CadiWaterDog

Hi gang!
Flash, Sian, Phil and me are on holidays in the deep south of England. We're staying in Terry and Jude's house in a place called Goodworth Clatford - I had to get Sian to go and check that out - it's a bit of a name for a dog to remember!

We travelled down yesterday - car FULL of stuff, because we're going to see Iwan in Falmouth on Tuesday and we've got clothes and things for him. It was a very long way and Sian drove - Phil navigated, but he didn't have a map and we got a little bit lost at the very last bit! Jude and Terry have got a lovely house with a big garden with smells - loads of apples have fallen off the trees and are on the floor - Flash told me not to eat them in case they got me drunk - I don't know what that means but he said there was something on the news about a drunk horse http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7672691.stm
We slept in the bedroom - I snuck up on to the bed and then got off by the time they woke up!
We had a bit of a giggle at the four humans last night - they said something about having a wee - this turned out to be a game, and they were throwing something at the telly - I kept going in front of the telly to see what they were doing, but couldn't figure it out. They were having a good laugh - Flash said something else about drunk!

This morning we got up, and they had a MASSIVE breakfast - we had to take them out for a big walk to work off this breakfast - Flash and me got toast - bit of a treat cos we're on holiday - we don't usually get bread! We had a nice walk through some fields and woods - I think Sian was a bit cross with me cos I was pulling on the lead - she made me sit in the middle of this huge field while they walked away - I was a bit crafty though cos as soon as she went to blow the whistle, I ran - before she blew - and she couldn't really tell! Heh heh There were some lovely rivers we walked past, and woods and stuff - great - but I got injured!!! I got spiked with something in my chest - ok bit of an exaggeration, but I have got a hole in my chest now! It's sore!

We went to the pub on the way back from the walk - I think Phil knew the football was on Sky and tricked us all into going - I was cold and I could smell cats, so they took me and Flash back to the car for a sleep and a warm, before they came back later on - Phil had a smiley face - something to do with Liverpool beating Chelsea I think

More tales tomorrow, just off for a sleep, to give me beans for the rest of the evening - I think someone's coming for tea - can't wait - I'm all excited to meet them - I think they've read my blog!!!

Hey!
Yesterday afternoon, Sian took Flash and me up to a little cottage at the top of Bethesda, to meet Charlie who's gorgeous Springer spaniel - I think he said he's from Essex, and he was quite shy, not surprising when you consider he had me and Flash - who got a bit silly - all wide eyed! at him. Charlie was so soft and sweet, I thought I could almost fall for him if - he had this cool den in the corner of the room, and he had something called a Spaniel Bag - this dries you and cleans you by the time you get home - pleeeease get me one mum - you know it would be worth having - soooo useful!

The reason we went up there was for Sian and Bonny to meet up - Bonny's the new President of the British Veterinary Nurse Association www.bvna.org.uk and she has to choose a charity for the organisation to support for the year that she's president. Last year, they supported the Animal Cancer Trust www.animalcancertrust.org.uk. Bonny wanted to choose a charity for working dogs who help people - and that's exactly what we do! Because Robin is from Bangor originally, she wanted to do something here in North Wales - so she's chosen SARDA Wales as her charity of the year - yippee!!!

They all got very excited about it - well, as much as mum could with her cough still going on! - someone wants to do a wing walk for SARDA Wales - I wasn't sure what that was, but Sian said it was where someone stands on the wing of a plane while it's flying - still not sure I understand, but sounds cool - I think I'll go and have my photo taken with the lady who's going to do it! Maybe dressed up in a Snoopy outfit?
How cool would that be ....
Someone else wants to do a parachute jump - not sure I fancy that, but I guess that anything that's taking place more north than south we could manage to get to to support! There are loads of other SARDA dogs who might be able to go as well.
We all went out for a walk on the hills to get some photos of Sian and Bonny and us hounds done in the wind and the rain - I'm afraid I wasn't going to stop long for a photo - I find the best way to deal with rain, and avoid getting wet is simple - RUN FAST! I thought I was a hooligan in water - Charlie's just mad!!! He found a muddy puddle, which he managed to soak up into his coat! We found a dead ram - which might explain why I was sick last night - hmmm

