Seita

Hi, I know exactly how you feel... I started training my first dog when I was 12, I had him in competition when I was 14/15 and I was sooo nervous all the time, I would get soo worked up and nervous before and during a trial that the dog had no hope of doing any good and then because I was such a nervous wreck I would often end up in tears after the trial - talk about embarrassing. It took me soo many years and a new dog to get over that wound up nervous state. By the time I got my second dog into Open I was far more relaxed but even then nerves creep up on you. I haven't trialled a dog in several years now but am about to start showing shortly with my new dog ... and I gotta tell you the first show is just around the corner and I've already got butterflies!!! You've just gotta ignore what the other people say and focus on your dog and believe that together you can do it! You'll be fine and your dogs will be great just stick in there!! :D

Sounds like what Im going through too!! I have a 16 wk old Ella who I am afraid to turn my back on for fear of what shes discovered next, phone cable was the most recent and then her fav - taking the toilet paper off the roll and running through the house!!! Good luck with her and enjoy they dont stay puppies for long :rolleyes:. My Ella:

Im coming!!! Cant wait! Ill be the one with the nutcase GSD X and the physcotic border collie puppy! See you all there

hmm... I don't really want to think of how much I have spent... I started training about 10 years ago with my first dog, lost her got a second got him to trialling level (never did much good in obedience so diverted him to agility) then introduced the next dog, sometime while i was trialling her I became an instructor and that was the end of membership and training fees for me!! the training fees before that were i think $20 membership plus $4 each time you came or you could pay i think the membership and then $40/50 which covered the whole year (i took this option as I never missed a day of training!). I trained there for about 8 years before moving away without a car and with only one dog. So I prolly paid for about 4 years there and got the rest free... thats pretty cheap actually, what somewhere between $200-$300 for 4 years and then the next 4 free!!! I have basically had a break from training (lack of a dog was a problem) for almost 2 years now and have only got back into it with my new puppy... her puppy classes will cost approx $100-$120 then basic obedience approx $200 and then after that its $10 each time i attend but i dont think there is a membership fee... so what will that add up to by the end of this year... $300 plus maybe 3 months at $10 a time which will be about $120... so for this year (only just started) it will cost me over $400... wow thats more than i paid in 8 years! I think i need to move back up north again!!! .... and then theres trials, seminars etc etc.... makes you wonder why we do it!!???

K9: Awesome! So is there anything I can do while I wait? I want to start taking her to obedience classes as she could really do with the socialisation. I have been training her by myself up until this point and shes doing really well but I think class interaction will be good for her. I've been training her with a heavy duty squeey toy at the moment cos she gots nuts over them, is there any thing I can do to avoid diminishing her drive while i wait till you can show me what I'm supposed to do?!

Gillian: I would love to! So Steve... when are you coming to sunny QLD next?

Ok, another sort of newbie question! I have a GSD X here that I think has a fair bit of drive, problem is despite all the reading and studying ive done into training in drive, i wouldn't actually know how to do it. I would love to have a lesson or go to a workshop or something similar but Steve you don't seem to come to Queensland all that often! I know i missed a seminar or something up here a few months ago! So my question is, can you retrain a dog in drive at a later date say after you've trained it another way... cos obvously its gonna be a while before I learn how to train a dog in drive so I was going to train her differently but was wondering if that would stuff up the possibility of training her in drive at a later date? Thanks in advance for you reply!

Well I went out to Bonney's on Saturday, the training was very much like what I've been used to in the past, Val was really nice to talk to and there were some really incredible handlers out there, unfortunately because it is such a good school it also costs a little beyond my poor student price range! When I get my puppy (hopefully in the next 6 months) I will probably fork out the money to go there just because I'm hoping to trial the pup quite competitively but this current dog is a rescue who really only needs some socialisation and some basic training, so I've decided to train her myself (i'm an old obedience instructor, so i guess i can do it!!! ). Anyway, thanks for all your replies guys and good luck with training your own dogs! Cheers, Nicole

I will do that... the classes are on saturday mornings over in at the Gap so im looking forward to it. When i emailed her she replied and told me to ask for her when i get there so I thought that was pretty cool! Yeh she is a pretty good judge.

That would be right... the day i purchase some product over the net and someone starts a thread and finds it cheaper!!! I just used vetnpetdirect.com.au and got Advocate which was heaps cheaper than most of the other places that i looked at and like $40 cheaper than what my vet quoted me! But pricelesspets have it for like $8 cheaper... not a huge difference i guess!

Im in Kangaroo Point, so pretty much the city so they are both about equal distance from me... i think Oxley would be closest taking traffic into consideration but Brisbane Obedience Club trains on friday nights or sunday mornings both aren't real good for me! I'm going to go over to the Gap this saturday mornign to look at Bonney's (Val Bonney's school) as I trialled under her a few years back with a previous dog and Ive been told shes a really good trainer. So i'll see how that goes. Thanks for the replies!

bugger! I was going to go down and watch them train tomorrow night... oh well, thanks for the info.

unfortunately logan is a fair hike from me... I was doing a bit of research online and was wondering if anyone here trains at either Southside dog obedience club, Obedience dog club of brisbane or Metropolitan Dog obedience club and what you think of it?

Can anyone recommend an obedience club in brisbane, prefferably near the city (I live in Kangaroo Point) or on the southside that trains on a monday, tuesday or wednesday night? Cheers

of course you can! you just need to register your dog with your states canine controlling body and get her rego number and then start entering her in trials!!! Thats where the real fun begins!!

hi, a friend of mine just got a pomerainian cross pup from the rspca and was asking me about things to keep her amused during the day when no ones home. She has a lot of toys (particularly attached to the empty ice cream container!) and things to play with but is also currently teething and therefore chewing on everything. They have been giving her puzzles like putting a treat under a container in a corner with somethign on top so she has to think about how to get to the treat, but shes getting pretty smart and is working it out quite quickly! So i was wondering if anyone had any ideas for other games/puzzles etc to keep this smart pup occupied? Thanks in advance!