Agility Dogs

Who needs power? ;) When I was teaching in New Caledonia I stayed on a farm a way out of town - I had my own cottage, complete with long drop, cold shower and now power. I LOVED it. Really relaxing and the best night's sleep. (I think it was 3 nights.) Maybe you could use gas?

I share your frustration. Most times my guys are OK with other dogs approaching them, but at times they are not. It's rarely, if ever the approaching dog that gets in trouble, it's more between my guys with the puppy being told it's not OK to incite play by the older girl, then the older girl getting told off.....you get the picture. As a result when we are in an uncontroled environment I just assume that anyone I don't know is to be given a healthy and respectful distance. I think the problem for me is that they look at 4 dogs walking together and think they must be friendly, not for a minute to they think that 4 dogs might be a pack.......

For me - I make sure the place is better than when we arrived and I respect the wishes of the owners. Not everyone in the world is a dog person and people should not have to put up with my dogs or their smells (that I usually am not aware of) if they don't want to. Your cottage sounds wonderful!!

AWESOME. A lot of the dogs in the US are run by people who in theory 'can't keep up' with them - they just train better. It's just an inspiration to see people find other ways to keep having fun with their mates.

If you are interested in a positive club out a little further then the Agility Dog Club of Queensland is excellent. They train on Sunday afternoons.

This is a great post. Thanks!!

No, but I have a baby puppy to train instead. :) ENJOY!!

The 'shopping for available puppies' bit struck a chord with me. The puppy I've just had come to live with us is one that I've been talking to the breeder about for 12 months or more. This is the first time that I've known of a puppy when it was born and had the pup chosen from a litter for me. I think that it is possible to get fantastic dogs by getting dogs that are available at the time. (I know both my dogs that came to me at 12 weeks are fantastic and exactly what the breeder said they would be - give or take my upbringing. ;) ) BUT.......my latest pup was chosen from the litter for me and is the perfect match so far. It's worth getting to know a breeder and waiting for exactly the right pup to come along IMO. I have spoken at length with my latest boy's breeder for a long period of time and I know we have both checked each other out through mutual acquaintances. It can be done at arm's length, but IMO it takes time to build that relationship. It's not a matter of what is around now.

These ladies are really good and have spent a LOT of time over the last couple of years learning all they can about not only Susan's H360 but also other motion based handling techniques. I really recommend their course for what it's worth. :)

I don't think any dog suits a first time owner. Reality is that unless you've grown up in a dog family (and therefore are not really a first time dog owner) it's a bit like your first child. You go into it with your eyes wide shut and muddle through. Some of us just do a better job than others and are ready to make the compromises that being a 'good' owner demands. It's easy to say 'do your research', but seriously....how many people on here went into dog ownership fully informed? In the end whether a person is a first time or 15th time dog owner their personal circumstances and motivation levels are going to dictate how successful they are. Of my 3, agility aside, my first was the most challenging as a dog owner and we made it through.

It probably wouldn't bother me if he barked and still worked OK (plenty of agility dogs that do this lol), but he barks and loses his brain, which is a problem. COMPLETELY agreee

I don't know about other sports, but my girl Xena has an opinion on everything. It started out just when I was late or unclear on course, but it has escalated to pretty much every time we change directtion, move towards any obstacle that is not a jump or perhaps take a breath. LOL. It makes no difference to her performance, she's quick, she's happy and she's accurate (Q's at between 60% and 70% and wins 85% to 90% of the classes she goes clear in.) I'm happy to wear the barking to see the fire in her eyes. That said - time over, I won't be teaching another dog to bark on command. LOL.

3 for us, but 4 in about 7 weeks time. You can't have just one Border Collie.....and if they are all the same colour no one can tell, can they? We often have 4 or 5 when we look after friend's dogs. 4 is a good number. 5 gets a bit manic, although that may be the mix rather than the number.

I went to reply, but I don't think there was a response to match how I handle it. I let my dog growl, but I also listen. If it is growling it is saying, I'm not comfortable with this situation, let's go. I simply say, this way and we leave the situation - dog has not been told off, but knows it can trust me if it is not comfortable. :)

Don't let silly human ambitions get in the road of having fun with your dog. If it's not fun for both of you then you are doing something wrong - time to rethink.

My first girl was from a pet shop, she was (maybe) six weeks old when we got her. She is INCREDIBLY high drive and highly strung, but nothing bothers her, she is at home in any social situation - doggy or human. It's far from ideal, but not the end of the world.

Personally I've decided that as long as my health remains with me my last puppy will be somewhere between when I'm 65 and 70. (I'm now just over 40 so a few to come!!) I want at least one puppy when I'm not working full time. After that I have dreams of either giving homes to elderly BC's or having rescue Greyhounds. I just hope it all pans out the way I want it to!

Hi Lisey, QAJDC has closed the club. Members have been offered free membership at either BAD (Brisbane Agility Dog Club - trains at Carina) or ADCQ (Agility dog club of Queensland - trains at Ipswich). PM me if you would like more details. Cheers Tony

Agree with what the others have said. The other thing I've been guilty of in the past is not rewarding heavily enough. As long as having really short sessions make sure there are LOTS AND LOTS of opportunities to earn reward in the session while you are looking for focus. I started with 3 or 4 rewards in a 30 second session, that same dog will now work for 5 minutes with a much lower level of reward.

These are great! I love "Woo twist" :laugh: :)

Yes, yes, yes and yes some more. Nowadays though, it seems like everyone is so focused on trying to raise the "perfect" dog, that we seem to be losing sight of the fact that they are dogs... not four-legged furry humans. The constant bombardment of TV shows regarding problem dogs and how to "fix" them, the constant media hype about dog attacks, the conflicting "advice" regarding training from so many different sources... is kinda making it seem so less rewarding an experience to live with a furry companion... instead it's a constant "am I doing the right thing" feeling, or "if I don't act on xyz right away, is Fluffy going to become one of 'those' dogs"... This is so true.

I love the way dogs move - so cool to see when you slow it right down. Not nearly as professional, but these are some of my guys I took at Bribie one day - they are stills put into a video, not a video as such. :)

My bad. At the end of the day I guess the point I was trying to make was to reassure the OP that it is not the end of the world to have a pup that is <8 weeks old and that they can still do great things with their pup.

This - 100%. You need to take responsibility for your dogs saftey.