RubyStar

I would have thought it should be the same in every state - the rulebook covers all of Australia. But I guess each judge can interpret it slightly different

Just a mini brag from me and the crazy Labs. At the mock trial tonight I put Ruby into Open for the first time and Millie into Novice for the first time. Ruby lacked attention at the beginning, something to do with being away with the fairies I think. But after I stopped and had a "chat" with her in her ear she pulled it together and gave me some nice heelwork. Skipped the SFE as I didn't want to push my luck. Drop on recall she was a bit slow to react to the drop (hence me holding onto my signal longer than I should have), but she did it. Nice retrieve on the flat. Retrieve over solid jump, well, it needs work, but we haven't really trained it yet to be honest! I made a solid jump today so guess what is going to be worked on Change of positions, I opted not to go as far away from her as I should so I wouldn't set her up for failure, and she did them well The surprise of the night though was Millie. She usually has very good attention but is also very easy to lose her nose to the ground. Her nose didn't hit the ground once during heelwork and I don't think she took her eyes off me Figure 8's need work, and her lovely finish has turned into a crooked one due to lack of training so I'm going to get back onto that one too SFE, just the one slight move of the front paw but otherwise lovely (for a Lab!! She puts her trialling sister to shame ) I only have video of Ruby from tonight, wish I had gotten Millie on camera as it felt like quite lovely work http://www.youtube.com/bingaling81

Congrats TN and Jedi!!! Wahoo way to go!!! :D :cool:

Gawd, look out Geraldton! :cool: You know you wanna be in on this :D :D

ozjen, that is disgraceful! :D Some people :D Geraldton is only like 5-6 hours away right? Not enough time to make a doco or declare halfway we're outta cash :cool:

ROAD TRIP!!! :D

DOL hasn't influenced my personal decisions any, but it's made me more anal to others about where they get their next dog from When I started researching for my first Lab over 3 years ago, I have no idea what made me want to go the registered breeder route, probably because of all the health problems Labs can suffer. No forums had influenced me and growing up we'd only ever had dogs bought out of the paper. Then I joined a Lab forum, was converted and relieved I had the common sense to get a dog through a registered breeder who did all the right health tests as my nagging thoughts had been right After vowing to never get a rescue dog because I like having a dog where I am responsible for all their good AND bad behaviours as I would have them as a pup, something made me get a rescue for a second dog. While she's proved to be the most loveable and trainable girl, she has certain issues that I can't solve. It's converted me back to only wanting puppies! Next dog will be a different breed, a puppy, and from a registered breeder. Whether or not they are a DOL member is irrelevant :D Sadly the next dog is probably 3-5 years away

I can throw straight (sometimes), it just lands and bounces over to the left! I need to throw it crooked to the right so it might end up landing in a position somewhere in front of us!

I will help steward if needed, someone just grab me if they want me! I suck at throwing the dumbell, I was actually thinking the other week I need to practice that bit solo so I can get it a bit straighter

Who said anything about them needing to be any good? I'll never get there at that rate Maybe next year I will entertain the idea of a camping weekend with the dogs in Geraldton. Keep your calendar open Amy and keep the training up, you're coming with The Geraldton show/trails can be alot of fun so it is definaitly worth considering and camping is availablle on the grounds for a few dollars so makes for a very relaxed weekend with like minded people. I use to go all the time, but petrol costs are a big killer these days as I usually use about two tanks of fuel with the van. One of Jenna's babies (well not still a baby) lives up there so it use to be good to catch up with her and her owners while I was there especially as she was one of the 2 that I was tossing up about keeping. So perhaps I will add your name to the list too, then! I definitely think it would be a lot of fun. I'd go this year if we could organise a group, but I think it's probably too short notice. And no worries Candice, if it happens you'll be sure to know! I don't own a tent either, nor a sleeping bag :D

What happened?

at the OP! Noone hurts my dog! If I know the trainer is not only good but trains the way I do (or want to), then I have no problem them handling my dog or demonstrating something. But if their methods differ, even if they're not being abusive, I will and have declined to have someone show me how to do something. For example, teaching the retrieve, an instructor went to demonstrate forcing my dog to hold the item by shutting and holding her mouth closed around the item. Fine, I understand that is a valid training method for some and not abusive, but I know my dog better than anyone and that is not the method I chose to teach a retrieve because she would have shut down and not touch anything. Everyone has different methods, we just have to pick and choose the best ones for us and our dogs.

