Seita

first thing I did this morning was jump on and have a look!!! YAY! And yes I spent a considerable amount of time looking through the online store... mmmm more tugs... just what I need, ermm want

So no sneak peaks, hints, suggestions etc????

So Steve.... just making sure we find out about this 'BIG' change tomorrow right??? Cos your website is lying to us and saying it's still 3 days away!! Any more hints seeing as the 'BIG' changes are soo close to being revealed??? Just letting you know this is a hot topic of conversation! BC4ME and I were talking about it before going into the show ring last night for the Best of Breed run off

If I'm away I just bring frozen meat with me and feed that. I figure if I feed RMB for a few days while I'm away and then a few days of veggie mix once we're home it's even. If I was going away for longer than a couple of days without access to a freezer I think I'd get some dry to bring along instead.

I have hear rumors of something along these lines..... but have nothing to back it up with! I've been telling Steve he should have done that ages ago. Agreeed!!!

There's an add on DOL now saying big changes coming... Do you think Steve is trying to tell us something???

I guess we'll have to be patient and wait for the 9 days.... or maybe Steve will come in here and give us some hints!!

I don't understand where you're going with this question? For UD I have had to teach my dog to run out away from me to a large box made out of pipe and get her to sit in it. I taught this by getting her to target to the box, first short distances followed by a release to her drive reward and then increased the distance etc etc. She bolts out there and sits in the box and stares me down waiting for her release to her drive reward (tug)... she does not find the exercise of going to the target/box as rewarding, she sees it as another way to EARN her drive reward.

try look up Ipswich Dog Obedience Club, they train on Wednesday nights at the readymix oval in Tivoli (I think). Just do a google search on them or look up the dogs qld website for their contact details (www.dogsqld.org.au) ETA: I have never trained at this club, I just know it exists as I've trialled there.

the same way you would teach it normally, the only difference is that you trigger the dog into drive first and reward in drive after.

just look around for the right club and you'll be fine. Some clubs are very focussed on getting people into trialling so heeling is a must others are more focussed towards getting people to train happy behaved pets. Although if you teach your dogs that when you say heel you want them next to you and when you don't then they can walk out in front (or give them another command for loose lead walking). I have a fairly advanced trial dog here and she heels beautifully when I ask her too but if we're just out for a walk she's out at the end of the leash doing her own thing. I still think some form of heel is beneficial, purely for times like walking past other people or dogs in tight spaces, crossed roads, walking around lots of people etc where it's easier to have your dog in near your leg rather than out in front.

I understand what you mean Ness, but do you do a u-turn so the dog effectively goes backwards to stay at heel or do you do the other type of LAT where the dog goes around behind you? I just re-read the rules and all it says is that the handler must about turn either left or right on the spot and the dog must sit at heel. So techincally according to the rules if I did the u turn on the spot my dog would have to go backwards but I would still be within the rules right? Am I just confusing myself here? The person I was speaking to is a judge who is adament that doing the uturn sort of turn would lose me points as i'd have to move out of position... however if the dog simply spins it's bum around like on a flip finish I could still turn on the spot... may test that out on the judge next week! ETA: I looked up your youtube Ness and can see you do the uturn... however according to this judge your footwork would be penalised. I may need to ask a few more judges.

Ok, so my girl is still in training for UD and tonight I stumbled across a slight problem with the gloves... it's the about turn part that I'm having some issues with! What I want to know is how everyone turns for glove 3 (or I guess UDX as well)? I figured that I'd do a left about turn on the spot, however I do a u-turn and was told tonight that if I were to do a U-turn on the spot I would actually end up moving from my position which would lose points. So how do others do it? I've never done the other type of LAT so am not about to start, which means if I can't do a U-turn then I have to do a 270 degree RAT which means the dog sees gloves 1 and 2 on the way around which isn't exactly a super idea, but I'll do it if I have to. So please tell me!!

They'll fine if they have plenty of shade and water and things to do. If you think they will struggle with the change then do it in stages but honestly they will probably love it! Plus being outside is good for them - fresh air, sunshine (they need several hours of this a day to get enough Vitamin D anyway), you said they have a pool which is great. Just give them some bones/kongs filled with breakfast etc and I'm sure they'll think they are in heaven!

Hey what do you know I actually agree with something you've said Corvus! Agreed that just because a dog is knocked out of drive quickly does not mean it has low drive, quite the opposite actually. Dogs have different drives we all agree there, and some dog have high thresholds and low thresholds for going into those drives. So for example Kenzie sounds like she has a low threshold for prey drive (in other words it's easy to get her to go into prey drive) but she also has a low threshold for her fear drive (again she goes into this drive very easily). I dare say her threshold for fear is very low which is why she gets knocked out of a positive drive like prey or food very easily when she is under a bit of pressure (by this I mean scary people).

