Murphy's Law

Hmmm.... where to start.....

Good news:

Got Kinta's hip scores back, and they were excellent. The way hip scores go - the lower the better, with 0 being perfect. Kinta's sire had an overall score of 11 (4:7 I think) and her dam 3 (1:2). I was personally expecting her to get a little higher than her dam seeing as her father has quite a high score (well, it's not really high, but in relation to the breed it is)... I was thrilled when I got her scores back as a total of 2 (1:1) which is fantastic! Overall international score of 0!!!! Yippeee!!!

Other news:

Had a show on Saturday, but did no good, only picking up RBCC. Was told that the judge likes strength which Kinta obviously lacks a little of. Birdie (Mazasuka Free as a Bird) picked up the challenge, and she is quite a nice bitch, so I didn't mind ;).

Went shopping on Sunday - with the intentions of *looking* for a video camera. I had a fair idea of what I wanted, prices etc. I'd also read a few reviews on the net, so wasn't going in completely blind. Set myself a budget and off we go. I wanted a pretty basic camera, easy to use etc, for filming my trials and training as well as use on holidays etc. I'd decided a mini-DV (tapes) was the way to go due to the fact that the format on the DVD versions were compressed and I was told, not as good quality and more difficult to edit (you need to edit to put onto youtube etc). This meant I was looking around the $370- $500 mark. Probably closer to the $500.... I tell you what - these things are most frustrating to shop for as they don't vary all that much in functionality and it's hard to test quality etc, since most don't let you plug it in and play around!!! Anyways - walked into Harvey Norman and they had a huge sale on. For $100 more they had a hard drive camera (saves directly onto hard drive, no tapes no nothing, so not forking out extra money throughout video's life span getting tapes etc all the time) on sale, which got me thinking that if you pay a little more, I get a much better quality camera, not to mention more convenient. Long story short, after shopping around etc, I was able to get a $1200 camera for almost 1/2 price, which is streets ahead of the mini DV cameras (they stopped improving technology on them years ago) and gives a much better picture quality etc. The zoom is not great (10x optical) but you would never really use much more than that anyway as it would start to distort the image. Read the reviews online and it sounds like it was a good buy (well i'd kind of figured that out already since someone told me I was lying that I could get it at that price!). Feeling a little guilty that I spent so much, but also glad that I got such a good deal. Well.... here it is:

Ok - so why Murphy?! Well... it seems I make a big expense and then everything goes up sh!t creek!!!! Sunday night I found on Leo a lump on the back of his neck - on further inspection, I got a puss ball out of it (ewww).... but that left a big gaping hole (ok, quite small really, but it was quite deep!)... We clipped the hair around it and washed it out with saline, but it was still looking pretty angry and yuk on Monday, so decided to take him to the vet (could be a foreign body stuck in there).... No matter I thought - had to pick up Kinta's hip scores anyway. Vet had a look and couldn't find any foreign body... so onto some antibiotics and if that doesn't clear it up, he'll have to go under GA to try and find it. Great! Just what I need. I asked vet to have a look at Leo's right hind leg too as last time he was at the chiro, they told me he pulled a hamstring (from tripping up the stairs)... I didnt' think it was properly healed, so wanted the vet to have another look. I was right, so he is now on 2wks crate rest for it to heal properly!!

Want more?! Ok - no problems! I got home yesterday to find my entry forms returned from the pet expo. You won't believe the reason! The entry form was too big!!! Yep, they didn't want my money, or my entry, simply because the piece of paper was too large. I mean FFS it's not like it was the size of a billboard and they needed a truck to load it in?! Plus, it was one I had printed off fro the VCA webpage!!!! They have also had my entry for a month, so lets not bother calling me to let me know and could I possibly mail them another entry form, nope, we'll just send it back without giving her enough time to re-enter! I guess it makes me more frustrated because a) it's the pet expo and I like showing there.... and b) I've been trial sec. now and have accepted ALL entries and know it isn't that hard (to enter one filled out correctly but the wrong size).... no matter if you have 1000 or 100.

Even more?! Sure - I've got a bag full! My contract for my job is ending soon, so spoke to my boss about it's renewal. Turns out that while they want to keep me, they only have enough funding to keep me on for one project.... so while i'm not overly worried (boss thinks he can work around it), it's still something to be concerned about!

So go away Murphy - leave me alone - you've done enough for one day!!! Oh and fingers crossed Leo's wound heals so he *doesn't* need surgery!!!!

Brags!

OK - yet another brag post but nothing really new....

