Games Tollers

WE PASSED!!!
The Games trials at Gawler were on today, Hannah passed her first Gamblers Novice trial, we were in Strategic Pairs and we Qualified in Novice Strategic Pairs, and I was in Excellent Gamblers and I WON IT.
The pic shows us with the dog blanket I won.
We nearly passed in Snooker too, but Hannah missed a colour on the Scramble, and I missed a colour on the Dog Walk, which was the last obstacle of the course. So close, but no cigar.
The week has been strange. We have not been to training because of heavy rain which made the grounds too slippery for us to work at the Agility Dog Club or at home, we did not do our Tuesday training either, so we were lucky we even got round the course. The humans forget what to do if we don't put them through their paces regularly.

Hannah's Passes

Hannah has two Novice Jumping passes after the weekend in Barmara. She nearly got her title, but she knocked a bar after leaving a tunnel into bright sunshine so got 5 faults for that, and was a bit over time in the other trial. The pic shows her with her sash and qualifying cards.
She was in Agility too, but had some trouble with the weavers, and dropped a bar or two, but she is well on her way to passing Agility novice.
I had some good runs too, with some bad ones thrown in. I was 0.9 of a second over time in a Masters Jumping, and I had stopped to look at a dog with a bell round its neck for a couple of seconds. We got nearly all the way round the Masters Agility, but Keith ran out of breath with just one obstacle to go and could not call me in time to steer me on to the right obstacle so we got a DQ. Overall it was a good weekend with some good results for us in the trials and a great time playing with all the other dogs on the grounds.

Hard Luck Hannah

We were in trials again last week- end, Hannah was trying in Novice Agility and was doing very well until she missed a tunnel entry because a UFO flew over and distracted her. We have it on Video, look at Hard Luck Hannah under Video links. Its a bit grainy because it was taken on a phone. (All UFO sightings are grainy by law). She did not get a re-run, so she failed.
Sometime during the day Hannah hurt her neck and was not working too well. We thought it might be the SRMA back again, but by Monday she was back to normal.
Dopey Dad sent me over the wrong jump in Masters so we failed that one, and then I found some yummy bits of meat on the ground on the way to the ring, and then threw up halfway round the course. Keith panicked when he saw me with froth round my mouth after doing a fast section, but it was just a bit of junk  that would not stay down. Anyway, no passes again, but we are failing at a much higher level!

SuperToller at the Games Trial

More powerful than a HO scale locomotive, faster than a spent bullet, able to leap 400mm high jumps in a single bound,  is it a bird? is it a plane? No; its SuperToller. The dog of alloy that has the amazing ability to leap over any coloured contact area on dog walks and scrambles. She missed three of them yesterday to record one of her most spectacular failures in Gamblers Excellent. The pic shows Tiffany flying over the bars in the distance section, but all to no avail because she missed out on points in the points accumulation section.
We were in Strategic Pairs too. We were going well until we started playing on the dogwalk. Both of us were on the top of it while KnK were going spare trying to get us down, that was a lot of fun for us and the spectators. We were voted the Most Entertaining Pair of the day!
I had my first go at Snooker and was doing very well, until I saw Grahame who was doing the timing. He always gives us pats, so naturally I went to see him. That was where things went pear shaped and I got disqualified shortly after.
They are called Games trials, so we played games. What has qualifications got to do with it?

Hannah's Birthday

Hannah was 2 years old yesterday. We were staying at the Berri caravan park for the trials at the Riverland. I took Hannah for a run on the oval next to the caravan park just after breakfast, then we went home for a biscuit and a lie down. Freki was next door so we all went for a long walk in the bush along the river before he had to go back to Adelaide. In the afternoon we had a sleep and then went to a training session with Chocolatedog at Barmera. It was late when we got home and we all collapsed in a heap and went to bed.
Hannah had a good time for her birthday. We were worried about her health ever since she was a pup, but she seems fully recovered and fighting fit now. She has passed lots of trials and has CCD and CD titles in obedience,  2 passes in Rally-O Novice and we will be trying for our second pass in Strategic Pairs agility on the week end. Add the Champion of her Breed in the show ring to the other titles, and you can see why Hannah is such a special dog.
The pic shows us standing by the Murray River near where we went for our walks.

