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I gave up on accommodation - spent hours searching but so much wasn't suitable, or was already booked even before dates were confirmed. Decided to book a camp site which is always interesting in Winter.

I'm at $220 so far but am tempted to grab two of the Hurtta Fleece jackets while free shipping is on. My dogs already have a far better wardrobe than me Knew I'd have no issue hitting the $100 - there is only a few dog toys in there for a change, more handy stuff like stocking up on my favourite clickers and the padded cargo liner for the new work car

Doesn't surprise me tlc. I noticed towards the end of last summer that the beach I was going to was attracting a few people who had no interest in attempting to control their dogs, to the extent they were allowing them to hassle people on horseback. Of course it's always my fault for being an unreasonable bitch, not theirs that they can't/won't control their dog - no matter what the law/signs say Just really conscious that Zee gets very stressed out by dogs rushing her, worse still that it seems to bother her for a while afterwards as she has trouble settling whenever it happens. That said I've also come across some really lovely and very considerate people down there, and it's still far better than places like the river mouth. Last Summer a friend and I walked from South of Tower Hill past Killarney beach and back and seen nearly no-one. Dogs were totally stuffed, was funny watching them get their second and then third wind

So how much has everyone blown at Clean Run free shipping so far?

Thanks guys :D Good to hear they may not be baiting - I thought they may have dropped it this year given the fox bounty. I don't go to Killarney main beach, getting too popular for me. Zee's had too many strange dogs rush her so I avoid popular areas like the plague. Hopefully the lack of baiting will mean everyone will spread out again

I do like CGs for what I can do with my dogs, I can put them in a drop/on a camp chair/in the back of my car/on a mat and in their open crates at a trial and know they won't leave them until I release them. I can train one and know the other won't move, no matter what the environment. I get the occasional yodelling from Zee in a highly stimulating environment but she will stay there. Being able to have both dogs in the rear of my work car and know they will stay there until I give them a release word is just brilliant even for safety but also ease of management. I can release one and the other will stay there and vice versa. At the moment I do a heap of fitness work at the local lake in the bottom corner of the public area. Unfortunately the grass is currently quite long so I leave the dogs in the rear of the wagon, walk through to check for snakes/broken glass and any other stuff I don't want them exposed to. Once safe I can release them and know they will come straight to me - with Zee vocalising most of the way That said, Darcy did a lot of that without CGs but it's been good for Zee. :D

Thanks TSD for your comments :D I do like SG's stuff but I'm starting to find the marketing juggernaut and SG groupies a little too much. Reminds me of my natural horsemanship days, I thought I'd escaped that Kavik I was the same about IYC and CG in the early days - I think because I did next to none of that stuff with Darcy as a young dog and she turned out pretty good. I've definitely done them with Zee and now Darcy as an older dog, more for my benefit in a training sense than anything else. Zee is pretty good at them in a training sense, but translate those skills to real life and Darcy kicks her butt.

Well done

I think I need the weaves permanently set up for at least a few weeks and repeat what I did when I first trained her. 5 minutes before work, 5 minutes after work. I've done this as well. Zee was so excited we had weave whinges all the way through 12 poles last time she trialled - love it! :D

Hi all, Quick question - can anyone point me in the direction of the latest info on 1080 baiting around Killarney? I usually find it pretty quick but it appears its not there (so no baiting this year ) or it's well hidden Mum is possibly going to take the girls to the beach for me tomorrow, but I haven't been to my usual spot for ages so have no idea what the bait status is around that area. Thanks! :D

Welcome to the addictive world of agility To answer your question, I wouldn't be repeating any commands, especially if it's confusing your dog because they already "in use" in another part of your training. Your dog should follow your body language, particularly the direction of your shoulders. So if I want my dog to take a tunnel I run straight at the tunnel entrance until they are committed to it and then reward at the exit for taking it correctly or run off in the direction I need them to go while keeping a connection with them as they exit it. When your dog has a better understanding of it then you can label it "tunnel" or whatever you want. Seriously, if you are ever in doubt - ask why and if it still feels wrong, do some research outside of your club training. I was an agility beginner not that long ago but I could still tell what was and wasn't working for my dog. There is no way I would've gotten as far as I have with my first dog if I'd not looked outside what I was being taught in club ;)

