Mrs Rusty Bucket

I've used blocking ie I get between my dog and the source of her excitement with my back to it and facing her, and block her view so she has to look at me. And I reward that. Stopped her chasing horses, cats, model cars, airplanes etc. I usually add "leave it" when I get her attention. Still working on leaving it possums. Trouble with them is I want to chase them too. I'm almost as bad with the cats but I worry more that they will inflict damage if dog should corner one. Which, when I think about it, isn't entirely sensible. Possums can do a lot of damage too. Going away from the exciting thing and only returning when calm helps - which might mean approach and retreat and approach and retreat repeat... Sometimes I will draw her attention to a cat "Look" and then tell her to "leave it" and reward. Ie just because it's exciting doesn't mean she can chase it.

need a snik proof lock on the toy box. Or a large pile of tin cans precariously stacked on top. Will wake everybody up and spring the dog red nosed.

Susan Garrett's warm up routine included as best I could tell... Some dynamic stretching eg running with high knees, kick yer bums, side ways, sideways the other ways, grape vine, backwards, lunge steps, and she has some ham string/glute varations that involve lifting knee high and across the body. Not sure how you do that dynamically - will have to ask. She also does some doggy massage and stretches, and thinks calming thoughts (meditation?) and she also does course visualisation and review. Not sure where that fits with the other stuff. Greg Derrett (foundation handling) stresses routine set up in the ring which includes picking his dog up and placing it in a stand and then giving it a tug on the scruff (cos he takes the collar off), before telling it to wait. Ideally, before a hockey game I usually do a slow warm up jog before starting dynamic stretches and finish with lunge steps and a bit of sprinting and zig zagging. My dog is good at zig zagging training. I either try to catch her or I try to get away from her - good zig zag randomness. And then you need to do a bit of arm action with all that. And then some exercises the same as what you'd do in competition - although it's ok to break them down into single steps or chain a couple of things rather than a whole game/course worth of stuff. I think you'd have to bring your own gear for agility training to get the most out of that. Horse Eventers - do about 40 minutes of warm up - depending on how stiff their horse gets... which involves walking then trotting then cantering, and jumping, and more trotting and cantering and jumping and some standing around chatting... Interval training is good too - I suppose that's usually how my warm ups go anyway. Ie back to the bag for the spare whistle, and run, and a drink and run and some tiger balm... Interval training is where you run a short version of competition eg 50m sprint, then have a walk back and chat, then sprint again. But you have to be warmed up first. The trick is not to spend so much time standing around in the cold before you start that you seize up and the dog wanders off to sniff possum poo. Why is it instructors wait until you've set your dog and then tell you all the stuff they forgot to tell you before?

This is interesting about fitness and mental fitness and warm ups. I mostly only know about hockey and athletics people fitness stuff. I know if I don't do much of a warmup or if the team doesn't, we tend to play like crap for the first 10 minutes or so. So we need at least 10 minutes of game speed warmup to function properly. And ideally warming up as a team, in a team environment doing something close to what we'd do in a game so mini games of left side vs right side or defence vs attack in small spaces are good as are tricky drills that force people to make accurate passes and think. It's hard to think properly when you're knackered so sufficient fitness to survive to the end of the game still able to make good decisions is important. If you're fitter than the other team or can wear them out early, it's easier to win. I imagine with a dog, sufficient fitness to survive 5 minutes of obedience ring is fairly easy. But how much mental fitness do they need to survive a whole day at the competition venue? And warmup - I imagine cold muscles would be bad for both handler and dog for an agility run, so for me that would mean five to ten minutes of solid running or direction changes and alternating sprints and walks, and I'd need to be fit enough to do that without getting brain fade in the ring. I find for my dog, if I arrive late to class - she takes a break in the middle for 1s and 2s, so I'd need to make sure that was dealt with first. If she's too excited she won't. So about five to ten minutes of boring walking around the football oval usually does it. And after that I'd want to warm me up, and I figure she's much fitter than me - as far as being able to run goes... so she could come too. Of course I don't do a ten minute run or warmup before agility training. I don't always do it before a hockey game, but I play better when I do. Get that heart rate up and muscles firing, brain working. And what Huski said about giving the heavy duty training a rest in the days leading into the competition is popular with most (human) sports. I have heard of track athletes completely stuffing themselves by training too hard the day before and the day of the competition. A lot of the top level athletes have a whole "tapering off" regime that involves training and diet. Though I'm not sure how much of that I'd want to do, given my fitness starts to drop off if I stop for a week. And is gone if I stop for three weeks. Although a break often improves other things (co-ordination and tactics) as bad habits seem to get forgotten.

