Mrs Rusty Bucket

There's no rules or time limit. Something might remind you in 10 years time and you'll cry again... Hopefully you'll get a little bit stronger and cry a little bit less inconveniently. But you will always remember.

There is a shrubby tree out there known as "poison camel bush" (Gyrostemon ramulosus). I thought it was bad for camels, not so much that it made them poisonous to eat by carnivores. Then again there are loads of poisonous plants out there.

I will have to go back and review my course notes for the SG training through the "don't wanna, don't have ta", I think the method might be described in "ruff love" too. I admit my impossible dog - has made me learn far more about dog training and learning theory than I ever knew before, and a lot more about how to apply and use it. I always admired those people who could train killer whales to hold still for tooth exams - it's not like you could force one of those to do anything it didn't want to. But I had no idea how they did it. Dogs that seem like mind readers and super keen to work with you - are easy to train, but accuracy might be hard, eg if you don't say exactly what you mean on the agility course, you might find them taking a few extra obstacles for you. So high drive and low drive each have their challenges. I just know I find the demanding dog a bit hard to live with, ie the one that can't switch off and snooze when training time is done. My dog has decided jumping the 1m fence around the cricket oval is fun. Sigh. Is going to make the next agility training session very interesting.

a spaniel or beagle? Did you mean to write that? Kelpie? Always wants attention. Not always good with kids (depends on how well it is raised and its ancestry ie were the parents well behaved). Brittany Spaniels are gorgeous and don't mind doing obedience or agility. And are not easily upset or dragged into fights by rude children or dogs. I know of two bull terriers in my life that also fit that description. But I think you'd want to get a top quality bull terrier with known good temperment in the ancestry. And the owner would have to make an effort regards socialisation.

jacqui835 I think the Intermediate class at SAODC would suit you very well. Getting into it... what Ness said. But once you're there, it's easy to move around the other clubs if you prefer. Having done Obedience and Agility in Sydney should count for something. If you want to join SAODC (come and see if you like it first), you need to bring your proof of vaccination certificate. Ideally a C5 or equivalent. President of club is a vet and not keen on anything less. While you're at it, if you join and pass grade 3 (or grade 5) obedience, you can get something called a "canine good citizen certificate" which gets you a significant discount on dog rego (along with microchipping and desexing - much cheaper dog rego).

It's hard to be open minded about cigarette smoke when if you do go into a ward full of lung cancer patients - you find that 29 out of 30 of them smoke and the 30th worked with asbestos. And I don't like the way it makes me feel. It smells bad, it makes my clothes stink, it makes it hard to breathe and it makes my eyes water uncontrollably. And people who smoke on narrow city streets at lunch time have burnt holes in me and my clothing without even noticing. I view those cigarettes the same as if the person was carrying a sharp knife at thigh height because it's going to have a similar impact if I get shoved into it. It's like "do you mind if I poison you?". While I wouldn't make it illegal, I'd rather not stand too close to people smoking. I tend to go up wind if it's a social gathering. Or leave early if that's not possible. And yes, there are lots of people I know and like who smoke. My brother is one of them (on and off). It's just not that easy to quit - and that's another reason I hate cigarettes.

work ethic to me - is the dog that keeps fetching the ball (or doing something else it loves with you) until it physically can't carry on. Ie it's up to you to limit how long you work because the dog will work for as long as it can. That thing where the dog quits on you, can be trained out - SG has a method for it but I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. I think it involves keeping the dog on lead and not giving it any other choice but to work with you until you say it can quit. Ie it can do nothing, but it can't leave; or it can work with you until you release it. It requires the handler to be much more patient and persistant than the dog. Ie out last and out wit.

I go to SAODC (south parklands near corner East Tce and South Tce), They do obedience Tuesday am and night, and Agility on Wednesday nights. You have to have completed Grade 5 (dog does stay and recall - despite the possum distraction), and dog has to be over 12 months old. On agility night they are trying out a whole pile of new techniques vaguely based on the Greg Derrett Foundation and Susan Garret Foundation stuff, and it can be a little chaotic. Foundation class starts on the first Wednesday of each Month - weather permitting - you learn stuff like tug, and start- wait-go (start line stays) and some body awareness stuff - for the dog. Ie most of the stuff outlined as assumed/required for SG's success with one jump DVDs. Then they split into a "fun class" with people running sequences on lead (eek) and beginners, which has some more of the stuff from foundation, and some sequencing depending who is leading, and a bit of handling stuff ie how to get dog to turn around a jump etc. Most fun class - but you don't always get many runs - is "intermediate" for those nearly ready or just starting trialing - but not yet have novice title. It's mainly running a novice standard course. With some fun stuff like games night or split courses where there is a main course and a couple of practice ones. A lot of people who just like doing courses, but don't want to compete - do this class. Once you get novice title then you can do trialing class, which lately has a jump grid (like Greg Derrett or Susan Salo) set up and a more advanced agility course set up. And not much actual instruction or guidance on how to do anything. Ie by then it's up to you. There is also an agility club at West Beach. And another obedience and agility club at Mitchell Park - South side "Dover Gardens". the dover gardens website has a good list of all the obedience and agility comps that are on this year. And I think there is another at Woodville and another at Port Adelaide - tho not sure if those do agility or not. There is a mock trial in the evening at Gawler on March 12th... ie you can train your dog and use treats...

