Tiffany JDM

Tiffany has finally got her Jumping Dog Master qualification. It happened in Cairns on Sunday in the rain. The course was a little unusual with some challenges that we had not seen before, but Tiffany took  it all in her stride. There was one heart stopping moment when Tiffany went towards the wrong end of a tunnel, but she quickly corrected and finished the course with 6 seconds to spare.
The pic shows Tiffany  in mid-air heading towards a tunnel while Keith crosses behind ready for the next section..

I had a good run in that masters class too except I went to have a chat with Judge Jody that cost me too much time. I would have made time had I just done the course.

We are on holiday in Far North Queensland. Yesterday saw us in the Daintree Rain Forrest. KnK thought it was wonderful, but it was just lots of damp trees. We slept through most of it. Lunch time was good because we were allowed to sit in the garden at the Fan Palm Café, and a cassowary wandered in from the forest and through the garden. We just stared at it, but the humans got excited and took pictures.

More trials in Atherton soon, more things to see and do now, so we are back to being tourists for a few days.

Lots of things

Lots of things have happened since the last post. Hannah has had her Birthday, she is now 6 years old and the highlight of her year was getting her Tracking Champion to become a Dual Champion Tracking.

I also became a Dual Champion Tracking the week after Hannah's birthday.

We are on the road again, going to Queensland to compete in trials in Cairns and Atherton.  We travelled on the outback roads  through some remote locations.

One place we went through was Aramac. It was the starting place for Henry Readford who, in 1870, took 1200 head of cattle 2000km down to Adelaide via the Strzelecki track and did not loose any of them. There were a couple of problems: a) they were not his cattle, b) one of them was a prize white bull imported from England. c) they were taken to SA because Henry thought no one would know he was a cattle rustler. Well someone recognised the prize white bull and he was taken back to Roma in Queensland where he was tried and found NOT GUILTY because the jury was impressed with the skill required to pull off the drive and released him. Henry Readford's droving feat was the role model for Captain Starlight in the novel Robbery Under Arms.

The pic shows Hannah tracking, me tracking and both of us posing in front of the replica of the prize white bull in Aramac.

Dual Champion Hannah SDX

Hannah is a Dual Champion now. At the last Tracking trial, Hannah passed her Track 8 with a Good rating and is now a Tracking Champion. She was already a Conformation Champion, so now she is a Dual Ch.(T) We went tracking a couple of weeks ago. I got my Track 7 so I am just one track behind Hannah. The Championship tracks are not easy. We have to find the track from among a lot of other smells created by people milling about at the start, then we have to track 1.2 kilometres with several acute angle turns, find 3 socks and the t-shirt at the end. Add in the kangaroo and rabbit tracks, the wind, rain and cold weather and you can see it is not just a walk in the park.
The photo shows Hannah doing a practice track wearing her Tracking Harness as she leads Kathy round the track. Underneath are Hannah's 3 certificates she was issued with, all on the same day. The certificates are, her Dual Champion title, her Tracking Champion, and her Snooker Dog Excellent Title. Hannah got her SDX at the Agility Nationals but we only just applied for the title.

Nationals and more

We have been very busy since the last post, but Keith has been too slack to update, so we had to bite him. Latest news, Hannah has passed her Track 7 in Tracking and is 1 off for her Champion, she passed in Snooker Excellent at the Nationals, and I have a TDX title. We have got a new Kennel on an acre of land so now we have room to run and play.

The top photo is us with our certificates and sashes.  Hannah got her Track 7 at the first tracking trial, but I failed my Track 6 because I went kangaroo hunting. Well, they were just sitting there looking at me and they jumped across in front of me, what's a red-blooded dog to do?
At the next tracking trial, I got a good rating for my Track 6, but Hannah was not in such a good mood, she was tired and lost interest so she did not pass.

At the national Agility competition, we had some bad luck. Both of us got a tummy bug and had loose toilets that did not help. It seemed that when I got everything right, Keith made mistakes, and when he got everything right I made mistakes. We had some good runs but no passes.
Hannah and Kathy had similar problems until they got to the Snooker Excellent class when they went through without a mistake and qualified. I popped the weaving poles with just 1 more obstacle to go so no pass for me.