Barmera Trials

We both got a pass in the Rally Obedience at the Riverland yesterday. The pic shows me doing the three step backwards with Kathy. Kathy has to walk backwards and stop after one step, then two steps and finally three steps, and I have to sit in front each time she stops. There were 15 stations altogether and this was just one of them.
Tiffany passed with Keith, and so did all of our friends with their handlers, so it was a good day all round.

State Championships

We were at the SA State Championships on the weekend, I was in Masters and Hannah was in Novice Jumping. The pic shows Hannah as she just landed after the last jump. It was a long weekend, we were in the Saturday afternoon and the Sunday morning trials (Keith was judging on Saturday morning so we could not enter). Hannah ran very well and was a bit unlucky to knock a bar off but then she got over excited and started to nip at Kathy's jeans and missed a jump. She still got round the course, but did not qualify. Keith got lost in Masters Agility when we went the wrong way after the fifth time through a tunnel, and I got a bit excited and took off too quick for Keith to keep up in Jumping so it all went pear shaped very quickly. Still we had a nice week end out with our mates, and we had a go at the championships too, even though we did not qualify for the Finals on Sunday afternoon.

Painting the Kennel

We are having the kennel painted. KnK have moved out the furniture except for the heavy stuff that has been piled in the middle of the room. Sheets of plastic have been spread over the pile and we have the job of holding it down. We wanted to help paint, we have built in paint brush tails that could spread the paint faster than Mr Bean's stick of dynamite, but they declined our offer. Hannah managed to use her tail to spread a bit of paint, and I used my ear feathers, but we were much better employed in a supervisory role, directing operations from the Family room. Anyway, after day 1 the ceiling is done and the woodwork has its undercoat on and with a bit of good luck and a thorough barking at, KnK should have the first room finished by tomorrow.

Hannah CD

Hannah has got her CD title. She is now a Companion Dog after passing her third trial yesterday. We were all watching as she went through her paces, the pic shows her on the way back to Kathy with  the dumbbell during the last of the individual exercises, Retrieve a Dumbbell.
The stays had us all in a panic when the dog next to her started digging a hole and eating the dirt. The hole was very close to Hannah and she got up to see what the dog was eating. The judge decided it was too much to expect a novice dog to ignore such a distraction and gave her a re-run which she passed.
Quiet day today, KnK were judging so we just had a day out with Freki and Scout and a run round the grounds at the end of the trial.

Masters Pass

Tiffany has passed her first Masters Agility trial. The pic shows her doing the last jump, breaking the  beam and stopping the clock inside the time limit. Only 6 more passes to a title!
Overall, it has not been a good week end. Yesterday we had 7 fails between us, Tiffany missed on two agility and two jumping Masters courses and a CDX trial because she did not drop quick enough on the Drop on Recall, and I failed my CD trial when I forgot what I was doing in the sit stay, then failed my first novice jumping trial when I knocked a bar off and then missed a jump after a tunnel. Keith said I did well but was unlucky. Kathy was disappointed, and even more when I failed again in CD today. Tiffany failed the Jumping Masters course today and her CDX trial, so we had 1 pass and 10 fails between us, but that pass was the pass that defined Tiffany as a Masters Level dog at last.

Strategic Dogs

Who would have thought that I would be able to compete with my big sister so soon? but here we are in Strategic Pairs. The pic shows Tiffany at the top of the Scramble while I am racing into position to do my next sequence. Tiffany started the course, with some bars and a tunnel, I did the Dog Walk and some more Bars, Tiffany did the Scramble, Spread and Broad jump then I had to do more Bars and a Tunnel. I got a bit over excited when I saw Tiffany running to do her last section at the Weaving poles, so I went to see her, then came back over the scramble which cost us some time, but I got back on course and did my bit. Tiffany raced through the Weaving poles and over the jumps then started celebrating too soon and came to me. Fortunately she got back on course and did the last jump with less than a second to spare.

That was our first pass in Strategic Pairs, we need two more to get another title, Strategic Pairs Dog.

