Pine Creek Railway

Look at us on this really old train at Pine Creek. A long time ago this narrow gauge train ran between Larrimah  and Darwin but it is now just a museum piece. We stopped at Pine Creek on our way to Katherine where we stayed over night. Next day just after we started out, there was a big bang and we had to stop because the caravan had broken the other suspension spring. KnK were on the phone, muttering strange words, and eventually a big truck came and took the van away. KnK are staying in a cabin, but we are not allowed inside! Lucky for us it is warm at night. We will have to sleep in the car tonight. We hope the van gets fixed soon.

Last Day in Darwin

Our last day in Darwin is today. We move on to travel down the west coast of Australia tomorrow so we will be leaving all our new friends behind.
Last night was the last night of trials where we had a little success. I got a Gamblers Excellent Qualification in 1st place which was my 5th pass  making me a Gamblers Dog Excellent (GDX) dog, and a Jumping Dog Open qualification, also in 1st place. Hannah got a Snooker Dog Excellent pass in 2nd place too. The pic shows us with our sashes and trophies.
We have had good time in Darwin. We lived in a tent for a week while we waited for the caravan to be fixed, we competed in the Darwin Royal Show and also in 2 local trials and trialed and trained with lots of dogs. We had a few trips out to see the sights and have a run in the warm sunshine.
It is sad to leave our friends behind, maybe we will come back one day to play with them again.

Freds Pass Trial

The trials at Fred"s Pass are over with no passes for either of us. The pic shows Hannah doing the See Saw, all her feet on the contact colour and the Up End firmly on the ground. She got that one right. Keith has been working at putting up Solar panels on roofs, and we missed training for the week before, so we were not fully coordinated. I popped weaving poles, missed contact colours and dropped bars all week end, and Hannah had troubles with tunnels. That should fix them for not taking us training!

Darwin Royal Results

Look what we did at the Darwin Royal! We posed with our sashes on the fence of the caravan.
Sashes are from left to right:
Tiffany; Master Jumping Qualification, 2nd Place Masters Jumping,
Hannah; 2nd Place Masters Agility, 2nd Place Rally Excellent A
Tiffany: 3rd Place Rally Advanced B and  3rd Place Rally Excellent B.
Hannah got her 11th RAE qualification and I got my 9th RAE qualification and my 4th Masters Jumping Qualification.
The Royal is over now so we are back to being tourists again.

Hannah- 4 Years Old

Hannah was 4 years old yesterday. We are in Darwin, where Hannah had her first birthday, and had a day of quiet walks, sleeps, extra chews and a visit to the dog grounds for some socializing.
It has been a good year for Hannah. She has been very well with no sign of that SRMA she had as a pup. This year she got her JDX and ADX titles in Agility, her RAE title in Rally, and competed in the National Agility Trials in Brisbane.
We have been to many places. Lots of trips in the caravan to South Australian places, we have been to Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory as tourists and competitors, and we are about to go into Western Australia next month.
 We have met many dogs from all over Australia, visited many places and been made welcome everywhere we go. What a life for a dog!

Darwin

We are in Darwin, and we are camping. KnK bought a tent and we have been living in it since Mt Isa. Something broke on the caravan again at Mt Isa so we left it there until the parts could be delivered and fitted. The pic shows us by the statue of Sabu Sing in Katherine, who was a famous Stockman in the Katherine district.
We spend our days here in Darwin relaxing under a tree, with a few walks to keep us fit. There are dog trials on for the next three days but we can not enter because Keith is judging.
Hopefully we will get the caravan back soon so we can use the air conditioning.

Tollers in Roma

These funny looking trees are called Bottle Trees here in Roma Central Queensland. They look like Boab trees but they are a different plant. We have stopped at Roma for a few days because something broke on the caravan and it needs a part to be sent from Melbourne. KnK were hoping to be on the way to Darwin, but we have to wait for the repairs. It does give us a chance to have lots of walks and ball chasing in the parks here in Roma.
We did OK at the Nationals. I got a qualification and 5th place in Gamblers Excellent and my best performance in the Agility heats was 13th place with just 2 time faults. Hannah's best place was 14th place with time faults only. When we made the time we had course faults and when we went clear we had time faults, but we did have a good time with some very good runs.

The Nationals

We made it to the Nationals. Here is a picture of me running in Masters Jumping at the National Agility Trials in Queensland. I did not do all that well, neither did Hannah, but we were there in the ring competing.
I wanted to go in the tunnel but Keith wanted me to go up the Dog Walk, and I did eventually, but it was too late. In the Jumping we had a bad start when I left the start line early and Keith was in the wrong position, but we got quite a way round before it all went pear shaped. Hannah was doing well until the second jump when she went up a Scramble instead of over a bar, then did not want to run at all in the Jumping.
We have a day off today as we don't do Open class, but we will be back on Friday and Saturday to run again in the National Agility Trials.

