3crazybcs

If you are going to use left and right it's important to teach a rear cross first (at least in my opinion). I usually start teaching a rear cross without any equipment. I teach my dog to run with me by my side (either side) and then do front crosses and rear crosses. Since your dog gets worried at speed you can start out slow, maybe just a trot or even a walk. Then I'll move to equipment. I use a single jump and start just a stride or so before the jump and as the dog goes over the jump I do a rear cross and toss a toy in the direction I want them to go. Also a tunnel set up straight is a great way to practice rear crosses. Left and right are great to have but not absolutely necessary and I'd say at least 75% of the time the dog is cueing off your body language rather than the directional command. Having solid rear and front crosses is much more important than directionals. (again, just my opinion)

I had a puppy that had a very bad overbite (lab, not a bc). When he was around 4-5 months old I took him to a dog dentist who explained to me all of the things they could do and what I should be looking out for in his mouth (it's amazing what they can do with dog teeth). Ace (the puppy) also was starting to get his adult teeth in and had a few baby teeth lingering and the dentist urged me to get them out asap because they could impede the teeth coming in. He wanted to charge me about $800 to take out the teeth and x-ray Ace's mouth. I called my regular vet and told her and she said she'd pull them out when she neutered him so I just got him in to be neutered earlier than I had intended and she pulled them out for nothing. I did keep taking Ace to the dentist periodically until he was done growing because there was a chance for real problems as the adult teeth came in. I got lucky in the the canine teeth (which were a concern because of their positioning) came in ok and they line up enough on the top and bottom. The only other concern was the teeth in the very front and them putting pressure on and causing ulcers in his upper palette (the front bottom teeth lined up with the roof of his mouth) which hasn't happened. Ace is now 3 and still has about a 3/4 to 1 inch overbite but no problems in his mouth except that he has a hard time picking up flat things from the ground, like frisbees, because of the overbite. I think I made the right decision by taking a wait and see attitude instead of trying to fix the bite at all. There were several things that could have been done to change the overbite and the position of his teeth but in the end they only would have been cosmetic.

Ironhorse-I admire you for making the decision to do something to help these dogs but with all due respect I think this statement is wrong. There's a difference between buying a puppy from a pet store and buying a dog that is going to be a breeder and put out who knows how many puppies. I think the lesson I've learned from this is to not be too quick to call in the State when dealing with neglected dogs in Missouri. I guess rescue should do their best to quietly come in and get the dogs into safe foster homes without notifying the State of any of it. I knew Missouri was known to have a lot of puppy mills but I had no idea that this kind of stuff went on.

I read it. Unbelievable. It brings tears to my eyes. Thank you for doing what you can.

Annette- Jag - pretty cool! He blows every other dog in his class away every time (and I'm in the NE so I see him a lot). I don't broadcast who my dog's related to either because, well I'm not Julie Daniels! Contact Point and Hob Nob...and the list goes on... Kristi- You're right, they don't know what they don't know. A friend came to an Open level herding trial this past weekend with a 500+ yard outrun and she was blown away! I can only hope that if she ever decides she wants a border collie (she probably won't since she's got an awesome young kelpie) she'll remember what she saw. Yet another friend just got a puppy from all Australian conformation lines and he's about as much a border collie as a golden retriever is. She's got no clue at all and even though I've tried hard to clue her in she just doesn't care. She recently left him with me for a week while she was on vacation and said that my dogs would "teach him to be a border collie". Yeah right.

I think it's partly a want to preserve what they have in their sport dogs but also a big part of it is so that someone can say that their dog is out of X's dog or littermate to Y's dog or half-brother to Z's dog. It's sad that most of the people breeding these sport dogs either have no clue or don't care that they are hurting the breed. There are a lot of agility dogs out there that are from working dogs, nice working dogs. More of them though are out of an agility dog and maybe a working dog but I think it's happening less and less as sports, agility in particular, keeps growing and people breed their ADCh and MACh dogs. But just like with working dogs - just because your dog's sire is abc dog and the dam is xyz dog it doesn't mean you're going to get a the perfect agility dog. For example, I have a dog that's a half-brother to Julie Daniel's Spring, who's probably one of the best agility dogs ever in the US, and Spring he ain't! (and he's from 2 imported working dogs so he wasn't from a sport breeding)

Maybe there could be a newsletter or part of the USBCHA website set up specifically to address particular training questions or issues that novices might have? Or just discuss a different topic each month and encourage Novices to ask specific questions. I know there are several boards/forums that Novices can bring questions to already, but perhaps one on the USBCHA website that would require you to be a member and have a password to get in would be popular among Novices - if indeed we are allowed to or required to become members.

