Wordless Wednesday - Beryl's New Friends:)

More About Muzzles - And Passing on The Award:)

My last post about muzzles and tails provided some very interesting comments, thank you:)  I'll answer a few questions here.

A Couple of Misfits wonders if Beryl ever seems at a loss without her tail.  She is used to not having a tail now but in the early days she often looked around as if she was wondering where it was hiding!  And her balance was off for a while, her turns weren't as slick and she crashed into me a few times til she worked out how to adapt her running.

Her tail hair has grown back into a cute little point ... but only on the bottom, lol.  I'm very tempted to even it up with scissors but I'll leave it and see what happens:)

Hsin-Yi, Honey The Great Dane's Mum, wonders how Beryl gets on playing with other types of dogs and if they hurt her skin.  She doesn't actually play with other dogs like she does with Frankie and her BFF, Lucy.  She tends to keep her distance as I don't think she really knows how to play.  And she plays rough so I'm glad she is a spectator:)

Beryl playing fetch with smaller dogs.

Beryl dealing to Frankie!

And this question made me think about Greyhounds being adopted by people who already have another dog or dogs.  Obviously nobody wants to keep their other dog muzzled so they don't hurt their Greyhound.  There are many, many people who have a Greyhound with other dogs, and I would say injuries are extremely rare.  I know in Frankie's case he has extremely good bite inhibition and also if a tooth touches Beryl he gets told off in no uncertain terms!  I'm sure he's got a lot more loose skin around the neck and throat from it being grabbed and pulled, lol.  

One thing I didn't mention in the previous post and House of Carnivores brought it up in the comments is a muzzles' usefulness when bringing in a new Greyhound to a house with a cat.  Even if the Greyhound is cat friendly it is advisable to keep it muzzled for the first week or so when the cat and Greyhound are together (never unsupervised, of course!).  Everybody is relaxed then and it makes introductions and acceptance much easier:)

Also, if your Greyhound does have an injury that normally would require an Elizabethan collar to prevent it being licked or stitches pulled out then a plastic muzzle is probably even better.  I did read somewhere that the Elizabethan collars aren't a great success with Greyhounds due to the shape of their head and it being so narrow.  Has anyone had experience with them and could shed some light?

Then there are those dogs who eat their own poop!  Thankfully I've never had one but a plastic muzzle would be useful in that situation.  Never Say Never Greyhounds has a post here showing Riley wearing a plastic muzzle with a 'poop guard' to stop her licking an injured foot.

I think that's enough about muzzles unless someone comes up with a new query:)

Remember in the last post I told how we'd been given 2 Versatile Blogger awards?

Well, the rules that come with it are that you are to state 7 things readers don't know about you.  I'm going to cheat and change it to 7 things readers might not know and that can include the bits about muzzles and  Greyhounds with other dogs and I'll add 3 things you probably don't know about us -

1) I really don't like making phone calls.  I don't mind people ringing me though:)

2) Frankie enjoys lying on my lap upside down and looking at us in the mirror opposite where I sit at the computer.  He can also see out of the lounge room window at the same time.

3) Our DWTDS videos are taken, won't inspire anyone to have a go but may get a few giggles:)  I might have another go tomorrow before I put all the furniture back in my dining room and see if we can improve things a bit:)

