posted 25 Feb 2012 00:42 by Carole McNie
Sherry has done really well today, competing in her first obedience championship show in Special Beginners and coming second on 72 points out of 75. Not bad at all. This was done at Levin on a lovely day, not much wind and not too much sun to make us too hot. She did pretty well in the heel work, a really good recall and perfect in her sit and down stays. I was very proud of her.
See Sherry's Breed and Obedience show achievements pages for other achievements.
|
posted 14 Nov 2011 16:57 by Carole McNie
A new page is in the process of being created with the story of our recent South Island adventure. Please be patient as these things take time to create, but rest assured it will be loaded as soon as it is finished.
Here are one or two photos for you to enjoy. |
posted 21 Aug 2011 21:29 by Carole McNie
It's been a long time since I have updated my website but then again, nothing out of the ordinary has been happening really so nothing to report on. However, last week, mid August, we had an event worth noting - it snowed in Wellington - in fact it snowed just about everywhere in the country. This is most unusual and although I have seen a few flakes fall on rare occasions when I have been here I haven't really seen it settle like it did last week. And to cap it all off we had a couple of power cuts too and our heat pump didn't seem to like the extreme cold and so we were left heaterless for a couple of days.
The dogs had three cosy nights sleeping with us in the bedroom with the radiator on. Surprisingly our four large dogs were very quiet all night long and didn't wake us with their dreams or snoring. They also had a couple of days cooped up in the office with me as the rest of the house was so cold, (7.5 degrees brrr) so the radiator, dogs and I all hibernated in the office while I was working. They actually seemed quite happy so long as they got their walks each day.
On the Monday I took them for a walk in the snow to the top of the hills here - Sugarloaf Rock - to get a view of the Hutt Valley. Below are some photos from the walk.  |
posted 20 Dec 2010 17:18 by Carole McNie
We had a super day on Sunday 13 February 2011. What started out as a thought that we would be at the dog show just for the morning and then would probably be home by lunch time turned into a marathon effort with us not arriving home until 7.15pm.
Both Sherry and Shadow were competing, Sherry in Puppy and Shadow in Open. Sherry was the only puppy bitch so she got through in her class automatically (see video below). Shadow, on the other hand, had three others to compete against and I was absolutely chuffed because she got second. Not only that, but she felt like she was beginning to enjoy running with me and that was really lovely to feel that in her (see video below).Neither dogs did anything in the bitch line up, although Shadow did have to enter the ring with someone else because the other Open Bitch actually won the challenge. That was the end of Shadow's day.
Sherry had to go back into the ring to compete against the Dog Puppy and lo and behold, she won. So then we had to wait around for the Puppy of Group award. By this time it was exceedingly hot and it was hard to keep both humans and dogs cool. However, it was well worth the wait because Sherry actually won! First time to win against other breeds of dogs. That was very exciting and below is a video of that prestigious win.Of course, this meant that we had to stay for the "In Show" awards, so that meant moving the van so it was closer to the ring and enabled us to provide ourselves and the dogs with a bit of shade to sit in. It must have been 28 or 29 degrees by mid afternoon and very hot both in and out of the sun. When we went in the ring for the "In show" awards the judge would send us out of the ring once she had seen our dog to find some shade while she checked other dogs over. We all entered the ring again at the end for the awarding of the prize. Sherry didn't win this one, but it was very exciting to actually be in the line up and I hope I did her justice. What a great day.(Click to enlarge photo)Photo of the line up for Puppy in Show - the boxer won on the day. |
posted 12 Dec 2010 00:46 by Carole McNie
[
updated 12 Dec 2010 20:00
]
Well, what a surprise we had this weekend. We went to Hastings for shows and this was the first time that Shadow was going back in the ring after having her puppies. Sherry was also competing. Talk about hot. We drove up first thing on Saturday morning and the weather was hot and muggy with heavy cloud cover. Gosh, we could have fallen over with the heat.
This was the first time that I had two dogs in a show and so once I had Sherry in and out of the ring I had to get Shadow ready to go in the ring. Sherry won her class as she was the only bitch puppy but Shadow was up against two others in the Open class. Well, I couldn't believe it when she was selected as first.
