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.

Boxing Day

We spent Christmas Day at Audrey's kennel. Molly came with us and Kevin was there too. A little later, two of Audrey friends, Lochie and Gracie came, so there were 3 Scottish Deer Hounds (Audrey, Lochie and Gracie), 2 NSDTR's (us), Molly the Tenterfield/Jack Russell and Kevin the Suburban terrier. There were a lot of humans there too but they don't count.
After lots of games, food and drinks we all went home and vowed to meet up again next year. We were exhausted when we got home and slept like babies. Molly went to bed and we have not seen her since.
Today we got stuck into our Chews. I got a pig's ear and Hannah had a beef hide roll so that should keep us quiet for a couple of hours.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody! Its that time of the year again when humans buy each other gifts, drink until their boots wobble, eat until the scales scream "Get off", and they dress us up in funny hats so they can take weird photos of us. Well, they did it again. We are wearing our Christmas Hats, our Christmas Collars, our dumbbells have Christmas paper on them and we are jumping a tinsel covered jump. Still, it seems to make the humans happy, and when they are happy they give us more Scooby Snacks. So Bring On Christmas.

Murray Mouth

KnK told us we were going to see the Murray Mouth. We were expecting to see a great gaping maw with poison dripping from huge fangs, but it was just where a river meets the sea. The Murray - Darling river system collects water from Queensland, NSW, the Snowy Mountains and the Canberra sewage farm and  brings it to the sea just behind us in the pic.
We are in Goolwa for a few days holiday. It has been hot so far but we have been on lots of walks when it cools down. May get a swim at the dog beach later.

Molly's Visit

Molly has come to visit for a few days, The pic shows us sitting out side with Molly. We have had a good week, Hannah won the Obedience Bitch and the Agility Bitch awards for the Gundog Club on Monday night, I got second. We both got awards for our titles too so we have quite a few trophies to add to our trophy cabinet.
The other night there was a thunder storm and a tree got hit in the park behind us. There was a big flash and a bang, we woke up and barked, KnK got up and staggered about until they realised what was going on, then took another ten minutes to calm us down. Molly was in the front bedroom and woke up Maisie, so nobody got any sleep.

Hannah's ADX pass

My baby Sister has passed her first Agility Dog Excellent course on the first attempt! She only got her AD title 22 days ago, and here she is with her first ADX pass. It was not easy for her, Kathy has an injury to her foot and it is strapped so Kathy can not move as well as she should, but they got round the course with a few seconds to spare. Hannah went visiting on her Jumping course so that was a non qualification.
I was in Masters, and we were doing very well until about halfway round when we got mixed up a bit and I passed a jump on the Agility course, and I missed an entry into a tunnel on the Jumping course, but we got round all the difficult bits. Keith is happy we are getting better, the new training system seems to be working.

Night Trial

We were at the trials last night, doing Open Obedience. The pic shows me returning over the jump with the Dumbbell in my mouth. I was going well, until we got to the 3 minute sit stay when I forgot what I was doing and lay down. Keith was not too upset, because we qualified in all the other exercises. Hannah was not happy in her heeling and did not do a sit, then she had a scratch in the Recall, and when she finished scratching she chased after Kathy. She passed everything else so maybe things are not too bad. That was the last Obedience trial for the year for us, so we get a few months break while we brush up on our skills for next year.

Grampians

The touring Tollers were at the Grampians yesterday. We went for a day out to the Grampians mountains, named after the Scottish range.The pic shows us where we stopped for lunch near Lake Fyans with the mountains in the background. The last time KnK were here was during the drought and the lake was almost dry, just a puddle in the middle, but now it is full again. That was before either of us were born. After the drive we went for a run at the dog club grounds, then back to the caravan for a good feed and a long sleep.

Warrnambool Holidays

The trials are over, we are in holiday mode now for next week.
Hannah got her AD title, the pic shows her coming out of the tunnel half way round one of her runs on the weekend. I did several runs with no course faults but with time faults, and several runs with no time faults, but 5 or 10 course faults, but no clear rounds.
We spent today recovering from the week end of 24 runs between us. We were worn out and hardly moved until about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Luckily it has cooled down a bit so we will be doing the tourist thing for the next few days.

Hannah AD

Hannah got her AD Title today, she just missed out by being distracted on one jump in the morning trial, but got everything right in the Afternoon trial. Hopefully we will have more news tomorrow.