GC's got talent.... Results!

Well apparently Brody and I have got Talent - we won the most talented teachers award! Yay!

Look out Nationals and NDTA here we come

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.

Another big doggie weekend

This weekend we had two doggie events, but unfortunately Brody was not at his best! Since nationals (still waiting for photos and videos to post from the Paws N Music at Nationals!) he hasn't been eating properly, and the Friday night he threw up, poor boy!

On Saturday we were part of the Paws N Music demonstration at the Wag N Walk. The Wag N Walk is a big doggie festive in the Milford Reserve, North Shore.

Its a fun walk, lots of demonstrations, competitions, and stalls with pet products. IT was also fundraising for the SPCA, and Paw Justice.

From Choredography we had Suzanne with Finnegan, Suzanna with Monty, Hsin - Yi with Honey, Michelle with Moss, me and Brody, with Jan on the microphone. See Honeys blog for Hsin-Yi's take on the event!

Brody was great despite obviously feeling not too great, he just wasnt quite his ADHD self. His routine was great, he hit everything except his weave was a bit wonky, but thats ok! We get a great cheer from the crowd, and lots of 'Ooooohhhsss'.

Then on Sunday we had the Counties agility championship show. Brody was very tired, but managed to get two clear rounds (Starters and Jumpers C), but was a bit slow as he was tired, so missed out on placing.

Weekend doggy events

This weekend we had two interesting doggy events. On Saturday night we performed a demonstration with other Choredography dogs at a Ceroc Dance party, that was fundraising for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The dance was being held in

Edgewater College, in the school hall... which unfortunately meant slippery wooden floors. And also swarms of people sitting around the edge of the hall. This was really NOT ideal for dancing dogs!!

Although some dogs (i.e. Brody) coped better that others, it was fair to say that the performance was not great! They all slipped everywhere, Moss was freaked out by the loud microphone noise, and Honey just could NOT figure out what that weird slippery floor thing was!

For a bit of entertainment, take a look at the video that Hsin-Yi made of the night.

On Sunday Brody and I ventured, yet again to Ardmore in the ongoing battle I like to call obedience. We went out with Debbie and her dogs Bailey and Tia, and for once Brody actually behaved relatively well in the ring!! It was the Manakau Obedience Championship show, and we entered Elementary. I'm very proud to say, that Brody got second!! Yay, progress!! My goal is for him to graduate out of Elementary this year, only one win to go!

I will post a pic of him soon with his pretty ribbon :-)

2009 Eukanuba Nationals - Fielding

Last Wednesday Brody and I embarked on a great adventure - our first Nationals. We left in convey with Michelle, Jan, and Janna in two campervans, and made it to Fielding a mere seven hours later.

To our great joy we were to be camping in the event centre's carpark for the week, without power. On the plus side there were half decent toilets and showers pretty close, and the centre where it was all heppening was literally 100m away!

After setting up, and getting settled in it was down to buisness. On the Thursday the first of our group, Michelle was competing with Bodie in the Obedience curtain raiser event. He did very well, despite being a little over prepaired by Jan, with some pretty good heelwork and a nice recall and retrieve. Pity it was out in the carpark with a cone boundry rope!

Then I had my first glimpse into the strange world of Breed shows..... We ventured into the centre, and started wandering. After visiting the stalls, and checking out all the food stalls, I settled down to watch the breed shows. After a week I still dont really know how it works, it was definately an experience. The thing that got me the most was the amount of dogs that peed and pooped in the ring! And also the crazy costumes they were put in to keep their fur nice between shows... And I though obedience people were weird! (Just kidding).

Then came Friday.... The big day!! Friday night the Paws 'N Music event was held in the main

ring, in the centre. Scary! Michelle and I were competing with Brody and Moss, and Jan was judging, so a big day for our group. After a day of nerves it was time for the big event. The show started at 7pm, and I was 7th in the elementary group. Over 500 tickets had been pre-sold, and two big grandstands were full. I was SSOOOO nervous!

But it went great, despite some dubious practice in the corridor beforehand.

My new imporved part of the routine (with human props Kelly and Michelle) went great, he was totally focused! Just a little coughing incident, and a few bits that were not as well timed as I would like, but he hit all his tricks. Michelle and Moss's routine was in Novice, and she was competing against Chelsea Mariner, with a very different type of routine. And it went great, and Moss mostly behaved.

And then the prizegiving..... So nervous! My main goal was that Brody get all his tricks, and I would like to place. And then we won!!!! Yay I was SO happy! ANd to make it better, Ngaire with Risky got third (another Choredography dog). And Michelle and Moss won Novice! What a great night, Jan was so proud!

And of course, true to form, Brody slipped his collar and bolted... running through the crowds to dash into the mens bathroom. He came back, eventually!

So Brody is the New Zealand Elementary Paws 'N Music Champion for 2009!!

Friday was a very nervous day for Michelle (and

Jan) as she was also competing in Novice with Bodie inside. He was great, did very well, great retrieve, and stuck his stays.

I also was lucky enough to meet another of Brody's sister Fusion. She definately takes off her mum, very husky looking. She also ran in agility later in the week.

Saturday was a nervous day for Jan, as she was cometing in Test B with Onyx, who is a pretty young dog, in a very competitive grade.

He did great though, just a bit of a short send away. We also watched the junior handler competitions in the evening, which were heaps of fun. It was great to see so many young handlers doing so well. And having heaps of fun.

Sunday was Janna's day, competing in the big Test C with True. He definately did Janna proud, with some beautiful heelwork, and he seemed to have fun!

Sunday was all the Best in Breed and other big competitions, which again was interesting to watch! Kelly (the prop in my routine) was competing for best young handler, to win a trip to compete in Crufts. And lots of the other winners did a parade, which was nice to see. Pity that they didnt want any Paws 'N Music demos. Oh well. Then came the big news..... Snow everywhere and the desert road closed! Dramas! Sunday night Brody and I checked into the local holiday park, as the others were leaving in the morning.

Monday and Tuesday were the agility competitions, and it was very cool to see the big centre all changed around for agility. We competed in Starters and Novice on Monday, and we achieved my goal - a clear round! I was stoked, he was pretty fast, and did his weaves first time. Novice wasnt so good, he was getting really tired. He got all his contacts, but didnt want to weave, so we just ran and had fun.

On Monday we ran Jumpers in the morning before we left, and we were both super tired, so just had fun. Then we

had to drive home, which was somewhat of a mission due to all the snow! We had to go National park, as the Desert road was closed. But that was kind of cool as Brody had his first ever romp in the snow.

Then we got home, and blobbed out! Two very tired people.... Well one human and a dog.

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!!!

Brody's competitions in the holidays

This holidays Brody had a couple of different competitions. In the first weekend we entered in an elementary class at an obedience champ show, and Brody (for once in obedience!) did really well. His heelwork, which is usually the issue, was fantastic... only half a point off! But unfortunately he broke his sit stay. We would have won if he had stuck the stays!! But a third place ribbon was pretty good.

This Saturday we entered the Paws n music show, that was run in conjunction with the Ardmore Bennefit show.

It was a great competition, once I got over the nerves it was kind of fun! And it was great to see all the dogs we have been training with do their routines.

Brody did ok, I was a little bit disapointed because he had itchy ears (allergies!) and kept shaking his head, and this made him miss a few moves. Also my timing was a little of. But it was pretty good for our first performance!

We were placed first in Elementary heel work to music, but as we were the only competitior (the others were classed in freestyle) it dosent really count! But overall we had the second highest points, and considering that he kept shaking his head I was pretty happy with that.

So we will keep working on the routine for the upcoming local show, and Nationals in October.

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!