RubyStar

That's because you make monster sized cakes Very yummy, though!! That and everyone pretending to be on bloody diets!!!! Calories don't count on weekends or at trials!

Awesome I was just about to post if you have any videos as I'm not entirely sure if I've seen any of your stuff before! Off to watch now And huuuuuge congrats to you and Prix, Ptolomy and Scoota & Cider, and of course bedazzled and Brookie for their big win!!! You're all such an inspiration

That's because you make monster sized cakes Very yummy, though!!

I've known some fat bitches in my time CC. Want me to post photos of them while we wait? Umm I think it starts around 9am?? Anyway I'm sure all of us would like you to practice on our dogs

How could you not save it for this weekend, big weekend!! What was last weekend?

Great to know, thanks

It's held at the K9 grounds in Southern River on both Saturday and Sunday, all day. That would be really cool if you came and took photos, can I please put in an order? :D I don't have any of my kids doing agility and would really love some :D Come and find us, we'll have baked goods :D Speaking of baked goods, whatcha bakin', mirawee? You know we all think you're an awesome cook :D

I think J is already planning on being a sneaky bugger :D :D So by early, you really did mean early :D :D We should have entered Millie and Abbey into strat pairs! Dammit!! Millie can weave now I haven't got Ruby entered either, but I would like to give strat pairs another go at some stage. But I can't make it to many agility trials it seems! I haven't trialled since the Classic and no idea when my next one will be!!

I am happy to get there early and set up gazebos and stuff, except, I don't own a gazebo!! If we can set up 2 gazebos together that should be enough room to crate our dogs and sit ourselves yeah? I usually like to work out of my car but for agility it actually doesn't bother me too much if I have to crate both kiddies. There is a show on Friday night I think... how many sneaky buggers do you think will try and set theirs up Friday night? Should we be sneaky buggers too?

To those competing at the State Agility trial on the weekend, what time is everyone planning on getting there? Does anyone want to try and set up "camp" together? I am making triple choc muffins (but gosh I hope they don't turn out like my attempted choc cookies last time! These ones are from a Betty Crocker packet so hopefully should be yummy :D) Looking forward to this weeekend! It is a much more relaxed event for me over obedience and nice and social! The icing on the cake would be a final Q for Ruby in Novice Jumping for her JD title :p She also debuts in Novice Agility so here's hoping she doesn't crap herself on the dogwalk :D Had heaps of fun with Millie on Tuesday night, hurling herself around the course like a dog on speed :D Tripped over her coming out of the tunnel quicker than anticipated :D Can't wait to trial her this weekend, too! P.S. To those who remember at last year's states, I said I would aim to start trialling at this year's states, looks like I made it in early!! Woohoo!!

You're going to have to get through me, first

I can probably get a Perth contact if you'd really like to meet a breeder. Thanks, but probably a tad too soon

Thanks for the info, TSD. I'd certainly be interested in learning more about them so hopefully we'll start seeing more around I found someone in WA advertising a while ago a litter of WC's. I wonder what they were like!

Knew you'd say that :p Except that isn't as compact But golly gosh is that puppy adorable!! So many dogs, so little time! I'll never be able to decide :D

Very true! I guess for me seeing a dog dash out like it did and look so eager, really impressed me! So on a drivey scale, it was up there for me ;) But I know training has a biiiiiiiig part in it as well. When you have a dog with a pretty ho-hum attitude sometimes, anything with more get up and go appeals to me! Don't get me wrong, my girls love the whole retrieve thing and can have some speed on them, but it's nothing like what I'm sure all you guys have. And I know training is a big part to blame. Ruby lacks confidence which in turn makes her slow and question things, and she hates being drilled. Her dummy handler also lacks confidence So does anyone have any book recommendations for me for retrieving drills and general info? Borders online have 25% off their books (30% for members) so thought I should perhaps take advantage of it! I was looking at this book, anyone know if it's any good? Retriever Training Drills For Marking by James B. Spencer http://www.borders.com.au/book/retriever-t...arking/5549807/ Would also love other suggestions if anyone has them!! Thanks

Did you watch the youtube link I posted earlier? To me, that looked pretty high drive, but I don't have much to compare to In relation to Em, what do you think of that working cockers drive? There are more videos on that person's youtube channel with other cockers, too.

