FreyaJade

I just love the position he takes after flopping over. Looks soooo comfy!!! :p

My Best wishes for Sammy, glad that he is feeling better.

I have no idea of what the standard is but here's Tess performing her version of retrieval. My apologies for the bad camera work, also there is no sound. http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y232/Frey...ssretrieval.flv

:D

I'm now stuck working this weekend. ;) Otherwise I'd be there.

The downgrading level is what I'm in order of achieving myself. It's worked already for my staffy, Tess. I've had her walking loose leash with the prong for ony a few months. Already I've switch down to a choke chain & alternating with a prong. One walk with choke chain, the next with the prong. In the next few weeks I'll be trialling a flat collar. GD needs more training as she is the more stronger dominant dog. Same trainer & same training for each dog....one just needs more practice than the other. I still feel in times of need, ie when the dog's drive is set off, that the prong is much safer in regards to resisting to pull hard. With Tess I've already seen this in play with both prong & choke chain. On the prong she's resisted to pull towards other dogs close by, but with the choke chain she's been more tempted to pull & start choking herself. I guess it is that reason that the prong is a better training tool. It pinches the skin around the neck & doesn't strangle or choke them, but resist them from pulling harder. When Tess pulls on the choke chain, she'll cough & splutter. Just my experience so far with both collars...no justification required. :D

So a working spot is where you take you dog along to run throught the courses, right? And a auditing spot is where you go without your dog as a novice learner. I havn't been involved with any agility training but would love to learn.

Excellent post Emily!!

;) um im sorry but i dont understand why someone would be denied acess to a public forum just because someone disagrees with you? personally im not wading into the prong debate but i thought we lived in a democracy not a fascist dictatorship. why is it a good thing that someone has been denied the right to free speech? who gave the administrators of this forum the right to terminate the membership of people who have done nothing but express an opinion? it doesnt matter what that person said, i cant believe that you think this is a good thing. someone here even has a signature that quotes volatire about the not agreeing with what someone says but respecting their right to say it! what sort of forum is this? you accused that person of being close minded but what does denying them access say about this forum? :p ETA: this is actually NOT the opinion of tigerjack but user name kylieandpossum, sorry i was logged on via someone else's computer and didnt realise....oops Geez, I AM really copping it sweet aren't i? Kylie, I think this particular user may had been banned for a little more of a reason that just disagreeing. He/ She did post some comments directly after my post which one would quickly come to the conclusion that I was not training my dogs & posting lies. 'Why not train your dogs instead of all this hiding, justification & lies' was posted by tds after my post. I feel that's pretty damn personal. From what I can read too, I didn't get personal with anyone. After all, I just had a behavioural consultation with K9 Force just this morning & learned yet another great deal of knowledge I will be using to train my dogs. But oh no that's right I forgot....I'm not training them though......according to tds. And I'm still wondering where I lied & about what? Hiding? Clearly to come onto a forum before first introducing yourself & your dogs, just to 'get up someone for using a prong' as tds's very first post is an indication that this user will 'hide' themselves before coming out of the woodwork under yet another nic, to troll up yet another thread about prong collars. I suggested using a scarf to 'hide' the prong so that ppl who feel it is their duty to condemn me for it can just keep on walking in their own little world. As for justifying myself, well I didn't do that either. All I did was talk about my experience with both a prong & a choke chain. If a user goes against the forum rules, that's enough of a reason for them to get banned. The admin here have every right to. And it DOES matter what the user said, if it is against forum rules. You don't have to know why they were banned Kylie....that's the admins job. I feel it is a good thing, because there are too many trolls in the forum world. I'd rather not waste my time on them. I've been flamed on another forum for using a prong anyway, so perhaps I'm being followed by a troll. :D Might I add here, I haven't always been pro prong myself. I hated the sight of them & was never interested in anyone trying to encourage me to use them. BUT, I NEVER used personal attacks on those who were pro prong & firmly beleive in 'each to their own' I disagreed with their views, but left it at that. Just because I didn't like them, didn't mean that I should accuse ppl of lying, not training their dogs or worse off...being cruel. Now that I am pro prong, I still do not use personal attacks to those who disagree. I don't ell ppl they are wrong or right. Their dogs may not need a training tool like a prong & good for them. Now like jaybeece posted, if the critisim aimed at prong collars was of an intelligent, mature & unemotional manner then noone would be getting banned. I certainly wasn't when I was anti prong. I was one with an open mind.