I know not everyone is fans of the SG stuff, but I have to say it still surprises me how well her foundation agility stuff builds over time to give some pretty awesome results. I've done a bit of the Its Yer Choice stuff but I don't live and breathe it - I'm not that dedicated. I work both my dogs off camp chairs, dog beds or even the ground. Put one in a drop, work the other for a few mins and reward the one in a drop here and there and then swap dogs, rinse and repeat a few times. I've also been training both my dogs around open treat containers for some time with no treat stealing and no breaking position. No "leave it" or "ah" or "stay" used, and my dogs aren't lacking in drive. Tonight I did a contact session with both dogs, so an open container of cut up cheap steak, and an Isqueak, and put each one in a drop within a few metres as I worked the other with either food or the iSqueak depending on what I was working. Not thinking I put both dogs in a drop, and headed off to find the favourite soccer ball. Found it and returned, only to realise what I'd done. I'd put both dogs in a drop right in front of the open container of steak pieces and neither of them had moved and the container was exactly as I left it. They did score a pretty good jackpot for that effort :D

I've had a similar issue with my young dog, for a variety of reasons - nothing to do with the 2 x 2 training method. What I've done is made a real effort to take 4 poles out and work them anywhere I can - even at trials. I take advantage of the weavers being out when I do go to training to work a full 12 poles in a different environment and mimic the dead straight entries we see so often in Novice so she can work on collection. Because we've had issues with them in trials I also use the absolute top rewards I can to rebuild her value for them - her favourite soccer ball as a toy, and chicken necks for food because she loves them and they are easy to throw accurately. Her weaves have improved out of sight as a result - the more she fully understands, the more her confidence builds and the better she gets. :D

I did the 2.0 version - to be honest I didn't get a huge amount out of it. From a context point of view - I already had a lot of the information that is repackaged into Recallers, my dogs already have pretty good recalls (call them off a rabbit in full chase kind of recalls) and I've always managed to play well with my dogs so don't necessarily need the structure that recallers provided to do that. It is very full on, and straight up I was behind in the exercises because I was away for work, then trialling most weekends through April and May which made it impossible to catch up. So then you're missing out on the daily "buzz" that goes with each new exercise. The foundation stuff is great, but you don't need to do recallers to work on that foundation - it was a good reminder to continue working on it and that most struggle with a lack of foundation, not too much. ;) I am finding the Puppy Peaks far more interesting - the fine details, mechanics, what to do when xxx happens, the tiny snippets of "light globe" information that I've picked up along the way. And seeing that SG doesn't always have perfect training sessions

Well done everyone on the previous results - good to see some new faces in here as well We've had an awesome weekend with a double back to back trial - ended up only running Darcy as Zee is recovering from a corked thigh Darcy and I did 12 Masters runs for the weekend, 6 passes with 2 x 1st, 1 x 2nd, 2 x 3rds in JDM and no DQs all weekend :D The NQs were all dropped bars, some sensational runs in there as well but just silly handling choices on my part mostly. Last run of the day was the most fun - a judge down here always seems to judge JDM Sunday PM for this trial and always does a huge speed circle type course with some killer discriminations for the last run of the weekend. Amazing how the entire agility trial seems to gather around to watch and cheer and groan as people go clear or blow it. Creates the most awesome atmosphere :D My favourite judge told me he stopped his ring especially to watch Darcy and my run - glad we went clear

Snakes don't have ears so won't hear you coming. I once heard of one that was lying in the grass & was run over by a ride on lawn mower so I don't believe they always feel vibrations either. x 2. There was a snake handler at our local show a few years ago. He explained that because they don't have a skeleton in contact with the ground, they don't feel the vibration. He had his two demo brown snakes who were incredibly feisty, grabbed his snake hook and slammed it into the ground right next to one of the snakes. No reaction at all - was amazing considering just how agitated these snakes were.

Completely change the dog's exercise routine in warmer weather. Rely on swimming and water retrieves in summer, and off lead on mowed areas if they aren't swimming. Winter we do a lot of off lead running in the long grass around the lake, once Spring starts I only do that on very overcast/cold/rainy days and not at all from about now on to mid to late Autumn.