And you're supposed to pass the award on to 15 other blogs you consider to be Versatile Bloggers.  The recipients who pick up and pass on the award can choose whichever colour award they prefer:)   So here goes in no particular order ...
BZ Training - lots of great photos, photography tips and 2 gorgeous Golden Retrievers
Little Dogs On Long Leashes - possibly the only other blog that includes a pig dog, Frankie admires Georgia Little Pea from afar:)
House of Carnivores - Argos, the Greyhound, who lives with quite a few cats!
Pet Blogs United - who do a great job bringing attention to lots of pet blogs and feature Oskar, the Schnauzer
Cult of The Greyhound - wonderful photos of lots of lovely Greyhounds
Loving Life With Hounds - who I see have just shifted from Blogger to Wordpress and this is the link to their new site.  Fun with 4 Greyhounds, great photos and quite a few adventures
Something Wagging This Way Comes - featuring Honey, another Golden Retriever.  Lots of thought provoking posts here.
It's a Greyt Day - simply stunning photos of Greyhounds and other dogs.  But check it out soon as this site is going to move in the near future!
Terri's Knit Blog - 2 beautiful Greyhounds, scrumptious cooking and interesting knitting.  Truly a Versatile Blog!
Why Greyhounds - hopefully an award will spur WG to post more often;)  Adventures with Rex, a Greyhound, and his young brother Rastus, a Kelpie
Genjis Corner - it amazes me how these bloggers get time to blog!  They go to the most wonderful wine festivals that let them include their Greyhounds and put up great photos of dogs and people having the best time:)
My Little Dog - lovely photos and stories of the very handsome and clever George the Whippet.
Dogs Rock!! - a very stylish blog with more wonderful photos of 2 gorgeous Whippets and a lovely Greyhound, and tales of their adventures.

I know that's only 13 but I've got lots of new blog posts to read from looking at my blog roll and I'm going to do that after I've joined in on the Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop:)

Details can be found at Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Life With The Plume.  Enjoy your weekend everyone:)

From One End of A Greyhound To The Other!

Every so often someone asks in the comments section about why Greyhounds are wearing muzzles in some of my photos, usually when I post about a GAP (Greyhounds As Pets) walk.  So I thought I'd do a post about the reasons behind this.  I'm no expert and while I did some Googling around for references on the subject in general I didn't really find anything comprehensive and decided I could either keep Googling all night or write my post ... and I'm writing my post:)  I did find an article at Wikipedia which seems to cover Greyhounds in general quite well and it includes this -

Temperament

The Greyhound is not an aggressive dog, as some may believe due to muzzles worn during racing. Muzzles are worn to prevent injuries resulting from dogs nipping one another during - but more likely immediately after a race - when the 'hare' has disappeared out of sight and the dogs are no longer racing but still excited. The thin skin of the Greyhound can tear easily from a small nick from teeth so even a minor skirmish can result in stitches and time out from racing.

If a Greyhound is aggressive then it won't make the race track.  The Greyhound's job is to chase the lure, not fight with it's fellow competitors.  But Greyhounds are no different from any other dog in that when they are playing and tearing around they get excited and can mouth and nip each other.  Where Greyhounds do differ from other dogs is that their skin is extremely thin and easily ripped under these circumstances.  So basically they wear muzzles as a precaution.  Shortly after getting Beryl and before I started blogging and I had more time I used to spend a lot of it reading the Greytalk Forum and saw some pretty horrific photos of injuries sustained by Greyhounds playing.  These were always written by owners who wished they had muzzled their dogs!  

The law in New Zealand for pet Greyhounds is that they don't have to be muzzled when out in public.  In know they still do in some states of Australia and that will hopefully be changed soon. The policy on our GAP walks is to have all dogs muzzled.  On our last walk Beryl was in her wire racing muzzle which they come with when they are adopted, or she can wear her plastic muzzle.

Hanniberyl Lecter!

It's not a real good look for photos, I don't think even Beryl can make a muzzle rock!  I did take Beryl's wire muzzle off after the free running in the fenced area on our last walk, not that she participated in the running around.  Everyone else went back on lead so there was no need to take precautions.

