Hero Dogs

7 August 2012

Where are we?!

Sorry there’s been a huge gap in my posts the last few months. There’s an explanation for that – we’ve been so crazily busy! Our computers have been totally unreliable, our internet sporadic due to travelling, and last night our new external hard-drive suddenly decided it doesn’t want to work anymore.

The drawers that we were had our clothes in fell apart about a month ago, two and a half years after we brought them for $5 at a garage sale. That’s pretty good for cheap secondhand stuff! So we took it out as well as the drawers and bookshelf on the other side and replaced them with an awesome looking “dog box and pigeon hole” combination. Eventually there’s gonna be doors on everything, but we ran out of time and timber.

I brought a new pillow yesterday pretty much just coz I felt like it. Turns out I actually needed it more than I realized – I took my old one out of its pillowcase and the pillow had gone mouldy! Probably because Sparkie likes to lie on it after she’s just gone for a swim in the creek, or maybe because she lies on it and licks it until it’s practically soaked with her saliva.

Gyvie is currently confined to the bus after he was gone for four days in Roma while we were building the dog boxes. We came back several times to the place we lost him, and even stayed overnight once. Unlike the time he was gone during the Gympie Show, this time he was skinny and dirty. Mummy said he looked like he’d been sleeping under a truck. I thought he looked like he’d been sleeping in an old fireplace. So he’s not being allowed outside at all while we travel from Roma to Townsville. He’s got a cage in the kitchen with food, water, and a litterbox, and he gets to wander around inside the bus all night and sometimes while we drive. He’s becoming somewhat nocturnal.

We live in a space similar to a 38ft long hallway. The kitchen is 128cms wide (from sink to pantry), which is probably the widest area apart from the back bed. The narrowest area, between the bunks, is only about 52cms wide. What do we do on rainy days? Swing off the rails, bounce on the beds, and drive our parents insane. Imagine, for a moment, living in a place like that. With 6 siblings, 4 dogs, 9 puppies, 1 cat, and your parents. Don’t you think you’d get frustrated? Snappish? Maybe even grumpy? I’m not complaining, but this is the reality of living in a bus.

The only thing that keeps me from totally losing my head some days is Sparkie. I remember arguing with Daddy one night a few years ago, when Sparkie still had so many behavioural issues we despaired of her. I was getting so worked up I was ready to run out the door and not come back. I can’t even remember what I was arguing about, but I remember feeling something press against my leg, and I looked down and there was Sparkie. She had this confused look on her face, like “What are you yelling for? You don’t need to do that.” So the argument flew out the window. Another time, not so long ago, was when I came out of the hospital having lost my newborn sister. Sparkie was right there at the door when I got to the bus, overjoyed to see me but sensing I was upset. That night she slept with her head on my pillow and let me hug her all night. At the funeral I had her right with me. I wouldn’t have coped if she wasn’t there. Afterwards we just sat by the grave together, my hand on her shoulder as I processed everything that had happened in the last week. When life just gets too much to handle, I can just grab her lead off the rail and head for door, knowing she’ll be right behind me when I get there. We can easily spend a couple of hours walking and running together, preferably in the bush but we’ve done it in towns too. When we get back home I’m totally calmed down and ready to face life again.

Which brings me to the next part – Sambo. Only some dogs can cope with hallway life. The almost constant noise and kids running past them in cramped conditions is something not every dog can handle. And poor old Sammy Boy couldn’t handle it. Eventually it got too much and it wasn’t fair on him to continue letting him be a Superdog. It’s not all fun and games – in exchange for being with its owner 24/7, a Superdog must be able to accept everything that comes their way. At shows, Sambo just couldn’t accept sitting nicely for pats or ignoring other dogs. At home, he couldn’t accept daily brushing or ignoring food on the kitchen bench. Which is unfortunate, because he was a beautiful dog. He’s now living a much better life with someone else.

Meanwhile, Sambo’s kids are growing at a very fast rate. Asta and Dixie are learning sit, down, and come. They’ve been introduced to pack walks in the bush and through parks. We haven’t taken them to busy shopping centres or main streets yet, but they’re learning to ignore loud noises, joggers, and other dogs. We’ve also introduced them to tug-of-war and fetch. They’re chewing almost everything and their social skills need a lot of work! But they’re only 9 weeks old, and we’re making progress.

In the next post – photos of the dog boxes/pigeon holes, what the other dogs are working on, the new bus tyres, where we are going next, and the crazy wildlife we’ve seen on our travels, as well as anything else that might come up! Until then, stay safe, happy travelling, and live like there’s no tomorrow.

24 July 2012

Back again!

You remember a while back I mentioned we were having trouble with our computer again? Well, it's taking hours to load up - so when we're not on constant power, it flattens its battery before it starts up! And sometimes (like this morning) when it finally starts up it shuts down again a second later! We've been too busy to do anything with it, but our friends gave us a desktop computer (which only runs on power and doesn't have a slot for SD cards, so no photos and still sporadic updates here!).

So anyway. we went down to Beenleigh, met some new friends, sold a few puppies, and went to the coolest dog park ever! It had dog agility equipment - not professional stuff, but better than our gear. We had a few practice runs and then a competition - and for the first time in ages Sparkie got a faster time than Tess!

