bridgie_cat

WELL DONE! I can only imagine how good that must feel... we are most definitely still in the teaching phase... and I wonder if we are going backwards!!! But HI-5 for you n Buster - that would have to feel great after months of training!!!

thinking you may not get a lot of replies ... have you searched Yahoo groups for a specific dog sledding group? they seem to have a group for everything on there and then you could have all your q's answered and more! good luck with the sledding - that looks like so much fun!!! maybe if I had 10 shelties...

well we had an awesome day today (we passed into grade 4 which = trialling class at our club )... but I can relate from the other night when Lana made the same mistake on the weavers maybe 10X?? argh!!! really easy set up too but she kept missing the same one! Hard to end on a good note when they just wont do anything good... and even harder to stay positive at that point!

CCD?? well done!

I have only seen Greg Derrets agility foundation training and then the next one of his "great dog... shame about the handler" really enjoyed agility foundation training but possibly found it too late to make use of some of it and also would have a hard time getting Lana (or a lot of shelties I would think) to be so focused on a tug toy for lots of the exercises... but great how much proofing he does for each bit & really useful stuff that you would miss if you went straight to the equip. next one was good as it showed his handling system but after that it was a LOT of sequences to learn diff maneuvers so would have to watch it several times or in parts - ie train, and then watch the next bit etc... good - but also a bit beyond us atm as we are just getting back into it and learning weavers etc

removed. sounds like a plan erny

im just starting with the V method after a while doing the in-out poop where they watch your hand - but this was very inconsistent & she had to watch me for every pole... have done a few sessions with the V and noticing some improvement... hopefully this will work better...

taste wise Lana likes optimum... not that I would still be feeding her puppy food... :D or would i?? eta assumed we were talking about dry puppy food... my bad for not reading the post

I made the mistake of adding a bit of kitty milk to Lana's morning dry food a couple of weeks ago... and since then she will not eat plain dry food!!! I put down the bowl without milk... she looks at the food... looks at me... back at the food... and walks to the fridge

we do obedience and agility & limited herding (oh I wish we could do more!) and because each is so different she doesnt seem confused at all... although other dogs at our school have probs going from agility to obedience and vice versa (as in get good at one then start another) because they understand the rules of one so well that they take these into the other area... also one person cant get their dog to stand next to them after teaching them to stack in front for showing...

what height is Ness on? you cant trick her by upping it for the week before the trial? just a thought... but WELL DONE!!!

plenty old enough! But when starting out obedience with a pup it is v important to make the sessions short & fun... the impresions they make of training early will be very important if you want them to train happily later. You can gradualy build up the time you have them training for. It is good to do lots of short sessions (a few tricks or a couple mins) just when you are at home so they can get the idea of the things you are asking them to do at training but in a 'safe' environment... That is a really long training! We only do 45mins and this is too long for most pups!

On this note: My grandma has a new kitten and the kitten and my aunts whippet Twiggy play really rough! Anyways - one day gran was calling "rocky... rocky" and Twiggy ran into the house, grabbed rocky by the scruff (this is how they play... weird!) and brought him out and dropped him at grans feet! Anyways - does obed count as a sport?? Cuz I did this after my older bro had great fun training our wonder dog Buster... So when I was looking for my own dog I was looking for a breed that is good to train. Agility = always in the back of my mind when you see this on TV or demos at dog events around town... then when we started obed at the club the instructors invited me to join in at the agility trainings and that was it! Herding = im thinking DOL actually put me onto the idea... that or "Babe" :cool: ... so I went to a training in Adelaide to have a go and now I have my own ducks to train with!

is there one of these every month?? Lana cant enter for a bit... but when she can I am SOOOO KEEN!!!! We have been working ducks out here - but with me having no clue and no instructors about... well it is certainly a learning experience for both of us!...

Hard as the adelaide herding thing is only on occasionally and then it is a 5hr drive if I am able to get out of everything here for a couple of days... I did go to one training and she did well on the sheep (running circles!) I am not sure what my goals are... I am currently working towards titling her in obed and perhaps agility if she can look away from the borders long enough to do a few tricks for me! I dont really know what you do in herding... it just looks like so much fun! I guess probably to trial with her if we end up getting any good at it. I have been away so havent tried any of your suggestions yet - but will be going out asap!!! The yard = circular but is attached to the ducks house/yard so I cannot do a full 360 and teach her to balance on the outside like I have read/seen in some places. More so she enjoys holding them on the fence because they panic and this is clearly fun... but I have been able to stop this so it is ok.

Thanks Jesomil Im not sure if she does that naturally at all... she understands that to get the ducks off the wall she = other side of me ... but other than that I think she enjoys following them around with me on the same side... hmmm... she has not attempted to bring them to me at all. Yard = smallish... so may have to fix this before trying the side to side bit... but will try it and see how it goes. How do I get her to stay on the other side of them?

