Merry Christmas to All.

Not many people realize that Reindeer do not cope with the Australian Summer, so Hannah and I often help out with getting Santa's presents to the outback kids. Being from Nova Scotia originally, we had connections at the North Pole so we got the job this year. We had to look like Reindeer just in case we were seen,so we put on the antlers and ears, hitched up the sled and off we went.
Sleds are good in the snow, but  there is very little snow in the outback on a 45 deg. C. day. We will have to see about getting wheels fitted so we can pull the sled across the desert more easily. Reindeer may be able to fly, but if you think a Toller can fly, you will believe anything.
Click on the picture to get a bigger view.

Portland Trials

The photo shows Tiffany doing the weaving poles on her way to her qualification, 3rd place overall and 1st place in the 400 height class in Masters Agility at Portland.  Kathy was judging on the first morning so I had a rest while Keith and Tiffany went trialling. Tiffany nearly made it a double masters day when she missed a qualification in Jumping by 1 second, mainly because she was a bit slow starting the run. In the afternoon I was in Rally Advanced and Excellent and got a pass in both. Tiffany went in with Kathy but when she saw Keith judging in the next ring she wanted to get to him and made a mess of the run. The next day we were both in Rally and we both passed Rally Advanced and Excellent to get closer to our RAE title. I went in agility and jumping with Kathy too, but I missed a jump in Excellent then made a mess of the Jumping Masters. We have been camping on the grounds here so we had really comfortable place to stay while we waited for our turn in the ring. Going home tomorrow with our qualification cards and sashes to add to our collection.

Warnambool Trials

The photo shows me coming over the top of the Scramble at Warrnambool dog trials. There were lots of trials last weekend, too many for us as we got slower and slower as the trials went on.
On my first run I knocked a bar only 2 jumps from the end, Keith thought we had passed but we didn't. I got several clear runs, but was over time, and I got several runs under time with only 1 or 2 faults so no qualifications.
Hannah had a similar story. When she did the weaving poles properly she messed up on another obstacle, and when she got the rest right she missed a pole. Her runs in Masters were very encouraging as she is still very new this class, but no qualifications either.
We had lots of walks at the Caravan Park. KnK were surprised we remembered the way along the beach front walk but it was easy for us. We remember when we have a good time!

Mt Gambier Trials

Another haul of qualifications from Mt Gambier, we got Qualification Cards, Sashes and bags of dog food. We both qualified in Rally Advanced B + Excellent B on both days giving us two more qualifications towards our RAE titles. Hannah won  Rally Advanced B too. The photo shows us with our Rally cards, sashes and dog food.
It was a strange weekend because KnK were both judging on separate days, which means that Kathy handled both of us in Rally, Agility and Jumping on Saturday, then Keith handled us on Sunday. On my Agility Masters run Keith got on the wrong side of the scramble and we lost a couple of seconds there, then I missed a colour contact on the dog walk and we finished 0.64 seconds over time. We made time on the masters jumping course, but we had a mix up at a jump which got us DQ'd. Hannah ran well in masters jumping but missed a jump and stopped, so she was DQ'd. In her Excellent Agility Hannah cut across in front of Keith causing him to twist his hip so they pulled out of that run.
On the Saturday Kathy was handling and we did do very well but we still did not qualify.
We saw the Veteran dogs having a run. The old dogs ran on a reduced Novice course with low jumps, and it was great to see them still performing and wagging their tales regardless of the outcome.
We met up with lots of our friends, had a few plays with them and spent a lot of time asleep after a very busy week end.

Hannah in Masters

Here is Hannah in her first ever Masters Jumping trial. We were at Gawler on a warm day which is not good for us, but we were on early so that was a bonus. Hannah did well, but unfortunately got a few things wrong. When we checked the video, had Hannah got everything right the first time she would have made the time. The photo shows Hannah clearing the one jump I got wrong, (Keith said "Out" as I approached, so I went Out, not my fault).
The other runs of the day went quite well but the heat slowed us down. I was less than a second over time on Agility and by the end of the afternoon neither of us were interested in running anywhere.
The video shows me running into the tunnel and walking out at the other end. It was hotter than a really hot place inside the tunnel, and there were 8 metres of it too, no wonder the dogs slowed down at the end of it.
We will be going south next week, the weather forecast says it will be cooler so hopefully we will do better.

