25/7/10 - Yes off again in the dark, this time heading for Crossman, a country town about 100 Km south of Perth, for another retrieving trial. Under judge Mrs Maggie Hankinson we achieved 3 more completed runs.  First one was a real test of control between the start and firing line flags with a couple of metres of heel work, good boy stayed in place very well. Did a good line out to the bird which had landed about 100 metres from us, with a big ditch before going up a bit of a hill to get the bird. Second run was also a bit tricky with the heel between the flags a bit of agility involved here where we had to go in a L shape over logs, under tree to end of perched on the very edge of a dam. It was very steep decline into and back out the other side for the dogs, not something Rebel has experienced before, but did it well, finding his bird over the other side and down a bit of a slop, out of sight of us handlers.  Always great to see their heads pop up with the bird. Run 3 was our water run, this also was a test of control with the heel free between the flags going over a low wire fence then down a slop to the edge of the dam nearly. I elected to heel straight over the fence hoping he would not break heel position which he didn't, he was terrific. In the water were all these dead tree sticking up all over the place, check out the photo below.  Not something Rebel has come across before and was a little unsure about where to get in the water and ended up running the bank a bit to find a place more in line with the bird.  I was surprised he still remembered where it was, but once in the water did a great line out and back to the bird with a great delivery. Pleased to say that of 2 of the 3 runs was very steady waiting to be sent after I shot the gun, so getting better with each test.  Once again very pleased with his work.

10 & 11 July 10 - WOW We sure have had another terrific weekend. On Sturday Rebel was entered for his Test 6 at tracking with judge Mrs Lynne Jooste.  1200 metres,  an acute corner, 3 articles, Kangaroos to ignore but pleased to say we passed.  That test now gives Rebel his Tracking Dog Excellent title (TDX).

Then on Sunday morning we were up well before the sun to head off to our 3rd retrieving trial held at Lavender Farm at Toodyay. Another freezing cold morning with a bit of rain and patches of sun to warm us up. Some great runs for the dogs and very pleased to say once again Rebel completed all 3 runs. Still left a little quickly after I shot the gun, well except on the last one where I got in his face and used my "your in trouble" voice and he sat very steady for the water run.  Seeing the water is a bit of a temptation as he loves to swim so getting him steady there was great. 

27/6/10 - We sure had a busy weekend, because Rebel and I left home just before 5.30 am today to travel over 100 Km to a country town east of Perth called Toodyay as Rebel was entered in his first Novice Retrieving trial.

Freezing cold when we arrived at -4 degrees so we were  very pleased when the sun decided to come out and warm us up a little.  Our dogs have to sit in a hide so they cant see the other dogs running but the excitment mounts as they hear the gun doing off, they know what is happending and are quite excited by the time its their turn.   We were dog No 5, first run on the land, single mark about 100 metres away, beautiful sit and wait while I fired at the bird, broke then gun them sent him off.  Straight out and back, had a pee on the way in naughtly boy and came around the side of the flag and me being very nervous did not turn to face him before he hopped into heel position. I should have turned so he could do a front present, so we both lost us some points there.  Run 2 in a different area, off the land, into paddling water, back on land, into some deeper water then on land and up a hill. He was so keen to go he actually left without being sent and I dont think he marked the bird down very well, while he had no problems with the two lots of water (which quite a few of the dogs did) he overshot where the bird had landed and was hunting back of where it had landed.  Must say he did not give up and had been working a while and I did not want him to struggle in his first trial so asked if I could call him in.  Judge said wait while I asked the thrower if the bird had gone down a hole, but no it hadn't it had just landed on the edge of the hill and he had not come that far forward.  Then the judge was very nice and told the thrower to give the bird to Rebel to bring in, said it was just really bad luck he had not found it as he had gone in a beautiful line to it. So that was us out, but very proud of him on our first trial and looking forward to the next one. 

