ness

LP going to hijack your thread - this is what we do when there is no obedience and agility . 2 Food/2 Toy game: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnpH4PYl3o Susan Salo Jump Grids Set Point: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0tYbxDSRHLM Straight-line Grid: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=npmsgZpqebY

fair enough LP - oh and we go to the park and throw food and toys around does that count .

LP - no obedience or agility we drag out the jump humps and start flogging babies to do jump grids .

Luke W - the only problem with a trip to WA is if your anything like me one day of training will leave you crying out for more. So you end up staying a few weeks and not wanting to leave . Its the only place I have been on holiday where I really don't want to come home .

Ptolomy. A day with anybody over there is worth its weight in gold.

Detol, baby oil and metho. Maybe. At least thats what I got when I googled bites, detol and baby oil. http://www.4wdmonthly.com.au/forum/sitemap/t-40681.html

This is some such older footage of my foot dependent dog after she had got her CDX . http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=DYb4bR_4DpU I know with her when I was trying to reduce her food dependency I went right back to scratch. I got told by a WA guru who was helping me at the time that to keep working at her play drive.

I won't tell you that was Kenzie on a bad day . Actually she is a devil because she will offer me longer and nicer heelwork when I don't ask for it. The problem I have with Kenzie is that if I push duration too hard depending on her mood she just gets jumpy and starts trying to self reward on my sleeve. She can give me 30 seconds minimum with absolutely nothing visible or hidden on me to reward. That was maybe back in November and I have been rather slack since. Spending more time working on stays now so I can start work on some of the agility type exercises which require the dog to wait at the startline - jump grids and SG's one jump work. Jules there is nothing in there - at least not the first time. I still find it harder to reward in good position when I have the food not in my hand and as she pushes me as hard if the food/toy is in there as it is when its not there I tend to mix it up. On the whole she has more sessions with no food/toy present then she does with it in there but since she has been starting to forge ahead a bit I wanted to be able to reward better in position which mean't putting the food/toy back in the hand.

Here you go Luke W - my pesky 9 month old BC. This is what we spend most of our time doing. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=driDwv6CvD0 And here she is doing some training the other night: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ygufKZm1lvk

Not sure if this helps but I was watching a video on 2o/2o contacts and they said reward the dog from the opposite side to where you are standing. So they don't start automatically turning there head back to look for you. Is that what you were having problems with? I am not particularly clear at explaining it so my apology if its not clear. Or what about placing the reward out in front of the target and releasing the dog forward to the reward. Would be easier if you had a second person to remove the reward should your dog self release but it might still be workable. Else could you click and throw the reward forward so the dog drives ahead rather than looks back at you.

Biker girl - Kenzie sure had fun playing with the boy you bred. I have another great trial moment for Ness which would probably come close to her obedience performance at the Royal and that would be her two masters passes - one agility and one jumping at our club trial earlier in the year. The masters jumping pass was the final pass towards her title and what makes it more special is that I had badly sprained an ankle and for my little girl to manage 2 passes in the one day with me hobbling around would have to high up there on the list of 2008 great trial moments.

Stole this idea from the show ring and thought since they have there best show moment for the year why not one for us triallers . To get the ball rolling I have to say without doubt mine would be Ness's performance at the Adelaide Royal Show in Open Obedience. She worked the round of her life to be sitting in third place on a score of 189 behind two absolutely stunning Western Australia dogs (also owned by two people who I greatly admire for their dog training and handling ability and who have taught me plenty - you guys rock and you know it). Unfortunately she broke her down stay so ended up not qualifying but I still take heart in the fact it would have taken two interstate dogs to have beaten her on the night and she put in a performance worthy of matching it with the best of the best. She would have placed ahead of a number of SA's great dogs and handlers many of whom are UD and even OC titled. The two dogs who would have beaten her are the same two that had great success at the Obedience Nationals - winning classes. For my girl to have worked the round of her life under such distracting conditions as an Adelaide royal (and also to have backed up after a UD round the night before) would probably be one of the special memories of the year. None the least bit to do it in such wonderful company. Even the judge was nearly in tears for me when she broke her stay and we certainly got a special mention at the presentation.

