ness

No SecretKei the midget thought she would help my decision by chewing on hers .

Go Team Toller .

Kenzie article update from tonight. Only her second session really and I actually think the penny as truely dropped. We were playing outside on the front lawn. I started with metals and she was happily fetching the correct metal article with no mistakes. I then quickly worked up to having three unscented metals - she was sniffing the incorrect ones and you could see it was a deliberate decision as to which she was bringing back. I swapped dogs to get Ness to practice her presents. Back to Kenz and she was still doing it so I had her find a scented wood in the pile of metals that were already there. I then went to adding another wood so she was working a pile of 3 metals, 2 woods (1 of which was scented). By the time we finished she was reliably working a pile of 3 metals, 2 unscented woods and finding a third scented wood. She was actually sniffing the articles and making a decision as to which to bring back . She was even able to remain focused enough to work while Ness was barking at somebody walking down the road Will keep playing around with this level for a bit as I think we have progressed faster than I would have liked. I have done a bit with her of finding hidden articles of assorted descriptions in long grass so she does know how to use her nose I just didn't think we would get this sort of progress quite as quickly. Ness took FOREVER to clue into the game.

Happy Birthday Aubrey - hope you have been thoroughly spoiled today .

Her purple black dog one which she has had for a while so I guess she was due for a new one anyway . It was starting to look a bit daggy as its her everyday lead which she wears all the time. More money :D . Might get another lead and collar. Ness has 2-3 black dog sets of varying quality so think her sister might be due for more than 1. I did manage to rescue it before she was completely though it so will recycle it to her beach set I think.

Stop it I am now in the market for a new lead and its all your fault :D ;) .

yes my nerves should be ok but try taking a new dog into the ring for the first time and you do get stressy. Its been ages since I have run in novice and I get scared by the lack of complexity in the courses :D .

Argh ok how many others have dogs who insist its all about them and chew through leads while watching another dog being trained :D ;) . It wasn't even the lead that was attached to her but the one on the ground which I had just tossed there.

Have to say thats very good delivery service from WA to SA - Australia post must have found the squeaking too much so figured they best deliver them quickly .

I just got a PM entitled OMG we have I-squeaks from Bully . Kenz says you better look after hers very well and she looks forward to getting them on Wednesday evening . Thanks again Sandi for organising it all.

Suppose you had entered a baby green dog in her first agility trial - because she can weave nicely you have opted to run her in both Open and Novice Jumping just to get some additional ring exposure without to greater expectations. Its a double AM/PM trial. Do has been proofed to stay at the start at training and is 99% reliable. You get to the startline at the trial and the dog decides to break. Would you a) continue to run because its only their first trial but go back to proofing them at training before trialling in the future or b) pull them up for breaking the start because you should be trialling as you train and by letting them continue you are setting yourself up for a struggle down the track. Its a hypothetical at the moment but might be a reality when/if I enter a trial shortly . My theory is that even though I have a proofed lead out at training or even at practice jumps at trials I am not sure how the dog will cope with being in a ring situation.

Ptolomy I need to do some duration heelwork with both of mine and of course some serious stay practice since stay isn't in our vocab.

Ducks on the Sunday, Sheep on the Monday at two different venues - Sheep clinic is the Saturday.

Tiggy - better to have multiple sets. I have 3 trial/training sets - they get used once a week for club training as well as trials but also rotated through for training Ness now I know she won't kill any of them, 2 sets which I have devoted to training the midget (and then Ness gets a play when I have finished with Kenz - my very special WA sets ) then - a normal set I bought years ago as a second set from a club here when I was training Ness but I don't really like them with normal metals and then an extra set of more knurled articles which I was kindly given by the person who first made and introduced knurled articles, and I also have another spare set of thick leathers .

Janba - sounds like a good idea to me :rolleyes: .

Way to go River and Zeta fantastic stuff :rolleyes:.

Goodonya - hmmmm Wry neck and the shoulder is just because I haven't been using it and lets just say maybe lifting heavy agility gear is to blame so possibly I should stick to the lighter sports :rolleyes: - drugs however are a godsend and now I can at least function again without snapping at the girls. Ok we just played a session - I was going to start out playing metals but Kenz doesn't like metals inside and since I had opted to play inside after she got confused with no reward for fetching a metal we switched to woods. I warmed her up with a few C/T for the metal and then added a second and then she went to grab the second one and at that point I thought nope we will switch article types. We had 1 scented down and 1 unscented and she was fine with fetching the scented, then went to two unscented still went out and got the scented, 3 went out and got the scented. Remembered from playing with Ness to keep adding articles quickly. I think we had one error when she just snatched the first article she came across. A few times she went to the wrong one, slimed it, went to grab it then kept hunting for the one I had placed. Switched for Ness - god either my articles are badly scent contaminated or Ness has lost the plot because she went out sniffed and returned with an incorrect article not once but twice . So now I am not sure if my articles are in need of some serious airing or if Ness was just having a night. Went back and did another 2 with Kenz and they were good. She seemed to be sniffing a bit and not necessarily grabbing the first article. ETA. Note to self for future scent sessions - when you have finished put box of articles away else a certain black and white midget will help herself to your boxes ;) .

We will play Ptolomy - I need motivation to teach Kenz something new . So how did Cider's session go :rolleyes: . Kenz had her first walk since Friday this afternoon, have buggered up my shoulder and decided finally today to go and get some decent drugs (she is use to being taken out twice a day and OMG was she pinging off the walls - bouncing head height in anticipation of fetching her ball). Got some lovely controlled heelwork out of her though just glorious . ETA. Hmmmm might go and have a go now since a certain feral is wanting something to do.

Wow Qld really are different to the rest of the country in more ways then one . Vetting here is only for entire bitches or those without proof of desexing. Often the trial secretaries when you have been trialling for a while don't even ask for certificates as they know which bitches are entire.

Ptolomy wrote: Sexi Lexi found a new partner (and a new handler - ME!) and kept all her bars up to take out excellent strat paira. Just want to add - pretty formidable midget strat pairs combination you have happening there = Go little Lex (and go the Spryte midget ).

Well done everybody . Fantastic stuff.

Just watched Caffy and Snazz's round - very very impressive stuff .

Go miss i-squeak . Think Beans will have her UD way before Ness even as a pass. And as I said to bedazzledx2 via PM - those 2 boys of yours are pretty amazing they just take whatever is thrown at them and seem to always come out with a nice round. Just goes to show you the benefits of a solid training program. Well done again everybody.

its amazing what you aren't aware you are doing until you watch it back on video. I know I am guilty of a few things like that.

Looking good Zug Zug. Just a quick observation from me - why when you did the DORs did you not use the clicker to mark the drop but only mark the front. I noticed you still threw a treat for the drop so just wondered if it was a reason behind not marking with the clicker.