RubyStar

Congrats to everyone else who have had a great weekend of trialling in their chosen sport! No brags on my end, didn't trial this weekend. I missed an obedience and agility trial to go away for the Easter retrieving weekend, and had a ball I'm hoping to one day have a retrieving brag in here The best I can manage at the moment is Ruby is such a good girl and her obedience has done her wonders for retrieving. She is steady while I shoot over her and doesn't fetch until told, and she sits and delivers, all thanks to dumbbell work

Congrats Candice and Mason!!!!! YAY!!!! 1 down, 2 to go

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is yuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!!!! Well done Soggy and Ptolomy!! She is one super special girl :D Now my girls are competing against Cider and she'll put them to shame :rofl: Gosh, well done :D

Well done on your 1st and your other placings!! I saw some very lovely work on the weekend, quite inspiring stuff Ruby and I had fun. They were awfully long days for her in the car all day with only a few toilet breaks in between, but she was such a good girl and didn't make a fuss of being "neglected". To make it up to her, we did some practice retrieves this morning with the thrower and gun, but used dummies as I haven't done enough birdy work with her yet to let her loose on a pigeon without me being within reach. She thoroughly enjoyed it (and I did too!!!!) She is such a good girl, she allows me to worry about getting the gun thing right by being steady and only going when told, so one less thing to worry about while I fumble! Hope the steadiness doesn't disappear once we start trialling I'm really looking forward to giving this retrieving trialling thing a crack at some stage. It is too much fun to keep sitting on the sidelines

Congrats on the Royal win, showdog Mason2009, best of luck for today! Let me know how you get on? Ptolomy, hope Scoota is on the mend. Glad to hear he hasn't gone backwards Getting a dog to eat must be tough. I'm off this afternoon for a weekend of camping with Ruby and to watch/help out at the retrieving trials over the long weekend. I just hope Ruby doesn't try to gas me out in the tent, her rear end has been foul the past couple of days!!!!

The photos are awesome, CC!!! Thanks again for taking some

Not sure what that means, but I assume it's good! Congrats!

Run to the box to reward her making lots of happy noises or you can also get good at throwing a toy for her to catch. Thanks, will try be more exciting Time to break out the isqueak me thinks It's about the only thing she gets hyped for! Oh, that and the chicken feet Ptolomy brought down to training! She was like a dog on crack for one of them

How would one encourage speed and enthusiasm to the box in the sendaway, as you start adding distance between the box and yourself? Obviously reward placement is something to think about, as the further away Ruby gets from me, the more away she thinks she is from a reward. Placing a reward in the box didn't really help. Doing this on a hot day didn't help matters, either. Just don't think my dogs will ever work well in the heat so I should face facts and not push them! And know when to withdraw from a trial if I won't get optimum performance for what they are capable of when it's cooler. Really hoping for a coolish weekend next weekend, 3 obedience trials! Otherwise I will probably have to withdraw. Don't like them getting away with a half-assed attempt!

Did some retrieving training tonight (at agility training ) and let me just say again how bummed I am that Associate gundogs are not eligible for Retrieving Trials! I'm at least thankful for the RAT's including associates, but my associate Lab would luuuuuuuurve to partake in a real retrieving trial! More so than my pedigree Lab! Millie is just having a ball with this, and I'm having a ball training her. She goes in with the attitude of "if I do it wrong, oh well! I'll try again!" while my poor, soft Ruby just hates to be wrong. I was working on blinds with Millie, as well as sit to the whistle and come to the whistle. Sit and come are coming along well (I'm not adding any sort of distraction yet) and blinds are coming along well, too. I gradually increased the distance and she was nailing them, heading off in a straight line. I then went a bit too far and she ran off to the side and started circling, obviously confused, so I called her back with the whistle (), took her a bit closer and she half trusted me so headed out a bit, then after a few steps her speed increased to a nice run, straight to the blind Love watching her having a ball! She'd love to do the real thing (after more training obviously!), but she's also a bit trying so who knows what crazy stuff she'd change her mind to doing once out there At least Ruby makes a wonderful travelling companion, so I will enjoy this weekend's trials with her, out with nature

Sending healing vibes to poor Scoota Please keep us posted. Giving my dogs more cuddles. Our 4 legged family members are just too precious.