Which leads me to the other end of the Greyhound, Beryl's tail or lack of:(  Some new followers (welcome, lovely to have you here!) have wondered why Beryl hasn't got a tail.  I won't bore 'old' readers with the whole saga again but it was an on-going saga.  Briefly, Greyhounds (and other breeds with thin, bony tails) can be prone to 'happy tail' which happens when they wag it and hit the tip against something hard and the skin splits and it bleeds.  And boy, can it bleed.  A little blood goes a long way.  My house has looked like a battle zone more than once because they keep on wagging it!  The first few times it happened I managed to bandage it up myself and it would heal, then it would happen again, lather, rinse, repeat.  If you want to read up on the fairly recent events that lead to me having no choice but to have Beryl's tail docked the posts are here, here and here.  There are no gory photos, but in the second post I did put a selection of photos of Beryl and her tail, which I still miss anyway!  It's hard to believe it's been almost 3 months.

And almost finally, Frankie, Beryl and I are honoured to have been presented with the Versatile Blogger Award not once but twice recently. 

Thank you My Life With Flyball Dogs

And thank you Rescued Insanity

I'm still surprised than anyone bothers to read my blog, it's nothing fancy, just 'Life With a Greyhound, a Pigdog and Our Friends' as my header says.  So awards are lovely:)  Of course there are the conditions to fill when getting one of these awards but I'm not going to do that tonight.  I am going to finish off by joining in on the Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop and wish you all a wonderful weekend:)

It's a Bit Sad ...

On Sunday we went on a GAP (Greyhounds As Pets) walk with our local group.  It was wonderful to see some new people and dog faces and make some new friends and catch up with old friends.  The past few walks haven't been well attended with only 3 or 4 Greyhounds there but we had 11 this time and hopefully will get back up to the 20's before long!

The weather person smiled on us with a lovely late autumn afternoon and everyone enjoyed themselves:)  So you're probably wondering what was sad?  Well, since Beryl took a spill while running with her best Greyhound buddies a few days after she had her tail docked she hasn't and won't run with other Greyhounds.  While the other hounds were having a wonderful time on the walk doing this ...

Greyhound gallop

Beryl watched but wouldn't join in:(

She wanted to run with them and at one stage took off towards them but thought better of it and came back to me.  At least she will still run when she's by herself at the park and beach.  And I guess she had the last laugh in a way as only she, Monty (the Corgi pseudo Greyhound) and Babe were off lead most of the time:)  The other Greyhounds were newly adopted or foster dogs who went back on lead once we left the enclosed area.

A few of our new friends are

Cara (why can't I get a photo like this of Beryl?)

Troy(foster dog) meeting Beryl - shame the photo is a bit fuzzy.

Stanley with Monty

Stevie

And here are some of the group in the fenced off area

After most of them had had a tear around we went down to the river

Then headed off back to the park area

Monty spent most of the time following Beryl around:)

I don't think she minded:)

The queue waiting to squeeze through the little hole in the fence - Chase and Stevie in front.

After the walk we were able to take our dogs to a local pub and sit in the outside area.  There used to be a wonderful cafe at the Domain where we do our walks but some idiots burnt it down late last year:(  So it was good to be able to have a sit, a chat and quench our thirst again.

On the right, Graham and his lovely girl, Tina

Cara, Horse and their Dads:)

Obviously this has been a fairly 'wordy Wednesday' but I thought I'd better get this written while I had the time and am in the mood!

Does anyone else find that they have to make a choice sometimes whether to write a blog post or go around and read other blogs?  I'm a bit behind with reading blogs but hopefully will catch up tomorrow night.  Seeya then!

Almost Wordless Wednesday - She's Done It Again:)

The cream sheets won't be on the bed long, lol!

I hope to get a blog post written sooner rather than later, but right now we're not doing anything or going anywhere and it's hard to get inspired.  We need a trip to the beach to clear our heads and maybe get some photos!  But I'm enjoying reading all your blogs:)

Wordless Wednesday - I Don't Remember Leaving It Like This?

More Doggie Dancing Training Videos:)

With less than 4 weeks to go and lots to do I thought I'd better do another video when we had a training session early this evening. Beryl and I really should have gone to CGC class but it's a miserable night out there and after her training session she finally seemed ready to have a sleep! So I thought we'd stay home and I'd edit some video instead:)

This was done after she'd had her tea, lucky for me she's very food motivated. On the minus side she is reluctant to do anything if it's unrewarded, lol. Our training session was way too long, I took 10 minutes of video! But she was on fire tonight and she gave herself a couple of breaks when she got bored, although they didn't last more than a few seconds.

