Ball Obsession disturbs humans.....

What does the above image look like to you? A baby doll? A plastic version of a human baby? Right, that's what it looks like to me too.

The dog's perception is rather different to ours. Bender does not see the above object as a baby doll.

Can you guess what Bender thought it was? When we let the dogs loose at the Yardie Creek Caravan Park in Exmouth, Bender immediately started searching the yard for balls. He retrieved a couple from the kid's sand pit, and they were quickly confiscated. We were trying to have an adult conversation, and he was more disruptive than the kids.

Starved of balls, he found the youngest girl's doll and picked it up by it's head. It looked a little disturbing, him carrying a baby around in his mouth by it's head.

It was met with laughter and cries of "the Dingo got my baby!" (for those who aren't Australian, context of the quote here).

We also confiscated the baby doll from him, but from then on he was obsessed. He picked up the baby in preference to the boring old tennis balls every time. L joked that when her girl grew out of the dolls, we might be getting a very strange package in the mail full of baby heads.

Can you imagine throwing one for Bender in the park or at the beach?

More Road Trip (Day 6, 7 & 8) Exmouth - Bush Bay - Geraldton - Perth

After our last coffee at the homestead, we packed up and bid farewell to Yardie Creek Caravan Park. We headed back down the coast towards Carnarvon. We stopped briefly in Carnarvon to take the dogs for a walk and a wee break.

We saw a group of young indigenous fellas jumping off a bridge and swimming near a housing estate in town, and we decided it would be a good place to walk. When we got up there though, Bender didn't want to walk over the bridge - it was a weird bridge, an old railway bridge which seemed to be a drawbridge. It freaked him out. Anyway we were surrounded by the young guys, they were most interested in Barbie.

I suppose I should explain a bit here. Greyhounds seem to have a different reputation amongst country dwelling Aboriginal people than they do amongst urban folks. We live quite close to a train station, and often there are young Aboriginal guys hanging around the train station, the shops, or the nearby park who see Barbie and I stroll by. They always say 'hey, roo-dog! get 'im a good feed of roo.." Most kangaroos would be no match for a savvy Greyhound, that's for sure. Anyway it's happened so often that I have the idea there are at least some Greyhounds being used to hunt kangaroos in outback Australia.

Back to our stroll in Carnarvon...the now familiar "hello roo dog" was voiced as they all came in for a pat. They were less sure of Bender, but as Bender stayed calm some of them patted him as well. After a lot of questions about our "roo dog" we went on our way, bundled back into the car and headed towards our camp site in Bush Bay.

By the time we got to Bush Bay the sun was pretty low in the sky. It's a popular fishing spot and a few people were pulling their boats out and leaving by the time we had set up.

The tide was heading out as the sun was going down, so we went for a stroll along the beach. Barbie was being driven crazy by the small, zippy little birds that were on the mud flats hunting. She could only see them when they moved but she really wanted to give chase.

Both the dogs seemed to enjoy the walk.... and then we went back to cook dinner - but there was a huge problem - the gas hose for the stove had sprung a leak. No cooking for us! We had to eat the mangoes that they had given us up in Exmouth for dinner. We didn't really have much food left!

The dogs lying politely on their beds - got a good night's sleep despite being a little hungry. I even munched on some dry pasta - it wasn't particularly satisfying. Next camping trip I think I will bring some 2 minute noodles to eat in case we have issues with the stove again - at least you can chew them more easily dry than pasta.

Barbie woke me up in time to see the sunrise, though Bender didn't seem to want to go anywhere. I took Barbie for a wander around so that she could toilet, and then ran into N and Bender down on the beach - I guess he wanted to come after all!

We packed up as quickly as possible because I was hungry - we stopped at the first roadhouse we came across (which I think was Wooramel Roadhouse, 100ks South of Bush Bay). There was a scraggly little Jack Russell dog there who came trotting over to me and the dogs while N was in the road house getting our food.

We had lunch at Billabong Roadhouse, which has become a favorite of ours, and the lady there remembered us. She said 'wow, quick trip', and chatted to us about her dog - apparently he catches budgies (which are a small Australian native bird) and buries them on his walks. We sat in the shade near the roadhouse and watched her big dog in his backyard. Bender and Barbie were very good, not trying to get over to him or bark at him. He was a big brindle mastiff type dog.

After a fair bit of driving, we pulled over for a break at the rest area at the Murchison River. There is free camping here, and I think if we didn't have a house to stay in at Geraldton, this is where we would drive to on the first day heading North.

