Dopey Dad

Tiffany is too upset to type today. Dopey Dad sent her over the wrong jump in the JDX class when she was flying round the course. You can see in the picture, Keith is pointing to a jump, Tiffany is running towards it, and did it beautifully, but it was the wrong jump. She had to turn round and go back to the right jump and still completed the course under time, but she got a DQ anyway.

She was still grumbling about it this morning, but she is getting over it. Hopefully things will settle down by next week.

Snookered

I almost made it in the Snooker last night. I got 17 points in the opening round and I only needed 10, then went all the way round the closing sequence right up to the exit colour of the Dog Walk and I missed the colour. I got everything else, but missing the last colour put me out. The pic shows me on top of the Dog Walk when we were at Alice Springs. Karen's brother in law took the photo, so thank you to him for the great action shots.

I missed a jump in the Agility Excellent course and then got DQ for jumping it wrong way, so last night was not very successful at all. Hope the Jumping and Gamblers courses go better tonight.

Fannie Bay

The Touring Tollers were at Fannie Bay today. We went for a drive around, had a look over Darwin Harbour and had lunch at Fannie Bay. The pic shows us on the cliff top overlooking Fanny Bay with the Casino just visible in the background.

Did not do very much today, saving my strength for the Agility and Snooker trials tonight.

Tropical Tollers

Hannah and I are in the tropics at Darwin. We got here today, the humans set up our camp and we had a sleep outside. It is warm all the time, we are finding it hard to find a cool place to snooze.

The pic shows us having a run on the way here at a rest stop. It looks like we are off lead, but it just goes to show you can not trust a picture if Photoshop is handy. The leads made the picture look funny so they got painted out.

Tomorrow we are going to an Agility trial. Not much hope in this heat! I am an Arctic dog, not a Tropical dog. Humans- I could bite them at times.

Max Points and Gamble Dog

Both of us had good news for the weekend in Alice Springs. I am now on 78 points towards my Championship, and I can not get any more until I am twelve months old because I need 25 after my first birthday.

Yesterday Tiffany passed her third Novice Gamblers Trial and now is a Gamble Dog. Her full name will be Champion Sherbrooke Tiffany Ale, CD, AD, JD, GD.

I did not do too well in the obedience trial. The pic shows me doing Heel Free, well I am free, Kathy is nowhere near me. Anyway Judge Clive was not happy and I non qualified. Tiffany just missed her JDX trial by 2.44 seconds. That's how long over time she was after getting a fault free round. At least she is getting close again after losing her confidence a bit after Keith went away for 4 days.

Alice Springs Success

The first day at the Alice Springs show went well for Hannah, she got 12 more points towards her championship title, and I got one more pass in a Gamblers trial. Don't ask about the ADX or JDX trials.

The pic shows me going over a bar jump at full speed, just before I did a wrong jump in the JDX class.

Hannah has had her drugs reduced for the first time after her relapse and she is doing very well. The show judges were not bothered about the bare spot on her back and they both gave Hannah a Challenge worth 6 points each.

We start again tomorrow only this time Hannah is in a Novice Obedience trial too.

Outback Tollers

This is Hannah's first trip to the outback, so I am showing her all the tricks I have learned during my bush experience to the Cape York Peninsula. The pic shows us just north of Port Augusta having a break from travelling.

There are many things a dog needs to know in the bush, such as if you pick up a stick and it wriggles, let it go - it is probably a snake.

Tasty morsels lying around could be a Fox Bait. Little insects have nasty stings. Crocodiles live in the rivers, so don't swim unless a human goes in first! There is lots to show her, luckily she is a quick learner.

Hannah's First Novice

Hannah is feeling a lot better on the extra steroids, so much so that she went in her first novice trial. The individual exercises were done very well with only losing 8 points. The pic shows Hannah coming in on the Recall and is just about to sit.

The stays were going well until the end of the one minute sit stay. Kathy was actually on the way back when Hannah lay down. It was a warm sunny day, and she was a little tired as a result of the drugs, and Hannah could not hold the sit any longer. The three minute down stay was done easily, so Hannah missed out on her first Novice pass by about 10 seconds. "Missed it by that much" as Max Smart used to say. Still, it was a good effort for a pup that has a heavy medication and has only just completed CCD last week.