I made 2 videos, the first one is of her 'marching' progress plus a couple of other things we're working on. The second one is a few bloopers and also showing how a new trick can be shaped by making the most of opportunities as they arise:)

A few of you might be thinking things would go a whole lot quicker if Frankie wasn't there and you might be right, but they are used to doing training like this. It's mostly Beryl being trained and Frankie getting treats for staying out of the way. Plus, Frankie isn't quite himself at the moment, a bit  subdued for him and I don't know why. But I do know that if he was shut away he'd be miserable.

Anyway, if Blogger lets me, here are the videos, hopefully for your enjoyment:) Comments, questions and constructive criticisms are welcome! Oh, and be prepared, I never shut up during either of them, lots of high pitched praise, I even jump up and down myself at one stage, lol. I'd love to put music over me rabbiting on but then you wouldn't hear the clicker, which is hard enough to hear anyway with my enthusiastic YES at the same time. Which is because I don't always have a clicker on me when we're training as I do a lot of it when we're on our walks at the river and Beryl doesn't know she's being trained then:)

Blogger And I Are Back ... More or Less!

First of all the real world impinged upon my cyber world a couple of weeks ago with some events that made me very stressed, tense and emotionally drained.  I wasn't in a fit state mentally to blog or even do any training with Beryl ... so I just didn't.  Once that was sorted I was plunged into full on work which left me physically and mentally exhausted.  And then Blogger has such a hissy fit that I couldn't even see some blogs, let alone comment except on Wordpress blogs.  Even now the videos on my blog aren't visible to me, just a black square where they used to be.  Hopefully they'll reappear.  I think the Blogger people are having some R&R over the weekend before getting everyone back to normal.  I hope so anyway.

There hasn't been much time to do doggy things recently but yesterday morning a contingent of 4 Greyhounds took part in a local pet parade.  We were a hit with the kids and everyone took home a load of stash, which was totally unexpected.  There were only 8 dogs there all told and Beryl was the only one not in fancy dress of some sort as I couldn't think of anything she could go as!  Imagination isn't my strong suit:)  I took my camera but didn't get much opportunity to take many photos and those I did take aren't good but here are a few.

Foster dog, the very handsome Hugo, went as a bumble bee:)

Lucy was Minnie Mouse and found it all very tiring:)

Hugo and Beryl - Beryl went as a pretty Greyhound!

Beryl enjoying a pat

Miss Mischief, Dotty, aka the Ninja Turtle.  She was into everything:)  She's a 7 1/2 year old puppy!

Our training for Honey's DWTDS competition is somewhat sporadic but we're managing a bit most days now and hopefully Beryl will be able to 'march' a few steps at least, in a week or so.  I'm also working on a couple of easier things but have no idea of how I'm going to put everything together yet, lol!  With only 4 weeks to go I'm kind of hoping for camera failure!  But hey, it's all about having fun and bonding, not winning, and we're doing that just fine:)  I'm learning how Beryl likes to be trained, lots of noise and praise and TREATS!!  When I'm beginning to teach her something I'm quiet and give her time to mull things over and go back to something she knows and likes to do.  Once she's got the basic idea she seems to need to be revved up a bit to get her to try more things and when she's wrong I just ignore it.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.  Seeya:)

Our First Doggie Dancing Training Video!

As you probably know, Beryl and I have entered a Doggie Dancing With The Stars competition being run by Honey The Great Dane.  It's going to be lots of fun for competitors and spectators alike I think.  And I'm so happy because I've finally chosen some music, yay!!

