Our new handmade tags

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

When we received a little parcel from the United States last week, I wondered who it was from and what it was. Mum opened it up and we found a sweet little box and a lovely card like this.



Look at what we found in the box!! Our new tags!!



In addition to our new collars remade from our old Premier collars, our humans bought new tags for us, because we were still using our old tags with our old phone number three months after we moved out of our old house.

Don't you think they are beautiful? They look great especially on our new AroundAHound collars! Both our tags are two layered; Mint's one has got a red star over a round tag with his name engraved, and my one has got a crown engraved as 'Princess' over a round tag with my name engraved.

A few weeks ago Mum found a website called 'Etsy', where people sell handmade and vintage items. Each seller on the website has her/his own shop, and the shop we bought our new tags from is called 'Very Vintage'. Mum says that it was really hard to decide which ones to order, because there were so many unique and beautiful tags available from the shop.

Both Mint and I like our new tags. They clink as the two layers collide with each other when we move, just like little bells that cats wears on their collars. Our humans say that now they can tell where we are without actually seeing us.

Obedience trial

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

On Saturday both Mint and I entered an obedience trial. It was Mint's first ever trial. Because Mum didn't want us to feel too stressy or bored in the competition ring, she entered us for practise, not for competing. If you are not competing, your human can bring toys into the ring or get out of the ring to give you some food reward between exercises, if the judge agrees. Although I competed in several obedience trials last year, Mum wanted to use the opportunity for practise again to make a fresh start.

Well, Mum's bad feeling was right. I found it a little boring. So, I didn't stay as close to Mum as I should in the Heelwork, and at the end of the Recall I just couldn't help going to check something I had found during the Heelwork and eating it, when I was supposed to sit immediately after running to Mum.



In the hindsight it was kind of unlucky. The trial was scheduled to start at 1pm. So, Mum started warming-up with me just over ten minutes to one. However, when the judge and steward came to the ring, it was already 1:30pm, which means we had to wait on the ringside for more than thirty minutes! But, I know I shouldn't complain, as such things happen all the time in competitions.


Comparing to me, Mint was lucky because he didn't have to wait on the ringside so long. Mint was waiting in our crate in the car until my run finished. After my run, Mum went back to the car, took Mint out, did some warm-up with him before his run.

It was his first trial, but he didn't look stressy or anything. Although his nose went to the floor for a second right after he started walking in the Heelwork, he did great otherwise, according to Mum (I didn't see it because I was waiting in our crate in the car).



Mum did the Sit and Down Stays with Mint. Mum was not confident with Mint's stays, as he often lies down when he is doing the Sit Stay. But, it seems he stayed sitting without problem.



Well, I have to admit that Mint beat me this time. But, I did great too when I entered a trial for the first time. So, you never know how he will do next time! Hee hee.

Honey's 'Dancing with the Doggie Stars’ contest!!!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Tell you what! I am going to JUDGE a doggy dancing contest!! Can you believe it? Do you think I am just kidding? No! You are WRONG! I am actually going to be one of three judges of 'Dancing with the Doggie Stars', a doggy dancing contest hosted by my greatest friend Honey the Great Dane.



As some of you know, Honey is the very doggy who introduced me to the world of dog dancing two years ago. It was at a One-Minute Busking competition in August 2009 that I had the first taste of dog dancing. For those who are not familiar with One-Minute Busking competitions, they are events where doggies with no experience in dancing can try it out using music provided by the event organiser. They don't need to do any preparation like creating their own routine in advance. All they need to do is DANCE to the music! I entered one of those competitions after Honey told me about it only two days before the competition. Because I didn't know anything about dancing, I visited Honey's home with my Mum to practise a little bit the day before the competition. Then, in the competition I actually did some tricks but that was nothing you could call dancing.

Despite the failed attempt in the busking competition, Mum somehow thought that it would be nice if I could learn to dance like Honey. So, I attended a tricks class for novice dog dancers at Manukau Dog Training Club and, after graduating from the class, Mum made the first routine for me. Since then, I have demonstrated the routine in several events and I even competed in a real dancing competition at National Dog Training Assembly last October. Although I wasn't placed in the competition, many humans told me that I had done very well, which made both Mum and me very happy!

Going back to talk about Honey's competition, when she invited me to get involved in the competition, I was not sure if I was the right doggy to do such an important job, because I had never won a prize or anything in dog dancing competitions. But, on the other hand, I thought that it would be a good opportunity to promote our breed, the Beagles! As you may know, we Beagles are typically thought to be one of the most difficult breeds to train. But, in fact, there are some fantastic Beagles who have shown what we can do if their humans put real effort into it.

Look at my friend in Japan, Purin the Super Beagle, for example.



She is a five-year-old female Beagle. She has been demonstrating her great tricks on YouTube, on TV, and in dog events, and recently she has even appeared in a TV commercial! Oh, I should suggest that she enter Honey's contest too!!

If we Beagles can do it, anyone can! Actually different breeds may do things differently. So, I can't wait to see entries from various breeds!!

In Honey's 'Dancing with the Doggie Stars’ contest, you can use any motivators such as food or toys unlike real-world competitions, and your performance will be judged by its originality and creativity, not by the level of perfection. So, you can enter it without feeling pressured. Also, I heard that there are great prizes. The deadline for entries is June the 15th. For more details of the contest, visit Honey's blog. I look forward to seeing your wonderful performance!!

Our new remade collars

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Look at these collars Mint and I are wearing! They have been remade from old Premier collars.




Actually those Premier collars were not very old, but they were unusable because they had been chewed through halfway by Mint. My Mum was thinking about throwing them away, but she kept them anyway hoping to find a way to utilize them. Then, she read this post by our friends, Helen, Arrow, and Snoopy. Helen makes and sells handmade collars as AroundAHound and she has come up with a great idea of recycling old/unused collars and making new collars using parts of the old ones!

Both Mint and I love our new collars, but especially the blue suits Mint, doesn't it? Mum thinks that he looks like a male fashion model!

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.