No, I'm not spoilt...

I had a great day with Dad again. He stayed working at home this morning and then he took the afternoon off and we went for some retrieving training out west :)
There was a lot of new people but I didn't get scared so that's a pretty good positive hey??
I spent all my afternoon blissfully naked, frolicking in the fields! I didn't even have my collar on and I've been mostly well behaved ;P
I did have a bit of sniffing going, but that's mum's fault because we went playing next to kangaroos in the  dark yesterday evening, so...

After a full afternoon of running, retrieving as well as swimming in the dam!!! Woohoo!! We came back home with a new pair of PJs, so like that I got two pairs and never have to suffer the cold during the night when one is being washed and drying.
When mummy came back from work the minions decided to have a little treat. So they whipped out a little box of metal... wow really?!! What a treat guys geeez... But then uhhh I see they took the little weird instrument that opens boxes, phew! And guess what it was?? Foie gras!! Yipeeeee, what it's not for dogs??? Humph :(
I worked hard on mum and she made a tiny little toast for me, mwahahaha!! It's only just fitting for a GSP of my standing after all! :P

All right now I'm tired after that big day, let's go and test those PJs... zzzzzzzz

I want to add my PJs are red not pink!!!!

First year blog anniversary

Mum realised that it was only just a bit more than a year that we started this blog. Luckily I took over from mum to write most of the posts. Firstly, I'm much more interesting... And I'm much more dedicated than her, she always has to do her work thing...

We're going to continue pawing posts as regularly as we can, and I can tell you I think we have some very interesting things coming up during this next year. OH yeah!! *wink wink*

look what Sydney did to celebrate our blog anniversary!!

Manly May fundraising trial recap

On friday evening, the minions were all agitated and baking stuff and packing. I was wondering if they had finally gone mad. Or I shall said beyond mad (they're already mad!!). But still they were making some of my treats, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and supervised... My help was possibly going to be needed...

So anyway, Saturday morning the alarm clock went off very early, was really dark outside! And even more shocking if you ask me, mum got up nearly straight away...

We all got in the car and drove into the night... ok that's a bit dramatic, was getting light when we left but still... early!! After a while we arrived to some grounds I know very well, that means agility trials, woohoo sooo excited!! Mum and dad tried to get some of my energy out before the first run and we played a lot in the big field on the other side. I'm not sure it removed a lot of it!

We had a big day planned, mum told me I had 5 courses to do!!  

The first one was RQH agility. We've been training contacts a lot lately, because I'm not a great fan of waiting around for the minions to catch up, so I have a tendency to fly off things. But training contacts means that there is a bit of focus on contact apparatus. That also means that if I see one I know I can get treats on the other side and hence will go to do it, even if dad does star jumps on the other side and appear to indicate something else... dad I'm busy doing the A frame, will you stop pointing at that jump... oh... right... my bad! And anyway everybody knows I'm good at weaving, I don't need to prove it again, so I'll let that off thank you very much... And I don't like the look of that dog walk, and dad didn't want me to go on there earlier, so I'll just avoid it now because I'm not allowed to go on there, don't care if dad seems to have changed his mind... Weirdly, we seem to have been DQed on that run, no idea why, must be the judge... He might have forgotten his glasses this morning...

Next was Open jumping. We did a few things really well and also did the challenge part like pros, dad and I were so gobsmacked that we forgot to get the serpentine afterwards so got DQed, but hey whatever :P 

JDX 1 ahem well a few of my buddies had gone and done a wee in the middle of the course... I wasn't going to let them have the last say... or more appropriately, the last wee... I was a bit distracted too, but we got very lucky to restart. The course was quite tricky, we did a few good things but I missed a jump with the tight turns, ah well...

JDX 2 Dad and I started well, so very well. We were flying, turning, jumping, the dream team was on, faster than the wind, so impressive and outstanding, and the last turn approaches, so well executed, second to last jump... oh look a fly! ARGH the jump!! Oops bar down, sorry dad... We so nearly got it!!

JDX 3 Had a pretty good run through, and we passed some of the tricky bit with flying colours but at one moment dad destroyed a jump... That doesn't help... I wasn't faultless either but I just want to point out... DAD DESTROYED A JUMP!!! I guess that's a DQ then...