Hannah, JDX.

Yesterday, Hannah added another title to her name, she is now a Jumping Dog Excellent. The pic shows her clearing the hoop jump on her way to her title. In the morning run she was less than one second over time but went clear of course faults, then in the afternoon she made it with plenty of time to spare. Hannah also passed in Agility Excellent in the afternoon, so now she needs 2 more passes to get her ADX title.
After the trial we went to see Molly and had dinner with her. The day was long and we were both very glad to get into bed last night.

Back Home

We are home at last. We went out into the garden and almost disappeared!  You can only just see Hannah in the long grass that is our back lawn. We sent Keith out straight away to sort this out. It took him three goes with the lawn mower before he got it down to a reasonable level. It is still not right and will need another cut tomorrow when it has dried out.
Our trip to Queensland was worthwhile, Hannah got a Gambler Dog Title, I got my Rally Excellent title and we both got some qualification for other titles. We got to meet lots of other dogs and people, swam in lakes, ran and played in paddocks and visited lots of clubs. We have been to a restaurant for dinner with KnK for Kathy's birthday, climbed hills to Lookouts over the outback, visited a Tea factory and slept while Keith drove 12000 kilometres.

MacDonnell Ranges

Hannah and I are in Alice Springs for a week. We have been training for Agility and Rally with the Alice Springs Dog Club and have been on drives out to see the sights around Alice Springs.
The pic shows us at a lookout over the MacDonnell Ranges to the west of Alice Springs.
Good job KnK got the air con working, it has been over 30 Celsius most days since we have been here, and we don't take the heat very well at all.

Tourists in the Outback

Since we left Townsville we have been tourists. We stopped at Charters Towers where we posed for the pic from the lookout there. We had a night at Richmond where we went for a walk round the lake and a swim. Tiffany would not come out and when Keith went to get her, he slipped and fell in the lake with all his clothes on. We could not stop laughing all night. Next stop was Mt Isa where we barked at a man that climbed on the roof of the caravan to fix the air-conditioned. Lucky for us that he did because the next stop was the Barkly Homestead where it was hot and we needed the air con. Now we are in Tennant Creek having a days rest from traveling. Still hot and needing the air con so we can have our mid-afternoon nap in comfort. Moving on towards Alice Springs tomorrow.

Townsville Trials

The photo shows Hannah nailing the Scramble colour for 3 points on her way to her Gambler Dog Title at Townsville. She scored 25 points when she only needed 20 to get a 2nd place in the trial, and her 3rd GD Pass.
Hannah also got another JDX pass so she needs 1 more for her Jumping Dog Excellent Title.
I missed a Weaving pole in my ADM run, pulled out of the tunnel for my GDX run and Keith ran the wrong way for my JDM run so my Agility was three NQs. I did pass my first Rally Advanced/Excellent trials so only 9 more to go. Hannah also passed RAE which means she only has 6 to go.
In the Obedience, I did not do well in the heel work and lay down on the sit stay, but still got second place. At the end of the trial we managed 5 prizes, so we did not do too badly overall.

Atherton Trials

Look at us with our haul of prizes from the Atherton Trials over the weekend. Hannah passed her Rally Advanced and Excellent on both days to get two more RAE qualifications, both in 2nd place. I passed Rally Excellent in 1st place to get my RE title. Hannah then passed JDX on Sunday in 2nd Place. I passed Masters Agility in 1st place overall, then passed Masters Jumping in 4th place overall, 1st in 400 height. We got 2nd in SPDX, just 2 seconds over time, and we both got second and third places non qualifying to get some prizes. Hannah dropped a bar on one of her JDX runs and she was well under time for 2nd place, I lay down on a sit stay in Open Obedience so they gave me 3rd place, and we ended up with 9 prizes over the week end.
There were lots of dogs for us to meet, some were from last week in Cairns and some new ones too. Everybody made us welcome so we really enjoyed the whole week end. It was great to have the caravan on site so that we could have a sleep between runs in the cool of the caravan. We started at 8:am on Saturday and 7:am on Sunday and did not finish until about 10:pm Friday and Saturday. With those times we needed our nap times.

