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Hoping to get some beach (and bath) time tomorrow if the weather fines up ok-ish. So over this sh*tful weather - wish it would make up it's mind and either rain, or rack off and give us some much needed sunshine that lasts for longer than an hour or so Can you tell winter weather makes me grumpy

A big congrats to everyone who's done well recently - some awesome obedience scores & great agility results in here!

No way - I've watched most of them several times and I have an A4 book which has all my notes from training DVDs I've watched. I've also printed out all the pdfs from DVDs such as Greg Derrett and Susan Salo and have them in display books with more notes scribbled on them. Nothing worse than taking the time to set something up at the showgrounds and realising that you've forgotten stuff or worse have been doing it wrong....

Done most of it with Darcy and all of it with Zee. Zee's crate metal crate is set up in the kitchen 24/7 and I often use it for Zee (door open) while training Darcy. I've transferred a lot of it over to the back of the car and I can leave both dogs in the back of the wagon unrestrained and know they won't leave it until they are released. I can train Zee and leave Darcy in the car, we're getting better with leaving Zee in the car while I train Darcy. Agility at our usual training spots is doable but at club training or a trial is way too much excitement and I have to drop the tailgate. But she's getting there.

:D at the barbed wire :p Zee did something similar recently, this fence was plain wire but she was close to full speed. Thankfully it was very poorly strained but she jumped cleanly between the top and 2nd top wire. I have no idea how she managed to see the wire at that speed let alone successfully line it up. Bloody reckless teenagers

I think the lack of drain cleaning contributed to a lot of yesterday's mess I'd forgotten about it but one of my farmers that I deal with predicted this several months ago, back when our friends at BOM were predicting a warm dry winter with around the 100 mm of rain for the entire winter Anyway he came up in conversation today and I remembered what he'd told me, that the springs were running that hard the ground had lifted, and that even the true local old-timers had never seen them run enough to lift the ground like that. He said we'd have an awfully wet winter. :D Another farmer at Scotts Creek said it was 1946 since the flood waters were that high on that farm.

I had to take my car to Wbool this morning because the back brakes sounded like metal on metal so in between sitting on 80 km most of the way and then getting stuck at the Speedway it wasn't a fun trip But I did get to see plenty of water along the way, even more so on the way back. I so wanted to stop and get some photos but it was pissing down rain and there was nowhere safe to pull over to get good photos. I later realised my camera memory card was still sitting in my computer so I wouldn't have got them anyway There was a heap of people checking out the dam and pool in Cobden, the water is halfway up the big overhead light posts at the pool and there was an absolute river running through the golf course so it's not over yet. So many farms are under water - we'll need 2 weeks of sunshine and wind to dry this out and there's none on the forecast ;) Re: keeping water out - I'd say you and quite a few others in town tez. By hell I curse my slopey backyard when I mow it and want to use it for training, but there is a lot to be said in this weather for living on the side of a hill.

I don't think anyone could say they offer exactly the same behaviour, rewards, time input for every behaviour they teach. Some stuff is just more fun for us to teach a dog and of course the dog is going to pick that up. Some stuff is just more fun for the dog (agility tunnels anyone?). Some more complicated or difficult behaviours have a huge sense of acheivement associated with it and once again the enthusiasm becomes infectious.

Check the Vicroads site before you leave (if it's been updated - it was useless earlier!), take it easy and I reckon you'll be fine if you're going for that long. Have fun

I reckon it's just something that you've rewarded a lot, she has a good history of success with getting rewards for that behaviour so she offers it. Zee's the same with nose touches/bobs - it's something I rewarded a lot when I weaned the target and she teams it with a lot of things that I've never asked for.

Most of the superficial road issues around here are resolved - earlier on there was water over roads everywhere from flooded drains etc. There is quite a few road closures south of here but only one North of the Highway. Some roads have cut up really badly even today with the water though. The Cobden-Warrnambool Road is a shocker between Naringal and Laang. Problem is when you can't see the potholes because they are full of water. If this rain is heading East tlc I'd be worried about getting home more than getting there. You're at the mercy of some big flooding rivers to get there and back.

Not tez obviously, these were some pics I managed to get this evening. Just over the back of the Bostocks Creek church/hall. The "ghost" on the right hand side is actually a windscreen wiper. :D Taken from an undisclosed location where I wasn't supposed to be I'm sure you'll all figure it out. Looking over the flats to the left of the Camperdown-Cobden Road, still in the 80 zone. Hoping to get out and take some more tomorrow morning.

80% chance of 10 to 20 mm of rain for Saturday - Late Showers forecast. Might get wet at a trial for the first time this year - I've been lucky so far

Thanks bedazzled - I think her rear end just naturally pulls up like that, curled slightly around me even though she moves straight. She's definitely not moving after the fact regardless of how awkwardly she stands (her start line for agility is in a stand - she's rock solid). Thinking about that - she doesn't do it in agility because she's looking at the obstacle that's in front of her, not me. I need to get it on video to see what's really going on.