We will be putting the whole thing on video soon, so everybody can have a laugh.

PS. The video is under Video Links - Strategic Pairs on the left of this page'

Rally-O Dogs

Is there no end to the versatility of a Toller?

Yesterday we both passed in the first Rally-O trial held in SA. The pic shows us with one of the signs and our sashes. Hannah passed in Novice Obedience too, that is her extra sash on show at the front.
We had to do lots of stations in the Rally-O trial. A Station is a card, like the one holding up the sashes, with a set of instructions on what to do. We had to take the humans with us as interpreters because we can not read. They worked out what we had to do and told us to do it. Unfortunately they were concentrating so much on the signs they forgot to talk to us a couple of times, but we managed to fill in for them.

Hannah passed her second Novice Obedience trial so now she needs one more to become a Companion Dog. I did not go well in the Open. We did the heel exercise well and I did not freeze up, but I missed four positions and ran out of points, must have been a bad day because we do not normally miss positions.

We are Champions in the show ring, we have titles in Obedience, I compete in all forms of Agility and Hannah is learning Agility, we have competed in Retrieving and we are learning Tracking. While all this is going on, we still have to bark at the postman, warn when the phone and the doorbell rings, check out the garden and make sure the beds work. What other dog could do all this?

Freki gets his Obedience Champion.

Our friend Freki got his Obedience Champion today.  The pic shows us all celebrating Freki's title, left to right is me (Tiffany), O.C. Freki, Hannah, Billy, Gracie and Mini  Mac. We have been to the dog trials at Port Pirie for 3 trials in two days, and we all failed every one of them, except for Freki who passed with 187 out of 200 in the Utility class to qualify for his Obedience Champion Title.
We did not go very well in the trials, KnK were disappointed in us especially on the Saturday. We did do a little better on Sunday, but we do that just to encourage the humans, they get despondent so easily.
Freki is coming round to the caravan this afternoon and we are going for a long walk round the inlet next to the caravan park. The humans are going to have some pain after the walk, Sham Pain they said, but any sort of pain is not a good way to celebrate.

Busy Weekend

What a weekend we had, we were up at the crack of dawn on Saturday so we could get to the Muno Parra dog club in time for me to have a go at my first ever Masters Agility trial. The top pic shows me doing my first masters jump. We got round the course, with a few errors, but Keith was happy because we did do the difficult bits. I was in Masters Jumping too, but once again, there were some errors. Kathy took us home at lunch time because Keith had to judge in the afternoon.

On Sunday we were up BEFORE the crack of dawn, in fact we were 30 kms down the road when the sun came up. We went to our first ever Retrieving Ability Test for Gundogs near Willunga. The bottom Pic shows Hannah at full speed racing across the paddock. Unfortunately Hannah decided to visit the thrower, which was being operated by David who regularly gives us pats and treats. She forgot what she was doing and left the dummy behind. I did a bit better, I got the first dummy easily and then when the second dummy went up I tried to catch it. This meant that I did not mark the landing spot and I was searching on the wrong side of a clump of reeds so I failed that one. We watched the Novice Retrieving trial afterwards, then we went home at about 2pm absolutely exhausted.

We were glad to get home, eat our dinner and go to bed.

Scruffs Visit

Scruff is here to visit us for the week end. We posed for this picture after we were told to, but we wanted to play instead. Can you tell from our expression?
When Scruff first got here he was a little bit overwhelmed with us but he soon settled down to our games. The three of us chased toys thrown by KnK and we let Scruff get them a few times.
Three of us mooching in the garden is much more fun and we take turns being the chaser or the chasee. Scruff's little legs make it hard for him to keep up with us, but he can sneak through gaps that are too small for us and so he can dodge us quite easily. He has to go home soon, so we had better get back to playing.

Tiffany, Agility Dog Excellent

Tiffany has passed her final leg of the ADX title, and then she passed another one just to make sure.
The pic shows her with her sashes and qualification cards, while lying on the dog bed she won in the raffle.

