more about the flyball competition on Australia Day

When Penny and I competed in the Australia Day flyball competition last Tuesday, some other members of the club took photos, and they've been kind enough to let me post them here.


Here we are waiting with our team.




Well, I was ready and raring to go, but Penny decided to have a sit down and a rest.




She obligingly set off over the jumps when I pointed out there was a tennis ball at the other end. But once she got down there she visited a few people in the crowd to see whether they had something for her in the way of pats or treats. After a while she noticed I was at the other end screaming and going red in the face, so she wandered back the long way, around the jumps.



I guess we're never going to be flyball champions. Luckily, we joined a club whose motto is, 'We run for fun'.

But later she did amble over the jumps and saunter back over them with the ball. At least it was a clean run, as they say, even if not fast.

Penny the media star

It was very exciting that Penny was involved in a photoshoot for a local newspaper last weekend. Here's a clipping from the paper, the HeraldSun, with Penny's picture at the bottom of the page. I wish they had put the photo online, so I could link to it, but the photo was only in the hardcopy edition. Isn't the photo at the top spectacular? It's one of her teammates in our flyball club.



The photo was part of an article describing the Australia Day celebrations in Melbourne, part of which was a flyball race.

Penny took part today and I think she had fun. But after a couple of races she decided it would be more enjoyable to wander around and say hello to some of the thousands of spectators.

Here's a photo of two teams lined up, to give an idea of the temptation that would face a friendly dog who loves meeting new people. Thousands to choose from!



There's an important line marked down the centre of the arena and the rule is - don't cross that line or you will get a yellow card and your team will lose the heat. Penny, running in the right-hand lane, crossed, presumably because the most interesting people were down there in the left hand corner.



And she crossed again! TWO yellow cards. And everyone who knew more that I did about the sport was telling me the horrible consequences of a third cross. Not to mention letting the team down!

So it was back to rest in her crate, under the tents that were set up in the shade of the trees.





We were in the 'sin bin' for three heats, and then the pressure was on me to encourage her to go over the four jumps, collect the ball - and come back. Well, she went for a little stroll at the end where the ball was, but thankfully didn't cross the important middle line and we were allowed to try again.

After that all her heats were okay, but slow.

A tiring but fun day!

racing the humans in the sea

It's a new experience for Penny to see humans in the water. Strangely, there have never been people swimming when we've been to rivers, creeks and the beach. But lately we've been jumping in with her. The first time I did it, she was so shocked she just stood on the beach whining in dismay. But now she's learned that if the toy is thrown in the water, she'd better shoot off quickly or one of the humans might just get there first.

Penny learns a new command - 'dig'

When we used to go to K9 Kompany - I won't lament again the demise of that wonderful venue - Cindy was teaching Penny the command 'dig'. We would do it by hiding a treat under a towel and when Penny started to use her paws to move the towel aside to get at the treat, I'd say 'dig'.

What is the point of the 'dig' command, you might ask. Well, if I remember correctly, it's intended for film work. The dog learns to lie down and then do the 'dig' movement, and it looks as if the dog is dying. I wouldn't want to see any films where dogs die, so I guess I'll never find out whether I've remembered this correctly. But I seem to recall some movies where horses got shot and lay there moving their legs like that. (Not that I want to see dying horses in movies either, by the way!)

Our attempt at the trick wasn't all that successful, to be honest, maybe because, when we first got her and I read all the dog books, they recommended discouraging digging. So she now has to unlearn the fact that digging is not desirable.

However, when Penny went to stay with Cindy for five fun-filled days, Cindy sent us some pictures of Penny digging in a sand pit up there in Healesville, so I thought we could try the command again at the beach this morning.

And yes, she's learned to dig on command. Or has she learned to dig whenever she wants to? I guess time will tell on that one.

Here she is digging on command:



It's a rather energetic activity, as you can see from this photo:

Penny's human has returned from four weeks in the supermarket

As I mentioned recently, Penny seemed to think her second human was in the supermarket. While her human was actually in New York, Penny would try to go in through the supermarket automatic doors each time we passed. (You can read about the second human's New York adventures here.)

Eventually it was the day of the traveller's return. I fetched her from the airport and after telling her to sit in the car in the driveway, I raced inside to tell Penny her human was home. Excitedly we rushed out, Penny's tail wagging happily. She took one look, sniffed to make sure it was the right person, then ambled inside to lie on her mat.

What a let-down for the excited humans!

But I guess Penny's relaxed attitude since then shows she's happy the pack is together.

a new breed of dog rescue organisations

In our local newspaper, The Age, there was an article on Monday about a new event to occur monthly at the Commerical Hotel In Yarraville - The Big Dog Day Out. It looked as if the dogs were enjoying themselves, so I might plan on taking Penny there one day.

The events will raise money for dogs. The money collected on this occasion went to Halfway Home Animal Rescue. On the Commercial Hotel's site I read that this is a regular summer event, and the Halfway Home group is 'an organisation that saves animals in remote rural pounds on death row and places them into foster care in the Melbourne area, where they can then be adopted into loving homes'.

I'd like to support them, because they are an organisation that gives stray dogs a second chance when they are about to be put down. In The Age article, the founder, Jenaya Du Toit said they have become disenchanted with animal "shelters" that put down about 250,000 dogs and cats each year.

What a terrible number!

I've recently heard of another organisation called Rescued With Love, one that aims to keep dogs out of shelters altogether and also processes them through voluntary foster carers.

I donate to the big dog rescue organisations here, as much as I can, and now I'm wondering whether my money would be better going to these "direct rescue" groups. It's quite a dilemma, because, despite criticism of the big shelters, they do rescue lots of dogs. And they are easily contacted if a dog is lost. But it scares me to think how many animals pass through their doors and what a short time a dog is given before its fate is decided.

I can't afford to donate to all of them, unfortunately.

hot days and play in the brown River Yarra

Today we headed off to the muddy Yarra early, because it was predicted to be more than 103 43 Celcius (that's about 110 Fahrenheit!). (Thanks, Mary, for pointing out that 103 Celcius would be rather hot.)

There I made an interesting discovery about the whirlwheel toy. You can pick it up with a stick if your dog won't bring it back on land. Penny always waits just in the water, ready for the second toy to be thrown. She won't put down the first until she is quite sure there's another one in flight.

Here's my patented method for picking up this toy:



And here's Penny hanging on to the first one, watching, watching, watching for the throw of the second toy: