Agility Dogs

We had a massive day yesterday. 23 runs after a 2 day trial was condensed into 1 day because of a ring clash with the Showies. The 'morning' trial was hard until I realised that Xena was jumping 500, not 550 like she does at ADAA. All up we went OK there though. Xena - GDX pass, SPDX Pass and third, JDM pass and third. CK - SPD pass. We did a bit better in the 'evening' trial. Xena = GDX pass, SPDX Pass and second, JDM Pass and Third, SDX pass and third. (4 from 5). CK - JDX pass and first, JDX pass and second, SPD Pass and third (title) and Finally SDX pass. (4 from 6.) Looking forward to another two trials next weekend - this time they are on different days though.

So has everyone else. I used it to get my friendly dog to stop his frustration lunging when he saw another dog on leash. It worked very well. I still use it occasionally, but haven't had him lunging at all since I started using it. I haven't ever read the control unleashed, but from what I gather we use something similar. Went from having a MANIC car chaser (on lead) to having a dog who now looks at me whenever she sees a car in an isolated setting, on a busy road she no longer looks at cars or me. Key is to make it more rewarding for her to look to me than it is to look at the cars.

We compete in Flyball, Agility and Frisbee (because we can in Queensland). The dogs are quite competitive in all 3 disciplines. (Well.......CK maybe a little less so in agility LOL.) I think dog/handler teams can achieve in as many sports as the handler has time to do enough training in. Some sports take more training than others I guess.

We had a great weekend at the ADAA nationals in Tamworth last week. Mr CK had a brilliant outing - finished off his Australian Agility Games Dog title with a great run in Snooker as well as his Senior Aust Agility Dog title (Intermediate level) with not 1, but 2 Open standard passes. WOO HOO. Xena and I got better and better all weekend and managed 2 purple cards (wins in advanced) along with a swag of others. Very happy with my puppies.

Totally agree. Very little of our training is on more than 2 or 3 obstacles - most of it is obstacleless. (That's all I can fit in the back yard.) Even when we go to club though I rarely do full courses. When Linda Orton Hill was last out she also mentioned that her dogs rarely see equipment and their focus is on foundations that translate to equipment.

My girl was love at first site. We haven't always had the relationship we do now, but that was more to do with my abilities as a handler/owner than it was our 'bond' IYKWIM. I always liked my boy, but it has taken a long time to bond in the same way that I did with my first girl. My current puppy has an even stronger bond with me than the other two - which is just amazing. Overall I like all 3 of them and have come to the conclusion that it is about emptying out all expectations and loving each of them for what they are, not what you hoped they would be or what you have had in another animal.

All 3 of my dogs are good with kids, but I don't trust any of them on their own. The one time that OH let my girl (the most trusted) out with one of the nephews on her own I went nuts. It only takes one small accident from either side and you have the potential to end up with a bloody mess and a fractured family. On the bright side - we got together for Mother's day on the weekend. The day started with Annabelle being VERY afraid of the cute puppy with BIG TEEF MUM! By the end of the day both puppy and niece were very happy with their new friendship. (CK did occasionally come and sit under my chair for a break though!) Like anything - with time, patience and the right approach it can be made to work, but does not happen by magic and not every child or every dog is suited to interacting with each other.

There is only one side with slight visibility into the neighbour's yard (small gaps between palings) but they tend to bark at sounds more than sight. Could you crate inside while you aren't there?

Sounds a lot like my house! How old is your girl? The only thing that I would/could suggest is that you might be able to train of a morning instead of an afternoon. My three are the same as your girl - able to do a LOT of work and still want more, but it seems that on the days when we do training in the middle of our walk that they are more settled on the days when we 'just' go for a walk. Other than that it is a very difficult puzzle to solve! Good luck with it.

I am 'just' a pet owner. Other than that: I instruct agility at two clubs. Play agility. Play/occasionally instruct frisbee when time permits. Play flyball. Am on the ADAA board. Am president of the Brisbane Agility Dog Club. Belong to one obedience club where I am meant to go to Doggy Dancing, but sadly never get there. and generally just love my dogs.

I have 3 Border Collies that must be impossible to live with and require hours of exercise every day. Our dogs are what we make of them. Just ignore it and have the last laugh when you have a beautiful poodle that is a delight to own.

Aww, that blows. I'm trying to convince my local club to let me join and then kind of attend classes at the periphery and do my own thing. It's a big ask, I think. Seriously, if you're going to do your own thing, why do you need a class environment? As an instructor, I'd not be happy about it. I've always participated in class as per instruction - even when I haven't agreed with how they have run the class. I decided to leave the club because I couldn't reward my dog as I wanted. I also HAD to correct the dog for not performing exercises he didn't unerstand. Better off out of it really. These days if I'm not happy I would just thank the instructor and leave the class.

At the risk of offending others - it is really easy to see the difference between dogs that are trained using a high degree of reinforcement/play and those that are primarily trained using correction/control. That is why I stopped going to obedience classes at our local clubs. I was criticised for my dogs not having enough attention on me, but when I went to play with them I was asked to stop because I was distracting others in the class????? I would let my dog have a game of tug when we had finished an exercise, but apparently that was over stimulating for others. Oh well.......

From this I'm guessing you've trained a lot of dogs or put a lot of time into your dogs over a relatively short period and understand the value of a good recall and your relationship with your dog. In that case I don't see a massive problem. It's more dogs that constantly go and visit other dogs during class and run off from their handlers to more exciting things that are an issue. Fair enough. My girl was an extremely full on puppy and had lots of value for, well, everything OMG A BIRD! OMG A DOG! OMG A LEAF! OMG GRASS! OMG SPECK OF DUST! OMG HUMAN! etc. Thankfully she also has lots of value for me, so I just had to make sure that it was more rewarding for her to stay with me than make her own fun. Some games I play with my dog which IMO make staying with me the best option... chasing food games, catching food, nose touches, fun tricks (she likes spin, roll over), running-away/catch-up games. I think that some people focus a lot of getting their dogs to calm down but I have found the calmness part came naturally after the bond was built and association made that handler = best place to be. I also trained a fairly strong "leave it" command which was rewarded highly (often jackpots or exciting play) and has definitely served me well! EXACTLY, sorry if I offended, I meant you were doing an awesome job, but that not everyone can see the value of the games in your second par here and as a result their dogs don't have the same value on them that you do.

From this I'm guessing you've trained a lot of dogs or put a lot of time into your dogs over a relatively short period and understand the value of a good recall and your relationship with your dog. In that case I don't see a massive problem. It's more dogs that constantly go and visit other dogs during class and run off from their handlers to more exciting things that are an issue.

Are you just talking about play between dogs or play with handlers as well. OMG, WITH DOGS. We TOTALLY encourage play with handlers all the time. The biggest thing we are working through is getting people to constantly interact with their dogs and not bounce off the end of the lead 'chasing' other dogs. (FOCUS) Even if someone is talking to an instructor we encourage them to be constantly patting their dog or at least have hold if it so it isn't wandering around making its own decisions.

x3 We don't advise play at training at all. In fact we have banned it after training - just a recipe for disaster with all the different breeds and play styles that we have at our club. Add that to the people trying to get in and out with multiple dogs and crates etc and you have a lot of potential for problems. Personally I don't like dog parks, but that is a lot to do with my dogs and the way they view the world. That said I would advise anyone who wants their dog to work at training ot avoid them AT LEAST until they have their dog's training to a level where they are the focus of the dog's attention under most circumstances. We have a lady at our club with a schnauzer. Both dog and lady LOVED the dog park, but the owner was getting increasingly frustrated at the dog's continued attempts to initiate play at training. She decided agility was more important to her than the dog park and guess what.......dog is now much better. OP does sound like she is doing all the right things at the park, but as PF said, without the groundwork in place it makes it VERY hard to have a dog that does not want to play with others every time they see them.

I'm going to disagree with that. I see an alarming trend of unsound dogs receiving regular " adjustments" in NSW & ACT. No one can tell me that some of these "adjustments" are not creating many of the problems. Agility dogs should not have their back & neck "out" every other week! If my dogs backs & necks were out with any kind of regularity, I would never do agility again. Now if we could guarantee the competancy of the "adjustors" I might agree with you. I think regular check ups with a qualified adjustor/chiropractor are very valuable - we've found a few problems over the last couple of years that in 'pet' dogs would probably not have been an issue, but in 'athletes' could have led to a major injury if left unchecked. Emphasis is on the term check ups though. My dogs are at our vet (who lectures in animal chiropractics) every 2 to 3 months for a complete check up and they are occasionally adjusted if necessary. Adjustments for the sake of keeping owners happy or feeling good about their husbandry are not a good thing, nor are they necessary. I leave it to our guy to tell me when he wants to see the dogs next and then will only take them in if I see something that is not right. (He reckons I'm freaky at some of things I've picked up on in the dogs.) The other thing that most of us are guilty of is running 'cold' dogs or running them off the course and putting them straight back into their crate. If the dogs aren't fit enough or drivey enough to warm up properly then they probably aren't ready to be in the ring. This is all part of an over all holistic approach though, not just a stand along. Stretching, massage, strength conditioning, endurance, skills, diet and understanding what impact it is all having on their overall health is pretty much the combined approach we take to ensuring they are fit and sound.