I just hose my dog off and towel after beach. Problem solved. But if your hound has a golden retreiver furry level then that might be a soggy doggy problem. Are you coming midweek or on the weekend? Eg Bailey Oval near south road is great but has cricket on the weekends. Goodwood oval - the hockey field is usually vacant in summer though sometimes they pinch bits of it for junior cricket. There is also a sports oval between the airport and West Beach but you're not supposed to let dogs on it off lead or on the marked out fields - though people do. And there is Oaklands road dog park - but last time I went there, no dogs played with my EH, and I was constantly dodging dog bombs. Not happy. Other people think it's great. Theres a few areas in the parklands but they're knee deep in grass seeds at the moment.

You could get him a poo trap (eek) http://www.ohmidog.com/2009/08/27/crack-te...n-poop-catcher/ Or a nappy. Although that would still leave a cleanup problem in a slightly different area.

So I'm guessing you're allergic to water and would rather meet up somewhere with grass? Like a football oval? Trouble is Dec/January is unless you go really early or late, like 6am or 11pm they can be a bit hot (for me). And if you go on the weekend they can have sport all over them which takes the fun out of it for the average dog.

Is pretty hard to miss the beach - you just drive away from the hills. Ie opposite direction to the Royal from the Airport. It's practically walking distance from the airport. My fave bit of beach anyway (West Beach). But there's plenty of it to choose from. Most lawn next to beach might be at Semaphore - further north.

Does it like running a lot? Would an early morning beach meet up suit? I actually get to be home Dec/Jan. Unlike any of the rest of the year.

Good points all. We've been doing something vaguely equivalent to stage 1 for a couple of weeks, without closing the door. So stage 1 and 2 are really easy. Ie she does that exactly as described on the video without making any mistakes. Sometimes I under estimate her ability to learn. I taught her "touch" my hand that I'm holding out, ages ago, and didn't do any more with it. Wednesday night - people were doing "two on, two off, touch the jar lid with nose" contact work. And I hadn't taught her "touch the jar lid". It took about three treats for her to "get it" this morning on our walk. I hold my hand out, she touches that, I point at the jar lid - she touches that - wooo hoo. Probably need to practice it more but that was super fast. People were commenting how obedient she is, and I said we're just playing games. Obedient. Not. I couldn't get the composted grass clippings off her. Sigh.

Today's crate games - she does seem to be getting it. I didn't bother putting a collar or lead on her. She was barking at our new soft sided crate so I figure now's a good time for some crate games - raining and all. I got some chicken out the fridge. She goes in the mesh crate of her own accord, I gave her a treat and shut the door and then counted out about ten bits of chicken, and we did high and at the back no gambling but extended absenses out of sight by me - like out of sight stays - which she's moderately familiar with. Then I did the same thing mixing in a bit of open door gambling - though I didn't leave the door open and go out of sight - cos Susan G doesn't do that. I did have a couple of absenses with the door shut, for a couple of minutes at time. Did some more high and at the backs. She was learning to "pop into a sit" too, and even did a lie down during a gamble - woo hoo. So then I decided we were ready for "yer out, yer in" remembered to say the release word, invited her out and gave her a bit of chicken, remember no collar or lead, and she nicked off up the hall way. Nothing interesting up there so she came back and said "gimme chicken", I said "in the crate", she said "not going in there, honest", so I chucked a bit of chicken in, and in she went, so loads of praise, more chicken, shut the door, open the door feed up the back, shut the door, repeat twice, and then I said release word and encouraged her out, more chicken and finished. I figure with her, having kibble when she's out, doesn't make sense to her. It either means the same as chicken as far as she's concerned or she thinks I've run out of chicken (despite what she can see and smell on the shelf next to the crate), and she's only going to get kibble if she goes back in. Or she thinks something else. Anyway it's looking more like the DVD, which is promising. It only took about fifteen minutes, including me taking a couple of breaks to do other things, to run through this time.

