It's likely to become another busy year

Hello! Mint here again!

I had another busy weekend starting on Friday.

On Friday I attended a summer camp of the Camp Quality as an Outreach Therapy Pet and had a lots of fun with many kids and other therapy pets.

I shook hands with many kids.

Saying hello to Mr Donkey as well.

Everyone was having a great time!

On Saturday I attended the Informative Day for Outreach Therapy Pets volunteers interested in joining Foundation Courses for therapy dogs with their own dogs, and I demonstrated some off-leash work that they are going to learn on one of the courses and some tricks that I am going to help teach in a new tricks class for therapy dogs.

Waiting for my turn to do a demo.

On Sunday I went to the Hound Racing with Cinnamon!! We LOVE racing!! It's exciting and lots of fun!

Cinnamon the hunter!

Cinnamon was running ahead of the lure!

Wait! 

I am flying!

Tug of war!

I wonder what I am going to do next weekend!!!!

Busy busy weekend - Hound Racing Club Xmas coursing and a dog dancing demo for the Labrador Club

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

On Sunday of our busy weekend, we went to Ardmore New Zealand Kennel Club Exhibition Centre to attend two events at the same time!

The coursing of the Hound Racing Club was scheduled to start at 10am. But, when we arrived at 9:30am, the course had already been set up. It seemed everyone had looked forward to the coursing so much!

As the other even we were attending was to start at 10:30am, Mum asked the club president if Mint and I could run in the first race. I got so excited that it was really hard not to bark!!!

After having one race, we quickly moved to the inside of a building where we were going to do a demonstration of dog dancing for the Labrador Club.

As you may know, I am a little reactive to other dogs. So, Mum was very worried that I might bark at the audience of the demo. But, as I always say, she always worries too much!

Five dogs, including Mint and me, performed their dance routines in front of many Labrador Retrievers and their owners.

Cinnamon: http://youtu.be/MT_LOFfdToo

Fletcher: http://youtu.be/gyGT9pKw_PM

Sophie: http://youtu.be/WjeO26y-glo

Mint: http://youtu.be/81X58t6NmY0

Emma: http://youtu.be/DTJbRm5F3aU

Everyone did very well and were well received by the audience. In the audience there were dogs and their owners who trained in a CGC preparation class with me two and a half years ago. As they knew how naughty and reactive I had used to be, they were very impressed with my improvement.

After the dog dancing demonstration, we went back to the Hound Racing Club and had another two races.

It was a really busy weekend, but we had so much fun!!

Wordless Wednesday

Our Year 2011

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Can you believe that another year has passed already? What was the year like for you? The year has brought us a lot of changes and surprises.

January 2011

In mid January Mint was hospitalized. It seemed that Mint had eaten something toxic, which paralysed his nerve system, but the vet couldn't figure out what Mint had eaten. It took a few weeks before he got back to his normal self.

In the following week after Mint came back home, we moved from our previous house to a rental house where we lived for two months until our humans found, bought, and moved to our new house. When we were living in the rental house, we had a chance to go on a trip to Rotorua.

In late February there was a big earthquake in Christchurch and many humans and doggies lost their houses, which was really sad. And less than three weeks later there were even bigger earthquakes in Japan. Watching roads and buildings being pushed away and flattened by big waves caused by Tsunami was really saddening. Many lives were lost. Now, more than nine months later, there are still areas no one is allowed to enter because of radiation contamination. All I can now is believe in people's strength to overcome challenges.

Four days after the earthquakes and tsunami in Japan, we moved from the rental house to our new house. Our previous house was close to the city centre, only fifteen minutes by bus from a bus stop in front of the house to the city centre. Our new house is far away from downtown, but for giving up the proximity to the city centre, we got a great living environment for both humans and dogs.

In early June, I had the honor to be a member of the judge panel for my friend Honey the Great Dane's "Dancing with the Doggie Stars" contest. It was rewarding to see so many doggies and their humans with no experience in dancing working so hard on their routines while enjoying the time spent together. A few days later Mint got placed the first for the first time in an Obedience trial!!

In mid July my dearest boy friend Mango the Mastiff took me to a Dream Date full of adventures!!

In late July I turned four years old and on my birthday I enjoyed my birthday cake that Mum had made for me.

In late October we went to Porirua, Wellington, 600km away from our house, to compete in a national dog dancing competition, and, as many of you know, I won and Mint got the second place in the Elementary Freestyle class!

