RubyStar

I thought it best not to try and kill anyone again with the flying hula hoop

Nawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!! I love puppies :D Gosh they don't look anything like mum, are you sure they're hers? :D Sahara is my fave! Gorgeous name, too!

I wish I was there to see this :D :D

Don't underestimaite yourself Rubystar your handling was fine and J would not have let you run her if she didn't think the same. Don't think she's ever seen me run a dog in agility, so she took a leap of faith handing her dog over to me :p Not sure it was such a good thing - I want my own Aussie to run in agility now! :D Handling a Lab and then an Aussie (and one that knew what she was doing), you can really "feel" the difference! Maybe you need to be on standby for Saturday Think you could remember a Masters level course? ;) OzJen, you up for Novice agility with Jenna? :D Oh no! I hate it when I lose my voice, soooo frustrating. Hope it's back by the trial on Saturday! Can't be there on Sat, got a family dinner

Bummer I'm not in Sydney, I'd jump at this! Bugger you can't go :D

Yay huski! You're gonna have a ball!! I had agility training last night too and even though I'm having a blast with my Labs, who are not your ideal agility dogs :p I got to run an Aussie Shepherd last night and boy was that FUN!!! Yes it helped she's a masters dog so what I lacked in handling ability, was made up by the dog who knew what she was doing, but boy I loved the speed and enthusiasm! My dogs have enthusiasm but not the speed Which is ok for me being a first time agility handler, so it's nice to learn with, but one taste of that speed and you can see why people opt for the speedy dogs :D :D Luckily an Aussie Shep was already on my list as my next dog I'm so happy with Ruby's weaves! She's finally doing all 12 instead of pulling out of the last 2. Her head is down and she's driving all the way! She's double stepping some and single stepping others so I will have to work on that. My biggest problem though is her entry. She's pretty good about nailing the entry when entering from in front and even from the left where she has to go around and enter from the other side, she's doing that independently However, try asking her to enter from the right, it's like she can't see the first few weaves or is trying to do it faster by cheating and entering anywhere from the second set up to the middle, depending on where on the arc we are standing! I'm going back to 2 and working the arc some more, but add a second set and she skips the first! When she actually does the first set, I try to reward her after the first set to keep her value for that first set up, but even when I throw her toy as she exits the first set, she decides to do the second set before getting her toy

I bought it too... but didn't buy the puppy :D

I had my first taste of what it'd be like to run my own Aussie in agility last night. Thanks to ozjen's sister, I had a quick go with her Abbey and :D SO MUCH FUN!!!!!! Sure she's a masters dog so made any of my handling inabilities look good, but I had a ball

Those manchester terrier puppies do look like rotti puppies don't they!

Great news! Fingers crossed for some peaceful rest over the next 6 weeks :rolleyes:

Nope, and dogs can go off lead on virtually all beaches, and forests, all year round :rolleyes: That's it, I'm packing my bags!! Is your old house still for sale?

I'm trying to talk my parents into moving to the countryside somewhere in the UK - mum is absolutely in love with it and she is addicted to EttC. If I can convince them to move (which they can, Dad was born in England), then I would do the big move, too I need an adventure in my life, but wouldn't do it on my own. They keep saying they want to move to Tassie, and now the latest is Pinjarra :rolleyes:

Amy, I'm gonna send the BH&G craft lady round to your house to make you coke bottle curtains :rolleyes: CC - I would happily deal with the snow and little sun to live in that glorious countryside And I bet they have no stupid dog limit laws either - heaven!!!

Gawd you're such a granny, Amy, spending your Friday nights watching BH&G then Escape to the Country..... bet you're all rugged up in your jammies, too? Wait, so am I..... I think we need to head out one Friday night yeah? :D

:rolleyes: :D :D :p Are there no snakes over there? ;) I really have no clue ;)

Hope Rommi is ok :rolleyes: CC - loooove your property back in Scotland! How cute is your Cocker :D you goodbye I give mine a Kong as I leave in the morning, and they don't even look up from it as I close the door behind me on my way out

Nothing of value to add to this thread, but just wanted to say Tess

I would give bonus points for the stomping, showed enthusiasm! Are you feeling better?