She willingly goes in there if I chuck food in there. We can play yer in yer out over and over, as long as I don't shut the gate, and I don't have the lead on. This would not be following the instructions. I also can't tell if she likes metwurst (or anything else) better than kibble. If I put a selection of different treats out, she goes for the nearest, or starts at one end, and just methodically eats everything. Although she's not all that keen on cheese. She is very keen on anything I'm eating. Well until she finds out it is apple and not promite on toast. And somebody else's treats - even if they're cheese or kibble are always better than my roast chicken or metwurst. Not sure why.

The breeder could refuse to sell any more dogs to the dog basher. If they knew. I've seen a horse being beaten at an equestrian event. I was a jump judge, wasn't my jump but I was still close enough to get their number and report them and four others did the same. Can't believe the NZ dog show community just turned and looked the other way - yuck. I'd be inviting reps from the RSPCA to the next event where this thug is likely to be showing, so they can take him away.

My dog and one trainer are very fond of Metwurst. But it only worked to get her back in the crate if I dropped a bit in there. Her highest value thing is me - and we don't both fit in the crate. And she often takes me for granted, however a bit of crate training and she thinks she's going to be left in there without her number 1 favourite toy (me). I am still a bit fuzzy about how to use me as a reward. If she fails to recall - I hide - and that's quite effective. She recalls very promptly for quite a while after that.

There are the usual agility games eg snooker and gamblers. I fail at gamblers cos I can't get my dog to run the obstacles while I'm on this side of the tape and she's on the other side. We can currently do a tunnel and one jump after but no more. There is an English game that involves a dog taking a judge assigned toy and dropping it as close as possible to a 100 pound note. The catch is that the owner has to keep their butt on a seat over there at the side, and if they lift their butt off the seat, they lose. And I think there is a time limit. It was described in detail on the dog star daily site. Of course my team would be crap at that but it would show off the more advanced teams. I think lead out would be a fun game for agility. We'd have a fair go at that. And the "go on" where the dog can jump four obstacles to the finish - with or without the owner.

