The Cessnock Wrap Up – Stepping Up

We had our 1st weekend away agility trial. Lots of fun.

 

Dog Blog & Marketing Monday – Communities

Think mum is still feeling all warm and fuzzy after her trip away last week. She was doing research finding out what other humans think about the concept of communities. Turns out we all like to have others around and in most cases help others out.

Dog Blog & Marketing Monday – Coaches

Today’s Marketing Monday is inspired by a comment US Agility Trainer & Competitor Daisy Peel put out on social media during the week. The essence of her comment was…. can someone be a coach and a competitor at the same time.

Daisy put this out there while she was watching the Sochi Winter Olympics. In most cases the coaches had never competed in the sport they were coaching and were definitely not coaching and competing at the same time. Yet in most dog sports, definitely agility, the coaches are regularly the top competitors.

So it’s Marketing Monday so let’s talk the business of blogging. Mum has been looking into a blogging e-course. The course is run by a successful blogger and part of mum’s decision making on whether to do the course was to go check out this person’s blog and check out their style, content and also if and what advertising or sponsorship they have (that is have they managed to commercialise their blog?). She also checked out their presence in other social media to see what sort of following they have. Tick. They seem to be successful. So yeah this person probably knows what they are talking about and hence it is probably a safe investment of time and money to read what this blogger has to say.

Mum, when she has to pull herself away from giving me pats, also runs a research and marketing business (High Definition Insights if you want to see what mum does to pay for my bones). Again in this situation she thinks her point of difference is having actual experience. A lot of researcher are, well great researchers, but with commercial clients it is important to be able to put the theory into practice. She thinks that having negotiated with the Factory Manager as to what machines can do and debated with the Finance Director over adequate margins to launch with, that it gives her a different perspective when analysing.

So when you are learning where do you go to for help? Is it the academic that has spent the time in the theories and may have deep levels of knowledge on a topic or is it the experienced practitioner who has learnt on the job (and there is obviously people who have a combo of both)?

And now for our dog blog this week. From what we have seen so far dog blogs, especially here in Australia, are in the camp of learn as we go. The blogging side of it is really just a chance to share stories, experiences and helpful hints. One of the helpful hints we really like is from a Vet who blogs when she has time. Creature Clinic is where Dr Joanna Paul shares her professional experiences. Most of us are still pretty new to blogging but whether a vet, a marketer or coming from some other background we are all learning this fun world of blogging.

Love to hear your thoughts on where you learn about blogging and good sources of ‘how to’ information.

Thanks for checking out Dog Blog & Marketing Monday

Super dog…. Protecting the world

Besides protecting the family from cats and birds I also protect them from other things that may come across our path.

Things that weren’t there the last time went past….

Things that are unknown….

Things that are known and just in a different spot to last time….

Grrrr…..

Did I mention what an awesome guard dog I am?
(When the family is about)

Oh did I mention I was protecting mum from a pile of newspapers…. Yeah yeah it wasn’t the issue that I featured in the other week.

Ok back to protecting the world.

Reminiscing

Must be one of those days. Think we are a bit lost on our blogging with a break in Donna’s Photo Challenge at the moment (waiting patiently for the next challenge).

Training Tip Tuesday – Jumping Foundations Take-Off Side of Jump

So after a break last week from Training Tip Tuesday because, oh did I mention… It was my birthday, we are back.

Mum is still has me working hard on my jumping foundations. Think she is feeling a bit inspired after all the bars stayed up in the RQH Jumping run last Saturday night. We also had a moment yesterday morning when we were doing some jumping grids in the front yard and mum thinks I actually thought about how I was going to jump… I thought mum was going to cry with excitement. Silly mum.

Eko’s New Cellmate

Love these photos!

Marking Our Territory

While I was away for jury duty a couple weeks ago Eko had to hang out all week alone in the apartment.

He could barely stand the excitement

I was paid handsomely for my civic service ($17 a day) but instead of buying a yacht and settling into early retirement with my windfall, it seemed only right to compensate Eko for serving his prison sentence while I was away.

And what does every prisoner need?  A ball and chain of course.

 

I couldn’t find a suitable chain, but Eko was happy to settle for this new Kong ball.  Tennis balls have a lifespan of about two minutes with Eko, so this ball should hopefully keep Eko entertained for much longer

I felt bad for leaving Eko in solitary confinement so I thought it was only right to find him a cellmate.