Saw the most hilarious sight this morning that only dog people would understand! A woman was dropping her partner off to work and they had a big dog in the backseat. As he closes the door, he's not waving his partner goodbye, but waving to the dog! As they drove off, he's still waving like this big idiot, and the dog is looking out through the back window all sad looking like he is being driven away from his one and only love and will never see him again I had to smile, it was so funny! Reminded me of when I am on the rare occasion picked up from the train station and the girls are in the car, they see me as I walk up and their expression changes to pure joy and I'm waving to them like an idiot

Oh no, poor Mason It did look rather nasty from what I saw - hope the vet can give you something better for it!

You guys are too hard on your boys with their boy brains I saw some lovely very enthusiastic positions from Scoota Sure he came sideways a bit And Brookie's positions in motion did look lovely!

What happens for those who don't train at a club? They aren't allowed to trial?

I guess I should post considering this thread sparked from a question I asked ness about how she got started I've only been training a short length of time compared to most people here!! I grew up with dogs and liked them, we mostly had toy breeds as my parents had no interest in anything bigger (which is a good thing because none of our dogs were ever taught an ounce of obedience!) My parents surprised me with a Maltese puppy when I was about 13 or 14, her name was Chloe. She was cute and my "baby girl" but she certainly didn't spark my true love for dogs and training. We still have her, she is 16 and a half, but she stayed at my parent's house when I moved out. In high school I met a girl who lived around the corner with a Golden Retriever and that sparked me to want a large dog of my own, but I liked Labradors better (even though I had always prefered long coated dogs to short coated dogs!) So I spent years afterwards wanting my own yellow Lab, but the parents wouldn't allow it. A rough patch in my life and my mum one day out of the blue said I could get my Labrador (to cheer me up :D) Ruby then came along! And along with it, my borderline obsession with all things dogs! I knew from before getting Ruby that we would attend obedience classes as I wanted this dog to grow up well socialised and obedient, unlike Chloe and our other toy breeds we had. So off to classes we went and lots of reading up on the internet had me clicker training my very first pup and having a ball! Meanwhile, I bored her to tears doing heelwork in class, and I've been struggling to get her enthusiasm to heel back. But she absolutely loves clicker training new things, eager to offer me all sorts of behaviours. We made it through to pre-trialling obedience classes then hit the ring for the first time. She got her CCD relatively quickly, but her CD took a bit longer as I met some great trainers who inspired me to lift my criteria, so getting the best out of her took some time. She now has her CD and has done a handful of Open trials, and she will hit the agility rings next year I am also going to try this Retrieving trial thing, but we have a long way to go in our training yet! Not really ready for another dog as Ruby hadn't even hit the obedience trialling ring yet, along came Millie anyway, an adult rescue who hadn't had an ounce of training in her life. Knowing a bit more than I did when I started with Ruby, Millie's training progressed surprisingly well. She has her CCD and is 1 pass short of her CD, and she will also debut in agility sometime next year. I am well and truly hooked on this training thing, and want to see how far I can get with my current two before starting all over again with a new pup. I cannot wait for a new pup though!! But at the same time, I can, because I want to get it right with my two first I hope in however many years time I can share success stories of a line of dogs I've had, just like most people here have :D These stories are very inspiring

Woohoo Glad you're enjoying it

Your girls aren't showdogs so nobody is sitting here critqueing them (except me :D nah not really, I was just looking at some OES babies though ST's Charlie is such a good dad) I also think having them stacked properly would have made a difference to the pics for evaluation purposes. They weren't stacked though, they were doing an obedience Stand For Exam ;) Didn't move a paw