Hi Nekhbet Um, yes and no. You'd have to watch the DVD to get it, but essentially it's about teaching the dog to be happy and chilled out in the crate - for example at agility competitions and seminars. That's what your opening method would achieve. And then it's about using the "value" in the crate to build value on obstacles in agility or build drive, ie we try to get the dog to go fast in or out of the crate (on command). And use that to build a dog that looks where it is going on an agility course and goes there as fast as it can. Kelpiechick, I like your idea of using a different crate for training. Though it would be nice to have one where she's "ready to work" when I get her out to do an agility run or "obedience" training. Ie it's a drive trigger (eg hand on door of crate). At the moment, she's got no idea. It's hard to get her to "pop into a sit" when I put my hand on the crate. She's quite relaxed in there, lies down. Doesn't see me touching the crate as any big deal so I have to tell her to sit. But I guess that's ok - we just chain to get the behaviour. She's got no idea about the release word - like I said "cats" works much better at firing her out the door like a gun went off behind her. It probably doesn't help that I don't remember to say the release word ("go") when it's time for her to leave the crate. We ran through the whole routine through to "yer in, yer out" again this afternoon. She didn't want to come out. And then she didn't want to go back in. I cheated and dropped a piece of metwurst inside the crate, and she went back in and then I released her out again (for a bit of kibble). Kavik - I am also going to the seminar as an auditor - so I will bring a list of questions. I am also bringing the dog because I want to practice after class. Last time she had an extended break from me, she forgot all her agility stuff. Not good. Maybe we're going to have to wear name tags with our DoL ids on them. I'm afraid my nick name is a bit misleading. I've never been married and I don't look like a bucket. It had something to do with the dog wearing a bucket on her head when I met her. And loads of people mishearing her name "Frosty" as "Rusty", which I quite like as a blue coloured dog name. In the meantime - dog needs to be happy in the crate for extended periods of time (2 hours or so) - as she would even if I were in the class as a "handler". She's fine in my big white 4WD crate, but not so good in the little mesh one when she can see me over there and I'm ignoring her. If she can sit with me (a possibility) then all will be good and she will be quiet and well behaved. So tomorrow night's game may include a bit more delay between rewards to extend the time she spends in the crate. It sure isn't as easy or straight forward or as quick as it was in the video. Ie she breezes through stage 1 and 2 like they are nothing and then won't come out and won't go back in. After persuading her that it is ok really to come out, she then does a very lovely extended "Stay", I'm stuck there standing on the lead and she lies down and goes to sleep. Quite comfy thank you.

Hi All I know I've been recommending this DVD and it's been discussed in here before - but that was a year ago... http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=181652 So I thought I'd follow it through a bit more thoroughly. I made notes for myself to print out for instructions so I wouldn't have to duck back and play the dvd some more on the telly to see what was next. And discovered a few points of contradiction. Eg no letting dog out of crate until you've completed stage three, but in order to complete stage three, you need to play the "yer in yer out" game ie the dog comes out of the crate. In fact the collar grab game - also stage three involves out the crate without a lead... Maybe she meant stage 2? So I get the crate all set up. Actually it's been set up for a while now and I've been leaving the door chained open and feeding treats inside when the dog goes in but I haven't been closing the door - my dog isn't stupid, she knows what that means. But she's happy to sleep in there when I'm having a shower or making dinner. Tonight I decide before she gets her dinner we're doing the crate games thing till we get to stage three. So I get all the treats out high value, roast chicken, metwurst, fresh fried liver etc. And I count out little piles of 10 - for five to ten reps like she says and we breeze through stage 1 opening and closing the door without moving, and stage 2 gambling on leaving the door open, hooking the lead on and off, and get ready to start stage three having made very few mistakes. I didn't have to wait for her to "pop into a sit" because she was always sitting - treats nearby do that to her. So I hook the lead on - for her - leads are no big deal, she doesn't get excited about walk time like other dogs. Well not until we get to the oval... Anyway, have the lead on, open the door, tell her to "go" and she stays at the back of the crate with her butt welded to the mesh at the back. Boy have I done a good job. Oops. So I make a few more encouragements and she comes out, really carefully. Cos the last few times I faked her out and shut the door before she could get out. Not fun. So she's out now and really happy. And then she won't go back in. I have timer, after 2 minutes I grab her collar - ooh have we got opposition reflex - and she pulls back and I hold her in front of the crate and nothing. And after two minutes I let go and she offers up a sit stay, and then a drop stay - she can do that for ten minutes or so now. So I figure I'll hook her lead to the crate and make her dinner as extra incentive... still no dog in crate. So I do what I do to get her to go in there (when she's off lead) like we did to start the game. And after thirty seconds or so of complaining she finally goes in and I think I'll quit while I'm ahead and do a couple more open-treat-close loops and then let her "go" get her dinner, much faster coming out that time. But I'm thinking she's got loads of value on the crate, but not with the door shut. Or not if she thinks I will shut the door. I've gone wrong somewhere. I put her squirrel dude kibble holder loaded up with kibble and a couple of bits of metwurst in the crate and then go make my dinner. She has no problems going back in the crate to get her squirrel dude. Is just odd that she offered up a long stay instead of going back in the crate. So I will run through stage 1 and 2 again tomorrow before dinner (boy my back hurts after all that high and at the back stuff) and see if we get a better result. Note, I can get her in and out the crate easily - when she's off lead, and I don't touch the crate except to give her a treat (high and at the back). I dunno if it's worth building up to closed doors on that or leaving the door closed for longer or if that will just put her off more. I also don't know if it's bad to let her use the crate with the door clipped open like a kennel where she comes and goes as she pleases, or not. I think a dog can learn the difference between when I tell her to go in the crate and she can't come out until I release her, and when she decides she's going in the crate. We're also practicing a variation of crate games using the house. She doesn't get to go out until she's done a nice sit and held it while I open the door. If she won't sit, I walk away, if she gets up, I shut the door and wait. If she does a nice sit and holds it, she gets the release word - and then she drives out the back door. I'm thinking of changing the release word from "go" to "cats". Although that might cause other problems. Anyone else got any crate games training stories? What happened to last year's players? Stage 4 is naming the game (eg "get in yer kennel") and other stuff. So I assume the end of stage three - despite the dog being out the crate to do stage three - happens when you get to stage 4, ie dog is going in and out of the crate from a close distance, with reasonable enthusiasm.

