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.