I've done obedience to CDX level with Darcy but not currently trialling, but I wish I'd put more time into some quieter tricks I could use in the ring in between exercises (the judges didn't like my noisy games in the ring ) I never did a lot of trick training but now really enjoy it - I've done more shaping tricks with Zee and she's quite good at it, Darcy is getting better the more we do. The stuff that my dogs give me free shaping always makes me laugh, not to mention that a lot of it can be used for strength and co-ordination work that goes hand in hand with agility. :D Great for those foul weather days where even the dogs don't want to go out. I did my 1st session ever of free shaping with no props the other night. Within a few minutes I had a very cute paw wave from Zee, Darcy didn't progress so fast but I'm working towards getting a paw over her nose as in "shy". At the moment we have a nose on the ground and some considerable paw lifting going on but I'm sure we'll get there.

Yes I do on occasion, but only while my dog is in a bent tunnel and can't see anyway If I've walked a course and I can't be 100% sure I'll make the front cross, then I'll walk the course using the BX. It's one decision I won't make on the run, just way too much potential for confusing my dog (and probably myself!) otherwise. I always make sure there is a good connection with my dog over that shoulder as they come out of the tunnel so to my dog it shouldn't look any different at all. I do try to stick with GD/SG's handling as much as possible but this is one rule I do bend, and I'm not seeing any fall out from doing so. I do cop some flack from agility friends over using them, something about using the "devils tools" Dog help me the day that either of my dogs do something on course that could be remotely caused by my BX tunnel habit - it's good motivation to get out and do more circle work so that never happens.

You can still reward in position with a toy, even a non-tug toy. Darcy loves to "catch" - helps if you are a good throw ;) Can you use an enclosed food pouch like a jackpot toy? You can give the dog the toy and let them have a crack at the contents outside the ring. Unfortunately we don't get NFC runs here, pity because it would be incredibly helpful with training and retraining behaviours

My dogs love both food and playing tug - but the level of arousal I get from using a tug toy wins every time. Being able to use both gives me better flexibility, and my training bag will always contain both. I've had my moments with using tug toys but then I've needed to take a better look at what was really going on - a dog too low on the arousal curve, me inadvertently rewarding my dog for not taking the tug toy - my dog is usually telling me a story, just a matter of whether I'm listening. So how do you reward a dog who's already self-rewarded himself? More to the point, how do you withhold reward from a dog who's already self-rewarded himself?

I do agility only with two dogs these days, I took some time last year to focus on getting Darcy's CD and CDX titles and felt that I should've spent more time with Zee doing foundation agility and didn't do as well as I could've with Darcy in agility. Most of my time with my dogs is fun/fitness - swimming, beach runs, off-lead walks as the fitness and strength required for agility is totally non-negotiable in my books. Once it starts to get snakey I'm left with 2 hour round trips to the beach for fitness as the lake ends up full of BGA and I will not do repetitive activities like ball throwing to keep my dogs fit. Even with just agility I struggle time wise but I think that's a factor of living in an agility backwater in rural Victoria plus working full time. If I want to work on much more than 4 jumps, I'm looking at an hour by the time I put it all in the car, unload, set up, pack up and unload at the other end, that's before I even train a dog. Same with training, 2.5 hour round trip just to get there. A day trial for me is a 14 to 18 hour day given the distance required - so like quite a few people have mentioned my house/yard work suffers accordingly.

I don't believe there is anyone who would fit the behaviourist description at BDOC. Try PM'ing Pippi on here, she lives in that general area and will be able to help you.

Just something from left field - my young dog is quite anxious and has some troubles settling. At her worst she spent 4.5 hours of a 5 hour drive home from a weekend trialling standing hunched into a ball at the back of my car before she finally dropped from exhaustion. The girl's sports Vet also does quite lot of alternative therapies and put her on some Chinese medicine, and she's a very different dog. The vet also gave me some specific rescue remedy for her when she's feeling especially stressy.

hey kelpiechick, the DVD sounds very handy! where did you get that one from? Q-Me - Clean Run have it, also a few UK agility sites do as well. Might be cheaper postage to get it from the UK, US/Clean Run postage is too dear these days unless you can bulk order.