My dog, who freqently blows me off at club training - low drive? boring trainer? - blew me off at agility training last night to go possum hunting. But I got a second chance, I called her back - not very hopeful of success. But she came back at full speed and we bolted around the course, even did the weaves right, and screamed up the scramble and completely overshot the contact on the down hill side (sigh). Ie an extremely high drive (fast and excited) round after blowing me off and then coming back. I think it's got a lot to do with training. If the dog ever gets excited about anything, you can get it excited about training or working. The trick is to notice and use what it finds exciting. I think I'm going to buy some possum tails.

I've had my dog since puppy 10 weeks. She would always roll over for any other dogs including much younger shorter dogs. But lately she's also started standing up for herself and telling off rude dogs. Ie she was crawling in for a greeting when the Rotti she was approaching jumped on her, mine rolled over. Rotti growled at her. Mine prompty sat up and told the Rotti off for being rude - as best I can tell. And the Rotti backed off - no harm done. Phew. She's now 2.5 years old and she is standing up for herself more than she ever used to so I think it has to do with growing up. She has the most acute sense of doggy ettiquette I've ever seen, and is a master of the "non threatening friendly" greeting, but she is becoming less tolerant of rude dogs. Although she will tolerate puppies jumping all over her, just gets up and walks away if it gets too much.

Dog barks continuously while I spread my toast with promite then as soon as I turn for the door, she bolts for her crate. We love breakfast time. She goes in crate and gets a little bit of toast in the crate for each bit I eat.

What I do 1. only release dog to eat dinner when she is looking at her dinner. Trying to get her to look at dinner for a little bit longer instead of looking back and checking me to see if she's doing the right thing... 2. try the stand-wait-go with toy chucked next to me, instead of transfered from hidden hand to leading/pointing hand ie on me. We're not very good at this. 3. stand-wait-go with me next to a jump - only say go when she looks at jump, toss toy beyond jump and release when she looks at that - a bit hard when she's off with the fairies - but I sometimes release her whenever she's not looking at me, even if she's not looking at the jump or toy. Movement eg flying toy to where her line is - tends to get her attention. 4. chuck treats and release when she looks at the treat. 5. "Look" game, and point (with leading hand) at the treat over there (or tug if she's interested enough). "Look" game is starting to get her a bit excited. It's a hunt with fun things like food, mice, cats, possums, friends at the end of it.... Encourages her to look where I'm pointing.

Ptolomy Haven't tried clicking and treating for obedience moves at all. It's not done much at our dog club so not sure how well they'd take to it. This week's instructor would have been fine, I think. The scary one would get a bit fierce. But it's definitely something I could try at the park. I've been thinking to get something from a musical instrument shop that works like a clicker but sounds better, cos I hate the click noise. It's too loud and head penetrating for me.

My dog is a bit inconsistent on stand for exam. Give her someone she knows vaguely and likes and she's all good. Give her someone she adores and she's off to greet them before they get to do the exam. Give her someone that scares her - or me - and she crouches, squats and then ends up in a sit, as close to the ground as she can get without doing a drop. Eek. Blokes or certain instructors will bring this on. Sigh. If I'm working on SFE by myself, I do little walks around her and reward for staying paws put, but if she moves I turn her in a circle (reset the dog) and start again. When working with other people, I've tried catching her as she goes into the squat so she has to stay standing. Hmm dog slung over arms - much? Sometimes I just stand directly in front of her and keep talking to her, and build up from that. Need to practice with various people at the park. Doesn't help that her standard fav people greeting is all paws in the air - gimme belly rub.

a kamikaze of ridgebacks (or labs) a nip of heelers (ACD) they seem to like bitey ankle or each other's faces but if there's just one - blue kneeback glue. Unless there is a possum or a cat to be tree'd then it's byeee ACD

Frosty got a lot easier to train when I put her on a diet... Less food at dinner time and more for working has made her much more interested, but there are times where she'd rather play tug or chase than eat.