Relapse

Hannah has got her SRMA back again. On Wednesday night she was a bit sensitive, and by Thursday morning she could not move her head again. The Vet has put her steroids up to a high level and she is feeling a lot better. The pic shows me watching over her after she has had her drugs this morning.

A relapse is not uncommon but she was doing so well we all thought she was over it. This just means that it will take a bit longer before she will be completely recovered and back to being a happy Toller.

Hannah was going to try her first Novice trial this week end, but it looks like we may be a scratching.

Tiffany passes a JDX trial

Tiffany has passed her first Jumping Dog Excellent trial. It was not pretty, but it was a pass. The pic shows her clearing the spread hurdle at the start of the run. There was a twisty bit in the middle that caused a panic when Tiffany went one way and Keith wanted her to go a different way, but they sorted it out and got round with a couple of seconds to spare.

I spent the day resting on my laurels from my CCD title on Saturday. My drugs have been reduced again, I am feeling a lot better, and we are back to playing full time. We got hold of a cardboard box and shredded it all over the house, the toy box has been upended and all the toys are spread everywhere, the house is in a continual mess, but we are happy.

Sherbrooke Highway Hannah CCD

Hannah has passed her Third Trial in the CCD class and is now a Community Companion Dog. She did it with 2 first places, and 1 Second place, in 1 week. Not bad for an 11 month old puppy!
The pic shows Hannah running in to Kathy on the Recall exercise.We all got a bit nervous when the dog next to her in the Stays gave her a long stare, but she just turned her face away and refused to play. That is holding her nerve, and keeping her mind on the job.
Keith will not put me in trials yet because I keep dropping the dumbbell and take too long to drop in the recall, but just to encourage him, I did it right in the practice today.
We are going home to celebrate Hanna's success tonight, and get ready for Agility Trials tomorrow.

Tourist in Whyalla

We spent the day seeing all the sights of Whyalla, and we had Freki with us too. He is just one pass away from being an Obedience Champion.

Our first trip was to the wetlands where we walked round the lakes, then to Flinders look-out for a view of Whyalla, and finally to Hummock Hill. The pic shows us at Hummock Hill overlooking the Marina.

In the afternoon we went to Point Lowly and then round the coast to see the Tuna Farms. We had a walk on the beach, but it was covered in rocks so it was not good to walk on. Now we are home and ready for a sleep.

Terrific Tollers

We have had success today. Hannah passed her second CCD trial in second place, and I passed my first Snooker novice trial, in fourth place. The pic shows us with our sashes and cards. Keith was a bit disappointed when we did not pass any of the Agility or Jumping trials, but we did get round with only a couple of faults in some, and got DQ in others.
Hannah now needs one more pass to get the letters CCD after her name, so hopefully that will be soon.

Hannah wins 1st Place

Would you believe it, I won first place in the CCD trial today with 95 out of 100 points. I had to wait all day before going in the ring. We were there at 8:00 for Tiffany to compete in the Agility, and I had to wait until 2:00pm before I got in the ring. Kathy was worried we would not do very well as we had not done much training while I was in quarantine, but there was no need to worry, Tollers have good memories. The pic shows me with my Trophy, just like Tiffany won last year, so we are keeping it in the family.Tiffany made a few mistakes in her trials, but she still did well, getting round the course with 2 faults in Agility and only one fault in Jumping. She was disqualified on the other two runs, but still did well.

Agility Trials Fail

I went trialling on Saturday, it was a bright sunny day, my siesta was overdue and they expect me to run round the course !
Well I didn't. It began to cool down by mid afternoon when the cloud cover came in, so I did have a go at the afternoon Agility Excellent course, until Keith forgot to call me in after the scramble and I went past the next bar. Apart from that, we went well.
At the end of the day, I ran 4 courses and failed all 4. It was not a total disaster, the pic shows me clearing a bar in the Jumping course. We have more trials next week.
Hannah is getting better. She is allowed out and we went training on Thursday and went out to see a Retrieving Ability Test on Sunday morning then visited Molly in the afternoon. Hannah still gets tired quickly, but we can play a lot more, and now she is allowed out we will be getting more exercise together.