How much can I stuff around with a stand in COP in Open? Obviously I can't lay my hands on my dog at all, but can I encourage her to stand straighter without losing points or do I just cop the minor penalty for being crooked? Darcy's stands have not improved at all despite using left and right hands, different footwork etc. It seems to be an ingrained habit for her to step into me with her butt. It's also difficult working on your own as looking back at her over my shoulder makes her sit I have no idea how to fix it unless I find somewhere to train with full length mirrors, and certainly not before our next trial.

Vent away!!! It must be bloody frustrating especially with stuff all trials and then being stuck with the same judge. I've heard you're a bit short on new blood with judges - is that why you have the same one or is it just that one judge who is getting all the appointments? I have to be prepared to travel - but at least I'm a 2.5 hour drive from Melbourne and have the option to do those Melbourne trials. In the past I've done some out the other side (up to 4 hours) but I've come to the conclusion it's not worth it. You're up at 3 am, you're stuffed by the time you get there and there has been times where I'd prefer to go without a pass card so I don't have the extra 1 to 2 hour wait before driving home. Where is the fun in that? I could pay for accommodation but finding something dog friendly for one night is bloody difficult, and it makes trialling a little too costly ;)

I would be very happy with her 2o2o contacts as well. Then again if Darcy continued the rest of her trialling career with Saturday's effort on the dog walk I'd be very happy with that. That's why I cheated and have both dogs doing 2o2o

SG does have a running contact on AF - when she was here last time she spoke about it briefly but wouldn't give too many details - wondering if she was possibly thinking about future DVD. Only thing she would disclose was that she taught an all 4 feet in the contact zone, so am guessing she used a method similar to Rachel Sander's box method- which has been released as a DVD since then so maybe that idea is not happening any more. She also stated that the only reason she taught a running contact to this particular dog was that she wanted to win worlds - and when you are talking .02 and times like this separating competitors she believed it may give her an edge. She said that she would not recommend it to anyone else as she didn't believe it was 100% reliable and indeed does not teach it to anyone else. Not sure if she is actually more actively promoting it now or not - will be interesting to see when she comes back this year. Doubt that SG (or most of the top trainers) would ever 'early' release on a contact - more likely to quick release which is not the same thing although it may look similar when watching. I agree with the above, but I think you'll find SG has both a running and a 2o2o with Encore and Feature. Whether she uses them is another matter. Greg wouldn't cough up any info either. ;)

That's a massive brag!! Congratulations to you and Brooklyn

This is one I do with Darcy before agility, just to loosen her back up. Grab a treat and hold it next to the tail head, you might need to hold it away from the body a bit more, depending on how flexible your dog is. I use a piece of cooked steak and let her nibble on it so she holds it for 10 seconds or so and then give it to her. I give her a treat out in front and make her stretch for it as well to make sure she's straight again and then go to the other side and repeat. I only do this once she's had a run and a bit of a warm-up, and it's up to her how far she stretches at all times. Also a good way of finding out if she's a bit sore or not, as she'll be uneven in her ability to stretch one way.

Gorgeous pup Ptolomy Must be hard to have to wait so long but I'm sure he will be worth it I have to stop with the drooling over puppies though - Zee is 13 months old tomorrow and I want another one already....

Has anyone got any suggestions on fixing a crooked stand? At my last obedience trial one of the judges suggested I not twist my body when I give Darcy a stand command as it's what makes her stand crooked for SFE and COP. I've always used my right hand to give the stand command, which exagerated slightly gives the body twist. I've been experimenting with a left handed stand command and Darcy has picked it up very quickly, but it hasn't fixed it at all. In fact it seems she's developed a habit of stepping into me with her butt in a stand Any ideas on how to fix this? She got 38/40 for heeling so most of our lost points for that trial come from the crooked stands.

I'm out too - Sunday's trial has been cancelled but I've got to redo my membership at Ballarat Sunday and I have a heap of housework to catch up on, not ideal but it's got to be done. Enjoy your walk - hopefully the weather is ok for the weekend, a few sunny days and a nice breeze to dry stuff out would go down really well about right now.

I have, kind of. I did your usual run of the mill obedience classes with Darcy because I didn't know any better and she got her CCD at 14 or 15 months just because we could, but she was always an agility dog first and foremost. She's just got her CD title, but she was titled to ADM JDM2 and several other agility titles first. I would've put her in the obedience ring earlier but unfortunately I spent too much time boring the crap out of her in obedience classes and agility was obviously far more fun. Subsequently she would switch off in the obedience practise ring and I gave up on it for quite a while, nearly 3 years. It's only been this year that I've decided to work on it again and have figured out how to make it part of one big game

Happy Birthday tlc Hope you had a wonderful day! Is it your daughter's birthday as well today Pandii?? A big Happy Birthday to her as well and congrats on your new job.