We started off at the dog agility park. They are pretty fun and there’s lots to jump up on. I started off with the small box.

It was pretty easy. Next was the walky rampy thing. It was super easy because I didn’t even have to jump up on it!

The big box was next. Going under is for little yappers. I jumped straight up on top!

Having exhausted all the possibilities of the agility park, we decided to move on up to something a bit more exciting. A picnic table!

Pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to be up there. Hence the element of risk and danger! It was then that Mum had an idea. See, apparently there’s this thing that humans call “planking”. It’s been around for a while and used to be called “extreme lying down” (which personally I think sounds way cooler than “planking”). It’s basically where people lie down in weird or random places, then take photos of it.

We figured that this was pretty much what we were doing, except the doggy version! I took it up to the next level though, and decided that standing up was the way to go. None of this lying down nonsense!

The next place was a bit different. We found a pond that I actually didn’t at first realise was a pond. The grass went straight up to the edge of what looked like just a different sort of grass. I trotted out onto it and then realised there was actually a lake there! After the initial shock (and subsequent zoomies) wore off, we decided this would be the next spot. The element of risk you see is related to what might perhaps be lurking under the water and weeds! Here I am, standing, at attention, in a potentially crocodile/snake/creepy-crawly infested swamp. Scary!

We decided to get a bit cultural next. Apparently these seats are “art”. They have coloured things in them, and patterns, and they are weird shapes. To the casual observer there may be no apparent risk in ‘extreme standing up’ on these, but what if the artist turned up? I’d be disrespecting their precious artwork! They might throw a paintbrush at me! Given, I’d probably just run after it and fetch it back (cos I’m a helpful kinda gal), but still…

I like pinecones. Especially really spiky ones. They could be dangerous if they spiked me in the cheek or something. Plus, wearing my ears like this (although it’s the latest fashion) does leave them open to attack and mucks up my finely tuned hearing. Hence, the next instalment of ‘extreme standing up’!

Big rocks can be very dangerous. They have sharp bits on them, they are hard to balance on, and what if they somehow overbalance and roll away when you’re standing on them? That is why – this is the big rock version of ‘extreme standing up’!

Further along in our explorations of the park, we found these massive piles of wood bark stuff! They were huuuge and could be all kinds of dangerous!

Think about the dangerous possibilities – landslides, or hidden caves I could fall into. What better place to continue my ‘extreme standing up’ adventures.

Yep, another picnic table. But this one was very very slippery! The first time I jumped off I skidded right off the other side. Plus, it was in a section of the park where dogs were prohibited! Yep, breakin’ the rules, muhaha (lucky it was wet and rainy and no one was there to witness it).

At first glance this ‘extreme standing up’ attempt might look a bit tame. It’s not very high off the ground, there appears to be no danger, right? Wrong! See the warning tape around the tree? This could mean that the tree has a very high chance of falling down! Leaving me, ‘extreme standing up’ at the base of it, in mortal peril. No wonder my eyes are closed in anticipation of my fate!

I think that’s enough ‘extreme standing up’ for one day. I reckon I’ve started a new trend in the dog world. Lucky I can’t get fired I guess!

So if you’ve been keeping up to date on my Facebook page and in previous blog posts, you’ll know I have a friend called Willow, who is a blue Great Dane girl, just like me! We hang out most weekends and this time, it was our turn to visit Willow’s place.

Willow’s mum, Lorelle, does stuff with horses, so she always has a few around the place. This time my mum rode one of them.

Xena is sort of bluey coloured like me and Willow, and is also kinda young, so I had to chaperone Mum around while she was riding. Just keeping an eye on Xena to make sure she was taking care of her! I didn’t really trust the fact they both had their eyes closed here, surely that’s a bit dangerous!

Apparently I was getting in the way a bit and it was better if I left them alone. I didn’t really like that idea so I made sure I hung back a bit, but still observed closely and was ready to spring into action if I was needed.

When they’d finished riding (with no incidents, thanks to my careful observation), it was time to go feed the other horses. On the way down to the feed shed, Willow heard a funny noise so she made sure she scared off whatever it was! She has an even bigger bark than I do!

Off we went down to the feed shed…

Before we fed the horses, we decided to try and get some photos of another of Lorelle’s horses called Hugo. Hugo was leaving the next day to his new home after being with Lorelle for over a year! He wasn’t particularly keen on posing nicely though as it was dinner time. I agree! Posing is bad enough at the best of times, much less when you’re hungry.

Willow seems to have no problems throwing poses left right and centre. Apparently, she’s more photogenic than me. I really don’t mind her having that title, just as long as I get to do fun stuff like my new hobby  - PHOTO BOMBING!

