Austin's Place, Agility

Had a busy week, went to visit Austin at his place, which is great for running around and playing! Austin likes it too, since the yard is bigger than where he used to live - he kind of misses his cat friend Leah though, which I don't really get. Mum has a cat too, called Leo, but he is just as likely to hiss and claw your nose as he is to be nice.

Good thing I have Austin to play with!

Yesterday I did Agility again, and even though it was raining me and Mum had lots of fun. It's getting easier for me to remember how to do some of the tasks like 'shaping' which has got to be the best way to earn treats ever. All I have to do is walk up to a board sitting on the ground and put both my front paws on it, and I get a treat! Still, my favourite obstacle I think is A-frame, a ramp you run up and down.

Oh - when we were at Austin's, Mum took this video of us playing! It's pretty funny halfway through, Austin doesn't look where he is going and he faceplants the grass! Don't worry though, he was fine - he is a lot tougher than he looks!

Easter Hunt

 

Today I went to Work with Mum, but it was a bit strange - there were no other people there to give me pats and attention! We didn't stay long - Mum fed the birds, the cat, and the fish. Also, I was allowed to be offlead inside! Maybe because the front door didn't open when I walked in front of it, the way it usually did. 

Me helping Mum with the fish

After Mum was done feeding everybody else, she gave me some treats she'd brought - special Easter treats. Humans usually eat chocolate at Easter-time, but my treats were special dog carob treats as chocolate is very bad for dogs. Mum hid them everywhere and I had to find them!

Aha, there it is!

The first couple were pretty easy, but some of the last ones, Mum got really tricky with and hid them on shelves.
 

Hunting carob treats...

Aha, there it is!

Of course I sniffed them out in the end... they were tasty.

Very tasty!

Once we'd found all the treats, we went home. I was pretty sleepy after sniffing out all those treats, so I had a nap... it must be a day for tasty food, though, since when I woke up, I could smell pork roast cooking!

Busy Walk with Austin!

We spent our Friday night at the Strand and the new part - Jezzine Barracks - but today Austin came too! Also Austin brought his humans, Dani and Rhys, both of whom I really like because they give really good pats. It was very exciting to see Austin, even if we both had to be Good Dogs and walk nicely onlead instead of running around playing with one another. (Mum calls this being 'crazy dogs'.) 

See, we aren't crazy at all!

So we went all around Jezzine Barracks and caught a very nice sea-breeze, then we walked all the way along a wooden walkway that Mum and I didn't find last visit. It was very busy and there were LOTS of people and dogs, but most of them were Good Dogs too - only one barked at me when we walked by. Mum told me to ignore him, so I did. A nice couple stopped to give me pats and attention - not many humans know what breed of dog I am so it is a nice surprise when they do.

Catching the sunset just above the walkway

After we came off the walkway, we went nearly the whole way down the Strand. We stopped at a cafe where lots of humans were sitting down and having drinks or tasty snacks. Austin and I were very Good Dogs indeed and we lay quietly under the table (in Austin's case) and beside the table (in my case). 

Table-surfing... just in case there was a stray crumb...

Some more nice people and their very tiny dogs said hi to us there and I got more pats. One of the tiny dogs lifted her lip and growled when I went to say hi to her but since I was being a Good Dog, I let it slide. I was very interested though that the tiny dogs got to sit on their own chairs at the cafe... Mum says I would not fit into a cafe chair but I bet I could give it a try.

Sneaky kisses with Austin under the table

Then when we left the cafe a poodle-cross came charging at me barking some very rude things in dog language. Luckily he was on a lead so he didn't get all the way to me - lucky for him, since I wouldn't have minded teaching him a lesson about proper manners while in public. But of course, being a Good Dog, I did no such thing. We went back down the Strand and Mum forgot where she parked the car for a while. I don't know why humans are getting lost all the time (Mum ESPECIALLY) - why don't they just smell their way around like dogs do? Humans are just strange sometimes.

