Tassie

My DOR signal was the same as Mrs Dog's one. Out to the side seemed to be more visible and less 'threatening' than the straight down in front one that some use. I've seen competitors use a double handed signal - starts with forearms crossed in front, then the arms go out (has to be simultaneous) to about waist height (can you see - I'm demonstrating now! ). That seems to work quite well too. If you're heading for UD you'll also need that drop signal, plus one for sit up from drop, and your normal recall signal. For UDX, I think you'll need to work on stand from sit and down as well as the others.

I know how you feel, squeak. We get a bit slack down here in Tasmania, as most of our ticks are not paralysis ticks - though those are down here too. It's almost a relief when you find a tick, 'cos you know you can - if that makes sense. Sounds to me like you're doing the right thing - just add the anus to your list of places to check. I've had a couple of different vets tell me they've found ticks there! I'm heading north in October, and freaking out a bit about ticks. I plan to use Frontline Plus 2 weekly - but maybe add a tick collar as well? What do people think. We'll be travelling up NSW coast to Tweed Heads.

Hey Shek - way to go for you and Daegon!! I took the day off yesterday - I'd entered Fergus in Grade 4 test, but after spending all day at the tracking trial on Saturday (we failed - he overshot both turns, but at least he tracked!), I was ready for a day at home doing stuff I should have done ages ago. Look forward to seeing you next week. again!

Hey, congrats to you and Cooper!

Yes! I caused my girl to crash through the spread hurdle a few weeks ago :D . It was a tight turn onto it, and I was afraid she would off course, so I called it loud and way too early, poor little pupster. Next time, similar sequence, I just told her 'Go' - which to her means 'take what's in front of you - in your own time' - and it worked well.

I've PMd you, Shek.

O/T for Shek Oh - I thought this coming Sunday was a yes, but the following one (29th) there would be no classes because of obedience grading. I'll be doing some tracking training with Jody on Friday, so I'll try to remember to ask her, and PM you. Sorry for the deviation - now back to normal transmission.....

I use the same stuff, Shek - I roughly scaled down the dose, and mine get a bit over a teaspoon for Fergus (18.4kg) and a bit under for Kirra (14.2kg) sprinkled on their dinner each night. They gobble it up with no problems. I'm using this on my 4 year olds as a preventative, since my guys do agility and flyball, and do it full on. I find glucosamine really helpful for me - from what I've read, it is the repairing part, and the chondroitin is primarily preventative, while the MSM enhances the action of both. (We missed you and Daegon on Sunday. Hope you're OK.)

Aaaah, Erny - what a brave thing you've done for your lovely girl. No, she didn't deserve the disease she had - that really sucked. But sounds like she did deserve the loving, caring owner she had, who went to great lengths to get the best possible care for her, and who gave her all the love a dog could wish for. It's such a very hard time - but you'll come to be glad that you were strong enough to say a calm and loving goodbye to her. And oh, yes - you'll miss all those things that were part of her living with you. But you'll treasure the memories. Take care of yourself now.

Thinking of you and feeling with you Erny.

That's good as a sort of interim or occasional thing, but you don't necessarily want her to refer back to you all the time. There will be lots of times when you want her in obstacle focus rather than handler focus - e.g. where there is a sequence of obstacles which you want her to take while you get yourself to somewhere else on course or e.g. when you want to send her on ahead of you - to a table say, or to the finish. (Of course, that depends to some extent on how fast your dog is relative to you.)

Erny - the fact that Kal hasn't started doing the housework after 6 years of observing you just proves how smart she is, doesn't it My previous Border Collie, Sam, was really reluctant to get on the dogwalk. Until one day, when I was training with a friend, he was tied up watching as first her 2 Golden Retrievers went over, then my Kelpie/Border Collie cross went over. As I let Sam off the lead, he went straight to the dogwalk, and straight up and over, and it became one of his favourite obstacles from then on - so much so that he would off course to it . To this day, I swear that was learning by observation - with a good dash of jealousy as well. A lot of working sheepdog people will have a young dog working with a more experienced dog - partly to control the sheep so the youngster doesn't get hurt, but also it seems to allow the youngster to learn by observation.

Yay!! How nice to get a good news update first thing in the morning. Way to go Ollie dog.

Ouch - looks painful, poor baby. Has the vet had a look at it yet? That would be my main suggestion at present. One of the problems with rashes like these is that, whatever the cause, they can get secondary infections.

So sorry you and Kal are having such a tough time at present. I only have anecdotal knowledge of Rimadyl - and have used it on a previous dog with no problems. I would think, at this stage, you're right about any long-term side-effects being the least of your worries. Of course you'll be observing her for the unlikely onset of short term adverse reactions, but pain relief would seem to be the number one priority at this stage. Oh, and from what I've heard from people with epileptic Border Collies, the combination of Potassium Bromide with Phenobarb can be very beneficial - so let's hope that's so for Kal too. Lots of good vibes heading your way from across Bass Strait.

I think you're wise - it's bad enough to lose them, but worse if you don't really know why. Poor little pupster.

Oh dear - how sad to lose a pup. As far as I've heard, liver shunts are a congenital problem - sometimes correctable by surgery if discovered in time. Here are a couple of links which explain - liver shunt link 1 liver shunt link 2 I guess it's possible that the vaccination might have provided some extra stress which might have made the problem show up sooner, but from my reading, it couldn't have caused the shunt. Didn't read far enough to see if the tendency for shunts to develop is thought to be heritable.

