Tarka

I'll be making a DVD, although it may take a couple of weeks. I haven't worked-out the logistics of getting copies to people yet.

Yeah right. That dog was a wuss ... Even so, Steve couldn't do anything with her ...

It may take a few weeks, there's over 4 hours of footage so I'll need to edit it down. I'll release a few clips for download before then though.

Cool, next time we'll do a comparison of modern ecollars, the older shock-collars and an electric fence. A sort-of "K9Force meets Jim-Rose Circus Sideshow" thing.

I'm pulling the footage off now, and I'll post a downloadable version of the best of the 'demo' section for people who attended, probably later this week (I'll unfortunately be out of the office a lot the next few days). A DVD version will take longer as there was over 4-hours of footage so I'll need to edit it down. One sad thing is it looks like I messed-up and didn't get any footage of the e-collar demos, including the "Steve 'shocks' himself" section. (For those who weren't around later: I filmed a short section of Steve using the collar on himself, right up to full-power, in the hope of at-least calming-down some of the ecollar debates around here. But it looks like it didn't capture correctly (I was running out of tape by this point).) Oh well, next time then. K9 or myszka, can you PM me a list of the DOL members attended so I can send them the website password when I'm done. Cheers, Tarka

OK, I've got the use of the video camera. This is capable of doing widescreen HD which gives better coverage of demos but makes for bigger encoded files.

And me. Thanks.

Sure, let me just dig out my Slayer MP3s ...

I may be able to borrow a reasonable camera from work, so I may tape it (with permission).

OK. That's kind of what I'm starting; I'm taking her to a nearby enclosed soccer-pitch and playing fetch where she needs to comply to get the ball. The immediate goal now is a consistent heel I think ...

OK, so the way forward is to concentrate on games with the dog where the dog only gets the prey-item/toy immediately after compliance with a command?

Absolutely. I think everyone on this forum has seen some of Myszka's commitment to helping dogs and people.

Yeah, I know she's basically a good dog with a lot of energy. She's actually turning out to be very trainable, at least with food. Her lack of resistance to distractions is making things difficult though. How would you recommend working with a dog that's frustrated by other dogs in the street? I've done a little toy-based training with Ruby in the past and tried to build on that last night at the park. I can see the difference between the English and German commands now; a 'down' in prey-drive is much different to a down that's motivated by food. However I find that the dog is much quicker to respond to food, and is much slower to learn commands when motivated with toys.

If you can get the film into an electronic form I have a machine on a high-bandwidth link that can host the files. If necessary pull from the tapes and edit the footage too.

Yeah, I know I was very glad when Steve took her and said she is basically fine, just frustrated; she's become a real handful with other dogs in the street recently. I think Ruby may be getting an special collar as a Christmas "present" ... I certainly try that. At the weekend we go to an off-leash park in Leichhart where she can chase the ball and meet other dogs (that's done wonders for her confidence). However during the week it's a bit tougher; we're right next to Sydney park (one of the reasons I considered having a dog at all in Sydney), but she's taken to jumping on random people, which means I can't let her off leash, which make it harder for her to chase things. I didn't really see properly, I think I was busy keeping Ruby under control Was this just short throws and walking-to-fetch like you were doing with Rex on Saturday? Yeah, that would be cool.

Same here; I'm still not sure who's who. For the record "Tarka" (me) = Steve = the guy with the demented German Shepherd. I'm still mentally digesting all the stuff we covered. It was interesting to see prey-drive in action, although I'm still not sure how I'll go about integrating it into the life of a city dog.

You should try this one: http://www.swindonweb.com/life/lifemagi0.htm

I'm thinking about it. Do people normally bring their dogs with them?

:p I've have to work in the morning, but I'm hoping to still make it. The leash is better; Ruby got promoted to white last week

Cool! I'm looking forward to the seminar on the 10th

Thanks, although I'm somewhat wary of franchise-style training operations. Which location did you attend?

Thanks, and yes, I'll be going to Steve/K9Force. I'm now booked into the September workshop (thanks Myszka ), and I'll probably try and get in for private session in November when the OH has more time. Cane or Cain!?! (A friend tells the story of a GSD he had as child that went feral and had to be put down. "We shouldn't have called it Cain, that was just asking for trouble!" This will make no sense if you don't have a Judeo-Christian background.) If you lived in Sydney you couldn't afford to

Oh please, you were excellent [For anyone not following this, I've started going to the Peakhurst club where myszka volunteers as a trainer. She ended up gettng my group and did an excellent basics session, and made some real progress with some problem dogs, mine included.]

Yes, we definitely prefer the club. We had been planning to start attending the group at Leichhart but the park's a bit busy for training really (but great for socialisation). Yep, the hanging around afterwards is a major part of it, I had a few interesting chats with various people Cheers, Steve

Yep, although we were running late so didn't get a chance to talk to people beforehand. However, you may have noticed the guy in the introductory class with the completely demented German Shepherd that wouldn't behave :p (It was my own fault, I let her sleep in the morning so she'd just woken up and was full of energy.) However I should be there regularly now, so I'll say hello at some point.