Lorelle has a very cheeky horse called Sahara (who has also just found her new home!) who likes to personally investigate the feed bins. I guess someone’s gotta do the quality control. I can relate to that.

While the other horses were being fed, we stayed out of the way and just watched.

Willow was watching especially intently. I think that’s her normal look though.

Speaking of looking normal… (and they say I’m not photogenic??)

At least I don’t fall asleep on the job like some.

Finally it was time to head back to the house for a hard earned rest.

Willow followed me down the driveway. She follows me pretty much everywhere come to think of it!

And we headed off to the house together…

I especially love it when we get to go to the beach with friends! I luuurrrve my friend Brielle, she always throws sticks for me into the surf. There wasn’t very much surf this time though!

We call this ‘the stick throwing dance’.

Around the calm side at our beach, there was lots of people and doggies swimming around.

Soon enough we met up with a new friend! The blue Great Dane behind me with the purple collar is Willow. She just went to live with one of Mum’s friends, so I’ll be seeing her a lot!

Willow and me are even related, we come from the same breeder. My Mum and Dad are the same as her Grandma and Grandpa. I think that means she’s some sort of niece? Meh, we had more important things to think about, like fetching sticks!

Willow is pretty young, 11 months old. She’s naturally pretty awesome at swimming, just like me. Guess it must be in the genes!

I think Willow is gonna end up a bigger doggy than me, she’s pretty much bigger all over already!

It’s kinda fun having another doggy like me to run around with and gang up on other dogs. Watch out Staffy (he loved being chased)!

We weren’t the only Great Danes on the beach, after a while my friend Zephyr came swimming over from the island with his Dad. I thought I better go out and escort him back to shore.

Something new that I’ve been doing lately, is JUMPING! When people flick water up, I pretend to jump for it and catch it in my mouth. It’s just a front though, of course I know I can’t catch it! I just use it as an excuse to show off my awesome jumping skills.

I don’t think Willow really understands what all the fuss is about, she likes to watch though!

My new friend Lorelle (Willow’s mum) was throwing the water here and Brielle was taking the photos. I reckon she’s an even better photo-taker than my mum sometimes! But shhh…

I call this one the “Kangaroo”.

This is the “Reverse Kangaroo”

I think I might have scared Willow a bit here.

After all that jumping around, we all had a bit of a rest. Here’s Willow hanging out with her mum.

And then Willow with Brielle. She gets around a bit, likes her cuddles!

Ok so I lied, everyone else had a rest, but I still wanted to chase the fun water! Uh, I mean, jump around and show off!

Going to the beach with Willow was heaps of fun, can’t wait to do it again. Pretty sure Mum is eyeing her up as a potential photographic model too, uh oh, watch out Willow, it’s not all as glamorous as it seems!

If you want to see me and Willow playing at the beach, check it out on my Facebook page here!

My favourite beach to go to is called ‘Currumbin’. It’s nice there cos we can choose from the surf on one side, and the calm water on the other side. Even if it’s a bit of a windy day, the calm side is usually a lot less windy and cold. Lots of people take their doggies there and we all hang out and fetch sticks and chase each other around and go swimming. I like going with friends, and this time we went with my Mum’s funnest friend Brielle and my mate Archie.

Brielle loves playing with us and spends lots of time throwing sticks for me out into the water to fetch!

And helping me dig holes. She’s a pretty handy human to have around really. Though I think here she might have been sabotaging my hole by flooding it! I blame Archie.

We all know how much I love swimming. I’m trying to get Archie to like swimming too. He doesn’t really do the swimming thing, in fact sometimes he doesn’t even like getting his feet wet. He is quite good at jumping though!

Mum and Brielle are trying to get Archie swimming by luring him into the water with sticks. It kinda works.

Sort of.

I can’t see what the big deal is personally. I mean, how hard is it? It’s just water….? I like to show Archie how to do it, but apparently he has to learn for himself. So Mum has to hold me out of the way!

When he finally gets the stick, he runs off with it thinking he’s very clever.

Whereas I pretty much just know I’m clever. No luring out into the water required for me! I like to LAUNCH and make a big SPLASH!! The other doggies look on and feel sad cos they know they will never be as good as me at launching.

I kinda feel sorry for them. Check out what they’re missing out on – pure FUN!

Racing around with my friends is pretty fun too though. It’s not all about me.

When we are almost ready to go home and I’m feeling a bit tired and worn out, I like to hang out and chill with my friends up on the beach, all the while keeping an eye on goings-on. Mum calls it getting my ‘serious pants’ on.

I don’t think Brielle understands ‘serious-pants’ though. This was a most undignified moment. Lucky I like her so much and forgave her!