26/6/10 - Got up to a very cold morning to head off to our Tracking trail. Rebel was on first at 9.15 with Judge Mrs Sue Fletcher.  I would have to say it sure was not his best work, he discovered the delights of Kangaroo poo, something he has never bothered about before, and was a bit more interested in that than following the tracklayer.  However, he did manage to concentrate on the job at hand long enough to find his articles and the tracklayer at the end to pass.  Yipee - passed his Test 5.

30/5/10 -  Over the last month we have been rather busy, with a return to tracking and putting in time with our retrieving.  As usual Rebel has taken it all in his stride and is coming along very nicely, and we are both enjoying the new challenges.  On Friday I met up with Anne to do some water retrieves to build up his confidence, well Mr Caution as left at home and Mr Dare Devil came to training, he had a great time.   After training he had a run and swim with Anne's two Goldie girls, Ella leading the way with Holly and Rebel very close behind.  Then it was Rebel turn to lead the girls astray by showing them the finer points of mud puddles, needless to say Anne and I kept our distance from the flying mud and made sure it was washed of in the river before getting back in the cars. 

24/4/10 - Today we were up at 4am for a nearly 2 hour drive to a country town called Toodyay as Rebel and I were entered in our first Retriever trial. A bit nervous as I had gone for broke and entered both the L-Plate (dummies) and Novice (birds).  Have to say I was so proud of Rebel, there were a few things he had not done before but as usual just took it all in his stride. First up sitting in a hide with the other dogs, waiting his turn, in a strange place but as you can see by the photo about he was quite happy.

First run on some rather large pebbles over a little bit of a stream to retrieve a dummy. We start off at the green flags with the gun streward taking our lead and handing me the gun and shot, we heeled toward the red flags (firing line) and dog has to sit steady while you load and fire the gun, not to move until the dummy hits the ground and you send.  We did 2 more run, one along a river (thought he might have gone for a swim but no) and the last one with the dummy landing in the water for a short swim for the dogs to retrieve. He complete all 4 runs and while there are things still to work on I was extremely pleased of how well he did and much to my surprise got 1ST PLACE.

Novice trial next and this a little harder, also with birds, first run up a hill out of sight of us handlers, search in long dry grass for a BIRD, and huge relief when I saw him heading back over the hill with the bird.  Run2 was down a dry river bed with a small mound for them to go over and round a bend for the bird.  All done very well.   Run 3 was a retrieve in the water and unfortunate for Rebel his sent in behind a huge pile of rubble and we think he got caught on something as he got spooked and while he was looking at the bird would not go in again, so we called him in.  However after the last dog had finished they put another bird in the water (where it should have landed in the first place) for Rebel to go and get and no problems at all.

While we still have heaps of stuff to learn I would have to say I was extremely proud of how well he did and looks very promising for the future. 

3/4/10 - Rebel and I were off before 6am today to a retrieving (gundog) trial, I had offered to help if Rebel could come and lisen to the guns going off, not been near gun fire before.  Not a problem they said, and as a thank you to a couple of us helpers arranged for extra shot and birds so we could have a go with our young dogs after the trial. I helped on the 1st and 2nd run but on the 3rd I was allowed to sit about 15 metres away from the firing line with Rebel.  I was most impressed not bother by the noise of the guns going off at all, he was keen watching the birds go up and a couple of times nearly pulled me off my chair as he thought he should be off picking up the birds.  

Once they had completed the last run we returned to camp and then they set up the thrower and gun for Rebel and Holly, Anne's young Goldie.  Started with Jean a few feet in front of us firing the gun at the dummies going up, boy was he keen to be going to retrieve something at long last. Next we were next to Jean, same thing, no problems and Kerry was there to keep her eye on the dogs but she said neither was worried one little bit.  Then my turn to fire the gun with Rebel in heel position, did a beautiful wait to be sent and he was off. Very nice sit in front to present the dummies, most impressed.  Then we tried what happens at trials, where you start off a few metres from the firing point, hand over the dogs lead, you are given the gun, heel forward to the firing flags, dog sits and waits while you fire, sent and once again a very nice sit in front to present, I about turn and we heeled back to the gun steward, hand over the gun and dummy and I get the lead back.  Jean said he was just terrific, cant tell you how proud I was off him, did a fabulous job being the first time with a gun going off.

