Hi everyone at home. Thanks for your comments.
Saturday, our first agility competition in Australia.
All agility reports start with the weather. “INVERCARGILL”. Its been raining for two days now and is rained all day again. So much for the drought!
The club provided us with a gazebo, which was great until it blew away. We migrated to the club rooms which has a veranda the size of our house. Peter was out there helping set up a course, the fool. By the time the dogwalk had been moved he was soaked to the skin!
That’s the weather report. Back to the reason we are here, agility.
The first event was masters snooker, and Karen and Tana were on first. They had a lovely run, gaining the maximum points, just a little slow, due to having to do the weave twice. Jenna and Lyn were great. Max points and slightly faster than Tana to WIN the event. Lyn now loves snooker.
Next was Novice Snooker, which Lyn and Josie are in. While the Aussies were trying to gain a “Q” Lyn went out there for max points, and got them! Another win to the “Schnitzels”. Lyn really loves Snooker now.
Next event was Masters Gamblers and our best effort game from Deb and Ace, who ended up 2nd. The rest were really good accumulating points, but all failed a easy gamble which was disappointing.
After a break for lunch and a prize giving, but not in the rain, the afternoon trial started with Open Agility. This has a distance challenge in it, and for this event is was a hard one. Our dogs handled the course challenge really well, C was 2nd, Josie was fifth and Ace was also clear.
Masters Agility was a really tough course which Karen and Tana were nailing, until the last three jumps when Karen lost her mind and went the wrong way.
Open jumping, was really open and called for a sprint. Our best result here was Pete and C in 5th.
The dogwalk does not have slats on it! Also the seesaw is heavier than ours. They dogs are getting a little confused between the two, so we are seeing our dogs crouch at the top of the dogwalk up ramp trying to lower the ramp!
The prize giving was held under the veranda to close the day and we went back to the motel to dry of and get warm. Yes it was cold even for us Kiwis.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Day 3
We woke up to RAIN!
The Aussie drought has broken, it has now rained for 36 hours non stop.
The trailer leaks! The Schnauzers looked a little bedraggled. No picture sorry.
Since it was sooooo wet, there was nothing to do but go shopping, so we went to Rundle Mall. I’m a bloke so shops are just shops but the girls seemed happy and spent some money. There was some interesting sculptures in the mall that one of our team tried to train a sit. Guest who?
There is a Aboriginal Art Gallery near by, which we went into. Those guys must have Patience with a capital P. The paintings were huge, and painted by millions of individual dots of paint.
At night we went to the Agility Club of SA for training. It was our first chance to try out the Aussie equipment with our dogs. A really valuable session for all of us.
They have a collapsible tunnel, which has shade cloth on the top half of the tunnel. The dogs can see you as they go through, which was a strange feeling. The jumps, well C went under one several times before she learnt to look up! The stick in the ground weaving poles the dogs absolutely loves as they could push them out of the way. I’ll have to remember to run faster to the end of the weave over here.
The club grounds are rented from the GSD Club. They have a shop for dog food, toys and training aids. They also have a shop for people food, and were doing hot chips last night.
The Aussie drought has broken, it has now rained for 36 hours non stop.
The trailer leaks! The Schnauzers looked a little bedraggled. No picture sorry.
Since it was sooooo wet, there was nothing to do but go shopping, so we went to Rundle Mall. I’m a bloke so shops are just shops but the girls seemed happy and spent some money. There was some interesting sculptures in the mall that one of our team tried to train a sit. Guest who?
There is a Aboriginal Art Gallery near by, which we went into. Those guys must have Patience with a capital P. The paintings were huge, and painted by millions of individual dots of paint.
At night we went to the Agility Club of SA for training. It was our first chance to try out the Aussie equipment with our dogs. A really valuable session for all of us.
They have a collapsible tunnel, which has shade cloth on the top half of the tunnel. The dogs can see you as they go through, which was a strange feeling. The jumps, well C went under one several times before she learnt to look up! The stick in the ground weaving poles the dogs absolutely loves as they could push them out of the way. I’ll have to remember to run faster to the end of the weave over here.
The club grounds are rented from the GSD Club. They have a shop for dog food, toys and training aids. They also have a shop for people food, and were doing hot chips last night.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Day 2
We have met some nice Aussies, the first nice agility one was PJ who works at the airport making sure planes come in safely. He drove Fiona and Karen down to Air Australia Express and back to the terminal as we began the 2 hour process of getting the dogs off the pallet and into our possession!
Today Wednesday (Anzac Day) started with going to Glenelg beach, which we had been warned NOT to do by the locals, Sharks, and puffer fish were the main risks. What the hell, our dogs love the water! On arrival we were surprised to see every man and his dog on the beach and in the water. (the dogs that is)
There was no language barrier between the NZ and Aussie dogs.
They got on really well.
This was the only shark we saw that day.
Further along, Jenna and Josie found a large cow looking beast that smelt and tasted really nice.
At the end of the jetty we were introduced to Elvis (the Cav) by Jesus.
The best thing was being able to walk into the shopping centre WITH our dogs where the locals came over and said hello to us. This group was walking their two malamutes and two Belgian shepherds (Tervs).