Ok my recap doesn't sound very brilliant but actually, dad and I were pretty good! A lot more focus, a lot more good moves and some pretty impressive jumping. All in all even if we didn't get any qualies, it was still a great progress.

After our exertion I went playing in the dam with The ladies. 3 GSPs lass from the club... puffs up chest... even did some lovely recalls while goofing around so dad was proud (his time to puff up his chest!)

Two of the ladies (Quinn and Shellbe) have done fab runs with qualies in JDXs and Quinn even got her JDX title. They were all really chuffed with their mums. And my buddy Monty got his novice title with his dad Cyril, so he'll be coming with us next time :)

After we said bye, I went walkabout with my minions at the end after we packed up. I was off lead for the whole thing! And we played recall and retrieve games, and also played with the ball. Was fab!

early morning start, with a big sun in the sky

After such a big day, we all had a fairly lazy Sunday. But as usual lazy in this house lazy Sunday starts at 6am... bit of cleaning, bit of organising, even saw the minions playing with the chickens... Well mum was holding them and dad was throwing powdery stuff around on both the hens and mum. Dad looked like he was having fun, mum and the hens seemed a bit miffed... But you know what all is well here because after they went out leaving me alllllll alone (very mean if you want my opinion..), well they came back with an antler! Mum had been looking for one for ages and now I got one :) so sorry pals but I need to go. I've got some chewing to do!

A little bit of serious fun

The minions have been doing some new things lately. We've been doing a bit of retrieving training. I'm a GunDog you see... And that means that my traditional job, besides having to be spoilt by my minions *ahem*, is to point game for my humans to shoot and go to retrieve "it" if they succeed... Now my minions are not hunters, they don't shoot things, mum can't even shoot my HiBounce ball with her foot, so I don't think I want to see what she can do with something more dangerous! But all that doesn't mean we can't train and compete in retrieving activities. Trials here are done with bumpers and sometimes frozen dead birds. 

The whole idea of retrieving is to have a pup (me!) staying relatively close by to his human through the fields (running around like a loon is not considered under control unfortunately...). Pup got to stay next to them when they "shoot" the target (basically they got either another human throwing a dummy or a machine that throws it in the air) and only when told.... Go and fetch the target straight here and back, present it nicely and give it unchewed to the expectant minion! Now all that is good and well but I do think that is a bit of an example of laziness from the minions, but I don't care cause I love it!! 

That is the early stages of retrieving after you can add multiple targets and blind retrieves, where we pups don't see where the target went. Can also have water retrieves, now that is hard, not for the water, well not for me at least cause I love going in the water! But because we need to go and retrieve the target in the water, then come out with it in our mouth go to the minion and present it as for a normal retrieve, but we cannot have a good shake when coming out of the water!!!! Got to stay dripping wet until the minion takes the bleaming dummy until us pup can finally get all that cold water out of our fur, and that my friends IS HARD!!!

Anyway, we've been doing a lot of training on that lately, mostly with dad. Last afternoon we went with some lovely ladies and plenty of buddies and we had a good go at doing things properly. Was a bit far but I didn't mind. It was great, learnt heaps and dad said that we would certainly do some more training sessions, yippee!

ooops! I'm not in...

throw it com'on throw it!

So now we continue doing a bit of training for that it the morning. Dad is even training to abandon me!! Yes for sure, why would he attach me to the fence and tell me to stay quiet...

 

So that's what we do in the morning, dad throws the bumper and I got to go find them and get them back to him. And those bumpers are big I tell you!

found a bumper...

I'mph bphringingph phit  backph

Winter is coming, the real one not the HBO one

There is no denying it, summer's gone... The days are growing shorter and it's definitely getting colder! But lately, we've had some beautiful days and the trees are also changing their colours. Makes for lovely walks!

What is fantastic with that is that one of the trees in the backyard is loosing its leaves. The minions make little piles of those leaves and then I can zoom and play in the piles :D! Then the minions do them again and I can start playing all over again. It goes on like that for quite a while woohoo!! And when they try to put the leaves in a bucket to take them to the bin, I take them out again. That's a whole lot of infinite fun :)

But after all that fun I need to put back my PJs on because it is very cold. And I also ask the minions to start the fire for a bit of extra warmth. I like to roast my little bum!!! 