Hey guys! So I have spent the last few months building a duck house and then a herding yard which I finished the other day! Me and Lana have been in playing with the ducks a few times now and we have gone from her smelling the gound, slightly interested but defers avoiding those weird animals! to her holding them on the fence stressing them to the max, to me helping her get them off the fence and then Lana running nice circles around them, keeping them in a nice group. So now that we have nice circles... I figure I need to teach her the directions "come by" and "away to me" and also the drop on the other side of the ducks (atm I say drop and she comes back to me and does it at my feet...)... but I am wondering what else I should be doing at this early stage... and also how best to teach these basic comands. Thanks Bridget

I said nope - but I cant say I have tried it enough to actually get a good idea... I have put it into food on 2 ocassions and it is in most treat recipes... but that isnt enough to stop fleas I wouldnt think - so I havent seen results but probably havent tried hard enough.

Im actually entered in the Warrnambool trial... but will be watching the Mt G one (Lana will probably be in season then so I wont be able to enter ) Yes Marlene is here - she is great... we have a few others that have been around for ages and are a big help! Not sure on Ginny... if she is here I dont know her - but then again I only know the names of a few owners!!! I am already working with marlene and Steve in all weird places trying to get them used to distractions etc but cannot recreat the actual trial atmosphere - so that is certainly a learning experience. I wouldnt go in if there were trials all the time I could enter when I was ready - but limited access = im gonna give it a go a bit early and risk it - not too much bad can be learnt in 1 trial without corrections!!! she is pretty dam close anyways... That is pretty extreme with the horse!!! I woudnt think many would plan to proof their dogs against that... haha...

I would agree - but also add that perhaps entering to "see how we go" for a newby is good as it gives the experience of a real trial - to see how the dog reacts to a crowd and also to see how the newby reacts to the pressure! Thus you go away with stuff to work on and your first experience is out of the way so you dont fail when you really are ready to pass because you and the dog didnt know what to expect. I am in this situation now - living in Mt G I have the oportunity to go to one trail now - and not another until the end of the year! So although Lana is not bomb proof and is still making a few mistakes - I am entering into the obedience to "see how we go". I do not care if we dont pass - as I know we arent really ready to yet anyways. It is just the experience that I want before the end of the year when we hopefully will be ready. I should also add that I wouldnt enter if I thought Lana was going to distract/attack/anything the other dogs as that wouldnt be fair to the people who were ready to pass... eta - OOHHH I just saw that everyone is thinking of coming to the Mount Gambier trial!!! How exciting! I will deferz be there - even if I dont have a dog... (Lana will/should be in season then... but who knows!)

I think the theory behind it is that it puts the dog into the submissive position thus showing it that you are boss and it should listen to you. Dogs that think they are above you in the "pecking" order may take comands to get the treat - but they will chose which ones they listen to and they are more likely to become agressive towards you in trying to assert their own dominance (of course this would be in worse cases... most just assert in little ways)... I have problems with my spot over Lana as there are lots of other ppl in my house and at school that she would rather be with/listen to than me = she doesnt think she has to listen to me because I am not top dog in her mind. I do not alpha roll or anything... most I have done is moved her off the bed and am going through different training techniques to make stuff more interesting - instead of asserting dominance... In the old days (and some trainers today still use it very effectively - I know of at least 1, maybe 2) dogs were treated more severly (ie forceful alpha rolling...) - as this was seen to be what would happen in a true pack situation with other dogs... of course these trainers also have a very good understanding of how to properly praise the dog as the more severe reprimand - the more hyper the praise should be = dog thinks you are worth the effort to be around since you are the source of all their fun... even if they do get told off a bit. ... please note that when I say severe I am not refering to actual violence... I am refering to tone of voice, body language, incl alpha roll... etc... violence is bad mk... ;) This is just my understanding - more experienced pplz please correct me if I have said something wrong! Bridget eta sp...

Lana has systematically destroyed all of my favourite leads - I will look away for 1 sec and she has chewed though another!!! She is so fast with her sharp little teath..

Shelties are GREAT with cats - good with kids (as long as they are raised with them) and require little grooming while still looking great! Not sure on the exercise... if you had somewhere they could free run then that would be ok - I just take Lana for walks - but she always has a run with our other dog cuz we can walk off lead... VERY trainable!

You need to let them chose who will be the dominant and by the sounds of things the other is going to be the boss in the long run (even if he is 2 wks younger) and then feed and pet according to the pack order THEY choose (top dog gets first pats and first feed) Also - everyone claiming that they are playing does not seem to be helping the OP... GSD is the only one actually seeing these pups and maybe they really are having disputes. How can everyone be so sure without actually witnessing the behaviour? I dont know what to do if they are fighting - but maybe someone else on here will come give some good advice - hopefully that wont hurt the pups relationship with each other if it is just playing... (would perhaps distracting the pups with toys or chew things work??)

I would guess that a breeder of working dogs may do more rehomes if their dogs didn't turn out to have much instinct etc for their work or unsuitable temps for work/breeding with etc... for the same reasons that show breeders rehome unsuitable dogs (lack of att and space - although there is more likely to be enough space on a farm.) I would seriously doubt that an actual performance home would sell on a dog that wasnt a winner in the obedience ring/other doggie sports. Whatever a breeders objective - if a certain dog does not fit the criteria and they do not have the space or time to keep it - then it would be sold on - regardless of being a worker or a showie.