Ah cool, thanks for the pic! The pigtail type you can get from City Farmers, at least the one in Belmont had them. If you manage to find the other kind and they fit jump cups, please let me know where you got them!

What do these look like? A google search hasn't really helped me as there are so many types And where would I get some? Do the jump cups fit onto these?

Can your bro or OH weld up some jump uprights too? Then we have all heights covered! I still don't know what height my girls will need to jump at. At a guess, I'm gonna say 500. Pleeeeeease don't be 600, Ruby will struggle BIG TIME! I have some proper jump cups. I think i have both the 3/4 inch and 1 inch sizes. About 30 of them i think. I was going to make more agility jumps to sell cheap but never got round to it so i may sell a few of them I'm interested in buying from you

Thanks! Oh nooooooooooooo My wish list on Clean Run is about 3 pages long :D Yes I could order a bunch of things off there too but if I go in with the idea of ONLY buying jump cups, then I am saving myself! I might email them and ask if they can provide a more "realistic" postage price for something so light!

I'm going to publicly embarrass myself (hey what's new?) and say that I always hear people mention measuring at the withers, but frig knows where the withers are :D And I call myself a dog person, shame on me!!

Can your bro or OH weld up some jump uprights too? Then we have all heights covered! I still don't know what height my girls will need to jump at. At a guess, I'm gonna say 500. Pleeeeeease don't be 600, Ruby will struggle BIG TIME! I find it funny that some Labs are short enough to jump 500 - I never thought my Kelpie would be taller than a Lab - he jumps 600 Now you've scared me that my Labs actually will qualify for 600! Millie should be able to handle it, but Ruby, no freakin' way. She's a lightweight Lab but she's a sack of potatoes when it comes to jumping!

Great idea about the hose inside the poles! I will be doing this I think! Amy, if you still want to buy some jump cups, we could do a combined CR order if you want?

Ditto. We can get a production line happening Gees I can just imagine the antics and possible disaster if we end up opening a bottle or wine or two..... hiccup was that 3 medium red balls and 1 large or 4 small? and no Lexi wasn't supposed to be sealed in that bag If she's been sealed in a bag with several balls, I don't think she will mind! Just remember the air hole!

Can your bro or OH weld up some jump uprights too? Then we have all heights covered! I still don't know what height my girls will need to jump at. At a guess, I'm gonna say 500. Pleeeeeease don't be 600, Ruby will struggle BIG TIME!

YES PLEASE!!! Well this weekend I need to paint but next weekend if I have nothing on, I am going to tackle making SOMETHING once and for all! God knows I've received enough instructions, I just need to put my brain into gear and produce something that slightly resembles obedience/agility equipment

I think I looked into both, but couldn't figure out which was best...

Who said anything about them needing to be any good? I'll never get there at that rate :D Maybe next year I will entertain the idea of a camping weekend with the dogs in Geraldton. Keep your calendar open Amy and keep the training up, you're coming with

Awesome I was looking for this link the other day Thanks. Ness, I want to make a couple of normal jumps, a single solid jump, and I would like to make some weavers so that I can use the 2x2 method. So far all I have are 6 pvc poles that I can stick in the ground, but that's a PITA because I can never get them the right distance apart and if the ground isn't soft enough, can't get them to go in :D So I want to make a weavers base of some sort so all I have to do is stick the poles into the base. Gosh I'm feeling extremely overwhelmed just thinking about it Edit: oh and I want to make a box. Yes this sounds simple but even THIS scares me! What connectors do I need?