Lake Tinaroo

We have been at the Lakeside caravan park at Tinaroo Dam for a week. We have been tourists visiting the Waterfalls and Curtain Fig Tree  (dogs not allowed), the Nerada Tea Plantations, (dogs allowed in places), The Misty Mountains, (went to sleep) and best of all Lake Tinaroo next to the caravan park where we can swim. Every time we go for a walk Tiffany tries to drag Keith to the lake but he limits how much we can swim. One day we went in at the side of the caravan park and swam all the way round the peninsula to the other side of the caravan park while KnK just walked on the bank. It took us over an hour by which time I was ready for a biscuit and a lie down, but Tiffany had to be dragged out of the lake and she was tugging on the lead all the way back to the caravan.
Going out to dinner tonight, at the restaurant that allows dogs on their Pet Friendly Terrace. We have been bathed, brushed and beautified in readiness for the occasion, so I guess there will be no swimming this afternoon.

Explosive Detection Dogs

We paused for a few moments to think about these brave dogs that went to war with their humans. They were Explosive Detection Dogs and their job was to smell out explosives so they could be safely dis-armed. How many humans are alive now due to the superb nose of these dogs?
Unfortunately 5 of them did not make it back.

Merlin, Killed in Action 31/8/2007.
Razz, Killed in Action 21/9/2007.
Andy, Killed in Action 23/11/2007.
Nova, Killed in Action 23/10 2009.
Herbie, Killed in Action, 7/6/2010.

Their dedication reads:

I question not your commands
I follow faithfully wherever you go
I pledge my loyalty no matter what
I share the danger of your domain and will readily lay down my life for yours...
...for in this moment we are one.

The Afghan Avenue of Honour at Yungaburra, honouring the People and Dogs that gave their lives to make this world a better place.

Yungaburra.

We were tourists today, looking at lots of things in the tablelands near Atherton and Mareeba. KnK stopped for lunch at Yungaburra, and we were invited into the restaurant! Look at the picture. Hannah and I are sitting next to the table, with our own water bowl. KnK had coffee with their lunch, and we were as good as gold. Hannah barked at some people when they suddenly appeared, but apart from that we were great. The restaurant was The Vienna Inn and we were on their Pet Friendly Terrace.The photo was taken by the lady that runs the restaurant.
After lunch we had a big walk around Yungaburra then we looked at where we will stay next week, then went back to Mareeba Country Caravan Park for dinner. When we got home the caravan park owner put on a show singing old songs from way before we were born, but KnK knew them.

Cairns Trials

The Cairns Trials are over, we have had some good runs, a few qualifications and met some new friends. The pic shows us with some of the dogs that were trialling with us.
Tiffany got a 1st place in Masters Agility, a 2nd place in Snooker Excellent and 2nd place in Rally Excellent A. I got two 1st places in Rally Advanced B and Excellent B, and a 2nd place in Agility Excellent.
We had a few near misses too. Neither of us got a DQ and the worst runs had only 2 faults, so overall we had a good week end.
The Cairns City Kennel Club made us feel very welcome, even after Tiffany tried to pinch a biscuit on the first day. They let us join in their training night on Thursday which helped to get us back in Trialling mode. Didn't work for the Obedience though, we were far too distracted to do things like "Heel".
Nice People, Nice Dogs, Nice Judges and Nice courses. Cairns is a good place to trial.

