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.