TerraNik

We'll be doing change of positions. I thought he would never get there with the dumbbell and thought we'd have to do change of positions instead of dumbbell in CD!!

Watch out! She might take off!!!!! Gorgeous! Jealous of the new toy!

Apologies, but.. !!!! I just toss it and it lands wherever it lands... Definitely something I need to work on now! I'll add it to the list of things the handler needs to work on!!

Cheers, dogdude! That makes perfect sense!

How bizarre, BB!!! The more I look at the photo, the more I like it... I guess it just wasn't what I had in mind. I'm going to have to start getting really creative with my Month of Medicine, now! I'm starting to run out of gadgets!

Okay, so I just did a dumbbell session with Jedi - he turns to the right every time! Fancy that! Is where I throw it important without a jump, or should I just be worried about that sort of thing later?

I'm not really happy with the composition of this photo, but I was about to head to bed at 11pm and realised I hadn't taken ANY photos!! Woops! So it was a rush job! 'A Month of Medicine' "Physical Examinations"

I let the dog decide re: dumbbells too. Jedi wouldn't take the plastic one into his mouth so I had to get a wood one... But now he knows what he's supposed to do he doesn't care whether it's wood or plastic. Ahsoka's not fussy! She even tried to pick up Zero's (Shell's husky) dumbbell which is WAY too big for her! Poor thing could hardly carry it but she wasn't going to let that stop her! Personally, I like the wood ones. Aesthetically pleasing.

Which way they turn when they pick up the dumbbell has a big bearing when you add a solid jump into the equation. Oooh... Right. Anyone able to give me some more info on what I should be doing or point me in the right direction to find some information on that?! Thanks RS... Ruby will pick it up - dogs have back legs and they know how to use them (I'm sure you've seen Ruby reverse out of a tight corner or something at some point!) - it's just that you need to make them more aware of them and how and when to use them!! Lots of reverse, lots of reverse in heel (along a wall helps), lots of elephant tricks/pedestal tricks... I practice left about turns with the dog's front legs on the pedestal (phone books!), then I fade the books and then I integrate the turns into heeling. That's just what I did and it worked?! Good luck! You should post a video of her progress!!! Great video of Beans!!

I'm of the opinion that they're not "harder", they're just "different". That might be just semantics, but people say that spitz breeds are harder to train but they just need a different approach compared to a border or kelpie, for example.

I agree, Huski. In saying that, I have set myself a goal - to start trialling by the end of the year or at least do a mock trial so I can see how we're going. It can be difficult when they're young, but if you make it fun for them and do lots of little short bursts of training every day they will pick it up quickly. This was Jedi at 10 weeks old (2 weeks into his training): EDT - xena - great video! Congrats on the 1st place!!

I guess it depends on where you want to count your starting point, memyselfNi... Jedi just turned one and I've been working towards his CCD/CD title since he was 8 weeks old... So... 8 months so far! He's not there yet though! I guess it also depends at what point you want to start trialling. I am in no rush to put Jedi into the ring - that'll only happen when I'm totally comfortable that he'll be able to pull it off and score really well. In saying that, I could probably put him into CCD now and he might pass, but I want him to do well and be much more reliable. I guess it's a personal choice.

Ha! I hadn't even considered which way Ahsoka or Jedi turn to retrieve the dumbbell... I'm just chuffed they go and get it!!! Time to start paying more attention and finessing it now!!

Well whatever you did worked!!!

Thanks Ptolomy... I did a LOT of back end awareness with him, mostly doing the elephant trick and learning to reverse. I think I was using dried liver.. Jedi makes sure that every piece is chewed 50 times before he swallows... For heelwork I make sure I use soft treats - he has issues chewing and moving at the same time!! Poor boy is a little uncoordinated!!!!

Great work, Darien! I really like the way you've framed it!

Ooh I'm proud of Jedi's left about turns!!! And his recent achievements in dumbbell work... This is video of him doing everything for the first time. It took 7 months (on and off) for him to hold the dumbbell for more than half a second! It just clicked one night and then within a couple of days he was doing a full formal retrieve... I was about to give up! I know we still have a lot to work on and he's much better than in the video now, but I'm just proud we finally got there! EDT - Ness -- I love the enthusiasm in the 2nd video!!! I can see a big difference between the two! She really looks like she's loving being out there in the 2nd vid!

I better start paying attention to this sort of stuff! Jedi starts agility Friday week!! I've never done it before, but I've done lots of foundation work with him in preparation. I have a feeling it's going to be a steep learning curve!

LOL! Yup, the only hair on my OH's chest!! ;) Poor guy having his chest broadcast to the world!

Another late night upload... Time for bed, I think! 'A Month of Medicine' "Lub dub.... Lub dub...."

Aww cute shot PPS!

'A Month of Medicine' "Now, just look straight ahead for me..."

I am day 95 into my Project 365 and yes you do have those days/weeks! Some days I just feel like I have NOTHING to photograph... So I just take a crappy snapshot of something and move on. The point of project 365 (or any photo-a-day challenge) is not to take perfect shots every day, it is to develop your photography skills on the whole. I don't expect that every single day I will be able to churn out a winner - I take the good ones with the bad ones and some days are REALLY bad! I like BB's suggestion about taking yourself somewhere or going out somewhere with your camera... Or maybe look on Flickr for some inspiration?

The image is of the tympanic membrane (it captures the sound waves and turns it into vibration which then flows into your cochlear and gets transmitted into a nerve signal which then goes to your brain! You sure can see ear wax!

Thanks... What you see down the ear is not very exciting Thanks... Yes, you can buy them and vets do use the same otoscopes (ear) and ophthalmoscopes (eye) as us (human doctors), but the ear canal of a dog is L shaped, whereas a human canal is straight, so the disposable ear pieces you put on the end are MUCH longer in dogs (3 times as long roughly).