After the long walk the temperature was still about 26C so some of us stripped off and had a swim in the motel pool, very refreshing, nice and cool! (Definitely NO photos of this you will be relieved to know!!!) After tea we went down the local dog Club – South Australia Obedience Dog Club Inc. They have a lovely spot in a big park. The gear looked somewhat different to NZ gear, with the main differences being stick in the ground weave poles about 1.5m high, the jumps comprised stick in the ground uprights with poles about twice as long as ours (no weave base and no bars across the bottom of the jumps). We met more nice Aussies but did not get to run ours dogs on the gear due to Insurance issues, but they got a very nice walk afterwards.
Stop Press: The promised rain has arrived – you can rely on Wellington residents to break the drought – they should be paying us!
Today Wednesday (Anzac Day) started with going to Glenelg beach, which we had been warned NOT to do by the locals, Sharks, and puffer fish were the main risks. What the hell, our dogs love the water! On arrival we were surprised to see every man and his dog on the beach and in the water. (the dogs that is)
There was no language barrier between the NZ and Aussie dogs.
They got on really well.
This was the only shark we saw that day.
Further along, Jenna and Josie found a large cow looking beast that smelt and tasted really nice.
At the end of the jetty we were introduced to Elvis (the Cav) by Jesus.
The best thing was being able to walk into the shopping centre WITH our dogs where the locals came over and said hello to us. This group was walking their two malamutes and two Belgian shepherds (Tervs).
After the long walk the temperature was still about 26C so some of us stripped off and had a swim in the motel pool, very refreshing, nice and cool! (Definitely NO photos of this you will be relieved to know!!!) After tea we went down the local dog Club – South Australia Obedience Dog Club Inc. They have a lovely spot in a big park. The gear looked somewhat different to NZ gear, with the main differences being stick in the ground weave poles about 1.5m high, the jumps comprised stick in the ground uprights with poles about twice as long as ours (no weave base and no bars across the bottom of the jumps). We met more nice Aussies but did not get to run ours dogs on the gear due to Insurance issues, but they got a very nice walk afterwards.
Stop Press: The promised rain has arrived – you can rely on Wellington residents to break the drought – they should be paying us!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
DAY One
Our day started at 3.15 to toilet dogs etc in order to leave for the airport at 4am. Duly installed in Roger Van H’s ute, we were off! (Lyn, Denyse and Fiona). On the way to Pukekohe we rounded a corner to find a car rolled on the road with one wheel still spinning. Luckily the driver was ok and the police duly arrived so we could carry on our merry way.
By this time Deb, Pete, Karen and Jono had arrived at Air NZ Cargo courtesy of Alan Rohde. The van Huenen courtesy van was only 15 minutes late and the dog check in proceeded.
So that done, we checked ourselves in with Denyse and Lyn being whisked away via a priority check-in (we think it was because they were worried Lyn might get lost).
The flight was uneventful and eventually we made our way through immigration. Small hint – clean your agility shoes before you take them or the Aussie customs guys will take their time doing it for you!!!
We were pleased to know the procedure to clear the dogs as not knowing that would have made for a very very long day………. As it was, Karen and Fiona walked miles to customs and AQIS finally resorting to a taxi for the last leg back to Air Aus Express to collect the dogs. Meanwhile the others collected the rental vehicles and dog trailer
(which is awesome).
First stop was a run at Pedigree Park for the dogs and finally to the motel. On a visit to the local vet we were advised not to run/swim the dogs at the beach because of the sharks in the water and the dead puffer fish washed up occasionally. Oh joy!!
Still we’re here and so are the dogs and all in one piece………..
The dog trailer we have hired for the dogs is HUGE!!!! It has five bays, each big enough for two Tana’s. The Sayers schnauzers have so much room in it there is room for Lyn to sleep in there too.
By this time Deb, Pete, Karen and Jono had arrived at Air NZ Cargo courtesy of Alan Rohde. The van Huenen courtesy van was only 15 minutes late and the dog check in proceeded.
So that done, we checked ourselves in with Denyse and Lyn being whisked away via a priority check-in (we think it was because they were worried Lyn might get lost).
The flight was uneventful and eventually we made our way through immigration. Small hint – clean your agility shoes before you take them or the Aussie customs guys will take their time doing it for you!!!
We were pleased to know the procedure to clear the dogs as not knowing that would have made for a very very long day………. As it was, Karen and Fiona walked miles to customs and AQIS finally resorting to a taxi for the last leg back to Air Aus Express to collect the dogs. Meanwhile the others collected the rental vehicles and dog trailer
(which is awesome).
First stop was a run at Pedigree Park for the dogs and finally to the motel. On a visit to the local vet we were advised not to run/swim the dogs at the beach because of the sharks in the water and the dead puffer fish washed up occasionally. Oh joy!!
Still we’re here and so are the dogs and all in one piece………..
The dog trailer we have hired for the dogs is HUGE!!!! It has five bays, each big enough for two Tana’s. The Sayers schnauzers have so much room in it there is room for Lyn to sleep in there too.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Angle of NZ A-frames
And this photo shows how steep our A-frames are. Photo of Cannon again (who else?)
Weave Tunnel combo
After talking to Simone, thought maybe I should see what Cannon's discrimination was like. He was pretty good, only combo he found difficult was with me on the close side of the weaves asking him to go from dw to weave entry closest to tunnel.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Welcome Party
We're really going to get the red carpet treatment on arrival. The organisers have pulled strings and allowed one of Adelaide's Famous Agility sons to be present in the Air Control Tower at Adelaide International. PJ did find the need to point out which direction we should wave on arrival ........some folk just never let up.
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