Penny's invisibility trick

Penny has a lovely new collar. She received it because her old one mysteriously fell off when we were walking. A kind neighbour read our phone number on it and called us to say he'd found it in the street, so we hurried around - well, in the recent heat it couldn't actually be called 'hurrying' - to collect it. But the clasp was broken off.

So we bought a lovely new one. And Penny christened it this morning in a mud puddle. (We won't be complaining about the puddle, because it's so thrilling to have had some rain at last.)

 And then she rolled in the grass, which is very yellow after the long dry weeks, and did a disappearing act. It's hard to see where Penny finishes and the landscape begins.

mud and dogs

When walking with a dog, it's a good idea to wear old clothes and we usually do. But yesterday when we walked at Yarra Bend, Human Number Two was headed to the City, so she wore good clothes. Lucky for me, I wore my usual awful old dog-walking gear.

We passed a really good mud puddle and gave our obedient dog the instruction to 'leave it' and follow us, didn't look back to check, and had a nice surprise when she caught up to us.

Now, I ask you. What does any self-respecting dog do if she's all wet and muddy?

Yep, she gives herself a good shake. Too bad if a nicely-dressed human is standing close by.

So, while Human Number Two headed off to the City in her brown-spot polka-dot outfit, I took Penny for a second walk, to swim in the Yarra river at Warringal Parklands.

I made sure to put a towel in the car before I let her in.

So, swim:

And, voila, clean dog!

dog walking near Narbethong

Last weekend Penny joined lots of other dogs for a long walk on a bush track near Narbethong. (Don't you just love that name?)

We've been there before, so I was prepared for the red mud. (Sorry about the awful quality of the photos, but it was tricky to keep my footing in the slippery mud while taking pictures with my phone.)

Sure enough, Penny had great fun getting muddy. And that was fine.

A couple of us walked more slowly than the others and lost sight of them, but there was no difficulty finding the way. Paw prints in the mud!

When I saw a nice little stream flowing into a nice little pool by a nice little grassy spot, I suggested to Penny that she jump in, swim a little and get nice and clean.

It cleaned off the red mud beautifully!

Hmm... what to do with the black dog?

Well, we stopped for a delicious cream-cake at the Beechworth Bakery in Healesville and Penny had a second swim, this time in the fast-flowing creek, and she came out clean! (It's lucky that she's willing to swim in any weather.)

dogs, mud and water in the Australian bush

Last time we went with Cindy's walking group to The Black Spur at Narbethong, it was wet.

Penny got muddy.

And guess what? It was still muddy today. Penny had great fun.

Four wheel drive vehicles have been along the road and have made some great ruts, just right for dogs to walk in, roll in, play in, chase in.





What a thrill it was to see Penny dashing around with the other dogs, given that this time last year she was crippled by a cruciate injury and we were waiting for surgery. I am so grateful to the surgeon, Dr Wing Tip Wong, who repaired her leg.

Here's how Penny looked after her adventures in the mud today.





I tried to convince her to clean up in a gorgeous little mossy creek, but to no avail. She sniffed around but I couldn't communicate the idea of laying herself down in the trickle of water. I'll have to brush up on my dog-speak!



She won't need too much dinner tonight, because along the way she dined on some delicious poo from a wombat. The great thing about being a a dog, of course, is that if your human is not quick, you get to not only eat great stuff like that in the Australian bush, but you also get to roll in it.



The idea is to roll so fast that even a camera can't catch the action, let alone a slow old human.

You might be wondering whether I let her back into the car after all this fun. Yes, I was kind to her, and didn't make her walk the eighty kilometres home. But we did stop for a long, long swim in a creek at Healesville.

bushwalking with dogs at Narbethong

Last Sunday Penny and I went to Narbethong to walk in the bush with Cindy's dog group.

We set off from The Black Spur Inn, a historic building that survived the terrible 2009 bushfires and acted as a relief centre fot the region in the time after the fires.



It was wonderful to see how the bush is regenerating after the fires. The greenery was a sign of hope, and the blackened trunks a reminder of the helplessness of humanity in the face of nature's overwhelming power.



There's been lots of welcome, life-giving rain over the last few months. Which, of course, means there are some lovely puddles (lovely, depending on your point of view, of course.)



What dog could resist such a great puddle? Certainly not Penny.



And there was a great stick in one of the puddles.



Penny had a bath when we got home!