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Sh*tful! The weather wasn't totally to blame but it didn't improve my day at all either, especially being out in it for more than I would've liked and a lot more than was necessary. Glad I don't have days like today too often Hey Theresa I'd better see you out in the ring before then ;) Thanks for the congrats :p and yes something a little stronger in a soccer ball would be good!!

Thanks for the congrats guys, it was a sensational day. RIP to the soccer ball Darcy won though - it lasted all of about 2 mins which is pretty typical for soccer balls in this place. The dogs think they are great when flat because they can pick them up so much easier, but they suck for kicking ;) Glad to see some good weather yesterday for your walk, about time we had some sunshine on a weekend. ;)

Thanks for the congrats And well done to anyone else who did well or acheived stuff over the weekend. Thanks H, I'm enjoying the challenge of it in a different way. I'll probably jump the obedience fence now and then but agility is my first preference (and Darcy's!) Definitely Geelong - and a big well done to you too!! ;) What a great way to finish her career! Sorry I missed you! UDX passes are really huge brags - well done!! ;)

Did you book it just for yourself? It was - I never actually booked it, I enquired about it but never followed it up but they had it held for me anyway.

Just a bump for this - I've had a bunkhouse room in my name without realising which I've just passed up for a camp site. Accommodation is short so if someone wants a bunkroom I'd call now.

Thanks for the good luck vibes guys - they worked brilliantly!! The weather was windy with only a few spots of rain, not many passes this morning, more this arvo but still not a great day for working dogs. Darcy not only scored her final pass for her title, she won her class, won highest associate in trial and scored highest in trial overall. The weather was still holding up okay so we decided to have another go this arvo (ring practise is always good, plus I wanted to work with a dumbell this arvo instead of change of position). She scored another pass, 2nd to the highest in trial dog and scored another highest associate in trial. So we've come home with a heap of ribbons, some dog food, a new soccer ball (instead hit with both dogs - they love soccer balls!) and a Petstock voucher. And of course the all important pass cards for her title. So at some stage I need to take Darcy to the Corio Petstock (they have the best variety of toys I reckon) and she can pick out a toy! Also got to catch up with GSDs but she disappeared at one point and I didn't get to say goodbye - was great to catch up with you again

We have a big brag from today - I'm still a bit in shock over this one. Darcy scored her Novice Obedience title this morning with a 1st place, highest associate in trial and highest in trial overall. To top it off, despite being a bit tired and flat she also gained a pass and 2nd on a countback for second this afternoon. She also won highest associate again, and the 1st place dog who won on the countback scored the HIT this arvo so she was right up there. I'm so unbelievably proud of her, she got so many comments today on how well she worked and some laughs over our games outside the ring. Not bad for a dog who used to completely switch off in the ring - I swore black and blue I would not put her through a trial until she enjoyed the game, and to be honest I didn't think we'd make it. Now we get to play with the big kids in Open, first trial is in August.

Look at the weather forecast for the weekend Severe weather warnings for tomorrow. Would it be too much to hope for that the weather holds off until we can finish off the last pass for Darcy's title Ideally first up tomorrow morning and then I can have the rest of the weekend off.... So much for dedication, it all goes out the window in shitty weather

What about using a jackpot toy containing some food corvus? The "food coma" was discussed at the last seminar I went to, and you could see some of the dogs would tug happily and then be rewarded with food, only to have them refuse the tug next time it was offered because they wanted more food. The advice was make them tug/play, keep pestering the crap out of them until they accepted the tug (and vice versa for dogs who refused food). I'm still trying to get my head around that and weigh it up against always offering something that the dog finds really rewarding. Darcy will tug reliably anywhere with anything providing she's sufficiently aroused. She'll tug before she goes into a ring most times but by the end of a day trialling she starts to get a bit flat and won't, but she's still happy to pick up her jackpot toy and cart it back to "camp" knowing I'll give her a crack at it's contents when we get there. She'll still play games with me (spins, high 5, bark on command, hand touches) and still runs just as good at the end of the day as she does at the start. I use a squeaky toy as well as food in training and find it works well. But I do train on my own a lot, some people get a bit snarky about using squeakies in group situations.

I do if I'm doing agility as it's part of Darcy's warm-up. But never for obedience work. I don't deliberately plan to have down time after training, it's just that it often works that way. I don't crate at home but I've just been out with my two and one is roasting herself in front of the heater and the other is sound asleep on her bed. I would imagine the benefit would be higher for new learning versus practising a known behaviour?

I have all three as well, have held off on the Competition one just because I think it will be a repeat of the above. I find her presenting style quite slow so I only watch the DVD once or twice, I'm more interested in the pdf file in the back :D

I am a big fan of jump grids I started using them with Darcy a year or so ago because she was knocking bars. At that stage we were almost always training at 400 at club (she jumps 500) and I felt it was causing issues. We still trained at 400 for a while but I started working basic grids and then moved into the more advanced work and there was definite improvement in her jumping. Even though I don't train much with a club anymore and now train at 500, I still do a few basic grids in the week before a trial, and she rarely dumps any bars these days. Zee started on grid basics as a baby and about once a month I work some puppy grids with her. She's 13 months old now and I've started on One Jump work with her - and can see a huge improvement in her jumping ability and form over jumps. :D SB if you don't get a JD pass don't write off entering again just yet - evaluate how she goes first. ;) Darcy didn't get a pass in her first two runs either, mostly due to my nerves and inexperience. But Darcy handled the day brilliantly, and we both had fun. Best of luck with it

Just notice that the post code on the Agility Trials site as well as the home page says 3676.

