Yep, all done and dusted, whew:) Before I show them to you I better explain the background to our costumes and music. Most people know Beryl and I are both Australian but New Zealand is home and I thought we'd have a real fair dinkum (oops, sorry, that's an Aussie saying!) Kiwi flavour to our routine. And you can't get more Kiwi than Footrot Flats which is an iconic cartoon strip that ran for many years in the papers, was published quite a few times in booklet form, and eventually made into an animated movie. Footrot Flats 'starred' a farmer called Wal and his faithful Border Collie sheepdog called Dog.
The author, Murray Ball, was born in Feilding where we live.
OK, so I'm Wal and Beryl is Dog and we're performing (dancing isn't the best description for our routine!) to Slice of Heaven which was the hit song from the movie. If you want to check Dave Dobbyn and Herbs singing it have a quick look at this ...
And here is a close up of Beryl modeling part of her costume
Beryl and her bandana
Some more excuses background ... most of you know I get lost going around Rally O and Rally Zoom courses where the stations are not only numbered but also tell you what to do at each station. So I confess to not having done any choreography except for the beginning and end of our routine. Funnily enough they are both the same!! And we nailed them, lol:) The rest involved a lot of improvisation on both our parts. At times I go wandering off without Beryl, I've got our next moved planned but forget to tell her what it is. Other times she'll chuck in a move that she thinks is appropriate. And I totally forgot to include her marching, duh, and I filmed about 5 different versions. Enough of my babbling, here is the World Premiere of Beryl and Sue DWTDS - and I think I deserve a medal for my costume, I couldn't have flung anything less flattering together, but I look more like Wal than Wal does lol!
But wait - there's more! We can't leave Frankie out. The excuses background for his video is that he had not 1 second of training, no run throughs of things he can do and the choreography is pretty much all his:) You will notice he isn't wearing the angel wings, they would have been shredded in 10 seconds, lol.
Without further ago here is the World Premiere of Frankie and Sue DWTDS (insert drum roll)
We'd like to thank Honey and Hsin-Yi for coming up with the idea of the competition and all the work they've put into their training tips and videos and the encouragement they've given to those of us who are feeling less than adequate:) You two are a really special team!
Beryl and I had a lot of fun and we haven't finished yet, I'm determined we'll get the marching thing down and who knows what else? Frankie had lots of fun just being himself and participating:)
Now we can relax and look forward to watching all the entries roll in and seeing lots of lovely dogs of all shapes and sizes having fun with their people! You/we all ROCK and are winners because we participated:)
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:)
I'm not sure how many blogs I follow but it's quite a few! A lot more than 6 but only 6 are written by men! All the blogs I follow are doggy related and there are probably zillions of doggy blogs I don't read that are written by men:) But in my limited reading the vast majority are written by women. Is it because we have got more time (!), we are more eloquent, we care more, we like to brag about our kids, we just like to natter about our kids, we got sick of boring our friends so we started a blog but don't really mind if no-one else wants to read about our kids? There are lots more possible reasons, I'm sure, but I'm interested in knowing if you agree with me that most of the doggy (perhaps even animal) blogs are written by women and if you have any ideas as to why:)
I was recently given a Stylish Blogger award
by Sue and Song from Graceful Greyhounds, thank you girls:) I think I'm supposed to pass it on to 7 blogs I enjoy reading but I'm just going to pass it on to the 6 blokes, so here they are in no particular order ....
Coffee With A Canine - who does interviews with people and their dogs and we were delighted to be featured a few weeks ago, thanks Marshal:) A Bit of Loki - apart from having a gorgeous Greyhound, Mr Mischief is into all sorts of imaginative stuff, but you'll have to check his blog out for yourself! A Dogs Journey - which is about Kassa and his very new brother, Ricky. They are 2 ex-racing Greyhounds now enjoying retirement as pets:) Shutterhounds - this is a mixture of Greyhounds and gorgeous photography. If you're interested in either it's a must see:) Whippet Tales - which, funnily enough, is again gorgeous photos but of Whippets this time.