Sunny day at Bluewater Park

 

Since Mum was not feeling very well today we didn't go to Agility. She says Agility is hard work - pftt, it's FUN not work. Anyway, we went for a quick car ride (car ride!!) to Bluewater park for a walk. I was a bit sad that the cyclone had blown a heap of small trees down around the creek so we couldn't reach it to swim. Mum says the river has plenty of water in it after all the cyclone-rain though and we might go there soon. Today we instead went for a walk around the big field (it was VERY grassy).

This grassy. I could have gotten lost in such long grass.

Then we headed into the bush-part of the park which has lots of dirt tracks leading through the trees. I also checked if anybody was living in this very large, very old tree trunk. 

There was not.

Seems like Bluewater Park has lots of old, fallen-down trees because this is another one. Kinda reminds me of the tunnels at Agility. 

Do I go through?

While we were walking I spotted another dog who wasn't on his lead - not quite as big as me, but close, being walked by his human. He did not look like a friendly dog but Mum changed directions pretty quickly so I didn't get to find out. That was sort of a pity... I don't mind teaching rude dogs a lesson! Not that Mum lets me... I guess she knows I will always win, too.

Hopefully Mum will be feeling better next week, so we can go back to Agility! I really missed doing that tonight - even with my impromptu log-tunnel!

Cyclone Watch

 

Tonight we headed to Saunder's Beach where it was very rainy. Mum says this is because there is another one of those cyclone things coming towards us - cyclones are very bad storms, with lots of wind and rain. This one isn't all that close to us, just enough to make it rain. Still, it didn't keep us inside. When we got there, a cattle dog who was off her lead came running over to me... until she got close and saw how big I was, then she decided to listen to her human and go with her, instead!

We had time to practice my jumping over some logs... 

Have a spa bath...

Really more of a paddle than a swim...

Then we found this completely excellent floatnig stick!

Ah! It ESCAPED!

Get back here, stick!!

Then I smelled an interesting smell in the sand, so I did some digging!

Hellooooo?

It started to rain much more heavily so we turned around and headed home. Even though it was rainy, it was still a very fun beach Adventure.

 

A visit to Goldie

Goldie has continued to grow bigger and bigger when I'm not looking - she is coming up on Zeke's size, and she is still as crazy as ever.

I did play with her a little bit though.

Only a little bit though

 

 I showed her how to be a Veranda Guardian, too, but as usual she didn't really listen to me. I'm sure when I was a puppy, I paid a lot more attention to older and wiser dogs.

I do all the work being Veranda Guardian.

After Grandma made all the humans dinner (Us dogs got dog treats, most of which Zeke and Goldie ate because I prefer human-food, though sadly none was shared with me) we went inside and watched some TV.



Mum thinks that Goldie is growing so quickly because she has a marking like a ridgeback down her spine, where the fur sort of ruffles up in the wrong direction. Ridgebacks are very big dogs - like the brothers I know from the dog park, Victor and his twin Soldier. I hope Goldie won't grow to be as big as they are now... I might actually have trouble winning at Wrestle, then.

Bring out the big guns

The Strand has another great place to visit - all the construction and blocks have gone now, so me and Mum went exploring the new area called 'Jezzine Barracks'. Had lots of fun!
 

To get there, we had to go up the stairs I remember from when I was younger, but the area up above them is all open now. There were all these little concrete bunker lookouts set into the walls that were very interesting to explore - even if I couldn't hop up on top of them like Mum could.

This one was very tall.

There were also very good views, Mum is just like me in that regard - we love climbing up high places to see everything.

 

THEN we found this... HAD to pose for a photo by this very, very big gun. 

Anatolians: Now with heavy artillery! 

Eventually it was time to head down, so we found a winding ramp leading back down the hill. We did stop to check out the new outdoor theatre:

And I had to give it a test-run of course!

After that, it was time to go home and help Mum cook a very tasty roast pork. Another wonderful day of Adventure!