Ch.Tiffany CD, AD, and JD

My big sister Tiffany has passed another trial and got more letters after her name. She is now a Jumping Dog, and she did it with a First Place! The pic shows her with her sash and trophy. The run went well and Keith did not forget to change sides. He did get behind because he has a cold and could not breathe, shout or run fast, but Tiffany waited for him to catch up at the Tunnel and they got round in the fastest time.

I could not be there to see her pass as I am still in quarantine because of my SRMA. I am on less steroids now and I am putting on weight, but my immune system is still not up to strength so I have to stay home with Kathy. Maybe next week I can start going out again, and then I can get letters after my name, just like Tiffany.

Hannah on the mend.

Hannah went to see the vet today and has had her steroids reduced. This means that she is being weaned off the steroids so her immune system can start working again. It is a slow process that will take a long time, but at least she is on the mend. It will still be a couple of weeks before she can go out and mix with the other dogs.

She gets very tired easily, and needs to put on some weight, but you can see from the picture she is looking good.

We have had a quiet week end with just us and Kathy.

Keith disappeared again, this time for 4 days, while he went to WA and we had to stay home. Maybe next year we will all get to visit the West.

Super Models

We have got new coats for the winter. Hannah and I are shown modelling the coats in the photo. The coats cover our backs to keep us warm and dry, but are short enough to let us run about unrestricted. The coats also cover Hannah's bald spot where she was shaved. It took ages to get the photo shoot, we had to get dressed up, then posed, but it was worth the effort. Do you know there are millions of females in the world, but only half a dozen Super Models? That is half a dozen Super Models and two Tollers now!

All the results are back from Hannah's tests. She has SRMA, it did not come from her fur mum, it was possible that she has had it for a long time and the crash into the clothes line stirred it up, but basically, no body knows how she got it or why. Her immune system took a dislike to the lining of her spinal cord and started to attack it. The Steroids will fix it, but it will take a long time. In a few months she will be back to normal but in the meantime we have to be careful with Hannah.

Hannah and SRMA

I am feeling a lot better than I was last week. Tiffany has been very gentle with me as I could not move my neck and it hurt whenever I moved. Thanks to the drugs I am on, we can play a bit again which is making both of us happy. The pic shows where they shaved my back so that they could do a Spinal Tap to draw fluid from my spine and send it off for analysis. The results are still not back yet, so I am still on the temporary treatment. They think I have Steroid Responsive Meningitis Arteritis or SRMA. The link will take you to a report from the University of Glasgow that explains what it is, if you can understand the big words. Not many people had heard of it before although there is a lot of information on the web about it. There is no clear cut cause, the diagnosis is often mistaken for ear problems or physical injury so it is difficult to identify. It looks like I will be on steroids for a long time with regular check-ups. Keith said the vet ordered a new Mercedes as soon as we left the surgery. Not true, it was a Lexus.

Tiffany had a good day on Sunday, she passed her first Novice Gamblers trial and just missed one colour on the dog walk for the closing sequence of the Snooker trial.

Trials Over

I had a good weekend at the Trials in Mount Gambier. I passed 4 of 6 attempts, getting 3 out of 3 for Agility Novice, with 2 first places and a title, but only 1 of 3 Jumping Novice trials. Keith had to judge the fourth trial, and they wont let me run under him. The pic shows me touching the colour on the way over the scramble. Thank you to Kelly's sister for the photo.

Hannah however did not have a good week end. She was feeling well enough for the show on Friday, but Saturday and Sunday she was in a lot of pain and stayed in bed for most of the time. We came home early on Monday so she could rest at home. Today she seem a lot better, but she is still not right. Her left shoulder seems to be the main source of her pain, but her neck still wont bend very well either.

