Kavik

I'm so sorry

I thought the Greyhound looked very strange! And agree with the others about the Irish Setter being a bad photo and the Samoyed looking like it needed more hair.

So glad they are going well for you MonElite! :) I'm hoping for a new addition soon - they will be around the same age! Maybe they can have a playdate later, it's been way too long since I saw you :)

I am so sorry to hear this

I certainly like to think I am open to new ideas :) . I have done two online courses in the last two years, and about to start another, they have taught me a lot of great things, most notably in my attitude and approach to training and are certainly responsible for a lot of my recent success competing

Agility training uses a lot of external rewards (food and toys) :) . I haven't done a lot of tracking.

I talk to the people at the Basenji stall every time I am at the Pet Expo or other places and they say they are difficult to train, are independent, can climb fences, and while they don't bark they make other strange noises. I think they are gorgeous so I always ask about them :)

I don't know that I would call a Basenji low maintenance, from everything I have read they are not an easy dog to keep.

Believe me, I didn't start out knowing how to do it, and it is not always easy :laugh: I still have some challenges to overcome with my current competing dog, but I am very happy with our progress I only do training in short sessions, no more than 5 minutes, I usually do around 3 sessions a day. A lot of the training revolves around choice and teaching the dog to choose the option you would like, and also teaching the dog how to fail and how to work through failure to try again. At the moment the training at dinner time with my competing dog is about having him choose to play a game with me when his dinner bowl is nearby, the training with my GSD (who is 9 and not interested in training) is to have him choose to do a nice close front and finish with his dinner bowl on the ground, I don't currently do any dinnertime training with my 13 yr old dog. Certainly, a lot of training methods work, and it is about finding the one that works for you, sits well with you in terms of method, and helps you to achieve what you would like with your dog.

Actually I think the colour that is 'red' in Kelpies is 'brown' in dobermanns :laugh:

I'm sure you taught your children to say please and thank you? You could think of training them for their dinner (or for their game of fetch) as the same sort of thing :)

I like to use the things my dog enjoys as rewards in training, so I can get better and enthusiastic responses and he learns that good things come through me. I use both food and toy rewards. He doesn't get the things he likes for free. This way I can train without the use of compulsion, by controlling his access to reinforcement, and it is win - win. Self control and drive can both be taught through the use of rewards, and we play when there is a job well done. It is a lot of fun and not a chore. Since you are going to feed your dog anyway, why not use dinner time to do some training? Even my lowest drive and most difficult to motivate dog will give me some good work before dinner :laugh:

I thought it was illegal to keep them?

I really should get around to watching the Susan Salo DVDs

Here is info on Recallers :) Recallers 4 will start in a couple of weeks. http://www.susangarrett.com/recallers-4-0-webinar-questions/ http://www.brilliantrecalls.com/standby_pages/6380 Puppy Peaks (I haven't seen this one) http://www.susangarrett.com/puppy-peaks-2/

Ditto Actually got out some of my training DVD's yesterday and was blown away by how little of them I have actually watched, either all the way through or not at all! I actually put the Mary Ellen Barry one on yesterday, and while I glossed over the first 2 DVD's as it covered a lot of what I've done already, I picked up a useful game to try with Pippa. Tugging in the face of distraction (ie. food!) She's a little piggy and while she loves to tug, would much rather the food!! Last night I did tugging with Kaos's dinner in sight to start I placed it a bit high outside so he couldn't reach it easily but definitely knew it was there. He went to sniff and check it out then chose to come to me to tug, with no verbal from me After a bit of tugging I then raced him to the bowl and gave him his dinner.

There are some exercises you can do without any jumps to teach focus forward/obstacle focus and front and rear crosses.

I just had a look at the Foundation Fundamentals set then - the content looks good One DVD I have found to be immensely helpful is Susan Garrett's Success With One Jump. Even if later you decide to use a different handling system, this DVD is fantastic for teaching obstacle focus, serpentines, threadles, rear crosses and more and they are all exercises you can do with one or no jumps so easy to set up at home. Out of all the DVDs I have I think this is the most useful. ETA: I love my club and they are great for help with how to walk and handle a course and they have some foundation work but most clubs do not have a lot of foundation work, and like obedience most top level competitors do a LOT more at home than can be encompassed by club training. This is partly because a lot of people who are just starting agility do not have an interest in foundation work and would not stay if they thought it was too boring.

They are awesome photos!

I agree with KTB. I watch the pound and rescue threads and I have not seen an increase in Kelpies in pounds - they have always been very highly represented

I got mine from Eddy, who makes a lot of equipment for Sydney people.

So sorry Perse RIP Hamlet

Don't worry that you are new :) shaping is tricky and requires you to work through frustration (the dog's and yours :laugh: ) while they work things out. Best to start with something simple. I am thinking of training my next dog with 2x2 but it does look complicated and I will certainly have to watch the DVD a few more times first :laugh: I trained Kaos with a mixture of methods - channel, slanted, 3 pole for entry (thanks to Vickie!) and he weaves fine. Good luck and tell us how you go :)

There are lots of methods to teach weaving. IMO it depends on a few things as to which method you decide to use. If you are relatively new to training, I think two good methods to use are slanted pole/V-weaves and channel weaves. Both of these make it easier for your dog at the beginning by spacing the poles out so they do not have to bend at the start. * Slanted poles - instead of having the poles upright, have them slanted outwards so that it makes a "V" shape and the dog can see down the middle. You can then send them down the middle to a toy or food reward. Once they get the idea, you slowly start straightening them up * Channel poles - instead of having the poles in a straight line you make a channel by offsetting every other pole so the dog can see and run down the middle to a food or toy reward. As the dog gets the idea you slowly start bringing the poles closer together. Here is a video I found very quickly showing you the idea. I'll post another if I find a better one. With both of these methods you will also want a method to teach them how to find their entries independently, so you may want to investigate a 2 or 3 pole method of shaping them to find their entry. If you are experienced in training and proficient at shaping, you could also look into Susan Garrett's 2x2 weave pole method.

Sorry you are having such a rough time of it