This lizard decided to pose for the camera - he was very cute and he wasn't afraid of the dogs at all.

Barbie decided she was hot, so she lay down in the water. The water was pretty stinky!!!

We let Bender offleash as there weren't many people around and the ground was hot - so I thought it would be better for him if he could choose where he put his paws. When I took his leash off he looked around at me, surprised, like he was saying "really?..... thankyou!"

It was just a short drive to Geraldton from the Murchison rest stop, and we stayed again at the house with the neighbouring horse. Bender kept asking to go out the back but he wasn't allowed. We had a great night's sleep, and headed back to Perth the next day.

The kitties both greeted us enthusiastically when we got home, and the dogs passed out. I think they slept for two days straight!

So that's it, our road trip up North with the dogs. Overall pretty successful if I do say so myself!

Road Trip to Exmouth - Day 5 - More Exmouth

On our morning toilet walk, Barbie noticed the kangaroos for the first time. They had always been there, but I think they moved at an inopportune time. The kangaroos up here are pretty small, not like the massive red kangaroos that we used to see around Kalgoorlie. I got her to forget about them eventually.

For the second morning in a row, we took the dogs down to the beach for a run. The dogs were quite tired, and it didn't take long before Barbie made herself comfortable on the sand.

We then took the dogs back to the homestead, to leave there for a few hours so that we could properly check out the Cape Range National Park.

On the way out there, we were flagged down by a guy on the road near 'the dune'. We were told we should go look at 'the dune', but not to go too far or we would get bogged. Well, this guy was bogged, but as we stopped he looked at the X-Trail and said 'I don't think your car is big enough to pull us out'. I was like, no - we don't even have recovery points on this car, it's really a city car.....so N offered to go back to Yardie Creek and ask someone to help him out.

We pulled back into the gate and they made fun of us "can't bare to be away from them from more than five minutes, hey"? They said they would go help the guy stuck on the dunes, but when we drove back past he was gone so he may have pulled over a proper four wheel drive car in the meantime.

We enjoyed swimming and sightseeing in the National Park. The Ningaloo Reef is pretty famous as a tourist attraction - it really is the WA version of the Great Barrier Reef. We really didn't get to do as much snorkelling as I'd like though as we didn't want to leave the dogs at the homestead all day - they had to go to town and go shopping and stuff.

Yardie Creek gorge is just lovely, and though we didn't have time to go on a boat trip we decided to go back with our kayaks to paddle up it. We also want to go and swim with the whale sharks during their season. We are looking at going back up (without the dogs) in May.

On the way back into the caravan park we managed to snap these emus hanging around outside. Emus are very cute and very fast. I found myself wondering if they would beat Barbie in a foot race.

We went to the homestead and collected the dogs and headed back into town for lunch. We revisited the cafe we went to last time because we knew it was dog friendly, and lunch was pretty good.

After we ate, we took the dogs back to town beach, though they were pretty tired and it was blowing a gale.

Barbie decided that she wanted a nice bed in the sand out of the wind, and in N's shadow out of the sun. I decided to record it after watching so many turtles dig holes in order to lay their eggs. Barbie's digging style is a lot quicker than a turtle's though!

Note her strange one-pawed digging style and the fact that she knew precisely how big to dig the hole!

On the way back out to the caravan park, N spotted three people sitting in their car eating icecreams and decided she wanted one. I figured the Lighthouse Caravan Park would have a shop and it might be a cool place to check out.

No dogs are allowed at the Lighthouse caravan park but they do have a resident Staffy. She had such an expressive face. Later when I asked the folks at Yardie Creek about her they said they had to put signs up telling people not to feed the Staffie as she was getting huge!

Once we had our icecreams we drove up the hill to the lighthouse to check out the view. It was blowing a gale and N didn't want to get out of the car. Neither did the dogs. I got out to take some photos and almost got blown off my feet!

I got some good photos though! I noticed that a fair few cars we had seen in the National Park that day, or spotted in town, or both, drove up the hill, stopped briefly, and drove back down.

Sightseeing for the day was over and we headed back to the caravan park. We had dinner at the homestead again and it was so cool to be hanging out with them. I was so glad to have finally met N's friends who live in Exmouth. The kids were also so charming and cute.

The dogs were exhausted and sprawled in various positions around the deck. After some wine and a lot of stories and food we headed back to the tent for a good night's sleep.