I haven't forgotten the infamous Life With Dogs who surely needs no introduction but I suspect he has probably been given 16,386 of these awards already. I'll let him know I've got one here if he wants it though:)
Now, we really should have a token woman here, shouldn't we? This is where it gets tough as I've found a few really cool blogs in recent weeks but I'm going to give it to a favourite that I've been following for a while and it's Needle Noses which, yes, is about 2 Greyhounds and their Mum has the wickedest sense of humour I've come across ... but she gets that from her Dad I think;)
OK, I did manage 7 blogs! I'm also supposed to tell you 7 things you don't already know about me and/or my kids, and that's harder than finding 7 blogs.
While I try and think of some things you don't already know about us I'll chuck in a video I did today of my Princess running with just a nubbin! The first part I took a few days after she had her tail docked and understandably she isn't running flat out or making any tight turns. Her nubbin probably got a jolt with every step she took! Shortly after I took the first bit of video she took a tumble and hurt her confidence and her nubbin and it took 3 weeks before she would venture into the velodrome again! And she only wanted to run by herself. She's still unsure if she's with other Greyhounds about running with them, but she'll come right. You'll see in the last part of the video, which I took on Friday at the beach, how happy and confident she is running alone:)
Here we go ....
1) Beryl and I are both Australian:)
2) Frankie likes to eat his meals in Beryl's crate.
3) I've got 8 tattoos.
4) I love my iMac computer which I bought nearly a year ago.
5) Beryl has talons instead of toenails!
6) We'd all love to live at the beach (but wouldn't most people with dogs?)
7) I have to get up at 5-15 tomorrow morning for work:(
OK, I know that wasn't very interesting but because I have to get up so early for work and should be in bed now I haven't got time to think of anything imaginative!
But I mustn't forget the Saturday Pet Bloggers Hop
which is co-hosted by the aforementioned Life With Dogs and you can find the instructions on his blog. Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Seeya ....
What did we do again ... we went to the beach last evening:) That's the second time this week for my two. No, they're not spoilt, lol! This time the kids and I had company. Fatima bought along Louie and her foster dog, Snapper, and we stopped in at the GAP kennels and picked up Kenzo and Ellie (who is a human!). We didn't see any seals but that didn't stop the kids from having fun. Snapper (in the green muzzle) and Kenzo were in total Greyhound heaven! I took heaps of photos so I'll let them tell you all about it ....
Snapper walking on water to save Frankie
Hmm, not a greyt success!
Probably the only time Kenzo took the lead:)
But he soon looked back for his mate, Snapper
As always, Frankie is a Greyhound Magnet:)
The obligatory "I'm Pretty" photo of the Princess:)
I'm coming Mum:)
She's enjoying the sea:)
Beryl hasn't swum yet. I think she wants me to go out deeper with her, and I don't blame her. She doesn't go in the sea above her ankles by herself:) But she is getting way more comfortable in the waves. Maybe next time I'll ditch the camera and go out further and see what happens.
Beryl leading the boys on a blat:)
Yes, Louie was there
Did we see a dolphin?
Or was it a humpback whale?
No, it was 2 Greyhounds and a pig dog, lol!
Shake, shake, shake:)
What's Ellie doing?
I'll help you Ellie:)
I'll save you Frankie!!!
Hmm, Snapper isn't getting any better at this, is he?
But wait, there's more!! I took some video:) But it's 3 minutes long as I wanted it for my 'memory box'. So don't feel you HAVE to check it out. It's probably a bit like having to sit through someone else's holiday videos:)
Yes, we all had a wonderful time and I know my kids slept very well last night:) We can't wait to do it all again!!
It was actually Frankie's unofficial birthday yesterday, Valentines Day ... I don't know his real birthday but it's around this time of year. And thanks Kristine (Rescued Insanity) for the birthday wishes for my boy:) But I was busy working and had CGC with Beryl after work so it wasn't much of a day for Frankie. Then I had an unexpected day off today so I asked Frankie if he wanted a party or a trip to the beach, and funnily enough he asked to go to the beach! So we set off this morning to the nearest beach, about 30 minutes away. It was a lovely morning, not too hot with a cool breeze. We can't park at the beach but it's a fairly short walk along a sandy, primitive road (4WD only!) with interesting country on either side.
