It's been a year since...

It is the first anniversary of Cookie's departure over the rainbow bridge. I wonder what he will say if he sees me now. Or, has he been watching me all the time since he left us? I wish there were three of us together, Cookie, Mint, and me. It would have been so nice.

Rally Obedience seminar

Hi! Cinnamon here.

Mint and I attended a Rally Obedience seminar at NorWest Dog Training Club in Kumeu on Saturday.



When Mum told me we were going to the seminar, I wondered what she was talking about, as I had never heard of Rally Obedience, or Rally-O. But, Mum said that she had been looking for a place where we could to the dog sport in Auckland for more than a year and finally found information about the seminar on a New Zealand Rally Obedience Yahoo group.

Both Mum and Dad were very busy as the renovation of our house was still going on, but they felt sorry for having had to keep us in our crates for long hours every day while tradesmen were working in the house. So, they decided to have a special day off and took us to NorWest Dog Training Club to try out Rally-O.



It was so much fun!! We dogs don't have to stick to the handler as closely as we do in traditional obedience, and we can do a variety of exercises, such as sit in front, weaves, and spirals (For more information and resources about Rally Obedience, see here).




Although I couldn't keep my nose off the ground when I tried out a whole course, I think I did pretty well. You know, it is so hard to keep my nose off the ground, especially on the grass in an unfamiliar place. I usually practise dog dancing and obedience indoors at Ardmore New Zealand Kennel Club Exhibition Centre. But, on the grass I catch far more interesting smells than I do when I practise indoors!!

I think Mint did well too. As long as Mum held some food in her hand, Mint kept all his attention on her and did most exercises in a course without problem. But, with no food in Mum's hand, his concentration didn't last long and he started pulling the lead after several obstacles.




As there aren't many people and dogs doing Rally-O in New Zealand, the instructors of yesterday's seminar, President and Treasurer of New Zealand Association of Rally Obedience, are working hard to attract more people and dogs into the sport. At the moment they are looking for dog training clubs in and around Auckland that are interested in holding a Rally-O seminar in the upcoming holiday season when there aren't many obedience and agility trials. So, please contact them if your club might be interested in it!

In a lunch break we also had a great time playing with a ball with rope and a mini frisbee!!

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

Finally, my FIRST dancing competition!!!

Hi. It's Cinnamon.

I am sorry I didn't blog for such a long time. My Mum was so busy that she couldn't help me write new posts. She is still busy but she agreed to help me write this post because we wanted to report on our VERY FIRST dancing competition at The National Dog Training Assembly (NDTA).

NDTA was held in Taupo, a resort town by Lake Taupo, the largest lake in the country

As the name indicates, many doggies gathered from across the country for the annual dog obedience and agility event. Earlier this year there were two local dog dancing competitions planned but they both ended up being cancelled because of lack of entries. So, this national event became my very first dancing competition.

I entered the Elementary class which fourteen dogs entered. I was the fifth in the running order. I thought that I would be very nervous in the competition, but I didn't get so nervous and instead I enjoyed dancing in front of a big audience of about two hundred.

I think I did pretty well, although I have to admit that I kept sniffing during our routine, as I just couldn't ignore interesting new smells other doggies had left. Actually my Mum was very worried that I might start looking for food during the routine, because some part of the dancing ring had been a waiting area for obedience competitions held before the dancing competition, where food was allowed.

After our performance, many people told us that our dance had been great. It seems that the audience's favourite part of our routine was the finish where I ran toward Mum, turned, backed up through Mum's legs, and put my fore-paws on Mum's shoulders.

Here is a video of my performance in the competition:

Although I didn't get placed (Prizes were given to top three dogs in the class), some people said to us 'You should've been placed!', which made both Mum and me very happy. :-)

Dacing on a stage and my allergy

Hi, it's Cinnamon.

Mum has been so busy that she couldn't help me post on my blog for such a long time!

Last weekend we did a dance demonstration again. As Dad didn't go with us, I don't have any photos from the event, Wag 'n Walk. But, my friend Bodie the Border Terrier's mum kindly asked her friend to video my performance (You can see it here). Thanks Bodie's mum and her friend!

Well, as you can see in the video, I didn't dance very well. In the first place, it was a very hard condition; we had to dance on a small stage with a narrow catwalk. Also, as soon as I got on the stage, I caught nice foodie smells under tables on the stage and couldn't help checking them. But, I couldn't reach the source of the smells because I was caught by a man, who was so mean that he took away a plastic tray for donuts and a cardboard box for a pizza that I had found!!

Then, just when Mum was trying to guide me to the starting position, the music started. Also, as I had never been on a stage before, I had to check every corner of it during our routine.

We are going to do this Lollipop routine once more at NDTA (National Dog Training Assembly) later this month. Although it is going to be our very first dance competition, Mum is thinking about making it the last time we will do this routine, as we have been doing the same routine since March.

Before I go, I will show you what a hard time I had to go through.



This strange object I am wearing is called an Elizabethan Collar. Have you ever had to wear it? I had to wear it for the first time recently. My vet says that I am allergic to a type of plant called Wandering Jew, so I had to be treated with some ointment and then wear this strange thing for an hour after that.