SherbrookeTollers at the National

Look at us at the 2014 National Agility Trials in Queensland. All my relatives at the Nationals in one shot. From the left is:
Willow, (Half Sister), Cherry (Auntie), Rio (Dad), Murphy, (Uncle) Hannah and me.
We have been traveling since Thursday. We met up with Rio, Murphy and Cherry on Thursday night and traveled with them all the way to  Ipswich in Queensland, arriving on Sunday. We had lots of runs and chasey games on the way and then when we got here, we met up with Willow.
We had a look at the trial grounds today, there were lots of people and dogs all setting up there sites for the week of competition. I will be the second 400 dog to run in the Nationals, so I will have to be ready right from the start. Hannah is running a few dogs after me.
We have 5 days of competition ahead of us, competing in Masters Agility and Jumping, Excellent Snooker, Gamblers and Strategic pairs.
Willow is not old enough to compete, but all the others are in the running to be the National Champion in their class.
Well, I have to go now, I need my sleep to get ready for Day 1, tomorrow.

I've been Pyrographed!

Here is a photo of the pyrograph of me. The colours did not come out properly, (something to do with electronic artifacts, whatever they are, they caused the green bits) but you can see it is me. The picture is made by burning the image on wood with a really hot tool, then tinting and shading. It was done from 2 photos that Keith sent to Paul, one of his friends from Rotary, and Paul made the picture.

Hannah and I are getting ready to go on our big trip. We are leaving today and will take 3 days to get to Brisbane where we will be competing in the National Agility trials, then taking 3 months or so to get back home.

I had a few runs at Whyalla last week and got a Masters Jumping pass and a Rally RAE qualification too.
Anyway, I have to go to make sure they pack all our toys, beds and food.

Week end of work.

We had a busy week-end last week. Saturday we were at the Agility trials at SDK&ODC then Sunday was the Gawler Rally trials. The pic shows me coming out of the Offset Figure 8 station on my way to a third place in the Rally Advance B class.I got two qualifications towards my RAE title, 3 more to go, just not many trials that I can go in before November.
The Agility trials went very well, except for a big mix up at the start. I wanted to do the dog walk but Keith insisted on a bar, so we did neither. Apart from that we had a good round. Hannah was clear but over time. Jumping went a bit haywire too, so we ended the day with no passes but we had a good time.

Masters Pass No.5

Here it is. The instant I got my fifth pass in Masters Agility! It was a close thing. We were at the Para Districts trial on Saturday, we had only the morning session for a pass because Keith was judging in the afternoon. I was going very well with Keith calling the jumps and I was nailing every one of them, until Dopey Dad sent me to the wrong entrance of the tunnel. Panic stricken calls let me know what was going on, so I cut back to the other end and then into the correct entry to the tunnel. Judge Noeline and half the crowd were in fits laughing at Keith trying to get back into position for the rest of the course, but we did it with a couple of seconds to spare.
Hannah had a good run in  her Agility Masters, with only a couple of errors, but we both messed up in Jumping.
In the Afternoon Trials, with Kathy handling us, we had a bit of a disaster when both of us went up the dog walk instead of a bar, so we were disqualified. In the Jumping I ran with Mel and we almost made it with a mis-communication near the end which cost us about 3 seconds and we finished up one and a bit seconds over time but clear. Hannah also got a clear round but with time faults.

Busy Weekend.

What a week-end we have had. We were exhausted after doing the mock trials and then the games trials on the week-end. Look at us in the photo, we were still sleeping it off the next day.
On Friday we went to the mock trials where new judges were practicing their skills so we had lots of runs in Masters and Open classes, and we did well too. Hannah got her first Masters pass, but it did not count as it was not a real trial. The next day we were in the Games trials. Hannah got a Gamblers Excellent and a Snooker Excellent pass and I got a Gamblers Excellent pass. Keith was judging and so I got Uncle Murphy's mum Mel to  be the human in the team. We had a mix up in the Snooker at one jump and that cost us the trial. In the afternoon we were a bit over time in the Pairs event, and I dropped the last bar in the gamblers and the first bar in the Snooker closing sequence so no prizes for me. When Hannah popped out of the weaving poles in Snooker, and missed the tunnel in Gamblers that sealed our fate for the PM trial.
Had a lot of fun,barked at a lot of friends and cadged some treats from their humans, so it was not a bad week-end after all.

Easter Trials

Look at me in the pic, I am higher than Keith's head as I go over the top of the Scramble. Yesterday we were at the fundraising trial for the National Trials to be held here in SA in 2016. I had three good runs (but no passes) and one not so good, while Hannah had four good runs, including a pass in Agility Excellent, (she was too late to upgrade to Masters after gaining her ADX last week.)
We had four runs in the morning, but none in the afternoon because Keith was judging.
We have a day off today, just taking things easy, having our Easter Chews and recovering from the excitement of yesterday.

Hannah ADX

Hannah got her Agility Dog Excellent Title (ADX) yesterday with a First Place too! She had two first place and two second place awards in her five passes needed for her title and she had one of her passes in Queensland. The pic shows Hannah with her 5 Qualifying Cards.
We were at the SAODC double trial. In the morning run Hannah messed up by going in the tunnel  instead of up the dog walk, but she got everything right in the afternoon. I was in the Open class and popped out of the weaving poles a bit early but did the rest very well, then in the jumping Open I went in the weaving poles instead of the distance section so I was an NQ in both. Keith was judging in the afternoon, so I did not have a run.