Cairns

Look at us with our medals!. I won 2 medals, both First Place in Rally Advanced B and Excellent B for my first pass in Rally Advanced Excellent (RAE) title. Tiffany got Second place in her Rally Excellent A class, with Kathy handling. Keith was injured when he and Tiffany were going for a walk. Keith hit his head on a steel bar, fell down, twisted his ankle and spent the rest of the night getting fussed over with ice packs on him. We did not compete in Open obedience because we were all worried about Keith.

Rockhampton and Hulls Head

Hannah did very well in Rockhampton, she passed in JDX and SDX, we were less than a second over time in SPDX and she had a good run in ADX. The Pic shows us with the pigs ears she won. The Obedience was not good. Neither of us did well in the heel work because there was something spooky going on and we could not concentrate. KnK had no idea what it was, the grounds were good, with a few shadows under the lights, and the judges were really nice, but we were not happy.

I had some good runs in my trials, I got a clear round in Masters, but over time, and I missed a tunnel in another round. I did go into an extra tunnel in the Snooker Excellent to make up for it, but as I should have been doing the first jump in the closing sequence, I got an NQ.

We are currently at Hulls Head, right on the beach. We had a long walk near the sea yesterday and this morning. KnK would not let us go for a swim because crocodiles live here.

Ipswich Trial

Hannah qualified in her Jumping Dog Excellent Trial at Ipswich. The photo shows Hannah clearing the Spread Hurdle during her qualifying run. We are on our holidays in Queensland and went to the Ipswich trials while we were here. The first runs were not very good, we were both in holiday mode and did not do well. As the day went on we got back to work, Hannah almost passed in the morning trial, just one mistake, and I did well in my runs, but no passes for me.
Keith's cousin came to watch us in the morning, and we are going to see Kathy's sister today, then moving on to Rockhampton for trials next week end. Hopefully we will get time to do some training before then.

Hannah's Birthday

Hannah was Three Years Old today. We have been celebrating all day. We started with a long walk round the caravan park at Cobar and posed for photos on the lawn near the front. Then we went back to the van for Bonios and Scooby Snacks. KnK packed up the van and we went on our way to Bourke where we had another walk and stopped outside the Back o' Bourke sign. Kathy took us to see a suspicious fish in the gardens there. We approached it with a lot of caution, but it turned out to be made from beer cans, the head was the top and bottom of the can, while the body scales were made from the sides of the can opened out. It would seem that some humans have too much time on their hands.
After that we continued on our journey and stopped for lunch miles from anywhere, with this sign that said we were on the border between Nowhere and Nowhere Else, but we had a walk there and more Bonios and Scooby Snacks..
By the end of the day we were in Moree and set up camp in the showgrounds. Lots of space for us and we had another walk before our dinner and now we are settling down for the night.

Broken Hill Trials

Great time at the Broken Hill Trials, The photo shows us with Bobby UD, he got his third UD pass yesterday. He must have been celebrating too much last night because he did not quite make it today.
There were a lot of passes today with stays being a bit of a downer for the CCD, but the good news is most of the dogs got a pass over the weekend.
We had a training session after the trials so Hannah could practice her weaving and jumping, then we had a Strategic Pairs training session that was a bit of a laugh at first but we got it right in the end.
Moving on tomorrow, should be at the back of Burke by sunset.

Coolabah Tree

We found a Coolabah tree in Broken Hill, so we waited in its shade to see if a Jolly Swagman turned up, or possibly a jumbuck, but not even a Trouper came to move us on. We were disappointed.
We are in Broken Hill for the trials, KnK are judging so we can not compete, but I was a stand in dog for the groups when Bobby the Kelpie got his UD title.
Hannah got into KnK's supply of mints and Barley Sugar lollies while they were in the shops. She was not too good for the next couple of hours until they all came back up again. Keith was not happy, he had to clean it up. Hannah seems OK now, just needs lots of water.
Another trial here tomorrow and then we move on to Queensland and some warmer weather.