31/3/10 - What an exciting day it has turned out to be.  I was informed today by the Flat Coated Retriever Association Australia that Rebel was awarded its the TOP DUAL PURPOSE DOG FOR 2009.  Certainly caps off a wonderful year for my very special boy.

29/3/10 - Over the last couple of weeks we have been attending the Retriever Club training days where we have been having heaps of fun learning the exercises required to help us when we want to enter retrieving trials.  Rebel has also got to met quite a few other dogs and after training has finished they have all had a swim in the Swan River.  I am extremely proud of how well he is going and it sure has paid off spending time doing obedience first.  I even think his tracking skills have helped as well. I think very exciting times are ahead for this very special boy. Below is a photo of the beautiful spot we have been going training. There have been heaps of distractions with ducks, huges flocks of Cockatoo's, Geese, Sea Guls and not to mention all the boats going up and down the river. 

20/2/10 - Well, Rebel was in his first obedience trial last night, in the beginners class of Community Companion Dog (CCD), while he didnt pass it had some really great pieces of work in there to build on.  A little distracted at times which caused him to loose some points and he missed 1 sit position in the slow pace, but scored 22/30. For the "Stand for Examination" he got a perfect score of 10/10,   excellent.  However his recall was his undoing, we heeled forward and where he should have sat in heel position for what ever reason (not paying attention maybe) he decided to come around and sit in front, while the judge told me then to leave my dog, I decided I did not want him facing the wrong way to be called and I asked to start that exercise again so that was a fail.  I dont do "stays"  if my dog in not on a pass so that was us for the night, but really thrilled to bits with his first attempt. 

15/1/10 - We have been off doing some more Gundog training, now we are working on blinds and on 8/1/10 Rebel got to his first ever double mark and did very well.

More work on obedience and over the Christmas holidays I decided to spend some time training Rebel on "scent Discrimination articles", my goodness he sure has pick this up very quickly. Yesturday while out training with Anne and her Goldie's Anne offered to put out the articles for us, and he did extremely well for the first attempt with the added distraction with a person putting them out for us, now I know that he certainly knows what he is doing as we had our back to the pile while Anne added the "scented" articles.

We had a few more distractions as well as a flock of Pink and Grey Galah's were having a feed of insects on the oval.

11/12/09 - We were off having our 2nd Gundog lesson today, in a different area to last week which is great for the dogs to get use to working in these different places.

I dusted the cobwebs off my Bumper boy and it came out of the box for the very first time.  The night before I did try Rebel with the dummies it tosses up as they are very different from out usual ones, complete with streamers, but as usual they were not a problem for him.

Today Rebel got some very long runs and for added distraction Maggie had brought another of her puppies - Spirit someone he had not met before. Also because the Bumper Boy is remote controled we have Maggie and Spirit right along side us working as well.  First couple of time Rebel wanted to go with Spirit to help her so it was just as well I had a very firm grip on his lead. Once again he put in some really nice runs and ignored the Magpie's who had come to watch. Terrific morning and the dogs worked really well.

4/12/09 - Boy did Rebel and I have some fun today, we left home early this morning to have a Retrieving lesson (Gundog work) with Maggie.  I have not been game to do much in this as I am very novice at it and did not want to mess him around. 

28/11/09 - Thought it was time to do a little update.   Tracking season has finished for the year, so now we are back to working more on obedience and swimming. A couple of weeks ago I thought I would try Rebel at the doggie pool, only ten minutes from home where its a 40 minute drive to the beach.  Put him in with Selsdon the first time and in no time at all he was off down the pool retrieving the dummy. He is the only one who likes to push off from the ramp, Selsdon and Taylor always swim off from the step.

Obedience is going really well, and we are both enjoying the challenges. Started doing stays and on Wednesday night he was going really well sat next to his best friend Jed (Joyce's Lab) then Joyce got Oscar (also his best friend) out for distraction, and boy was he a distraction, but I guess it is a bit hard not to be tempted to play when Oscar was right in his face jumping around.