What a rabbit warren of a place Albert Park is when you don't know where you're going Took me a while to find somewhere to train that was flat and mowed - ended up in the middle of a circle work patch (well it was mowed, in a fashion!) but it was good for a quick session. Beautiful day at the beach - and probably the busiest I've seen it in ages. Nice to finally get a decent day or so of weather - like you tez I'm over winter already and it's only just flipped into July Trying desperately to keep my dogs properly fit but even with starting work early I'm just not getting away at a decent hour - busiest time of the year and we're a man down. Hurry up Spring!!! ;) RJ I'm been thinking of getting a kitten for a while after losing Sim in November but I already have a red head and she drives me up the wall.... I dunno if I could cope with another red head cat in the house I hope your sister finds a good home for them both.. still so many kittens around given it's not "kitten season"

In going back to my "flat" comment from last weekends trial, I did a session with Darcy today (our first since the trial thanks to late nights and crap weather! ) and I've confirmed something that I thought was happening - she's lagging slightly in the ring compared to training. Unfortunately it takes her just out of my line of sight behind my elbow which I hate because I can't tell how far she is behind me. Obviously she's sticking that position but it's not a position I'm at all happy with given I can't see her. It starts off the startline so we did some work on that today, just one step and making sure she stayed focussed and then click and reward. I'm still dealing with the poisoned cue of "heel" but I don't know whether I'd get away with solely footwork and a hand cue in the short term. Any more suggestions for fixing it? I don't want to get too involved with anything given we have a double back to back next weekend. Long term I think I need a new heel cue - any suggestions?

I can't do the 11th, July is totally out for me. If the weather is the same as it was today early on then I'll probably take my two to the beach and throw in a training session somewhere beforehand. Edited to add: How busy is Albert Park with other dogs? Just thinking I might throw some basics in the car and do a session with my two before I go to the beach. Was going to do it at Harris St but they have training, I just don't want to be interrupted constantly with other dogs that aren't under control.

Weather permitting I'm in.

I used to do them behind my back but now I do U-turns & flip finishes as I don't want my dog going behind my back at all (in agility it's a blind cross). It's taken a bit of work but the Novice judge on the weekend commented at presentations that she could tell Darcy did agility just by how well she moved her rear end. Got done for the halting too early on the change of position in my second Novice run. Copped a lecture from the judge too Interesting to read info on the ring craft side of it, I know it's my biggest downfall in the ring. Most of my judges so far have been awesome in giving feedback, this past weekend was the first time I've had a judge not give any feedback. Never seen Clive judge UD before, he does really nice agility courses though

I'm having the same issue, any bed I put down on the board floors is getting very damp underneath because of the cold floor and a warm dog. I've just bought yet another trampoline bed to put Zee's bedding on so the underneath gets some ventilation and hopefully it won't happen any more.

I can really only comment on cattle and horses. I think cattle appear more opportunistic the more "domesticated" they are. Our stud cattle in the small stud paddocks would take any advantage which worked for them - busted fence, open gate - they didn't take long to find them. They also test electric fences regularly to see if they are working or not. Dairy cattle appear even more opportunistic because you see them twice a day and work more closely with them. I've seen cows work out exactly where they need to be to score the extra ration that's available on the dairy platform. Have also seen them push the non-electric parts of a rolling fence with their heads to get to the fresh pasture allocation. Same thing with the stud beefies - leave a gate open by mistake or turn a fence off and see how long it takes them to find it. Especially those little yellow ones The station I worked on the cattle were lucky to see man every few months or so - so you don't get as exposed to the opportunities they take. Horses I haven't found too disimilar to the cattle.

Thanks for the congrats guys - I'm pretty happy with how she's going even if she was a bit flat, given I didn't think I'd get her back into the obedience ring at all. Lovely work with Zuma Rivsky Just awesome!! Well done to everyone else's successes this past week as well Ness maybe try giving her more to look at on the jump - i.e. add an extra bar or two on the open jump or whatever you can think of on the solid. I've seen a very experienced dog struggle with a specific jump distance - stutter stepping badly and knocking the bar while having no issues with the others. Add an extra bar or two into the picture (so say a bar at 300 as well or even two crossed below the main bar) and he did it just fine. Left it for a bit and then took it away and he had it figured out. He just needed some help on that distance for whatever reason.

Far out - that could've turned nasty, lucky you're not allergic to them A friend told me ages ago they don't like dark colours and dogs - dunno how true that is but it came from her Dad who had a few hives. ;)

A big belated Happy Birthday for Tully for yesterday ;) Hope you all had fun tracking and that the weather was a bit better today. We went to Broadmeadows for a single obedience trial, Darcy scored a pass and a 2nd place in Novice, so one more pass before we get to play with the big kids in Open.

Well it didn't feel as cold as expected today, very little wind and the sun was out so we didn't bother with the coat. Darcy scored her second Novice pass and a 2nd, she was a bit flat today compared to how she's been training. I'm wondering if she's picking up on my nerves, which are actually getting better - I managed to listen to ALL of the judges instructions today or if I need to get her out and about to more places to practise. I know I'm very very short on ring practise which isn't helping. ;)

Thanks for the comments on coats - I take it you need to check with the judge if you only want your dog to wear one for the stays? I am talking Victoria cold here - low of 2C and a high of 12C, take a few extra degrees off that for wind chill. So people are welcome to laugh at the "Lab" with a coat on. Her comfort is far more important