It had not been a successful week end. We were both in the Obedience trial on Saturday, I missed out on one Heel command in the CD heel work and got non qualified for that, and Tiffany needed 2 commands on the Broad jump for the CDX class, which also got her a non qualification. We were pretty much in the dog house until Tiffany got her first pass on Sunday morning, then passed again in the afternoon trial.

We practised Strategic Pairs on Thursday, and we did quite well. KnK are going to enter us in Strategic Pairs at the next Games trial. We have to complete an Agility course where we take turns in doing sequences of obstacles until all the obstacles are completed. Should be lots of fun!

Agility Trial at Noarlunga

Keith is not happy. Tiffany knocked a bar down in her ADX trial, you can see the bar on the ground behind her in the picture. Not only that but she refused on the hoop too. Then in Masters Jumping, Tiffany refused on the hoop again. Keith is not happy.

It was a humid day and we do not like weather like that so Tiffany was feeling a bit out of sorts. We had been resting in the shade while we were waiting for Tiffany's turn in the trial but we were both hot and sticky by the time Tiffany got in the ring, and her runs clashed so she did not get much of a break between them. Even so, Keith seemed to think she should have done better. Did I mention he was not happy?

Tracking Training

Hannah an I are learning to be tracking dogs! We went out for our first training sessions today and we both found our people on the first attempt. The pic shows Hannah in her tracking harness hard on the trail of Keith who was hiding in the bush.

We not only had to find our people, we also had to identify things they had dropped. Keith had dropped his old socks on the ground so that was easy for Hannah, I had to find Kathy's socks, they are smaller than Keith's. (You thought I was going on about sweaty feet didn't you?)

After a couple of hours we decided to call it a day and went home for lunch and a lie down so we can recover for obedience training tonight.

Snooker Dog

Look what they did to me! I won the Novice Snooker trial last night, which gets me the title Snooker Dog and the letters SD after my name, and then they stick me in the bath as a reward! Well I've got news for them if they think this is a reward.

I was in Agility Excellent too and nearly passed. I went past the start of the weaving poles and got a refusal which non-qualified me, but I did not hear Keith say "Gaps" so how was I to know where I was supposed to go? We did the rest of the course well and under time. If I had got the weaving poles on the first attempt I would have passed agility excellent too.

The Masters Jumping was not as good, but I did have a nice run. It was not my fault that the judge put the numbers on the wrong obstacles.

Grandmother Nike did very well in the Snooker trial too, she qualified and got her Snooker Dog Masters title, so we made it a family affair.

Vale Ricky

It is with great sadness that we have discovered our friend Ricky the Cavalier is no longer with us. He was still a pup really, but his short time with us will be cherished.

Our hearts go out to his mum, who will miss him forever.

Under Blogs To Read, on the left side of this page, read Ricky's Ramblings and give a few moments thought for a good dog taken way too soon.

Sashes and a Pass

I got another Pass in ADX with a Second Place at Warrnambool trials today, and a Second place non qualifying yesterday! (I missed a colour on the dog walk) Hannah had a blonde moment when she stopped in the Figure 8 in the Novice trial, but still got Second Place and a sash even though she did not qualify. The Pic shows us with our sashes and my card. I was in Masters Jumping and only dropped one bar, but because I fluffed about at a tunnel entrance I was also 0.12 seconds over time.

It was hot in the sun and neither of us really felt like working, but we did what we could to keep the humans happy.

Tiffany's Birthday

Tiffany is 3 years old today. The pic shows us playing with her new toy. It was quite a good toy because it took all of ten minutes to get the squeak out of it, so now it is a tug toy for both of us.

We will be going for another walk along the coast, then back to the caravan for a nap and then tonight we are going training again at the dog club.

Tiffany shares her birth date with Rob Roy McGregor, a Scottish folk hero, David Koche TV financial guru, David Rumble SA judge and Mini Mac the Weimaraner.

Back in Training

We are at the Warrnambool Dog Club for some extra training. Tiffany had several runs round the agility ring and I went through the obedience. Tiffany did well but I was too excited by all the new sights, smells and sounds. Kathy hopes I will settle down by next Saturday.

