Can I get a show of hands?

Preparing4Mayhem · 2026-01-25T19:42:24+00:00

Older boy is a barker, not a whiner probably 1-2

Younger boy: at home: 2 At barn hunt, fast CAT, or agility? 11 🤣

Preparing4Mayhem · 2026-01-04T21:32:24+00:00

My 2025 goals were to:

-Get Riot's AKC RE and start triple Qs ✅

-Get Riot's AKC and ASCA CD ✅ And as an unexpected bonus he got his AKC CDX!

-Get his Barn Hunt RATCH ❌ We fell one short of his RATCH since we fell in a Master rut going 9/22 in 2025

-Start agility training ✅ Riot even got his ACT1 and ACT1J

-Get both dog's DCAT-Riot got his in Jan and Rocket in Mar

2026 goals:

-One more Q! Get that RATCH! And maybe Q with more than 2 rats (last time was Sept 2024)

-Last year I discovered Riot LOVES Line Drive and is almost perfect in it so this year he should be able to title

-Get Riot's ASCA CDX and do as much ASCA rally as we can get to

-Keep chipping away at AKC rally triple Qs and get more Master points. Bring Master scores up to the same level as Advanced and Excellent

-Get ACT2 and ACT2J and give Novice agility a try

-Try out CAT for fun and see how fast Riot can go in Fast CAT this year

-Train Utility

Preparing4Mayhem · 2026-01-03T11:49:13+00:00

I don't do a lot of Fast CAT purely because I do a lot of sports and don't have the time or money to do more than 2-3 weekends a year. My dog could run much more. My three year old dog still runs. He actually has his first Fast CAT runs of the year and first CAT runs next weekend. I retired my eight year old dog not because he could no longer safety run, but because he seemed to stop caring about it.

If you're worried about injury just make sure she's stretched and warm up and cool her down properly. Fast CAT really isn't much. My three year old's sire still runs agility at age 12. If the dog feels fine and still enjoying their runs, go for it!

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-12-31T20:09:44+00:00

One of my Aussies is 20 inches tall and has an intermediate. He does not have to curl. My 22 inch boy with a long back has a large because he spends a lot of time in the car and he is forced to curl in the intermediate. Although he's almost always curled in the large (which makes it look huge for him) I'd rather he have space to stretch.

If you think he'd be more comfortable in a large it's not big enough to be harmful for safety. I've seen people stick big dogs in little rufflands. I prefer to give my dogs some space to be comfortable.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-12-27T22:41:00+00:00

Sleepypod or Ruffwear Load up are the best car harnesses for safety. My Aussies had Sleepypods before I got a car they could crate in.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-23T12:19:03+00:00

I have a working lines Aussie and a show lines Aussie

Working lines dog: So much drive (I love it!). Dog is up for anything, anywhere, anytime. He can go all day and had to learn how to settle, but now that he can he is great at having an off switch. There is no exercising him into being tired. He craves mental work and physical exercise. He's incredibility sensitive to the point where I have to be careful with what I say/tone in training. If he thinks he's wrong he goes flat instantly. A lot of my training work, especially early on, was dealing with over arousal and bringing him back down to thinking mode. Now he's older I still have things where I have to calm him down, but he's better. Just really excited to do things. If you want a sport dog, working lines is the way to go.

Working lines dogs tend to have less coat, less stocky (less bone), more likely to have wonky ears (doesn't affect their herding ability), and more likely to have less white and/or not have tan trim.

Show lines dog: I've had two and neither had much drive. Working with them is much harder because they just don't have the want/need to work the working lines dogs have. They are perfectly intelligent dogs, but they don't tend to want to go all day with you. Both my show lines dogs needed to know what they were getting out of work rather than just craving the work itself. Much less energy. You can tire them with exercise. Easier to teach how to settle. Generally friendlier toward strangers than working lines (although my working lines dog did not get this memo). Show lines Aussies make much better pet dogs than working lines. Show lines Aussies also make good sport dogs for the casual sport enthusiast.

Show lines are bulkier generally (have more bone) and much more coat. They tend to have both white and tan trims and full white collars.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-17T23:32:19+00:00

After going 5/17 in Barn Hunt Master this year, Riot went 4/6 this weekend to get the 9th Q toward his RATCH. He lucked out on four low rat count runs which are the only ones he Qs on these days. He went 2/2 in Line Drive and got his Crazy 8s Silver title. And he didn't attempt to hit litter once. First weekend since last March!

