Christmas show

Yesterday five of the 8 Lewanika F litter pups made it to St Merløse: Diezel, Phoebe, Fumi, Taitha and Funny it was lovely to see all of them and see how well they had developed. Diezel is a biiiiggg boy - but well proportioned and he can move (that is when he wants too, which he really didnt...) Taitha also had a few issues about moving those big feet in the right sync (he paced more than he ran) so both of them ended up with a red ribbon and a very nice critique.
The girls fared better - well Fumi also got herself a red ribbon.-- and I think the word chubby features prominently in her critique ... but Phoebe did really well and got an excellent in Junior class and Funny also got an excellent and won Intermediate class - Well done girls!
Judge John Sigve Berg, Norway
But it was great seeing how sweet and well behaved all five younsters are, the boys - alledgedly in the midst of the worst teenage hormones - greeted each other nicely and would very much have liked to play and never even once showed the least bit of nervousness or temperament towards other males. The girls was the same, calm and friendly and very very sweet - well except Funny who did not want to share HER mummy with those strangers  grrowwwllll ---
Great kids :-)

Cough cough cough

Kennel cough, not swineflu, is right now keeping the three of Vestekaergaards inhabitants in a rather subdued state, Sammy got it first and is now in a state of Mummyyy I am OK, I can go out and play..... but the least bit of excersize - or heaven forbid - barking still leaves her totally out of breath. Yankee and Funny both got it two days after Sammy, and spent most of last night coughing even if well dosed with cough repressant medicine.
Today Funny seemed fresh and well so we decided that her planned weekend trip to stay with friends in Aarhus could go ahead, as long as she didnt get in contact with other dogs.

.... and little Eliza? not a cough to dampen her barking of strange people with funny orange hats walking down the field next to our house with their dogs.... not sure the hunters appreciated being followed by an alert and curious terrier all the way down our fence.

The picture is from last weeks lurecoursing where lungs was still in good working order - Old Yankee is still doing pretty well here, esp when running against his old love Chessie, both of them seemed to find a fifth gear all of a sudden - keeping up appearances!

Wild Cows, dog shows and the consequense of being lippy

First weekend in November is "Herning" the last big show weekend of the year - two days of getting up in the November mist and darkness driving on wet roads through the flat and muddy central Jylland - and getting home after dark. Also two days of being nervous, having fun with friends, hoping and rejoicing of big and small things.
This year I had gone for broke (literally - with the price of >300 kr /dog, showing is becoming prohibitively expensive) and entered three dogs to show myself: Funny, her brother Taitha and Sammy + Mandie shown by co-owner Margit.
This of course meant that Taitha, who normally lives with co-owner Gitte, had to have a sleep-over at camp Lewanika - it is a little while since he had been here last so upon arrival in the darkness of the November evening the two young dogs were sent out to play at their hearts content. They did, an occassional muddy face in the door assured us of health and happiness of both so even when a bit of barking sounded we left them to it till they were tired enough to come back in and sleep through the night.
Next morning they still snored through the alarm and Sammy and I went for hour morning run - the sun (or what goes for sun at this time of year) not quite up and my eyes not quite open.... but looking through the morning mist down to the pasture... something was off.... very off indeed... our only recently aquired Galloway heifers were not there but scattered all over the neighbourghs barley field....... hmm the run back up the hill was more like a sprint and running shoes was exchanged to wellies.

An hour later - two more breaks through the fence (seemed like scared cows just pass through it at will) - they were safely if not quietly in the stable, still jumpy at the smallest sound, especially at the sound of barking from the young uns', who were now doing their best to cover their coats completely in mud to be ready for SHOW TIME.
What probably has happened is that Taitha, not having seen the cows before in daylight saw them on the field in the dark - being the good boy he is, he tried to send the intruders packing .... all too successfully unfortunately....
As for the shows --- not our finest moments I am afraid, Funny did well both days - won her class on Saturday and was #2 on Sunday, she is a pretty girl. The Norwegian judge, Niels Brandstrup, on Saturday had a rather haphazard judging of Sammy.... among other things he commented that she had short steps -hmmm he might not have seen what the photographer saw:

Taitha started out rather well, but unfortunately I overheard the judge commenting that his expression was somewhat ruined by "too light eyes".... this being a newly authorized judge Birthe Scheel and I being the friendly head of the club show committee, informed her politely that Taitha was a brown nose and that they are to have amber eyes

result : the dreaded blue ribbon :-( even tho' his critique is very good, my undue interference with the judges decision (answer: "I am the judge, and you are paying money to hear MY opnion!") cost me dearly. hhmmmm, perish the thought that I would suggest that another look at the standard would be beneficial......
But up and down - great weekend - great people - see you all in three weeks!

weekend gone to the dogs

This weekend has been all dog - yesterday, while the weather was still fair, the girls: Sammy, Funny and I went north to do blood spoor all day. TO my great surprise Funny, my scatter brained little blondie came out of it best, she is by no means fast, but she finds every drop of blood and sniffs it for a looong time - almost as much reward as when she finally finds the leg of deer hidden for her. Sammy on the other hand was "lucky" enough to have her tracking area taken over by a large heard of deer in rut.... they ran off when we came but the smell between the trees was dense and much more interesting than the 3 hour old human laid track. At one stage she walked on her hind legs looking up in the trees..... the smell must have been still lingering in deer head height.

At the very end I was lucky enough to be invited on a real search - a hunter in the forest across the road "might" have hit a stag and as it is important to make sure no wounded animals suffers in the woods, Rod, a professional, certified "Schweiss" dog (AND the top show dog in Denmark too) was put into his pretty red harness and put to work at the place where the herd had been seen last. It was amazing to see him work, his strength and determination carried him through the thickest brush and his owner and the rest of us just had to follow regardless of branches, water and brambles. However, to Rods disgust and the deers luck, it turned out that the deer had only been superficially grazed and was already far away with its herd, so he didnt find it.
Today was trial day - Funny had to pass her Junior obedience examn and Sammy and Yankee were both entered in Rally-O
I am happy and proud to say that all three passed with a first! Funny got full marks in everything apart from down stay (we didnt even attempt that) and both Yankee and Sammy got many praises from the judge who said that only human errors prevented them getting full marks.