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Warrnambool got shut down Sunday PM due to heat policy so didn't even start the PM trial - forecast was 33 and it was 39C at 1.30 Sat PM wasn't too bad because the cloud cover never really cleared thankfully. Thanks for the comments people - I've entered all I'm eligible for, even the one I thought I'd drop, with the plan to pick and chose as I go.

Are you talking ADCV? I'm intrigued as IMO 3 out of the 4 judges listed for Excellent jumping set the nicest flowing courses 9 times out of 10, so you either copped one of their crappy ones (which are not frequent so don't stress) or it's the 4th person who I have never run under except in games. I have 4 judges that I don't bother entering under any more, mainly because the style of course they usually set does not sit well with my handling system and slows my dog down, which I don't want - and none of these are judging at Easter, yay! Just quickly, will reply to the rest later but its not ADCV. Did my entries for Easter last week

BC - nup fraid not this year. My 2 fellow Blue Lake trialling friends from last year have deserted me (pretty much retired their dogs) and I didn't want to be a neddy-no-friends so I'm going to ADCV for easter instead with another group of triallers. Pity - I had a ball at Blue Lake last year! Such a great little trial! Will see if I can convert a few of the group to come next year :D Thats kind of what I'm thinking - I'm tossing up between entering the lot and dropping a few depending on courses and time, or following Ness' suggestion and trying to get her JDO (3 passes left) before worrying about entering for Open Agility. There's one I'm fairly sure I'll pull out before I even send the entries as I've entered under that judge before and it was a sh*t course in Novice - hate to see what it will be like in Excellent :rolleyes: Also depends on how well its organised and if you end up running from ring to ring like a mad thing! That's when you need to be fit!

Just filling in some entry forms earlier on today for a very full-on trial and thinking I can't possibly do all the runs I want to. Just curious, whats the most runs you would enter in a day for one dog? Given a fit dog and a reasonable day of course - hot or wet weather changes everything!

Kowai - they need to make the whole thing beginner friendly. There is an assumption that everyone has been trialling for years, and know the ins and outs of it all automatically. As someone who's not even been trialling a year, I'm still struggling with it. Luckily for me I have a great group of trialling mates who have been able to point me in the right direction, I'd hate to be trying to go it alone.

I feed raw because I tried a lot of the low-fat reduced calorie foods when my dog was young, and I don't believe half a cup plus a meaty (not fatty) bone was giving her all the nutrients she needed. Plus I was having too much trouble keeping her at a good sporting dog weight even on that diet. With a lot of research on here plus reading the BARF books, I started adding mushed vegies to her diet with half dog food as I wasn't quite confident I could do full raw well. In the end I wasn't happy with her coat and weight, and the recall of several major varieties of premium foods clinched the deal, so went to full raw and haven't gone back. I like the fact that I do know whats she's being fed, and anyone who's seen her comments on now healthy she looks. Even the vets, but we don't discuss diet with them

Completely agree Seita, I often have a collection of bruises - especially up the inside of my arms as my dog loves to chase and wrestle my hands/arms if I don't have a toy on me. A few people are a bit horrified that I let her "get away" with such behaviour, but the work she gives me is far worth the occasional set of bruises Congrats on your title! :rolleyes:

Interesting, never thought of it being a kelpie thing but thinking back, one or two of dads working dogs preferred to sleep in the lower branches of the big cypress trees they were tied to than ever go near their kennel. From memory one preferred the top of their kennel as well. My kelpie x much prefers my camp chair than her crate at trials, to the extent I no longer bother with the crate and just take an extra camp chair! :rolleyes:

Darcy has CCD JD GD, but she's still only a baby in the agility world, turned 2 in December. She also has 2 passes towards JDO and 1 pass towards GDX (a pass in excellent is a bit exciting - her first one! )

Thanks T!! Guess I'm not quite as addicted as I thought, even the offer of being driven to training wasn't that attractive after less than 4 hours sleep Wasn't planning on doing much, but was disappointed to miss out even just to watch after such a great class last weekend Helen, I'm not sure whose equipment it was. I know I will be checking the surface of any contact equipment in future.

The surface on it was really ordinary TO, I checked it when Darcy fell off as it wasn't a difficult entry. I'd say its had a rough surface on it at some stage but its been repainted over so many times its lost its grip and is now just too slippery. I never checked the A-frame but given the number of dogs I heard slide off it in that ring I'd bet the surface on it wasn't any better.