All the pups have gone to their new homes except one, and we finally decided to keep Kay! She's currently called Asta. The puppies are kinda scattered around Queensland - Fly is in Beenleigh, Junior (now called Cadbury) is in Tewantin, Mayfair and Freda (called Shadow) are in Gympie, Roy is in Chinchilla, Charlie (Ollie) and Mikey (Pippa) are in Roma, and Dixie is going to Cairns.

We're back in Wallumbilla for a week to build some new stuff in the bus - clothes drawers and dog cages!

We're just getting over another round of colds - nothing too bad, just annoying. :)

3 July 2012

Second Thoughts

We’ve now sold four puppies – Charlie’s going to a friend in Roma, Mayfair and Freda are going to a family in Gympie, and Dixie’s heading up north to Cairns. And we think we’re keeping Kay (Shazzy), not Fly (Kelly). At this stage we’re leaning towards Kay, but it’s still more or less undecided!

To be honest, I’m getting really bored out here. We’ve been sitting at Wallumbilla since the Gympie Show, with regular trips into Roma for shopping. We needed the constant power to run the heater for the puppies, but they’re nearly five weeks old now so we’re planning on heading to Brisbane. Kinda exciting to be heading to a big city after being out in the country so long! I’m hoping we’ll be able to check out the dog parks that apparently have agility equipment, maybe some big pet shops and stuff. Looks reasonably dog friendly down there.

22 June 2012

Our new Superdog!

Pretty much from the day the pups were born, we’ve been unable to decided which pup we’d keep – Kelly or Freda. Then one of our friends decided they really liked Freda and wanted to buy her, so our new Superdog is Kelly! We’ve renamed her Fly.

20 June 2012

Mid June catch up

In all the craziness of the May and June, I forgot to mention some of the smaller things. There’s actually been more happening than just competing and then Lassie’s puppies.

First of all, you all know about our usual trip to the Gympie Show to compete with the dogs. You also know about our young cat Gyvie, who turned one year old in March. Well, we were parked up at Six Mile Creek, just on the edge of Gympie, for a few days before the show. On the 16th of May we packed up and prepared to head to the showgrounds for the three day show. We started the bus. We all sat down and then… “Do we have the cat?” Um, no. We didn’t. We spent two hours of searching under our beds, in the cupboards, behind the seats, then the whole camp, across the road, in the surrounding bush, around the rugby clubhouse up the track, under piles of junk, and we even crossed the creek to look in the scrub over there. But there was no sign of Gyvie. We had to go into town, so after shopping and picking up some last minute show supplies, we went back. Nothing. Still no cat. We put up a lost cat sign in the toilet block and left for the showgrounds. The show was great, and we were so busy having a good time we mostly forgot about Gyvie. But when the last of the bulls had been loaded into the trucks to be taken away, the music had been turned off, and the grandstands were empty, he was the only thing on anyone’s mind. On the 20th of May we returned to Six Mile Creek and searched again. Nothing. We were all devastated. Apart from being our pet, Gyvie is kinda like a living memory of a really rough patch in our lives. We went to bed with most of us in tears. Then, in the very early hours of the morning, I heard something. At first I thought it was just a sound in my dreams. But as I slowly woke up, I could still hear it. “Gyvie!” I yanked open my curtain and scrambled from my bed, Jessica right behind me as I dashed into the kitchen. And there was Gyvie, standing on the bench, meowing at the top of his lungs and in remarkably good condition. No injuries. He wasn’t skinny, although he was very happy to see his food bowl again!

And then there was Lassie’s second birthday on the 18th of May. We brought Lassie as an eight week old puppy at the Emerald Fieldays. She was so small that when she had a drink, her tummy nearly touched the ground! We called her a barrel on legs.

She quickly grew into a sweet but hyperactive young dog. She’s always been kinda shy around other dogs – I dunno why. Often her focus during agility runs was awful. Once she ran straight into a jump, and another time she totally misjudged the hoop and crashed into the side of it.

It wasn’t until she was over a year old that she could actually jump without crashing into something!

Lassie loves water and rocks. If you drop a rock in the creek she’ll stick her head under the water to find it. We’re trying to break her bad habit of picking up random stuff – because it’s not just sticks anymore. She’ll pick up stones, glass, bits of bark, hay, and leaves. It’s become an obsession. She also can’t read other dogs body language. She’ll come up to Sparkie and lick her face, paying no attention to Sparkie’s snarling and doesn’t stop licking and wriggling even when Sparkie growls and bites Lassie’s muzzle.

Apart from her bad habits, she’s a beautiful, lovable dog. And her pups aren’t half bad either! :)

We also took the bus over the pits for it’s yearly “check up” and it passed! Always a good thing when there’s nothing wrong with our bus – when there is something wrong it’s usually pretty expensive to fix. Daddy’s been working on the rust the last month or so, so our bus often looks patchy!

11 June 2012

People

This weekend we had heaps of fun – the pony club had an event on at the showgrounds here on Sunday, and set up all their jumps and stuff on Saturday afternoon. But on Sunday morning, down came the rain and nobody turned up for the event. So, as soon as the rain stopped, we grabbed the dogs and ran out to do some agility work! It was freezing cold and randomly raining, so we didn’t get any photos of it then, but everything was still there today and the sun was out.

We also met a really nice French family, who were travelling around in a Land cruiser with two rooftop tents. The two girls loved the puppies! And speaking of puppies, they are now eleven days old and their eyes are opening.