I think i need to get photos of some of the other SARDA dogs on here, just for you to get a look. I'm obviously the cutest, but some of the others are cute - Spin's got the HUGEST ears you ever saw, Max can smile, showing his teeth - and he's really not trying to be scary! Some of the collies are a bit scary - not to humans, because they're really good at finding lost humans, but to me, who's only a ickle pup who's only bossy in my own house, they're scary! Never tried to bite me, but they do tell me off when they see me! Probably cos I'm just too fast and whizzy for them and they get cross with me!

Well ok, we might have all got a bit over-excited about our little outing on Thursday ... Sian got in touch with Neil, who counselled caution, and said that when we're training, we have to be absolutely certain what the scent picture is that we're rewarding, and that if we don't know that for sure, we might be training in a mistake. Very good point indeed, but it was still very interesting! I guess fortunately the opportunity to do that again comes up very rarely, so I might even be qualified by then!

Not been up to much since i last blogged - had a good run on the beach this afternoon - I found 2 tennis balls - whooppee!!
The waves were quite big, and I had some good dives in for the balls - some children were throwing stones in too, so I went under the water to get those, in case they wanted them back!

Sian had a big lie-in this morning - guess she's allowed cos she's been working nights, but it's still boring for us - she did let us sleep up there with her - and I got some sheets licked - my guilty secret - along with chewing knickers. We then went along to Bobby's house, but weren't allowed out of the car because Sian's dad had just vacuumed and me and Flash were both rather sandy. I slept on Sian's car seat though - hmmm.

Friends, I've just impressed everyone! Including myself! But sadly, I can't actually tell you anything much about it at the moment, because its a bit sensitive you see.
All I can say is that dogs trained on pig smells also find drowned human smells. I just proved that this afternoon. It's the first time I've smelt human smell that I'm being trained to find, and naturally, you don't actually get a lot of opportunity - it being a niche market if you like. Anyway, we went out this afternoon, to a likely location somewhere in the UK, Sian put my jacket on, and I set off looking for a sniff. And, stunned and gobsmacked - I found a smell, and told Sian about it, and hey ho, I got the ball!!! she was happy with it - happy but stunned too!

I think she's emailed Yoda about it, to tell him and see what he thinks, and Phil took lots of photos to ask people who were there at the time if it's the right place, but I know it was!

In time, I'll be able to tell you more about it, but at the moment, Dat's all you's gettin!!! If you know me, of course, you can just get in touch with Sian and she'll tell you all about it.

Poor sian's poorly - she's working nights again and stayed in bed all day today - but she's got a stinking cold. Me and Flash were quiet all morning for her to have a good sleep, then after she got up for a drink, I went back to bed with her and had a cuddle. It was strange really because we had the same dream - how were we going to sort a van to carry all our water gear? We were arranging a van with a bed, dog cage, somewhere for the boat, and all the other stuff - lifejackets, throwlines etc etc. I kept trying to steal tissue to chew - I like damp tissues!

Sian's had volunteers to give us some blood to put in with the piglet - it just adds to the scent profile, so I've got more of a range of human smells to look for and find. Piglets are all well and good, but they are piglets after all. Neil said that his dog Fern has found a swab with 5ml of Raph's blood in water and hidden in the open. They're now saving it for a couple of months to see what happens when it gets hidden then - i reckon she'll find it no bother. I reckon I would too ... Tom cut his finger one day and Sian saved his blood, and hid the tissues for me to find them, and I found them every time - even before I started training on piggies! It's all very interesting stuff. Humans would be surprised how smelly these things are, and really, how easy it is for a dog to tell the difference between smells.

