Selfies

So what's that camera that mummy is always pointing at me. Mmmmm, let's see. I might try to do a selfie... heard it's all the rage these days...

How does that thing work?!?!

All right! Got it, now what's my best side?

Oh, don't know. That's a hard one, I'm so handsome, I can't chose... Well, maybe I'd better get one straight on. Yeah that will do. And that phone is too slippery with my freshly washed paws.

I can't wait to see mum's face when she will see those pics, gnehehe!

Problem? What problem??

Last week at agility, I ran Mawson for the training. Usually Martin does the agility and I do the obedience/agility in the afternoon. But as Martin had been sick, he wasn't feeling up to it.

The main issue is that I wasn't completely together myself. And if you can't think or don't have energy on the course, well you mess up!

And indeed, I MESSED UP. Got lost on the course, couldn't move at the right place. And it ended up with Mawson taking himself on the dog walk and slipping off slightly. That in itself would not be a problem to the majority of dogs. However, we are not talking normal dogs here. We are talking about Mawson the drama queen! This means that he has not wanted, ever since, to put a paw back on the dog walk.

We have tried again this week and it looked like we were trying to pull his limbs off with tweezers (well you do have to make it fun...). Even worse than that, we have entered an agility trial in two weeks and we have no way of practising that item and getting him back on track before then due to the long week end next week. So that means that, if there is a dog walk on the course, which really is a pretty given thing, well pardon me the expression but we're screwed!

So Martin stole the car this morning while I went for a walk with Mawson. And when we came back: tadaaaaa! A dog walk!!!! Martin even made it a bit ricketty so that it resembles the real item. I think he did a fine job. And givens Mawson's reaction (that is to say nan, not going on that), he did something pretty close to the original. It doesn't even matter that we did at least twenty runs on similar structures at the bike track this morning....

Argh, where did they find that!

Anyway, after a bit of encouragements, happy voices, and begging with treats... well yayyyy he went on. We have set it on a low level for this week to make sure he gets secure, and we will put it higher next week. Fingers crossed that will cure him, only time will tell...

ok, ok I'll "walk on"

now give me that treat!

Sad :(

Today we've heard some very sad news at Mawson's training. One of the person we know there, just lost his lovely 6 months pup to paralysis ticks only this week. We were talking only just last week at the end of training and I cannot believe it. 

Another person also got one of her dog bitten by a brown snake and luckily was able to act straight away.

All sorts of sad and hard stories. It reminds me that we were lucky to see the paralysis tick on Mawson when he was just a few months old. The advantage of short coats over here. Ticks are so numerous this year that we all need to keep our eyes open, even the best treatment does not ensure full protection.

Mawson will be grumpy as that means we will checks his paws and between the tootsies even more than usual... He already got a full wash/check/treatment this afternoon. Got to try and keep the monster safe.

Style!

I'm such a mean mummy, can make one little puppy do anything when training before dinner. 

And Mawson is so cute with piggy tails...

not impressed

Begging much?

No I'm not begging... I'm just resting my head comfortably on the sofa. It's not my fault if you are not eating your breakfast on the table... tssss.... By the way, are you going to eat all those crunchy nuts?

Just checking the calorie intake of mummy

See, I just got given only that tiny little thing for breaky! No I'm not lying, only that! Nothing else.... Poor little puppy me!

I'm staaaaarving

A newbie at agility training

Last saturday, we went to our usual agility training. There was quite a lot of people and it was fun except the fact that I stood in for Martin who had been sick, and I was myself not totally together. Ah well Mawson did look at me a bit weirdly from time to time. And I got lost on the course...
Along with all the regulars, we had a couple of newbies. One was a very ballsy magpie, who kept teasing the dogs and landing right behind jumps. Little Coco had a good try at getting that misbehaving bird but to no avail. There was also another disturbing newbie: a fairly big goanna! These guys can be quite feisty, mostly considering the small dogs here, so there was a bit of running around trying to shoo the unwanted guest away. He did hang around for a few hours but mainly up in the trees, which was disturbing the birds more than us. And none of our tiny agility doggies got nibbled!!

Not good at jumping,
but pretty good climb!

So hard to be cute

Wot?? I'm snoozing if you don't mind! Stop taking pictures, I'm going to need to get an agent really. I need to remember to draw up a contract! Shoo go away. Oh actually, do you have a treat? No! Well shoooo....