State Championship

We were at the 2 Day State Championship Trials on the weekend, but we did not become State Champions. We had some good runs, Hannah got 5th place and a qualification in Gambler Novice, and I qualified in Snooker Excellent but well down the field.
We both got zero course faults but had time faults in our elimination runs for Agility, the photo shows Hanna breaking the beam to stop the clock after her run.
I got into the finals because Keith was judging and I could not run in that elimination round. I missed the weaving poles (Grey poles, hard to see) then missed a colour on the dog walk, but had a pretty good run. By the time the Jumping final came round I was ready for a nap and did not go very well. Fur dad Rio did well getting a 2nd and 3rd in Agility and Jumping, and Uncle Murphy and Fur Mum Jaffa winning the Strategic Pairs Masters class. (Notice I did not mention our performance in Strategic pairs.)
After the trials we had a quiet evening with Maggie and Minty, then slept like puppies all night.

Hannah's Rally Excellent Title

Hannah is now a Rally Excellent dog, with RE after her name. KnK were judging again in the Sunday Double Rally trial so Kathy took us through in the  morning when Hannah passed, but I didn't because Keith was in the next ring and I was distracted. In the afternoon Keith took us in while Kathy judged and we both passed. Hannah was looking for Kathy but she stayed with Keith well enough to get a pass. We could hear Keith singing the "Bat Dog" song which always gets Hannah excited, but it worked on the day and Hannah got her third pass, and her RE title. The photo shows us on the throw rug Kathy bought with Hannah's prize money from winning on Saturday.

Hannah Wins Rally

Hannah was in her first Rally Excellent A class and won it. She got First Place after completing the course with only a few faults but got more points than any of the others. The photo show Hannah doing the Honor exercise where she has to stay while the next dog completes its run. I was in it too, but I ran out of points because I was too interested in the lovely smells that were on the ground and was not paying full attention to Keith.
We have another trial tomorrow but KnK are judging so we will have Kathy taking us through in the morning and Keith in the afternoon. Should be interesting to say the least.

Whyalla Long Weekend

What a week end we have had. We started at Crystal Brook with runs along the creek bank with Meeko, Jedda and Obi then we went to Whyalla for the trials where Dippy and Willow joined us. Keith judged on Saturday morning so Kathy put us both in the trials, then on Sunday Kathy was judging so Keith put us both in the trials. We had some good runs and we nearly qualified but just little things went wrong. Hannah got a 2nd and a 3rd on her runs and is wearing her sash in the photo. Today we came back to Crystal Brook and had another run along the creek and now we are ready for a sleep.

Wet Trials

The humans sent us out in the rain to do the trials on Saturday. They got us up before dawn, took us to the trials and expected us to run round the ring as though we were happy to be out in the freezing rain and wind when we could have been tucked up in bed with a dog chew to gnaw on. Tiffany did quite well under the conditions with only one or two errors in her morning master runs but by the time the afternoon trials came up she was on strike. My excellent runs were hampered by Kathy having a sore leg so she could not move too well, but the big problem was the smelly tunnel. I don't like smelly tunnels, and the one I had to go through was higher than a midden on a hot day. The photo shows me clearing the broad jump on the run home, just to show we can do something right.

Rally Advanced.

Another title for "The Intolerables". We both passed Rally Advanced on Sunday, which was our third pass at Advanced level. We now add 'RA' to our names. The pic shows us with our Rosettes in our collars. It was tough. Keith was judging in the next ring and I went through with Kathy. I could hear Keith but I stuck with Kathy and got a good pass. For Tiffany's turn, Keith had just finished, Tiffany saw him, got excited and wanted to go to him. He had to hide while Kathy tried to get her under control. In the ring Tiffany was in a playful mood, wanted the decoy in the Offset Fig 8, thought Kathy was not serious about doing the trial, and barked at her when they were doing some of the stations. In the end Kathy managed to get Tiffany under control enough to just sneak in a pass with 4 points to spare.
Saturday was good too. Tiffany passed Masters Jumping and was doing well in Masters Agility until Keith went on the wrong side, tried to correct it and dragged Tiffany on to a wrong jump. I did 2 clear rounds in Excellent, but was just outside the time limit both times. We are both getting closes to passing so expect more titles soon.

