bedazzledx2

I would be inclinded to try baby oil or vegetable oil first. If that doesn't work and you do use the product, make sure you bath her thoroughly afterwards to get every bit of residue out.

This is what Zac gets his puppy biscuits for breakfast in .... brilliant! Gives me about 10 to 15 minutes peace http://www.ozpetshop.com.au/product_info.p...roducts_id/1831

sort of dog related.... what is the best choice of lawn that is dog friendly and is not too greedy with water? So far I have been told Sir Walter, Palmeto and today I saw a lovely lawn that was Queensland Blue. The area I need to re-lawn is 11 x 8 and it has some shade from gum trees. Any thoughts???

Doesn't work when you have a puppy!!!! Agreed. Mine are VERY lazy. Sleep allll day, even if I am with them. They don't hassle me for anything but breakfast and dinner, and once it's had, they go back to sleep

I wonder if thats an Aussie thing? My boy will walk off the couch with his front legs and rest his back legs stretched out for a while...one of his daughters does it too.

Family just don't get it sometimes...what another dog thing? and your going training..again???

Practice the broad jump on the other side...ie you stand on the left. Means the dog is not continually landing on the right shoulder...one of the reasons I hate that particular exercise. Another solution....change to change of positions

Yes they do get hot...I just have multiple blades to switch over. I cool my blades on the metal base of the grooming arm and swap them as they get hot. Some of the finer blades like the #40, 30,15, 10 will run hotter on the higher speed and therefore many groomers run them on the slower speed reducing the heat generated.

Geuine question...why the slower speed? I only ever use the fastest speed and have often wondered why there is a slower speed option.

Oh the stairs

I use a Clipper 6 for my Aussie and have purchased a Clipper 5 (smaller) for my Kelpie. Kelpie is growing like a weed so will probably sell the clipper 5 and get a 6 for him. I got mine from a wholesaler but Better Pets and Gardens have them as do City Farmers.

Ask about the zips. I have a cheapie which has small toothed zips that failed early. The more expensive one...(can't remember the name...N something) has nice big teeth on the zips and has lasted much much longer.

I took a chunk out of my finger last weekend setting up one of these...its nearly healed ... OUCH!!!

Terrific photos! How wonderful...a kelpie fest!!!

I know an Aussie crossed with a Shih Tzu....man that dog is fugly!!! He also has short deformed violin legs with the worst east west feet I've ever seen. He is also overweight but thats ok cause the vet says he's fine

My 12yr old BC does this for his dinner...unfortunately he is now forgetting that he has had his dinner and we're getting this more and more! At least I know what it is and can manage it a bit. To the op...can you video the behaviour and post it somewhere? No real advise, other than to say this is what my old boy does at 9:05pm at night if he hasn't had his walk. He gets up close, growls and barks into my face, clacking his teeth while his tail does helicopters. Then he slowly backs away. I just tell him to shut up and he goes and lies down. It does sound similar except for it going on for hours. Annie

....just wait!!! I got a new toy for Brookie...a squeaky chook...and produced it when he did some nice positions in motion. I got it back 5 minutes later after he had done several victory laps with it!!! Had to laugh at this bedazzledx2. Reminded me of when I took the dogs up to Sue H's Cam Tailwagger's camp - Sue nicknamed 9 month old Rory 'The kidnapper'. He still kidnaps his tuggies and toys and does vistory laps with them - but luckily, that hasn't translated to his training gear - DB, articles etc.