Frankie in his element:)
Beryl enjoyed it too ....
Yes, this is good:)
When we got to the beach it was deserted, yay! We were wandering along and I was watching Beryl when I heard what I thought was a dog (not Frankie) bark and growl. When I looked to see what was happening, it wasn't another dog that had barked at Frankie but a SEAL!!!
Look what I found, Mum!!
It's a funny dog
By this time Beryl had seen it ....
Whoa, WTF is that????
Whatever you are I don't like you!!
She was barking at it and not at all impressed. I didn't get too close as I didn't want the kids to get any closer either and I didn't want the seal charging us!!
Beryl is still verbally abusing the seal!
Typical female, has to get in the last word as we walk away!
It was pretty uneventful after that little adventure. We had some fun in the sea
Oooo, mind the waves, Beryl!
Look out Frankie!!
Hmm, Frankie can't hear me, no ears!!
Look at the power from Beryl!
Splashing around
We did get overtaken by some people on horses with 3 dogs!! I managed to persuade my kids that we should get out of their way without any trouble. Usually Frankie HAS to check out any dogs he hasn't met but I was glad he wasn't interested in these 3 just in case any of them took a dislike to him!
This looks like fun too:)
All in all I think Frankie enjoyed today much better than yesterday:) And tonight Frankie and I went to Rally O training so both kids are pretty much exhausted.
And, good timing, a very roughly edited video I took today has finished uploading. It's a bit longer than usual (2 mins) but it's probably worth checking out just for the last 30 seconds or so when Beryl takes off and runs for fun! I love watching her galloping, just because she can, and enjoys it so much ....
Oh darn, I just realised I hadn't gotten rid of all my inane babbling on the video, lol!! Oh well, I might re-edit tomorrow night and tidy it up a bit but in the meantime if you want to hear wind noise and me making even more noise have a look at this version;)
Right, it's past my bedtime. I have got a funny, very random photo I took of Frankie today to put up for Wordless Wednesday so I hope you'll come back and have a look and suggest a caption for it:)
We hope everyone has had a lovely Valentines Day. I got extra cuddles from the kids yesterday:)
No work for me yesterday and a lovely day for a trip to the forest/dunes/beach for me and the kids. We met up with my girlfriend and 1 of her Shelties and headed off. We start in the forest, head out through the sand dunes which have quite a lot of pine trees on the edge and Frankie AND Beryl went hunting!! Frankie always does but this was the first time Beryl had joined him. She eventually emerged grinning with her tail tip bleeding a little. She'd obviously done some tail bashing while she was in there. I took quite a few photos but didn't get any 'stunners' and none at the beach as I didn't want to take my camera in the sea in case I got bowled over! As it was Beryl was doing so much splashing around it would have got wet anyway, lol. She had a great time frolicking in the waves. But I know I wasn't as much fun as another Greyhound would have been!
So ... here are a few photos of our morning
Beryl wonders why Connie isn't puffing?
Beryl mooching, Frankie on a mission!
The only other person and dog we saw! A trainer and his Greyhound:)
Hmm, what's over there?
Going up to explore!
Coming back to Mum:)
Sighthound
That's a pretty steep dune after lots of running!
Frankie checking up on us, top left corner:)
Beryl coming over to us, Feral Frankie off on another mission!
Beryl admiring the view
Thanks for that, Connie, I had a wonderful time:)
And I took a little bit of video of Beryl trotting around on the dunes then doing a great recall which finished with her crashing into me, lol. I affectionately called her a bitch, lol! Truly!
I hope everyone is having a great week. And thanks for all the comments on my last post. I'll be 'replying' to some of them in a post soon:)
No, it's not Bully and Nelson, it's our very own Skip and Speed:-) We met these lovely lads today when Sonja and Irene from our local GAP kennels brought them along to join Fatima and I and our kids for a run at the velodrome this afternoon. These guys are young brothers, about 2 years old, and they have never been apart. Now they are in GAP together and we're all hoping they can soon find their forever home together as well. They are virtually joined at the hip as you will see in the videos:-) Skip has got the bit of white on his face and a white chest, Speed is just about all black.