The lime ceremony

Some of you might remember that the minions got a little lime tree from my french grandma and grandpa. After a bit of a shaky start, the little lime tree actually ended up with a nice growing lime! That's ages that mum and dad were hesitating with cutting the little thing or not and finally this weekend they did it! T'was a big event for such tiny green ball, but hey I don't always understand the minions...

the lime cutting ceremony underway

I had to attend the ceremony, but really I tried to get them to go a bit faster... Had my bone to chew me! They said they used the green ball to do a smelling drink they called jeans and tunic, didn't know the tiny green ball was items of clothing?!?! I'm confused...

are you getting on with it...pfff

Sunday stroll, loooong stroll

Well after a big day of agility yesterday, mum decided that we were going to do a big walk in the trails today. Dad went to play with his grape juice so he abandoned me to my fate with mum. 

And gosh it was a wowser of a walk, I can't feel my paws now! Mum was a tad rude when we finally arrived at the start of the trail, she said that it was lucky that the road was good for category 1 tanker!! I'm not a tanker, thank you very much!

But except rude mum, it was a lovely walk, a bit of sun but not too much so we didn't desiccate.

I did have a few complaints with mum today though. She's just too embarrassing! She walked straight into a big spider web with a spider in the middle. Mum nearly had a spider sandwich with no bread... Then she was waving her hand and slapping her head for ages afterwards, squeaking it was my fault... Well who's not looking where they're going, t'is not me is it?
Then after that, she was just strolling and we pass a lovely little stream. BAM! She slips on the rock and put her whole foot in the water. I must add that the rock was at that spot about 90% of the surface with just a little crack with flowing water... So she continued on with one dry foot and one fish bowl... She had to make us stop to try and wring some water out of her sock *sigh*
She did other embarrassing things too but I really want to try and forget about it. As I was saying earlier, I'm thinking of getting a disguise like a wig or something, so that nobody would recognise me!
Anyway, I also had a bit of a scare at the beginning of the walk. We passed through a street a bit further and there was a sign on the road. Was a warning sign for aged humans... on the road... argh!
So right away, I'm thinking gosh, there are hidden aged humans that are hiding in the bushes on the side of the road, and they pounce out on you when you pass. I kept looking out for them, but luckily we didn't see any. Was well scary though!

Now after those two crazy days, I'm well tired so going to snooze now. Bye bye *blows kisses*

Crazy Saturday

Had a super duper day today. The minions had told me that due to an event there was no agility training at the club. So I was a bit upset. But then both the minions got up really early this morning... I was wondering what was going on! They packed up a lot of things in the car and a lot of treats, that sounded quite good. Wondered if there was a trial on, but dad didn't get all his usual gears.

We went on a car ride for a long time, so boring. I'm not talking about the driving cause well that was scary... Anyway, after ages we arrived to a cool place, so many smells and space. Aaaaand plenty of pups and an agility course!!! Woohoo!!

Was a lot of hard work, lots of training, but was great and we learnt plenty. I had some troubles of concentration because of all the smells and the rabbit poos. Mum even used some as treats for me when she ran out of regular treats when we were away from the stash... I didn't mind was well yummy!
I tried to be a good pup, nearly got there with a few exceptions... And I did not too bad on the course too, just need to get my strides in check. Like, a lot...

When we finished the training, we went and have fun in the dam. Dad did some water retrieve training. I loved it! Then the other pups came in and 3 other GSPs. Two were real little pups, it was so good. We played chase and the pups tried to catch me, bwahaha. They kept waiting for me at the edge of the dam to try and steal the dummy I was retrieving, they don't go swimming yet you see. Was so fun, and mum looked all happy I was getting on with the little pups for some reason... mmm dunno why?...

not bad scenery over there

Even after all the agility work, the minions still added some work on my contacts. Cause apparently, flying off contacts is not done gnagnagna... I don't care, it's fun!!

bit of additional contact work

Strange creatures

There are some weird things roaming around in the house. Mum succeeded to capture one of the strange creatures that appeared around the swimming pool last weekend. Very strange and scary... We're not sure if it's safe and we can go and meet it, we might leave some food to see if it gets a bit more domesticated or if it's really wild... 