Hannah RAE

Hannah is now a Rally Advanced Excellent dog (RAE) which means she has passed Rally Advanced and Rally Excellent 10 times at the same trial. She got her title today at the SA State Titles, with a 3rd place in Excellent B too. It was a busy weekend with both of us competing in Rally on 2 days, and KNK judging on alternate days. It was quite warm in the sun and I was not too interested in working, I did pass one trial each day, but not both classes so Keith is a bit disappointed. Hannah made it through both Advanced and Excellent on both days, and that was enough to get her the highest title in Rally, and we think she is the first Toller to get the RAE in SA. The pic shows her rushing back to our crate to get her Chicken reward, dragging Kathy behind her.

Noarlunga Trials

Here is a photo of me leaping through the Hoop at the Noarlunga City Trial yesterday. I could only run in the morning because Keith was judging in the afternoon. I missed a weaving pole in Agility so there was no qualification there, and in the jumping I went the wrong side of a jump and got a DQ. Hannah did not do much better in her runs, but our half sister Maggie passed in jumping and agility with two first places and a title.

Warrnambool Beach

We are on holiday at Warrnambool with Maggie and Minty. The pic shows us running on the beach, I am in front with Maggie next and Hannah close behind. Minty is too small to run with us, but she had a good time at the beach too. The waves were pretty big and when I got too close to one it knocked me over. After that we were not allowed in the water, something about a rip, but it wasn't us that ripped anything. We will be down here for a week then returning home.

Tiffany's 5th Birthday

Tiffany is 5 years old today. We have had extra chews and Scooby snacks and a present each. I got a Yellow Dog and Tiffany got Rancid Raccoon. If you don't know who Rancid Raccoon is then you probably don't play Farm Hero's Saga on face book. KnK took a great delight in watching Tiffany de-squeak him then cheered when we started playing tug of war with him.  The pic shows Tiffany giving Rancid a good chewing. The toys are really good because inside them is a plastic drink bottle that makes all sorts of noises as we chew them, and when the bottle is completely wrecked, the humans stick another one in.
It has been a good year for Tiffany, she has gained titles in Agility Games, Agility, Rally and has several qualifications towards her Masters Title in Agility and Jumping. We have been in competitions in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Northern Territory, so we have seen a lot of the Australian Outback, met up with old friends and made many new friends too.

Agility Games

Agility trials are back. We were at the Agility Dog Club's Games Trial last night, the Pic shows Hannah jumping a "Red" as she looks across to Kathy for direction to the next jump. Not a very successful night. Hannah popped out of the weaving poles two poles before the end on the last obstacle in Snooker then bumped her head in a tunnel and was shaking her head instead of running to the gamble in Gamblers. I missed a critical contact colour and also missed the last poles in Snooker. I ran up the Dog Walk as the siren went for the Gamble and by the time I got to the gamble I was out of time. I did do the Gamble in 8 seconds so Keith was happy with that.
Strategic pairs was our usual laugh. We take turns in doing sections of the course. I missed a weaver so Hannah had to do them for me. I did her next section which left Hannah to do the final twisty bit of 5 jumps which included a tight turn on the Broad jump. By the time Hannah had done that I was right with her and we both did the final two jumps together. Unfortunately we were out of time, but we did have a good time.

Hot days in Adelaide

What can you do on a hot day?

It has been a hot summer. Temperature is in the 40+ degrees Celsius for lots of days and stays warm all night. We have been hiding in the air conditioning most of the time, but come out to play in the evenings when it cools down a little. Kathy waters the garden and we help. Hannah chases the water where it hits the ground while I go for the nozzle where the water comes out of the hose. We get our blue shell filled with water and we play in that too. I kick the water up and Hannah bites it, we can keep it up for ages, but eventually when we have had enough KnK towel us down and we go back in the air conditioning for a sleep.
Training is starting again and we have been practising our agility and obedience skills. I can still get round the course, but Keith needs a sit down about halfway round to get his breath back. It should not be too long before we get the handlers back in shape.

Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year everybody. We spent New Year's Eve at a dog trial in Gawler, and Hannah won the Agility Dog Excellent class with her fourth qualification towards her title. The pic shows us lying on the Beach Lounge that she won. It was a hot night, I was the first dog to run in Agility Masters, but it was too hot for me, and when we got round to Jumping Masters at about 2:00 AM I was too tired to run, as was Hannah, so we did not do very well at all.  Keith judged Rally and was busy for most of the night. Hannah got her excellent run at just the right time, the temperature had cooled down a bit, and she was ready for a run. The course flowed nicely with some tricky bits but Hannah got round it very well with Kathy steering her through the twists and turns. She had a bit of a moment approaching the Weaving Poles, but it all went smoothly in the end with her completing the course well under the time.
We got home about 4:00, went to bed and did not move until noon today, thankfully New Year's Eve is only once a year!

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.