CadiWaterDog

Like I said last time, I've been in season; that wasn't a huge problem, Flash or I get to stay in the car when things all get too much for Sian and Phil. Over the weekend has been wierd, but things have settled down again by Wednesday, and all those strange feelings went away - I have to say it's a bit of a relief it's all a bit mad really! Flash though couldn't get his head around the idea that I really wasn't interested in making springador puppies with him,, and he's been mooning around, staring at me with these goo goo eyes, dribbling and jumping from one foot to the other! He eventually got the message when I growled at him every time though!

Sian was saying that she's had loads of people asking for talks and demonstrations and stuff. We're going to do a talk at Crispy Chicken's college, although Hannah says we can't - she goes there too! Also, we're going to do a stall at Llandrillo College soon, to sell mugs and t-shirts - i only go along to see if I can have snacks! I look cute and get treats - great!

I heard a little rumour that the radio ladies from the other day want to do a television programme about me and herself - can you imagine that! If it happens, it'll be late in the summer, so I'm going to have to get going on the training - hopefully we'll have an engine next week for the boat, so we can get going on lake training - yippee, can't wait! What happens then is that they put the pig in the water somewhere and then I have to go across the lake in the boat in a sort of grid pattern, until I get the sniff, I bark when I can smell it, and stop barking when I can't! that way, we're supposed to be able to tell where it is!

See you soon x

Well that was a surprise yesterday - we got to go training! I didn't expect that at all, because I'm in season, and life has been a bit restrictive to say the least! I knew she'd got a new pig out on Wednesday, but I thought that was just to show Woody - Hannah's friend who's really interested, and knows how to train gundogs, and I think Sian's thinking that he might one day want to apply to train a search dog. Anyway, she got a pig out, and got rid of the old one - which was very very smelly - and that was that!

Anyway, Phil and Flash went off yesterday morning, Sian and Hannah went to sort out the Bexiness - who has been a bit of a beast in all this wind (more on that in a bit!)and then we came home, and she got all the gear into the car - pig included! I thought then that this was a bit odd, but she piled me and Bobby into the car, and off we went to Llyn Padarn. It turned out that two ladies called Catrin and Sian from Radio Cymru were doing a feature on SARDA Wales and wanted to interview me! Well, Sian really, and wanted to watch me working! That made me a bit nervous, and I got distracted - mind you, Sian was seriously distracted, trying to talk at the same time as watch me! And me being in season too - I think she thought I'd get snatched away by any old dog! They talked to Sian for ages, and were holding what I thought was a ball, so I jumped up to get it - turned out to be a microphone! Oops

We went on to to lots more training searches - about 6 altogether, most of them where Sian didn't know where the pig was. I had a really good day - hard work looking for the smell because the wind was all over the place, but I got some good long strikes. Altogether we were working for about 2 hours or more, and had lots of searching to do. Sian was pleased because I was indicating on the scent cone lots more than I have been before, and when you think that I haven't trained since November training weekend, that's pretty good going! It was freezing cold in the water, and windy! I really really need more search jackets - it's horrible putting a cold wet one on to go out for the next search!

Anyway, this past week has been strange and busy! I've been taking a strange little old dog out for walks with me - her name is Sally, and she's a Jack Russell, and her legs are only tiny - 4" long - or short! Sian has to carry her for the first bit of the walk, because she's not keen to start with, but once you get her going, she's brilliant - for an old girl, she's dead keen, hates stopping, and managed the whole of the circular path at Nant y Coed!! right to the top! On Saturday, her little boss Archie came too, leading the way, and that was fun, because he kept on throwing sticks for me - Sian doesn't throw sticks and things because she saves that for training, but I've trained other people to throw things for me!

Back to Bex in the wind - wow she doesn't like it, she got very scared and was doing bucking broncos and rodeo shows!! On Saturday, Sian and Brian were leading her up from the bottom field. As they passed the pink bath in the field, the wind lifted the bath right up, and Bex naturally got frightened and ran off! Sian and Brian got hurt - Sian got a bruised foot, and I think Brian got a bump on his bot, but they eventually got Bex to the stable - she was really scared, and kept going up to Sian saying "help please, I'm scared of the wind". Hannah's scared of doing things with her now, especially because she's still hurting loads - Anne sent her some arnica - Anne's a homeopath and arnica works well for pain - and that's worked better than anything else. Anyway, I think they said that Bex is going to live somewhere else for a bit, to try and get her ready for selling but I think it's for the best - Hanz is getting no fun with her now.

Anyway, today, Flash has gone to work with Phil, so I can relax - he's persistent bless him, but he's not the one for me - I'm looking for a nice big spaniel boy - anyone know of one?

Blooming 'eck - it's windy out there - we didn't get a walk on the beach this morning, cos Sian got blown over when she was taking the horse muck to the heap, and her wheelbarrow got blown away! That was windy! Instead we went up to Nant y Coed and had a good run and a sniff in there. The lake had melted, and the water was a good bit warmer than it has been. Sian and Phil were out for ages last night, they're both in the Llanberis Mountain Rescue team, and they had three!!! jobs straight after each other. I heard that Celyn got a find clever girl! take a look at the story on www.grough.co.uk

Me and Flash started to get a bit frisky today so she put me in the car - and I got to go out with her when the other two got to stay at home. Trouble was, Phil didn't see I was there and he didn't take me out when he got home, and I was late having my tea. I remember last time I was in season I got to go to work with Sian! I'm looking forward to that!