New PJs

One of the mum of an agility buddy at the club, that is Maggie and my buddy Jester, recently had to say goodbye to her older dog, Toby. I only met Toby once and he seemed to be a lovely pup. Jester is quite a bit smaller than him and his mum had some things that were not fitting him. She brought a few items at the club to see if some of those would be good for us. I'm quite big you see... as I said before I'm NOT FAT!! but anyway humph...

Being a GSP I have shorthair, well it's all in the name really... And I do have quite  thin fur even for a GSP! That means I sometimes (alright, often...) get a bit chilled, outside when the temperature drops down and even inside at night. I like to have my little blanky to keep me warm and the minions have always had to tuck me in to bed. The only problem with that is that when I wriggled during the night, the blanket was coming off and I was getting cold! 

In the things that my buddy's mum had was some nice PJs! The minions thought that it could be worth a try. They brought it back with us and I have not looked back ever since. I love it!! It's keeping me nice and toasty. Whereas dad was always finding me in a little ball with cold ears in the morning, trying to keep warm, I am now sprawled out and comfy :)

These PJs are the best and definitely will be put to good use. So thank you very much Maggie xxxx

Friday to Monday agility fun!

Wow, had a fab time for the last few days. Since Friday, the minions and I have had 3 sessions of agility amongst other things! Cool isn't it?!!

It started on Friday. Dad and I went for a bit of Gundog madness. Our class had 6 GSPs and Jester the Brittany. I think I might have been the youngest of the class but I'm pretty sure I was the biggest... Ahem I'm not fat, I'm just a big pup! Was good though, we learnt plenty of things and dad was proud of me :) well to be honest daddy is quite often proud of me, but let's be real... Why wouldn't he? Bwahaha...

Then, on Saturday it was the club training. Quite a few of my Gundog buddies came back too. We did great during the training/exercise part of the session. I was listening well to dad and did some tricky moves. But then the full course time came. Dad told me to wait at the start a few metres away from the first jump, which I did... Then he told me to go... Why run when you can jump... So I started from about 3m away, still cleared it, just... From that point on, mum seemed to know that it was going to be an "interesting" run. I dunno if I was tired or just wanted to have a bit of fun, but all dad and mine nicely rehearsed moves went out the window. I modelled my beautiful and unique bunny hop technique, and... did anybody say contacts? Well, it was fun, I think, if not entirely how dad pictured it in his head. I didn't run away though, so I don't see what's the problem really :P

the Gundog club

bit of a relax and stretch before a run

On Monday evening, mum and I left for training. We do RallyO usually, but tonight mum was preparing weirdly. We did a lot of running around and retrieving, then another run around the grounds of the Showground. There were possums and wallabies everywhere again. I did lose it at a few points but mum was happy that I came back quickly and still remembered what a sit was while in full crazy "want the wallaby" mode. I really need to work on my possum catching skills. I can smell them good enough up those trees, but geez, I have to perfect my tree climbing abilities. I just go up a few centimetres and gravity gets the better of me, despite me holding on tightly with my paws...
Anyway, after all that, instead of going to RallyO, mum went at the other end! Yay agility!! Did plenty of calming training and trying to get me to wait patiently while she was helping to setup the course and walking it. I stayed a bit but then I needed my cuddles, so proceeded to remind her I was there. Think my whining did the trick cause she came back :)

She did look like she walked the course about a billion times. It was a fab course, lots of tight turns and tricky bits. The first two runs we did, well... I showed my speed... I was pumped!! Let's say that there was no way mum was going to be in front of me in a lot of those turns... I was impressed that she succeeded to keep up with me in the back straight but didn't last very long, bwahaha!
However, on our last run we had an amazing shot at glory! I was a bit tired you see, so instead of lightning speed, I just used the rocket speed. If mum hadn't mucked up the middle by forgetting where obstacle 14 was... we would have been excellent. She was still over the moon to have got me around a pretty good resemblance of the actual course setting. So yay us!