I'm a novice with a total of 3 trials under my belt but after careful consideration I'm going to jump in here. I wouldn't be opposed to having to pay an extra dollar per run and having that money go directly to the USBCHA. Even though it's an organization that I'm not eligible to be a member of I would support it. However, I am opposed to being forced to become a member of the USBCHA and I'm opposed to them keeping track of Novice points. If I understand all of this correctly, the USBCHA is in a financial crisis and is looking for ways to raise money. And it seems that the major reason for raising money is to put on the National Finals (both money to fund the event and prize money). Charging Novices a dollar per run tax/investment/surcharge seems like a great way to raise a fairly substantial amount of money and it's such a small amount I don't see why many Novices would have a problem with it. However, taking it an extra step and forcing us to join the USBCHA is wrong and it seems to me that it would, in a way, be taking advantage of Novices. It might seem exciting to some people to be "allowed" to join but it would leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. Of course, I want to "play" so I'd have to "pay" but I wouldn't be doing so willingly. As the USBCHA exists now we'd be getting no benefit from it, at least in my eyes. It does seem that, at least in my part of the country, the local organizations do a great job tracking Novice points and recognizing the accomplishments of Novices. So why reinvent the wheel and have the USBCHA duplicate their efforts? I can see opening up the USBCHA to Novices if there was an outcry from Novice handlers asking to be included in the USBCHA and asking for a national level novice program but that doesn't seem to be the case. This all seems to be driven by the need to make money. Also, it seems that the USBCHA has enough problems without taking on the sanctioning on more classes and keeping track of more points. I'd be willing to bet that Novice handlers might outnumber Open handlers - can the USBCHA handle all of the extra work? You're all volunteers, right? With regard to the 'trickle-down' benefits that Novices get from Open level handlers I agree with Carol and Julie. I pay for lessons, I pay entry fees into trials (thereby paying for the judge and the sheep), I pay for clinics, and if I wanted a dog that I hadn't trained myself (with the benefit of lessons) I'd pay for that too. Yes, there may be cases where Open level handlers give to Novices without any financial gain and I have been on the receiving end of that generosity and greatly appreciate it. But on a whole, the relationship between the Novices and Open level people seems to be a symbiotic one and one that would exist with or without the USBCHA. For example, I spent last Saturday as a volunteer worker at an Open trial which offered no novice classes and there were other novice people working there also...Novices can and do give back to the USBCHA Open level without being required to be a member. Again, I'm a total novice so take my words with a grain of salt. I just wanted to voice my opinion. C. West

I have always been told that feeding raw and kibble at the same meal is a no-no because of the rate of digestion of each. Kibble can take 12 hours to be digested and raw about 4 hours - so feeding them both together can cause havoc with their digestive systems. I couldn't point you to any research on it and I haven't tried it myself (I mean I haven't tried it on my dogs!).

There are a lot of brands of kibble that are better than Purina...Wellness, Timberwolf Organics, Chicken Soup, Innova, Calif Natural...to name a few. The protien levels in foods varies, so you don't need to feed raw meat to get more protien into your dog. However, I have a friend who just moved back to Oz from the US and I know that the dog food market there is different than the US and that most food is outrageously expensive and you don't have a lot of the brands we have here in the US. Maybe you can post a new message directed to the board members from Australia and find out what your options are? I know my friend loves being back home but the dog food here in the US is one thing that she really misses!

Hi Denise- Check your pm's.

Pat- I read today that HGE can be caused by heatstroke (info written by a vet). Is it possible she had heatstroke? I don't know anything about HGE other than what you've written here so I'm just passing on what I read.

Denise- Check your pm's.

I don't get CR anymore for the same reason. Not much new and if there was something I wanted to read I'd borrow one. I seem to luck out and be at trials where CR has donated copies so I get more than I miss but I don't have the handling issue. I'll find someone who does though and pick it up, sounds worthwhile.