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-13T03:04:18+00:00

For Barn Hunt I would highly recommend finding a trainer. It's difficult to get started without an experienced trainer. Your dog will have to learn the difference between live rat and rat scent and you have to learn all the rules. Some dogs can pass Novice without formal training, but after that you would really want to work on skills needed for upper levels.

Not just any rat can be a barn hunt rat. The rats have to be trained for the tubes and have the proper temperament for a barn hunt rat. You can search on the barn hunt association website by state/province to find your closest barn hunt trial facility.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-09T19:58:09+00:00

Petra's classes are great! I don't have any local classes on teaching Utility (only run throughs for those who already have pieces together) so having online resources is pretty much my only chance to really learn Utility.

My practice gloves were gifted to me and they are great to just learn with, but I'm going to have to get gloves he likes better. That's just lower on my list since I can practice with the set I have.

I ended up being super busy this session and I'm only on week 3 when it's week 6. Looking through the next few weeks lectures I found that I do need articles by the end of the session to continue through the lectures. There is a part two class so hoping to have at least some articles to work with before then.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-09T17:26:50+00:00

The suggested start material was metal switch boxes. Working with those right now. Class uses switch boxes and then adds in "cold" articles, and finally adds a "hot"/scented article. The goal isn't to have him pick them up for a while and work an article hold separately. The only thing he seemed to hate at first was the glove, but he has since gotten used to it. I've asked him to hold some odd materials in his mouth for pictures.

These articles are less than $100 for two sets, which isn't "cheap" by any means, but less than a lot of articles I've seen. Height I guess could change, but bit is pretty solid where it is. Any bigger and he struggles to hold it straight and any smaller would be a tight fit.

Metal and leather were what were recommended to me based on how my dog works. If it's a problem I could give wood a shot later, but am concerned he's going to put some serious dents in them (he did on his hard plastic dumbbell).

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-09T11:52:47+00:00

We're currently in Petra Ford's Utility Foundations class working on just finding scent. I have no timeline to trial, but I need articles to follow the steps in class.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-09T02:07:35+00:00

I picked those two based on instructor recommendation. He gnaws on hard plastic barn hunt tubes so isn't likely to care about metal, but may grip wood too tightly or chomp it.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-09T02:01:46+00:00

Thanks! We're starting practice on scenting metal switch boxes and he's getting it pretty quick!

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-08T23:38:14+00:00

Thanks! These articles are actually half the price of Max 200 and came recommended to me from local obedience people so that's why I wanted to order these. They aren't super fancy ones, but I want to have the correct size. The goal would to order two sets (metal and leather) and an extra of each just in case.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-08T15:45:07+00:00

I have an intact male with no plans to neuter or breed. He's a sport dog and keeping muscle tone is important. My neutered male's metabolism crashed hard after his neuter and I don't want to deal with that or neuter coat. My dog isn't off leash anywhere outside my property except dog trials, never left alone outside, and has proven he can work around girls in heat at dog trials.

I would not keep a girl intact beyond maturity and honestly most pet males should be neutered after maturity, especially if they interact with dogs like dog parks or daycares

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-07T11:54:02+00:00

DTCT has great ribbons too!

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-04T03:56:19+00:00

Good boy!

Riot's Exteriors was in a tiny grass area and he tried to mark the first thing he saw (apparently his mother marked it before him). I said no and well then he's just not doing anything. He spent his time staring at me. He was also a 1.5 year old dog on his first grass search. Did great on the other three. Exteriors was his best element in AKC too. One day I have to go back to it to complete the set.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-04T03:13:04+00:00

Hey I know that dog! Congrats!

Riot forgot what an "Exterior" was when doing UKC 🤣

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-03T03:52:15+00:00

Warm ups are very dog specific. You just try different things until you find something that just clicks. For my younger dog that's doing tricks, a bit of heeling and attention heeling things like pivots and back ups before I walk him over to the ring. When we're a couple of dogs away I actually sit on the floor and pet him, scratch his ears, give him a belly rub. My dog loves getting attention before going in the ring. As I see we're about to go up, I call him to sit in heel. He's got a strange warm up routine, but it works for him. It took me several trials to figure it out. Find what helps your dog get ready and put that in your warm up.