I really love doing agility with both my minions, hope mum will continue doing some with me on Monday evenings. We might do a bit of a mix, but as long as I do a bit of agility I'm happy :)

Walking the trails

This afternoon, we had planed to try some new trails in the national park. You see where we are, the national parks are not allowed to dogs, there are only a few tracks where pups can go on lead. Luckily for me there is one not too far from us, but this morning the minions were all happy because they found another nice one on the council site. So we all packed up, piled in the car and directed ourselves to the start of the track... Unfortunately, when we arrived we found the big sign with an interdiction or dogs... went the other end of the track, same thing!!! Well done Ku-ring-gai council... One thing on the website another on the actual trail... The minions didn't want to tempt it as didn't know which indication was the right one and don't think the ranger will care that that stoopid website says otherwise... sniff *sobs* back in the car :(

But then the minions stopped a bit later and we found one of the trails that mum and I had been on before. Dad hadn't though. I love the trails, so many smells and things to look at. And today there was so many wallabies, I wasn't sure where to look! The bonus was also a beautiful weather and lovely warming sun. overall a great walk to save the day. 

wallaby that way

I even perfected my smile for the camera. Just enough teeth... Such a supermodel...

my best smile for the camera

Just a regular Sunday morning

Dad's giving in to his addiction again. He couldn't hold on after 9.30am even though mum said it might be better to wait till 10am on Sunday morning... He was starting to shake... So he took out the mower and decided to behead the poor little blades of grass who were trying to grow.

Anyway, means I have a bit of time to write a post while mum is cleaning up the kitchen. Already been for a walk this morning. Dad met with a few of the morning dog park peeps. We don't go to the dog park anymore these days, but we often pass around to say hi to the regulars after our morning fun.

All the minions and us pups went for a nice neighbourhood walk. Was real fun! It's the first time I walk with a whole lot of other dogs. I usually walk alone with one or both the minions you see.

It was very cool, I think I felt a lot more relaxed with all the pups around than when I am all alone. For some reason they were all walking in a very straight line. Personally, I am a bit more of a freestyler in my walking pattern. I like to sniff and zigzag... I don't drag the minions anymore, I just fall asleep if I go straight, and as I walk with mum usually, well as she walks so slowly I have time to spare, so I can check out the surroundings!

That was a nice long walk and dad has been chatting all the way. I heard that one of the minion there just got a new gun dog pup. He is a bit too young to join us on walks but hopefully in a little while, we can meet him and I can have a partner in crime, mwahaha!

Cats!

You would not believe what happened a few days ago. We were going quietly on our evening walk with mum and suddenly I stopped... There was a crazed cat on the top of a fence on the side of the road. Never seen him there before, he was looking real mean and not the most pleased to see me there. Now usually mum taught me to pass and not pay too much attention to cats, but this one was different. This cat was on a full war path, he wanted to kick some doggy butts, he started trying to get on the attack mode even before I arrived. What can a pup do? If he wanted trouble well, I'm only so glad to oblige! Mum tried to calm me down but crazy cat made a move. I did a light as air quick back-step and side-step and back at front. For some reason while I was practising my moves, mum decided to roll on the ground, I only suppose she was looking for some 4 leaf clover for the cat. When she got up she said I pushed her down!! Wot??? I didn't touch her, how exactly would I have removed her legs from under her given the fact she still had her legs on, see she's a liar...
Anyway after that she dragged me away, but I've taken note of where that mad cat is. We'll meet again!! Oh yeah...

Then we continued on our walk "quietly". On our way back in another street I suddenly see another cat in a driveway, looking at us calmly... mmmm is that "airing your cat" day?? Well this one wasn't on the war path at least but still decided to push my button. Was passing in a relative orderly fashion in front and then that cat proceeded to follow us close... about 1m behind... Couldn't walk straight had to keep an eye on the stalker! Mum tried to shoo it away, nope. We walked faster, nope, still there. After quite a few metres mum had enough and decided to carry me for 10m, walking real fast. Then she put me down thinking that it was done and dusted not looking behind. I was still checking so she turned around to see the cat at the same spot 0.5-1m behind us!! It must have been glued! I wanted to go say hello but mum said I was dreaming?! I didn't think I fell asleep but never know?!?!
So then mum decided that it was time for a jog even though our stalker kitty was still there. We ran for a long time and then mum seemed happy cause the cat was gone.