To be continued.....

Road Trip to Exmouth - Day 4 - Exmouth finally!

Water is scarce up here, so in the morning we got to share our camp site with these pink & grey galahs, who were just after a drink.

The owners of the caravan park are friends of N's - so we went and visited the homestead in the morning for a cup of coffee. We bought the dogs around. They were a bit cautious about how their Boxer, Roxy would react to having two strangers in her yard. I was pretty confident they wouldn't scrap though, as Roxy was the smallest of all three of them - and Bender and Barbie would be out of their territory.

They shut Roxy away in the shed while I bought Bender & Barbie in. Bender and Barbie then just had to deal with the three kids that decended upon them - aged 3 to 7. The youngest kids took a shine to Barbie because she tends to keep all four paws on the ground. She did remarkably well with a four year old boy trotting around after her, his hand resting on her rump.

We let Roxy out of the shed, and they were all fine together. Bender and Roxy had a couple of vocal altercations over a coconut, but apart from that they were all good the whole time.

We were advised that the best local beach for the dogs to go for a run was Janz Beach. After breakfast, we went straight there. There was no-one around, and so we decided Barbie could run muzzle-less.

She seemed to appreciate it. It also made for some better beach photos without the ugly thing on her face!

After their run on the beach, we decided to drive into town and get ourselves breakfast. Exmouth town centre is nowhere near the coast - the coast is mainly taken up by Australian Defence land (it's the Harold E. Holt command centre for deep water subs), and Cape Range National Park. It's a fair drive from where we are staying at Yardie Creek Caravan Park, which is on the coast and just outside of the National Park.

The cafe provided plenty of shade, and the dogs got a lot of attention from friendly locals. It seems that less people up here are scared of them and choose to take a wide berth. The food was pretty good too.

It was still pretty hot - probably about 38 degrees celsius, cooler than the days before we arrived. We decided to go for a drive in the National Park. There is a scenic gorge drive that you can do without going through any checkpoints. We didn't let the dogs out of the car since they aren't allowed in National Parks, but it was too hot for them anyway.

The gorge was very pretty. We saw another few cars up there, but not many. We drove up, took photos, and drove back down again.

After our drive, we went into town and bought salad rolls from the bakery, and headed to the town beach.

You are allowed to drive on this beach, though we chose not to. I kept Barbie on the lead here though, just in case. She didn't seem to mind. She was pretty tired after her run that morning.

After we had hung out on the beach a while, we headed back to the caravan park. We did some washing and hung around the campsite til it was time to go to the homestead for dinner. There was another couple visiting, and the guy was Italian and intent on making pizza. We had authentic italian wood fired pizza for dinner. The dogs were happy just to run around and eat grass.

After dinner we left the dogs at the homestead and went turtle spotting on the beach. We saw a lot of turtles hauling themselves up the beach to lay their eggs, and we even got to see a Green Turtle laying. No photos though because flashing lights can startle them and send them back out into the ocean. I did get a nice picture of a turtle track up the beach the next morning though.

We got back late and everyone had gone to bed - the dogs were all sleeping on the porch but got very excited to see us! We collected Barbie and Bender and we all slept very very well in the tent.

To be continued....

Road Trip to Exmouth - Day 3 - Exmouth via Carnarvon & Minilya Roadhouse (twice)

We packed up the tent after a windy, restless night, and headed into Banana Town. We West Australians call Carnarvon Banana Town because it is where most of our bananas come from. Unfortunately last year a lot of the banana crop were wiped out by heavy rains and flooding and bananas became very expensive.

We stopped at a Banana Town cafe because we didn't really have any breakfast food to cook up in camp - we have a special egg carrier for camping which is made of plastic and protects the eggs from breaking - but the free range eggs we bought the night before were too big to fit.

Carnarvon is not a very pretty place, though there were a lot of backpackers around of all nationalities. I think that a lot of them were around looking for work on the banana plantations.

After we had our breakfast, we let the dogs out at a local park. We were met by this local.

She didn't seem to like us being on her turf and barked at us. She kept her distance. I just thought she looked a lot like Bender. I wonder if she was one of his sisters!

Back on the road again, and we started driving through Termite Mound country. A few of them had spraypainted graffiti on them, but this delightful modification gave me a little giggle.

We went to the effort of turning the car around and driving back to get a picture of this termite mound/beast.