In November Mint made a debut in an agility trial, and in December I won the Elementary B class and Mint got his first clear round in another agility trial!

December 2011

Well, that's our year 2011.

We wish you all the best for the year 2012!!!

Back in racing!! This time with new friends!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

We went to the lure coursing of the Hound Racing Club yesterday. The club has coursing once or twice a month except during winter when the ground is too wet, but we couldn't attend it for about three months because my humans were too busy.

This time our blog friends Arrow and Snoopy also came. When my Mum asked their human, who makes handmade collars, to recycle our old collars to make new ones, Mum asked her if she was interested in the lure coursing that was taking place just a few days later.

Look at these videos. Both Arrow and Snoopy are really fast, aren't they? I knew Arrow is a high speed runner as he is a greyhound bred for it, but I didn't know Snoopy is also really fast.

We had a great time running together

Snoopy is a cutie :-)

Arrow is a natural born racer!

On the other hand I have to say Mint is not a really fast runner. Did you see how he ran in the videos? I know he was running at his full throttle, but he never caught up with the leading runners. In fact my Mum is a little worried about Mint's future as an agility dog. Is he going to learn to run faster? Anyway he is starting in beginner agility class at Manukau Dog Training Club this week. I will let you know how it goes.

New Racing Season has started!

Hi! Cinnamon here!

Thank you for all your lovely comments on our performance in the Paws N Music competition at the NDTA (National Dog Training Assembly). I am sorry I haven't been able to visit your blogs to say hello or reply to those who left comments on my last post. We have been crazily busy these days, as my humans have been busy with their work and also some renovation work has been going on in our house. But on the weekend we managed to get out to attend the first coursing of the Hound Racing Club after a winter break.

This time Mint joined the race the first time. When I ran in the hound racing for the first time, I quickly understood what I had to do. But, it seems Mint didn't get it right away. He was more interested in other dogs running with him than a lure that he was meant to chase.

This time my Mum's friend's dog Kuro and the friend's friend's dogs Marvi and Miria also came along. Unfortunately Miria couldn't run with her sister because she was wearing an Elizabethan collar, having just had a spay operation. I hope Kuro and Marvi enjoyed themselves as much as I did!

Kuro

Marvi

Miria

Photo book "BEAGLE STORY 2009" and "Fetch!" magazine

Hi, it's Cinnamon!

On Saturday a parcel arrived from Japan, and in the box I found this special photo book of Cookie and me, "BEAGLE STORY 2009 - COOKIE AND CINNAMON"!



Back in January Mum found a special offer on a Japanese online content sharing website Life-X: 'An online photo book shop Photoback will make a photo book for you for free if you upload ten or more photos to an online photo album on our website'. So, we signed up for the campaign "Reflect back your memories from 2009" and got this special photo book for free!



It was not easy to choose only 36 photos for the photo book from a huge number of photos taken last year. In order to put as many photos as possible, Mum created a number of collages.



You can see some of the photos we chose for the photo book here! We are very happy to have such a great memorabilia that will be a fantastic tribute to Cookie!!

Although the first copy was free, my humans are now thinking about ordering an extra copy which costs 1,890 Japanese yen (about US$20), because the photo book came out so great! Yes, they have fallen for the shop's marketing tactic!!


Also, I have been in a magazine article recently, as I mentioned briefly in my previous post.

The magazine "Fetch!" is a new New Zealand dog mazagine launched in December. Late last year my friend Honey the Great Dane's human, Hsin-Yi, wrote an article about the Hound Racing Club that I belong to for the second issue of the magazine. She even interviewed my Mum! Thank you so much, Hsin-Yi!!

In the article they talk about Cookie as well, but the photos were taken after he crossed the rainbow bridge, so there is no photo of him in the article unfortunately.

Look at these! Can you find me on the pages?

I was so happy when Bella and Barry the Beagles, who I met at the last coursing of the Hound Racing Club, contacted me after finding me in this magazine!

Sweet Friends Award! ... and Beagle friends

Hi, it's Cinnamon!

My blog friends always brighten my day, and one of them has made me even happier by giving me an award called Sweet Friends Award!

The friend who gave me this award is Lexi the Great Dane, who I had met in person and played together at Honey the Great Dane's birthday party last November. Thanks so much, Lexi! I hope we can meet up for a walk or something soon!

The Sweet Friends Award has the following rules:

1. Copy the image and paste it to your blog.
2. List 10 things that make you happy, do one of them today.
3. Select 10 bloggers who brighten your day.

