I am running in the opposite direction, you continue along and stop at the end, awaiting further instruction. We quite often see contact obstacles in the gamble and open agility here, and even my novice dogs are expected to perform them correctly. If the dog fails to perform it correctly, irrespective of how far away I am, they are not allowed to continue running. They have a job to do, and they didn't do it satisfactorily. The key to contacts is maintaining your criteria and being consistent. Don't make excuses for a performance or you will enter into a world of grey. Dogs are black and white, keep it that way and you will be fine. Allow grey areas and they will forever test you to see if this run is one of those ones where she will let me get away with it. They don't know when they are going clear, all they know is that today I got to be naughty and didn't have to stop. So they try it again the next run, where you might have already messed up so decide to walk them out. All you are going to do is create confusion in the dog. Next time, they bank on the 50/50 chance and push again, what you do in that run will alter that percentage further. Then maybe you start cracking down on it, and all of a sudden you end up with a dog that isn't even entirely sure what it is supposed to be doing anymore, and the contacts become this source of confusion and stress for the dog, and for you.

We have 9 adults and they are all on different foods LOL For a variety of reasons (food allergies, kidney problems, digestive issues, history of acute pancreatitis, trialling vs retired, etc). Then there are the 3 x 6 week old puppies. 1 on Science Diet K/D canned for her kidney problems. Usually mixed with pasta, rice or vegies. Looking to put her on the K/D dry too but she seems to do well on the wet so leaving as is for now. 2 are on Artemis dry with beef mince, pasta/rice with a very occassional lamb brisket bone. 1 of these has artemis osopure power and the other has weight management. 2 are on Artemis power with roo or lamb mince, brown rice, lamb bones and chicken carcusses. 1 also has some beef mince if more convenient, the other gets scratchy on beef so stick with lamb or roo. The other 4 are pretty easy and would eat whatever without issue :) They are generally on beef or lamb brisket and chicken carcusses/wings through the week and beef/roo mince on the weekends. When it comes to dry 2 of them get the Artemis power and the other 2 get weight management with pasta/rice. The puppies are currently on beef mince and Artemis puppy. They will soon be introduced to chicken wings and will slowly transition to the diet above (the 4 easy dogs) provided nothing goes wrong requiring a more careful diet. All of our adults get either Vets All Natural mix or the VAN Health Booster with their dinner. On the nights that they have bones they will sometimes get the VAN multivitamin chews or they will get some mix if it is made up. 4 of them also get the joint support powder or chews. 1 gets an omega 3,6,9 oil for skin. 1 has a probiotic yoghurt every night for digestive problems, the others get yoghurt every so often. Our kitchen has tubs everywhere at the moment :laugh: We buy our dry in the biggest bags possible, so have: - Artemis Osopure Power tub - Artemis Puppy tub - Artemis Weight Management tub - Vets All Natural Complete Mix tub - Science Diet K/D cans in bulk packs in the cupboard - Big bucket of VAN Health Booster - Big bucket of VAN Joint Support - Little tubs of VAN Joint Chews and Multivitamin Chews - 1 fridge/freezer dedicated to dogs - 2 x chest freezers dedicated to dogs.

Yep the BC one is in Sydney, starts in about 5mins :)

I second the recommendation for a chiro. The whelping process itself can throw a pup out of whack, not to mention all the rough and tumble they do in a litter. Our litters have their first chiro at 4 weeks and are usually trashed :laugh: Then they get another one at 8 weeks before they go to new homes. After that it is dependant on how much they are doing but usually every 6-8 weeks to make sure everything is lining up right as they grow. Issues can develop if hips aren't lining up properly as the puppy grows, and muscles etc can develop unevenly. That could be why your puppy is waddling. I had someone suggest to me that my first dog Cody had HD when he was about 9 months old. I did actually take him to the vet but we never progressed to x-rays as she informed me that it was normal for cattle dogs to waddle. I didn't know any better so just left it. Knowing what I know now, I would bet anything he was in desperate need of a chiro and it probably would have sorted everything out. A good chiro will also be able to feel if the joints are particularly loose or if they don't seem to be fitting right. I don't know whereabouts you are in QLD, but someone might be able to help you out with recommendations. There are some mentioned in this thread: Chiros in Brisbane

I had an idea, and I am not even sure if it is a good one or one that I would do myself, but a point for discussion nonetheless. Would it be worth mentioning the issue to council? That way, if anything was to happen there is a history there of public concern for the behaviour and welfare of these dogs. If an amstaff type dog decided that they had had enough one day and snapped (just in a "get off me kinda way") it could go against them purely because of their breed, even if they were not to blame for it. If there is a history of these whippets on record, however, it could help their case. I dunno, just thinking out loud at this point. I don't ever go to dog parks so I don't really know the inner workings of these things.

Charlie drops his ball in positions that he knows I will need to move it from. Eg in the basket of clothes I am hanging on the line, in the direct path of the lawn mower or vacuum cleaner :laugh:

I heard that you can give them 1 nut (almonds, peanuts etc) per 1000mg fish oil capsule as nuts are high in vitamin E. From memory the suggestion was to buy a bag of unsalted mixed nuts and that way you could mix up what they were getting each day.