By now it was getting very hot. We got to Minilya roadhouse and pulled over to get some fuel. It was here that Barbie jumped into the car completely voluntarily with no coaxing and no treats. I think her feet were hot. We broke out her cool coat and wet it down. She seemed to enjoy it.

The guy at the roadhouse asked N where we were going. She told him we were heading to Exmouth. There are two ways to get to Exmouth and he neglected to tell us that one way (the way we decided to go) was closed due to a raging bushfire.

We drove for quite a while towards the turnoff, thinking 'that fire is awfully close to where we are going'. N flashed the headlights at an oncoming car, and they told us they had headed up that way and the road was closed. We had to turn around and go back. By this stage it was hotter than it had ever been before, and the car airconditioning was just blowing hot air at us. We had to drive at 90kph with the windows down to provide some relief, but if you stuck your arm out the window it felt like it was burning.

We had to go back through Minilya in order to get more fuel. We also bought a bag of ice and 3 litres of cold water since all the water we had in the car was just about hot enough to brew a cup of tea in.

Bender happily licked iceblocks I held for him and that kept him cool. We wet Barbie down again, and headed up the other road towards Exmouth. We saw a few cars on the side of the road with the bonnet up - overheated.

Weirdly, as we approached Exmouth we went through a patch of really cool air. The windows of the car went back up, and the air conditioning back on. We could go 110kph and the car temperature did not increase.

It didn't last, and it got hotter as we passed Learmonth Airport. Then we finally got to Exmouth!

The puppies were pleased as we got a great camping spot underneath a tree. They were exhausted from all the panting they had been doing - so they slept very well that night. They even waited patiently tied up while I made dinner.

Barbie always used to wiggle out of her collar or harness when she was tethered but on this trip she learned that there was no point. She would just be told off. She only whinged when it was too hot or if there were ants or something.

Here we are all ready for bed. I read my Kindle until I was tired enough for bed. Barbie actually stayed on her bed this time and they were both on their best behaviour - despite all the noisy birds perching in the tree over the tent!

To be continued....

Road Trip to Exmouth - Day 1 - Perth to Geraldton

I managed to get leave between the Christmas and New Year public holidays, we decided to go on an epic road trip up to Exmouth, WA. I also got myself a car which would comfortably fit us, the dogs, and all of our gear.

I've yoinked this map from somewhere on the internet to show some major towns in Western Australia. We used to live out to the east in Kalgoorlie and make road trips down to Esperance.

On Christmas Eve, we packed up and headed off to our first stop - Geraldton, about 450 kilometres North of Perth.

Bender was hyper in the back of the car for almost the whole trip - he took ages to settle, but did eventually. Luxury of luxuries, we got to stay in a house at Geraldton. This place has a huge backyard. The dogs enjoyed the grass and the wide open space.

There was one problem. Bender ran to the back of the yard and he found his arch nemesis. A horse.

Of course, he barked. I had no idea what he was barking at, but I knew he was afraid. He was barking with a bit of a snarl on his face, but he was keeping his distance from the fence, and creeping backwards with each bark. N ran down there and saw the horse, who was totally freaking out and galloping around in small circles. He had run into a star picket in his pen and had a flesh wound on his chest.

N went next door to tell the neighbours that Bender had spooked their horse, and that it had hurt itself in a panic. The neighbour came around and was telling us the horse was only in the little pen because it had been recently attacked by a dog - no wonder it reacted the way it did. While N and the neighbour were chatting through the gate, Barbie slipped out the front of the house.

The neighbour had been saying that she really liked Greyhounds and was thinking about getting one as her next dog. Barbie slipped out of N's grip and stood in the front yard. N took her time getting out to her, and couldn't see her anymore. Barbie had headed towards the neighbour's house, as they have two dogs and I think she wanted to introduce herself.

I called her name - she looked up, then spotted the sheep across the road, so went over to their house. She refused to come back to me, and instead trotted circles in this person's yard, sniffing around very close to the house. She finally stopped and stared at the sheep. I caught her and bought her inside - she was not going to be trusted off leash on our holiday now, except for on one beach. Hopefully she didn't put the neighbour off Greyhounds for life!!

In the morning the dogs were given their Christmas presents, and I got the best present from N - a brand new camera to replace my ailing Panasonic Lumix FT-1 which turned out to be not-so-tough.

I didn't get any pictures of Barbie with her Christmas present - a new stuffie. She seemed to lose interest in it fairly quickly. Bender loved his toy though. Here he is enjoying it!