The most complex thing Beryl is going to learn for our Doggie Dancing Debut is to 'march' and we started learning that on Saturday.  She is VERY left handed so the first thing I had to make her aware of is that she has 2 front feet:)  She already knew how to put a paw on something on the ground so I concentrated on clicking and treating only for using her right paw.  This video is of her second lesson which was this morning and I think she progressed very well.  I took a bit more video which I haven't edited yet and might put up a part 2 if it's worth showing:)  I've put little explanation thingys in the top left corner through the video so you can hopefully understand what I'm doing.



This is my first attempt at videoing anything other than Greyhounds running outside or my kids inside and I didn't exactly dress for the occasion:)  The second bit of video I took is better than this one as I moved the camera back a bit and Beryl doesn't get her legs cut off as often, lol!  Anyway, we've started Honey:)

And we've got time to squeak in on the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop which is hosted by Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume.  Pet Bloggers rock, so why don't you have a wander around some of them, say hi and make new friends.  If you want to join in the instructions can be found on all the above mentioned blogs:)

Will I EVER Get My Act Together?

Yesterday Beryl and I went to another Rally O competition.  We had an awesome day, good weather, great company and some very entertaining rounds:)  I entered Beryl in Rally Novice and Rally Zoom.  Unfortunately Beryl decided that she really HAD to have a comfort stop when we were almost half way through the Rally Novice course even though she hadn't needed to go a few minutes earlier!  We finished the course for experience sake and I've actually got a few photos of us in action.

I look a little lost as usual!

I am going to get a shorter lead!  Beryl is paying attention:)

Good heel position:)

Both concentrating!

Awesome 'down and wait while I walk around her'

You're not getting another down out of me unless I get a treat, Mum!!

So that was good practice anyway:)  A while later we did the Rally Zoom course which I don't have any photos of which is a bit of a shame as Beryl went SO well .... but I got lost again:(  We were half way through a weave and I forgot what the station was, lol!  My mind totally went blank (which isn't that unusual!) so I turned it into a weave twice which was totally wrong and cost me 10 points.  I keep forgetting that I can redo a station if I blow it, hopefully I'll get my act together someday!  I would have only lost 3 points if I'd redone the station.  And apart from me messing up again, she only lost 2 other points the whole course!!  We still got our first merit card on 88 points but we could have got a gold qualifying certificate, same as last weekend, duh!  But it's all good fun and experience and hopefully we'll get there:)

The next competition isn't for ages so now we can start learning some things for our Dancing Doggies debut:)

We hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter weekend:)

Time for us all to do some blog hopping which is kindly hosted by the fabulous Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of The Plume

It's easy to join in, just ....

* Link up your blog name and URL using the Linky Tool below. You only need to add you link once to be seen on all the Pet Blogger Blog Hop Linky Tools for that week.

** Grab the Pet Bloggers Blog Hop button that our friends over on Life with Dogs made for us and include it in your Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop post so that your readers will know what is going on.

*** Follow your co-hosts listed in the first 3 slots of the Linky Tool and comment on their blogs to say hello!

**** Follow as many other blogs on the linky as you'd like

***** Take a moment to comment on the blogs telling them you're from the Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop

****** Follow back when you get a new follower through the Saturday Pet Bloggers Blog Hop

Blog The Change - My Passion

My first passion is my dogs.  As you all know, Beryl is a Greyhound.  My second passion is helping people become aware of what wonderful pets Greyhounds make, so I'm probably preaching to the converted here as most people who read my blog are already slaves to their own Greyhound(s)!

But are you taking every opportunity offered where you could demonstrate the fact that they are one of the easiest and most versatile breed of dogs on the planet?  Could you take your Greyhound to visit nursing homes?  To school to help children read?  To every dog friendly event you possibly can?

There are Greyhounds who excel at obedience, agility, tracking, rally O, CGC, therapy dogs etc as well as the majority who excel at being family pets alone.  About the only thing I haven't heard of any Greyhounds doing well at is pulling a dog sled!  They can live on farms or in apartments.