The middle photo is me at the Nationals, and the bottom photo is Hannah at the Nationals.

Strategic Pairs Excellent Pass 1

Our first pass in Excellent Strategic Pairs was gained yesterday at the Agility Dog Club trial. We tried a new technique that KnK hoped would control our urge to play when we are competing. It slowed down the transitions, but we got a pass and in 3rd place too. The pic shows us with our qualifying cards and sashes.

I went first, up to the tunnel at Jump 6, then as soon as I came out of the tunnel, I dropped to the ground and lay still. Hannah then took off on the next section which finished on the Dog Walk (Hannah is good on the dog walk) and she dropped as soon as she was clear of the colour. I did the next section which included the weaving poles, which I nailed, and as I did the last jump and dropped, Hannah started her last part and she dropped as soon as she was out of the tunnel at the end of her section. That was my cue to start so I took off on the final section involving a tricky turn from the Scramble onto a Broad Jump and we finished with 10+ seconds to spare.

Our secret weapon was the drop at the end of each section. Usually, when one of us sees the other one running, the fun starts and we play chasey. Sorry to disappoint all of our fans that turned up for the entertainment, but this time we got a comfortable pass.

Murrumbidgee Again

We are home at last after our 5 weeks away. We stayed at Darlington Point on the way home, a little place at the edge of the Hay Plain, where I had stayed before in January 2010. click this link to see that post.Murrumbidgee in 2010
I took Hannah down to the river where I had a picture last time I was here, just to show her where I had been. The water was a lot lower this time and it was hard to find the original photo spot, but I think this was it.
The trip was great. We had lots of walks and plays with lots of dogs from different places. We ran in trials, only one pass each, but lots of fun. We have seen lots of places, been to the highest town in Australia, and now we are ready for home and a bit of a rest.

The Big Trout

We have seen the Big Lobster, the Big Olive, the Big Koala, the Big Bundy Bottle, the Big Banana, the Big Ram, The Big Bulls, the Big Ant, the Big Pineapple, the Big Hay Bale, the Big Galah, the big Orange and now we have seen the Big Trout. It is at Adaminaby near Lake Eucumbene in the Snowy Mountains.
We had a day touring in the Snowy Mountains. KnK enjoyed the scenery and the old towns and history, but we just had a long sleep in the car. We had to stay in the car anyway because a lot of it is National Park and we were not allowed outside and had to stay on the main roads. We were allowed out at places not in the Park, and we had some walks around lakes and reserves. Tiffany wanted to swim in the lakes but KnK would not let her off the lead.
We were glad to get back to the Cooma caravan park to get our dinner after a long day out.

Canberra Dogs

Tollers at the Houses of Parliament in Canberra. Hannah and I posed for this picture outside this huge human kennel where the nation's chief barkers congregate to decide who is in charge. Seems like a lot of trouble to go to, dogs just piddle on a stobie pole to let everyone else know who owns the territory.
We stayed at the dog club where we met lots of dogs and were able to go into paddocks where we could run free, play with other dogs and chase balls to our hearts content. Kathy wanted us to do some work, but Keith was judging in the next ring, so we went to say hello. Not what Kathy wanted, but it was just a day out for us.

Gundagai

 We were On the Road to Gundagai, along the track leading back to a......., oh you know the song. We have been where the dog sat on the tuckerbox a couple of years ago, had our photos taken there, so we did not go there again.
Instead, we took a tour of Gundagai. It is a historic town full of interesting things for KnK, but not for dogs. We found this park where we could have a walk, sniff, mooch and attend to our toiletries, but in the corner was a sculpture of Dad, Dave, Mum and Mable who were famous for living in Snake Gully. We did not know them, but it seem they were on the Radio, whatever that is, and they got into lots of comical situations. Anyway, we posed for the photo then went back to  mooching in the park. It pays to keep the humans happy sometimes.