Dunno what was in the milk on that evening but it looks like the cats had gone a bit mad. For some reason mum's not keen on a repeat, me I'm practising my quick-step for my next encounter with the mad cat from hell. If he wants a fight he'll get a fight... Uh what? No mum, not saying anything at all....

Trick and Treat Tuesdays: you need to stretch properly

Alright peeps, as mum abandoned me to the cold and damp with no regards to my well being... What do you all mean "dad is staying with me" and "I'm not alone"? Just slight pesky details... MUM HAD ABANDONNED ME!
Anyway because of that I need to take the trick and treat post in my own paws, once again... She has done not a single post So I decided to present to you another one of my best tricks. You would say it comes nearly naturally to me!

Well as you know I'm doing a lot of high energy stuff like agility. It's quite hard on the body so as for athletes, pups need to learn how to stretch properly. The minions and I have also started to do training on retrieving, so it is important to hone one's skills in observation and nose detection.

In order to do my trick, one need to practise all these skills. Ideally this trick is better done when minions are doing DIY.

So at first you need to observe the minions and what they do, patiently. Do a couple of stretchings, play bow style, veeery important, got to warm up...

When they are in the middle of a very important step, preferably on a ladder or under some sort of equipment/furniture, dive in, steal the next vital item they were just going to need and run away with it. After that it is just a question of running around as fast as possible without being caught by the irate and slightly pissed off minion!! And tadaaaaa that's my best trick: stealing things :P

What?? What do you mean by that's not a trick!!?????

Last week's recap

Last week was a really big week with lots of things happening, so I am just going to talk to you about the highlights.

On Saturday, we went to agility training with dad and all was fun until I stepped on a stray bee! OUCH!!! She just got me in between the pads in the tender spot :( luckily I think that the stinger didn't go very deep and daddy got it out straight away. But I still couldn't do my last run so I was a bit bummed.

On Sunday was the NSDTC Obedience and Rally-O trial, there was also a Retrieving trial. We didn't enter in any of the trials but dad and I went to check things out and do the cheerleaders for some of our mates. There was some very good results and my mate Bodhi had an amazing day! Maybe in a bit I'll re-enter some of those trials with mum, but lets wait a bit more... I did get a lot of pats without having to work hard in theses trials so not too bad ;)

Then dad and I got visitors on Sunday. First was Nana!! I was all excited, I love my Nana and I got plenty of cuddles and treats yay! But then some more visitors came later and I was not too sure about all those people in my house, so daddy made my bed in the bedroom so I could go and relax. Was ok, I could go out when they were having their meals to check that they weren't trying to abduct dad and Nana.

Then later on, for some reason daddy started to frantically clean the house... mmmm weird! And then on Thursday morning we got in the car. I s'pose we were going to our usual oval for some early morning exercise, but it looked that Dad wasn't really awake cause he took the completely wrong way, and gosh it was long. Then he stopped in a big car park... uh Daaaad!! But after a minute or so... OMD... MUMMY!!!!! She's back! I was a bit shocked so I decided that I wasn't going to look at her, only did it sneakily when she was turning her head away. But then when we arrived home she had some presents for me from peeps over in France! I must say I couldn't keep up the sulk, so I decided to use the sticky glue tactic :P

Now all is back to normal with both my minions. I like my normal routine so I have decided to hunt down the minions' passports and eat them. They won't be able to leave anymore that way!!

Woohoo!!

Pals, I have so much to tell you from my week. I'll get some posts ready. But I have more important things to tell you right now... MUM IS BACK! yeaha, seems that she didn't abandon us completely. Hence, sorry but for tonight, I'll go and hug her, and also ignore her at the same time. It's a skill to do both together. I think I'll have to carry her to bed too cause she's really sleepy, gosh on second thought I'll ask dad. Wouldn't want to kill my back...