quicksilver

Thanks for the nice comments, folks! We don't get many clear rounds, but she has such a zest for life, and is always so happy at the end of a run, playing with her tuggy, that I find I just don't care so much these days about the eliminations.

I do get her to down sometimes, but most of the time these days I just let her run them. In training she does a mixture as well. She doesn't miss many contacts - since she started competing in January 2006 the total missed is still in single figures. Here's a recent film which includes a decent if somewhat leisurely dogwalk contact, a chaotic A-frame contact resulting from me turning her late, and a missed seesaw ... one of that total mentioned above, I blame the handler (me) who was panicking a little. http://vimeo.com/2000875 Don't laugh too much!

Yep, clicker/target with a down nose touch having been shaped beforehand: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HIjKgJkqyPI Use that 4-off position for the dogwalk and A-frame, a 4-on for the seesaw.

Merry (9 years old) and Bliss (4 years old) in competition here in England this summer: http://vimeo.com/1582263 And Bliss in training, doing ketschker turns (your 'flip' I think): http://vimeo.com/1800066 Enjoy!

Here are my videos of the International Agility at Crufts. Round 1 pt 1: Round 1 pt 2: Round 1 pt 3: Round 2 (selection): Enjoy!

Out of curiosity, could you let us know what his breeding is? His lines may well be good even if the breeder's breeding practices weren't.

1. How were you first introduced to clicker training? Read about it on the Internet, and a friend then showed me some basics. 2. Why did you decide to continue to incorporate the clicker in your training as time went on? Initially in order to work on contact behaviour in agility, then extended it to other areas. 3. When training a new behavior, how frequently do you incorporate the clicker into your training? B - Usually. I'm not nerdy in my use of it. 4. Have you ever taken a training class that was a specific clicker class? Yes, have attended 1 to 1 lessons, classes and workshops. 5. Have you ever taken another type of training class where clicker instruction was incorporated into the curriculum? (Example: Rally, Agility, Freestyle, CGC, Obedience) If yes, what was the topic of the class? Yes - informal obedience and Agility. And I use clickers in the agility classes I teach.

I've used Anadune quite a bit over the years, but the BCDB at http://db.kennel.dk wins every time.

Saw it on TV here a year or so ago when it first came out. Not a patch on Year of the Working Sheepdog IMO, too cheesy. I didn't manage to stay the whole course watching Mist, whereas YotWS I can watch again and again. JMO.

I remember watching a programme on the BBC a couple of years ago following the experiences of a man (a doctor I think) who intentionally gave himself a tapeworm so he could see how it affected him, and how long it would eventually grow. Yum.

Coming to this thread rather late - but ignoring would probably most accurately be classed as an attempt at extinction of a behaviour, rather than using + or - reinforcement or punishment. Unfortunately (as already mentioned) if the behaviour is being reinforced elsewhere in the dog's environment, you ignoring it won't help much.

Could it possibly be something needing checking like anal glands?

Have a look at these One Jump Drills. There are other great training ideas on Agilitynerd as well. http://agilitynerd.com/blog/agility/course...JumpDrills.html

Brilliant - that's exactly what Merry has done on and off, maybe once a month or so, all his life with me. He did it at the vet's the other day and the vet said it was almost like a panic attack. Said nothing about reverse sneezing - will share that with him tomorrow.

One of Merry's nicknames as a youngster was 'Fartydrawers' as, whenever he went into a playbow, he'd do a little 'toot'. Happily he grew out of it and is mainly Merrylegs now.

Yep, her Medium dog La has stunning running contacts. She's missing some with her Large collie Bu, though.

In my experience running contacts are suitable for dogs of all speeds and sizes. The problem here in the UK is getting other handlers to be brave enough to move away from a 'quick release' 2o2o contact and even consider venturing out into the impressive but relatively unknown waters of the 4-off position. What I find needs to be varied from dog to dog is the exact position of the target from the end of the contact, 'dog's body length' is just a rough guide.

I use channel weaves to teach young dogs - but without guide wires. As for contacts - my preferred method is small clicker target placed roughly a body length past the end of the DW or AF, giving a 4-off position. Thus running contacts each time. Lots of reinforcement in training, occasional in competition. My young BC Bliss has been competing for nearly 2 years now and has only missed 1 DW contact, and 0 AF ones, she normally does the DW in under 1.8 secs (so not flat out but fast enough). 4-on position for the SS of course. Here's our latest run together, this morning at Olympia in London. Sadly I messed it up for her at the Aframe, pulling her back off it, she was lovely throughout though. http://www.agilityvideos2.freeuk.com/blissolympiaweb.wmv Hope you like it.

Nice to see piccies of Bliss' relatives - thanks for that. And at least the piccie of your Pod brings this thread back on topic - merles! p.s. will let you know whatever I find out about Harriot Roy as soon as I can, though I've got a busy few days getting the paperwork sorted out for our next agility show (on the 23rd), and before that I'm down in London with Bliss as she's competing at Olympia.

No, Taddymoor is Ken Gwilliam's prefix. He's the owner of the dam, Richard Millichap of the sire of the 2007 Res Int Sup Ch Taddymoor Cap (a later Taddymoor Cap than my Merry's dad, of course). The farm where Ken used to live is on Taddymoor Lane in Hopesay, in the Shropshire Hills on the Welsh border, and as the prefix is quite well-known they kept it after moving to a cottage not far away.

Just want to say I'm really sorry that my earlier message sparked off a row. If it's any help, I can easily find out more about Harriot Roy from this end as I'm in regular contact with Ken, Bliss' breeder (and he knows Colin House very well). Anyway, while I found out as much as I could about my little girl's dad, it's the mother's side that probably interests me more, as Ken's the shepherd who also bred my older collie Merry, Bliss' half brother. The Taddymoor dogs also include the 2007 Reserve International Supreme Champion.

That link didn't take me to the spreadsheet (also feed raw so was curious), any other way you can share the info?

Personally I'd take him to the vet, sounds like he needs a pro to remove the dangly bit of nail, check what damage has been caused, maybe give him an antibiotic shot and you some advice on aftercare (e.g. sock or vetwrap when dog goes out for a pee).

Have just read through this whole topic with great interest - sorry to have come to it so late. What I've always heard over here (England) is that shepherds think sheep won't respect a red dog. But it certainly also makes a lot of sense about the dog standing out colourwise, as my red tri Merry blends perfectly into the golden brown bracken that covers the hillsides in the autumn. Not everyone shares the dislike, though, and the 2004 Int Sup Ch is a red tri. The dad of my younger BC Bliss (Merry's half sister, same mum) is owned by Colin House, who has partial vision and is registered blind. He chooses b/w or tri pups that have plenty of white on them so he has a better chance of seeing them. My good luck that Bliss is a very black tri then! Bliss via her dad has a lot of J P Burke dogs behind her - http://www.agilityaddicts.freeuk.com/blissped.htm - no idea about their colours though, sorry, and the litter were all black tris like their parents.

Might interest you to look at a thread on a UK forum where coincidentally lead and seizures has also come up. 15 April 1008: Apologies - old forum no longer exists, new one at http://agilityforum.agilityaddicts.net/