Ettomogah Pub 3

A long time ago before we were born, a magazine produced a cartoon about a fictitious pub at Ettomogah. It became so popular that people built a copy of the pub that didn't exist in the real world, as a tourist attraction. Then more people built more copies of the non existent pub so that now there are 5 of them. We have been to the one in Queensland, the one in Western Australia, and now we are at the one in New South Wales at Ettomogah near Albury. The cartoonist lived in Albury so this is as close as possible you can get to the original. Don't think too much about that last sentence or you will get a migraine.
Anyway, the top pic shows us outside the pub, but we are so small Keith had to magnify us in the inset and put an arrow to where we were. The cartoon pub had been faithfully reproduced. There was the truck on the roof, the writing on the wall, the crashed plane, the wobbly construction and Bandit the Dog's kennel. They had filled in the rabbit warrens and traps for safety reasons.
The bottom pic shows us trying to talk to Bandit. We heard him bark but he would not come out. He was not very smart, he just went "Woof" if you tapped on his kennel. Eventually we began to think he was not real, just a machine that made a noise like a dog, but we kept checking just in case he was real.

Albury Winners

We are back in the Winners Circle! Tiffany won 1st place in Masters Jumping qualifying with a time almost 3 seconds under the standard course time, and then we went in Strategic Pairs and we won the Excellent class. Unfortunately we  were over time due to a quick game of chasey half way through, but we did all the obstacles. The whole trial thought we were good though, said it was the best laugh they'd had in ages.
Neither of us did any good in Agility. Tiffany was over excited and Keith lost control, then I went in and there were some very interesting sniffs and a dog walk that I had never seen before and I had to try it out.
The pic shows us with our sashes and our prizes of Dog Biscuits.

Trains and Ned Kelly

We have been traveling again, We are in Albury tonight, but to get here we have traveled for 3 days, not because it is a long distance, but because there are lots of things to see and do. We stayed a night in Ararat, then Sheperton and finally got here. One of the stops along the way was at Elmore where there is a miniature railway. Hannah and I waited on the station  (see top picture) but the train didn't come so it must have been a model of British Rail, Keith said.
Later on we reached Glenrowan which was the home of the famous bush ranger and artist's model Ned Kelly. He must have been huge because the pic shows us sitting by his statue and we are only as big as his boots. You have to look closely to see us.
The Albury caravan park is next door to the dog club grounds where we are competing on Saturday, so this means we wont have to get up too early on the weekend.

Tiffany's 7th Birthday

Tiffany was 7 years old on 7th March 2016. She has had another good year doing all sorts of things that keep a dog happy. In the agility ring she became a Masters dog, she has a Tracking Dog title and 2 passes towards her Tracking Dog Excellent title.
We have also been traveling around Australia a lot too. We went to the Kimberly's in Western Australia and went along the Gibb River Road and back across the Tanami Desert.  Add in a few country trips to Mildura and Whyalla and that was a busy year for a dog.

The big news since Tiffany's birthday is, We Have A New Kennel. It is in Tanunda in the Barossa Valley. We will not move in until May because KnK have to do things first. In the mean time we are in Warrnambool for a week end of dog trials, and then we move on for more trials next week.
The pic shows us on our walk along the pathway next to the Warrnambool caravan park where we are staying. We walked to the harbour where we stopped for the photo.

Barossa Tollers.

We have been running and playing in Nurioopta which is in the Barossa Valley Wine district. We are away in the caravan for the weekend. KnK have been looking at houses so we have had to sit in the car while they look, but they do  not leave us for long and we get lots of walks at different dog parks. Fortunately it has been cool and we are always in the shade with water. The pic shows us at our favourite park in Nuriootpa by the steam engine. We run and chase the ball, chase each other and just mooch around the big park here until we are too tired to move, then we just curl up and go to sleep while KnK try to find us a new home.

Toller Beach Day

We had a morning at the beach yesterday, with lots of other Tollers and a few ring ins. We have a Toller gathering occaisionally during Summer but this was the first one we attended.
We had a great time. We swam, fetched balls, frisbys, dummys and anything else we could get the humans to throw. We chased each other up and down the beach, raced through the waves and investigated everywhere we could.
There were about 20 dogs there and it was hard work getting round to sniff everyone, but we did our best. At the end of the day we were too tired to move.
When we got home we both had a bath to get the salt and sand out of our fur, a thorough grooming and then we were allowed to sleep, and we slept like logs. When we eventually started to move about again we had to go slowly because we were stiff and sore from all the exercise, but not too stiff or sore to demand dinner at 5 o'clock.
The pic shows just a few of the 219 pictures Keith took during the morning. Tiffany top left, Hannah top right and then two shots of the crowd at play.