Unfortunately us prong users will have to continue have horror stories thrown at us (if not just plain ol critisim) but like this thread... http://forums.dogzonline.com.au/index.php?showtopic=82343 danger lurks EVERYWHERE!!! I use a cool scarf to 'hide' the prong sometimes. Ppl don't even know there's a prong underneath. Problem solved! BTW I had my dogs out walking during the weekend, one on a prong, one on a choke chain. When we passed by a poodle who was barking through a fence, guess who pulled & half choked herself & guess who kept on walking with mum (after a first initial look in the poodle's direction ofcourse ) GirlDog was the one on the prong & YES she was the one who kept on walking. Poor Tess on her choke chain did exactly that ! AND she's the one who walks best on a loose leash. Now fancy that! ;)

GirlDog used to throw up Science Diet. I'm glad Sexy Rexy is OK. Poor boy. I agree that wouldv'e been a massive scare. I'm feeling sympathy buterflies in my stomach for you myszka.

Hey that's sweet, each to their own. I have found on other leads I have used with the quick release clip is that it can snap open without warning. Say if there was a cat or a small dog nearby whilst your walking your dog & you don't see it but your dog does. He pulls hard & 'snap' the collar comes loose & the dog goes running. Perhaps the quick release clip on these prongs are of better quality, I've just come across too many of these clips that have come loose whilst on walks. One of them would come loose from my dog's collar when she would shake her head. Steve if you do release a DVD for prong collar training, I reckon GirlDog would be the perfect star for the series. Hollywood here we come.

I have myself purchased two prong collars (from K9 funnily enough ) & during my research of them, i assumed I would just be able to buy one & go from there. But with the prong, you really need to be shown the method that K9 was talking about. I had a lesson last Saturday & I have both of my dogs walking excellent on their prongs. Not to say my training has finished. It's only just begun. RB - If your dog is still pulling with the prong on - you need to get yourself a lesson on how to use the prong correctly. Oh yeah I also wanted to add that the quick release prong wouldn't be the one I'd get. I have one like the first pictured prong & yeah it's abit fiddly & my girl likes to squirm around herself while I'm firtting the prong or taking it off. But you know what....everything takes practise. K9 saw me struggling with it on my first attempt but it didn't discourage me. I know I'll get it. But if he had sold me a quick release one, I'd be worried the collar would come off when I'd need it the most.

When I first got my girls, my vet told me to feed them strictly Science Diet (which they conveniently sold) & nothing else. After a while my rotty x starts to gag & vomit this dry food every dinner time. Fine with any other food. So I told the vet, Umm my dog vomits & gags eating her dinner. But it only happens with Science Diet. Oh she's OK...she's just eating it too quickly. Maybe cause it's ...ahem...sh!T? 2 months later the vet's change their supplier to...ummm I think it was ProPlan or something. Well guess who was trying to get me off Science Diet & onto their new brand. pmsl By this stage I had swapped to barf. So I told her...I'm going natural now, raw. 'Oh but is she still getting dry food..this one is the best.' Best in your bank account Mrs Vet!

Yep, taking Tess this time. Lets count how many staffies are going....is that one or two so far Alison?

Hope all those who were there had some fun .....LOL I couldn't go due to some emergency fence repairs which i had to carry out yesterday. I really need some better fences...maybe I should move.

I'll be getting there nice & early so that Tess can settle herself in before the crowd rolls in. How many staffies are going?

Hey jbbb, did you get a chance to email me some pics yet? I haven't received any, but my hotmail account has been playing up lately.

Not interested in my idea myszka? :rolleyes:

Oh goodie!!!! I can't wait for Tess to meet Belle. Tess is a crossbreed to btw, so she might be abit bigger than Belle, but she can run just as fast after the ball. These staffies are going to have some fun together playing fetch. :rolleyes:

Was chopper at the last meet Alison? I know Belle was there with her pretty pink jacket. She was the one who wanted cuddles from me. :rolleyes:

Perhaps Rex isn't ready for a big social meet, perhaps a small number who will comply with myszkas request could meet up to encourage Rex to be more social. Do you think that would be a better idea K9? I mentioned in a previous post that if Rex, Jefe, Flame, Jones & perhaps GirlDog met somewhere it may work out for the better. I'm interested in your opinion K9.