bedazzledx2

Lots of kelpie there I think!!! Gotta love them :D Hi and thanks. Yes, Tishy is a kelpie cross (supposedly with a border collie, but I will let you guys decide where that might be!). She is not 18months yet, but she wants to be such a good girl, she just finds the self control too hard at times. lol It is okay, I like her personality (heck, I am besotted with her) and I know she does the things that are important in our house. The other dog I have is a ten year old male. Not really sure what breed he is, but I would say a lab/staffy cross. Would be interested in everyone's thoughts on that. Okay, I think I have worked out the whole picture thing. lol First one will be Tishy, then the other one

Huh???? Sorry Joe but I am an obedience judge and it makes no difference to me how a dog is trained when I am judging. Whilst I personally am a positive trainer I make no judgments on a training method whilst judging. A dog and handler will score high points for accurate work which reflects the Guide to Judges as laid down in the rule book. This fallout is sales talking for the positive trainers to give reason why their methods is better. Originally the motivational training getting popular because the dog has more spark in the trial and getting better points from the judge is how it starting then anti correctioning mob got hold of it and sell it for no corrections kind and gentle training. It had nothing to do with no corrections and kind and gentle to begin, its for scoring higher points in obedience routine on the trial. Joe

Woo Hoo!!! raising a glass to Moo!!! :thumbsup:

Get in there really early (there is usually a que) or leave it till the end of the session. If he's had an emergency in the previous evening (don't we all have emergency's on a weekend evening???) he is likely to be in late on the next morning.

LOL a big part of my training is the collar grab! I love clicker (and marker) training and shaping but conditioning puppies to hands on is very important IMO. I prefer to target train or shape rather than physically guiding but I think every dog should be ok with hands on. I think that is true. My last dog sounds more like your Diesel, my mally like your kelpie. I do use guiding with her, in a fashion, but tend to ask her to target to my hand rather than physically moving her. But on the other hand, I think you still have to teach them to tolerate being manhandled to a degree, even if they dislike it. If a strange person ever has to handle my girl, I don't want her stressing out, or even worse, taking offence and nailing them in the arm. I remember that as a pup she looked very shocked and upset when I first took her to the boarding kennel and the attendant moved her by grabbing her collar, as we just didn't do that at home. So when we got home, we had to train her that this was OK.

When I retire and can no longer do dog sports I'm gunna get me a couple of greys I've met quite a few ex racers and they are the most gorgeous dogs.

I find that teaching 'find the one that smells like me' is much easier than judges scent with decoys. I use a different article to start with rather than potentially 'poisoning' the articles used in a trial. For example you can use clothes pegs or sox or bits of PVC...doesn't really matter as you are teaching a concept. Have the dog retrieve your article around the house and around the yard. Maybe let the dog watch you throw it into a patch of long grass...he has to use his nose to find it. Once he gets the idea of hide and seek (using his nose) I would then start using a decoy as in the dog scouts method but not before he knows to go find your scent. Then I would start to use different articles so that he isn't just getting one particular article.

I'm looking to get a new mobile phone when my plan runs out in June. The i phone looks good and I love the pinch/stretch features but wonder about reception. I'm in the Hills and find my newish Samsung has crappy reception whereas my older Samsung which I gave to Mum has a better range...go figure! Can people who live in marginal areas let me know what phones get the best reception please.

What breed or mix is he? The only reason I ask is that if he is a breed that needs grooming/clipping that will be a big test. If he can cope with being handled and have his nails clipped and paws scissored he should be fine. I would ask the groomer to give you an honest appraisal and explain why as you don't want a false 'oh he was fine' if he isn't.

Ptolomy's got one pass already. The whole world's gunna hear it if I ever get a pass!!!! Hahahaha think i'll jsut aim to train for cd lol Just think bedazzled an ptolomy we will hear the cheer when you get that pass ;D

They have to be leather and the same size as scent discrimination leathers 150mm long, 25mm wide and no thicker than 6 mm. Fortunately the new rules allow us to use white leathers which I think helps a little.

Thanks ness...tis a bit pricey eh!

I couldn't find it on a quick looky...can you send me the link please.

Hmmmm I'd like to...off to have a look I've just bought a leash off the site and the Aussie dollar is pretty good at the moment. Your sendaways are pretty awesome...55m wow!!! Ours are a mere 25m.

