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One of the great joys (of the many to be had) when you housesit is when you strike upon a winning formula with two new furry friends from the get-go.

I’m here in beautiful Capalaba, south east of Brisbane, a short drive from the coastline including Cleveland, Raby Bay and Redland Bay, with Wynnum and Manly a little to the north. It’s then a hop, skip and a jump to the ferry terminal down south for the islands: Stradbroke and Russell to name just two I can think of without consulting a map!

This morning, the owners were being picked up for the airport to head back to the mother countries for her, and to meet the outlaws on their home grounds for the first time for him. So I took my two clients for a walk to give the departees a clear run at getting away on time.

The previous day, we’d gone for a walk or two, and to a little enclosed dog park for the girls to have a run around when it was empty.

This morning I took a short video to capture the joy they have there, running around on their own. But a funny thing happened and I got to meet a couple of non-canine locals while I was recording and they unwittingly provided the majority of the narration!

I’ll put that video up later because it’s longer and will take a while to process, but for now, here’s the shorter Part B.

Happy Tuesday! 9:36am, 22 degrees Celcius, top of 24, humidity at 67%, winds from the north-north-west at 19kmh, rain on the way. CD of the week and the Secret Sound coming up before news on the hour. Here’s some Baha Men!

P.S. Oh, wow, I nearly forgot the best bit. We were only at the park for about 10-15 minutes for a total of an hour out and about. But on the walk back home, the dogs were like absolute lambs for me.

They can get a little bit excited if there are other dogs around, even behind fences and front doors, and can strain on their leads. But this morning on the return leg, I used an old trick from the past (most famously on an anxious big boy malamute from Wattle Grove) and it worked an absolute treat.

I sang to them.

Now, there are two possible reasons why this promoted such good behaviour:

1. They’re quite fond of Groove Armada, and the gentle a capella beats served to soothe their alerted senses and souls.
2. They’re quite fond of Groove Armada, and they know now that if they play up, I’m going to murder one of their favourite songs.

Either way works for me!