Sneak peek at trials

There are a few (show) grounds in and around Sydney where canine events are held. One of the biggest one is the actual Dog NSW headquarters at Erskine Park. I want to enter some obedience and Rally-O trials very soon and there was something happening there, so we thought, let's go and check it out.

At the same time, it's a pretty good area to do some training for retrieving. And guess what? We might start a bit of training for that too! (It does start to sound like we have a lot of spare time, doesn't it? The only thing is, I don't know where we fit all that... Who needs to sleep you might say...).

All in all, it was very interesting, and we learnt quite a bit about what we needed to get ready for trials.

We also saw our agility training fellow / GSP owner doing some very serious judging on the Rally-O Excellent course.

It was very hot, we saw 33C on the car thermometer, and I am actually quite happy we didn't enter in any trial. I don't think mister Mawson would have done much, except us both catching some sunburns.

Big schnoz looking in the distance
(or hiding the course view!) 

Keeping a paw on daddy

Who said that?

Result of the day: Martin went to buy a gazebo after we went back home! And mister puppy did his lap of the pool and preceded to snore for the rest of the day.

Camouflaged Mawson

Did a little walk at the edge of the national park, on the fire trail and Mawson put on the sniffy hunter mode. But he is a bit big and heavy so he wanted to make sure he melted in the background to pounce on unsuspecting little souls. So, he got a camouflage. He seems to have found it to his taste, as he kept it for a fair way, though I'm not sure it helped his hunting...

Looking very intelligent there...

Modelling of the latest in camouflage fashion. That's the spring-summer 2013/14 season from wattle.

Should have got a pic from behind, but I was too busy giggling like an idiot...

The appropriate gear for the job

We have started to notice that the sun is getting stronger during the week-end trainings. Throughout the week, we do things early or late in the day so the sun is less of a problem. As we tend to run quite a lot, having a flowing hat is a bit of a problem, so caps are the most appropriate (though not my preferred with my long hair). However, last time we saw a new shop at our local shopping centre and went straight in to buy a cap, no hesitation! How appropriate to have a pointing GSP as emblem! They also have a lot more gear that seem of pretty ok quality, so we might be back to check it out... 

The new cap!

Modelled with great enjoyment...

But still need to put sunscreen on the ears and neck, even if you think a walk around 8am is pretty safe... Got a patch of sunburn on my neck and it hurts!

Silly turkey

We got a new visitor at the front. A very stoopid bush turkey that somehow wandered around the front of the house, just when we came back from the walk with Mawson. That is the first time I see one of them round our way. I did see a few some streets away, but they usually stay around places where there is a bit of bush/trees etc, hence, their name... Maybe she heard that the place accross the road was going for sale? 

The monster quite likes bush turkeys and these big birds are really quite dumb. This one decided that climbing up the tree was the best option, though it then got hammered by magpies and mynahs. But to be fair to the turkey, that was the smartest move as I would take them against a very wound up Mawson...

turkey up the wrong tree..

CSI Sydney (with very little C!)

How to best investigate an interesting item:

Firstly, observe the strange item (the most meaningless item necessitates the longest stare, obviously!)

Secondly, poke the strange item. A couple of paw pokes should do the trick. In case of any change in the strange item, go back to step one, just to make sure....

If satisfied, proceed to stage three: shove nose on top of strange item and sniff. The most sniffs or piggy snorts, the best. Every good puppy should thoroughly investigate any strange item present.

Following thorough investigation. Trot away majestically after deciding that it was, indeed, just a piece of dirt...