Phil took us to Nant Peris this evening - supposed to be going for a walk at the helicopter landing site after his meeting, but we're still in the car, busting for a wee! Looks like there's a Llanberis mountain rescue job, so we won't get a run until that's all over - good job I had my laptop in the car so I can blog while we wait!!!

See ya later xxx

Phew, what a weekend - two such different days!
Saturday started as a reasonable day here at home, but by the time we got to Rhyd Ddu, through floods and mist, we were a bit reluctant to go and get even wetter! After Sian had breakfast in the school, we got organised to go training. Jenny was coming along to help Sian, and we drove up first to have a look at Harvey's lake - the cloud was very low, you could hardly see anything, and I wasn't keen - especially when the lake kept coming and going!
Anyway, we went on up Pen y Pass and over to Llanberis, and to Llyn Padarn - and believe it or not - it was lovely weather - Sian was in her t-shirt, and it wasn't raining!
We started off with some searches in the main lake, and i got a bit confused - I lost track of what I was meant to be telling Sian about - the line she uses to tie on to the pig in a tube tends to float on the water, and it's a bit of a BIG CLUE about where the pig's going to be, and I started getting lazy, and telling her when I found the line, rather than when I found the pig. I always did find the pig, but now that the pig is deeper and I can't get to it, I have great fun scrabbling about at the line - it's worked a few times before, but she sussed me out! Oops! I heard them talking about getting a lead line, but I think the final straw was when I swam into the line, got stuck on it, and ended up pulling the pig and tube out behind me - and believe me - it was very heavy and took some pulling!!
I then got dried off, and had my fleece on, and had a bit of a sleep while they drove down to buy some sinking line! Thankyou to Dickie's boatyard for coming to the rescue! www.dickies.co.uk They're going to find out how much an electric engine costs for us - yay, can't wait!
After this, we had another go, and I worked really hard. I don't know why, but Sian kept taking me all over the place, sending me out into bits of water that I could smell straight away there was no pig. In the end I found it easily enough, I was running along a path and it was a case of whoosh I'll go this way - hey there it is - Sian was impressed by my 90degree turn!!! I pottered around for a bit and Sian had to remind me that I was supposed to tell her! She was pleased because Jenny had been timing the time it took, and it took 4 minutes and 25 seconds!
After the next search, she was even more pleased, because I kept on searching for 8 whole minutes That was utterly exhausting, and I'd had enough. She was a bit frustrated with me I think, cos I just want to play with the line - even though she's now got the sinky one. Anyway, after this I'd had enough, but Sian didn't realise, and she had another go with a pig in deeper water. By now I just didn't want to go in the water - cold and tired We finished off with 3 easy ones, which cheered me up, and I got back in the car to warm up while they went for tea and cake!
We went back to Rhyd Ddu, and I slept until the Flashman came back from his training, and after tea, we snuggled up together for a nap.
Had a quick dash to Nant Peris for a mountain rescue job before heading home.
I'm not sure if Ellie was pleased to see me when we got in, because she started fighting with me, biting me, but with a waggly tail - wierd dog! Beat me up again later just because Crispy Chicken was cuddling me - Get well soon Sharon

Sunday morning was stunningly fantastic - out of the house around 0730, we went in the one car, too late for breakfast at the school, and we went back to Padarn Lake for more fun! We took lots of photos of the sunshine and clouds on the way there, and I'll try and put them on here if my paws permit!  
Sian had obviously been thinking about me playing with the line - and she spent some time getting me to sort out in my head what I'm meant to be doing - I get the ball when I tell her about the pig - I don't have to get to the pig itself, but even if I tell her that I can smell the pig, I still get the ball. I think that's sorted now, cos I thought I had to get the pig itself - when I started training, I could always reach it, but now it's in deeper water, I can't, and that's why I try to pull it in with the line. Sorted!!