Eko warily eyeing his new cellmate, Dig

Dig…

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It isn’t just about my bum

A good thing about playing with the One Mind Dogs agility stuff recently has been mum’s renewed focus on her own fitness. The philosophy of cue where I need to go and then get moving to the next cue obstacle, plus a lot more blind crosses (which means mum needs to be in front of me) has meant mum has been doing a lot of sprinting around the course. Go mum!

Training Tip Tuesday – Recall to Heel on the Flat

Firstly apologies if we are getting a bit techie in the agility space. We have had a great time over the Christmas break learning about some of the foundations of agility that we hadn’t really got into before. It is still all about having fun but mum has been learning more about the mechanics of jumping so that hopefully there are a few less bars down when Cyclone Bodhi goes through a course.

1st World Dog Holiday Review

Those of you following the blog may have read that the family and I went on holidays recently. Despite some initial concerns about being left at home, I had an awesome holiday! I have promised some of the folks that with train with that I would share the details of where we stayed. The place was also great so figure it was worth sharing with the 1st World Dog readers as other dogs deserve a holiday like this.

So where were we? Culburra Beach. It is about 2.5hrs south of Sydney (Australia for any of our international readers). A bit longer to get there if your humans insist on stopping at Berry, a cute little town full of nice stores and a toy shop called Goldfish Toys that the toddler LOVES.

Culburra Beach itself is a pretty small town. There is a major supermarket (Woolworths) and a line of shops with a couple of cafes, a bakery, takeaway shops and a post office. See this as a positive that mum didn’t leave me at home to go on long shopping trips (except for the morning she went back into Berry but dad stayed with me to watch the cricket). Nah the reason we went to Culburra Beach was for the beach and an awesome beach it was. Like a lot of beaches on the South Coast / Shoalhaven area it has a dog friendly / off leash policy which means I had plenty of time to enjoy the beach. It’s a really long beach so great for really long walks. The waves are fun for running in and out of. I met lots of other fun dogs, including a cool Kelpie who did herding trials and had some fun herding me, but it isn’t too crowded.

So where did we stay? The place was called Crescent View and we found it through Stayz. The layout was great for our family with heaps of space, even when Nana & Poppy came down for a couple of days. Importantly there was also heaps of room for me. I was allowed indoors, that was a mandatory for mum choosing a place, but like most places down there I wasn’t allowed on the furniture. To ensure I didn’t make myself comfy on the lounge of a night mum bought my crate down so we had a bit of crate training while we were there. There was heaps of room for my crate in the lounge room without it being in the way. From the families perspective the house was well decked out with everything they needed. They really just had to bring the stuff for me like my bowls and towels to dry me of after my swims in the surfs.

There were just a couple of things worth being aware of. The first is space if the family goes out. While the yard is fully fenced (and I’m not much a a fence jumper but it isn’t a particularly high fence for someone who was) there is a lack of shade in the yard. For that reason the family only ever went out briefly for dinner down at the Bowling Club. When they did go out they left me in the house. The other thing to be aware of is ticks. These nasty little things exist along a lot of the Australian East Coast and unfortunately this area is renown for them. The nasty fella found on me not long after we came home may very well have hitched a ride from here.

Some other things that the family enjoyed that mum asked me to share was places to eat….

Orient Point Bakehouse is a short drive away. It isn’t the flashest place but the menu is pretty good. On a Friday night they do Fish & Chips. Really yummy. And I got to go along as there is seating outside (ps BYO alcohol).

Pelican Rocks Cafe at nearby Greenwell Point has the most amazing seafood platter. I didn’t go with the family that day as they were taking the toddler to the local swimming pool too but just for the cafe I could have come along and sat guard by the door or there are some tables outside.

Lastly is the take home option of oysters. There are a heap of oyster places at Greenwell Point but of particular note is Jim Wild’s.

We had a great time and would go back again. Hope this gives you a place if you are looking for a dog friendly holiday.

     

N.B. Nothing in this post was sponsered or paid for advertising. These are all just places we came across on our holiday, enjoyed and wanted to share. While we hope you have a great time if you do take on any of the recommendations we take no responsibility if your experiences differ from ours.