We had a bit of excitement last night. Something went wrong with the caravan plumbing as hot water was being sprayed from under the sink. KnK were busy mopping up, shifting things and repairing the leak, so we kept quiet and waited for the mumbling to stop. All good dogs know there is a time to join in, a time to keep quiet and a time to make yourself invisible!

Seaside Walks

We are near the coast and can go for a walk along the path at the top of the sand dunes. Hannah is in the pic having a look at the sea when we stopped for a break. Everything smells different here, we get going on the walk then we have to stop to check out the wonderful new smells we find, but the humans get grumpy and don't give us long enough to do a thorough analysis.

We went to the Warrnambool dog club last night for some training and a big run.

After the long walks and the exercise, we slept like logs last night.

Holidays

We are on Holidays again. After last night's effort I am surprised we are still alive. I missed a colour on the dog walk and went sniffing in the Gamblers excellent, and missed a qualification by 2 points, then I missed a weaver and lost so much time that we failed Snooker too! The day was bad, it got to 41 degrees at 5pm and they delayed the start until 7:30pm. No wonder I did not do too well.

Well KnK still love us because they are taking us out in the caravan again. We got to Tailem Bend tonight and went for a walk by the river, then up the cliffs and back to the van park. The pic shows us at the top of the cliffs overlooking the river.

We are going to Warrnambool in Victoria, but we are taking the pretty way round, so it could take us until Wednesday to get there.

Life of Luxury

We have made another movie. It shows a typical minute from our lives where Hannah and I have fun at home.

We play chasey, we play fight, pose on our beds and I get to do my trick with the dog door. All this in just over a minute.

Click on the link under Video Links on the left of the page and sit back and watch. It is about 4 meg so it may take a while to load on a slow computer.

Happy New Year

Happy New year to all our readers.

We have joined in the celebrations with lots of food and fun. KnK started with prawn, scallop and salmon shashliks at about 4:30, and we got a taste too. Then they had Oysters Kilpatrick, we got some of the bacon, then about 8:00 they had calamari, and some for us. On top of that we had our dinner and Hannah's Home Made Biscuits.

We are now full as a boot and can't move. The bottle was just a prop for the photo, we don't drink alcohol, but KnK did! They had the white wine and a Whales Tail, that's a drink made from Bundaberg Liqueur Rum, Bundaberg ginger beer and cream.

The fireworks will be on soon, so I have to go, KnK will be asleep by the time the fireworks finish.

Hannah and I wish you all a Happy New Year, and hope to see you soon.

Christmas for Dogs

We had a Christmas Day party at home. Molly came to stay for a few days, and Kevin came just for the day. Poor Audrey could not come because she had an allergy and was on medication. We got home-made dog biscuits, bits of turkey and pork, and all the treats we could scrounge. Molly had to have a lie down, and Tiffany went off on her own a couple of times, but Kevin and I kept it up nearly all day. We were running and playing and drinking and eating non-stop. I was glad when everyone went home so I could have a rest.

The humans had to sit around, just talking, eating and drinking while we played, it must have been boring for them.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everybody.
A few tips to help you to enjoy Christmas.
1) Decorate the house when you can. Shred coloured paper or material and spread it around.
2) Be grateful when your human erects an indoor toilet, and use it as much as possible.
3) If any presents are left by the indoor toilet, open them when you get a chance.
4) If it is edible chew it. To test for edibility, chew it. If in doubt, chew it again.
5) When visitors come, take a big drink then shove your cold wet nose in their groin.
6) Hang out with children, they do not protect their food.
7) At meal time, keep quiet, hide under the table and wait for food to fall.
8) Beware of drinking spilled liquid while under the table. It can make your legs wobbly.
9) Big sad eyes, a waggy tail and a pathetic whimper will always get treats.

Titled Tollers

Last night we went to the SAODC Christmas party, and we were given all these sashes for the titles we got during the year.

I got a Community Companion Dog Sash, and Tiffany got 4 sashes for her CD, AD, JD and JDX titles.

We met Terry the pup last night, he had been stung by a bee and had to get emergency treatment from the vet to stop the anaphylactic shock. Tiffany had a bad reaction to a bee sting when she was a pup, see the post Insect bite ; in 2009

We heard from Summa and Demon in Mt Gambier, and the Cat Gang raided them too, they got away with a Cherry Ripe. (See the comment on the previous post). Just as well the cats got the chocolate, because chocolate is poison to dogs.