And this is the boys tearing around with their new friends:-) Watch out for Speed doing the 'high' long jump early in the video, it's spectacular! Oh, and Cilla isn't really black, she's an unusual black brindle.
I think the lads will be sleeping soundly tonight! (They sleep cuddled up to each other!) They've never done anything like this before:-)
Yesterday was a very wild Spring day with a big thunderstorm, strong winds and lots of rain. It cleared up for a couple of hours in the afternoon so I took the kids down to the park. Beryl did a few laps on the playing field that was more like a rice paddy and I took some video of our lovely river that isn't so lovely right now!
We've had more rain overnight so I wonder what the river and park will be like when we go down there after lunch ... if we get there, more dark clouds brewing!
And we'll get on the Saturday Blog Hop while I'm here:-) Here's what you have to do (shamelessly copied and pasted from Life With Dogs!)
* Link up your pet blog name and URL using the Linky Tool below. You only need to add your link once to be seen on all the Saturday Pet Blogger Blog Hop Linky Tools for that week. Note that if your blog is not pet related your link will be removed.
* Grab the “Saturday Pet Blogger Blog Hop” button at the upper left of this blog and include it in your Saturday Blog hop post so that your readers will know what is going on. *Note – posting is optional. Feel free to just link and follow.
* Follow your co-hosts listed in the first 3 slots of the Linky Tool.
* 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 blog hop.
* Follow back when you get a new follower through the Saturday Pet Bloggers Blog Hop
Enjoy!
I have actually started doing some training, look at this taken this morning ....
Focused Frankie!
Beryl is looking for crumbs, lol! I started yesterday with them separately, Beryl first while Frankie whined softly at the door "Muuum, what are you doing with Beryl? Why can't I be there too?" So today I had them together and sadly it was better with them apart. Beryl wouldn't stick with Frankie there even though he would hold the stay. It didn't help that she had somehow worked out that we were going for a walk after training at a time we never go down the park!! So she was all excited and really wanted to get cracking rather than lie down:-)
Tonight we had a good moment .... I've been asking her to sit before feeding her dinner for a week (but it's only really been about 4 nights because I keep forgetting to ask her to sit!!) and every other night she's given me the stink eye and walked away muttering to herself "Stoopid Mum, I'm a Princess, I don't have to sit before I eat" then she'll come back, I'll ask again once or twice before she finally does sit. But tonight she sat first time, yay:-)
Give her a few more nights and I'll try putting her bowl down and asking her to wait:-)
And I've got a pretty stiff challenge to try and accomplish in the next 4 weeks. Our Rally O instructor said I should enter Beryl for the competition for our National Dog Show which is being held at a wonderful facility in my town. Nothing like starting at the top!! The problem is Beryl knows NOTHING!!! Just because she bounces around at training having a great time and I can lure her with food and she is quite focused on me doesn't mean she's ready to compete, lol. Although I guess it's a lot better than Frankie who knows everything but is so focused on his environment that I don't exist except as the person who is stopping him from saying hello to that dog over there or sniffing that lovely smell, lol!
So my challenge to myself is to try and get some focus into Frankie and find out what stations I'm likely to strike in Novice and teach them to Beryl. Oh well, it's good to have something to aim for and even if I make a total mess of everything it's all good experience for us. I'm going to reread "When Pigs Fly" again (starting when I finish writing this, lol!) and hopefully will get some ideas now that I'm on a mission!
On lighter note, on Tuesday the kids and I went to visit a friend who lives in a little seaside town about 30 minutes from us. She's got 2 lovely Shetland Sheepdogs who Beryl hadn't met before. We took our kids for a wonderful walk through some pine forest out to sand dunes and then onto the beach and back again. Beryl was so good. Off lead the whole way and having the time of her life. Here are a couple of photos of her
Hmmm, is that me?
Aren't I pretty?
And a little video I took of Beryl at the river the other day with a bit of slow motion fancy stuff, lol.
Right, I'm off to do some reading .... after I've caught up with everyone's blogs:-)