Shadow being checked over by the judge
Shadow wins her class
That left me with a sudden dilemma because I had to go straight back in the ring for the bitch challenge with both Shadow and Sherry. I was very lucky that Caroline was on hand and offered to take Sherry in as she knows her from when she was a puppy staying with Jan.
So in we went and did the round the ring thing with Shadow ahead of all the others, and blow me down if she didn't win! I just couldn't believe it and there were lots of congratulations from the other people.
Shadow wins her CC (excuse the fact that the photographer cut off the celebration, you can only just see that the judge had awarded the win to us before he had hit the "off" button!)
But it wasn't over yet. We went back in the ring to go up against the dog for best in breed and lost out to the dog, but when the 2nd dog came in Shadow beat him for Reserve of Breed. So well done Shadow - Bitch CC and Reserve of Breed.
(click to enlarge photos)
Then I had to go back in the ring with Sherry again who went up against the boy for best Puppy of Breed. Well, it was my day because she won that too. So great excitement.
Sherry got Puppy of Breed again on Sunday afternoon by default as everyone else pulled out due to the heat I think, but we didn't get anything in the group award.
Nothing else happened for the rest of the weekend except I got raving hayfever, but we were well chuffed with ourselves, especially as I wasn't really expecting Shadow to do anything at all.
Look at the wonderful sunset we camped out under on Saturday night.
|
posted 13 Nov 2010 19:40 by Carole McNie
[
updated 14 Nov 2010 00:29
]
Today we went to the Golden Retriever Christmas Party and had some great fun. The weather was much nicer than had been predicted all week and, although it was a bit windy, it didn't really affect us too much.
The dogs were very excited to be going to the Christmas Party and got themselves all dressed up and posed before we left (see below).(click to enlarge photos) Left to right Front: Sherry, Phoenix, Kula. Back: Murphy, Shadow Murphy poses on his own (right)Then we were on our way.On the way to the party in the van. Once we got there it was fun, fun, fun all the time. Below is a video of Murphy meeting his new friends for the first time including Kylo who is a sister he hasn't met since they left home at 8 weeks. He was very interested in her, seemed to know that he recognised this one.Murphy meets friendsMurphy meets Tawny (left). Sherry and Kylo play (right).The first "event" was pigeon retrieve. Sherry had limited success with the pigeon retrieve, but look at Murphy go in the video below.Murphy pigeon retrieveSherry pigeon retrieveThe next event is a rather challenging event for a golden retriever - the sausage retrieve. I'm not sure that any of them managed to bring the sausage back to their owners today! Good to see them having a go though.Kylo sausage retrieve Murphy sausage retrieveSherry sausage retrieveThen it was time for the humans to have a bit of lunch and the dogs to have another run around.Follow the leader (Shadow, unknown puppy, Murphy with Sherry in the foreground) (left). Jeff with Murphy (right). Golden family (left to right) Kylo, Teah, Lexi, Phoenix, Murphy, Sherry, Shadow, Kula at back (left). Shadow and Murphy wait for their turn (right).The beautiful Phoenix in action (left). The lovely Shadow in action (right).Shadow waits (left). Murphy trots off (right).Murphy, Kylo and Sherry playAfter a bit of lunch it was in to the "Dress up race". Jeff was videoing this and although he got some of it okay, towards the end I think the fact that he had been awake for over 24 hours started to show and he got the wobbles - however, you get the drift with the film. Phoenix (who I was dressing up) is absolutely wonderful because she doesn't move an inch and just waits patiently and then trots along after me without a lead to tag the other participant. Shadow waits with Rob for her turn at the dress up race.After this race we spent a little bit of time playing with the agility equipment and then it was time to go home. However, another bit of exciting news for the afternoon was that Marco was in Porirua with his owner attending a seminar and so we popped along to see him on the way home. He had been banished from the car because he was in the process of eating it, but we got Shadow, Sherry and Murphy to come along and meet him outside.Marco poses (left). Marco, Shadow, Sherry and Murphy (right).After that meeting it was home for a rest. All the dogs were pretty bushed and found sheltered spots to lie in around the house/deck. Sherry and Murphy were especially worn out. It had been a big day for them.Sherry on the deck (left). Murphy outside the back door (right).Snooze time. Happy dogs at the end of a BIG day. Note: Murphy ate his dinner tonight and then didn't even move away from his bowl, he went to sleep right there! |
posted 8 Nov 2010 15:05 by Carole McNie
[
updated 16 Nov 2010 01:25
]
Murphy came to stay with us on Monday. Sherry was very much looking forward to seeing her brother but the other girls were still trying to recover from a trip to Taupo at the weekend.