The first few we did were just to get the reward for the right thing sorted, then we went on and did some with the pig further out. I was really pleased with myself, because three times I told her about the smell without going to the spot right over the pig! The lsst time I didn't even get wet!! you see, it's difficult for her to be able to know when I've got the smell in my nose - so we have to work as a team! The last one was really easy, even though it was really deep and far out from the shore - but it had been in the water about 45 minutes, so the smell had gone a long way, and was easily coming ashore - Easy peasy!

I thought that was the end of the training, because we went home, dropped Flash off, and a load of gear, but then we went back. They then blew up the boat, for the first time, and we went for a play in it!! What fun that was ... lovely day, Phil rowing, because we haven't got the engine yet, Sian sitting in the back with a gin and tonic (- ok, maybe not) mooching through the lagoons. After a while, I was busting for a pee, so I just jumped out, swam ashore, had a pee, swam back, and Sian pulled me aboard, saying what a well mannered lady I was! We got a bit worried when we were coming back to land though - 2 small children, without life jackets, were in a floppy inflatable, smaller than ours,
and paddling out into the lake, with no grown ups with them. I had visions of having to search for real, well before I'm ready! Scary really! Sian asked some people if the children were theirs, and told them where they had gone, but the muppet of a man said it's ok, they can't swim but they can shout!! What a Luckily they were ok!

Anyway, we had a great time, and are now totally pooped! I've had a nap on the sofa with Sian, been out for a walk and am Ready For Bed!
Night night xxx

Ssshh - I found a ball on the beach - don't tell anyone or they'll take it away from me cos I'm only allowed to play with a ball when I'm training and I've found the smell! I hid it before getting back in the car and I don't think they knew about it. So if you don't tell, and they don't read the blog, I can go back next week to find it! Heh heh!

Howdo ...
Someone phoned up and left a message saying they'd found my collar, so Boss went to collect it from them - she said they had dogs which we know - Mango and Paris - we see them when we're walking round Shell Island - they get to play ball all the time! Hmmmmm!

Anyway, I've now got two collars, and two name tags - hey - good job I had the phone number on the collar!

The sausages are lovely - we looked in Neil's boot, and there were millions of them!

Sian was pleased with me today - we were in the basement - she was sorting the piglet for tomorrow, and when I smelt it, I barked at her! She was really pleased - and she had a ball for me to play with - yippee! Apparently that's called a spontaneous indication and that's supposed to be a Good Thing.

Out for a walk now before the Big Rain comes.

Chat later - or otherwise Sunday night after training finishes

Forgot to mention - Neil who works with the boss and is a vegetarian, has had to slaughter one of his pigs, and he's offered us some pig fat - our pigs are quite skinny because they're newborns. He's had sausages made from them, and Sian's bought TONS from him! I hope they're all for me and Flash for when we find things - Flash reckons he gets sausage when he finds a person when he's training, and gets a whole bone if he finds someone who's really lost - that would be brilliant - I love bones - don't know what to do with one, but it feels as if I should be thrilled to get one! Flash says he's rather be Phil, cos he gets a massive steak! Not fair, when it's Flash that does the work! I just complained to Sian that Flash gets sausage, but she reminded me that I get the ball, and I think I'm happier with the ball really - how much fun can you have with a sausage eh?

Wey hey! My mum had a box full of tennis balls this morning - the postman brought them, and we all got very excited. Sian had bought them off a man on the computer - and when I lose all these, we'll buy some more - thank you man!! They sell loads of them - she couldn't believe it! why would anyone buy new ones! Now we're nearly ready for the weekend training - yippee!

We went for a walk this morning, and I got chased by a cat ... nothing to be proud of, but I just went to say hello to it, and it went all cartoon and spat at me, then ran after me! I was very embarrassed - I don't know what it would have done if it had caught me, but I was a bit scared. Flash didn't help because he was too busy laughing, and Ellie was on the lead because she chases birds on the beach.

I lost my lovely pink collar yesterday, together with my name tag and my SARDA green tag - Sian's going to have to ask Gareth (Max's boss) for a new green disc for me.