The general public often don't think of Greyhounds in the context of being a pet, they're just running machines and they never consider what happens to them after racing.  Until a couple of years ago I was part of the general public.  That soon changed when I met my first Greyhound (Louie) and got to know his owners, sister and lots of foster Greyhounds.  I became a convert and Beryl has turned out much better than I dared hope she would.  While I don't know of anyone who has actually gone and got a Greyhound after meeting Beryl I do know there are plenty of people who are interested in their next dog being a Greyhound since meeting her:)

Anyway, I hope this post might get some people coming up with ideas of what more they can do to get Greyhounds 'out there'.  I'm sure I've only scratched the surface of ideas.  What do you do to publicize your wonderful dog?

One huge advantage to getting a Greyhound is that Greyhound owners rock!  You are joining a world-wide family who all love their dogs and care about each other:)

I'll finish with a couple of photos I took at a Rally O competition Frankie, Beryl and I went to today (do you sense another blog post coming on?).  This is Beryl with Candy, who is a 4 month old Bichon X Tibetan Spaniel (bought from a pet shop!) who has no fear or manners and is like a coiled spring.  She just didn't stop.

If I ignore it will it go away?

Mum, make it disappear, please????

This is a blog hop, won't you join in?

Thank You:) And a Few More Details About CGC

Beryl and I were totally blown away with all the congratulatory comments about her CGC success:)  We'd like to thank everyone who took the time to write something.  It means a lot to us!

As a matter of interest to hopefully some readers I thought I'd copy and paste the New Zealand requirements for CGC (Canine Good Citizen) as they seem to differ slightly from country to country.

But before I do that, in Saturday's Post I forgot to mention that the handler also has to do a short written test before the tests with your dog start.  The questions were all quite basic but the one that had me thinking was "describe in one word how dogs learn"!  It's hard to narrow it down to just one word, lol.  At least it was for me.  I ended up putting 'repetition' and it must have been near enough:)  And also I forgot to mention a test we had to do where Beryl was supposed to play with a toy and then calm down again.  Well, she wouldn't play with the toy that was her favourite the night before!  Typical Princess, lol.  It's OK if they don't want to play though, that's not a fail.

Since the 1950s, Dog Obedience Clubs have been at the forefront of dog training throughout the country. Clubs provide basic Domestic Dog training classes for responsible dog owners. They teach the owner how to train the dog while showing people how to ensure their dog becomes a great lifetime companion.

'Canine Good Citizen' goes a step further. Dogs are trained and then tested in simulated everyday situations in a relaxed atmosphere. Dogs and their owners are identified and rewarded for the training and demeanour to be reliable family members. Canine Good Citizen ensures that dog can be a respected member of the community because the dog is trained to be well mannered at home, in public, and around other dogs.

Testing requires an assessment by a recognised New Zealand Kennel Club Assessor.