???

Some more craziness

The safety weight bags for the tunnel finally got delivered today. They are really good, we filled them with sand and tadaaaa! Mawson had fun running crazily through. It is good as it prevents the tunnel to move when a silly puppy goes through at full speed. Mainly when there is a turn-in the 33kg dog-rocket does tend to move that poor tunnel.

And Mawson's eyes lit up when he saw the bags... Alright that was a pretty weak pun... I go in the corner...

Help at hand

Oh, hello! Do you need any help in there? A bit of clearing up? I think you'd better get rid of that chicken really, and to be fair those few prawns you just bought look dodgy... You'd better add them to the chicken. What? What do you mean by "no"?

Tsss, try and be helpful in this house....

Hi!

A bit of nostalgia

Martin and I have noticed that Mawson has changed his behaviour slightly.

He is happy to run like a loon, and does that on a regular basis! But he is now more and more happy to snooze about the house.

Martin has been sick this week, and Mawson has stayed around without his traditional run at 6am because I couldn't take him and Martin was nearly in a coma, and there wasn't any problem. I took him out in the evening for a bit of fun run or agility training to make up for the no exercise but he wasn't too bothered. Still, he enjoyed a few minutes of craziness.

In comparison, that would not have passed unnoticed a few months ago, and we would definitely have had a mad dog tearing the place down in order to spend his energy reserves.

So there is only one reason for that change: our puppy is growing up! I cannot believe that Mawson is already 18 months old (that is 10.5 years in dog time), and is going to enter some agility and obedience trials within the next month.

I still think of the little scaredy puppy we brought home. The little ball of mischief that made me question my sanity of ever thinking it was a good idea to welcome a dog in the mad house.

I don't think any of us three regret it now, even though Mawson definitely thinks he deserves more pigs ears and also a mum that knows where she is going on the agility course (but that's another story...). I cannot believe how much he has grown and how much we have learnt.

early "retrieve"... to the other end of the garden

cuddles with mum

All tiny and "innocent"

One thing that makes the difference easy to see is Mawson's bed. He has the same bed ever since he came in the house. He looked all lost when he first arrived at a fluffy 6kg. Now that mister monster weights at a light 33kg (!), he fills up most of it.

look at that huge bed!

daddy! down there!

The boys striking a pose

House take over: phase two

Mwahaha. I have initiated phase two of house takeover... I caught daddy off guard and did a swift ninja roll on the sofa. I even succeeded to stay up there for a couple of minutes before he threw me out.

Patience, patience... every little step counts, gnehehe...

Ninja move...

Victory!! I'm up there!!!

Nurse Mawson

Daddy has been sick for the last couple of days. So I had to keep an eye on him while he was at death's door on the sofa. Nudging him from time to time, giving him licks straight on the nose, chewing my raw hide bone in his ear... I even succeeded to sneak on the sofa while he was asleep, mwahaha! He woke up with me on top of him, mwahaha! The house take over has begun. I just need to wait until they are really out of it..... But then mummy came home and she stopped my fun :(

At least, she put us all in the car with some agility equipment and we went to have a lot of runs and jumps and fetching of the ball. All while daddy was shivering in a little ball on the front seat... Ah well...

Looking after daddy all day is exhausting though... And he didn't even get up to give me a pig's ear, only had a tiny one from mummy when she left for work. So now I need a big sleep, no energy you see, sealed with a few groans to make sure they all realise how tired I am! Zzzzzzz

Exhausted

Game of shadows

Last night, mum took me for our usual evening walk. We go for quite a fair way (though it's never enough for me) but tonight, I don't know... Must be the full moon approaching, I felt really craaaazy!

I got really jumpy when we passed the darned shops. So many people and cars and lights! I met a cute little friend, but he didn't feel like answering my request for a play and mum told me to 'cool it', mean mummy. Then mean mummy asked me if I was on speed, just because the rain got plenty of lovely exiting smells off the ground, it's not my fault if there is so much to smell!

