Lewanika - a life with Ridgebacks and Manchesters

sloooowly ever so slooowly

2010-04-02T17:53:00.002+02:00

waiting for the progesterone to rise... still only 2.0 .... expected breeding sometime next week....

the boys

2010-04-01T23:15:00.000+02:00

two bitches in heat are not the most welcome guests when visiting a home with a young male...... so Sammy and Eliza had to stay at home while Yankee, Henrik and I went to visit Taitha and his family.
Taitha is a large, strong and at present very testeterone challenged youngster who doesnt back off for any male - Yankee is 11½ years old neutered and much smaller. But - Yankee is "daddy" - the male who showed puppy Taitha how to behave, when mommy DD didnt feel up to that challenge.

So Yankee found the best place in front of the fire, collected all Taithas toys around him and started dismantling Taithas best chew toys, while totally ignoring Taithas nervous wanders around him. Just once a short growl was heard - after that Taitha just humbly laid down on the bare floor at a respectful distance.

First Progesterone

2010-03-30T16:00:00.000+02:00

one week into Sammys heat and it was time to get her Progesterone measured – how far into her heat cycle is she? =when will the best time for going to Germany be?

But so far we are staying at home – Progesterone still just at the start of the climb to >10 : 1.3

Sammy is in heat!

2010-03-23T13:27:00.001+01:00

Finally - today it happened. The first drops of blood appeared. This means that the count down for the trip to Munich has started. But first the progesterone should go up ... and up... and then, in perhaps 10 days - 2 weeks I will start the car and start travelling towards the south. YEAHHH :-)

Sammy - heat? soon?

2010-03-14T18:17:00.002+01:00

Sammy and Taitha i Bønnerup 14-03-2010
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

As can be seen on the photo she IS listening to me when I tell her how wonderful it will be to travel to Germany, to meet Ben (she is a bit worried about the arranged marriage bit) and play a bit with him, and I am also tryng to get her into the mood of having the actual puppies - for which she is not *quite* convinced.
Because... perhaps it isnt possible then to run like the wind on the beach, tackle big boy Taitha and all the other fun stuff she has done today?

HD & AD results for F litter so far

2010-03-08T13:07:00.000+01:00

Now half of the F litter has been x-rayed:
Lewanika Famuyeke HD: A AD: 0
Lewanika Fubelu HD B, AD 0
Lewanika Fulumuzi HD A, AD 1
Lewanika Fufuna HD A, AD 0

not bad .....

bird dogs?

2010-03-02T00:00:00.000+01:00

Another freezing cold days, dogs lazing indoors, fire burning from early afternoon. I have been watching a bunch of partridges (vagtler) walking on the snow outside, but when Eliza wanted out it looked like they had gone ... NOT! ... Liza caugth their movements in the rose bushes and literally flew through the garden and Sammy went from sound sleep to flying RR in a microsecond. Lots of movement in the rosebushes and then Liza proudly carries her prey out - while Sammy points perfectly. Then Sammy is allowed to carry - and by then I have got my wellies on to go out and check that the poor little thing is properly dead.
The amazing thing is, that even after a fair bit of proud carrying, the small bird has no marks of teeth, except right on the neck .- both dogs apparently having very soft mouths.

Poor old boy

2010-02-28T22:32:00.000+01:00

Earlier this week Yankee developed a walnut sized bump under his right eye, it looked rather like an infected tooth so Thursday morning we went to the vet and their diagnosis agreed with mine and Yankee was prepared for surgery.
Three teeth had to go: two of the 4th premolar tooth (also known as the Carnassial tooth) which is the largest tooth in the dog's mouth. It is located midway between the nose and the angle of the jaw. This is the main "chomping" tooth used for grinding up food and also one P2 which had also cracked. As the vet said: he has enjoyed many lovely bones in his long life.
It was a rather big surgery as the roots of the P4's are long and strong and has to be cut out more than pulled out so for the last few days, poor Yanks has been on soft foods and pain killers. But today he came along on a nice long walk in the slush and was quite ready for some more chewable treats :-)
And soon he will be ready to enjoy the next big bone

Evil owner

2010-02-20T22:40:00.000+01:00

Wild canines spend large amount of their day foraging for food, but our pets normally inhale their dry fodder in a mantter of minutes. This leaves many hours of the day to be filled - often with mischief - so we always make our dogs work for their feed, getting it out of soda bottles, or most often, finding it scattered all over the land. However, this persistent winter is posing new challenges to our poor African dogs as they are forced to find their kibble in the snow! Today was particularly bad as the snow was pelting now and thick fresh snow was hiding the food ...... But the dogs were persistant and stayed out till the last little bite of kibble had been found.

a good beginning....

2010-02-15T22:20:00.000+01:00

Puppies are planned, yes, and have been for some time now, and I am not the only one awaiting Sammys approaching heat with great anticipation.

However, gorgeous Ben lives all the way in Munich, and with such a travelling distance, I thought I'd better get Sammy checked by the best alternative reproduction veterinarian in Denmark: Tove Due in the cosy little village of Korinth on Southern Funen. Apart from being an experienced veterinarian, Tove is a trained acupuncturist and osteopath (chiropractor) and years back she helped Puuma to reabsorb her ovarian cysts and become pregnant again.

But this time I came with two "healthy" girls - Eliza, our little Manchester Terrier girl, who still hasn’t succeeded in ovulating and Sammy, Puumas daughter, who I just wanted to be sure was in top form to the physical challenge of carrying a large litter of puppies.

