down by the riverside

We were out in the country last weekend and stopped by this fun little spot.
It's the Sherwood Rd bridge over the Macleay River, just west of Kempsey.

Very interesting with all these smooth stones.

The water was lovely and cold - it sure was flowing briskly too.

But that didn't stop me. I did a lot of fetching of sticks.

Gracie wouldn't swim, she just paddled at the edges
- she's going to have to learn how to swim soon, to be a proper Airedale.

She would steal my sticks as soon as I brought them to shore.

What a pest!

And off she'd bolt...

Kay always says Gracie runs like a jackrabbit - look at the Airedale bunny.

Very pleased with herself here - that was a very good stick.

I went back to exploring the riverbanks... very interesting smells... could even be RATS!
...or something very like them.

Gracie, the gannet

Have I ever mentioned that Gracie is a total guts and gobbles down any food she can find? Neil always calls her a gannet (those seabirds that swallow big fish down in one gulp) because she does the same with all her food.

So, I guess it wasn't such a surprise to see her in action with her birthday 'cake' (really a lot of smaller pieces of yummy liver cake).


Kay set up a table full of fabulous new toys for her - I was well and truly envious, I can tell you. But did Gracie go for the new chewber or the wonderful soft, chewy squirrel or the little bird toy that cheeps just like a real bird...?

No, as soon as that Airedale nose detected liver cake, she was into it.

She tried to eat it all in one gulp. Kay had to intervene, but it was too late. Luckily the video cuts out before showing Gracie going off and choking and vomiting it all back up. I won't even mention what came next.... but it was all cleaned up pretty quickly.

Happy birthday puppies!

Gracie and her brothers are a year old today! Happy birthday to them all.

How cute they were then.

That's Bossley, Fozzie, Ringo, Wendell, Gracie and Diesel. What a lot of fun they were... until they ate us out of house and home, drove me crazy and had to leave quick smart to their new families.

Ahh, the joy of puppies!

Gracie doesn't know, but she is having a surprise party this afternoon and meeting up with Fozzie and Ringo for a playdate on Saturday.

agility practice

Gracie and I are practicing our agility skills these days. Kay is trying to teach Gracie how to run weave poles using the channel technique. I get to have a go as well (even though I really do know how to do them)

It's so easy. You just run straight through and get the stuffie toy and have a little game of tug.

Gracie needed guidance and didn't even want the stuffie - unbelieveable! What is wrong with that grrrl?? I guess she's still a youngster

Fetch the paper

Although Kay and Neil read the news online most of the time, they do get the Saturday papers delivered to our door. I think they do this for me mostly, as I love to race down the hall and fetch them.

Unfortunately, now I have to share the fun with Gracie. Luckily the paper comes in two parts.

She doesn't even know what she's doing and slows me down big time. But she just has to be part of it. Have I mentioned what a pest she is?

Anyway, here is the video of this morning's excitement. Kay is not impressed that we have footage of her in pajamas and robe... but hey, not my fault - that's what she looks like early in the morning.

We get lots of yummy liver bits with this game...
and Kay and Neil get a slobbery newspaper, delivered to hand.

Fun day

Last Sunday we went to the Airedale fun day. It turned out to be a lovely day - lots of Airedale friends and wonderful sunny weather.

Kay and Neil set up a small agility course for us all to play on. Many of the Dales had not seen a any agility equipment before, so we gave them lots of time to practice before we had a race.

Little Gracie and Kay were the fastest of all! It should have been me, but Neil is new to agility and he was just so slow. Hmmph.

Best of all was Major, an older Dale who is nearly totally blind - but he did the whole course, over jumps, up the A frame, through the tunnel and weave poles - he was amazing. We gave him a special prize. He just trusts his Janine so much, he follows her voice anywhere.

We also played a soccer relay in honour of the World Cup. I thought all the kicking was just silly, so I picked the ball up and carried it to the finish line, but even then, our team didn't win. I did win the Recall race however, so that was something.

Unfortunately, not many photos were taken on the day (Kay and Neil were too busy organising the games, I guess). You will have to go over to Noah's blog for more photos.

But we did get some pics of Fozzie and Diesel - Gracie's brothers. They are looking very handsome and it was great to see them together. What lovely boys they are.

Diesel (was Purple ribbon puppy)

Fozzie (was Blue ribbon puppy) and Diesel at the back.

backyard fun

We have a nice big backyard up at Arakoon - great for running off excess energy.

See us go zoomies as I try to catch that little pest, Gracie.
She sure is fast. She's always the one in front.

See that big burn mark on the grass? That's where Neil set the lawn mower on fire. He got really excited and burnt up several towels and rags trying to put it out. Kay finally brought out the fire extinguisher and that did the trick. Exciting stuff.

Here are some stills taken from the zoomie movie.



Look at us, Airedales in full flight!