Glad you've got progress Shaping is awesome but it requires you to be fairly fluid and not to get stuck on any one step. Multiple reps are important but be ready to move on and up the criteria when she is successful at the previous step. I am shaping the dumbbell with my puppy at the moment but he is very different than my previous dogs...I chose him as the most tenacious in the litter...well thats one word for it!!! We were going great guns and were at the stage of open mouth and reach for it...then close mouth on it....then take off with it!!!! hmmmm not what I had in mind!!! Puppy is now on a lead while we shape the retrieve! He is just at the age of taking off with everything as a wonderful trophy :D Hi Sue & Cindy, I watched your clip a while ago but didn't have time to reply, so here goes. If you watch your clip you will see your dog interacts with the DB lots of times that you don't mark and reward, IMO she looks unsure as to what is being rewarded. You should read the steps over and over so your criteria of each step is very clear to you. You should also lift the DB everytime you mark her interaction with it so she cannot interact with it while you are getting a treat or what ever and not noticing what she does. The DB is not available to be rewarded until you represent it, she should be busting for the opportunitty to bump it again. You want her to be really excited to see that DB as that could be an opportunity to be rewarded. Also your reward marker could be quicker...YES not YEEESSSSSSS or use a clicker. The first time I used this method I had my chair next to the kitchen bench and the treats on the bench. so all I had to worry about was the DB and the clicker. Remember you should be getting 20 good solid nose bumps out of 20 before you move to the next step. From that clip, I don't think you are at the 20 nose bump step. Hope that makes sense and helps, you have most probably progressed since you posted that clip. Thanks for this-finally we have progressed and the handler is getting sorted out. After the above post I got 20 in a row of her moving to the dumbell and mouthing,

Very big deal indeed! WTG Dasha

Truffles!!!! ;)

I have absolutely no idea as I don't live in Victoria but for any training classes you are considering it wouldn't be a bad idea to ring them and ask if you can come watch a class. That way you can form your own opinion if this type of training would be beneficial to you and your dog before you outlay any cash.

To be honest corvus, if you came into a class I was teaching I wouldn't give a bugger what your background was. All I would be interested in is what your skill set was. Where are you having trouble and how can I, as your instructor, help you and your dog. ;) Patricia McConnell loves herding and I am pretty sure she attacks it with the same scientific scrutiny she attacks every interaction she has with animals. Some people just work best that way. I like to know the goal and then I work backwards in my head and fill in all the blanks. Without knowing the goal I am a handling disaster. Thanks, Aidan, that makes sense. I know you don't need the details to train a dog, but I don't think I will ever understand passionate trainers that don't love theory. There are lots of things I just do without knowing the why or how, but all the things I love I research the hell out of. :D That's how I get better at it. And practising. It's a mechanical skill. :D As enlightening as this has been, I still don't really know what to expect from trainers. :D I was sort of starting to give up on expectations all together. I am frankly too scared to ask a trainer about anything particularly technical at least until I know them pretty well. It seems like the quickest and surest way to make an enemy of them. If I were to come into your class, would you want me to pretend I don't know anything and keep out of your way? Or would you want to know what my background was? How would you feel if I wanted to modify an exercise you set because I thought I knew how to make it more effective with my dog?

....and then you move on to UDX :p There are some of us on here who are going to end up with the strongest characters in the entire universe thanks to UD. Me included

You know if you came to WA for a visit I'm sure your bright idealistic face would be radiant Some really really good trainers here who also understand the theory. I didn't, and haven't said I did. I know about EOs now. But it's beside the point. You can't claim that someone should know better just because they know some background stuff. As people keep telling me, there is a difference between book smarts and actual experience. If I've never looked for a trainer before, but learnt some great stuff from trainers online, why would I think there was anything to ask about? I just cared that the trainer used positive methods. Which turned out not to be true anyway. So am I to take it that you think it shouldn't be so hard to find a professional trainer that knows about things like establishing operations and Premack? I would so love to hear that. It might just make my bright, idealistic face light up again. I find this discussion quite bizarre. Why can't I be someone that simultaneously knows some learning theory and yet has very little experience with trainers? I've got better at picking them, but each time I pick a trainer, I know more theory than I did last time, so it is hard to keep track of what is a reasonable expectation. Why shouldn't I expect professional trainers to know more than I do? They are the ones with the formal education in it. Why can't I be a normal dog owner just with a special interest in training? Why can't the average professional trainer cater for that kind of dog owner?

Cleared now...thanx