sheena

The verbal or physical cue being given to drop may have become poisened. ie. the dog is associating something unpleasant with the word "drop" or the hand signals being given. Maybe even the unpleasantness of being pushed into position when the cue is given. I would be shaping the dog by using a clicker, making sure the dog understands the value of click marks the behaviour = reward. Shape or lure the behaviour first then when it is 99% proofed, add a new cue word to it. Shaping is a far better method over luring as sometimes the lure itself can become poisened if it is being used to get the dog to do something it fears. :)

Best to get her driving to a target then you can release her by saying "Go, get it". Don't use your usual release word that you would if you were wanting her to come to you. Our young guy, if we line him up before an obstacle & give him our usual release word of "OK" he will more than likely go around the obstacle & come straight to us, which we don't want. So we say "go" & the name of the first obstacle. If that makes sense :)

Hi Snoopy, I have sent you a PM. I took my agility class right through the distance bit using the methods used by Kristy Netzer. Her DVD "Dial up The Distance" is excellent & until recently it was on free shipping from CleanRun. I did make class notes from watching the DVD & I still have them, hence the reason I have PM'd you, if you are interested. :)

Yep...agree..reward with the hand closest to the dog otherwise he will be forever gravitating to your front. Your hand should be on the seam of your pants & you reward "down the drain".

My girl has been on it for 2 to 3 weeks now & not sure if it is RHCV, but two nights ago she was in the lounge room & was so excited she was trying everything to get our attention & in her excitement she actually did a back flip summersault. I freaked out of course :laugh: I have cut the dose by half & the sloppy poos have gone.

The coconut oil you use is NOT from the supermarket. Only buy cold pressed organic coconut oil from the health food shops. :)

That's strange Sheena. I actually threw one away last night because it had got too small and I had a sniff before I threw it out and it still didn't smell. It was probably about a year old. I do keep them dry though. When the dogs have finished chewing them I always put them away (but not in a container as that can make them smell), don't know if this could be why? The first lot I got never went smelly & I threw them away because they got to small. Maybe they did get smelly because I was putting them in a plastic bag overnight, mainly because one of them got a few maggots in it & that's when it started to smell I am very tempted to get some more as my dogs love them, but I will see how long the cow hooves last...I have taken them out of their plastic, just in case.

Well...that's my long term goal. If we could get more people along to watch then maybe we might get more people to join one of the local clubs. There are a LOT of dogs in the community, whose owners do nothing with day in day out Next year's event here is going to be enormous as it is the weekend before the Nationals start in Brisbane & we are only 4 hours south. Big thing for a little town

I had to throw my last couple out. I only gave them to the dogs just before bed at night when they come inside for some fun time before bed. But they got so smelly I had to chuck them. I am now trying out cow hooves as an alternative, but they have a bit of a smell too

I used to give it to my two dogs...one tablespoon a day on their food & they looked fabulous. I don't give it to them now as I am giving them Livamol & about 4 egg yolks a week when I have plenty of eggs, so don't want to overdo it.

The poster is all finished & if you want you can have a look at it on this link Agility Poster :)

Not unrealistic at all...it is still 13 months away :)

yeah and 48 of them are mine! Sounds like a nice set up. Hope we don't freeze! It does get very cold this time of the year

Great camping on the grounds, not many powered sites. Camping is on the same ground as we use for the agility. We have a local charity (Heartstart) running a canteen & there are great meals at the Golden Dog Hotel. I think there are about 1600 entries

Depends on the situation. To come to us or be released to their food bowl, we use "OK". At the startline we use "go" as that means to take the obstacle in front of them & to be released to play we say "go play" Our dogs seem to know the difference much more than us. With the young guy, if we line him up at the startline & say "OK" he runs around the jump & comes to us :laugh: I am sure there is subtle body language used too, as we can use OK in a conversation & they know the difference. :)

I like the ones made out of soft fleecy material. They are soft on the hands, are strong & give a little when the dog suddenly lunges. I got mine from CleanRun, but they are readily available in Oz. I often see them for sale at Agility Trials.

I certainly wouldn't be going with the reorder system without first trying a couple of bags. And even then I wouldn't go with "reorder" as I wouldn't want a pet shop to have unlimited access to my credit card details or to take out direct debit with one...direct debits can be so hard to cancel, once set up

is this any good for an older dog? Yes, yes, yes...I bought it when I got my new pup, but I put my older girl through all the excercises too & it was a great benefit ot her. It makes no difference what age they are when they learn focus games

Not all Border Collies from working lines are good at agility. Working with sheep & doing agility are two completely seperate different occupations. :) Some are good at both.

You could use 12 pieces of poly pipe. Go to Bunnings & buy 12 cheap long screwdrivers that just fit inside the poly pipe. Push the screwdrivers into the ground & pop the pipe on top. I got my 2 x 2's from someone in Queensland & they were very poorly made & the bases were very thin & the welds snapped. OH had to re-make them.

It definately has gone. I just had a search of their website & couldn't find it. Maybe the owners have changed estate agents or taken it off the market.

There has already been several recommended in this thread if you read back through the posts :)

For all those contemplating going to the Nationals next year, I believe a LOT of people are going to tie it in with coming to the NSW Northern Regional, three day event which will be held at Glenreagh, which is halfway between Coffs Harbour & Grafton, on the NSW North Coast. It would be the weekend before the Nationals & is going to be a BIG event for my little hometown. We are hosting the Regional here in a couple of weeks, so it will be a bit of a rehearsal for something much bigger next year Just something to keep in mind if trying to make the trip to the Nationals worthwhile :)

I have always had great success with front attached harnesses. I have also used haltis in the past too, but prefer the harness. If you are using a halti, make sure you are also attached to the collar incase he slips his halti which is pretty easy to do. I used to have a lead on the halti & another lead on the collar & used it a bit like a double rein on a horse, so that the lead on the halti only came into play when needed....if you know what I mean. I found that worked very well. :) ETA...both my dogs walk fine now on a loose lead.

I would also be wanting to know where the ingredients come from in both the dry & the canned. Do the ingredients come from China for example I wouldn't eat any produce that came from China & I certainly wouldn't feed them to my dog.