Lots of nice smells here today - Sian's selling Body Shop stuff, so we've got exciting boxes of smelly things - so if you want to order stuff from her - Chrimbo pressies ? just leave me a message and I'll pass it on!

bye for now,
The Cadster xxx

Yay!!! We got a new pig organised last night - that always means we're going for a training weekend - I think we'll be going to Rhyd Ddu again, I like it there! The last one was so rotten it had almost stopped smelling bad, but this one looks big, so should be smelly in a couple of days! I know, it's a strange thing we do, but it'll be worth it the first time we find that missing person and their family can grieve properly. I'm hoping we'll take the boat with us this weekend, we haven't got an engine for it yet, but I don't mind if Sian does the rowing and I just get to hang over the side - yippee!!
I'll get someone to take some photos at the weekend, so you can see what I do - I wonder if I can put a video clip on this - how tecky would that be for a dog!!

Wurruff! You remember last time I thought we were going on a camping trip - they were packing up camping stuff and climbing things ... we didn't! We just went for a long drive, further away than Iwan's old house, and droppedoff all the camping and climbing stuff with him, then drove all the way back again! We went through some fantastic scenery - Flash wanted to get out and run - he said it was lovely country for searching, but SARDA England do the searching there... Sian and Phil said it would be nice for a long walk, but she was asleep for the whole way back, then went straight to bed after we got home! How lazy can anyone be!
She was in bed again today and Phil took us out for a long walk at the quarries in Llanberis, then after that we went for a walk with Sian as well up on Moel Lus. We saw some boys with remote control aeroplanes which they kept crashing and I ran after them! that was fun! I found a geocache while we were there - it's one we've found before, but Sian checks on it from time to time - I'm really good at finding geocaches, and they always send me in first to find them
www.geocaching.com
I found a stinky dead mouse as well - I just rubbed myself all over it - and ended up falling down the hillside in my excitement! Phil was impressed at me finding it, but it was quite smelly. Sian said she was going to give me a bath after getting home, but I managed to avoid that. She calls me smelly!!! It's time she was throwing that stinky pig away - its at least a week past its smell by date
We've got SARDA training weekend at Rhyd Ddu next weekend, and we'll need a new smelly pig for that. She'll also need to get me some new tennis balls - she said she'd tried to get some on something called ebay but didn't manage it. I think I'll need to go searching for some on the beach before the weekend. I wonder what lake we'll go training at this weekend - at least we've got a choice now! Auntie Netti is trying to get in touch with someone who's got a pond on their land - hope she manages that. We need somewhere it doesn't rain all the time - Capel Curig is supposed to be the wettest place in Wales after all - and I believe it!

Yay, at last some free time to write my blog - it's been ages since I wrote anything - I'm really sorry!
Sian's been working nights, and she seems to have had loads to do - we've been having quick walks, and days in the house, and I've got to tell you, I'm going stir crazy! And I've been getting told off more than usual. I guess you'll want to know what I've been up to - no more knickers, but i did leave a poop in the bedroom - She told me off because she reckons i know how to ask. As far as I'm concerned, that's as may be - it was a protest! the protest thing is coming easily to me - Hannah has got this strange studded belt thing which she puts on me like a collar, and she calls me a punk rocker, whatever that means. I look like a Rottie with it on!
Sian has spent such a lot of time on the computer this week that I can't get on it to blog - I'm only able to do this now because she's at work and Phil's watching TV downstairs.
Flash reckons it looks as if we're having a trip tomorrow - they're getting climbing stuff and tents and sleeping bag organised. Not sure what the plan is, but I'll tell you when I find out - glad I'll be sleeping in the car though - it's too cold for a tent. I've got this awesome thick fleece coat to wear to sleep in the car - its so snug I don't want to wake up. I get to wear it after I've been training too, because I get so cold when I'm wet. They're feeding me more at the moment because I'm really quite skinny, and they want me to have a bit more padding on me for the winter.
Ellie's coming to stay next week - we've only just cleared away her hair after last time!