J...

I would agree - but I'm totally biased cos I have one Meet Darcy... A friend has two Noonbarra kelpies (she also posts on here) as does an instructor at the club I train at.

I have received a spare copy of January's Clean Run magazine. If someone would like to give it a good home I'm happy to put it in the mail.

He looked very unlike that picture JJ - maybe it was the morning after the big beach p*ss up...

Ditto - it's a relatively new car, you'd think there would be a reason why it was out of water other than just run out? I don't need to touch the water or oil in mine between services. We've had an interesting arvo/evening - took Darcy and Zee for a walk down the beach, walking along watching where I was putting my feet when they both stopped and looked at something. They'd found a penguin Poor little guy looked bright enough but obviously wasn't right given we were all within a metre of him and he wasn't running off. Got on the phone and tried WCC, DSE/DPI & directory services - finally I rang Mum and Dad who texted me the number for the wildlife rescue. Rang them and they asked me to bring him in so I dropped him off at the Wildlife rescue place in Koroit. He was a bit snarky so fingers crossed he's still got some life in him. BUT the difficulty I had contacting someone highlights an issue - knowing who to contact in that situation, as I wasn't sure whether I should just leave him in case I did more harm than good by handling him. So the wildlife number is now in my phone for just those sort of situations. For anyone who doesn't have it - it's 1300 094 535. I have some small stickers to put on cars etc if anyone would like one as well

No comps here for us until next weekend but given the focus on foundation skills in agility in the training thread lately I thought I'd give my thoughts on it in here. I did next to no foundation with Darcy, my first dog. She learnt on equipment. She has done awfully well despite that, got her first JDM title nearly 2 years ago at just past 3 y.o. From there everything fell apart, no matter what I did or what I tried we struggled. We lost speed, confidence and none of my instructors were able to give me an answer as to what was going on. 18 months ago I went to a seminar that gave me the answer - I'd spent so much time trying to band-aid the holes in her foundation work, but finally it had fallen apart It was time to start again, so we did... Fast forward to now and we have more speed than ever , we have confidence, fun and some great results. And that foundation lesson has given Zee a much better start to her agility career than Darcy ever had. So Zee got carted off to her third ever "big dog" class on Sunday - we've done a heap around here with what gear I have, heaps around trials but it's reached a point where I need to get her out and about. And her foundation work has paid off brilliantly Nailed her first ever rear cross on jumps perfectly. Yesterday she did some really quite difficult rear crosses and got every single one. She also got a go on serps for the first time - held position for her just in case she needed it. Turns out she didn't caught me totally on the hop and right out of position for the next obstacle. I'm still grinning like an idiot.

What amypie said And again :rofl: Make that x 4 Well said Ampypie - good on you for making sure you include everyone in this thread :D

I'm still here - no trialling, first one back is a twilight at KCC next weekend Just been really busy with work, no sign of it getting better either - and back at training at Ballarat on Sundays so Sundays are pretty much stuffed time wise for anything else It'll get even worse once trial season really starts ;) Hope everyone is doing well Too much yapping for me to totally catch up on so I will leave it at that

Zee drags the board down with her front two feet, bangs the board then hops her back feet into position. I'm happy with that and personally don't see the need to take it to 4 feet at once or extreme bang game. To me it's about 1) getting them confident and happy with the bang and 2) teaching them that they have control of it.

I did a lot of shaping games - especially in conjunction with balance/strengthening/stretching work for agility. Balance discs and foot pods - shaped Zee to have a foot on each foot pod. Two feet on one disc and two feet on another, stretching and contracting etc. My flooring is all boards or tiles, my kitchen now has those square mats that you join together which has been great for this type of work. Looks tacky but it does the job

I start with my dog getting used to stuff moving under their feet i.e. wobble board or even a balance disk. Once they are making a big game out of that, ensuring that they are moving the board themselves confidently then I start getting them used to the sounds of a banging seesaw. I've already started them on 2o2o at the end of a plank by this stage so they are confident with jumping on and off a short plank. Then I start bang game - holding the seesaw about an inch off the ground and encouraging them to get on it and then letting it go - big reward for that one. Work my way up to holding it higher and higher, I want to have them deliberately jumping on the end of the seesaw to drop it out of my hands to get the "bang". Ideally I would be also having a seesaw propped on two tables, having them run up and down the board with a little fall, progressing through to full height. I don't have that luxury so once I had Zee fully confident on dogwalk and having no issues with dropping the seesaw from mid-thigh height I put her on the seesaw and let her go for it, keeping a hand on it just to make sure she didn't fall off or get bounced off. She's now doing full height seesaw. That's over a period of several months, on and off training given my very limited access to gear lately. Take your time - have them get used the sound of a strange seesaw if you can manage it - even stand outside a trial ring that has a seesaw and reward the bang. I've seen advanced dogs get a scare due to the different falls/sounds/flex/grip of a different seesaw and have trouble in the trial ring for quite a while. Far better to take the time it takes to do it properly

There is a snub lead for sale in OT under the Black Dog gear.

I never taught Zee collar grab until she was a bit older, and I just use a hand touch - including for weave training. If you still want a collar grab, work on it separately, otherwise you're going to transfer his leeriness to the weave poles.