Canine Good Citizen Foundation
1. Appearance, handling and responsibility
a. Responsibility and care
b. Public cleanliness and identification
c. Examination of the dog by handler
d. Grooming and inspection of the dog by the assessor
2. Food manners
a. Person eating
b. Dog eating
3. Accepting a friendly stranger
4. Accepting being patted by a friendly stranger
5. Walk on lead through a door/gate in a controlled manner
6. Return to handler
7. Walk on lead
8. Controlled walk through people and distractions
a. Pedestrian traffic
b. Distractions
9. Stay tied on lead
10. Meeting a stranger and their dog
11. Supervised separation
12. Playing with the dog
Canine Good Citizen – Bronze
13. Responsibility and care
14. Food manners
15. Stay in one place (untied, handler in sight)
16. Stay tied on lead (handler out of sight)
17. Staying still and return to handler
18. Stationary vehicle control
a. Into a vehicle
b. Out of a vehicle
19. Control at steps2
20. Walk on lead and reaction to distractions in a public area
a. Walk on lead
b. Distractions
Canine Good Citizen – Silver
21. Responsibility and care
22. Examination of the dog by a stranger (handler at a distance)
23. Stay in a down position (untied, handler out of sight)
24. Return to handler (with distractions)
25. Stop the dog
26. Advanced vehicle control
a. Into a vehicle
b. Vehicle is moving
c. Out of a vehicle
27. Staying still and return to handler in a public area
28. Calm and controlled behaviour whilst in a busy public area
a. Walking
b. Staying in one area
c. Accept being touched by a stranger
Canine Good Citizen – Gold
29. Responsibility and care
30. Walking beside the handler, without a lead
31. Sending the dog to a known article and staying
32. Parked vehicle control
a. Into a vehicle and leaving dog
b. Distractions outside the vehicle whilst parked
c. Out of a vehicle
33. Delivering a dropped article to hand
34. Another person (other than handler) walking the dog in a public area, with distractions
a. Handing the dog over to the nominated person
b. Person walking the dog in a public area
c. Distractions whilst person walking the dog in a public area
35. Stay in a down position (untied, handler out of sight) in a public area
36. Stop the dog and recall in a public area
37. Stay tied on lead (relaxed isolation) in a medium-busy public area
38. Walking, with distractions, in a busy public area
a. Walking
b. Distractions


Obviously this is just a very brief summary.  A lot of the tests are timed, it's a bit unnerving (as if I wasn't nervous enough!) having the assessor standing nearby with a stop watch while you're doing the 'meeting a stranger and their dog' and 'not molesting a stranger eating' tests and having no idea how long you have to make small talk, lol!  


Oh, and for the recall at Foundation level you can ask the assessor to hold your dog's collar while you walk away, which is what I did.


Hsin-Yi from Honey The Great Dane wondered if Beryl and I are going to carry on with the CGC levels.  Apart from not being at all good at staying, I think Beryl is capable of passing the Bronze so that's my training mission, work on stays.  I'm fairly sure a 'down stay' is OK.  If it has to be a 'sit stay' then we're pretty well sunk, lol.  As for going any further, hmm, I'll wait til we pass the Bronze to make that decision.  A couple of things in Silver are quite tough.  And I don't even know what some of the tests entail.


Honey was the first Great Dane to get her Gold CGC level in New Zealand.  I wonder if any others have got it since then?


Well, it was break up night at CGC training tonight.  A fun night with some games and having time to chat to people and just relax.  We both enjoyed ourselves and poor Frankie sat home by himself for the third time in 4 days:(  But I was given some chicken frames and I gave him one when we got home and he was pretty happy with that!  No more training for 2 weeks until after the school holidays.  But there are plenty of doggy things lined up for us to do.    


Yesterday afternoon Beryl and I went to the horse riding establishment where Rachel works with Fatima, Louie, Lucy and their 2 foster Greyhounds, Hugo and Snow.  They all got to run around in a big paddock with Benjamin, the resident Corgi, who loves Greyhounds, especially Lucy:)  I didn't get any real good photos but here's one of Beryl

Running by herself (and looking slightly Kangarooish?)

She still isn't confident about running with the pack since her tumble when she was with them a month ago.

She wanted to but she didn't!  That's Benjamin being a Greyhound:)

After Beryl had a couple of hours rest she and Frankie and I went to the river where I threw a few sticks for Frankie to make up for leaving him by himself earlier.

He enjoyed that:)

And we have to have a 'Beryl is pretty' photo, don't we?

Today we went to the park with the same crew and Frankie and Lucy (his BFF) had a blast

Frankie and Lucy having a breather after doing lots of 

Wrestling

Notice how Lucy's always on top!!

And running ... I couldn't get them both in one photo!!

Beryl and I have had a few quite busy doggy days lately and I've tried to keep Frankie from feeling too left out.  Tomorrow night is Rally O fun night before the break over the school holidays and I think I'll just take Frankie along.  He's due some 'just me and Mum' time:)


I hope you've all been having fun with your dogs too:)