Adventures in Oz (and beyond)

Well, the power finally back on last night. The Roamin’ Gladiator has been hydro-bathed to remove his Eau de ‘dead thing’ Cologne and a chainsaw purchased to convert 18 windblown trees into next year’s firewood (not including the ones we removed from the road on the way to the seminar Sunday morning).

I learned heaps from our Tas Dog Training Club Rally-O weekend not the least of which is that Rally-O instructors can see the lighter side of any Tassie weather drama as long as plied with the basic food groups of wine, caffeine and chocolate. Oh, and if you want a little music with your charcoal chook by candle light, just ring the power company and put your phone on speakerphone for 30 minute segments of ‘lift music’.

In all seriousness, the Rally part of the weekend was a resounding success and 21 very enthusiastic participants are eager to progress this sport in Northern Tas and Australia-wide. Tas Dog will be having a mock trial the afternoon of their November obedience trial.

I would like to thank the Tas Dog committee for their support in seeing this through. Many thanks also to Laurie, Brenda and Hazel, “Stewards in Training” (and sign chasers extraordinaire).

Thanks to all participants, human and dog alike - there was some great teamwork out there on Sunday. Check out www.jancollett.com/albums.

Thanks Gayle for helping Angelsun have a few touristy moments meandering around Meander Valley on the way to the airport.  Too bad Tiger made her hang around an extra 5 hours!

Thanks Angelsun for a great seminar; your energy level was amazing as was your gracious good humour when the lights and hot water went out in Golden Valley.

Caesar passed Track 1 today at the TDTC Tracking Trial at Cressy, the final trial of the season in Tasmania.

He worked hard with very stiff winds and earned a rating of Good. Many thanks to Tracklayer, Gayle and her smelly socks!

Caesar has absolutely become enthralled with tracking and even demands it, frequently nudging my arm and leading me to his crate where the socks reside on top then looking at me and back at socks.

Regrettably training has to scale down significantly Oct - April due to snake movements. We will endeavor to do short training sessions along the River walk in Deloraine as frequently as possible during the summer to satisfy Caesar’s penchant for this very rewarding canine sport.