Winter at the Beach

We headed to the beach this evening. It still gets dark pretty early, so by the time Mum finishes work and drives home to pick up me and my brother Zeke, the sun is setting. But that's okay, because Mum especially loves sunsets. She said the water was too cold for her to swim, but she let me paddle.

Okay, it's pretty cold.

Zeke and I also got to play a little bit. He doesn't see very well as it gets dark so he gets crankier than usual.

Still, I'm glad we have a Mum who takes us on beach Adventures, even when it's getting cold and dark!

Homestyle Adventure

We had visitors this weekend - Grandma and Grandma came out with the pup Goldie.

Goldie was excited to see Zeke and my's territory. She ran around and sniffed everything of course she wanted to play.

I suppose sometimes, she's fun to play with.

Sometimes.

But then sometimes, this happens.

WELL THAT IS JUST NOT RIGHT.

I also showed Goldie how to drink from the big drink bowl.

Tastes better as mud.

All in all, it was quite a fun visit. Also Grandma gave me lots of treats and attention! But it's pretty tiring, keeping up with Goldie.

Agility Adventures are the BEST!

Goldie's manners are getting a little better

Agility has been super-fun because me and Mum have gone up a class so I'm learning all sorts of new obstacles and tackling new challenges! My favourite things are still Tunnel - now sometimes we do a jump straight after the Tunnel which is excellent! But I also REALLY love practicing for Teeter. That's like a big see-saw, and to practice for that we do a couple of games. The first one is called 'see-saw smash' and basically you put your front paws on the edge of the Teeter board and smack it into the ground so it makes a 'clunk' sound. Then you get a treat! The second game is a board that doesn't move at all (yet) that you run up and get a treat at the end! You should see how fast I can run up that board! I get lots of practice because when we're at the Strand, Mum lets me walk along the little walls there, so Teeter practice is no problem.

After Agility was over, we stopped my Grandma's place and I had a play with Goldie.

She's still crazy.

I also caught up with a human I haven't seen since I was a puppy! Human is, confusingly, called 'Grandma' but my Grandma calls her 'Mum'. She is very nice and gives very good pats.

We only had time for a quick visit before we had to go home and cook tea. But I did help warn away a silly human from Grandma's house. (Sometimes humans drink a special drink and it makes them loud, unsteady and more than a bit weird). Because Goldie is only a puppy still she doesn't know who to bark at and who to let pat her, so I set her right - silly drunk humans hanging over the fence should be barked at! But once they went away, me and Mum went home - all the Agility and playing really wears a dog out.  

Pet Expo and Movie Night!

Yesterday, me and Mum had a HUGE Adventure! To start off with we went to the Townsville Pet Expo, which was very busy with lots of people and their dogs. Mum was very pleased with how good I was. We paid visit to lots of friends who had stalls - like Creative Animal Portraits, The Dogfather training, Animal Body Care, and Angel Paws Adoptions.

Checking out Creative Animal Portrait's stall!

I got to be 'Demo Dog' and got a massage from Animal Body Care! 

So I got lots of cuddles and attention! There was also a nice man that gave me a sausage from the sausage sizzle. That was a special treat, because I'm not allowed sausages, usually.

Expos are exhausting. Catching a nap.

After we left the Pet Expo we headed down to the Strand, where I had a short walk (I was pretty tired after all the Pet Expo fun) then we camped out in the big grassy area in the middle of the Strand.

A very, very big screen got put up to show a movie on! I always hang out with Mum and Dad at home to watch TV, but I'm not allowed to go with them when they go out to movies. So I was very surprised I was allowed to watch this special outdoor movie! Mum brought us a blanket and some snacks for us both, and I got a special wristband to show I was allowed to stay and watch.

Special movie wristband!

I admit, I did do a bit of sleeping while the movie was on. It was a very big, very exciting Adventure.

Movie night was fuuuun.

Loooong Adventure

Usually Mum works late on Thursdays, but once a month she finishes early and we get to go on an evening Adventure! This was one of those Thursdays. We decided to follow the boardwalk at Jezzine Barracks all the way along to see where it went.

Long shadows on the boardwalk

Plus, a stop for some ocean-gazing

I had NO IDEA that Jezzine Barracks connects up with another of my favourite places, Pallaranda Beach! We walked all the way there and hung out for a while, checking out these truly excellent tile ocean animals!

I'm not scared of crocodiles!

Catching a ride on a sea-turtle...

I think this one is an octopus?

