Hound Racing Club on TV!

Tell you what! We appeared on TV yesterday, in a programme called "Animal Academy" presented by Olympic Gold Medallist Sarah Ulmer and Wildlife Park Ranger Jeremy Maguire. In yesterday's programme they featured the Hound Racing Club that Cookie and Cinnamon belong to.

In February a TV crew came to our coursing to film us (Click here to read about the coursing), but at that time I didn't know what they were filming for. All I was told was that the crew came from Christchurch, so I thought they were filming for a local television there. But, it was actually for a popular animal programme on a county-wide channel.



At the time of filming, Cinnamon was not allowed to run, only a few of weeks after she had a mysterious sickness (My very first blog post was about it), so she stayed in a crate while we were there on the New Zealand Kennel Club Auckland Exhibition Centre Grounds that day.



The TV crew were interviewing some members of the club, but they didn't talk to us at all, so I thought we wouldn't appear on the screen. But, Cookie and I actually did! If you are in New Zealand, you can watch the programme online here (The Hound Racing Club appears in the latter half of the section 1).

You can only see us briefly several times. But, we can say that we were on the screen, can't we?


As many of you know, our blog friend Honey the Great Dane appeared on TV and showed dancing performance with her human in July (Click here to see her post about it). But, it was not the only TV appearance of our friends.

Our agility club mates Buffy the Miniature Schnauzer and her human (They were our partners in an agility relay competition in July) were also on TV a while ago! In the programme they were taught how to solve her separation anxiety. You can watch the programme here (I don't know whether you can view it from outside New Zealand or not. If you can't, you can read the full story here).


Are all our doggy friends appearing on TV in turn?

Well done, Cinnamon!!! (Continued)

Yesterday the owner of a cat that Cinnamon helped find when he was missing (See here if you haven't read about it) brought this orchid plant in appreciation of our help with the search (To be honest I don't think we did anything special except that Cinnamon showed us where to search. So, it should be credited to Cinnamon!). The cat owner said that her cat, Oscar, was doing well and now he was afraid of going across the road where he had been hit by a car.


I will show you how determined Cookie can get. He has always been like this. Once he decides where to go, he doesn't move in any other direction. At this time I had to lure him with a treat stick to make him move toward home, as he was still not allowed to walk a long distance.

Cookie, now you can walk!

Cookie had his first short walk after a two-week complete rest.

This morning Cookie looked so bored and unhappy in his crate that I decided to take him for a very short walk.











His walking looked almost normal when he was walking fast. He was really enjoying the walk and wanted to walk more. He was so determined to go across a busy road in front of our house that I had to pick him up and bring him back home in my arms!



As Cookie was not allowed to walk outside for the last couple of weeks, Cinnamon had walks alone without Cookie. It though was a great opportunity to do walking obedience training with Cinnamon. She in fact walked very nicely, maybe partly because I was using an Easy Walk Harness on her, although she still couldn't resist putting her nose to the ground sometimes.



She also enjoyed running around with other dogs she met at parks to make up for not being able to play with Cookie at home.



There is something I recently noticed about Cinnamon. I have been trying to train her not to bark at other dogs she meets in her walks. At first I thought she was barking at other dogs from overexcitement, but it seems she is actually barking from fear and anxiety, which she seems to have difficulty in dealing with especially when she is on the lead. When she is off the lead, she is much calmer and barks much less.

Another couple of days...

Many thanks to everyone who has kindly sent Cookie get well wishes! I am glad to tell you that he's doing much better now. Although his walking is still a bit wobbly, which might have now become a permanent condition, he looks much more lively. Being bored staying in his crate most of the day, he has been saying 'Grrrr' and scratching the net screen from time to time.



He has even found a way to open a zipper of his crate to get out!!



Cookie, stay there for another couple of days, and you can begin to have short walks again!!


Well, as many of you already know, our great blog friend Honey the Great Dane is having the Spectacular Slobber Contest. The entries have now been closed and the voting has begun! If you haven't voted yet, visit her blog and vote!! The voting will close on Sunday 30th August.

Practising 'Rear Cross'

We have been practising 'Rear Cross' for a few days. I felt the need to master the skill when we couldn't switch the sides smoothly in our 'Clear Round' run at Tauranga Jumpers Championship. In the run I intended to switch the sides with 'Front Cross' right after a tunnel, but I couldn't do it smoothly as Cinnamon came out of the tunnel much faster than I had expected.






In the agility class this week, I had trouble switching the sides again. This time, again, I was thinking about switching the sides right after a tunnel, because I didn't want to slow Cinnamon down by doing a switch before a tunnel, one of obstacles that she is often reluctant to do.



I started practising 'Rear Cross' with shadow training without Cinnamon and then brought Cinnamon in to do ground training without using real jumps. Things went well up to this stage, but I found the next step using real jumps really hard. A problem is that Cinnamon sometimes spins in a wrong direction after doing a jump right after rear cross, before going to the correct side. Now I am thinking about using a toy or something as a target in order to make her turn to the correct side without spinning in a wrong direction.

I hope to be able to report some progress in our next post.