Teeheee MrsD - I was thinking exactly the same thing - having just paid $80 for a day's agility trialling with one dog - and $20 for a tracking trial with the other - let alone petrol to get to the tracking trial! In response to Erny's OP - I belong to 3 clubs - one $20 p.a. and $20 per 10 week term. The other two are about $10 pa. and $2 per class each week - so each week with obedience, agility and flyball, I shell out about $8 - $10. Unfortunatley all clubs train on Sundays only - so at least I can go to one in the morning and another in the afternoon. I've been at one club for 19 years - training, instructing and committee for much of that time. The others I've only been a member for a couple of years. ETA - I don't get to many seminars because of living in Tassie - but of course when I do, add in the cost of getting over to the mainland. Gotta say though, the ones I've been to were well worth it.

HG that was a terrifying thing that happened to you and Scout. I can't even begin to imagine how you're feeling. I'm sure more experienced people will have good ideas - but I'd just like to say that, given that Scout is (I understand) one of your good working dogs - you may find that he copes extremely well. Resilience - both physical and psychological - is IMHO a big part of a good working dog's make-up, and this may transfer even to this kind of horrific experience. An important thing will be for you to be trusting that Scout is resilient, and not create a victim mentality in him - your feelings, as I'm sure you know, will go straight through to Scout. Is it possible for you and Scout to hang out with some known safe dogs, so that you can feel safe while you observe his behaviour. and suss out whether you're going to have a problem? It would be great if you could include some pitty or mastiff-shaped dogs, just to see if this sparks a reaction. (I find my Border Collie reacts unfavourably to particular shapes/stances etc. of other dogs anyway.) If there seems to be a problem, I would be checking out what his comfort distance is, and staying at that while you work with him/play with him - whatever makes him feel good. You'd then be gradually trying to shrink the "worry-zone" - i.e. gradual desensitization. Same thing in relation to men - although you're probably not going to have any of the same 'type' among the people you know. Hope you guys' physical recovery is going well.

For Devo ... KCC Park is on Western Port Highway aka Dandenong-Hastings Road a bit north-west of Cranbourne. I really only know how to get to it from Berwick or from Cranbourne. You should be able to find it on a Melways - it's about a km or so south of the intersection of Thompson's Rd and Dandenong-Hastings Rd - on the right as you head south on the D-H Rd. It's signposted with about 500 m warning. Hi Sparty Didn't realise you were pregnant - congrats!!!

It's worth trying having a person do walk pasts while you have the dog standing beside you - try have them using a curved approach, sideways body presentation, no eye contact with the dog (i.e. they're using calming signals). Start with them far enough away for your dog to stand steadily, so that you can praise/reward - then gradually move in. I would do a few, have a play break, then do some more - gradually having the person coming closer, but still curved. Once the pup is happy with that, the person can have their hand just trail down the dog's back as they keep moving past, still with no eye contact, and with the curved approach. As long as you have success, you would gradually have the person increase the pressure, and pause briefly. The progress to the normal examination - which is very light for CCD anyway. Once your dog is confident with this, you would then go immediately in front of the dog - and back up if necessary in what the approaching person does. Once the dog is confident with this, you can go further away from the dog, again ready to back off the pressure the person puts on until confidence is reached again. And then you need to start getting as many different people, with different clothes/hats etc. on to do this. If your dog is food trained, it's worth having some yummy food in your hand for the dog to be licking while this is going on initially - then as the dog relaxes, you can give the food as a reward. It can be quite a stressful exercise, even for dogs who love people, especially if they are body sensitive.

LandP, it was interesting that you mentioned Mary Ray. I learnt the 'foldback' drop from her at a camp a couple of years ago, and was just watching one of her videos yesterday.. She said she always teaches all positions from all positions, as it is part of the English obedience scene - but recommends it anyway. She uses the drop from sit when getting the dog in position for a down stay, since it can often produce a "rolled on one hip" drop rather than a straight drop as the foldback gives, and she's quite happy for her dogs to be in the more relaxed position for stays. (O/T Can't wait for Mary's October camp at Camp Tailwaggers. I know Toilet Brush is going - any other DOLers?)

Actually, it's my uderstanding that in UDX they need both versions of drop - the foldback drop from a stand (starts from a bow when they do it themselves, if that makes sense), and also drop from sit - so ideally, we probably need to be teaching them "all positions from all positions", but clubs down here haven't quite got that far yet! As Bloss 344 said, there's often a reluctance by dogs to do a drop in a situation where there are other dogs around, even if they will do it at home. Remember that drop is often a submissive posture for a dog, and requires the dog either to feel quite calm and in charge (therefore he doesn't care that he's dropped) or to be a somewhat submissive dog anyway. So I'd probably be working on the foldback at home - you can shape it gradually if you like - reward elbows on floor, then gradually raise your criteria as you hold the yummy food there for licking, but don't release it until the bottom goes down. I've heard the luring-under-your-bent-knee-while-you're-sitting-on-the-floor thing can work well, but I somehow don't think you're going to be able to so that with Daegon - your legs aren't long enough . P.S. It was really nice to meet you on Sunday.

Sorry to hear you don't have better news, Erny. You and Kal are really going through a tough time - but what a lucky girl she is to have someone as devoted to her welfare as you are. In so far as good thoughts can help, you certainly have those from down here.

Good boy, Cooper. Your family will miss you very much, but it will be good for them to know that you're not in discomfort any more, and they will treasure their memories of your life with them. Thinking good thoughts for you and yours, Pauline.