We were very lucky today to get the opportunity to meet up with three of Squiggle's puppies for a picnic down in Melbourne! While they are now 10 months old and don't exactly look like puppies anymore, Squiggle certainly knew they were hers! 

Nuggie (Armahani Goldstone Gonagas), Freya (Armahani Goldstone Geassi) and Tiger (Armahani Goldstone Gollas) are a lovely mixture of their parents - gorgeously squiggly, and very derpy but so very loveable with great nerve and steady temperaments. I am so proud of the dogs they have become and am very thankful for their wonderful owners!

This weekend also brings with it the exciting news that Squiggle's other sable puppy, the beautiful Digger (Armahani Goldstone Ginttal) managed to pick up not one, but two Puppy In Groups at the ACT Amenities AM and PM Shows! Go Missy Diggs! 

What a weekend is all I can say, with so much packed into the two days that we were away down in Canberra, competing at the 2015 Supercoat Flyball Nationals, held at Canberra Royal Show. Though I'm still suffering from a bit of a Flyball hangover after 2 days of racing, it's nothing a bit of sleep won't cure and I'm so proud of all that we achieved! 

The whole crew came out to compete including Zero, who got the call up to run for a South Australian team after they lost one of their dogs to injury just a few weeks ago. Mr Zero proved what an elite athlete he is in division 9, racing with Dover Gardens Run'd Over. The team was made up of Zero and Princess from two different NSW teams, Tilly and Ruby (who are also Sibes!) from Canberra and Cosmo and Astro from SA who hadn't all met, let alone run together before! They took out division 9 in a run off for 1st place - Z walked (strutted) away with his second consecutive national championship and is now accepting applications to become the spokesdog for a few high quality sportswear/nutrition brands. Interested parties can contact his management team.

Soakies and Squiggle ran in the same team along with their awesome friends Revan, Tanna, Cruizey and Trigga. The SX Pulsars walked away with 1st place in division 5 giving Diggs her first National Championship and Soakies her second!! Squiggle also ran a PB time of 6.3 seconds. A huge thank you goes out to Les for running Soakies and also for letting me steal her for one race so that I could run her at nationals at least once.

The weekend also gave us the opportunity to catch up with friends from all over the Eastern States, with a lovely dinner on Saturday night, and a cuddle from Squiggle's beautiful baby, Digger (Armahani Goldstone Ginttal (AI)) today. Digger is certainly much more grown up than the last time I saw her at just 8 weeks old! Though my first impression of her was that she looked like her handsome daddy, Tiko (Fin Ch. & Ee Ch Hiidenlahden Tiko), her mannerisms were all her mum's, with Squiggle's tendency to roll straight onto her back for a cuddle and her signature tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth. I was lucky enough to have a few minutes between Flyball races to run to the other end of the show ground to squish Baby Diggs in the biggest cuddle I could!

Though this was a great weekend for the team, sadly, the Nationals will be Zero's last Flyball comp - he still loves it but at nearly 11 years old his body just isn't up to the strain anymore. I've been scaling his sports back slowly over the last couple of years and Flyball was the last, so Z is now officially retired. He will still be out and about with the girls and I though as team mascot so if he does approach you at a comp, training or trial and realises you have a treat pouch or bait bag on, yes he is allowed to have a treat! Have a great retirement Snow Man! I hear the couch calling your name!