Then, I got a bit confused around the oval, the lights were on and there was a lot of people running around. I didn't see their owner dogs watching them, I find it bad when owners don't keep an eye on their minions exercising in the fenced off oval. What if they get into trouble, hey? Anyway back to the issue. Well, all that running and lighting created plenty of shadows. Moving shadows, scattering away in all directions. I'm sure that they were running away from me! Ok, ok I got confused and all excited and I really wanted to chase after the shadows. Mum laughed at me and told me I was stupid! That's not a way of talking to ones handsome puppy! Tsss next time she does something stupid (and I'm sure I won't have long to wait..) you'll see, I won't let her get away with it...

Then after that we slowly made our way home. I say slowly because my gosh she is walking slowly! You would think that with her two legs she gets less mixed up than with my four, but gah! I nearly fell asleep! Anyway, we were walking (did I mention slowly?) along the road and bam! Up there on the cable, right in the middle of the street, here he was! The possum of doom!!!! And mum stopped to have a chat!! I did all I could to try and chase the evil thing, jumped up, then lamented that I couldn't jump high enough. So used mummy's head as a trampoline, well that didn't work that one! I got fairly sternly and quickly reminded of manners, I decided to lay down with a cute face for a bit to calm things down, euh, she looked a bit pissed off with me, oops! Then, I thought that my whining was not going to scare that evil creature, so I decided to start growling at it, mum called me stupid again! Tsss!

And then, she dragged me away while sneakily giving me treats, that made me forget the doom upon us. Those treats must be containing drugs.... mmm how come I forget what I am doing when she gives me some of those treats... Aha! I'm onto her! I need to investigate further...

The possum of doom

I am happy to say that the possum of doom did not catch up to us and we made it back home safe. I'm pretty sure that it was due to my intervention, obviously. Let's hope he won't call for reinforcement tomorrow. Argh an army of possums of doom that will certainly team up with the running scattering shadows. Run for your life!!!!

rain, rain, rain...

I know it's not been raining here for ages, and daddy is all happy about the drops. But I DON'T LIKE rain :(. I don't want to go and toilet outside, because I'm going to get wet, and as I never do anything inside, well I end up crossing my legs until mum's got enough and gets the umbrella out :D.

I don't mind if we are outside when it starts raining, but when I am all cosy and warm inside, well I'd need to be paid a lot of bones to go out....

To try and soften the yukky rain, the minions have found a rain coat for me! So that when we go for a walk I'm not too wet. It's not bad but my head still gets drenched. And I'm trying to avoid my buddies when they put that on me, I have a bad boy reputation to maintain... 

Why is mummy laughing and saying "you're a wimp not a tough boy"?!?! She doesn't know what she's talking about...

Daddy and me going for a walk in the rain!

Morning stretch and a "ooopsy"

Nothing like a bit of a morning stretch in the park. Bit of obedience (yuk), bit of agility (ok, ok), ball, yayyyyy. And also a bit of a point. Nearly had those galah, I was sooooo close! I'm sure it's mummy's fault, she was too close they saw her (how can they miss that bum, cough cough...). Of course they wouldn't have seen me, I was like a ninja... Or maybe they saw the little girly border collie who insisted on trotting past in front of me three times! Next time, next time...

stealth mode...

Had a lot of fun with mum at the park. But got into trouble from a dog who was jealous that I played with is girly. I went down submissively, but he was still going at me again and again, and even got his baby girly to go at me too!! So I stood my ground while mummy was trying to sort things out. What's a handsome boy like me to do, hey? He was a big bully, but no harm done either way, I wasn't keen on going back to see the vet (no offence mister vet but I don't fancy you!!!!). Just a lot of noise and we all made up with a kiss afterwards. The girly still wanted to run with me, I don't think so thanks, I'm not going to cross your hubby again missy... I still think mummy wasn't happy with the whole episode, even if I didn't do anything wrong... oopsy...

Hard day's work

Sundays are hard days of labour here! When mum doesn't take me for a long walk (she has been soooo lazy lately, that it's been a few weeks...at least two!), I have to help for a lot of the house work. I did all of the gardening, daddy wasn't doing a good job, so I had to do all the composting.

A spot of gardening

Then, for some reason I ended up stuck on the other side of the fence from daddy! Poor minion was going to be all lost without my help, so I had to do a bit of begging to alert him of this fact. Weirdly he didn't rush over to let me in... don't understand that?

Hellooooo!!!