I get my dog to give by stroking her under the chin. If she still doesn't give the object up, I push her lip onto her teeth. Gently. Or I push the object she has hold off back towards her so she spits it out. I use "thank you" to trade what ever she's got for a treat. Sometimes I have to chuck a bunch of treats so she drops what she has and goes and gets the treats. If I haven't got a treat, sometimes I pretend. Sometimes that works.

I use C'MON like Leyton Hewitt says it - because I can yell it a LONG WAY like COOOWEEE. I've heard of people using "free beer" and "treaties" and "HEEYAAHH" (here) etc. Mum used to use "Dinner dinner DINNNER"

I and Lesley Nelson - recommend tying a couple of knots in the long line, so you can step on it and hopefully it will stop when the knot hits your boot - but you need strong boots. And doesn't work with really big dog who will pull you over anyway. Then again - I wouldn't stop a big dog if I was holding the long line with gloves on either. I like sailing gloves - re-inforced for rope holding across the palm. I also like horse leads - because the rope is nice and fat. And I like roast chicken for recall. Or metwurst.

Mine is inside when I'm out. Don't want to make it easy for bad things to happen to her when I'm out - call me paranoid. Otherwise she can go in or out mostly when she pleases (or asks nicely) but not always. Walks - not when the weather is life threatening eg thunderstorms or over 35'C (hot pavement). And not when I'm too slack to go, but that doesn't happen often. Usually the consequences of not walking the dog make being slack difficult.

Colonel Sanders, the chicken was roasted and eaten and the eater crossed the road?

He makes a whole bunch of invalid assumptions about what clicker training is and then proceeds to rubbish something based on a big stack of nothing. And I couldn't find anywhere that he offered up some alternative method. Operant conditioning applies equally well to negative consequences as positive ones. Yet another attack on "educated" people. Ie if it's based on scientific study it must be crap.

Lock up your bitches is all I can say. I've known a few dogs that like jumping like that. We had one who would jump about 2m up into a fork of a tree, and then frighten out passers by, especially if there had been recent (ghost) stories of escaped panthers. And I'm worried about mine. She did a flying leap over my front fence - which is only about a metre high but until yesterday she prefered jumping the much shorter neighbour's fence... I blame the cat.

Oh yeah, I have to introduce each new calendar dog to my breathing dog otherwise she barks at the calendar. The worst one was the May jumping dog.