Is that a......!?!?!?!

Hmm... well no luck in our shows on the weekend unfortunately! Miss K wasn't acting her best due to post-season blues etc... she seems to get a bit sooky about 1-2wks after her season ends and it lasts for about a week or so. For that reason, she wasn't really showing herself off etc :-). It was a double show and we did manage to pull off a RBCC (out of 4 or 5 girls) in the afternoon. In the morning, she didn't deserve anything as the judge wanted us to walk around the ring, so Miss K thought it heeling time!!! Or at least focus on 'mum' time :p.

Funniest thing happened the other night. I was going along walking the dogs when this car pulled up in front of me. Here I was thinking that she was going to start yelling at me coz I cut her off or something (I'd just crossed a driveway).... Nooo.... she got out of her car and said to me "Are those Aussie Shepherds"? ROFL! Well I never! Whenever I see someone walking an Aussie I always have an impulse to do that, but I've never had the nerve!!!! It turns out she has one of her own - a black tri, 10.5yrs.... Storm's litter brother!!!! Jay I think his name was. Anyways we got talking and it seems that she used to show him a bit, but he is a big boy, taller than Leo (who isn't short!) and Storm also. One comment she made was that at least I don't have 'issues' with my two.... I asked her what she meant.... she said that her boy doesn't like other dogs, particularly if they are bigger than him etc,etc. That surprised me! I'm so used to hearing about Aussies being the typical, easy going, carefree dogs etc,etc.... although I know that isn't the case for all Aussies.... but still :p.

Life is pretty much as per usual at the moment - dog training, work and other stuff. Leo ran great last night at agility training. This weekend will be a BIG weekend with shows from Sat - Tue - i've taken some time off work etc. The ASCV specialty is on Sat - so beware of photo overload!

On a side note:

Apparently this is ladylike....


And Leo thinks this:

So close.... but no cigar

Seems that this weekend was a weekend for close runs, but not quite there! I had a great night Friday catching up with a couple of friends from Dogzonline one of whom has a litter of 7wk old Goldie puppies which of course were in dire straits for some attention and social work..... So 'we' provided the Pizza/ drinks, and Jenny provided the puppies ;).











Saturday consisted of an agility trial - and boy - what a weekend of hot, sunny weather we have had (perhaps a touch too hot!). After watching the In Focus Need for Speed DVD and listening in on Gina O'Keefe's seminar - my main aim for the day was to get 4 fast, enthusiastic runs. I certainly achieved this!!! Leo ran really well for me, not dropping off speed at all and doing quite well. I was a little dissapointed with him as for some reason he got confused with my FC (no idea why!??!?!?) and wouldn't follow through and ended up on the wrong side.... never done this before, and he hasn't done it since!!

AM Agility (Novice): Great run - one knocked bar - nice easy course

AM Jumping (Excellent): one tricky bit involving a tunnel ;).. I decided to do a 3 bar lead out which then made the course a nice easy run.... Tyre was first up. Leo *should* get it, but as luck would have it, when I looked back to see how he was set up, his butt was straight and his front was slightly to the left.... result - he ran (tentatively) around the tyre. I kept going and boy did he run a blinder. Apart from the missed tyre, lovely clear round.

PM Jumping (Excellent): Very hard course and very confusing - involving many circles and a serpentine, but to do this, they had to refuse a pinwheel.... ie: it looked like we would be asking the dog to do a pinwheel.... Leo did well, but I took him round the wrong half of the course *bangs head on brick wall*

PM Agility (Novice) - best run of the day - really fast and flowing (he did one stupid thing I think!?) but there was an evil discrim between the tunnels - 2 flex tunnels next to each other - call off far entry of tunnel to enter the correct side.... but the 2 entries to separate tunnels were facing each other - dog took the wrong one :(.

Overall I was really happy with his runs, despite not being able to take home the prizes :)

Sunday - Show with Kinta. Our honeymoon might be over as Marli and Hondo have now joined the ranks of Junior EEK!.... Anyways - we got RBCC out of 4 bitches, one older.... and a good look at for Junior in Grp out of a huge line up! But, we just didn't quite get there!

So - all weekend.... so close, yet not quite :(

I am sooo over this!

I never knew how important the good 'ol opposable thumb was until I can't use it!

For some time now i've had a sore wrist.... really sore.... weird thing was it would only hurt night and first thing in the morning. Anyways - went to the docs about 3-4 weeks ago and she suspected I tore a tendon in my wrist from too much computer work (understandable, I am on all day ;) ). Had to go get an ultrasound done..... didn't hear back from the docs and by the way the u/s was going, my thoughts were that nothing but a little extra fluid was found - so I didn't worry over it too much and figured the pain would go away in time.... It didn't and if anything was getting worse.

So I cracked it, and went to the physio. Sure enough - torn/ strained tendon. So I now have to wear a splint that covers my thumb and part of my wrist. Ugly thing and it makes life difficult! I have to wear this for 4 weeks non-stop (yes, even sleep in it!), go back in 2 wks to physio for exercises etc.... then after the 4 wks, wear the splint for another 2-4 weeks while weaning off it.... but I want it off NOW- before 24 hrs is even up!!! I'm in for a looooong 6 wks!

On a side note- came across this awesome toy for the hounds in the hard garbage the other day..... a giant whale!!!



What the dogs thought of it....












