Airedale grooming day

We had fun at the Airedale terrier grooming day a few weeks back. Two of my younger daughters came too. We got to have good cuddles with Chilli and Elsa.

They are both sweet, good looking 'dales.

This is Elsa, about to be attacked with the clippers. Doesn't she look a lot like me?

Except for the ears, of course.

This is Chilli with Gracie. Chilli is still darker, but she will eventually lighten up the same as Gracie, I think.

She had a funny schnauzer cut when she first came, but we got her looking like a proper Airedale soon enough. So many groomers just can't manage that classic, square dog look.

Gracie and Ginger - they were both being very growly, up on their toes dogs, but the leads were just that bit too short for them to jump on one another. So it was just all bluffing.

The youngsters having a refreshing run when it was all over.

Chillie and Elsa.

Me with Benson - he got such a clip! He was a wooly sheep before and now he looks quite handsome.

Our club secretary and master groomer, showing how it's supposed to be done.

Grand champion Ripley, he knows sooo much about grooming. He's been a show dog all his life. He always looks good.

Gracie, wishing she wasn't still tied up to a picnic table.

Ginger, looking very smart after her grooming.

We did spend a fair bit of the day tied to this picnic table while Kay helped other people with grooming. Luckily there were a constant stream of people who came and petted us and gave us treats. We also got hamburgers on the way home, so a top day out!

what we've been doing

As I mentioned in the last post, there isn't much happening around here that isn't painting or cleaning. Over the last month, everything has been moved in and out of the house at least once.

Here we are, hanging out on the back porch - trying to stay out of the way and not get stepped on.

These daggy looking steps have now been painted charcoal grey and look much better. Ah, the power of paint.

Here is a photo of us helping Neil celebrate winning this big trophy. Seems he was the one who rode his motorbike the most over the year. He was pretty pleased with his win. To me it just meant he had zoomed off without me too many times!

We don't blog so much these days, but we always read everyone else's posts. Kay says it's the only cheerful, non-political news she gets these days (except when it's about one of our friends crossing the bridge - then we get a bit teary and sad). So everyone, stay happy and well!

we revisit Sherwood bridge

We had to go to Sherwood bridge to gather river stones for decorating our garden. There are an amazing amount of stones, so nobody will miss the few buckets that we took.

This might have been the last fun time we had since Christmas. It has been work, work, work ever since!

Neil and Kay built a cool deck up at the Arakoon house. Once the decking was in place I realised that I had the perfect spot to keep an eye on the entire neighbourhood... hah! nothing will escape my eagle eye now. Here is how it looked as it was being built.

Once we got back to Sydney, the work continued. It's all ladders and drop cloths as just about everything is getting a fresh coat of paint. Word is that the house is going 'on the market', which is different from going to the market. Hmmm. Mostly it means less trips to the park for us dogs!

Christmas morning

We had a simple Christmas this year. We are up at the beach house, which is different. We used to rent it out at this time of year before, but have decided to move up here permanently soon, so have it all to ourselves now!

We had already done prezzies with Megan and Marieke last week, but we still had a few more on the morning.
I am a master unwrapper...see the blur that is me, ripping the paper off this one.

Gracie tried to help, but I was fine doing it all myself.

What's this...?

I think it is... yes, it really is... a big Wobble that dispenses food everytime you knock it over! Yay! It took me about 5 seconds to work it out. I whacked it all over the living room getting treats with every swipe.

Kay said I had to give Gracie a chance too, but she was so slow at it - I couldn't watch. Anyway, while she played with the Wobble, I got the rock. It is very chewy and bounces in crazy ways...it's a challenge to work out which way it will go.

Unless Gracie gets it first, then it goes where she goes - and I chase her round the yard until she is too tired to get away from me.

We hope all you doggies in the blogosphere also had a fun day and got lot's of fun toys and all the best for a great new year!

cheers,

Ruby

update on the pupsters

Sometimes we wonder what those puppies are up to in their new homes...
and then we received some photos from Miss Squiggle, now known as Chili.

Doesn't she look just like her big sister, Gracie!

What a cutie.

We also got a gorgeous pic of Elsa (was Purple ribbon) with her pal, Charlie.
She looks just like me! What a handsome girl she is.

They are about six months old now and certainly good looking examples of an Airedale. We've heard reports that the others are doing well too.

Some even auditioned for the Great Gatsby movie, but Baz ended up going with a Schnauzer puppy as our guys were a bit too big for what he had in mind.

Could have been a path to stardom, but it wasn't to be.

Gracie's first trial

Gracie entered her first obedience trial on Saturday evening.

She did really well and got a qualifying score (and ribbon which she is modeling here).

She got a score of 94 out of 100.
The judge said the dog went really well, but it was Kay's sloppy
handling that lost most of the points - ha!

Two more of these certificates and Gracie will have her Community Companion Dog (CCD) title!

I, ahem, unfortunately bombed out of my class. The Open class is MUCH more difficult than the CCD ring and although I started out really well, I lost concentration after awhile :(

Lucky Gracie was there to bring home a win for Team Airedale.

dawn patrol

5:07 am, Monday morning...

5:12 am, Monday morning...

5:20am, Monday morning...

(Accompanied with deep sighs and slight moaning)

5:25am, Monday morning....

6:00am, Monday morning...

Success!