Tiffany AD

We finally did it, I got Agility Dog as a title after my name (subject to Keith paying the money to get it registered.) The pic shows me with all the sashes I won today. We did the morning trial with judge Joy and got first place, then the afternoon trial was with Judge Dave. Keith got everything wrong. He forgot to change sides at the scramble so I had to cover for him, then he forgot to change sides again at the table. I could have bitten him. Anyway I got round the course despite Keith. This pass was the third one and so I can claim the title Agility Dog. The last time Keith got an Agility title was with Tisha the Golden Retriever in 1992, also under Judge Dave. We also passed a Jumping trial today so I need one more to get Jumping Dog title. Maybe tomorrow will be the day.

Hannah is still crook. She could not go into the show today and she has been in the caravan with Kathy all day. I am getting very worried about her.

Hannah on 54 points

Hannah has 54 points towards her Champion Title. Despite suffering from the injury to her neck, she has gone through the ring with her tail high, stepping out proud as punch. I had a bit of a chat with her before she went in to boost her morale, and she went out and did everything right. She was getting tired by the time she went for Minor in Group, and she was glad to come out and have a bit of a kip while we had lunch.

After lunch we went for a run at the dog club grounds. I did some agility training, but Hannah just went for a quiet walk. Tomorrow Hannah has another show, and I am in the Agility trials.

Hannah is injured

Hannah ran into the clothes line while we were playing and hurt her neck. She went to the vet and got checked out, the verdict was she has done something to her neck muscle and is in a lot of pain. The pic shows her in the caravan at Mount Gambier, tucked up in bed trying to keep still and warm. We have not been able to play for 2 days now, and KnK say it will be 2 weeks before she is back to normal.

I have to make sure I don't bump her as she squeals if I do, so I have to keep quiet and still too. I am in the trials on Saturday, I hope Hannah is better by then because I miss my playmate.

Tiffany's Two Passes

At the Agility trial I passed one Agility and one Jumping trial. The pic shows me clearing the broad jump in the Jumping Trial with just one jump to go. My ear leathers are sticking up due to the force of the wind. (My ears usually hang down like all gun dog ears. Keith says they hang down so it will stop the echo when the gun goes off.)

I nearly passed the other two trials, but Keith stopped too soon at one jump and so I went the wrong side of it, and in the other trial, Keith was so worried about getting the weaving poles right he pushed me up the scramble.

I need two more passes in Agility and Jumping to get more letters after my name, so hopefully Keith can get it right next week-end.

The Great Pen Mystery

There was a big blue stain on the floor in the family room, and another one on the carpet in the lounge. There were the remains of a pen nearby. The question was, Who Done It?.

The most likely suspects were rounded up and put on an identity parade. Tiffany had to turn her face so she would not laugh, but Hannah had no defence to the blue feet and blue mouth.

She finally admitted her guilt, claiming it was the Genie at the bottom of a Jim Beam Bottle that made her do what she didn't want to do.

Fortunately the ink was water based and washed out easily. Hannah however got a not so gentle dunking in the laundry trough and a rub down with a rough towel.

Agility Trials

I was in the Agility Trials and Jumping Trials on the week end. 4 classes, 4 fails. Keith was not happy. We have started some intensive training with new jumps and weaving poles at home, and a plan to convert a work platform into a dog walk.

The day started badly with rain making the ground slippy and smelly, so I could not resist the wonderful smells that were coming off the ground in the first trial. We withdrew early.

I got round the other three courses, but with some mistakes. Keith thinks if I get a series of jumps and/or poles every day, I will get used to following orders. That will be the day.

Hot Dog

There we were, just hanging around with nothing much to do, when I saw the BBQ needed cleaning. Well, me being a good dog, I thought I would help out Keith by giving it a good licking. Tiffany said she would stand guard and warn me if the Humans were around, but she must have dozed off, because all of a sudden, there was Keith with the camera. Sprung again!

I got a lecture about how hot the BBQ can get and I would have my paws burned off, and then we got locked up while the BBQ got disinfected. Don't know why he had to do that. I got the plates thoroughly cleaned so there was not a trace of anything on it. Humans get paranoid about germs, but after a Toller's Tongue has been around, there is not enough left for even one germ to live on.