Anyway, I plan to spend the evening chilling on the sofa with Flashman and the Bobster.
Have fun yourself ...

Yippee! We've got some new piglets! We'd used up all of the last ones we got, and Sian came home today with four new ones - they're only tiny - one still has it's umbilical cord! Bless! Mrs M said they'd got out, and froze to death! Poor little piggies. And lucky old Cadz! They're in the freezer now, because I don't think we're going training next weekend (because of me being in season), so we may as well save them until we need them.

Sian's home and Phil's at work today, so we went for a walk with Sian - she seems to be working all the time at the minute; she says it's because the children and the horse are too expensive! And we had that thing called Christmas too, which cost her a lot of money - her children aren't working, so she gave them money to spend on presents for people - she probably ended up paying for her own Christmas presents really! Anyway, she worked loads extra last month, and at the moment, she's got an extra job looking after Kate, Josh, Archie and Finlay while their dad is in Scotland. He's an "outdoor instructor" whatever that means - I think he teaches the outdoors to do things - not sure I understand that really - maybe he told it to freeze? which is why I can walk on water??? When he comes back, I'll tell you his website address, so you can read all about his job - cool job I think - he writes a good blog too - I think he needs a proper dog to go with his job - Sian said they've got a tiny tiny Jack Russell called Sally. He's going to be a SARDA trainee!

I went in the sea this morning with Bobby - it was very cold, so I tried to jump over the waves, but they were all too big - I got my belly cold and wet, but it was nice to get clean and fresh! We watched the big swans on the yachting pond - they were chasing each other, and one of them had to stay on the sea - the others wouldn't let it on the lake. Beautiful things when they fly! I've just checked - the underneath of my ears is still wet from the sea!!!

Hey you'll never believe where me and Flash went to today - we went with Sian to talk to some ladies in something called Double-ewe Eye. It was good fun - first of all we found some biscuits, until they hid them from us Then Sian talked to them for a while - there were lots of pictures of lots of the other SARDA dogs, and the SARDA handlers. I got to play with the ball - Sian's so easy to train - I just woofed a few times and she gave me the ball to play with!! At the end we got to show them some tricks and got treats for it!! Such good fun - I can't wait to do more! We've been for three walks today, and Bobby's here - did I tell you how much he growls and woofs - in fact he gruffs all the time.

Apparently, I've got something wrong with me which means I might have to get separated from Flash - in case we get puppies! Not sure I fancy puppies at the moment, I'm probably too young! It would get in the way of my training I think. Sian said she want's to concentrate on getting me qualified this year. Hope so!

It's been 18 days since I last wrote in my Blog - but loads and loads has happened! We had a funny time when they had something called christmas - I think I remember it from last year. Everybody got fatter, and after that, we all got more exercise - does that happen in everyone's house at this time of year?

It's got very cold, and the ponds have had hard stuff on them - sometimes you can walk on it, sometimes you think you can, and you just fall through it into the water - it's a bit sharp on the ankles, and very very cold! There's been a lot of that cold hard stuff around - but I think I've got the hang of it now - I can slide on puddles, and when we went for a walk up the mountains last week, there were long slides of it, that I could skate down! that was great fun, but Sian and Phil were being careful not to slide on it!

What else has happened - Bobby's come to stay with us for a while - I'm all excited about that, because he follows me everywhere! He's a big dog, and he growls and woofs all the time, but I guess he'll settle down when he gets to know all the noises here!

I forgot to tell you about the time that Flash and me went to do a talk on SARDA at college - we went to Llandrillo college, and got to meet a whole load of people in a room. Flash was good because he didn't fart once, and I got cuddles and polo mints from a cute boy! Sian had a chicken sandwich in her bag, which Flash found, and ate! Sian said we're going to do another talk this week, so that'll be fun!

I found a chicken in the woods today - a live one, that squarked and flew away - I left it alone when Sian called me off, but she still growled at me - I guess I shouldn't have chased it, but I was just curious to see what it was - I wouldn't have done anything! I wasn't expecting to see it there!!

We've got training in a couple of weeks, but it's very cold, and I really don't fancy spending the weekend cold and wet - with no prospect of getting warm for the whole day - shudder - it's no fun being a water search dog in winter - unless you're boat is ready to use. We've ordered an engine, but then were told that they don't make the engine we want any more, so Sian asked them to look for another one similar. We've now got a boat, and anchor, and Sian's started lookinng at drysuits - I want one of those! Sian said she was going to look for a canal for me to train on - I could just run along the side looking/sniffing for a smell, without having to go in the water! Mij does that, and she's not even a water dog - she's a trailing dog!

Anyway, sian said she's going to bed now, so I guess I'll have to settle down to sleep - three on a couch now that Bobby's here! I'll just have to be bossier, so I get the couch to myself!