What *has* happened since the last time I wrote.... short answer - absolutely nothing outside of dogs! I really, really haven't done anything exciting... Unless you call sitting on the couch watching some Gilmore Girls and Greys Anatomy exciting :P. I had a full weekend of showing - Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. I missed the showing funnily enough. Friday night was excellent as Kinta pulled off a 9pt Bitch Challenge, Runner up Best of Breed and Junior in Group. We got knocked out for Junior in Show as the dog who got Runner up Best in Show was from the Junior class.... so the long and short is we waited around for 90 mins for no reason ;). We didn't get anything else the rest of the weekend, save a RBCC (reserve challenge..... *again*) on the Sunday. Overall I was pretty happy with Kinta's performance as she held her own, the judges giving her a good look in each time. They were also big classes with around 20 Aussies being shown each day. A good effort all round really. I'm also super excited by the way Kinta is turning out, she really is maturing quite a bit now... and all those fears I had last year seem a distant memory... what more could you want :). Photo from the weekend:

Ok - so why is this a brag post exactly? Well.... I had such a great year last year (2007), particularly with Leo - lots of successes as you have heard me mention countless times ;). Now who knows if we'll have another year like that. So I wanted to take a photo of my little man with his 2007 winnings (well... most of them, some are at work)....

First the rundown:

CCD -
1 x 1st place.
1 x 2nd place
1x 3rd place
CD -
2 x 1st place
1 x 2nd place
CDX -
1 x 1st place
1 x 2nd place
JD
1 x 1st place
1 x 2nd place
1 x 3rd place
AD
1 x 1st place
1 x 3rd place (& 1 3rd NQ)

And the photo - Leo with his loot:
And of course - what do I do when there are so many photos to choose from and I can't decide?! Post them all up of course!!! Maybe we should vote - which one is the best ;) ROFL!


Kinta of course doesn't have quite as good a track record since she is only showing... but 2008 might be her year! Question is.... where do I put all the sashes!!!


Ok - I'm sure you are all sick of my brags by now - so I guess I'll leave it at that until I can think of a more interesting post!!!! Please bare with me (or somehow make my life infinitely more exciting!) ;)

Another dog post....

Coz lets face it, what other kind of post is there ;) *evil laugh*

First up - I would like to clear something up.... next time I say that I am *not* happy with calm, quiet Kinta when she is out of season.... can someone *please* bang me over the head with a cricket bat or something, until sense starts to penetrate!

Why?!

Hmm... well - we did some training with the hounds yesterday morning (and started Leo on UD work!!!) and ended up at one of the beaches down at Mornington with Tracey and Kylie (and their hounds too). Was surprised to find a beach that allows dogs during the day but according to the Life be in it "walkies" beach - Mills beach is the 'go'... even the lifeguards didn't say anything! We weren't prepared so not dressed or ready for the beach, but that didn't stop us going in with the dogs anyway (on lead).... Poor Whiskey and Scruffy (Tracey & Kylie's dogs) are NOT water babies and didn't like the prospect of the water at all ;).... Leo liked the water until Kinta started to use him as a launch pad to jump into the water OR if he went out too deep (swimming) and a *big* wave came along (read: wave of about 10cm!)... Mind you, if I left him, he wasn't a happy camper.

Kinta the feral on the other hand thought waves were there to be jumped over, chased, attacked, run into and of course body surf (or is that doggy surf?!)... and what *is* it about wet dogs and spack attacks?! They come out of the water and if they weren't on lead both would likely have been jumping over tanning bodies sprawled out on the beach.... in fact a soccer match was almost interrupted since *obviously* someone kicking a ball means that they are to kick it to us *roll eyes*.... Lifeguards with their kayak things coming out of the water deserved to be barked at (Kinta) as they had no right blocking her view..... *sigh*.... Holes were to be dug (Leo joined in) only to flop in it, roll over in the sand then shake all over us.... Heaven forbid if we actually sat still for more than 30 seconds as that meant we needed to be jumped on, barked at and ordered to do something.....

When we got back to Kylie's place (where I think I out stood my welcome ;-)) instead of being nice, quiet dogs, we get out into the larger yard and have another 3 min spack attack (both dogs) which of course included jumping OVER poor Scruffy (Yorkie), using the yard as a grand prix circuit and general chasing and being a pest.... if that wasn't enough.... we bark at everyone (males mostly) that has the nerve to walk around their house/ back yard....

So... I repeat - if I *ever* complain about quiet, sedate Kinta... please hit me over the head with something HARD!

Ok - so maybe they weren't that bad.... but she was on Speed yesterday... I swear ;-). But the day was fun, and there wouldn't be excitement if she wasn't a feral... right?!

Also went to see SPAMALOT on Saturday night and I highly recommend it to everyone! It was hilarious.... to put it mildly! Gotta love Monty Python!

ETA - and after all that - I think this is my 100th Post ;) ROFL!

Kepala Pics

Happy new year everyone!

Some quick snaps taken by others at Kepala pet resort... the dogs naturally had a blast and LOTS of swimming ;)... once Kinta found her feet for swimming in the pool (she loves dams but neither were sure about these pools) there was no getting her out!

Lagoon pool










Head shots:





Mid chase:


Geared up for a swim in the indoor pool:


Funny story - when my dad was describing Kepala to my brother, for some reason he had it in his head that there was a wave pool and waterslide for the dogs there too ;). I think my brother thought I had well and truly crossed the line into canine insanity ROFL!