I went away for the weekend once and Dad, who lived round the corner (and had recently lived with me for a few weeks), came around each day to feed the animals for me and spend some playtime with them. Delta and Charlie would happily greet him at the gate and loved his visits, his problems started when he tried to access the house. Not from the "guard dogs" of course, but from Rose, my entirely indoors Siamese cat!!! He said she just would not allow him in the front door, hissing and scratching at him whenever he tried to open it. In the end he had to go to the shops and buy 3 bowls and some meat (as he couldn't access my fridge :laugh: ) Then he would feed the dogs outside, fill Rose's new bowl with meat, open the front door a crack and slide the bowl in

Border Collies. I will only comment on my 3, the rest are Tailwags. Delta and Charlie love absolutely everyone and everything. When I lived in Sydney my house was burgled, a few big duffle bags worth of stuff stolen, including the desktop computer and laptop. They accessed my house through the backyard (where my dogs had free-range), climbed in through the kitchen window, and then left via the back door. Knowing my dogs they probably greeted them with kisses, showed them where the computer was, and Charlie probably would have continually dropped a tennis ball at their feet the whole time. Whip on the other hand comes across as incredibly protective, but its mostly driven by fear and insecurity as we so rarely have anyone visit he just hasn't been exposed to it. I was on the toilet once when I heard him alert barking in the yard. Knowing we had visitors I rushed out there but he had already tried to have a nip at the heels as they tried to access the house via the back door (still not sure why they didn't come in through the front door or why they ignored this dog barking at them with his hackles raised). All our dogs are crated inside when we are not at home, but given the chance I don't believe he would allow anyone into the house. Out in public he has no fear of strangers and no desire to protect the car or our belongings. Interestingly enough, my over-the-top friendly, we-love-everybody dogs Delta and Charlie showed me a different side one night. I had an old uni friend visiting from Melbourne and he had come for dinner. The dogs had been loving on him all night and playing with him while we had dinner and drinks. It got quite late and I told him he may as well stay the night rather than heading off, and he slept in the spare bedroom. At about 2am he opened my bedroom door with one express, unwanted purpose. Both dogs instantly moved on top of me and all I could hear was their growling and see the whites of their teeth. Even when they knew who it was they didn't let up until he closed the door again and went back to bed. I think if I was once again put in a position that caused my heart to start racing or if I was to feel scared at all out on a walk, I would think they would behave similarly. Something I never would have believed until that night. Whip, I would feel perfectly safe walking down a dark alley at night with :) He is great with others and loves attention in public and at agility trials etc, but I don't think he would hesitate to protect me if the need arose. This gave me goosebumps. If you don't mind me asking, what were the dogs like later in the morning with your uni friend? I heard him get up pretty early in the morning and both dogs clambered on top of me again but not in the same way as before. They just snuggled in close but stayed pretty relaxed. Had he opened the door again I suspect they were ready though. I wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to him so I just stayed in bed and he knew me well enough to assume I would still be asleep and left without saying goodbye. I don't know what the dogs would have done that morning but I'm guessing he wasn't going to take that chance either.

Border Collies. I will only comment on my 3, the rest are Tailwags. Delta and Charlie love absolutely everyone and everything. When I lived in Sydney my house was burgled, a few big duffle bags worth of stuff stolen, including the desktop computer and laptop. They accessed my house through the backyard (where my dogs had free-range), climbed in through the kitchen window, and then left via the back door. Knowing my dogs they probably greeted them with kisses, showed them where the computer was, and Charlie probably would have continually dropped a tennis ball at their feet the whole time. Whip on the other hand comes across as incredibly protective, but its mostly driven by fear and insecurity as we so rarely have anyone visit he just hasn't been exposed to it. I was on the toilet once when I heard him alert barking in the yard. Knowing we had visitors I rushed out there but he had already tried to have a nip at the heels as they tried to access the house via the back door (still not sure why they didn't come in through the front door or why they ignored this dog barking at them with his hackles raised). All our dogs are crated inside when we are not at home, but given the chance I don't believe he would allow anyone into the house. Out in public he has no fear of strangers and no desire to protect the car or our belongings. Interestingly enough, my over-the-top friendly, we-love-everybody dogs Delta and Charlie showed me a different side one night. I had an old uni friend visiting from Melbourne and he had come for dinner. The dogs had been loving on him all night and playing with him while we had dinner and drinks. It got quite late and I told him he may as well stay the night rather than heading off, and he slept in the spare bedroom. At about 2am he opened my bedroom door with one express, unwanted purpose. Both dogs instantly moved on top of me and all I could hear was their growling and see the whites of their teeth. Even when they knew who it was they didn't let up until he closed the door again and went back to bed. I think if I was once again put in a position that caused my heart to start racing or if I was to feel scared at all out on a walk, I would think they would behave similarly. Something I never would have believed until that night. Whip, I would feel perfectly safe walking down a dark alley at night with :) He is great with others and loves attention in public and at agility trials etc, but I don't think he would hesitate to protect me if the need arose.

It never hurts to ask a judge first. I went through a great deal of issues with Charlie running out the ring at one point and really stressing out, so I checked with judges first if they minded me doing a happy lap with a ball in my hand ( I wasn't intending to throw it in fairness to the dogs in other rings). Some said yes, some said no, it just depends on the judge. Then ADAA brought in NFC so it worked out perfectly. I will always let a judge know if I do not intend to do the full course, I believe it is a matter of respect. I see people go out there and just do a happy lap without prior warning for the judge and they don't tend to like that too much, I have heard judges start questioning themselves and their own course making ability if a few people don't do it as they set it. I will have a quick word with the judge during walking time (or at some point before the course runs) and just let them know that I am having a few issues, or have a dog just into that level and isn't ready for some of the challenges, and would they mind if I just simplified it a little. I have never had a judge say no, but I have had plenty of them thank me for letting them know first. I just see it as a courtesy thing :)