My 9 month old pup is a bugger for the hanging around bit. If we are playing ball/training as whenever I throw the ball I'll get her to do something, I'll put the ball away and we will walk. She then starts offering prancy heelwork at me in the hope of me getting the ball back out again. And the bugger about is that her work is soooo nice it takes a lot of self control on part to not give in.

Ok here is a Jan 2 one from me. I took some yesterday but they were shockers. Canon 450D Focal Length: 28 mm ISO: 400

Not sure I can help much but I fell into this trap with my first dog and it was hard work to undo that reliance. Having said that she got her CD (under the old rules) and CDX in straight numbers of trials. My 9 month old BC baby (aside from being a different dog to train) I have made certain from the time she was 9 weeks to not fall into that trap. I will ask for behaviors wherever I am and not necessarily when I know I have food or a toy to reward. Sometimes her reward is a good game of chasey. If she is learning something new I might lure it a few times but after that I won't. She is more toy motivated then food however will certainly work for both. I have worked hard with her to be able to reinforce with a large variety of items so she never knows what she might get. I think that in part helps at reducing the reliance on food. If you can build value for a game of chasey for instance you always have a "reward" available. I don't know if its your problem or not but I found with my first that part of the whole reliance on food issue was handler driven. I was afraid to ask for stuff unless I had food on me/food available to reward her immediately. I had also inadvertently trained the food as part of the cue to work. With my older girl I have worked with lots of jackpots and containers of food placed around where I train. Initially within sight and once she did as I asked (not matter how slow to start with) we would run and she would get rewarded. You can eventually place the containers out of sight so the dog never knows where it might get a reward from. Not sure if this helps or not. I am a bit slack with my old girl now (although she is competing semi-successfully in the UD ring) - hoping 2009 is our year for a couple of passes but I know its a hard trap to get out of if you have been in it for a while. She is now 8 years old and I think was around 4-5 when I realized how food dependant she had become in order to perform.

Well after a very late night (try not getting home until 4am this morning) the gods for the most part listened to some of Ness's requests. She put in two more than respectable rounds - both in Open and UD. No pass in either of them but very nice scores all round apart from a couple of minor stuff ups in a exercise here or there. And hmm I think I upheld my end of the bargain maybe - will see what the video shows hahahaha. Got to say though I am thrilled with her UD round so fingers crossed for a UD pass or two during 2009 . Now going to enjoy 4-6 weeks of nothing (well ok flog the baby time :rolleyes: ).

Alright maybe I'll settle for no missed positions in open as a compromise and mum apparently promises to get her footwork right tonight and to keep her end of the bargain - will wait and see there but maybe I might have to buy her an ice coffee for her jackpot ;) .

Dear New Years Eve god..... I have been VERY good today. Given that its mum's birthday today could we please try and arrange to pass something at the trial tonight. If I can please put in an order to not miss a position all evening in either open or ud and try really hard to get my directed jumping correct and get through to articles and still be passing it would be much appreciated - I know I was pushing mum's buttons the other night and how much it would make her day if I nailed it this evening. I might even slip you a bone if I get bonus ones. Ness

Just PMd you but yes I have done the Shirley Chong retrieve with zillions of other objects all of which she grabs at more than readily. Just the darn metal object which for some reason is causing us grief. She will hold a metal teaspoon, I have given her car keys to carry around when she was younger so its not as though she is lacking exposure to various surfaces.

caffy, so come on out with some useful advice since Ptolomy is obviously still occupying those feral red dogs :D . ETA. Besides you just know I am jealous and would love to live there. Oh well guess having my WA bred girl is the next best thing for the time being.

. She is just a weirdo but then what can you say she comes from the west and I hear the water over there does some very strange things to both humans and animals alike . Certainly wouldn't change anything about her though :D .

Hmm we were going to try the scent part but I didn't get that far :D . I am not sure how to convey what I want when I don't have food to reward or a toy of higher value then a scent article.

Argh ok I tried with the wood and she thinks retrieving the wood is self-rewarding and won't take anything else I offer. Still can't get her fetching the metal either. In fact she won't even put her teeth around it. Bugger.

Well RubyStar I am trotting off to an obedience trial tomorrow night .