Here is a list of things that make me happy:

1. Hugs, cuddles, and lots of attention
2. Sniffing
3. Hound racing (lure coursing), i.e. running and chasing
4. Practising tricks and dancing
5. Friends, both real-world ones and bloggy ones
6. Balls, both big and small
7. Stuffie friends
8. Anywhere I can hide, e.g. behind a couch or under a bed or table
9. Mum and Dad
10. FOOOOOOOOOD!!!

Ten blog friends are too many to choose, so I have chosen the following three bloggers.

Jackal - He always gives me helpful tips on my training. Thanks!
Pepper - My new friend in New Zealand. She is a really smart puppy!
Chrissy - Her blog does brighten everyone's day!


Speaking of friends, I've been meeting so many Beagle friends lately. Is our popularity skyrocketing?

For example, last Wednesday and Thursday in a row, I met Louie at a nearby park by chance.



On Friday a woman talked to us, when I was walking with my Mum, and said "I have a Beagle! She had a swim for the first time yesterday!" Then, Mum and the woman had a little chat on a footpath, forgetting about me who was waiting beside Mum patiently and nicely.

On Saturday I met this new Beagle called Harvey at another nearby park.



And on Sunday I met Bella & Barry and Rosie at hound racing!



While I had met Rosie at hound racing several times before, I met Bella and Barry for the first time. Their humans found us in an article about our hound racing club in a New Zealand dog magazine "Fetch!"(Honey's human wrote the article!) and searched for information about the club on the Internet. Then, they came across my blog and contacted me by peemail. I was so happy to see new Beagles at racing! Louie who I met during the week had also been to racing before.



Hay, Beagles across Auckland! Come and join us!

My entries to Mango Minster and Dog Pile Competition

Hi, it's Cinnamon!!

As you all know, Mango is holding a wonderful dog event called "Mango Minster 2010" right now and the entry is due to close on Wednesday, the 27th January. Although I wanted to ask my dad to take a special photo for my entry, his new camera had been sent to Japan for repair, so I looked through photos stored in mum's computer and chose one that would be a perfect entry to the Hound Dogs group I am entering. Yes, I am hunting a rabbit (not real one though) in the photo!!

For those who can't figure out what I am doing in this photo, here is a video of my fantastic run at Hound Racing.

I have also entered Biggie's "Dog Pile Competition," one of competitions being held at Mango Minster. The one who has piled up the biggest number of items on himself will win the competition. But, unfortunately I am not a big doggy, so I went for showing my nice stuffie friends. I managed to pile up as many as six friends on me with Mum's help. They are Red, Horse, Green, Doggy 1, Doggy 2, and Cow from bottom to top. Although you might think that some of them seem like leaning against the wall behind me, they actually are NOT touching the wall.

In fact, the original photo I first thought about entering was this one.

But, as you can see the legs of my biggest stuffie mate, Ben, are touching the floor, which might be a violation of the competition's rules. So, I had to ask him to stand back and supervise the photoshooting. I think he did a great job for me!

Peacock, puppies, and racing

Hi, it's Cinnamon. I hope you all had a great weekend! I had a wonderful weekend with lovely weather.

On Friday my humans and I went to Auckland Regional Botanic Gardens, one of my favorite places, and I met a peacock there. I had been to the place many times, but I had never seen a peacock there. I wonder where he came from. From the Auckland Zoo, where my Mum says she has seen a peacock walking around freely? But, do you think a peacock can fly from the Zoo to the Botanic Gardens over 25km away?

Look, I found a peacock across a pond!



He was showing off a display of his beautiful feathers.

Later I went over to have a closer look.



My Mum told me not to scare him, so it was the closest I was able to get to him. But anyway we had to leave as it started raining. I hope to meet him again when I go there next time!


On Saturday we went to a dog show at New Zealand Kennel Club Ardmore Exhibition Centre to meet my breeders and their Beagles including a litter born in late November. I think I behaved very well while I was there, quietly watching the puppies eating their breakfast and treats. I think my breeders were impressed by how good I was, because they gave me a dried tendon too.








On Sunday we had this year's first coursing of the Hound Racing Club at NZKC Ardmore Exhibition Centre. I love racing more than anything! I was so excited that I just couldn't stop barking while I was hearing the noise of the reeling machine. I had a great run with my team mates, Holly the Poodle and Chloe the Beagle.









Look at our fantastic run!!