Tiffany ADM.

Last night Tiffany passed her 7th Agility Masters trial and qualified for her Agility Dog Master (ADM) title. It was a cool night, a good flowing course from Judge Brian and Tiffany was very keen to run. Keith, however, was a bit under the weather suffering from dizzy spells if he turned too quickly. During the walk through, Keith worked out a way that he could run without doing spins. Round the course Tiffany was flying, while Keith was doing his 'avoid spins' path. It worked because Tiffany came third overall and second in her height class (to our dad Rio) and gained her title.
My run was not as spectacular as Tiffany as I got a couple of jumps wrong, and had to repeat a jump too. The good news was that with all those errors I was only a couple of seconds over the time.
The pic shows us at home playing on the practice jump doing 'Synchronised Jumping', it will never take off as a sport.

Hannah's First Masters Agility Pass

Hannah has got her first pass in Masters Agility. It was at Whyalla nearly 2 weeks ago, but Keith has been a bit slack in getting this posted. We have moved house so we are not sure where we will sleep as we keep going back to the old house to get things.

Hannah did a beautiful run, holding her line well and only briefly barking at Kathy during the run. There is a video on the left side bar under video links so everyone can see how well she did the course. Did it with time to spare too.

The pic shows Hannah in the Weaving Poles, zigging and zagging through every gap.

Royal Games

Hannah passed her Excellent Snooker class at the Royal. She took it steady with Kathy running a controlled course and Hannah just kept going at a steady rate and got round within the time. To qualify Hannah had to get 15 points in the Point Accumulation period of 45 seconds, and she got 19. Then in the Closing round she went through as steady as a rock with no mistakes. The photo shows Hannah clearing the last obsacle, which was the bar from the Tunnel/ Bar combination.
I was not so lucky. I did my run first and showed everybody how to get 19 points without too much stress. Lots of people followed my plan. Then in the closing round I got all the way round to the "Pink" obstacle and headed for the last "Black". There was another bar in the way and I jumped that one trying to get to the tunnel quicker. Keith usually directs me, but this time he was a bit late turning and I was already commited to the bar. Well within the time, but no pass.
We did Gamblers too, but it was a very difficult Gamble that nobody passed, so we did not feel too upset about failing that one.

Adelaide Royal Show

The family at the Royal Show Agility Trials
Hannah, Tiffany, Rio (dad) Murphy (uncle) Karri (sister).
We had a great time with everybody at the show, Hannah barked at the judge, the crowd and the camera person during her runs and got distracted by the noise and excitment of the show so did not do her best in her runs. I did a good run in Jumping, clear round but 2+ seconds over time. I did get within 3 seconds of Rio and 6 seconds of Skye (who is very fast) so I did not do too badly. In the Agility I was doing well untill I missed a weaving pole. I had just come out of a tunnel into the light and I could not see the poles, Keith saw me blinking and squinting as I went towards the poles. The rest of the course was a training run and I finished well inside the time.
One more night to go, doing Gamblers and Snooker, tonight.

Tracking again.

We went Tracking again last weekend. It was very foggy, cold and damp but we enjoyed it. I was doing a Track 5 which got me to within one more track for my Tracker Dog Excellent title. I started well, following a track across a paddock until we got to the first corner. There was a lot of fresh chewy grass that I realy like to snack on and so I had a great time running between the patches until Keith got a bit stroppy and told me I was a Gundog not a sheep dog and to stop eating grass. I eventually went back to the track and did the next leg. Found the sock and did the next corner well, but then there was a section where rabbits had been. I could not resist an investigation, and as long as Keith thought I was tracking I could do what I liked. After a while Keith worked out what I was doing and put me back to work. Found the next sock on the track, had a bit of a play on another corner then found the third sock. On the final leg I got some strange scents on the wind and got distracted by them but finally found the T-shirt at the end of the track and got a big reward from Keith. Judge Sandy gave me a Pass, but only just.
Hannah was doing her Track 7 which is the first of 2 tracks she needs to get her Tracking Champion title. She started off very well and made the first corners well. Her undoing was the acute angle where the wind caused a scent trap in amongst the some rocks and Hannah found the return track without going all the way up to the turn. This meant she missed a significant part of the track, and so she failed the test. Kathy was pleased with Hannah's work but with her getting the 2 track ons for her TDX she had not really had enough training on those acute turns to be able to cope with the difficulty of the track.
The pic shows us in the car getting warm and dry after our work in the bush.