Careful what you wish for!! I wanted a dog with more drive for retrieving after having Rogan, and now I have Polo who is off his face with enthusiasm most of the time!! Most of the time I love his enthusiasm, but there's times where calm just looks so much easier ;) You would be hard to beat a working lab for drive for retrieving though.... Sounds a bit like the difference between Ruby and Millie, too Ruby is a calmer dog, such a joy to live with and travel with. Millie, is off her face crazy most of the time which makes training fun (but comes with its own challenges of getting her to listen to me!) but not as calm to live/travel with. But because training is such a big part of my life, I will take the crazy dog over the calm dog because it's frustrating as hell trying to motivate Ruby!! At least Millie knows how to settle at home Yes a working Lab may be on the list next. We'll see! Sometimes I wish I could just start over with a pup because trying to motivate an adult Lab who hasn't had proper foundations is like pushing sh*t uphill sometimes. But I have what I have, I will just have to do the best I can with my two kids and wait until I've achieved/learnt more before I jump in with a new pup! I was only thinking on the weekend how great it is to go about my thing around the house and if I can't hear the dogs, I have no reason to suspect they are up to mischief. They are usually asleep in bed! It's taken quite a while to get to this point of trust

I thought cockers would be low drive as well, certainly the show lines ones I've seen doing agility seem pretty low drive. Gorgeous little dogs though - remember seeing a couuple at the agility nationals that I could have easily dognapped But watching that video of a working cocker it seemed pretty full on to me And that one I posted a picture of is just devine looking to boot! I want my next dog to have more drive! Ruby seriously lacks it at times, and while Millie has got more, I didn't get to train her from a puppy as I didn't adopt her til she was 2ish. She's doing pretty well to get this far without an inch of training until she was an adult I think she was born with the crazy gene Ruby's a better travelling partner as she's so calm, but Millie makes for more fun training, even if she doesn't listen to me sometimes and couldn't care less if I tell her NO ;) That would be great! I wish there were more in Australia, as I'd like to know more about them. But I guess if they are hard to come by, I can rule them out...

I should be in bed, but as usual I get sidetracked into looking up all things dog and training Was trying to look up DVD's or books to teach me some more, but got lost with no idea what I should be looking for, so ended up at youtube to look up free videos I came across this video of a Working Cocker in the UK doing a retrieve - oh my I want that eagerness!! I'm guess Working Cockers either aren't here in Australia or just aren't very popular? Do they compete in retrieving here in Australia? Wikipedia brought me back the most adorable photo of one I've ever seen, gorgeous colour too, I want! They look a lot different to show line English Cockers we see here? While I think they are nice dogs, I probably wouldn't want to own one, but these working ones look nice While I am yeeeeears off my next dog, it doesn't stop me thinking well in advance what I want. After all the research I will probably stick to what I know and love and get another Lab, but I want to be sure I am not missing out on another awesome gundog that I might not have given a second thought to previously

I agree that it is easier to do shorter sessions when you have more than 1 dog. But sometimes I really wish I still only had the one dog to train and focus on!

RV, you are doing really reeeeaaally well with Toby! Well done Finding it hard to pick anything wrong so this is all I've got Apart from the finish that Cosmolo already mentioned, when you recall him, trying calling him with your legs already closer together, as I noticed you brought them together after the recall but before the finish. You can't adjust in a trial, which I'm pretty sure you already know, but no sense training differently to how you'd be trialling Love the way you stop and wait for him and reset if he looks away. His heelwork has come along fantastically, you should be proud

Even then I'd still struggle to agree with it

I think those "lists" are pretty useless!

http://www.ankc.org.au/Rules.aspx

Congrats mirawee!! Sorry to hear about Toby, RV I still throw balls for the girls as reward sometimes It's their favourite, but I do know it comes with risks... Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!