Murphy arrived mid morning and proceeded to play with Sherry as is normal with puppies. However, I did get the impression that the play was somewhat lazy and therefore I think that Sherry was actually still a bit tired too. See video below of lazy play.On that very first day we went for a nice walk to the river. Murphy doesn't swim - or didn't... he does now! Within 15 minutes of being at the river with the other dogs he was suddenly in and out of his depth and absolutely fine about it. He came out, ran around as if he had just got the shock of his life, but then settled into a more "look what I just did" mode. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera but I took a video on my phone of the second time he went in and you can see Murphy going in twice in this video. I just had to record his first day of swimming (see video below).Day 2 dawned and Murphy had been a really good dog during the night. He has never been crated since he left here as an 8 week old puppy, but I put him in a crate to sleep in the lounge last night and was preparing for a bit of a fuss. Well, there was not a peep... in fact he was still in the same position in the morning as he had been when I put him in there last night, so I'm not sure whether he bothered to turn around or not. He really didn't seem to be bothered at all. He was pleased to see us and the other dogs though. Murphy clearly was under the impression that he could jump on our bed - he only did it once - that is not acceptable in our house and he is a really quick learner.
Part of poor Murphy's morning was spent being groomed. Again, he was not bothered by this at all. He sat up on the grooming table to have his neck and ears trimmed, then laid down while his feet were being done. Last of all he was put on the floor to have feet and tail finished and he basically nodded off to sleep, in fact he was snoring! Once I managed to wake him up I took him outside to trim his nails. He wasn't too bothered with that although I got the impression he would rather not have them done, but it was simple enough.
Then we went off for a walk down the river again. I think Murphy was a bit tired as he loped along behind us and occasionally had a gallop around with Sherry, but on the whole was happy having a sniff. He went in the river again and had a little swim. The weather today is fantastic, probably about 23 degrees, so all the dogs appreciated a nice dip. Then back home again and after a little snooze he was russed up by Peter and Sherry to have a tug of war game (see video below).
The next day was a fairly quiet day. The morning was spent just lazing around at home. Murphy watched me do the hoovering from a distance and played on and off with Sherry. I decide to brave a walk in the bush near our house today. The reason I say brave is that it meant that I would have to walk five dogs around the streets to get to the bush walk and I didn't know how that would go. However, it was really great and I wouldn't have a problem doing it again. No-one pulled, Murphy got the hang of walking beside me fairly quickly, Shadow and Sherry were in front and Kula and Phoenix bringing up the rear.
We had a lovely walk through the bush to a little grassy clearing where the dogs had a bit of fun (see photos and video below).
(click to enlarge photos)
Sherry and Murphy in the grass (left). Back to fighting again (right).
In the video below notice how Phoenix is getting in on the action. She is mainly playing with Shadow, and Sherry and Murphy are rough and tumbling together, but its great to see her enjoying herself. She has certainly changed since she had her eyes operated on as she would not have been able to do this before the operation . Her eyesight is improving every day and it's just wonderful to see her run round like this and get excited.
After the walk Sherry and Murphy had to be put in the dog run as I had to go out for a while. They seemed quite happy when I got back - the water bowl was full of mud and Sherry had sand on her back so I guess they had had a bit of fun!
The evenings (on nice days) are spent out on the lawn, Sherry and Murphy together, playing and getting up to mischief. Tonight they had a communal stick chewing time (see below) and were very happy.