I'll be heading down on the Saturday afternoon. The less nights spent in a tent, the better ;) See you there Okie doke, thanks!

Just bumping this back up :rofl:

Have a chat to Ang and see if you're allowed to do the social agility on Monday night? Shame you can't make it on Tuesdays for ACWA. It's always the way though, they know what to do but come test time, they fluff it! I remember Millie had the runs the night of her first assessment, she just kept her nose to the ground to find a spot to toilet. Poor girl. We scraped through the test then she exploded for the second time that night from the rear end! She was fine until we got there though... maybe the nerves got to her After her system was cleared, she was heeling beautifully

Ptolomy, how is Scoota this morning?

The one by my front door says DOGS WELCOME.... CHILDREN MUST BE ON A LEASH

What's wrong with him??? Hope everything is ok

NOW she's looking preggers!! How exciting!

He will fetch a ball but drops it just before he reaches me. I make him sit, hold the dummy in front of him and wait him out, click and reward when he holds it even a fraction. I'd remove the sit from the equation for the time being. It takes some dogs a while to realise that they are in fact capable of sitting AND holding an item in their mouth at the same time No expert here obviously, but I would still do the sit in a chair thing and place the dummy on the ground to shape the hold, don't offer it to him from your hand until he is offering the pickup. This is how I taught Millie who didn't even have the understanding of picking a toy up in her mouth in play if I threw it, she was a tough nut to crack! The other thing is if you insist on throwing it before he has a hold, is to kneel down to his level, keep your hands in your lap, and encourage him in (do not ask for a sit! That can come later!) I only recently discovered that in water retrieves I am stretching out my hands to Ruby as she approachese in a nervous flurry to catch it before she drops it, and this is just causing her to avoid coming into me and dropping it. It is too much pressure. I crouched down, kept my hands in my lap, and she came in to me (very early days yet, need to find some water to practice this!) Could be worth a try with your land retrieves.

Millie wouldn't take from my hand, either. The only thing she'd take from my hand was food. So I spent ages shaping her hold by placing the item on the ground, and working from there. When she was picking it up, I'd be quick to have my hands under her mouth before she dropped it. Gradually she built up the duration of the hold until one day she held it while sitting there, I had a huuuuuuuuuuge party, she went wow ok now I know what you want! Only once she was reliably picking something up off the ground and holding it until I took it did I start offering her things from my hand (and throwing it). Let him think it is HIS choice to pick it up off the ground. If he is being offered from the hand, he probably feels pressured into taking it and holding. So sit in a chair or on the ground, put the dummy on the ground, and try from there? I now have a retrieving freak, and I never thought I'd EVER get her to retrieve!

We used to call ours as a puppy "powderpuff". She used to sleep in mum's slippers, her body in the foot part and her head resting on the toe part :D Plenty of room in there, too! Can't believe we don't have a single photo of it, though :p

I will make sure I say Hi - its sure is a long way to come. Any reason why you aren't coming too?? Cows calving, kids and husbands work, distance and budget :p I am planning on coming in the middle of June for an ET and hopefully a trial as well. I wish I had the time to be training for the ET! I really wanted to enter my girls into it. Not sure if their fitness is up to it. Mine is questionable, too!

I have a purebred Maltese (not papered, though, she's 17 and my parents didn't know any better when they bought her for me). She lives with my parents now though as I didn't want to uproot her when I moved out. Purebred Matese's must be so rare that the vet clinic has her down as a Maltese x Shih Tzu. I spied it on their computer during a consult and I said umm she is just Maltese. They never did update it, though :p They just assume when you say Maltese, it MUST be crossed with a Shih Tzu :D

That's what you think :p Just kidding And no worries about the photos, it will just give me something to look forward to Their feet can't move. If they move more than 2 feet then it's a fail.

Will watch video at home Linky please to dokkens... want to order some myself. Thought you, me and Mason2009 were going to combine an order! :p