Aussie Agility has them for $4. http://www.aussieagility.com.au/products/b...ag_clickers.htm

Some Victorian trials often run an extra JD and/or JDM class per trial and some even have extra ADM runs. Plus games - at one trial last year you could enter a Masters level dog in 14 runs per day

Big congrats guys - what fantastic achievements and awesome scores Can't believe you did Open, UD and UDX in one night Ptolomy and passed them all so well to boot - incredible

Well done Bronson Working off lead is a fantastic achievement especially around other dogs - seriously there is dogs who compete who barely manage that. Please don't ever sell any of your doggy achievements short just because my dogs compete There are plenty of ways to achieve great stuff without performance titles Stocktake in an open for business store sounds like a nightmare - at least we could shut down and count stuff. Maybe I will stick to my audits. Yes 8 is a little excessive but I have a few due at the moment and the following week is pretty much out - set up at Acme Field Days Monday, conference in Melbourne Tuesday and back for Acme from Wed-Fri. Is anyone heading to the Pet Expo at Caulfield the 19th and 20th? I went a few years ago (2007?) and it was ok but thought I might wander down again. Will send you a request on FB tlc

How come a stocktake at this time of year tlc? We used to do end of month and end of FY. I'll swap you a stocktake for 8 audits in 3 days... ;) We started training again today - it's been a long time since I've been but felt it was time Zee got into some real sequencing work plus access to full size contact equipment. So she did her first class today and she was awesome So proud of her - I had a few people stand "judge like" around the area we were working and she didn't even realise they were there. So no judge mugging Even better - she stuck her "stay" each time I took Darcy out to work. I always leave Darcy in a camp chair or on a mat while course walking, setting up etc. Anyway we've been working up to the same thing with Zee, starting off in a crate, or the back of the car, then onto a mat and today I just had a camp chair. And everytime I took Darcy out to work she stuck in that chair - she never took a foot off it until I released her each time. Darcy did some nice stuff as well - I'm learning a lot from handling a very novice dog again, it's certainly tidying my handling up from all the bad habits I've developed cos Darcy looks after me too well Poor Darce

:eek: On both counts - doesn't look like there is much in that rain but it certainly came over very stealthily :D And yes I agree, some judges definitely need mugging. I'm sure she'll do it too I'm hoping training is on - Ballarat have had a heap of rain and some of the parks now resemble lakes apparently

Is the weather in Warrnambool as bad as they are saying on eldersweather and the radio i.e. raining and windy? Nice here, coolish, suns mostly out and a light breeze.

Good to hear Lacy is feeling better Good news about the problem dog too - just hope they do as they say they will. Been down the beach a few times this week - came across a lady with a massive dobie who wanted to say hello to my two (he was on lead thankfully - he was a big dog!). So good of her to check but both of mine were standing there paying her or the dobie no attention whatsoever (I had a ball in my hand!). Sorry Dobie! We're off to training Sunday if the ground is ok - first time fully taking part in class for Zee. I need her to get used to and ignore a "judge" standing around her while training. I wonder how many judges she's going to mug in her first few trials

Healing vibes heading your way for Lacy tlc - I hope she's ok. :eek: So much for the lake being open. Now closed again due to a new bloom. Just sent the council an email expressing my annoyance at the lack of suitable off-lead dog areas around here as well as the number of d*ckheads who ruin things for everyone else.

I did end up getting a netbook but I'm not a fan - by the time windows jams all it's crap in the toolbars there's like 3 inches of screen to see stuff! A friend who was at the same seminar I was at had an ipad and I got to play with it for a while... which is when I decided I was getting one!! So I should sell the netbook while it's still worth a few bucks. Should've gone with the ipad to start with.... Yes I did get the touch 4, so easy to use - plus I have bluetooth in the car so now I can listen to the ipod through the car stereo and not have to stuff around with finding dead radio frequencies and getting tangled in the cords I love my Apple stuff Just trying to find a nice case for it now :D Shocker of a day to be moving JJ with the hot weather. I've done it twice in 38C+ weather, awful bloody job at the best of times All the best with it! Far out tlc you've moved as much as I have - moving into this place was my 20th move. Come to think of it it's also been the 2nd longest I've ever stayed in one spot, longest was 6 years in SA as a kid.

Looks like I was too late and missed all the fun Was lovely to meet you both RJ and Tenties, great to catch up with tlc and Mawson and Theresa again I'm not going in again tomorrow, going to stay home and sit under the a/c I think and load all my music onto my new ipod touch. I think I can be officially declared an apple addict - first the ipad, then the imac and now the ipod. :D Now I just have to convince work that an iphone would be so much better than the blackberry (fat chance!!).

Nice run! I found the same thing - the idea of doing Open was scary, especially the first time I entered JDO I walked into a Master's ring by mistake. Now that was really scary! But I love Open, especially jumping as it gives Darcy to have a hit out on some nice open courses. As for building value - I had a bit of this with Zee starting. I started her off standing really close to a jump and clicking and rewarding with an absolute favourite food reward every time she took the jump. Built up from that by moving away gradually so she'd take the jump regardless of where I was. I've also used her absolute favourite toy (soccer ball), set up a jump and kicked or thrown the ball for her every time she's taken the jump. Once again moving away from the jump in all directions until she's got it nailed, then I've added a second one. Make sure you balance it with plenty of groundwork and following your body - a dog who takes all jumps in their path is great except when it's the wrong path ;) ;)

No way should you be paying for that - especially if the tyre is relatively new. I'd be raising merry hell Mum had a tyre go out of round, it threw the balance out so scrubbed out two near new tyres. They replaced both and redid the balance at no charge. Even with the potholes we've got around at the moment I've only ever done one tyre **touch wood** and I do a lot of kilometres on some shocking roads.