Thursday dawned another lovely day. The morning was spent doing the normal things that dogs do, resting, playing, resting, playing, drinking, resting, playing. Murphy learn't a lesson today - not to put his paws in the water bowl and play, at least not in the water bowl indoors or outside the back door. What he does with the water bowl in the dog run when he is in there is up to him!
In the afternoon we went for a lovely walk up the Korokoro Stream. It was very hot so a swim in the water was always on the cards. Murphy seemed to enjoy himself.
(click to enlarge photos)
Murphy gets wet (left). Phoenix cools off in the stream (right).
Kula and Sherry share stick retrieving duties (below).
Meanwhile, back at home the dogs are kept well in order by each other and by Peter.
I'll nibble your back (left). Keep still, ouch, that hurts (centre). Gottcha (right).
Buddies - Sherry and Murphy do everything together (left), even get pinned down by Peter (right).
Phoenix decided she would put the pups in their place, and in particular Sherry. However, I'm not sure that sneezing at her over and over again is achieving the desired effect, as Sherry keeps coming back for more (see below, you need sound for this one)!
Friday was a day for more fun. Sherry and Murphy are inseparable and are always found together, either out in the garden doing a communal stick chewing event, or running round bickering over the smallest piece of a toy that they can find in the house.
We had another lovely walk at the river today, but it was a bit windy as you will hear on the video. Murphy enjoys himself when he is not being ambushed by his sister!
 Murphy has a sniff in the grass at the river (above).
Murphy swims (below)Shadow fishes for stones. Feeling the bottom for one (top left). Nose under (top right). Dive, dive, dive (bottom left). Got it (bottom right).
Poor Murphy, after making sure Phoenix is under control (although Phoenix really had chosen to roll over and dry herself) Sherry proceeds to ambush Murphy. She does this a lot, especially when he is not looking and is perhaps just enjoying sniffing the grass or just looking the other way.
Sherry actually hammered Murphy good and proper in another ambush today and left Murphy limping for a few minutes :-( Once the walk is over Sherry and Murphy are pictured below waiting to be dried off with the towel before getting into the van.
Saturday came and finally the puppies had crashed. They had a really quiet day sleeping and only half heartedly playing. I think the last few days had finally caught up with them. It suited us because we were busy in the garden. Later on in the day they just got a 20 minute walk around the local park as I had hurt my back and didn't want to go any further than that, but that seemed to suit everyone.
A typical breakfast (left). Murphy and Sherry play a lazy game of tug o stick (right).
Lazy stick chewing (left). All tired out Sherry and Murphy (right).
Sunday dawned and it was the Golden Retriever Christmas Party day. The dogs were so excited and there was so much fun had that there is a separate News item for this special day. Click on this link to see all the fun - Golden Retriever Christmas Party.
Monday was a quiet day after the fun of Sunday. We had a walk in the bush around 4pm and once I let Shadow off, Shadow, Kula, Sherry and Murphy all disappeared into the bush and I could hear frantic barking. At first I thought it was another dog but then I realised that my four had gone and it was probably Shadow barking. I then knew that she was on the scent of something and the others had gone off with her. So I had a few moments of frantically calling hoping that they wouldn't get lost or caught up in branches etc. A week ago I would not have been confident that Murphy would come back, but he is well set in the "pack" now and looks to me for guidance, so I knew he would come back with the others when they had finished their chasing. Lo and behold, they did turn up, all four of them panting madly but looking so happy with themselves! That was a relief.
The only other thing that happened was that I lost a lead on that walk. I only realised when I was at the end of the walk and because I had obedience training with Sherry, didn't have time to go back to find it. Eventually we went back out into the bush after 7pm and I found the lead three quarters of the way down the track. That was lucky!
What's this silly toy doing?
Sherry found it hard to control her tail in the wind!
Tuesday is Murphy's last day with us as he goes home tomorrow. We will miss him. He has been fun and I think he has learnt a lot as he has had to deal with a lot of new things that he was not used to. He especially enjoyed my sons racing around.
