sheena

I had a young friend on Facebook who a couple of years ago at the age of 16 was chosen to go overseas as part of the Australian Agility Team. She was very, very good & extremely enthusiastic but from memory she had similar problems to you in so much as she was restricted by needing her parents to drive her everywhere. I am not sure what she is doing now...but I am just mentioning it to make a point, that just because you are young, it doesn't mean that you have heaps of potential & these people at Obedience should be encouraging young people like you for the good of the future of the sport. With agility, you need to be able to work your dog on both sides, left & right equally & this is where I feel formal obedience falls down as they tend to make the dog one sided. You need to be able to work both sides on & off lead & need to be able to do this in the company of other dogs & in an exciting environment. Your dog also need to have a good solid stay while in the company of other dogs as you are going to need this when trialing. I agree, take a parent along with you next time you approach the instructor.

Lots of people on DOL that can help with any questions. I have some worksheets that I have done up for my class's in the past & am quite happy to PM them to you one by one, if you are interested. See if you can get to volunteer stewarding at an agility trial...that way you will learn heaps. I wish I had started when I was younger, but I am now well into my 60's & didn't start until 5 years ago. My dog used to behave like a Tasmanian Devil, but now she is going great & in Masters level, it has been a real journey & I now have my younger guy. They say you ruin your first agility dog, but by the time you get your second, it's all systems go I am quite happy to help via PM's :) You always start out with lots of foundation training even before equipment is introduced, so there is heaps you can do without equipment

I would be getting in touch with the head agility instructor. I find formal obedience boring...a bit like watching paint dry...& my dogs hate it, but are very obedient in a casual way & just love their agility :) I only ever went in one obedience competition with my older girl & we practiced for months. When we did the test...she failed miserably...she hated that I was not allowed to talk to her & ended up peeing in the ring zero points but still got third prize as there were only three dogs in it. She enjoys Rally-O though, but it is difficult taking her out of doing a masters agility run & straight into the Rally-O ring...so I have put that aside for the time being. I am now doing Canine Freestyle with the two of them, clicker based & they are loving it. :) See if you can speak directly to the chief agility instructor. If you were in my club, you would definitely be in agility :) & running rings around most of the dogs we currently have in the starters group. You don't have to belong to a club in order to compete in agility, but you do need to be a member of your state canine body. A lot of people competing have been self taught, with the aid of videos etc, but it certainly is a big plus if you can go along to training every week.

How do you attain titles in DWD Is it similar to agility where you need 3 novice Q's before you can go up to the next level etc. ??

At our club the dogs have to do what we call "Canine College" which is just very basic obedience, before they can join the agility classes. But we do make exceptions for any dog that can be shown to have those basic skills. Basically we require that a dog can work safely off lead around other dogs, & can do a stay & a drop. But if you saw some of the dogs that come through to our agility class you would be forgiven if you thought they had never had an obedience lesson in their life Have you ever thought of making a career out of your love of dogs :)

I just watched your video...& I don't want to sound harsh...but I didn't see you reinforcing those lovely contacts with either food or a toy. Our dogs should not be expected to keep working for free, just like you or I wouldn't want to keep working for free. Keep the rate of reinforcement high & stagger it. Have you done any Clicker Work with her ??? :) If you want to know more about Clicker work check out this link & go to the PDF file & download it Introduction to Clicker Training. It's a lot of fun & everything my young guy knows has been taught with the clicker & he just loves his agility & obedience training. My older girl, I didn't start with the clicker till she was nearly three & I so wish I had started her earlier. :) I had a big hot dog in my pocket and was clicking when she hit the contact :) you just couldn't see it. The camera didn't see me rewarding Bonnie, so it looks like I was making her work for nothing. I'm pretty sure the neighbors could hear me screaming out "GOOD GIRL! GOOD GIRL! YES! YES! YES! GOOD GIRL!" I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement and clicker training. The only time I didn't reward her, was when she missed the contact. She still got a lot of verbal praise, but I didn't give her a treat. Otherwise she got a nice chunk of hot dog and hugs for each contact she hit. Good...just remember that EVERY TIME you click you must reward She looks like she is going great. You don't need to have giant treats though. Usually they are about the size of a pea & then if you want to, for a job well done, you can give her several...one at a time. We call this "silver service" treating. Good luck & don't give up...she is picking up on your nerves when you are at training. :)

I just watched your video...& I don't want to sound harsh...but I didn't see you reinforcing those lovely contacts with either food or a toy. Our dogs should not be expected to keep working for free, just like you or I wouldn't want to keep working for free. Keep the rate of reinforcement high & stagger it. Have you done any Clicker Work with her ??? :) If you want to know more about Clicker work check out this link & go to the PDF file & download it Introduction to Clicker Training. It's a lot of fun & everything my young guy knows has been taught with the clicker & he just loves his agility & obedience training. My older girl, I didn't start with the clicker till she was nearly three & I so wish I had started her earlier. :)

I ended up getting this one Webmasterfrom K9Pro. Thanks for your help everybody...I will report back when I find out how successful it is :)

No...he would slip out of that & the Spook harness might not be strong enough in the event of an accident.