 Next Friday we are going to have a lesson in Retrieving (Gundog work) so I am really looking forward to that. I have only been doing littles bits with him as I dont really know alot and I done want to mess him up.  He will come very nicely to the whistle (thanks to Jo) and is waiting to be sent to retrieve so the basics are coming along great.  

I have decided its also time to treach him some tricks, and we are currently working on spins and shaking paws.

 Rebel at the pool on 27/11/09.

29/8/09 - He is done it again, today Rebel was entered in his fourth tracking trial for a Test 4 with Mrs Sue Fletcher and he passed with a grading of GOOD.  Not his best work, but very hard when a mob of Kangaroos have danced all over your track.  I am sure they smell a lot better than a boring human.  Looking forward to attempting Test 5 in a couple of weeks. 

8/8/09 - What an exciting day I had today. Rebel was entered in his 3rd tracking trial for his Test 3 with Judge Mrs Sue Fletcher.  Not only did he pass but with flying colours with a grading of EXCELLENT but it was also his last pass for his first working title of TRACKING DOG, so now TD will appear after his name. Just so very proud of my special boy, he is going so well for such a young dog not yet 15 months old. 

A cuddle after passing our Test 3 .

 25/7/09 - WooHoo for Rebel as today he was entered in his second tracking trial and under judge Mrs Valeta Pethrick Passed his Test 2 with a grading of Good.   He overshot one of his corners but the rest was just beautiful and article indication just fabulous. Really thrilled with his work. Read more about it on the Tracking page.  

11/7/09 - Well what an exciting day we have had.  Rebel was entered in his first tracking trial.  I had originally entered Taylor but due to an injury withdrew her and put Rebel in, just to see how we were going with our training.  While I thought it was terrific, its always different on trial day as they are no flags to help you if you get a bit lost and confused.  

 It turned out to be a good decission even though I was very nervous at the start but he worked it all out very well and he now has his first pass towards his first working title of "Tracking Dog".  Full details of how he went on the tracking page. Looking forward to our next test in a couple of weeks.

15/6/09 - We have had a full on doggie weekend, tracking training for 3 days (Friday, Saturday and Monday) and obedience training on Sunday morning, bet the dogs are glad I have gone to work today. Must say going tracking a couple of times a week sure is starting to pay off, and Rebel is working very well and each time you can see is confidence growing. We took a little video yesterday and hope to get it up loaded onto the website tonight, so check it out and see how he is going.

He was terrific at obedience on Sunday and working very well with the distractions of all the other dogs around him. Maybe its was the roast lamb treats that did the trick what every it is good that is working.

31/5/09 - Well what an exciting day, Rebel went in the show ring, just needing 1 point to finish off his show Championship title.  Under New Zealand judge Mrs J Hamilton he got the dog challenge points and his title so he is now CH Casblaidd Mondays Rebel. WooHoo Rebel.  Very good for such a young dog at the tender age of 1 year and 20 days.  I never thought in my wildest dreams would he get is title so quickly and not once was he refused the challenge.  Very pleasing when a variety of judges from all over thought that he was good enough. We have showed under our local Perth judges, judges from most states of Australia, including  Queensland,New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Also International judges from Canada (3) and New Zealand. We will probably ease off the showing for awhile and concentrate his Tracking Training as that is a very short season and he seams to be picking this up very well. They will probably see us back in the show ring more during summer. Looking forward to our new challenges ahead.

23/5/09 - We were off tracking training again this morning, and while I have letting Rebel see the tracklayer leave, decided today he would not watch and just start with a article, thinking if it was too hard I could help a bit at the start.