Murphy has had to learn to fight dirty because Sherry does and she hammers him all the time. He has got better at sticking up for himself and occasionally gets Sherry down.
He had a final trim and a bath today. I thought the bath might be a problem as he didn't like his legs being hosed off the other day. However, with Jeff''s help the bath was really quite a calm effort and I was most surprised.
Murphy after his bath
We had a last lovely walk up Normandale today. The dogs played through the pine trees and enjoyed running around.
I am sure Murphy has enjoyed his "holiday" with us and hopefully we will get the chance to play with him again soon.
|
posted 2 Nov 2010 23:29 by Carole McNie
Today Sherry had a visitor, her brother Murphy. He came to visit for half a day and after having a play in the garden, we then packed them all into the newly fitted out van and went up to Normandale where we had a lovely wander. At the top we tried to pose the dogs and get a few photos, you decide which one you like best!
(click to enlarge photos)
Murphy's quite at home in the van with the others. Left to right: Sherry, Murphy, Phoenix and Shadow (Kula was hiding behind Shadow).
Pose nos. 1 and 2, left to right: Lexi, Teah, Murphy, Holly, Sherry, Kula, Shadow, Phoenix.
Pose nos. 3 and 4: Same order except Murphy is on the far left on his own a bit - he took a while to decide to stay put!
Back at home the dogs all had a nice sleep and Murphy spent his time sleeping in the study with me while I was working.
Later this evening Sherry showed a new skill - soccer. She is very keen on playing soccer with Peter and has learnt how to pick up the ball. Watch that waggy tail, it just doesn't stop! |
posted 17 Oct 2010 17:22 by Carole McNie
Sherry had her first outdoor show yesterday at Ashurst. The weather forcast was appalling but it turned out to be not too bad. We left the worst of the rain and wind in Wellington for the day. As we got closer to Ashurst the weather improved until it was almost sunny. There was certainly not much wind there.
This was Sherry's first foray into the "Puppy" class as she is now over 6 months old and so too old to be a "Baby Puppy". She came third in her class out of three but that was no surprise as she is not balanced at the moment and runs with a hump in her back. However, I thought she ran really nicely for me and she didn't try and trip me up or bite me, which is something that she has had a go at recently! Below is a video of her at the show. You will notice that when the judge was in front of her she moved back a bit - that was caused by her lips being stuck to her teeth so when the judge tried to look in her mouth it took a bit to move her lips off her teeth and she didn't like it!Sherry has also been training for obedience so she has been a busy girl. Below is a video of part of her training at home.
To see a photo of Sherry at 6 months, go to her web page. Click here.
|
posted 25 Sep 2010 19:01 by Carole McNie
Yesterday was one of those lovely Wellington days, the sun was out and the sky was blue and it was a great day to go to the beach. There was a bit of wind, but where we went to it was quite sheltered and you could even believe that summer might be coming!
This was the first time we had seen Kylo in a long time and it was quite interesting really, as she is definitely a mix between Shadow and Gambler. She has part of Shadow's head and her eyes, but a longer nose which is more like Sherry's. She also has a similar coat and body to Sherry which is more in line with Gambler than Shadow. Anyway, Kylo is a pretty puppy and nice and lively and happy.
Below are some photos and videos of our time on the beach. The puppies are about 5 and a half months old now. One of the videos shows Phoenix doing a bit of running with the other dogs which is really great news because she had stopped that before she had her cataract operation because she had lost too much sight. So although her sight is still not as good as it's going to be in a few months' time, it is already better than before the operation.
(click on photos to enlarge)
Kylo licks her lips at the beach (left). Sherry in a typical pose (right).
Sherry and Kylo having fun at the beach.
Kylo wasn't sure about the water before she came for a walk with us - after half an hour or so look at her here!
(click to enlarge photos)
Sherry watching something on the park (left). Sherry grabs hold of mum (right).
I've added this video because it shows Phoenix running around a bit with the other dogs. She did get waylaid by a nice smell so it was left to poor Shadow to race the puppies. As time goes on Phoenix's sight will improve and I will expect her to be racing around even more.
|
|