JulesP Have you watched the crate games DVD? What about if your dog was only allowed to play with you if he went in the crate first? Something like you set the crate up, get one dog out, you stand next to the crate and ignore dog until he goes into the crate and then you call him out and play with him, his favourite thing - whatever that is. Then you start again... Do you think the dog would get faster at going in the crate in anticipation of the game he'd get when you call him out? One of my dog's fav things is chasey. I got a fantastic stand-wait-go by playing games with her, but I didn't run for the chase game unless she did a perfect stand (no paws moving). And she loves that game now and she's very good at it. I can fake her out and she will stay put. Has trouble when a dog goes charging at her to get a tennis ball that someone threw next to her. But that probably won't happen anywhere it matters.

I think the crate games dvd is great for showing how to reward speed and enthusiasm, instead of rewarding slow plodding behaviours. But you gotta know what your dog loves and gets excited about and use that to "transfer" the excitement to other things. I guess with some dogs that might be easier than with others. I suspect with my dog - a lot of it might have to do with my lack of skill. But I have trained a number of other kinds of dogs including Aussie Terror and JRT and the dog I have now has been the hardest to train. Every other random dog at the park is easier. I will have 20 dogs lined up in front of me politely waiting for treats, which they may or may not get, and my dog is away over there, hunting baseballs. Which she trades for treats. Phew.

My impression of Susan Garrett's dog Buzzy - as described by her in the book and at the Seminar was he had OVER THE TOP drive. He was ballistic excited and did everything to extreme. For her, most of her work with him involved teaching him self control. Ie premack principle - to get what Buzzy wants, first he must do what SG wants. I've got no idea about whether my dog is high drive or not. She does get excited about chasing cats. And very excited about telling off a certain horse that should not be joining in with a BBQ. And this morning she said she wanted to chase a very rude cocker spaniel around the oval. Sometimes when I let her go, she pretends like she never wanted to do that, and goes sniffing. I think she could hold her focus long enough to complete obedience trials but I'm not sure I could or even want to. But we both love agility. She loves chasing and hunting things, and is happy to chase me. Still working on getting her to "go out" or away on command but it's mostly a communication thing, how do I tell her that in a way that she understands as keep paying attention to me but work over there, not permission to go hunt for possums.

For those of us who get dizzy trying to watch the youtube... http://www.behaviorworks.org/index.html go to the downloads > toolkit and download the pdf. There is more focus on what not to do than what to do (eg examples of what to do). The basics are there.

I don't rip my hand out of dog's mouth if she grabs hold, I slowly and gently push my hand further in until she tries to spit me out, and then I hold for a second, and then I let her spit me out. I try to take the fun out of the biting. I also give a warning "yeow" before I do this. And I'm really careful when playing with her to play no harder than I want her to play with me so I do lots of gentle massage like action not rough and tumble. And if she forgets herself, I definitely stop playing for long enough for her to notice.

I think I'd consider strapping it up with something with less stretch in it than an occy strap though the way it butts up against the head protector on the seat, you'd hope it wouldn't be able to go forward in case of a sudden stop. And I'd put a strap or two through the handles on the carry bag to further discourage forward or backward movement. It does look like a clever idea. I have trouble fitting my coleman gazebo in my car since I got a luggage cage and can't fit it diagonally anymore. It does fit if I take the poles out and put them elsewhere.

I'd second the dog star daily one and Ian Dunbar (site founder) has written heaps of books if you prefer a book. And I'd add this one All things Susan Garrett http://susangarrettdogagility.com/ She has put links at the bottom of the blog page to other excellent trainers and the Say Yes site has her books and DVDs. Crate games is the "beginner" DVD. I'm currently reading "Shaping Success" which is about how to train agility equiment but also how to manage an extremely excitable dog with reward based training. Don't worry about it being Agility focussed - pay attention to the methods. You may also want to find some books on "learning theory" or the science of learning. Which explains about reward based training and the disadvantages of aversive based training ie why "correcting" your dog may not have the desired effect.

A small dog would be good where the rubble is unstable. You wouldn't want something big making avalanches. My dog is extremely good at finding things with her nose. Mostly her kibble, but also baseballs and socks and people (who are trying to hide). I would think Beagles ought to be very good at it too. I've heard of SAR dogs being taught to indicate found separately to not-found and to have one signal for found a live person and another for found a dead person. And I've read one story of an SAR coming back and giving a combined signal for found a live person and a dead person. I've got mixed feelings about actually doing it. Would I want to send my dog to search an unstable collapsed building and potentially risk her life doing it? Saving someone would be great. Losing the evil hound would be traumatic. Losing the hound and a person because of a collapse - would be just awful. And I think I couldn't do it if I wasn't sure I could handle that. Eucanuba dogs had some stuff about SAR dogs in NZ a couple of weeks ago. Channel 7 I think.

My dog seems to attract toddlers (eek) and children up to the age of about 8 or so. They come running to pat her. And then I have to explain "she's not a toy". She also attracts retired farmers being a farm dog bitsa. She tends to repel some adults, especially some of the more feral sort. And she loves to encourage that by barking and lunging at them, usually after they stare at her then decide to cross to the opposite side of the road.