I too would be interested if it translates as I know a few retrieving people who have found it doesn't over the short distance. The difference is that you can re-direct a retrieving dog and at a certain point their nose kicks in to find the bird or dummy or bumper. In the Multiple retrieve for UDX the distances are exactly the same as for gloves and the article is a scent discrimination leather which is very small and flat...its a bit like a needle in a haystack on a green field. To add to the problem I had to teach Brooklyn scent matching for the wash cloths, rather than hot scent. Now most dogs don't have an issue with wash cloths as they start out naturally doing hot scent. As we didn't have UDX when I taught him scent I actively taught him to get my scent rather than hot scent so that bit us in the bum when we took on UDX. Thats ok..just a teach which he is doing fairly well now. So here is his dilemma...the steward scents the decoy in the seekback, dog ignores stewards scent and finds my scent..that's fine. In the wash cloths the steward puts them out by hand, sometimes hanging on to one cloth while deciding where to put the others so we effectivly have varying degrees of stewards scent out there...dog fetches judges scent...fine...(remember he has been taught to scent match which was the intention of the exercise anyway). NOW in the last exercise the steward handles my multiple retrieve articles and puts them out by hand, sometimes completely hidden and the dog is not to use its nose to find them this bit I find insane!!! Several times Brook has taken a lovely straight line out only to sniff the article and reject it as it is covered with the stewards scent. I acknowledge that most dogs don't have this issue but as the Guru says...you've trained him too well!!! He is also a very literal dog and confusion blows his little mind.

The larger the ears the less chance of them standing up all the time. If they never go up then there's a fair chance they are not going to but if they do the ear dance then its a definate maybe I'll go on record and say I reckon your boy's ears will eventually go up :D

Condy's here too. Brilliant stuff. It'll turn white fur brown so you have to be careful how you apply it. I wet a cotton wool bud and dip in the Condy's and then just hold it to the nail.

That seems to be the UK system too. Must say I do like the fact that all breeds are able to get their titles and recognition for the work. I hadn't realized you only get a title when you win into the top class...thats tough!!! Yes and no. I love our exercises, but I really don't like the way that we must win classes outright in order to advance - that's very hard on those with less traditional breeds, & those new to trialling, as they must not only work to a certain standard, but also beat all the border collies and experienced competitors in order to advance at all! I also really hate the fact that you only get a title when you win into the top class, meaning that your work in the lower classes isn't recognised at all. I don't envy you the multiple retrieve, though.

I had to do this with my kelpie girl once...I used a baby's bootie and then vet wrapped it. I sealed it with elastoplast at the pastern. Poor Toby. I hope it heals up soon.

This is Zac's favourite toy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjYChyY0HJw&feature=related Keeps him occupied for ages. I made it easier in the beginning with smaller bickies and them used a combination of small and large bickies. Good crate toy.

Very interesting...thanks for posting the link. I must say I think your obedience is much more user friendly. I love that you are not penalized for verbal encouragement in the early classes. Your Test C is what many of us wanted our UDX to be but the 'powers that be' decided they had to tweak it out of recognition and thats how we ended up with this stoooopid multiple retrieve which gets interpreted as a blind retrieve...grrr

I washed a few in the beginning and decided that was too much hard work I have lots of sets and just air them. I usually keep out the two scented ones in training so I don't contaminate the whole set. I keep trying to remember to ask the steward in the trial not to put them back but keep forgetting! I also have the sets of 10 cleaning cloths from Bunnings...about $4.50 for a set and they are the exact size but as Ptolomy said they are a bit thinner, very convenient.

I hope this link works... http://www.ankc.org.au/media/scripts/doc_download.aspx?did=855 Yep it did scroll down to the last class....UDX starting at page 43...its a doozy!!! Can you post a link to your UDX please Staranais.

I'm loving the challenge of training this class but OMG its frustrating!!!! Thats why I thought it deserves its own Topic! I've come so close to a pass but for one bit of an exercise. Last week it was the sendaway...then it was the multiple retrieve (thats a heart breaker!) Yesterday was the down in the PIM. Everything else was pretty nice. Finally we have a fairly confident wash cloths even though the Judges always seem to put the scented one in the middle and my delicate boy doesn't like treading on all the cloths to get to the middle...go figure!!!

Hi ears may never prick and yes he could be pure kelpie!!!! My boy has a pedigree as long as your arm and all his line have pricked ears except his dad...yep at 6 months we have...hmmmm occasional ears. Sometimes up, sometimes down, sometimes one up one down