They finally realised that I needed to stretch my legs, so I directed them to the showground. They even put some of my agility equipment in the car, yayyy. They were grumbling that I could do the weaves but when it's on the agility course, I always get a bit excited and arrive so fast on there that I usually splatter myself on them instead of fluidly weave through. I don't care, it looks more manly to run through and pogo the weave sticks than do some bum wiggling like a girly dog, in front of all my mates...
But this morning as my mates were not there :) so I did it all perfectly. We did all the hard stuff that the minions stuffed up yesterday and I was soooo good. Well when I don't need to watch out for my street creds, I just have to gather the treats they give me if I follow their very dodgy and badly indicated hand waving directions...

Then I had to clear up the freezer of that old bone. With great difficulty, I succeeded to cover nearly all of the blanket. It was quite a challenge but I rose to it and conquered.

Making as much mess as possible

I even tried to extend my art to the carpet below that mummy had clumsily covered up with piling up all those blankets on top, obviously she didn't realise the amazing value of my work. And still she came back running like a wild thing and insisted I place back the bone on the blanky :(, tssss

Sneakily trying to get on the carpet

 After all that work, I'm completely shattered! Here comes the snooze. Hey mum, come put the blanky on me. I'm cold!

I'm exhausted now!

Desert roses

We are all too exhausted from the intensive agility training of today. Loads of things learnt and the best of all for me: Martin is talking to Mawson too much on the agility course, when I actually speak less... Yay the world has gone mad!!!!

Anyway, after a lovely cooling down in the pool and a wash, it is sleeping all round...

I leave you with some gorgeous desert roses from Martin's dad :)

Circus dog

We always try to get a bit of obedience or agility at any time, even when we go for a simple walk with Mawson. We took the opportunity of an empty skateboarding park to do a few exercises. Even had a bit of an audience for a bit, with a mum commenting to her little kid about how well behaved Mawson was and also about his big floppy ears :).

The whole thing (in our mind) was about giving him a bit more stability and self confidence, and what better than a tagged up concrete ball and other tagged items to do that.
We didn't give him a can of spray paint though!!

Concentration needs a tongue out...

Having a bit of a chat, or maybe a song?

Procrastination

I don't know why, but this pic that Martin found on the web, made me giggle hopelessly for for a good while in front of my computer at work.... Now, to try and explain what is so funny about writing a research manuscript to my office mates....

What you wouldn't do...

I'm a rabbit... What I wouldn't do for a bit of cheese or smoked sausage...

Ok I might be a bit visible if I go in a rabbit group, but it's pretty close to perfection!

just needs to modify the ears and the tail...

Fires have started :(

Eeeeeek! Not a good view to get in Sydney. The warm winter and extremely warm start of spring has made conditions really bad around here. There are predictions of major nasty bush fires to come for the so-called warmer months. 

And as if all that wasn't enough, unhealthy winds have started. That unfortunately doesn't sound too good. Already a few houses lost and a lot of people evacuated. That's also pretty close to Martin's mum's place so hopefully the fires are going to be back under control quickly.

Mawson is also worried that fluffy and feathery preys are in trouble other than from his presence. He would go and help the firemen but he has got too slippery paws to hold the hose!

Quite far but already not looking good...

Chooks!

We've been thinking of getting some hens for a while. Just a small number, most probably 3. I've been looking at the different breeds and it is amazing how many there are! As we'll have a restricted flock, I'd very much like some Plymouth Rocks, they are quite hardy and good layers, and they are pretty!!

We have all the plans thought out and made for a lovely coop and where we want to put it, that is in the front garden where Mawson is not allowed alone anymore (that's another story...).

As real experimental scientists, we've decided to get some fertilised eggs and go from the hatch to nice feathery madams. The fertilised eggs are normally sold anytime except winter. The only issue with fertilised eggs is that obviously there are chances that the eggs will give some roosters that we cannot keep here. Those poor misters will either have to be relocated or will end up in a very different position (now where did I put my recipe for poussin?).

We were thinking of getting some this spring, but we've decided to get the front garden ready a bit more. Mostly finishing to finish the fence... it's been a long drawn story but Martin's dad helped a lot during the time he stayed here last week and it's just only a bit more elbow grease to get all that sorted (Thanks so much Frank!!!). We also need to plant some more edging greenies and let tat take up a bit.

The slight delay will also give us the chance to get mister pup even more in control and behaved in front of what can be considered "prey" for him. Not that we will let him run with the ladies when they are in the front....