Completely agree Vickie. I see far too many dogs carrying weight and having to lug it around an agility course. I'm not talking about obese dogs, more dogs that are carrying a little weight, but are doing agility week in, week out. IMO our dogs should be SUPER lean - I've never seen an overweight Olympic runner, our dogs should be treated the same way. My two older dogs (still 'only' 5) are super fit - Xena weighs in at just over 13kg (475mm) and CK is just under 18kg (540mm), neither carry ANY fat at all - to the point of some people telling me they are emaciated........oh well, when they start paying the vet bills they have the right to comment. They get at least an hour walk, interspersed with some high energy training, every morning and then they do something at night - might be going to club training or might be another walk and play in the back yard. They also get stretching and core strength exercises a couple of times a week - I find the core strength stuff really helps with their control on obstacles. They play flyball (not as much these days, but still train as strongly as any of the dogs) and frisbee which I think helps their fitness and strength tremendously. Proof in the pudding - at the end of a two or even 3 day competition (regardless of the discipline) they are running harder than they were at the beginning of day 1. Typically CK's best flyball times (and I think flyball is probably the most demanding out of the 3 sports we play) will be in the second last race of a full weekend. At the beach they will run for 2 to 3 hours without slowing down at all - good thing they have an off switch at home! The puppy isn't as fit or as strong as they are (of course - she hasn't had nearly the work that the other two have), but she is coming along nicely as well.

Tony - what does your boy do and did it happen from the word go?? Sorry, just saw this. There was nothing physical that I could see, but I get their bloodwork done every six months. We found an abnormality in one of the liver function (I think) tests and by process of elimination tracked it back to the Proban. It was pretty much from the word go. The reason I know this is that I don't give them proban all year. Only September to April. His June results were fine, the December ones weren't. After a month off the tablets he was back to fine again. My vet HATES the stuff, but I would prefer to give it to the dogs if they can process it without issues. It is just sooooooo good. (I pulled 16 ticks off 2 dogs after getting home from a weekend away once - all dead ones.) Hope that helps. T

Another thing to consider is that Advantix KILLS cats as well. Not sure of your situation, but thought it was worth mentioning. As Clyde said, definitely not both. I use proban for my girls who tolerate it, but Advantix for my boy who doesn't. Tony

The club is on Church St at Tivoli - on the Baseball fields. I had forgotten as well - basic obedience (foundations and relationship type work) is held on Wednesday nights. Skills and competition classes are on Sunday afternoons. Have a look at the website for more information.......http://www.adcq.com.au/index.php?act=viewDoc&docId=12 Cheers Tony

We have some people come down from Toowoomba to train with us at the Agility Dog Club of Queensland on a Sunday afternoon/night. We are an ADAA club and don't focus on obedience, but we will certainly be able to help you stimulate your boy's mind! (I have 3 BC's - 2 almost 5 and one 12 months TODAY!) Let me know if you want more details.

http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/04/2...local-news.html Ferocious canine targets wallabies Cait Bester Tuesday, April 26, 2011 © The Cairns Post IT'S big, likes to snarl its teeth, prowls the suburb streets night and day and has the taste for blood. Should this dog be allowed on our streets? A small wallaby was the latest victim of the unwanted White Rock resident and the outcome could have brutal for the small creature if it wasn’t for a passing motorists who saved him. The dog (pictured) also has a habit of bailing residents up in the street and many fear a young child will become victims of the mutt. “This dog likes the thrill of a chase and a kill,” motorist and White Rock resident Charles Sowden told The Cairns Post yesterday. “I have seen the dog bail an elderly couple up, my wife and also myself and next it could be a child especially if they turned to run away from it. “We were lucky we were able to scare the dog away by screaming at it and my two sons caught the injured wallaby who had fallen into a canal. “When we took the wallaby to a wildlife carer, he had another Joey there whose mother had been mauled by a dog so it’s happening to them all the time. “In the last year or so I’ve seen 15 to 20 dead wallabies in White Rock and most of them would be victims of dogs, maybe one or two of them have been hit by a car.”

Ohh I used to go there all the time until my girl past away, my boy doesn't enjoy it as much as she did. Its a great day and the dogs love it! And lots of lovely people there. As soon as the hear the motorbike start up every dog gets restless. I must go again soon. Hello, i`m a new member, do you know when the next lure coursing is at Kuraby in Brisbane and the location please? It's all there. http://www.qldlurecoursing.com/racing_information.html