To China and Back Again

I swear I blink and I missed my holiday. After a day back at work it feels like I never left! However I do have some amazing memories that will stay with me and we had a fantastic time. China was like being on a different universe with the difference in culture. The comparison to living on 5 acres of land as opposed to the incredible high density housing that surrounded us in Shenzen and Chengdu (which has a population of over 11 million people) was extreme to say the least. It was pretty cool going out to these fantastic restaurants for dinner and being where there are hundreds of shops open late every night but on the down side I don’t enjoy not being able to see the sun through the haze of smog that covers the entire city and beyond. I could never live there. The traffic was insane with those ridiculous bikes with the little engines on them that you can’t hear absolutely everywhere. The first time you knew that they were close was when you were just about to get hit by one. I will certainly never moan about Perth traffic again. It was funny tonight that on TV the Today Tonight program was talking about how rude/inconsiderate Perth drivers are these days. I felt like calling them and telling them to go to China for a different perspective... My brother is the exact opposite though. He has lived in China for about ten years now and could never move back to Perth and the quiet life.


Two hours out of Chengdu and the smog doesn't get any better

Naturally I missed all of my furry family. There was a certain small enjoyment had in having no dependants for a couple of weeks but then I got to a point where I missed having a wet nose in my face waking me up in the morning. By the time we got home I couldn’t wait to go and pick them all up. Colin and I needed some padding to help cope with five over excited border collies bouncing off us in pure unrestrained joy but it was so great to have them back again. Kenny was a little more controlled but I was still met with a happy meow when I called his name to let him know I'd come to get him.


At the Panda Sanctuary

Last Saturday night was a trial run by the West Coast Rottweiler Club. I entered Sonic but I knew that our runs could be a bit dodgy with Sonic having been in kennels for the couple of weeks beforehand. As it happened it wasn’t all bad. Our first run was Masters Agility and his best run of the night. He was a little unsure of himself and a touch sticky on his contacts, but overall a solid run. He was only three seconds behind first place so considering that I stopped him on all his contacts it was a very good effort. In Open Jumping he was going well and made a really hard weaver entry but then popped out after the fourth pole. Masters Jumping was a really challenging course that I managed to get lost on. After coming around a corner I just could not pick the line that I needed. I actually managed to save us from a refusal and kept going but unfortunately he didn’t push out to a jump further on so we still managed to get a refusal. Open Agility was our last run and also our weakest. I felt that he was unfocused and a little tired so I just tried to make the best of it and keep him happy. He really hasn’t done a lot of agility lately so I think he is probably a bit agility unfit and lacks some confidence on the equipment.

The break I’ve had however has left me feeling fresh and ready to get some enthusiasm back into my agility. Tonight after work Sonic and I did some circle work out the back and then did some weaver entries. Both of us were revved up and had some real fun mucking around. I haven’t enjoyed it that much in ages.