Hannah Tracking Dog Excellent

Here it is. Hannah's Tracking Dog Excellent certificate, and she got it from only 4 trials.

"How can that be?" I hear you ask.

Well, Hannah got a Track On which let her do 2 tests at one trial, and that got her Track 2 & 3 which was her TD title. Then at her Track 5 Trial, she got another Track On, so she did Track 6 on the same day.

Getting a Track On is very rare as it means that someone had to pull out of a trial at the last minute, and that usually means some kind of emergency, illness or an accident. Fortunatley this time the dog was withdrawn as a precaution after a vet visit and there was nothing wrong with the dog, just the handler playing safe.

Hannah getting 2 Track Ons in 4 trials is a bit like winning the lottery (but not quite) which would make her one of the quickest Tracking Dog Excellent titles in history.

The pic shows the certificate, and Hannah resting on her laurals, after doing her Track 5 & 6 about a week ago. Click on the pic to get a bigger view that can be read.

Tiffany, Tracker Dog

Tiffany has qualified for her Tracking Dog title. We were at Monarto on Saturday, up before the crack of dawn to get there by 7:00am. Tiffany was the first to go on her track, where she had to find a total stranger. It was cold, wet and windy, but Tiffany got down to business straight away and took off along the first leg of the track. She got the first corner and then found the first sock giving a good indication of the find. ( She pounced on it, shook it and then threw it at Keith). On the second leg she was a little upwind but got back on the track despite Keith trying to keep up. The second corner was near trees and Tiffany went sniffing a little, but got back to work and found the second sock. The last leg was a gentle curve that Tiffany followed and found the tracklayer at the end of it. She was rated Very Good.
I did my Track 4 test. It was later in the day, still cold but the sun was out.  I had 4 turns to track, and I got a bit tired towards the end. The wind blew the scent around and I wanted to wind scent, but I still managed to find a sock and I worked my way round the course and found the track layer at the end. I must have walked 3 times the distance as I was quatering a lot, and that was what got me so tired. I was given a Pass for the test, so I need only 2 more tracks to get my Tracking Dog Excellent title.

Secret Location

Here we are at a secret location. It has to be a secret because we are not supposed to be there. We did not see the 'no dogs' sign until we were leaving. It was on our travels home from Halls Creek to Alice Springs on the Tanami road. A long time ago a meteorite hit the ground and made a big hole, and that is it behind us.
We are home now. The trip down the Tanami was good, we started out, went to sleep, woke up for a bonio at lunch time and a leg stretch, went back to sleep until evening when we had a run and our dinner. Next day was the same and then we were in Alice Springs. Well the humans thought it was a big deal, and as long as they are happy, we are happy.
Home now, able to run about, play with toys and go outside without supervision, so life is pretty good. Minty and Maggie are home too, so it is back to being just the two of us at play time.

Broome via Gibb River Road

We have been traveling down the Gibb River Road. We started with a few days in Kunnunarra with visits to Wyndam and a few days in El Questro where we watched the sun set and barked at a kangaroo from the Saddleback Look Out.

We set off down the Gibb River Road that was all dirt and we thought it was rough, until we turned off towards the Mitchell Falls. That road was so rough Tiffany had to sit on KnK's lap because she could not cope with the noise and the bouncing. We stayed in Drysdale camp 1 night then went to the King Edward River camp where we went for walks and a swim in the King Edward River. Keith's Facebook has some pics of us there. Dogs were not allowed in Mitchell Falls so we were 'dog sat' by Maggie and Minties humans while KnK went to the falls, then they swapped next day so we had 2 days in King Edward River.

After that we went to Manning Gorge where we had a big swim in the river and a walk along the bank. The water was lovely and cool, and it also washed off a lot of the dirt, dust, weeds and prickles that had stuck to our coats.

