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!!!

Merry Christmas! ... and our first swim at K9 Aqua

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Merry Christmas, everyone!! I hope you all are having a great day with your family and friends.

Well, do you want to know what Santa brought for us this year?

It's SWIMMING!!

How do you think he brought it to our place? By bringing along a swimming pool? No way! That's impossible, you know. Instead, he arranged so that we could have a swim in a doggy swimming pool at a place called K9 Aqua. (Yes, it means that we didn't need to clean our veranda. But, that's OK, as it anyway needed to be cleaned.)

Actually Santa's present for us arrived a day earlier, on the 24th.

In the morning Mint and I had breakfast a little earlier than usual, and its amount was less than usual. I didn't know why, but I just thought that Mum might have forgot what time we usually have breakfast, as she is so forgetful.

Three hours later Mum and Dad told us to get in the car. Neither Mint nor I knew where we were going. About twenty minutes later, we arrived here.

But, I still didn't know what we were in for. We patiently waited in our crate for whatever was happening.

Then, as a dog came out of a building, Mum took me into the building. Inside I was put on something thick and uncomfortable. I knew what it was, as I had worn it several times before. Then, it rang a bell ... It's swimming!

At first I was a little scared of the deep water.

But, I quickly figured out what I needed to do.

Yes, I can swim!!

After I enjoyed swimming for about twenty minutes, it was Mint's turn. For Mint, who had never swum before, it was going to be the very first swim!

Even wearing a lifejacket was a completely new experience for Mint, so he looked really timid when he was walking up the ramp.

It was so funny to watch Mint trying to keep a hind paw up above the water surface!

But, thanks to the instructor's assistence, he was able to float about ten minutes later.

And soon he started swimming!

I was very impressed how brave my cowardly little brother had become!

Here is a video of our first swim.

Both of us enjoyed Santa's present for us, our first swim at K9 Aqua. I hope everyone has got a nice present from Santa too :-)

Preparing to welcome Santa!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

Are you ready to welcome Santa yet? Well, today we cleaned our dirty verandah as a preparation to welcome Santa, as we have no chimney Santa can use.

Look at this!! It was so dirty.

Most of this mess was made by birds that came under the roof to take shelter from rain during a very wet, miserable week we had recently.

But, today Mum cleaned all the bird droppings using a waterbluster.

Here we have a clean verandah that Santa can walk on to get into our house. If it is raining at that time, his reindeer can even take shelter there while waiting for Santa.

I will just have to remember to unlock a window by our crates before getting in there to sleep, so that Santa can come in. I wonder what he will bring for us!


P.S. My thoughts are with people and dogs in Christchurch where there were several large earthquakes again today. Although, according to news reports, damages haven't been as bad as those caused by those massive quakes in March, I can't imagine how frightening it must have been to them.

Beagle Christmas Fun Day

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

On the weekend before the last, we went to the Auckland Beagle Club Christmas Fun Day held in Cornwall Park.

I was really excited to meet many other Beagles again. As some of you may know, I am not particularly friendly to other dogs. But, I don't feel so anxious or nervous if the other dogs are also Beagles. So, this time I had a wonderful time with other participants.

The event started with a walk to the top of One Tree Hill. The hill is called One Tree Hill, because there used to be one big tree on the summit. But, after an activist badly damaged the tree, causing danger to visitors, the tree was taken down for safety. From the top of the hill, you have a 360 degree panorama view of Auckland city. Here is a snapshot of Mint and me taken there.

Can you see a small tower behind us? That is Sky Tower, the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.

After the walk, we did some games, of which Mint and I joined one each. Mint joined a game of finding biscuits scattered around on the grass. Although Mint found four biscuits, they were not enough to win the game. I took part in a seven-legged race. I think you all know three-legged races, where humans race in pairs with the right leg of the person on the left and the left leg of the person on the right tied together. The race we did is similar but seven-legged, instead of three-legged, because one dog joined each pair to make the total number of legs seven. Unfortunately we couldn't win again, as the winning team was unbelievably fast!


After all the games finished, the winner of the amazing/funny story competition was announced. My mum had sent them two entries. One is about Mint, who strangely dislikes the sound made when Mum cooks something on a frying pan. So, he always goes under Dad's chair and hides there until Mum finishes cooking. If any door or French window is open, he evacuates from the room through it. Our second entry was our dancing videos at NDOA. And, our second entry, the dance videos, was chosen as the winner of the competition!! As a prize, we got a dog bed, dog treats, a jacket, a collar, a lead, and many toys!  I was overwhelmed to receive such a great prize!



During the fun day event, our peer Beagles also enjoyed trying out Agility using gears that we had brought for it. The day may not be so far away when the Auckland Beagle Club Agility Team is formed!!

Resurgence of Cinnamon the Agility Beagle!

Hi! It's Cinnamon.

I did it! I did it! I won in an Agility trial for the first time!!

I entered my first agility trial two years ago just before I turned two years old, but I had to stop doing Agility a few months later because I started having pain in my hip joints. After retiring from Agility, I started doing dog dancing instead, with restriction that I must avoid jumping moves, and in fact my training in dog dancing has helped improve my hip condition, as the muscles around my hips strengthened through regular exercises.

Because I don't feel much pain in my hips anymore, my humans have decided to let me do my favorite dog sport, Agility, once again. But, this time they are doing it with caution. When I was doing Agility two years ago, I practised it almost every day, but now I practise it only once a week in order to avoid too much stress on my hips.

As I reported on this blog earlier, last month I made a come-back in Agility trials after a two-year break. Although I got a clear round in Elementary B in the trial, my run was far too slow to get placed, partly because of my Mum's clumsy handling. Two weeks later, I went to another Agility trial but couldn't get a clear round because of a refusal at a tunnel.

This weekend we went to my third trial, in Cambridge, about 150 km away from our house, and both Mint and I entered three classes, Elementary B, Jumpers C, and Starters.  Elementary B is a class for new handlers with new dogs, who have got no previous wins.

Our first runs of the day were in Jumpers C. Mint went first and I went after several dogs following him. Mint started nicely but missed a jump near the end of the course and had to retry it, resulting in not a clear round. I ran wonderfully and Mum looked super happy when we finished the course. But...it turned out that Mum had made a critical mistake of missing a jump, resulting in a disqualification! Silly Mum again!! 

Cinnamon

Then we ran in Elementary B. This time I went first and Mint went after several dogs following me. Both of us did really well, and in fact I WON it and Mint got the 2nd Place!! It was also Mint's first clear round!

After a long wait, Mint entered an Obedience trial in Elementary class. But, he was tired from the two agility runs already and looked absent-minded, according to Mum. His heelwork was so so, but in the recall he didn't sit in front of Mum straight away and instead he walked around Mum before sitting nicely in front of her. I had been entered in the same class, but I didn't do it because I had my next Agility run at the same time. Also, Mint couldn't do the Stays in the Obedience trial, because it collided with his next Agility run.

Mint

I did very well in Starters too and got another clear round, although I wasted a few seconds because of Mum's mishandling again. (Later it turned out that I had got a ribbon for the fourth place!) Mint ran very well too, but he couldn't go through a collapsible tunnel, the second obstacle from the last, and he got disqualified.

All in all we did wonderfully. Don't you think so? I wanted to show ribbons we got in the trial here, but I can't because we couldn't stay until the prizegiving so we had to ask someone else to take them for us and bring them back to Auckland.

Our next Agility trial is in January in the New Year. In the next trial we are not eligible to enter Elementary B anymore now that I have won once. But, I hope I can report good results again.