Schweiss tracking in Rold forest

Schweiss or blood spoor tracking is a core ability of the Ridgeback, their inbred intelligence and courage makes them excellent at tracking wounded (and perhaps dangerous) stag and this is indeed one of the cental abilities the breed was made for. But to become a dependable tracking dog - or just to pass the first tracking trials - you have to practice and learn.
Today 12 Ridgebacks ranging from 7 months to 7 years and their handlers met in the middle of the largest Danish forest - Rold Skov. The frozen forest was beautiful to drive through on the way in to the hunting cabin where the we were to start.
A good few hunting tales later and a lot of good advice by expert handler Elisabeth Svendsen and we were ready to go out and lay the spoors for the dogs. It was snowing lightly when we started but the snow made it easy to see where the blood was dripped (ox blood) - not to mention that our foot prints were easy to see even for the sensory challenged humans.
Another trip back to the cabin and now it was the dogs turn. It was now snowing rather heavily and a few of the cars got stuck in the snow and left behind. The snow had also covered our tracks - what had seemed simple a few hours earlier was now covered by fresh inches of white and the unproven dogs were left to their own noses.
Actually - the only problems occured when the dog handler still thought he or she knew better than the dog and tried to direct them off the track ..... and even totally unproven puppies like Funny found every spot of bright red blood deep in the white snow and flawlessly found her stag foot now hidden under inches of fresh snow. Sammy's only confusion was that there was real live deers in the thicket behind us, and it took a little persuasion to tell her to follow the hour old blood track instead.
The snow was now coming down with a vengeance and getting out of the forest and back home was not quite as easy as getting there.

Taitha and Funny at their first DKK show in Fredericia

Ridgebacks were on late so we had a slow morning and only arrived in the show hall when almost all 1700 dogs were present. The activity must have seemed fairly overwhelming at first - Funny stopped at the entrance and was not really sure if she wanted to proceed. And it was a strange world: open barrels of food ALL over the place, pigs ears, smoked bones, toys in nose height... and dogs of all concievable sizes and shapes - totally overwhelming and not just a little scary. So Funnys delight was big when she spotted the RRs ... phew FINALLY some real dogs, and IMAGINE even some of her very best human and doggy friends like Mandie and Thaita and their humans.
Of course both Thaitha and Funny got some last minute ring training and both stacked and gaited like the well behaved puppies they are supposed to be...
.... and then it was showtime....
Thaita quickly found out that he didnt "really" want to be in the ring and that that weird strange man (with a tie no less) shouldnt just pull his tail and grab him there and there. So suddenly he forgot all about stacking and behaved more like a cat on a hot plate: moving, never stacking, crouching, sitting, etc etc - NOT a pretty sight, and even if he still gaited beautifully he got the deserved "promising" , but still a fairly good critique:
Hanhvalp af passende størrelse. Udmærket hovede og udtryk. God hals, overlinie og kryds. Lidt kort brystkasse får ham til at fremstå lidt opkneben. Normale benstammer, bevæger sig godt med god skridtlængde.

Funny on the other hand started out like the sweet little girl she is : stacked nicely and gaited prettily - until the up- and down.... something itchy on her side = three legged gait... hmmm
back to stack - she got her "Very Promising" and now had to compete with the other girl pup about best puppy bitch. And now the itchy point on her side got worse - another threelegged run... and a ahmmm well deserved second place:
Velbygget tævehvalp. Feminin, velskåret hovede, velformede mørke øjne, flot hals. Korrekt længde i ryggen. God front. Acceptable poter. Udmærket ribbensbue, velvinklet. Gode parallele bevægelser.

Eliza Doolittle Best of Breed!

Today was the dag of the big Danish Terrier Club National show in Holsted, I was assigned as ring secretary but had also entered Eliza, so the pressure was up right from the morning.
Fortunately Manchesters was the first breed in their ring and somebody else could start my ring (I had 82 dogs coming so, knew it would be very busy) - Eliza was however not AT ALL ready for show time by the time the clock struck ten and her first acts in the ring was demoing unprecendented obedience abilities: she could sit & do a perfect down, but her stack left a fair bit to be desired in the beginning.
Fortunately judge Walter Berghauser from Germany looked through the pranks and gave her a glowing critique: Feminine bitch, who does not feel too well in the ring, elegant topline, correct angulations, very good head proportions, almond shaped dark eyes, muscular hindquarters, dark shiny coat with the correct markings
Excellent, CAC, BOB