In the meantime - a recent message that came through to me.....

NEVER,
NEVER
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
NEVER,
EVER...



...fart in a wet suit!

YAYYYYYY!!!

No, we didn't get best in show or anything like that! Far from it - the judge didn't give her anything! I handled her astonishingly BAD for the challenge line up and out of 3 b!tches, we walked away with NOTHING :(. On the up side - Brock got BEST IN GRP and a new little Tillsun puppy (Cappy X River) got Baby in Grp.... which didn't leave me much chance of getting anything else ;).

I'm starting to get a little hopeful though as sooo many people have told me how great she is looking and how well she moves (i'm talking about across the board here, so people who like different lines etc).... and I must admit - she has matured a LOT in the past few months! I just hope we start doing some winning soon!!!

So what's the YAY?! She's started growing her coat back!!!! In about a week, she has gone from this:



to this:







Like I said - I am really pleased with how she is turning out - so hopefully the judges start noticing her ;). Next weekend we have an agility trial on the Sat and another Show on the Sun, so we'll be busy all over again ;).

Take a break.......

I've tried a few times to update this blog, but always get stuck behind with something else! I've been pretty busy of late, with work under the pump and a social life too (shock, horror!!!). In short, life is pretty good ;).

Competition wise things have been pretty quiet with nothing since the Royal. We enter the shows again this Sunday (hopefully with a bang!) and then will be pretty busy until Nov/Dec with Specialty shows, Obedience trials and agility trials etc. Croydon has their obedience trial at the start of Dec, and I have been graciously given the role of trial secretary!!! EEK!!! How scary is that! It was initially going to be a joint effort, but due to certain circumstances, I am now doing it by myself with the help of others who have run a trial before!!! On the whole, I don't know whether or not i'll be competing!

Both dogs are coming along well, Leo pretty much ready for trialling, if I can pull my finger out and work on his stays. So far we have duration, but I don't go out of sight for long, and haven't done that in a busy situation yet. I want to make sure he is *solid* before entering though!!! Kinta is also coming along well, but is in season at the moment so 'house-bound'. On the whole, I haven't really been doing much *official* training, just refining - things like working on toy drive, polishing up some areas that have dropped back a bit and little things like that. Since doing this, the dogs' attention and enthusiasm has been absolutely brilliant - just goes to show you can't forget the 'simpler' things amongst all the hoo-ha of getting them 'trained'.... plenty of time for play too!! Leo is gaining a LOT more confidence in agility and because of this his distance work is better and he is getting (slightly) faster. I am still trying to find what exactly makes him tick in the way of toys for agility though - excluding the ball!!

I spent last weekend down at Geelong for a Gina O'Keefe (WA renowned trainer) seminar. She covered obedience & agility and while there wasn't anything *new* (ie: oh wow, i've never heard that before!), there was a lot of stuff to 'refresh' on what you *should* be doing and just a bit of problem solving etc. It was a great weekend and I highly recommend her! I did come back one dog short though, as Gina fell in love with Leo and took him back to WA with her ;-).... or at least she threatened to! My condition was that she take him, train him and then I get him back ;). I also received praise for his heelwork, for which I was proud as punch about as it is something that i've worked hard on with him!

Rather than making the long trip home on Sat night from Geelong only to head back again on Sunday morning, I decided to stay in the area. Someone recommended to me "Ripley Park B&B" which is located about 1/2 way between Geelong and Baccus Marsh. Took about 20- 30mins to get there from GODC. I must say - I was VERY impressed with the night's accomodation. Fully equipped for pets - giving you 1/4 of an acre of FENCED yard for the dogs to run around in, a cottage all to yourself (2bdrm, kitchen, living room etc), dogs allowed inside, full breakfast provided plus snacks and stuff when you arrive that night (even for the dog!). Highly recommended if you are ever staying up that way! Leo had an absolute blast and thought all his Christmases came at once.... I mean - he was allowed INSIDE!!!

On a side note - i've taken up a new hobby! A fortnight ago I began (with Kylie) some ballroom/latin dancing! I'm surprised how much i'm loving it!! I wanted to do something not focussed on dogs and that people MY age would be doing (ok, so there are some oldies, but most are quite young)... dancing is always something I wanted to do ;). So I took the plunge. It is heaps of fun - basically they take the newbies aside to teach them a new dance (or refresh one) then you join in the circle for a big progressive dance! Surprisingly - I don't have two left feet and find that i'm handling it ok! I did find it amusing though when we had to turn a circle and how do you suppose I did it? With my heelwork footwork of course!!! OOPS! So if you see me heeling around the obedience ring and taking far too long to do an about turn - you know why!

I received the nicest compliment the other day - one of the agility instructors told me she saw my name in the Vic dog mag - with my obedience results (from Berwick)... She said they were quite impressive etc,etc. Asked me if he got his title yet, to which I replied yep, 2wks later! Place? 1st! LOL - she then went on to ask me who I trained with - thinking I was getting private tuition!! Howz that Sarah!!!! See what a good trainer you are ;)!

Well - I must hit the books again - but thought I better let you know that i'm still alive!

Oh - and here are some pics from the Hastings Agility trial where Leo came 1st in Nov Agility. A pic of him is going in the vicdog, can't wait to see which one! The piccies were taken by Sal Robinson (K9dogphotos).