We moved on to Derby and the end of the Gibb River Road where we went out for dinner. (The humans got the dinner, we just got the odd scraps, but we were allowed to lie under the table).

We went to Broome and did the tourist thing, looking at lots of places like the Port and the dinasaur footprints.
The photos show us swimming in Manning Gorge, sight-seeing at the Broome Port and playing on Cable beach. There were lots more pictures, but there is not enough room to show them all. Click on the picture to get a bigger version.

Lake Argyle

The four of us are at Lake Argyle in Western Australia. A huge lake, but we can not swim in it because of the fresh water crocodiles. The humans took turns at going on a boat on the lake while we were left behind at the camp. We had walks and plays and met some people. Hannah nearly had a heart attack when one of the grounds ladies came up from behind, but it was ok in the end and we all got pats from her. The days are quite warm, but the nights are cool so we get good sleeps.

The Adventure begins.

We have set out on our big trip to Western Australia and the Gibb River Road. The pic shows us at the Ranges View rest stop north of Port Augusta where we stopped for lunch. The photo shows Hannah, then me (Tiffany) then Maggie and Mintie.
Our first night was with Sasha at Bute where we barked at the chooks, chased the cats and had a good sniff around Sasha's yard.
It has been a hectic trip, stopping at Coober Pedy (cold night) and then Alice Springs (Very Cold Night). We are now in Tennant Creek where it is a bit warmer.
Tomorrow we go further north and onto the dirt roads where the adventure will truly begin.

Hannah gets her TD title

We have had a busy weekend with Agility Games on Saturday and Tracking on Sunday. The prize of the weekend was Hannah getting her Tracking Dog Title.
We set out early on Saturday to go to the Games trial. The Strategic Pairs was a great time, it was only marred by us having a play for about 30 seconds in the middle of it, otherwise we went well even if we were over time. In the Gamblers we did not do very well, but in Snooker Excellent I got a pass in 5th place overall. Hannah was doing well until she jumped off the dog walk.
On Sunday we got up even earlier to get to Monarto by 7 AM to do our Track 2. Hannah went first, found Keith and a sock, ( the other sock disappeared, that's 2 socks we have lost). Then it was my turn, I found Kathy and both socks on the track. I was doing very well until near the end I had a bit of trouble finding the scent in the trees. Kathy said there had been some rabbits and a kangaroo running about near that point. I got a Good rating,
Somebody did not turn up for their trial, so there was a track prepared with no one to use it. The organisers then put everybody's name eligible for that track in a hat and Hannah got picked out to use the spare track. She had to track an unknown person for Track 3 which she had never done before. She had a bit of trouble at the start, but once she worked out what to do she followed the track, found the track layer and the articles and was rated as Very Good. The pic shows Hannah on the closing stage of the track with about 50 metres to go as she qualified for her Tracking Dog Title. Keith took the pic with his telephoto lens on his camera from about 100 metres away..
All in all, we had a good weekend.

Tracking Trials

Hannah and I both passed our first Tracking trials today. Hannah went first so I had to stay in the car with Scruff, (he is visiting with us for a few days while his mum is away).
Keith went off and hid in the bush, then 20 minutes later, Hannah went off and found him. The sock vanished somewhere, so Hannah could not find it, but she still passed.
Then it was my turn. This time Kathy hid in the bush and I was sent to find her with Keith trying to keep up on a long lead. When I found the sock, I pounced on it and threw it up in the air just to make sure the judge knew I had found it. We carried on and I found Kathy hiding behind a bush.  I had a bit of trouble on the turns, but I worked through that and finished with a "Good" rating.
The pic shows us lined up with some of our tracking friends, after the trial.

6 of Each

I passed 2 trials at Warrnambool, 1 Agility and 1 Jumping. That makes 6 passes in each class, and I need 1 more in each class to get a Masters title in both of them. The pic shows me doing the weaving poles in the Masters Agility with Keith trying to keep up. Judge Sue is watching on but the flag masked her face from the camera. I got 2nd in my height category in Agility and 3rd in Jumping.
We went very close to getting the final passes for my titles too. On a Jumping course I dropped bar number 22 on a 24 obstacle course, and in an Agility trial, I missed a Tunnel mouth and got everything else.
Hannah did not have many runs as Kathy was judging. The courses she ran she did well with only 1 or 2 faults, but we won't talk about the obedience.
Maggie and Minty were there but Maggie could not play because of her shoulder injury. (Maggie's Mum took the photo.) We did find lots of our other friends to play with at the trials, especially a border collie pup that was up to mischief with everybody.