Steak Thieves

Well, it was like this officer, the steak was on the kitchen top, almost defrosted, when these three great big cats broke into the house, jumped on the kitchen top, nicked the steak and ran out with it. We were so surprised by the speed of it we did not have time to bark. The cats are part of an international gang of Steak Burglars so it would have been minced and sold interstate within the hour. All we could do was grab the plastic bag the steak was in and bring that back as evidence. While we were checking it out for cat paw prints and cat smells, Keith saw us and then assumed it was us that did it. It could not have been us because we had just had our dinner and we were full. Luckily Keith had some sausages in the fridge so KnK still got their dinner.

Does anyone know if Quick-Eze are OK for dogs?

Hannah's first CD pass

Hannah passed her first Novice trial today, with a second place too. Kathy was a bit nervous, especially when Hannah ran off briefly between exercises, but it was still a good pass. The stays were interesting, Keith was judging in the next ring and Hannah had a good look at him, but she did not move. It was a relief when it was all over, only two more passes and Hannah will be a CD dog too!

I was in the Agility and Jumping, I almost got round the Masters Jumping course, until there was a tight turn on to a broad jump, and I went through the side. Maybe next time things will go better.

The pic shows us on the beach near the caravan park, and Hannah is wearing her Sash.

Wet Dogs

The humans have got us on the road again, this time we are going to Portland in Victoria for the Dog Trials. We stayed at Keith last night where it started raining at 2:00 am and did not stop until about 11:00am. The pic shows us in our "20 years of Tollers" raincoats when we went for our morning walk.

We got to Portland, very windy, but we still went for a walk on the cliff tops, said hello to Buffy, Summa, Demon and Gypsy, did some training and now we are ready for bed.

Top Dogs

We won trophies at the Gundog Club last night. I was the Top Agility Bitch, and Hannah was second Obedience Bitch. The pic shows us with our trophies.

We also got recognition awards for our other titles too, they are the smaller trophies in the pic.

It was Keith's birthday yesterday (he is 469 in dog years). We got him a present each and we helped to unwrap them. That was great fun shredding the paper and spreading it all over the house, a lot more fun than he had from the shirts we got him!

The Dog Walk

Our dog walk is ready. The surface is still a bit slippery so that will have to be fixed, but in the mean time it stops us from jumping off early because we can not get a grip. The pic shows us testing it out.

We have an extra panel for our shelter tent when we are trialling. Kathy made it today and we set it up to see if it fits. That is in the pic background.

We did not do too well in the trials, Tiffany forgot how to heel, and I got distracted by a bug in the Stand for Examination, then I sat. We both did all the other exercised OK, but the humans were still grumpy with us. Ah well, we will have to use the big sad eyes and the waggy tail for a couple of days and they will get over it.

Southern Trials

To paraphrase John Madden, of all my Agility Trials, this was one of them. The pic shows me just about to go into the weavers, but I missed the entry, because I had to "go", so I did and that got us tossed out of the ring. I had already missed a jump so we were not qualifying. I must have had a nervous bladder because I had been three times before we went in.

In the Excellent course I went the wrong way through the hoop, in the Jumping Open I missed a weaving pole and in the Jumping Masters I just got distracted and did a wrong jump. So we had four fails, but it was not all that bad. I did manage some very difficult parts and my times were good, so Keith was not too unhappy.

We now have a mini dog walk at home. Keith made it out of a work platform and some timber he found in the shed. At least Hannah and I can practice Contacts now.

Broken Hill Trials

KnK were judging the trials at Broken Hill, so we were just along for the ride. So far we have had Saturday night and Sunday morning at the trials, but we did manage to get in the ring, we were the make up dogs for the stay exercises. I did the UD and Open stays, and Hannah did the CCD stays. The pic shows some of the trial dogs with their humans, after the trial.

We start back tomorrow, very early, so we will not get a chance to have a look around.