***yawn*** what was that about being early Was 4.30 when I got home this morning, I did stop for a half hour sleep an hour from home though. First run in novice snooker did well but put a foot on the broad and didn't go back and complete it which DQ'd us. Pass in Excellent Gamblers, pass and 2nd in Open Jumping. She seems ok today after her fall of the dogwalk - Another lesson learnt, always check all the equipment. I did check the surface of the table and knew it was pretty ordinary but never checked the dogwalk surface until it was too late

I would agree with you on that BA - if my Dads dogs get fleas the old ACD will be riddled with them, yet you'd be hard up finding one on the younger dog.

I agree, I've found it really helpful.

I used a very light collar on my pup. I gave her a day or two to settle in then put it on just as she got her meal and then took it off when she was finished. Given she was getting three meals a day, within several days that collar was the best thing in the world.

Twice - RMB for brekky before I go to work which I've done since she was a young pup. That way me leaving for work was a good thing. She gets her mush/protein/offal and extras (ACV/fish oil/VAN Health Booster) of a night time before I go to bed.

Toy here, and she will work for it again easily. Darcy has pretty high play drive so I can get her razzed up with my bare hands with minimal effort, just need to be prepared to deal with the nip marks & bruises that goes with it - she loves to play rough. Thus why I prefer a toy for her to take it out on!

Yep, Darcy and I will be there. Does anyone have any idea what time roughly it will finish? Looks like its going to be warm but not too bad at 32C - hopefully it doesn't get any warmer. Is your knee still causing trouble Helen?

We have done ring run throughs at training, its pretty much up to the handler how far they wish to go with it i.e food or no food, off-lead or on, extra cues or none etc. To me they aren't a lot different to normal class, even if you chose to complete a ring to trial requirements. Where I struggle is a "stranger" or relatively unknown person coming in and calling a test! That kind of ring practise is invaluable but not always available, which is why I found CCD handy.

Kind of, haven't completely sacked her yet. And its the handler who needs sacking rather than the poor dog. I did obedience with Darcy until she was old enough to trial in agility, since then obedience has been put on the backburner. Still did some classes til mid-year but I see no point in putting her through an hour long class. With the hot weather over summer I reverted to doing some obedience work with some pretty nice results, but my nerves are shocking in obedience. I was hoping they'd settle a little with half a years agility trial experience but found that even on a practise run through they are just as bad and my mind goes to mush, my dog picks up on it and that lovely work that I get in the park at home goes to sh*t and she switches off. So even though she can do a lot of the Open work already, I figure that there is no real point when we both enjoy agility so much.

Interesting points, to some extent I agree on some points. However, I don't have the luxury of a half hour trip to find the next club or instructor who may or may not be able to help me out. Nor do I have enough experience out there on "who's who" of the obedience trialling world. Even trials are few and far between, most trials I travel 5 hour round trip with the exception of 3 that are less than 90 mins drive. I was told my dog was ready to go into Novice 8 months ago by an instructor, I knew she was nowhere near ready and won't be for some time.

Depends on what we're up to. Agility she'll work for nothing because she loves it but I use both food and toys. Obedience, she doesn't enjoy that as much so we use both high level food and toys. Just nowhere near as exciting as all that equipment to play on and run around

I agree Natsu Chan, as a newbie trialler CCD gave me the chance to get a start in the obedience ring without the intimidation of heading in without a lead. Given I've only done two double trials, I've been lucky that the only dogs who broke in our stays headed straight back to their owners. But WMR is right, I've heard stories from triallers having dogs stand over theirs in the out of sight stays, so at least Open level.

I'm looking at putting my Goldie in CCD this year too, although I've had a few people suggest maybe it's not such a good idea. Apparently in groups the dogs may not be as stable as you might be used to in say ..... novice or open. I had a go in CCD last year and pulled out after sits in groups as I had another dog stand over mine in a not-so-friendly manner. I pulled out as I didn't want to put my dog at risk in the drop. The owner of the other dog was nice enough to pull out and the judge asked me to re-enter the ring and we completed the excercise. It does make me wonder about whether we should just work on Novice or risk the same thing happening again in CCD. That happened to my goldie in novice during the sit stays. A german shepherd came over to Toby and tried to hump him. I was shocked when the judge didn't do anything about it, Toby then got abit upset and left the ring Why didn't the judge get the owner to collect the GSD? I keep hearing stories of judges not intervening at this point, it only needs to happen to the wrong dog and you end up with a dog fight in the stays, and then someones dog gets the blame for it when it never should've been allowed to get to that point! I often wondered what would be the ramifications of returning to your dog before (or against) the judges direction in order to protect your own dog. I'd have no hesitation, judge or no judge and that you'd be given a NQ, but would there be other consequences?

Wonder how many dog clubs would accept a titre test result over a vaccination card at membership renewal?