We left Geraldton after going visiting and headed north. We didn't get out of town until about midday. The dogs both settled into their positions on the back seat quickly, maybe a little tired from visiting and getting so much attention from so many people. We stopped at a few attractions on the way up towards Carnarvon (Banana Town) - but I'll tell you about that when I've recovered from New Years Eve.... so stay tuned for some beautiful pictures of what North West of Western Australia has to offer :)

Barbie's new Booties

Last time we took Barbie camping we went on a hike. It was hot and the road was rough on her feet. She got very tender and once she had cooled down she did her best to walk around with us, gingerly.

We have a road trip coming up, so I decided that I would buy her some booties. The only booties I had seen were the Ruffwear ones, and their sizing goes on the width of the dog's foot. I thought that they probably wouldn't fit Barbie's long, skinny sighthound feet very well.

A bit of searching on the internet and I found some booties that are sized by the length of the dog's foot called Muttluks - so I decided to give them a try. I ordered them hoping they would arrive with plenty of time to get Barbie used to wearing them - they were coming from Queensland and they arrived 3 days later! I was very impressed with the postage time! The shop was topdogs.com.au if any Aussie people want to order stuff from them.

When the package arrived, naturally Bender thought it was for him. Ever since I opened a package that had a collar for him years ago, he thinks all packages are his.

The instructions that came with the booties suggested that you put the boots on one at a time - starting with a front foot and leaving it on for 5 minutes, then putting one on the opposite back foot. I put two on and Barbie went back to her default position of lying on her sleeping bag.

I decided we would have to go on a proper walk for her to learn how to walk in them, otherwise she would just lie there. What could she acclimatise to if she wasn't even using her feet?
I put all four on, but she shook two of them off by the time we had gotten to the top of the hill - I must not have done the velcro up tight enough. She did the rest of the walk with two on - and by coincidence it was the front and diagonally opposed back foot. She actually did really well, though she did stop a few times to gnaw on the front boot! I told her off and she went back to walking.

This is a good sign. When I was trying to walk her in a harness she was walking slowly, and stopping because it was bothering her. She was, if anything, more animated than usual on the first walk with the booties on, because I revved her up a bit after I put them on her. Boots mean fun!

They seem to fit her well, though I think her rear paws are a bit smaller than the front, so the rear one she had on moved around a bit as she walked. I need to pay more attention to pulling the velcro straps tight around those skinny ankles of hers!

Hopefully you all approve of the lovely purple colour. I think Bender is a bit jealous now, I was going to get him Ruffwear shoes but I am not sure he will take to having booties on his feet as quickly as Barbie seems to be.

Camping with Dogs - Equipment List

We often camp in places that are dry and hot, with no drinkable water, so you have to bring your own. People are supposed to drink 3 L per day, and I have learned from my monitoring of the dogs that they drink that much, if not more on days with a high level of activity.

Anyway I decided to do a list of stuff that we bring especially for the dogs on camping trips.

The Tent

We just bought a 4 x 2 man tent which has three doors in the front section. This allows the dogs to lie in comfort in the tent, while watching us through the insect mesh, without getting their bedding dirty and while being protected from flying, biting insects.

Extra Water

The dogs need an extra 3 L per day each just for drinking

Treats

I always bring extra treats for the dogs, but since we can't reliably keep a lot of stuff cold, I always bring dog cookies and schmackos

Food

My dogs eat kibble anyway so this one is pretty easy. I just measure out their food into plastic containers that will fit nicely into the car

Bowls

We have a folding travel water bowl which we bring on hikes, and a solid plastic water bowl for the camp site.

Longer leashes

Barbie's CGC leash is nice and long which is good for rough and rocky ground because it allows Barbie to pick her way through the landscape without dragging me behind her. I think it has helped her build confidence on the rough stuff. We don't often leave the dogs tethered by their leashes at the camp site as they would often prefer to be tucked up in the tent.

Cool Coat

I have just bought this for Barbie because she gets hot easily in the sun. This will hopefully improve her stamina on walks.

Bedding

At a minimum we bought Barbie's bed which is usually in her crate, and a few blankets. I am not sure we bought enough blankets because Bender spent the whole time trying to steal mine.

Outside Bed

Bender has one of those hammock style beds which is dismantleable in order to fit it into the car. He enjoys sitting on it with us outside when there are no biting insects or when it is not too cold. I am not sure whether it is worth getting a second one for Barbie as she seems more comfortable in the tent.

