ness

Yep Kavik you are correct - UD is a box, UDX is cones. Ruby I'll see if I can track down which clip I put my preliminary hoop work on when I started with my baby. It might give you some ideas. I think from memory Ptolomy picked it to pieces but hopefully its a starting point. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=x-4V8GL60mM

Hmm not running but my girl was regularly walking (well me walking her running) 4-6km twice a day for a good number of years before I was too lazy to walk that far. Didn't do her any harm but she is a BC.

Thats what DOL meets are for .

Yeah that is my thought if it was a UTI it would have been more consistent. No trouble today and she went to the pool for her usual Mon arvo swimming session and was happy and certainly I would have thought if she were in pain in anyway then she wouldn't have been keen to swim as much as she did. Oh well I will keep an eye on her and if it happens again take her to the vet.

Puggy - nope at this stage its just been the twice. Once Fri morning. Once Sat evening. She otherwise seems fine. I did speak to a vet on Sat night and she said it depended on whether it continued. At the moment I have decided to hold off taking her unless she does it again. She sleeps inside over night etc and there have been no more instances as yet and I would know about it as she sleeps in my room. She hasn't increased the amount she is drinking any and when she goes outside she goes normally. She doesn't appear to be going any more frequently then she would in the past. Completely confused and the only thing I can think that was different about the week was that she went to the chiro.

Boxes are easy. You go to Bunnings and ask for 4 x 1.2 m lengths (or whatever length 1.5m is the trial but 1.2 fits better in my car) - I got 25 mm PVC. Purchased the 4 corner sections and assembled at home. Easy ;).

Way to go Laffi and Midge ;) .

Congrats FHRP with Polo. I do have a brag from last nights obedience trial - we didn't pass either but I had Ness entered in both Open and UD on the one evening (is still a relatively green UD dog) on Sat night. She gave me two super rounds. Her UD round was the best she has given me all year only failing one directed jump and then deciding the sit and wait before taking direction/sending part on the gloves exercise was optional . Her UD round was so up it was like being in control of a high performance vehicle and having to keep it in a 60 km/hr zone ;) . She has never been that high in a trial. Considering she is also battling not sure what at the moment to have given me that much precision obedience in the one evening I am so pleased with her. She only mucked up one open exercise but otherwise would have been sitting on a 190 type score :p . Absolute stunning way to have finished off the obedience trials for the year - just a shame we are going to have to wait so long before attempting a UD pass again. Its only just coming together . Never mind two single night agility trials and maybe we can finish off the year with a few passes there.

Hmm I haven't watched the clip but if you want a drop for obedience you want a foldback drop as its neater and therefore better taught from the stand.

Congrats on your pass MSF with a nice score as well. I think a lot of the dogs were fired up last night - not sure if it was the cooler trialing conditions. Don't give up - there are easier and more difficult to motivate dogs within all breeds - yes I have BCs but my two are like chalk and cheese in the motivation stakes. There are still working dogs who have a very much whats in it for me attitude towards obedience. However as I have had drilled into me in the past 24 hours its not all about the piece of paper at the end (and sometimes its hard to remind yourself of that). I noticed with my own girl that since my attitude has finally switched to lets go have fun in the ring rather than about chasing legs towards titles and trying to prove a point that her work and attitude had a huge shift. No we didn't pass last night but we came an aweful lot closer to that first UD pass .

I know laffi - starting to regret having taken her to the chiro now. I just don't know it that could have caused it but its a bit to coincidental to not consider the idea. She was at the chiro 4pm Thursday afternoon and she had problems Friday around 11am.

Just after some thoughts - I took my 8 year old desexed female BC to the chiro last Thursday afternoon. She had adjustments made to her lower lumbar region. Friday morning after our usual walk she was sleeping in the kitchen and woke up in a pool of water. She was rather stiff in her hind end (well compared with normal). Same thing happened again at an obedience trial last night. I had put her through one open round and then put her back in her crate in between her next round and she again woke up having weed her crate. She has been a bit flat for the past week but I just thought it was because she was sore. She worked a lovely obedience round last night - probably the best she has ever worked. Took her and her sister to the beach for a good run and she ran hard so I don't think she feels unwell. She doesn't seem to have a problem when she goes to bed overnight and its just been on these two occasions. I am trying to work out whether its just coincidental that its started after she has been to the chiro or whether he has somehow caused it when he adjusted her. Any body had any experience or got any ideas? Obviously I didn't ring yesterday as I wasn't sure what it was but after 2 incidents I would be looking for a cause. Just not sure if I ring the chiro back or ring and make a vet appointment tomorrow or both.

New Rules - different toy - fleecy tug this time. Both girls went and got it all 3 times with the same level of enthusiasm. Ness did her proper presents as she would on a retrieve and Kenzie returned the toy to me (but she doesn't have a formal front yet).

Bugger now have to go play again. Back later .