I made sure he got a good nose full of scent and pointed to the ground and asked him to find, so to start with, but you could see him getting more confident with each step.. (like he was saying I know what I am doing) and he only stopped once on the first leg to have a look around. Then we came to our first right angle corner (had only been on curves) with the track going to the left and it ran up a sand track to help keep the scent. He crossed over (over shot) the corner just by a couple of feet, put his head up, so I gave him a bit more lead while I backed up a bit, he came back onto the sand track but went about a meter to the right, no, track did not go down there, then he came around behind me and over to the left and picked up the track, clever boy. Then he was off, a couple of times he went to the fringe of the scent pad but very quick to come back on the track. Founds both his articles on the tracks and boy did his pace increase as he got closer to the tracklayer. WooHoo Rebel did a very good job and with only a little bit of help from me at the start ..... very pleased.

14/5/09 - Well its hard to believe that Rebel is now 1 year old, where has that year gone? I probably wished 4 months of it away, waiting on him to come and live with me.

We have working away at his Showing title and we are getting there. Also spending a fair amount of time training at obedience which is coming along very nicely. Keeps a very nice heel position, sit is automatic when we stop less of course he has been asked to stand ( a work in progress) or drop (which is nice and quick). We are working up to him heeling off lead, currently the lead is still attached but tucked into his collar and he is still keeping position. Stand for Examination is getting there also, standing while Joyce (who I train with mostly) can now run her hand over him without him moving and I can walk around him back to the heel position without him sitting. Recall is nice and fast and I have to watch he does not knock me off my feet. Just starting to work on the stays for both sit and drop.  All in all I think he is coming along very nicely with me trying not to get too carried away and race ahead to quickly.  On Sunday I am going to take him to my old dog club for some distraction training, as I think now we have the basics its time to test it with alot of other dogs around. Hopefully I will get chance to take some updated photos as well.

He has also started tracking and I think he is going to be nice and steady. We are both really enjoying our training.

26/4/09 - Last week we started back at tracking, and Rebel got to do a couple of beginner tracks, and I was very please to see him putting his nose down, guess it a bit hard me saying "find" and he does not really have a clue who or what it is he is finding.  However, this week I got our trainer to make it a bit easier on the beginner dogs and then Rebel knew who he was finding. Also much to my surpriseon the track were some scent articles, and WOOHOO Rebel as he found and picked it up, so we had a little party and set him off again and low and behold he found another one, another party then off to find the tracklayer hiding behind a tree.  Really thrilled with him, he did a great job for only his 2nd lesson. In the video section you will find the video we took of him working his track, check it out.

19/4/09 - Gee I am getting slack, another 2 months have gone by and not updated again.  We are slowly working away at our obedience and in the video section there is a short clip of him training, a work in progress but coming along well, the attention needs heaps more work, but he is just so interested in verything that is going on around him, a nosey Flat Coat, how unusual .

Yesterday was our first day back at tracking training, bit humid and thunder going on but the rain held off until after we had almost finished. Rebel "found" his first person, Michael hiding in the bush, bit hard to a beginner puppy but with a little help he did very well, he thought he was the ants pants as well. We did 4 little tracks and I was just surprised how well he did, so we are looking forward to next week.  He slept on the way home in the car, all that excitment.

More detailed description of the tracks he did are in the "Tracking News 2009" page if you would like to check it out.

11/2/09 - My goodness its almost 4 months since I last updated Rebel's page and tomorrow he will be 9 Months old, where has the time gone.

He is growing into a very handsome boy as you can see by the photo above and the ones in his photo album.  While we are waiting on the tracking season to start again on 18th April Rebel and I have been passing our time in the show ring where his challenge points are adding up, currently on 49, almost half way to his Championship title. Very please with him, as couple of weeks ago he got BOB (Best of Breed) over a bitch who is 18 months old, so he is holding his own.

He is also coming along great with his obedience training, and while it took awhile to get the drop on the move, that is now fabulous (well most times  ). More work needed on attention, so hard to concentrate when there is allot of other stuff going on around him, but we are getting there.