April Fools Day

Its April Fools Day, so we played a trick on the Humans. We went rushing outside, barking and carrying on like there was something terrible in the back yard, KnK came running out to see what was wrong, and we just wagged our tails at them, then sauntered back inside. Anyway, they took it well because they gave us a bone each for lunch, that's Hannah in the pic just finishing hers. Hannah has started Agility training in the puppy class. It does make life difficult when I am running a practice sequence in the next ring and Hannah starts barking and tries to run with me, but we cope.

Ch. Tiff CD

I have got a new name. I am now

Champion Sherbrooke Tiffany Ale CD
after passing my third Novice trial last night, and getting 3rd place too.

Keith was nervous and Karin had to give him a Mars bar to get his blood sugar up, but we went in and I covered for all his nerves. I gave everybody a fright when I moved my front feet to greet the judge in the stand for exam, (well I always say hello to her when I see her) but I kept my back feet in place.

I feel a bit miffed about it all really, I had to pass three trials to get CCD after my name, then I pass three more, at a higher level, and they take one of my letters off me. Doesn't seem fair does it?

Our New Kennel

We have been away for 5 days in our new kennel. We have to share it with the Humans, but we need them to fill the food bowls so it is probably for the best.
Our first trip was to the dog trials at Warrnambool, KnK were judging so we could not compete, but we still had a good run with the other dogs. The new kennel was great, we had lots more room to move and we don't get frightened by the roof moving up and down like we did in the old one.
KnK will be fixing up a few things in it, then we are off again for Easter.

Happy Birthday Tiffany

My big sister Tiffany is 2 years old today. We had a bone each to celebrate, Tiffany is shown in the pic as it is her birthday.
In the last year Tiffany has:
Become a Champion of her Breed.
Become a Community Companion Dog in Obedience trials.
Passed 2 Novice Obedience trials.
Competed in Agility, Jumping and Games trials.
Travelled interstate to Vic., NSW, Qld and NT.
Been to the Tip of Cape York.
Visted dog clubs in Vic, NSW, Qld and NT.
Became the Top Lady Dog in the Gundog Club Obedience section.
Played with dogs all over the country.

This is what life is like when you are a Toller.

Tiffany Passed!

Tiffany now has TWO passes in Novice after last nights trial. The pic shows her with her sash and card.
It was a team effort. We were both in the crate and I gave her a good talking to, letting her know she had to stay with Keith all the time. I stayed out of sight and kept quiet while Tiffany was working, she did get out of position a bit, but my pre-trial chat helped her to keep up, and she remembered to get back in position. In the stays, my help with distraction training paid off. Tiffany watched another dog break, but she did not move and kept one eye on Keith all the time. Tiffany needs one more pass to get the title Companion Dog, and that could be in 2 weeks time.
My turn in trials is coming up soon; just waiting on Kathy.

Back in Training

Here we are, back in training. I am practising for the Down Stay, and Hannah is being the distraction. Hopefully I will be able to stay still for three minutes on Saturday at the dog trial.

Last week was not too good. I thought I did well, I did all the jumps in the opening sequence of the Snooker Trial, got all the way round the closing sequence up to the last obstacle which was the Weaving Poles, and just because I missed ONE pole, two from the end, they said I failed! Then we did the Gamblers Trial. I got well over the minimum of 20 points in the opening sequence, did the first two jumps in the closing sequence, and just because I ran past the broad jump, one jump from the end, they failed me again. Most unfair.

Holiday Time

We have finished the competitions and now we are on holiday. The pic shows us at Kiama, on our walk along the cliff path.

We had a day out at Dolls Point while the humans visited relatives and we had a walk along the coast. Dogs were not allowed on the beach so we could not have a swim.

Today we are traveling again, heading for home.

Hannah - Minor Puppy in Group

Here is Hannah in the show ring getting awarded Minor Puppy in Group at the Sapphire Coast Kennel Club Show. She was magnificent in the ring, performing expertly as though she had done it all her life. Out of the three shows, Hannah made Best of Breed three times and Minor Puppy in Group twice. She is on 48 point towards her Champion Title.
I got so excited for Hannah I messed up in the Trial Ring, only passing 1 trial. It has got Keith worrying about what keeps going wrong. He said I was getting worse, not better. It is all too much excitement for one dog to cope with for so many events in two weeks.