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I'm coming from Cape Clear direction not Ballarat, does anyone know if the road in from just north of there onto Browns Rd is ok? Apparently there was water over a few roads yesterday. I'll probably be there a bit before 9, I prefer to give Darcy a bit of time for a sniff around and a walk before I expect her to sit in a crate for any amount of time ;) She's not an experience "crater" yet So glad its going to be a nice day...

Thats ok T(ad)pole, my thread had achieved its purpose - I found what I needed :cool:

Thanks Myszka... Have been contacted by a DOLer who makes their own equipment which looks great and will hopefully be collecting it next Friday

Me too!! Dunno whether the feral is coming, will see whether Steve thinks its worth bringing her along! We'll both be buggered by training Sunday ;)

Yes, customer service seems to be sadly lacking these days... suffice to say I will not be darkening the door of a certain chain store hardware at Ballarat after several incidences of sh*tty, sorry no, service.... will spend another 15 mins on the road and go to Geelong in future... or wait til after Xmas when Warrnambools will be open ;) Then I'll make a few of my own ;)

Quote" Surely you could do a phone order to the hardware supplies or whoever stocks the stuff and pay by credit card or direct deposit and get them to send the stuff out to you??" S'n'T: Afraid its a case of once bitten twice shy, went to Ballarat and got all the pipe and fittings, was told conduit would do the same thing, brought it all home but the fittings are supposedly the same size and yet some fitted and some didn't. Luckily I got my money back on the fittings but have $40 worth of conduit that's only good for weave poles and cross bars. The short pieces I had cut for "feet" are useless. If thats what happens on a face to face, no way in hell will I do it over the phone ;)

Thanks Kelpiechick, I think I've managed to get a couple of jumps BUT have saved it in favourites for later reference! ;) ;)

Myszka - I've emailed the company to tell them about no discount being offered for multiple items, I would've expected an answer by now given its not a public holiday anywhere else except Vic. I hadn't considered courier though, thought it would be just as expensive. Will check it out. ;) T(ad)pole - its not the making them, I need to get into a major centre to get the equipment, have tried locally but its too expensive or too difficult to get the right connections unless I go to Geelong, but everything I need is shut by midday on Saturday, I'd need to take a day off work to get there. ;)

Given up on the idea of making my own jumps, weeks later I still haven't managed to get to a major centre in order to get the right gear, so have decided to bite the bullet and buy a few. I went to place an order last night for some but was put off very quickly by excessive postage costs, $41 for 2 jumps and a small toy ;) ;) Where can I get them in Australia? Prefer quite quickly..... otherwise I would get them from the US.

You have far more patience than me Erny.... I only had to wait 7 weeks and that drove me up the wall. But she was worth it :p

I just want to make sure I'm reading this correctly..... to use rice as an example, pet food companies are actually allowed to use the word rice in their ingredients list, yet it maybe a component of rice i.e rice bran, rice hulls or indeed it may be whole rice? :p

Welcome back Erny! And congrats on the new puppy, even if he is only a twinkle in someone's eye at this stage :p

Hope so Clover, been coming back to this topic waiting for an answer....

Kelpie - The difference is that working dogs have been selected and bred for hundreds of years to work livestock. Its instinct for them. I've never seen any of our many dogs back out of a days work, now matter how much or how little work they've had. I have seen young dogs back out and head for home when I was jillarooing, but was always a result of rough handling and/or excessive pressure on a young dog. You would hope you don't see that kind of thing in agility, but I've already seen one dog who was all but shut down.... would imagine if he could he would've gone home too

Interesting question Vickie Its something I've thought about a bit with my young dog, who's really only just started her agility training. It's interesting to see the difference between her motivation in a "basic skills" session when compared to a "course based" session. Basics she can be a bit distracted, start to add a few fun things like a tunnel or tyre and she'll fire up a bit, but put her in front of a course and she's very full on & very focussed. I also use a tug toy, and she gets stuck into it after an obstacle or course section. She will tug beforehand but I can take it off her easily as well. Seems to me that they go hand in hand for her, both the equipment and the toy are rewarding, neither more rewarding than the other? She will tug without the agility, but not for long. Then again she doesn't tug for long at agility either - she's very good at conserving her energy. Do agility without the toy and she comes looking for it..... I think its the interaction/game which is the reward for Darcy and not necessarily the tugging??

Good work ISH!! Took over 6 hours to get home from the last one...... The hour and a bit to this one will be a walk in the park

Sounds to me like you have a pretty one-sided relationship with your neighbours.... They want your dogs locked up, so they get locked up. They want to stop feeding the wild birds, so you stop feeding them. Now they want you to get rid of your dog so they don't have to take responsibility for their roaming cat Not to mention you have to cop the abuse from their daughter, which regardless of what her disability is, still isn't appropriate. It appears you have the council on your side, it is my understanding that most barking dog complaints need to come from more than one person in order to ensure it is not a personal vendetta. I would do as the council asks, trap the cat and take it into the council to prove that they are the ones not keeping their animals under control. You've asked them to do something about the cat, they refused, take it to the council!! If you have the councils backing, and your other neighbours support, then there is nothing your complaining neighbours can do. Maybe once they understand that they will receive no more backing from the council, the complaints will stop and they will just have to deal with it. I know its not nice to have that kind of complaint hanging over your head, but your neighbours sound like they are being unreasonable and want everything their own way, with no give and take. Good luck! BTW you might be better off getting this moved to General - there are a few people on DOL who are rangers but don't tend to frequent the training section.... (Before anyone flames me over not being able to "control cats", I have two cats. I have a neighbour with bird averys and expensive birds. I have no doubt on this earth that if my cats went over the fence and into his yard, they would not come out alive. I spent nearly $1000 when I moved here to build them a outdoor cat cage so they can come and go as they please and not annoy any of my neighbours, and stay safe.)

OMG Jeff - OUCH!!!!

Thank god..... I thought I was the only one who had arms covered in bruises Had some rippers from training 2 weeks ago - she nipped the inside of my elbow and again about 3 inches below! Will gets pics next time so I can add them to the "drive training war wounds" glory post!! Would like to think she'd keep her teeth to herself but if she trains that well again :p

I'd love to go - hadn't heard about it until now! Just read her book "Shaping Success, will be getting the "one jump" DVD next.... So yes any information would be much appreciated!! Canberra's not that far from Western Vic........

It's been awfully quiet in here without her! As for going that long without a computer......

I've recently taught Darce to "catch" and have starting throwing food for obedience classes, found she pays more attention as she has to be "ready" to catch. Also handy for doing longer distance stuff like change of position from 6 feet out.... Suz - I remember reading a story in a training book about high value treats, and a couple who rocked up to class with their Lab? (I think), and grapes. Instructor could not believe that the dog would value a grape over any other treat (liver/meat/stras etc) but they tested them all and the dog went for the grape every time!

I used to buy the ham sticks from the deli section and slice them up for training treats - easier to handle than just the flat sliced ham. But Darcy got a bit bored with ham so now I buy a chicken fillet which gets cooked and diced up for training. I tend to use lower fat treats if I can - Darcy's on a permanent diet

Can you feel their ribs with light pressure? Do they have a good waist when viewed from above? Sorry its hard to tell from side on pics - my dog looks ok from the side, but looks like a fatty when viewed from above :cool:

That's alright RB..... my dog hasn't got any behavioural problems either so I'm only going for the learning of course Can't wait ;)