Red Cliffs

Hannah and I are spectators at the Murray Valley dog trials. You can see Kathy judging in the background. We got here on Thursday, after a bit of excitement when the spare wheel and the bumper bar fell off the caravan, (see the KnK travel blog link on the left) but since then we have been having a good time going for walks around the three ovals here at the park.
The dog trials are next to the caravan park so we did not have to get up too early in the morning, just wandered over about lunch time and did the trials. Lots of new dogs and old friends to play with and then lots of time to have a mid afternoon siesta. Same again tomorrow, just starting at 10 am instead of 1: pm.

Retrieving

Here I am doing what a real gundog should be doing. I was at the Retrieving Ability Test for Gundogs on the weekend and had two days of running about in the bush looking for dummy game. I had a great time, I found 5 out of 6 of the dummies, I did a lot of running, sniffing and meeting the other dogs then went home and slept like a puppy. Keith was not all that happy though, in my excitement I tried to catch the dummy so I did what is technically called a "Break", which means taking off before being sent. It costs 10 points, so on two retrieves per test I lost 20 of the 25 points I can lose just on those breaks, so once again no Qualification, but I still had a great time doing it.
Hannah stayed home as puppy sitter to two Weimaraner puppies that have joined Mac, Gracie and Billy's family. They were too young to be at the trial so Hannah and Kathy looked after them. Hannah said it was nice to have them for two days, but it was nice to send then home too. They played a lot, pruned plants, dug holes and chewed anything that would fit in their mouths. By the time they went home Hannah was more tired than I was.

PS. I just found out I got Equal Second Place in Novice Snooker in the  DogsSA 2012 Games Awards. Jess the Border Collie won on 62 points, and Dippy the Tenterfield Terrier and I scored 60 points each.

Hannah - Snooker Dog

Hannah passed her third Snooker Novice trial and has earned her Snooker Dog (SD) title. We were both running at the same time so we did not get a picture of her run, but she made it with 13 points in the points accumulation period, 3 more than she needed to pass. I was in Snooker Excellent and I did it perfectly. Every jump as directed, well under the time, but Dopey Dad sent me over the wrong jump so I did not pass. It is so hard to train a human!. The pic shows us just finishing the Strategic Pairs Excellent class, we finished just 0.05 seconds over the time, so we non qualified in that. It has become the story of our lives, so close but no cigar. Hannah's SD title is our first pass in ages, so maybe things are on the improve.

Playtime for pups

Velvet, Starsky and Billy came to visit us today. Velvet is only a few weeks old and was too small to play with us, she just hung on to her mum and stared in amazement at what we were doing. Billy the Briard was a bit big to play with the pups and went for a sleep after a few runs. Starsky is still a pup, but he is old enough to play, so we played chasey, hide in the bushes, jump on the humans and try to get the most treats. When they went the three of them were asleep before they got to the end of the road.
We were in the Agility trials on Saturday. I was doing well until Keith got over confident on the weaving poles and turned away too soon, so I missed the entry. We had a mix up in the Jumping ring too so we did not get a pass, but we went very close. Hannah was doing well on her runs but she managed to make a mistake in each one, so she did not get a pass either. The good news is we both did much better than we did at the last trials, so we are getting better. Next week it is Strategic Pairs and the Games trials.

Agility Trials

We were at the Agility trials on the weekend at SAODC. We were very consistent, 8 runs and 8 fails.
The pic shows Hannah racing out of the tunnel while Kathy steers her to the next jump. Hannah got a fault free round, but was over time for this run. On my first run, Hannah was also running in the next ring. I heard Kathy a couple of times which distracted me, and Hannah heard Keith call me just as she was entering the weaving poles and that caused her to lose concentration and get a refusal. That was our best chance of a pass.
We did have some good runs, but we have not had a lot of training during the summer. Next time will be better, especially if the weather cools down a bit for us.

State Championships.

