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.