toshman

Crufts is HUGE!!! Have you ever seen a cat show with over 5,000 cats entered? That's PER DAY :laugh: Almost 28,000 dogs entered (that includes sporting dogs etc.), but somewhere around the 23,000 entered in breed.....

Can't help being cynical here, because the phrase is so often used by breeders - but instead of 'rehoming' the dog, couldn't they just look for a 'forever home' for it? :)

What a great idea the umbrella is....it would frighten off the approaching dog and also protect the smaller pup.....places a pop up umbrella in my To Buy List....Thanks Lavendergirl. ;) Please think about what effect the pop-up umbrella would have on your own dog as well, Kadbury I'm very wary of shouting loudly at any stray/loose dog if I am out walking with my cattledog/kelpie-cross who's a real softie, because I realised that she thought I was shouting at her (how was she to know the difference?) when another dog approached, and she became really frightened at any perceived confrontation...placing myself in front of her was a really good option for her.

First dog was a Glen of Imaal Terrier.

Fabulous - great imagination :thumbsup:

Yes and yes! His coat was completely blown when I took that photo but I love it...and him???? Toshman - i hope you didn't think i asked the questions because of your extremely cute photo of your dog!! it was more a general question re the breed and what is involved in their care!! sorry if you took it that way LOL. No apologies needed RosieFT :laugh: I wasn't making excuses for him :) Generally a BT needs stripping a couple of times a year - hand-stripping is best - but if they're in show coat they need quite a bit more work.

Yes and yes! His coat was completely blown when I took that photo but I love it...and him????

Terriers do tend to do this - trying not to generalise here, but many of them are happy to join in a bit of a scrap A little booklet which might help you is written by Turid Rugaas, called "On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals" - or anything else by her, actually! Your Rosie seems to have done alot of the right things to keep the situation calm - good for her! And good for you too, for not getting in a panic...

In agility? Absolutlely. He will also need to be desexed to be registered as an Associate (but I see that he is). In conformation? I'm afraid not. If you're looking for an activity to tide you over before agility, how about Obedience? Associates can do that. Well there's lots and lots of things you can do in agility as far as training and focus are concerned before he is 18 months old - you can join one of the agility clubs in your area and take it from there. He just can't compete before he's 18 months old.

Mmmmm - I thought that KC one was pretty "blar blar blar" too, actually :) But nice to see Steve Dean wandering around with his Border Terrier in tow.....go the Little Brown Dogs

Did you watch it becks - to know that it was the same old "blar blar blar" ?

Please consider giving dogs their own kennels! I wasn't very impressed last year when I tried to find somewhere for my boy who doesn't like other dogs and kept being told if I wanted him to be alone I would have to pay double the normal rate - not fair !

And just a week left to pay for your accommodation at SIEC if you have booked a cabin or a campsite ????

I do this too, but omit the boil/simmer bit at the start...just slice thinly and lay out on some grease-proof paper and put in a slow oven (140 deg celsius) for an hour or so. Becomes rather leathery on the outside, but still soft-ish on the inside. Chop into whatever sized bits you like. All dogs in this household give it the thumbs-up

Just picked up on this....we do Earthdog at Erskine Park through the winter months, and are always needing rabbit carcasses to use as our quarry (not allowed to use live ones). It's always hard to find them - would you sell them too, Polecatty? :) To keep this on topic - I've always loved Lurchers and the 'romance' behind them :)

Obviously not as wet as Erskine Park

Just read that the whole day has been cancelled because after last night's rain all the rings are under water.....

Just had a look at the ACWA puppy foundation classes and the gorgeous photos that go with them - what lovely pups! Beezneez, have you seen the site - esp. the puppy foundation classes page?

She can't COMPETE until she's 18 months old, but there are many clubs, and I'm sure some in WA (which produces some of the very best agility dogs in Australia IMHO!), that have foundation classes for puppies from a very early age...that's the time you teach focus and all that basic, and very important, stuff :)

There are some good tips here - Sue Ailsby is a great trainer from the USA and writes lots of articles... http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page40/

It's a PDF document and you will be able to read it if you have Adobe Reader downloaded on your 'puter. I have a mac - maybe you do to?

Just covering all bases - I sent a message to the agility Yahoo list too, but there may be people here who aren't on that list... Booking/Payment forms were sent out from mid-October 2011 on for accommodation booked at the SIEC in June - maybe some emails went to junk or simply went astray, because it appears a small handful of people didn't receive theirs.... If you have booked accommodation through me and haven't yet received the form via email, please contact me privately at [email protected] and I will re-send - it's not long now until the end of February when payment is due; how time flies! Cheers, Julia

I find it hard to believe that Susan Garrett, of all people, would do something so "out there" without knowing for sure whether it's going to work first :)

What is an associate member dog? Are there limitations on showing, etc? I couldn't find any info about an associate membership and what it actually includes or excludes.. I might just call dogs NSW today and ask. It was too late yesterday to call which was the only reason I asked here instead. These are two completely separate things - an Associate Member of DogsNSW, and having an Associate Register dog! NSW Rules & Regulations say you can own and show a dog as an Associate Member - no limitations on that. You just can't vote, have a breeder's prefix, or judge, or be on a DogsNSW Committee. You still get the Journal every month, too. Personally I don't understand why more people aren't Associate members :) Quite a few sporting people are associates, especially if they own associate register dogs.

I am probably butting in here where I shouldn't because I have not been in the show ring for more than 20 years. But labelling a dog as stubborn because he sinks back when you try to get him to stand nicely has just irritated me enough to make me write. Dogs probably do not even understand the concept of stubborness. They lean back because they are not enjoying themselves. They do not likes to be pulled and pushed into place. It also invokes the "opposition relfex". If you pull them forward, their reflex is to pull back against it. In fact, one of the best ways to shift the dog's centre of gravity forward is to pull it back by the tail then release it. (Difficult with a Aussie without at tail, I realise!) As a dog trainer who remembers just a little about showing dogs, I would suggest that you get you dog into the approximate position you want, put a bit of gentle pressure on him the opposite way to what you want - as though you are pushing him to lean back. When you release that pressure he will rock forward again. At that moment give a reward marker (use a clicker if you use one) then treat the dog. Let him continue to nibble on the treat while he is leaning forward over his front. I would vary it by sometimes throwing the treat ahead of him and releasing him to run to it. This will keep his attention forward. I have not tried any of this training. I have not needed to teach a dog to stack. It just makes sense to me as a dog trainer. Make the show ring fun. Associate it with games. Do not associate it with a place where you get pushed and pulled around. I did not look at it closely but at a quick glance I suspect that the link http://www.sue-eh.ca/page24/page40/ that was given in a previous post is well worth the read. I also recommend their section on "dominance". I do not agree with everything in that articles, but it gives a good understanding that we should not try to give human interpretations (eg being stubborn) to our canine partners. They do not have the same way of thinking as we humans. Excellent post, Le I was also going to mention the opposition reflex until I realised the dog had no tail, but you suggested another way to do this! Sue Ailsby is great - and there is a book called "Click To Win - Clicker Training for the Show Ring" by Karen Pryor which is good. I always prefer to see dogs free-stacked in the ring, rather than being man-handled into some semblance of a natural stance.