mum24dog

I love Kye's one up one down ears and Risk's fully pricked.

I don't like airplane or tipped ears but if I had a dog with them I'm sure my views would change, just as they did with pricked ears. Embrace the inner dog - appearance doesn't matter.

I rarely follow his blog now as he comes over as such an angry person and is not always nearly as well informed as he would have us believe.

I have two "Nap" types in appearance - very different from each other in temperament.

In the UK they're called crossbreeds by those who aren't easily conned. I can't understand why anyone would buy a high maintenance dog in grooming terms but then I don't believe in unnecessary work. She's failed to make a significant mark in the working world but made a moderate impression in the sport world, although nowadays there seem to be fewer with her affix competing than there were. Maybe that's why she's literally upped sticks and moved from Scotland and is apparently diversifying?

One of the most consistent performers in the country with BCs, cockers and a Malinois teaches both RCs and 2o2o at the same time as separate exercises.

Absolutely the opposite to denice. I do not give my dogs any reason to defend their possessions by taking to them away. They are allowed to eat in peace and if I want something off them they get something better when training. I've been able to get a bone from the back of the throat of one of mine that started off as food and toy possessive and still have all my fingers. That's not to say that I won't correct an older dog that forgets himself and acts out of character, but not a dog when we are new to each other and building a relationship.

I'll be working on a ring on Sat so should be easy to find. Will let you know which one.

Hope to meet up with you at the KCI then. Not doing BCC as my daughter has a non agility life too and is saving up her leave to spend three weeks in the US in September.

Well done. You don't have to go back to square one if you compete in the UK. Are you coming to the KCI this year?

My youngest dog is the same age as my granddaughter ( nearly 3 years old). He still can't read, even a bit, mathematical skills are minimal (doesn't grasp fractions afaik), he shows no signs of being able to use his imagination, can't negotiate a deal and he can't follow multiple instructions given at the same time. On the other hand, my granddaughter shows no ability in working sheep or interpreting her world through her nose.

I don't think it's helpful to compare the developmental progress of two different species.

Never bathed our 11 year old or our nearly 3 year old bcs . The nearly 14 year old hound x may have had a couple when young. Spot washes or mud rinses only as necessary.

My youngest dog has never had any issues eating either but he has been DNA diagnosed as IGS affected. You can't rule it out. B12 injections slightly improved but didn't clear his loose stools long term. A complete raw food does seem to have done the trick as long as he doesn't go scavenging for disgusting stuff. However, I too think over feeding is a more likely culprit. I never read the recommended guidelines on food packaging. Trial and error works for me.

I started my pup on a long line on the canal towpath and recalled frequently for a reward. Off lead as soon as I could trust him not to fall in the water and he would wait by my side when another dog approached. Limited space to run off, limited number of dogs to encounter under control. Done 1-1 without my other dogs. At 4 months he was off lead everywhere my other dogs were, although with more vigilance and less time. The idea of keeping a dog on lead for a year or more is alien to me but I guess it depends on availability of safe places to go.

Yes they were. The 3rd dog to run for us is a springer x BC though. I don't think it's just the dogs, more the sort of people who choose BCs. We get a lot of different breeds starting out at our club and everyone is trained and encouraged the same but it tends more often to be the BC handlers who stay on and have the competitive work ethic, just like their dogs. But that's just a generalisation and we do have exceptions. We've got a new class starting tomorrow - 1 BC, 1 GSD, 1 WH Vizsla, 1 Toller, 1 springer x BC, 1 JR and a terrier x.

Very impressive. Some really good stuff there. Would never have thought it was your first trial.

Thank you. He did win the second class by a couple of seconds. Next thing to aim for is a bit more consistency.

Risk's balls are on borrowed time. Yesterday he ran right across the exercise area to say a quick Hi to a dog that had just done a pee and mark over it. He can usually be interrupted when thinking about marking in the house though. He hasn't even got a resident bitch as an excuse.

Is that Keefer in the photo? Very similar. He seems to be getting it together now. He won one class today by several secs withheld a contacts and we had to leave the show early before the end of another. Trying to find out the result from friends who are still there. If he won that he will be up to grade 6 out of 7.

IGS (Immerslund - Gräsbeck Syndrome) does not always present with a lack of appetite. My affected dog always had a voracious appetite before he was diagnosed and started the B12 injections which are now down to once a month. His only symptoms were loose stools and slow growth / weight gain until the day before he collapsed at 14 months when he vomited twice, eventually starting to tremble and stagger. I suspected poisoning at first. Diarrhoea has been fixed by switching to feeding him a complete raw food. It only returns if he scavenges. That said, I've also had a new rescue that refused all food from stress for days after we got him an took weeks to eat confidently.

Yes they are members but the other three train in other places as well as with us. Risk's not doing badly for an IGS affected dog, just immature and reckless atm. He'll be three on 4th July so plenty of time.

Our club team at Crufts last month - second to run in blue around 5 mins in. Just for background, ours was probably the youngest dog team and the first time for all of them. Many team dogs tend to be successful and reliable towards the end of their competitive career. Competition is open to all grades of dog so the course has to reflect this although, as you will see, quite a few fell into not very bad traps, including the Team GB Manager. Amazed at how many missed contacts, especially the dog walk. Put it down to pressure. Around 10-30am on the Thursday, first day of Crufts, so only an audience of around 2k (6k capacity) but still enough to make a lot of noise. You can't judge by 1 run. Dog 1 came 6th in a Champ final of around 180 dogs on Saturday. - clear in Jumping and Agility preliminary rounds and in the Final. Dog 2 going for a steady clear. Handler 3 running with severe back spasms. Dog 4 (mine with my daughter) is lucky to get trained once a fortnight but still would have won 2 classes last weekend but for a clipped pole in each. (Commentator wrong - he's the 4th dog my daughter has run at Crufts.) It was great fun. Hope the video plays. team

I don't know what you guys are used to if you think European courses are tight. UK courses often used to be tight but we now have increased min / max distances between obstacles of 5-10m. FCI are 5-7m. Makes quite a difference. I don't get on well with too much technical terminology. Keep the flow going, keep connection with your dog and indicate the line it is to take, encourage working on away from the handler when needed. That's about it really as far as basic principles are concerned whatever the system is called. It's a far cry from the days of run and point and always use the arm nearest the dog as it was when I started.

To be fair to Greg he still handles like that and is very successful, even with an ageing dog that is slowing down. Don't know how long it will last though as all the new top handlers coming through seem to be considerably younger and fitter. Our visiting instructor trains with the Team GB squad and Greg has tried to persuade her to switch to his system but she prefers the mix and match approach. I've been involved in agility for nearly 20 years and have seen fashions come and go and come back round again so I treat "new" systems with a sizeable chunk of scepticism.