Sorry to clarify, I wasn't suggesting taking food from someone else. I meant for her to take food from you in the presence of a stranger, perhaps she has learnt that by doing that you won't ask her to go near the scary person again so she takes the food and clears out. **Disclaimer** this is just a thought as I have not personally seen the dog.

I don't think it's a conditioned response to take food. It doesn't make sense on two levels. Firstly, if it was a conditioned response it shouldn't matter whether it's food or not. Just holding something out towards the mouth should do it. Like those carp you see in ponds that rush to the surface and eat woodchips some obnoxious child (corvus) has thrown into the water to see if they are dumb enough to eat it. They spit it right out again, but the point is you can throw any handful of small objects in and the pattern of the splashes produces the "eat it up" response. It doesn't work if you throw something large in. I tried it. :D You could argue that the smell of the food prompts a dog to eat it, except that the way appetite works isn't that simple. As I mentioned before, if a situation is stressful enough digestion shuts down completely and your body actually makes you feel nauseous if food it around. It happens in humans and it happens in other animals as well. And sorry what do fish have to do with dog training? Read OPs responses, dog does chase ball/tug near people, just not right next to them. Also when dog takes food in presence of people she clears out and doesn't want to come back for more, perhaps the dog knows if she takes food then her handler won't put her under any more pressure so she takes the food to appease the handler? Hence my thinking it might be conditioned. sorry I think you're confusing dogs with people, we eat when we're stressed... dogs more often than not don't eat if they are stressed.

Fair enough.... I'd suggest you invest in one of those fold out trolley things... similar to the solid trolleys they use for carting boxes and stuff around on but the handles slide down to make it nice and compact! That way if you do have to walk your stuff in a bit it won't be so damn awkward or heavy! :D

I agree with Nekhbet, the taking of treats may be a conditioned response rather than her food drive showing through. I think from what you've explained, she is more prey driven than food, but her threshold for strange people is so low that regardless of how high her prey drive is or how into her game she is the fear of people boots her straight out of it. I'd be curious to see what her body language says when she is taking treats in the presence of strangers?

I use soft crates cos I sick to death of carrying around the heavy wire ones. If I need a strong crate for a dog in future I think I'll use my show trolley instead as I can chuck everything into it and then wheel all my stuff in near the rings! But in the mean time the soft crates and light weight to carry in and strong enough to contain a dog that is happy being in a crate!

that is great, a well designed and easy to navigate website is a must these days. I hope they paid someone to do it properly cos the current one is a nightmare!

I haven't and was wondering why and then realised it's probably cos I have forgotten to pay my membership! So I sent that off today!

If you just want your dogs to walk on a loose lead etc you might be better off going to a behaviourist/one on one trainer. Obedience clubs tend to focus on heeling (and lots of it) and not so much on the 'real life' stuff like walking on a loose lead etc... obedience classes can be great but honestly if your dogs are reasonable well behaved and you just want more control on a lead and one on one session or two would be best!

Have you done the K9 Force program, Yesmaam? I don't need to pay anyone to learn about this stuff. "We" have been training this way for years. What Steve does is good for some but if you want first hand experience from people who are actually out there trialling dogs using these methods then go to your local IPO club. The focus in an IPO club is competition not programs that cost you money depending on what you sign up for....... I know I'm a bit late replying to this BUT the local IPO club in QLD DOES NOT accept breeds that aren't alllowed to compete, I tried this avenue because I got sick of training with a club that was so set in it's ways that it couldn't see the benefits of training differently. I realise the OP has an accepted breed for IPO but perhaps they aren't close to a club or they don't want to train in a class environment OR they just want some one on one instruction from an experienced trainer and MAYBE they don't want to worry about the protection or tracking side of things and are happy doing ANKC obedience... did you think of that before shooting off about IPO???

I can't answer on experience but I do have the breed down on my "must own" list! I would think that they would be pretty good - they are strong, fast, agile, trainable, high drive, not overly large which is always a benefit on an agilty course. I know that they are the next breed I'll get if I ever get over the BCs! The few I've seen compete do well but as with all breeds I'd say you'd need to suss out breeders pretty carefully. From the people I've spoken to about them, there can be some weak nerve probs in the breed and because it's not a very common breed here in OZ it can be harder to find a good one than one of the more popular breeds which have the same problem.