Pass-less weekend at Mt Gambier

No passes in 5 attempts between us. I was in Novice Obedience and got distracted when Fur Dad Rio went past the ring and I forgot what I was doing on the first day, then on the Sunday I did not do the drop in the Distance Control but did everything else. Tiffany was in Master Jumping for the first time, until Keith got lost and went the wrong way, then in the Novice Snooker, Tiffany decided to go a different way to Keith and did not get enough points. The Open Jumping was Ok until Tiffany missed a bar in the distance sector.

It did not start out as a good week-end. Just after we left home the Navara got a fault and we had to take it and the caravan back home. The Honda Jazz was loaded up with everything we needed, accommodation booked, and we had to sleep in the dog crates.

While we were in Mt Gambier we met up with TeamJoseph, they comment on the blog quite often. On the chair is Summa and Gypsy, then Buffy and Demon with Tiffany and me.

Father Woods Tree

Trials time again, this time in Mt Gambier. We got in the car with the caravan hitched up, got 100 metres down the road when a light came on warning something was wrong in the engine. Straight down to Unley Nissan where the Navara was pugged into the computer which could not find anything wrong. The fault was reset and seemed clear, but as soon as we started off again, the light came on!. The caravan and the Navara were taken home, all the essentials were unpacked and loaded into the Honda Jazz and we came to Mt Gambier. Kathy booked us into a cabin for two nights.

On the way we stopped at Father Woods Tree. Father Wood was a local preacher who did a lot of work for the community, and he used to hold his sermons under a big tree. The council has built memorial park across the road from the tree. They cut down a lot of trees and carved statues out of the stumps which represent aspects of Father Woods life. The pic shows us looking at the carvings.

Ms Hannah, Tiffany JDX

Hannah has been converted from a Miss to a Ms and is doing very well. We have to keep her 'quiet and calm', for 2 weeks. We have a better chance of winning the lottery. So far so good, she has recovered from the surgery very well and is actively resisting all attempts to keep her 'quiet and calm'.

I went to the trials on Saturday, and passed two Jumping Dog Excellent trials which means I have another title to my name, JDX.

It was close for the first pass, I almost went passed a jump when Keith called me back, and Judge Joy was right in the perfect position to see if it was a refusal or not. After she said it was less than a centimetre in it, but I got the pass, and my Title. I will have to talk to Demon to see if he can get his mum to put me in the Masters Jumping at Mt Gambier next week.

20 years of Tollers

The Tollers have been in Australia for 20 Years, and to celebrate there was a gathering of Tollers at the United Retriever Club of NSW in Sydney. We were there and Tiffany won 1st place in the 400mm Agility Dog Excellent class,with a qualification. The pic shows her running through the weaving poles on her way to the win. The Jumping Excellent went wrong when Tiffany went the wrong way over a jump after leaving a tunnel , but the rest of the course was good.

I was in Novice Obedience, but it was all too much for me and I got put off by the thunderstorm that went through just before the start of the trial. Anyway, I did the heel work OK, but I would not sit at the start peg for the next exercise so I was sent home early.

There were lots of Tollers on the grounds. There was a Conformation Show, the Agility and Jumping trial, the Obedience Trial and the Retrieving Ability Test for Gundogs, with Tollers entered in all of them. Maybe next year at the 21 year gathering we will do better.

Wisemans Ferry

The Toller Tourists are out and about, this time at Wisemans Ferry, just a short drive from Castle Hill. We stopped at the lookout, and then went down to the ferry and had a walk round the park. Hannah started chasing the blossoms that were falling off the trees and we spent ages trying to convince her they were harmless and did not need to be driven off. We met some people that wanted to pat us, so we put up with that for about half an hour, then went down to the river bank to see the Blue Wren that would not stay still long enough for Keith to get a photo. I don't know which was the funniest, Hannah chasing the blossoms or Keith chasing the wren.

Sydney Trials

We have had a week-end at the Sydney dog grounds at Erskine Park. KnK have been judging for two days, and we have been left on our own. Well we fixed them, we chewed Keith's pillow on the first day, then chewed his hat on the next day.

It's not all been bad, we have had lots of runs on the ground and played with lots of new dogs and watched the end of a RATG trial.