Beach Shelter

I am thinking about getting one of these for the dogs for our next trip, when we will be spending a lot of time on the beach. I think Barbie in particular would appreciate the shade, but so will I.

Adequate Supply of Poo Bags

There often are no bins where we choose to camp, so the poo bags get tied to the bull bar of the four wheel drive when they are full.

Head Torch

Invaluable for walking the dogs at night or in the early morning and for using the poo bags.

Barbie's First Camping Trip

Being a long weekend, we decided that we could take Barbie camping for one night - her first trip ever.

We camped down near Dwellingup, and it took a couple of hours to get to the campsite. There were a few people there when we got there, but it was easy to find a nice spot in the shade. The first thing we did is set up the tent, and we then went on a hike to a supposed 'waterfall'. I didn't think there would be much water, as we are nearing the end of a very long, hot, dry summer. It was about 3 kilometres out to the water fall, and then there was a 1.3 kilometre circuit around the waterfall.

Neither of the dogs were conditioned to walking on a rough pea gravel track, and Barbie was a bit sore and hot, so Nic went and got the car for us, while we waited.

This is where the water is supposed to be.... but no water!

I promised Barbie I would get her some hiking boots and a swamp cooler jacket. Her tongue was lolling out of her mouth and onto the red dirt. Occasionally she reeled her tongue back in and made some chewing motions, eating the dirt.

Barbie was very happy to get back into the car.

We checked out an old Prisoner of War Camp on the way back. It was mainly Italian POWs who were imprisoned here in WWII, and they were used as forced labour in the countryside. A few escaped, one rode a pushbike to Perth (I love how that was considered an impressive feat - it's only 150ks or so!). They built relationships with the local farmers and there were romances - some of the escapees were found at the local pub soaking up the culture.

Barbie had sore feet but she tried her valiant best and walked around to all the ruins.

We got back to the tent and Barbie made herself at home in the tent on her bed. She was a little disturbed by the tent flapping in the wind for the first... three minutes, then she went straight back to sleep. She is such an adaptable and low maintenance dog!

She learned to treat the tent as her crate, and she was happy to sit on her bed in there and watch us through the mesh doors as we made dinner. She didn't cause us any problems, but Bender was a bit of a pest.

The overnight temperature dropped a bit more than expected, and Bender was cold, so he spent all night sleeping on top of me, or stealing my blankets. Barbie slept on her bed, though she occasionally kicked N. Bender decided he *had* to go outside at some ungodly hour - it was still dark outside. I took them both out on their leads, and Barbie went to the toilet automatically. Bender did not. He didn't need to go, he was just stirring trouble!

The next day we were awoken by the sounds of cannons at the nearby orchards and Bender was very stressed. He really hates loud banging noises. Barbie was still sleepy so I left them in the tent with N & the newspaper while I cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast. I am always the camp cook, apparently I am good at it.

N came out to eat breakfast and she bought the dogs out too. They got a piece of bacon each. We put them in the car while we packed the tent because Bender was still freaking about the ongoing blasting sounds.

We went for a drive then, to explore Lane Poole Reserve. Barbie went for a paddle in the river. There was also an incident with the car's electric windows at Lane Poole. We had stopped and N was winding up the rear windows, but Barbie didn't move her head. She screamed and leapt backwards when her head got stuck in the window! No lasting damage but I'm not sure she will hang her head out of the window any more :(

We then went to Waroona dam. It is also known as Lake Navarino.

This dam is a ski area, but not at the moment. You can see the line where the rocks turn to red dirt? I have never seen the water level below that line. The ski area is closed, and you can see the ski area buoys sitting on red dirt.

Barbie wanted to go for a paddle but the dry red dirt was tough on her sensitive feet.

We went for a walk but Barbie stuck to the vehicle tracks. There were still plenty of people around even though the dam was at a record low level.

Bender swam in the dam fetching his ball when we went for a little walk.

After all that excitement we went back in the car. We stopped in Dwellingup for pies, and deliberately parked under a car port that was marked 'private parking only' for the pups. We went in and chose pies, and then I went back to the car about 5 minutes later to find Barbie in the front passenger seat eating the nuts I spilled earlier. There were some macadamias in there!!

I rang the emergency vet and they told me given her weight and estimated consumption she should be OK but if she showed any symptoms it would be up to 6 hours later. It's been over 7 hours and so far no ill effects. Lucky dog. I will never trust her in the car with food again!