Here we are at the State Championships for Rally and Obedience. How did we go? We were not in it!
KNK were judging both days and they would not let us compete. Not fair. We could have at least had a go, but we did not get a chance. Everybody else was in the ring, Mac, Gracie, Billy, Freki, Maggie, Scout, Minnie even a Toller from Perth and his friend the Aussie Shepherd were allowed in, but not us. We had walks with Barbara and Karen, but it was not the same as competing. Next time KnK judge a State Championship we will bite them.

Rally Advanced.

Yesterday we were at the Gundog Club Rally Trial. We were in Advanced class, and we both passed, TWICE. The pic shows Hannah doing the 1 Step, 2 Steps, 3 Steps Backwards, and I am doing the  Send Over Jump, Handler Runs By station.
In my first run, Keith went the wrong way in the Spiral and had to call a Re-Try, but I managed to salvage the rest of the course and got a pass in the eighties, then in the second trial, Keith got it right and we made 90 points. Hannah got her 90 points in the first trial, but was feeling a bit tired after being out all day and lagged a bit which dropped her score into the eighties, but was still a pass, we need to get 70 or more to qualify.
Two passes each mean we now need one more Advanced pass to get our Rally Advanced title.

4 Yesterday

I was 4 yesterday, and I had a 2 day Birthday Party. KnK went off playing in the sand with the Navara, while Hannah and I went to Mac, Billy and Gracie's place and had a ball. Its Mac's birthday today, so it was a double celebration. We raided the toy box and played chasy, pinched some of Jessie's biscuits, frightened Ziggy when we sneaked through a door we were not supposed to go past and had a great time.
When Knk came to pick us up each night we were so ready to go to bed we hardly had time to lick them. Thursday night was supposed to be Agility training but we were too tired and so were KNK. Today is a rest day, we managed a token bark at the postman, but that was about it.

Strategic Pairs Games

We did it!. We were in Strategic Pairs in the Novice Class and we needed one more pass to get our Title. We are now Strategic Pairs Dog (SPD) dogs. Hannah usually runs first in Strategic Pairs but at the last minute we swapped and I did the first section. It paid off because we got through without a forced change and got second place too. See the video under Video Links on the left side of the page.
Hannah had a good night because she also passed in Snooker Novice, just one more pass for her title. I was doing well in Snooker Excellent until Keith lost count of how many reds we had done and sent me over the wrong jump.
Gamblers was a bit of a disaster for both of us, so we wont talk about that.

Lavation for Tollers

Its B-word time again for us. We get stuck in the laundry trough to get soaped up and rinsed down. I howled about it, but it did no good, Tiffany and I still had to endure the ignominy of a dunking in the trough. We get rubbed down with towels until we are almost dry, and then we get our revenge.
I went running amongst the dirt, dead leaves and general mulch in the garden until I could get back some of my Redolence of Canine, while Tiffany ran everywhere with her ball, trying to get KnK to catch her.
In the end we both collapsed from exhaustion and had to put up with the grooming brushes and combs, just so we would look nice because training starts this week.
Still, we get to meet up with all of our friends at the dog clubs again, so it is not all bad news.

Hot Dogs

We are hiding under Keith's desk because it is January and hot. The last few days have been OK but we expect more heat soon. There are fires in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia, so touring in the van is out of the question. Training at the clubs is in the off season, because of summer and being too hot, so there is not much for us to do apart from light training and playing in the evenings. KnK are getting out of condition and it will take us ages to get them back up to speed, lot of work to do when we start back training.

44 degrees Celsius

It was 44 degrees on Friday, hotter than Hell on a hot day. It is supposed to be 40 tomorrow so we are due for another hot one. 44 Celsius is 111.2 in the Fahrenheit scale for the readers in Fahrenheit countries. What could an Arctic bred dog do on days like that?
Well, we slept on our cool mats, or we slept on the tiled floor, or we slept under the air-conditioning ducts. If we had to go outside, it was very quick. When the sun went down, KnK brought out the Clam Shell. It is a plastic shell that we can fill with water and we play in it. See the video link, "The Pool" on the left side of this page and you can see what we thought of the idea.