Most of the other dogs have gone home today, so I suppose we will be moving on tomorrow too. Hannah is competing in an Obedience trial next week, and I am doing Agility, with lots of other Tollers. Hopefully we will get some practice in during next week.

The Dogs on the Tucker box

We are in Gundagai, where dogs are required to sit on a Tucker Box.

We stopped for lunch by the monument to the original Tucker Box-sitting dog and posed for pictures. First time for Hannah, but I have been here before.

It seems a long time ago, a bullock team driver broke down and had to walk 9 miles to Gundagai to get help. His Dog sat on the tucker box, which was where the Driver kept not only his food, but all his valuables too. The dog guarded the tucker box until the driver got back. Not much of a story really, but that was probably the most interesting thing that had happened in years. The monument was put 5 miles from Gundagai, as the 9 mile point was not very good for a tourist trap.

Anyway, whenever we pass the humans want us to pose with this statue, so we did.

Champion Hannah

She Did It! Hannah got Best of Breed and Challenge to get the final points she needed to be a Champion.

Her formal name is now

Champion Sherbrooke Highway Hannah CCD.

We went to Monato near Murray Bridge for the dog show. There were lots of dogs there, and Hannah was the best Toller. She did not do any good in the Group line-up, but that does not count for her title.

Hannah did her usual "wag everything while the Judge is approaching" trick, although she did not move from position during the examination and she ran round the ring perfectly.

Now we are both Champions of the Breed.

Whyalla

What a hot week end. The wind came up and blew all the dust about, the sun was out all day and we were hot and sticky. All we wanted to do was lie on the cool bed until we could get back to the caravan and the air-con. Keith expected me to run round the Agility ring, but I was too hot, sticky and uncomfortable to try. Hannah didn't have to run, so why should I?

Anyway, maybe the next run will be in better weather.

Tiffany and Hannah, One Year On.

Just look at us now after one year together. At the top of the page in the header is a picture of us when I was just 9 weeks old after I had arrived here. I have snuggled into Tiffany's side with my Lamb toy. See how big I have grown, I am now bigger that Tiffany, but Tiffany is a Petite Toller being just on the minimum size. We still have the Lamb, although not all his stuffing is still there and one leg is missing, but we still play with him. He is in the picture between our front legs.

Tiffany was at the agility trials yesterday and got another pass in Jumping Excellent with 2nd place and a pass in Agility Excellent with a 4th place. She needs one more jumping pass and three more agility passes for Tiffany to get her next titles.

Testing, testing.

Here we are practising jumping together, I am just telling Hannah to lift her feet, but she will get the idea soon. It took a while to get the picture, Keith set up the video camera then sent us over the jumps several times. This pic was a still taken from the video using Pinnacle Studio.

Blogger has a new interface, so this  post is trying it out, and it is also a test of the email notification system. Leave a comment if it works.

Games Trial

We went to the Gawler Games trial today, and Tiffany passed both of the trials she was in! She was in Gamblers Excellent for the first time and then passed Snooker Novice for her second pass. We were celebrating and then Ricky came over to congratulate her. The pic show the three of us. Ricky has his own blog, see the "Ricky's Ramblings" link to the left under Blogs to Read.

Ricky suggested we add a Submit Button at the top left of the sidebar, so we did. If you add your email address in the space under " Follow By Email" heading, then press the submit button, each day we post to our blog you will get an email to let you know. No post, - no email. You have to go through a verification process to stop spammers, but it is so easy a human could do it.

Bath Time

We have had a lazy few days, not doing much since we got home from the trip up north. Today was bath time. Now most dogs shudder at the "B" word but we love it. We bite the water as it comes out of the spray, we shake ourselves and get the humans wet, then we attack the blow dryer and make as much noise as we can. It is an outdoor bath, because of the mess we make, but the water comes from the laundry and is warm so we enjoy it so much more. I went first because I am the oldest. Hannah was barking and whining while I had my bath and blow dry, then it was her turn while I dried off with some biscuits. We have had our nails clipped, our feet trimmed and a good brushing, so we are ready to face anything the world can throw at us.