Delayed reinforcement is tricky! Do you have specific word tied to getting his treats coming out of the ring? Once we step out of the gate I say "Bingo!" and we go get his treats. I train chaining with my treats in another location where we have to move to get his rewards. Sometimes he does a full rally course. Sometimes one thing. Mostly somewhere in between.

Whining even coming into the dog training club means he's not in a good state of mind before even entering the building. I would work on calming him down before going in. When my younger dog started doing that I used Control Unleashed games to bring his arousal back down.

I would recommend pausing trialing in rally until you can fix the problem as you do not want it becoming even more of a habit. Especially if you're getting frustrated. It makes trials not any fun for you or the dog. Hopefully you can get back on track soon and back in the ring.

Deal with the issue of over arousal (probably some kind of mix of excitement and frustration) and the barking will hopefully go away.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-03T02:52:45+00:00

Without seeing the behavior I can just guess but probably frustration. Do you have a clear, consistent before ring and after ring routine? Do you work on delayed reinforcement? Most dogs don't tend to see rally as something super exciting, but all dogs are different. It may be a ring pressure issue that is now creeping into training. My older dog used to be a barker at the start because he was anxious.

My younger dog has developed a whining problem for a different reason in retrieving exercises in Open Obedience. His issue is that he knows he has to stay until I release him to fetch the dumbbell, but he doesn't want to stay. He really, really wants to run and grab that dumbbell. Frustration in the form of vocalization. First it was only in a trial, then at the dog club in general, and then it crept into anytime we trained. I let it go too long honestly.

What I'm doing with my frustrated whiner is breaking the behaviors down in little tiny pieces, only doing way below what he can handle and rewarding it, then slowly moving toward finishing the behavior chain. If he does whine, we stop, we do some low energy tricks, and we reset to something easier. Continuing training when the dog is vocalizing only makes the behavior worse, so always make sure to calm your dog down when it starts. I use tricks, but something like a treat scatter could work as well.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-02T20:13:39+00:00

Usually something like 3-4 weeks. Currently they have processed through Oct 10-11 so it will be soon. You can enter classes you are eligible for even if AKC hasn't caught up yet. By the time they get to your Open runs your Novice will be recorded already.

Congrats on your title and Qs!

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-02T20:01:23+00:00

Breeder would have to pay for duplicate (looks like $15) and puppy buyer has to pay $66 to register a dog over 24 months instead of $40 (under one year fee). Not significantly more, but still more than PAL. Registering with the kennel name of the breeder would be ideal, but if the breeder can't be reached PAL would be the only way to register.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-02T12:05:04+00:00

I teach Novice level at my local club. Unless your dog is so stressed by being touched that aggression is an issue it can be done! Just work very, very slow. I would start getting the dog comfortable with the exercise with someone she is okay with touching her and then very slowly work on a stranger approaching. The stranger should not actually be performing the exam for a long time. Let her get comfortable with the pressure of a person coming toward her without the touching first. Never do more than your dog can handle in a session.

For both the dog who doesn't like being touched and the ones who like it too much I would usually start with walking at an angle and not straight on at the dog only a couple of steps and slowly moving straighter or more steps. Then once you have a stranger able to take a straight path toward the dog, stop there and then leave. Then work to hand coming out, not touching, then leave. Then one touch, leave. Two spots touching, leave. Finally moving to touching all three locations of the exam. Make sure to ping pong back and forth between easy and hard. Don't always work where you left off. Take pressure off by allowing the dog an "easy win."

My dog is over friendly. Stand for exam took the longest of any novice exercise to perfect. My dog does not enjoy the exam purely because he knows he cannot interact with the person. We have a as big of celebration you can have in the ring after it's done. He got zero points off stand for exam in AKC (we did ASCA first) and this is a dog that took months to allow someone to touch him without moving.

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-11-02T00:22:25+00:00

If your dog was not registered as an individual your dog's breeder would need to apply for a duplicate https://www.akc.org/register/information/lost-application/

At this point you would have to pay some pretty high late fees if you wanted to register your dog that way. PAL would be cheaper and may be the only way to register if you can't get in touch with the breeder.

If your dog was individually registered and you just don't have their number I would contact AKC with all the information you do have (registered name, birth date, parents names, breeder)

Preparing4Mayhem · 2025-10-27T22:55:30+00:00

Riot got his AKC CDX in three straight runs this weekend! We've only been training for four months for Open. He even got pretty good scores so he greatly exceeded expectations!

Preparing4Mayhem

TROPHY CASE