19/10/08 - Another warm day had been forecast so I had decided to take Rebel on his own to the beach for the first time to see how he would go. So I got up early and headed off to Kwinana Beach were the water is calm and there are no sudden drops, good place to introduce your dog to the water. Started off with him on the lead but he was more than happy to get in the shallow water and was splashing around having a great time, so off came the lead.  I had taken a little foat toy for him to play with and he was having a terrific time, even went in a bit deeper. Not long after we were joined by a couple of people with a Lab and a Jack Russell, the Lab was swimming out retrieving a piece of wood, so who decided to go join in, yes.... Rebel. Before we knew it he was swimming after the Lab and he was just fabulous.  I am sure I got a bigger shock than Rebel did, that he was off and swimming and as usual taking it all in his stide. He enjoyed himself thats for sure even doing the Flat Coat fishing thing of putting his head under the water.   A terrific time was had by all. Check out the little video and the photos taken.

18/10/08 - Well today we went to visit my friend Maggie and her 3 Labs Candy, Guinness and Glory for some pointers in starting our Gundog training or Retriever Training as we call it here in Australia.  Rebel got to do a couple of very easy retrieves but then Glory strutted her stuff and showed us a bit more advance things. Rebel was very keen to be out there helping Glory to pick up the dummies. Part of it was basic blinds and when we had finished Maggie had left a couple of dummies on the blind furtherest away from us. Not thinking much about it I let Rebel off the lead to have a play with Glory, but he was more interested in checking out the dummies which had been left out. While they were much bigger and heavier than anything he had picked up before he did not let that stop him and sure enough back to Maggie and I with the first one.  Much excitment on my part, big cuddles and lots of telling him he was a good boy and he was off to get the other one. 

So while we cant do much else we know about blinds. We have a fabulous morning and leaned heaps of stuff, just a case of putting it all into practice now.

 12/10/08 - Rebel gets Best Baby in Group at the Fremantle Dog Club open show - judge Mrs J. Soltoggio. This was his very first show, entered more for me to practice. At the second show run by the Stewards Association of WA the judge was Ms. J. Chivers and she gave me some useful handling tips and after the show came to find me to say what a lovely boy Rebel is and that I should do very well with him.

4/10/08 - No tracking today, just a beautiful breakfast out in the bush to mark the end of our training season. However, Rebel got to meet heaps more people and their dogs, couple not so friendly so we kept well away from them. Before comming home he had a nice run in the bush with Selsdon and Taylor, he just loves being out there with us which is just terrific. Nice that he also comes when called and always a treat waiting.

27/9/08 - Tracking Lesson No 2, and he was great today, we did much the same as the week before but made the tracks a little longer. The last one was up a little bit of a hill and as I was laying the track I noticed a article someone else had left behind just over to the right, so left it there to see what he would do. Placed his toy to find and back to get him and started off really well, putting his nose down a few times, yes he found the sock, sniffed it and left it there - good boy and off to find his toy. Then he noticed someone had left a tennis ball (which I missed) just over to the left of the track so he went over to check it out and I thought for sure he would pick it up, but no he decided that was not what he was looking for either and went off to get his toy. Very pleased so heaps of treats and a good play and finished on that good note.

20/9/08 - It was time for the first tracking lesson today, just very basic stuff but he did really well. Starting to put his nose down over a very short distance and making it lots of fun.  Check out the video we took on the video page.

14/9/08 - Rebel was 4 months old on Friday and its like he has lived with us all his life. Taylor now thinks he is a bit of alright and they are getting on very well together, one, big happy family. We had our first show training lesson last Tuesday and all went well. Today there were some specialised breeds shows on and being in our undercover area, I thought I would take him along to get use the noise of the dogs, people etc, took heaps of treats and he was very happy, he got to say hello to heaps of people and some of their dogs.

8/9/08 - Well the day has finally arrived and Rebel is now out of quarantine and home with us. Settled in really well, and while Selsdon has been terrific with him Taylor's nose as been a little out of joint, but as the days go she is getting better. He has been to tracking with us, an obedience trial and met several of my friends and their dogs. Today he met Liz and her toller and Helen and her 2 standard poodles. Rebel is not fazed by anything, taking it all in his stride, absolutely beautiful temperment, I can't thank Jo enough for sending me such a fabulous boy. Guess we had better book him into show training classes and gets some practice.