GC Talent Show

Today Brody and I participated in the schools talent show... GC's got Talent!

It went ok, except that the floor was super slippery (so Brody couldn't do some things properly), I was paranoid that he was going to bolt into all the students, also we ran out of room moving forward in the first part and had to stop and stand there!

All in all it was alright, but I definitely need to do more work, mostly on me dancing better and being more theatrical.

August.... baths, vets, competitions, and basketball

Hey Everyone,

So the last few weeks, as per normal I have been far too busy!!

At school I have almost finished with basketball, which will be great as it takes up a lot of time. The season went well, lots of new girls,

and lots of fun. My top U17 team is playing in the final for their grade tonight, and hav

e qualified for the Greater Auckland Secondary schools tournament, which is next Wednesday.

Also my Tutor class (kind of like a

form class) has just completed our entry for the Fair Go secondary school ad competition, which looks awesome! The competition was to create a 30 second ad that promotes, or tries to sell an unpopular school subject. My students did a great job, and I cant wait to see the results! It was a bit of a rush in the end, with the final edit burning onto disk approximately 30m yesterday, rushed to the courier, as entries were due by 5pm today!!

I will post the video as soon as the judging is complete, I'm so proud!!

Brody's allergies have been playing up again (itchy skin and ears, lethargic and sad, upset tummy) so he has been back to the vet, his diet re-adjusted, and some more tablets! Poor boy, it has been affecting his competitions, as he is a bit down in the ring, and has to stop shake his head or scratch!!

We have had a couple of competitions in the last few weeks, with some success.....

We had the second Paws 'N Music competition at Ardmore, which was really good because heaps of my students from NSDTC (the new tricks class) came and had a go in the busking section, and Brody and I performed our routine to a much better standard, even though he has still a bit sick! But unfortunately the judge thought that we were placed in the wrong section (there are two grades) and marked us down heaps. So we placed third, which is good, but first would have been nice :-) It was also cool because we might be shown in the filming of a kids TV show that was doing a piece on Honey the Great Dane and her owner Hsin-Yi. I was jumping around in the background with Brody with their interview, trying to keep him under control!

Then on Sunday we did Elementary obedience at the Ardmore Benefit Show. We have been having some 'issues' with heelwork in the ring (its not as exciting as tricks or agility!!), so I tried to trick him into thinking it was tricks, by setting him up with some tricks before heelwork. It worked a treat, his heelwork was great!! Then he broke his sit stay... tried to go and say hi to a German Shepherd.

So the judge gave me my points at the end with the comment "That was a pity, you would have won if he didnt break the sit stay"!!! One day it will happen. Hopefully. I dont want to be in Elementary for ever!!!

Catch up on what's happened in 2009...

This is a bit of what's been happening this year for me:

• I'm back at Glenfield College teaching in a permanent full time position. Teaching Senior Biology, junior science, and some junior maths (aahh!!)

• Still coaching the school girls basketball teams (they are doing well this year!), and also assisting in the coaching of the North Harbour U17 Rep team. We went to nationals and came third.

• Matt and I broke up. Very sad, but we are both happier now.

• Still doing HEAPS of doggy stuff with Brody and at club - still plugging away at obedience, doing better at agility (we have just been upgraded to the 8pm competitive class at club! And I'm instructing a new tricks class at club, and we are about to enter our first Heel work to music competition! See the video on the right for a look at us practising the routine.

• Brody, Max and I have recently moved into a cute little 1 bedroom flat in Torbay - pics coming as soon as its looking neat and tidy and how I want it to look!