Tried it with Ness and Kenze. Ness only nailed the third one and probably thought it was some weird kind of proofing exercise . Kenzie also only nailed the last one which is funny because she has no verbal command to retrieve but obviously has picked up on Ness's commands. I might give it another go when I am functioning a bit better then I am at 6:30 in the morning .

Ptolomy why did you have to set it at 11pm!!!!! - I want to go play now.

Hmm POW - there is a long and a short answer to that question . Probably not as much as I ever intend to and I have probably spent to long on certain bits. Will say at the outset its mainly all done off-lead even at club as I know she isn't going to make a mad dash anywhere as she finds sticking with me that exciting. I spent a truckload of time asking her to set up at heel and no more then that. First it was lured either with food or a toy. Then when she was doing that I would ask for it whenever I saw the opportunity. So we would play that game at home, at the park, at agility training, at obedience, any time she wanted anything. Before I chucked her toy, before I would rough house with her, before we tugged. I would vary my reward too. Sometimes I would reward with food, sometimes a toy, sometimes a pat. In the early days when she was a baby I did a lot of just letting her tug in a rough heel position while we were at trials in fact anywhere. I would set her up alongside walls so she learnt to keep herself straight. I guess I have been fortunate that her focus as always been good and she hasn't learnt to be anything else. I gradually started maybe doing 1-2 paces and rewarding, then increasing as she was maintaining focus. I did have to start off in slow pace as otherwise she would bounce all over the shot and try and grab my sleeve. Sometimes I'll do half a circle of heelwork and reward with a game of tug or food. Other times a few paces. When I took my two girls to the park to see just how long Kenzie would last with absolutely nothing on me or anything to bribe her she got to 29 seconds on a first attempt. That was just walking to the park getting her out and starting to heel. I was shocked as before that I really had maybe only done half circles with her. I will point out at the 29 seconds it wasn't because she lost focus but because she decided to jump and bounce at my jumper .

She did in novice yep and I think the double heel pattern didn't help the situation but there was also a lot of other that was different. Such as she was trained in classes from a young age whereas my baby hasn't been put into a formal class yet and I think that is probably the key to the difference - I know at 7 months Ness also use to get comments on her heelwork about how wonderful it was but by around 14-16 months it had started slipping quite considerably. By all means cash in while the time is right but I don't think that pushing for endless heelwork on a baby is the solution to that. Guess its horses for courses. I guess its just a difference in training and I will certainly be taking building duration heelwork not only more seriously with my younger girl but over a greater length of time. In no great rush to push her and I'll let it develop as it does.

POW - hmm yep and then you can make a whole lot more of your own .

I am finding with my second dog that I am doing things differently to try and compensate for the holes in my older dog. So where one has a weakness the other has a strength. I guess thats what happens though. You keep needing more dogs till you get the balance right .

The duration of the heelwork required can be longer at the higher levels but by the same token that depends on the judge. I have seen CCD and novice heel patterns that have been longer and more complex then open and even ud. But certainly the focus and performance is the same. I am having problems with my older girl at the higher level (she is trialling in UD) but being my first she was trained up for each level as we went. Her heelwork is the one thing that lets her down and prevents her from getting the top scores she is capable of.

The only flaw in the progression as I see it is with the heelwork. Other than that I agree the exercises progress well. Or maybe its just that I think its unfair to ask a baby to heel for 2-3 minutes in perfect focus and I am aiming for at least double what you would get in the ring and under whatever distractions you might find at a trial. I think its something better not rushed as its the one behavior that once it falls a part is the hardest to fix (well from my observations).

But DD then what you pass Novice, Open quickly and the dog isn't ready for UD. Suppose you can keep trialling in open. I just think the way I am training heelwork is going to be the last behavior that I will have totally trained. Sure I could flog it now and I am sure she would quickly be at a level that could get her a 190 in Novice but there is so much else to teach and there is no race to get titles on your dog so whats the hurry. ETA. What is one judges 190 is another judges 180 etc etc. I also believe the new rules do make it easier for dogs to score higher then they have in the past. Especially having one heel pattern in novice. Looking at the marks rarely do I see novice dogs lose much for the COP/recall/SFE but most of the marks would be lost in the heelwork. So I guess what I am saying is that I wouldn't necessarily go on a score as such as a gauge as to whether my dog was ready to trial.

about mixing them up somebody said geez your dog works well and I wish my dog would work that good. Only problem is I am not sure which dog they were talking about. I had Ness out for maybe 5 minutes or so but I also had Kenzie out . Kenzie's only real problem at the moment is that she occasionally thinks when she has done enough that she is able to self-reward by grabbing and tugging on my sleeve . Oh I have got one sure fire mechanism to keep people from telling me she is ready to trial and that is I haven't taught her how to stay as yet . Well ok she does but not for very long. More important things to teach.

DD its not hard to wait - well not when somebody threatens to beat you with a stick for even entertaining the idea of trialling too soon and when somebody keeps telling you they are worth saving .