Mawson was already having a bit of a dance, thinking he would have some things to chase (let's not tell him he won't be allowed and that we are getting ladies renowned for being a bit  bullyish... mwahaha I chose well....)

I'm excited even if it's not going to happen for nearly another year!! Though Martin was making some noise for a faster arrival... we'll see...

Plymouth rocks!!

Squirrel dude!

After an early morning run in the park, what's best than a bit of wrestling with my best mate squirrel dude on the fluffy rug! He is a tough guy squirrel dude, mummy told me he is french and that was his real name when he came in the house, but I don't care about all that, I love his chewiness. And sometimes he poops treats!! I looove him... Ok I'm really sleepy now, still need to recuperate from Saturday. I'll go on my bed and wait for mum to give me my pig's ear before she leaves for work....

ZZZzzzzz... Oh hello, you are still there? Oh forgot to paw the post before going to sleep... Ah well let's publish it now *yawn* before I fall back to sleep in the sunshine....

Lazy Sunday afternoon

Mawson has been having a very quiet Sunday afternoon (us too actually!) after a big hot and busy Saturday, and a bit more exercise this morning. Quite unheard of for him, he has settled down on his bed at about 2pm and has been mostly snoozing or chewing some pork hide bone. Only a few interruptions for a well deserved shower (he rolled in dust and mud and was filthy!) and a bit of trotting about checking out any cup of tea for traces of food. I think there will be a very quiet pup all through the warm months as it seems to take a lot of energy out of him, or maybe that was the 5h agility training and running after the ball? Let's see...

nom nom nom

Look at the clean white teeth!

That's not early spring!

31˚C!! They made me do all that work at 31˚C!!! It was so hot, I had to have a dip in the pool at lunch time after my brilliance at agility (I did the scary dog walk good on the high setting, I'm sooooo brave me!)... There was a lot of smoke around as well, because they are doing some burnings around, cough cough.

And then another dip in the pool when we came back from the social novice class (btw, I did all the obedience next to mummy without that pesky lead, yay! And I must have done good because she didn't yell at me, double yay!). 

And one of my previous classes instructor at the club said I was his preferred gun dog *smug* ...

But it's still too hot, and after all that nice work I did and my swim, mummy was mean with me. I wanted to go get a refreshing mud bath in the freshly sifted soil that grandpa Frank spread on top of the grass in the backyard and she didn't let me :(. It's good for the skin, I don't care about the floor and the furnitures...

Well I'm shattered so I'm going to go and snore in front of the rugby. What did I hear?? Wallabies? Where? How many? Let me chase them!!! 

It's too hot!!!!!

Not for Mawson!

Martin's dad is staying with us for a few days. Him and Martin have been hard at work on multiple projects around the house while I went to work, and Mawson was very pleased to lend a paw. Not too sure that it was always helpful but... So we now have a nice finished fence, outdoor furnitures picked up, renovated tables and a lot more things that are too numerous to list here. They also went to pick up some nice seafood in Hornsby and we ended up having an enormous seafood dinner. From oysters, raw fish, mussels. We didn't even make it to the prawns and tuna!

Mister pup was very interested by it all and mostly by the gigantic oyster shots. He seemed very disappointed when we told him it was definitely not for dogs! I don't think he saw anything wrong with vodka, tomato juice, tabasco, lime, pepper and salt... Quite a lot of vodka actually... and it was YUMMY!!!

Oysters shots! (with a few additions...)

House guest

Who's that coming in my house? Oh my aussie grandpa Frank! Damn must not bark or growl... Arghhh that's too hard, maybe I'll get away with just a little bit at the beginning... I know I'm going to be told off, but I can't help myself.

He is pretty cool actually... but I'm not letting them know, still keeping an eye on him though. You wouldn't want me to appear too weak...
See that worked, he gave me a big piece of sausage, mmm...
I'd better keep an eye on what he is eating from under the table... never know, if he doesn't want everything.... gah, mum and dad saw me and told me to go to my bed...

Tsss, well at least I heard that there was a present for me, oh what could it be? What is that? Ahhhh what is it?? Why do they always have to laugh at me.... Well at least I got some more treats...*sigh*

There'd better be some treats...
Or they will see why it's written body guard...

Can't put the glasses down,
got a too big head!

I'm not impressed!