The Off Road Kennel

The pic shows us trying out the new off road kennel. We got as far as Keith before we had to stop for the night. There was some delay in starting out as Keith had to buy some fuses that kept popping, whatever that means. Anyway, we got here, put the camper up, and had dinner. Our first night in a new kennel is always exciting, especially as KnK were trying to work out who forgot what, as there are some bags that got left home with some vital bits in them. Our food and beds are here, so what else could be important?
Tomorrow we go to Warrnambool for dog trials so we have a busy weekend ahead.

Our new Off Road Kennel

The top pic shows us in our new Off Road kennel. Hannah is testing out the bed while I am checking out the chair in the breakfast area.
The next pic shows how the new kennel looks when fully erected, with the annex up but we will just have the bed and the living area up for an overnight stay The bottom pic shows how it looks while we are traveling. Our photo is on the spare wheel, so no one can mistake who we are. Click on the pic to make it bigger.

The caravan is still at home, waiting for a new owner to buy it and take it away. We have had some wonderful trips in it, traveling to all mainland states and territories in Australia, but the time has come for us to get off the bitumen and see the remote areas that are off the beaten track.

KnK are planning to see the Gibb River Road and we will be traveling with Maggie and Minty so the four of us will have a wonderful time. The first trip away will be to the Warrnambool dog trials in February so we can get used to living in the new kennel before we start off on the big trip.

Happy New Year

 Maggie and Minty stayed over for New Years Eve and we had lots of plays while the humans sat around eating, drinking and talking. We were pretty tired for New Years Day so we had a quiet time recovering. Yesterday was as hot as the inside of a really hot thing, 42 degrees C they said. We hid indoors under the air conditioning for most of the day, but when it cooled down in the evening we got out the blue shell, got it filled up with water and played for an hour. The pic shows us biting the water to make it come out quicker. Kathy tried to water the lawn, but we chased the water jet until she gave up. I jumped into the shell and started digging at the water while Hannah chased the splashes. In the end we had to have a rub down with the towels, a quick drink and a long lie down before we went to bed.

Dogs Christmas

It was Christmas for dogs too. We had Audrey the Deerhound, and Molly the Jack Russel/Tenterfield round to play on Christmas day while the humans sat around drinking and eating. They put a human pup in a blowup cage for us to play with, It was great. The pic shows us all around the cage while Nicholas entertained us. Later on I got in the cage with him and so did Hannah, but the humans got us out. We played chasey with Nicholas; first we chased him into the house, then he chased us out, and then we went back again. We kept it up for ages, Molly and Audrey had to go for a lie down, but we carried on. I think the humans were glad they had us to look after their pup!
At the end of the day, Audrey went home to sleep, Molly is staying with us for a few days, but she went to her bed, and we just collapsed in a heap. We were still tired this morning when Hannah had to have her breakfast in bed because she was too tired to get up.

Getting Ready for Christmas

It is getting close to Christmas and we have had to help Santa because his Reindeer can not cope with the Australian heat. The photo shows us practicing over the Australian outback.
We had to look the part just in case some kid saw us, so Santa used some of his magic to grow Antlers and to let us fly by flapping our ears. The magic is known as Image-Place-of Retail, but he said it as "foe tow shorp"
We could have done with some magic on the weekend in the Portland Agility trials. Every time we made time in the trial we had faults, every time we went clear we were over time. We had fun though, playing with Maggie and Minty, meeting some friends and having some nice walks.

Trials again.

