LOL! I heard a low rumbling noise and thought “Thunder?” Nope—it was Socks snoring! 

Nice!

New program for the Lure Coursing Club for 2025 just published. Starts next month. Might even enter trials this year.

Just wonder how she will behave. The superfast last run of 2024 saw her just chasing the lure—so intensely that she didn’t slow down like the dogs all do near the end of the course (which is also the start of the course) and had to do a very fast deceleration. The first run that day, run at normal speed she showed clever anticipation as to where the lure would go: that behavior might cost her points in a trial. Have a few months to see how she does.

Hope they run a superfast run or two for Socks. Shit she can

RUN!

Nah, a sausage roll maybe 10 times a year won’t do her any harm. She has burned some energy so a bit of meat and fat won’t harm her. She is in good form, very healthy and energetic.

Back from a 3Km walk with Socks.

Forgot I meant to make chocolate gelato    Ah well, tomorrow.

Off to the dog park soon.

Did a 5Km walk of the mutt today, mostly on dirt roads. Was looking for blackberries, saw some vines but no fruit.

Took a wrong turn—found something nice! Saw movement behind the house where I made the discovery, waved, stayed.

The owner doddered out to the front. I pointed to my discovery and asked if he harvested it. Nope. Told him I would harvest it next summer (fruit there was way overripe) and leave him a couple of bottles of mead.

The fruit? Prickly pear! Don’t pick the “pears” with your bare hand! It is not called prickly pear for nothing!

Not only that, the guy told me where his bits of prickly pear cacti came from—can supplement the local fruit from there if needed. The type of prickly pear is not the prohibited variety which is nice.


Aren’t dogs great?

Surprise lunch wolfed down no problem 

I said the above so calmly—intense activity followed!

Printed out the form they wanted me to give tomorrow. I moved the printer, not the printer power cord. Power cord? POWER CORD! Hmmm not here, not there WTF is it? Some time spent panicking ahhhh there it is!

So print out and fill in the form, one item done.

Next bit: vaccination certificate. Ummm, I KNOW I have it, know I put it somewhere safe. Hmmm, not in the filing cabinet <SHIT!> Hmmm OK, calm down, you put it somewhere safe. Ahhh, THERE it is!

OK, what next. “Soft treats” ummm no soft treats, had meant to buy some “Devon sausage” aka fritz elsewhere in Australia but I had been thrown off by thinking the session was on 7 April, not 6 April. Bit of a brainfart. Formed a plan and went to bed after setting alarms.

Another little panic, went to the local servo, filled up with petrol. Looked at the car clock and nearly had a heart attack: 8.30am. WHAT? Decided to still go, typed the address in the TomTom satnav device. ETA 9.10am. Despite knowing about the change from DST it had still thrown me! Bloody car clock does not get a time signal, unlike the TomTom.

Oh the plan? I knew there was a servo on the road I had to take, stopped there and bought two chicken wraps. Opened one, removed the chicken, cut it into small pieces and put them into a plastic bag I had brought with me.

The trip there and back was over 220Km. I was not going to just go to the obedience training and back home, obviously! Went to KMart, wanted two “pantry organisers” aka shelves to fit in the back of a pantry cupboard to make it easier to see stuff in the back. Mummy’s day soon, complicated crap not the simple stuff I wanted. Silently mouthing curses I left. Bunnings the next stop. Not much happiness for me there either. Ah well.

Drive into the Ross Sports Ground. Bit late, others already there. Wanted to leave mutt in the car while I registered and had a chat etc. No way, Madame stacked on such a turn I thought I better take her.

(Dogs with their brilliant noses and good ears soon figure out where they are and why as soon as you get near a location. Socks was born to run so when she figures out we are at a lure coursing meet—and the excitement level soon reached 100.) Barking, whining, jumping, pulling at the lead AAARGH! She is normally so well behaved, not at a lure coursing event!)

Register, walk the mutt. Walk it some more. Back to the registration to pay—the “magic square” EFTPOS wasn’t working earlier. Walk the mutt some more. Get sick of putting up with her excited, crap behavior, put her in the car.

Attend a talk on design of a course, walk the course. To be honest I don’t really care: Socks loves, lives, to run, she runs fastest at the lure coursing and all I care about is she gets a couple good runs.

First run, is mediocre. Walk slowly to cool her down (after having walked her briskly to warm her up, well, warm her muscles up) just before her run. For many dogs—her run was excellent but for Socks—execrable.

Back in the car, plug the phone into the socket, turn ignition key to power accessories and so charge the iPhone, set up the hotspot and connect the laptop to it, take part in the RatChat in between walking the mutt, having lunch etc.

After lunch (my lunch, mutt gets no solid food until after her last run) walk to warm her up, wait, go into the ring. Take off lead, hold the mutt, the bags start moving and “Tallyho” cried the course director and I let the mutt charge forward. This run was not mediocre  Socks charged forward, motor whizzing to keep the lure ahead of her. After one sharp turn I suddenly hear the motor speed up dramatically—Socks nearly got her teeth on it ahahahaha!

Took like five minutes to get the lead on the mutt and the mutt’s mouth off the lure—nothing wrong with her prey drive.

Ahahaha the last few dogs at each session are beginners or dogs being tried to see how they would go. LOL, one dog ended up being chased by the lure instead of vv  Another, a Sheltie (Shetland Island Sheep Dog) would chase the lure for a bit then run back to “Mummy.” Never mind, every dog is welcome to have a go, no rush.

Someone had two Scottish Deerhounds there. I saw the shaggy coat some staghounds inherit (Socks has the short greyhound coat.) LOL it was like those hounds were skipping not running and exhibited very little prey drive, surprising in a Sight Coursing Hound, but there you go.