We walked until the sun set, then headed back to Jezzine Barracks. We also found this little rocky circle of fish at one of the little parks by the boardwalk, which was a little weird.

Yes. I caught these.

Then it got dark and we headed for home and my nice comfy bed.

Rain at Riverway

It's been raining this week! I actually love the rain, but it does mean sometimes Mum and I miss out on fun things. Agility got cancelled this week, although I don't think Mum knew that until we got to the park. But it was worth it because she took me to the Strand instead! (I pulled out my best sad eyes). We did some training practice in the park there, then went for a walk. Zen also joined us for a while - I think Zen likes the Strand for the same reasons I do, because he gets lots of pats and attention, too!

On the way to enjoy some rain at Riverway we dropped by Mum's Other Work and I got lots of cuddles! I also scared some customers into thinking I was a big tough guard dog, just by lying in the doorway and looking at them. That was sort of funny. Then we walked over to Riverway - we hadn't been there in a while so it was good to get acquainted with all the sights and scents there. Including under the hedge scents.

Perfect camouflage... they'll never know I'm here.

There are some pretty great things at Riverway. Did you know they have raised drinking bowls especially for dogs as tall as me?

Perfect height!

Also, there was MUD!

See? MUD!

After a long, windy, rainy walk me and Mum were ready for home. If I stand at the door and look sad, Mum lets me inside to sleep in the warmth.

See? Works every time.

Winter won't keep us down

I was feeling better today and I ate all my food today to convince Mum I needed an Adventure tonight! So she took me and Zeke to the beach when she got home from work, even though it was raining and pretty much already dark. It's actually been cold the past few days, so it was good to have a run to warm up on the beach. Some guys had a fire on the sand - which Mum says is actually not allowed - and they'd also left a heap of cans lying everywhere. They smell bad and if you step on one, they hurt your paws. I don't understand half the stuff humans do.

Still, Zeke and I got caught up on all the beach smells, even if Mum wouldn't let us swim. (We did paddle). When we got home, we found Dad was cooking us pork roast. Night beach walks AND my favourite roast - I have the best pack ever!

Weekend woes

Mum and I's weekends start on a Friday because Mum doesn't have to work, so yesterday we were out and about! (I showed off my nice feathers and people were very impressed!).

I went to visit a new friend called Zen, and we had a run around his garden and a play, except then we had a little disagreement and I, er, might have picked a fight with him. Mum was NOT impressed with me. We didn't actually hurt one another, but I was in trouble anyway. So I minded my manners when we went to visit Goldie, Grandma's crazy pup.

THEN we also go to go to NIGHT MARKETS! It has been so many months since we went to night markets, but it was so much fun to see everything and also, I got LOTS of pats and attention.

But today wasn't quite so much fun. I sort of ate my breakfast too fast and then I may have ran around for ages and played with Zeke and then, erm, I kinda got sick. So I was very quiet today and we couldn't even go for an Adventure tonight.

Sadface Maya...

The Tale/Tail of a Feather

 Had a fun night at agility tonight! Did a lot of tunnels, ramps and some fun jumps, and I (mostly) behaved myself around the other dogs. Saw Kaiser who I would really like to play with except we're always too busy doing Agility stuff, and FJ the Poodle who is quite an Agility star. FJ's mum Ayla had some tiny tiny puppies in a crate, waaay too tiny do actually do Agility - they could fit in one hand! Tiny puppies were rescued by Ayla's group Angel Paws, who do very great work to look after and rehome pets who need new homes.
Ayla also had a present for me!!!

FEATHERS!

She is making special doggy decoration feathers! I got a purple one (of course... Mum has a thing about me and purple. Please don't tell her that as a dog, I can't really see most purples) and a pink one too!

Agility was very tiring tonight though. Had a big sleep after we got home.

Using my favourite toy as pillow

I was careful not to crush my feathers though...

Sun Boardwalk

Mum didn't have a very fun day today, she hurt her hand at work at had to go to the doctor. But it worked out okay for me since after that, she came home and spent time with me! I even helped out by eating the leftover ice cubes she had to put on her hand.

Still, by the evening Mum was better so we went to Jezzine Barracks and hung out there for a while.

One of the new bits they built there is a wooden walkway out over the water, which Mum and me both really like.

Mum read her book and I guarded this excellent bench.

There were lots of other people who liked the boardwalk and many of them had to stop and pat me. It got pretty tiring.

Mum is a good pillow, though.