We were at Southern Districts last night, I did Masters and Open while Hannah just did Masters. It was a night of "almost " for us, we almost got it right but did not qualify. I got clear in Agility but over time due to a slow start; then did the discrimination in open but Keith crossed the line and I did a wrong course. The pic shows me at the top of the Scramble in the Discrimination zone.
Jumping was going well until I missed a jump in Masters, then we were almost home in Open when Keith stopped too soon and sent me over a wrong jump. Hannah dropped a bar in Masters Jumping then went the wrong way over a jump, but ran well. Agility was not too good after she went up a dog walk instead of the tunnel, so Kathy pulled her out. Hannah fell off the dog walk in training (she turned round in the middle of it and lost her footing) so we did not want to risk another accident.

Tiffany RAE

 Tiffany has got her Rally Advanced Excellent Title, so she now has RAE added to her list of titles.
It has been a long road for Tiffany. She backed into the fridge and hurt her leg practicing the 3 Steps Backward station and would not do that for ages. Then there was the time she was waiting at the Honour station and did a marking wee to get disqualified; and we won't count the times Keith did the wrong station and  run out of points.
At last she has her 10 Advanced and Excellent at the same trial qualifications. In fact she has 12, getting three out of three trials at the Gundog Club Double/ Double. Keith was trial manager and was too busy to do the fourth trial, but she did not need that one anyway. The photo (taken by Lynne) shows her jumping over the bar at the Send Over Jump station.

Ettamogah Pub

The Ettamogah pub is something of an Australian treasure, steeped in the Aussie culture. The pub came from a magazine cartoon that was popular in the 1970s, a long long time before I was born, and has been a great tourist attraction ever since they were built. I say "They" because there are four of them, spread over Australia. This one is in Cunderdin in WA.
Is it only me that sees the irony in the fact that some people have built replicas of a pub that does not exist, and hundreds of other people go to see them?
The picture shows Hannah and I outside a paradox, that's got to be a first for any Toller.

Cow Town

There is a town called Cowaramup that the locals call Cow Town because there are 42 fibreglass cows set up all through the town as tourist attractions. The pic shows us lying down with one of them.
Cows are themed through out the town, from the Cow Candy shop through to Cow Town fuel,
It was all the same to us, we had a walk among the cows, had a photo taken and then back in the car and on to the next place.
Sometimes we are amazed at what attracts tourists.

Bunker Bay

Still on holidays in the west. The pic today shows us at Bunker Bay, WA. We are staying at Busselton and have been out for the day touring around. We stopped for a leg stretch, a sniff, a toilet and a photo. We were not allowed to go for a swim, despite Tiffany's pleading, because we would get the car wet.
Most of the places around here are National Parks and dogs are not allowed so we don't go in there.
School holidays are on, so everywhere has lots of children around. We have to put up with kids coming over to pat us and play with us. Its a hard life, but someone has to do it.

Gold Fever

The picture shows us with the statue of Hardy Norseman, a horse that started the town of Norseman. The horse was walking around here when he kicked a rock and revealed a nugget of gold and that started a gold rush.
We spent ages digging up rocks to find a nugget, but could not find any. Someone said that to get gold out of rocks you smelt it. Well, we sniffed every where and we still did not find any. If they smelt gold they had better noses than ours. For all the good we did we would have been better off filtering sea water through our tail feathers.
Today we went down the 'Ninety Mile Straight,' 90 miles of road with no turning. Not much for us, we went past a sign, nodded off to sleep and woke up when we went round the next corner. Couldn't see what all the fuss was about. It was much more fun searching for gold in the caravan park!

Go WEST young dog!

We are following the code of the American pioneers and heading for the west. The pic shows us at the border, with me in South Australia and Hannah in Western Australia.
It has been an interesting trip so far, we met up with Mintie and Maggie for lunch on Saturday, had a night in Kimba where we played ball at the back of the caravan park, stayed at Nundroo where we had to stay close to the caravan because of the snakes and now we are in WA at Madura where we have to beware of 1080 fox baits! We do have an exciting life.

Woomera

We are back home again. It was a long ride home from Katherine with just overnight stops. The last night away was at Woomera where we went for a walk past a free museum of the Woomera Rocket range. The pic shows us posing in front of a Canberra Bomber, but there were lots of rockets and a Meteor jet plane as well.
We had a bit of excitement in the middle of the night before at Cadney Station, when a water pipe broke in the van. The floor was wet and Tiffany had to wake up KnK to fix it. It pays to have a human around when something goes wrong.

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.