I'll give it a go & hope he doesn't chew through it. It might be an idea if one of us sits in the back with him till he gets used to it...he is so quick. Also I might use it to take him on his walks a bit too. Funny thing is, when he is in the car he just lays down & goes to sleep & the next thing we know he has slipped his harness.

Novice or Starters? Basically a routine should be over 1 minute and under 4, it is seen that Starters is closer to the 1 minute and Advanced is approaching the 4 minute. In May I have Tora in Starters, her routines are about 1min 30 sec. I then have Schatzi in Intermediate and her routine is around the 3 minute mark. Moves you aren't allowed to do - basically just anything that's not 'safe' No, you don't have to use props, plenty of routines don't and are still awesome routines :) Thanks for that...I assume then that in DWD it is called "starters" & not "novice". I have on my calander that there is a comp at Grafton on the 30th November, but when I mentioned it to Mandy, she said that No it wasn't going to be in Grafton this year. Dogs NSW still have it listed as being there. Anyone have any other idea where it might be being held, if at all.

What is the minimum & max time for a novice freestyle routine Are there any moves that a novice is not allowed to make & does every routine require props or is outfit enough ????? :) PME....I love your outfit

Thanks everyone, & thanks DakotaJ for the links. Unfortunately, the best & safest seat belt in the world is of little use if he can slip out of it. I think I will give the tripawds a go & maybe I might be able to fasten it at a couple of points to make it safer, though it looks pretty strong. I guess a seat belt is only as strong as it's weakest point.

I think you might be on the right track there KC

Pretty sure he would be out of that in a flash, but thankyou KK :) He almost needs something that attaches around his waist as well. Maybe I could have something custom made & then hope that he doesn't chew it.

My young guy is a Houdinni when it comes to car safety harness's When he was younger he would either chew through them in a matter of seconds or somehow slip out of them & then chew them up. Not the most ideal thing, I know, but the only way I have of securing him in the car is by attaching a short lead to his collar which is then fastened to the cargo barrier of the car. At least it would stop him flying forward in the event of an accident. There is no room in the car for a crate. The last thing I tried was putting on a Hip Doggie Harness like This Onewhich fits very snug & I fastened him to the car both with the harness & his collar. Within 10 kilometres, he had slipped both off I really don't know how he does it

Michelle trains her routines by back chaining. She works it all out in segments to go with the music, then she practices the final stage first, then the second final through to the end, then the third final stage through to the end & so on. Her reasoning being that it is easier to learn the routine this way because you are practicing something new which is always followed by something that is familiar & of course the BIG reward is always given at the end when your dog is holding its end pose. She also admits that she stuffs up all the time, but just carries on cause the judges don't know. :) Bindi & I are working on "back arounds" at the moment. I have laid some chairs on the floor to form a tight square & she does the anti-clockwise really good & is starting to get it with the clockwise direction. Cricket has started to learn "front leg lifts" but he is a little too enthusiastic. I never realised that his front legs were so long :laugh:

I am just wondering why you would take her food away while she is still eating I would be pretty cranky if someone took my plate away before I had finished.

What part of your border collies do you use youre's on ??

My two tried to kill each other over a stick the other day :laugh: while out walking.

I have always separated my two. They can't even see each other eat. The guy is fed outside & the girl fed inside & when they are finished I let them lick each other bowls. Certainly a sure way of stopping any food aggression form starting & they don't feel they need to rush their meal. As KK says, there are food bowls available which will slow them down. :)

I certainly wasn't shooting the OP down, I was just giving her some very good sound advice which may save her the heartache of finding out these things for herself. I gave my advice on the basis that I have lived on farms for most of my 63 years. Things are very different in "the bush" than living in the suburbs. There are different unwritten laws between landowners. DDD may I ask you a question?????.....have you ever witnessed a dog being ripped to pieces by a kangaroo, which the dog decided was fun to chase or seen a dog drowned by a kangaroo because the dog followed the roo into the dam, to where the animal was trying to escape???? Yes...these things can still happen when you are simply taking your dog for a walk in the country, but leaving them unattended free roaming or tied to a chain increases the risk of it happening & you are not there to take action, (if you can).

No don't substitute "ignorant" for "wild". I meant "wild". Yes I am sure,(if you say so), that you have people living in the suburbs that would shoot some of your cows or wait behind a bush with a piece of 4 x 2 to knock your brains out, just because they suspect it may have been you that shot their dog because it broke it's chain & was wandering 5 kilometres from home & was chasing your stock. No-one is calling the OP stupid, just being realistic about what can happen if you chain your dog up unsupervised, or let it free range in the country.

Yum.....

I assume they are not having DWD...or have I missed it in the schedule somewhere