Breakdown

So, a recap of what’s been going on since the Gympie Show/Million Paws Walk.

 

We spent a few days relaxing, and then it was shopping day and haircuts for some of us. On Thursday, May 22nd, Chantel was out playing fetch with Freya between our bus and somebody else’s caravan. They had a big Doberman tied up outside, which was barking a little bit. And then suddenly it snapped its collar. "It just wanted the ball," the lady said, but no, it went straight to Freya and started fighting her. Poor Freya was yelping and trying to run away. The guy tried to grab his dog but it was moving too fast and didn't stop even when he hit it with a dustpan. Sparkie ran outside and straight over to it. Freya hid under the bus and when the Doberman paused before going after her, Sparkie rushed in front of him. He started sniffing her and the guy grabbed him and I caught Sparkie. We were all pretty shaken up. Freya had a little injury on her ear and under her front leg.

 

On Sunday, the 25th, we were about 60kms past Rockhampton, aiming for Duaringa for free hot showers. It was about 5pm, or 5:30. The bus suddenly lost all acceleration and we coasted to a halt on the side of the highway. The engine sputtered and stalled. I looked out the front windscreen. We were parked half off the road. Luckily there was a passing lane, so even though we were blocking a lane trucks could still get past without crossing the centre line. Stress levels were through the roof. We were out of fuel. Crazy, because we'd just filled up a few towns ago. We put our hazard lights on and our reflective triangles on the road. A Landcruiser towing a horsefloat pulled in behind us about five minutes later, and they gave us some diesel, siphoned it from their tank into our fuel container, which we then poured into our tank. And then came more trouble. Daddy lifted up the floor hatch and there was a puddle of diesel on top of the engine. We have a leak!! It was now dark and the horses were stressing out so the people had to move on. We couldn't stay where we were, and we couldn't find the leak, so we cleaned the diesel up and drove about 10kms to the first truck parking bay we could find. And when we opened the floor - yep, more diesel. We’ve patched it up as best we can, because we have to be in Springsure for the show on Friday and Saturday. On Monday we’re taking it to a mechanic.

 

On a better note, our new Superdogs banner and car door magnets from Vistaprint arrived today! Our arena at Springsure should look awesome.

Gympie Show 2014

We weren’t able to get any photos of the High Jump this year because it was threatening to rain the whole time and Mummy didn’t think it’d be safe to have our big camera out in that weather. So we brought my video camera instead, which is small enough to stick it in a jacket pocket if it rained. It did rain a bit, right near the end, but we got some videos of it anyway. I’ll be posting the video soon. Also, our big camera is having trouble with its focus, so we didn’t get as many clear shots this year. Some of the photos are odd sizes coz I had to crop them.

 

RESULTS

HIGH JUMP

Tess 2nd, Sparkie 3rd

NOVELTY DOGS

Obstacle Course - Sparkie 1st, Lassie 2nd, Tess 3rd
Best Tricks - Freya 1st, Tess 2nd
Most Obedient Dog - Sparkie 1st, Tess 2nd, Freya 3rd

Freya also won Most Improved From Last Year. Suzanna (age 6) won third place with Tess in Best Child Handler.

 

There seemed to be less competitors this year. In the High Jump there were only two other dogs entering besides ours. In Tricks too, we only had two other dogs enter apart from ours. But both actually did real tricks! One jumped through a hoop a few times, and the dog that got 3rd place hopped into an empty ice cream container with all four paws. In Obedience there was only one dog besides ours.

 

We performed at the RSPCA Million Paws walk yesterday, but forgot the camera. No photos, sorry. Our next show is in Springsure on 30-31 May.