It was a huge experience - Eliza received cranio sacral therapy as one of the bones in her scull had misplaced it self, and got a good few bones in her back set, as well as acupuncture to activate her ovaries. Sammy got a wauw - 100% clear totally healthy, very strong energy lines..... until Tove reached her rear end, but just over her pelvis things changed and it turned out that her pelvis was quite badly aligned (maybe the reason that she never wants to jump into the car?) and one of her legs had also got quite a bad hit. This was carefully moved back and also she got a back full of needles

On Safari in Kasted Mose (the moors)

2010-02-14T18:44:00.000+01:00

As the freeze goes but spring approaches the wild animals gets more and more visible .... and smellable.... first Eliza wrenched herself out of her harness hot on some unseen scent, seconds after peace was restored and all three dogs safely on leash 8 large deers jumped right across our path - it is amazing to see so many of these large animals and how quickly they can move across the frozen fields. The RRs kept insisting that they DEFINITELY would be able to keep up with the deers - but a kill joy as ever I wouldnt let them but held on to their leashes for dear life. Then a hare hopped by - oh well, I could handle that. But then... as we had gone further into the bog area, enjoying to be able to walk where it is normally far too wet, the dogs noses started coming up in the air, we were approaching the lair of the large red fox who usually tries to raid our chicken coop. This fox KNOWS that the dogs are leashed, and he couldnt care less about them - so we werent surprised when he suddenly sauntered right past us. He is HUGE - and bright orange red, with clear white trimmings, and looks well fed and happy..... probably thanks to the decimation among the neighbourghoods chickens , and - says evil toungues - one or two missing deers. The dogs did their best to let us know that they were quite ready to kill him, thank you very much, but fortunately the leashes held. A few minutes later another 4-5 deers jumped next to us aiming for the same wooded area as the fox had disappeared in and a little later we saw another fox, this time chubbier and very dark red passing by at some distance.
Altogether the "Safari" bagged the sight of probably 18 deers, 6 rabbits and two foxes. Not bad for a walk in right outside your own door step.
And the dogs..... they had a good sleep this afternoon :-)

Vale Lewanika Famuyeke - Diezel - 24/6/2008-7/2/2009

2010-02-07T23:31:00.000+01:00

Smukke glade og blide Diezel er ikke mere, for kun 36 timer siden var han en sund og rask Ridgeback dreng, der var til stor glæde for sin familie, men igår fik han en akut infektion i rygraden som gjorde ham lam og han sov stille ind her til morgen. Mange hilsener og knus til Diezels familie fra os alle.

... and then there was snow

2009-12-16T20:45:00.001+01:00

Yesterday.. Dec 15th 2009

and today the snow came

and even Yankee played like a pup again

Funny computer geek?

2009-12-09T22:11:00.000+01:00

Funny has spent a few days away from home recently, and it might be this bad influence (Jens?) or perhaps it is just generic "Lewanika laptops always on" influence proving it self - anyway, while reading a rather long winded paper today Funny was draped over my lap and i suddenly noticed her eyes following the mouse movements on the screen: up - down - over.... hmmm I started changing screens - avid interest - eyes glued to the sceen and then I found a full screen head shot of big brother Taitha .. ahhh I know him ! Black nose touched brown nose on screen, nostrils flaring.. no smell? Then I showed a side photo of Ben - Sammy soon to be boyfriend - ahhh, NICE male, again sniff sniff NO smell? weird? and then she gave up. But very interesting that she clearly could follow movement and recognize images on the little screen

More on Christmas show

2009-12-05T19:32:00.000+01:00

Phoebe

Diezel

Fumi

The photos here was taken by Benny Fischer and shows some of the F pups in action,
I have also returned home and can post Funny and Taithas show critiques:
Taitha: !7 mdr maskulin han max størrelse lever næse, hovede med bra proportioner, velansatte ører, udmærket hals, godt tilbagelagte skuldre, moderat velvinklet for, velvinklet bag, korrekt under og overlinje, bra kryds, udmærkede benstammer, bra poter, en anelse høj på benene på dagen, fortsat ganske ustabil i sine bevægelser har tendens til pasgang, trænger til at stabilisere sig, og få lidt mere selvtillid, udmærket ridge der kunne være en anelse længere, udmærket pels og farve, velvist.

Funny: 17 mdr gammel, feminin, max størrelse, udmærket type,korrekt hovede,velansatte ører, korrekt bid, bra hals, godt tilbagelagte skuldre, noget kort overarm, mangler fortsat noget fylde i fronten, velvinklet bag, aning lang i lænden, korrekt over og underlinje, god længde i krydset. Udmærkede benstammer og poter, acceptable bevægelser fra siden, endnu noget ustabil forfra. Korrekt ridge, udmærket pels og farve. Trevligt temperament velvist. Bærer halen højt under bevægelser.

Christmas show

2009-11-30T15:53:00.000+01:00

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

2009-11-21T17:26:00.001+01:00

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

2009-11-08T20:20:00.003+01:00

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

2009-11-01T14:41:00.004+01:00

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.

the big step

2009-10-24T17:01:00.002+02:00

Lewanika.dk - my official webpage will be out of order for a little while. I will be trying to move everything over to a different system, which might HOPEFULLY be easier to maintain and update, so please be patient - it will be back - hopefully with an nice new integrated blog too :-)

Happy Birthday old boy

2009-09-14T22:14:00.000+02:00

Today is Yankees 11 th birthday - he slept in(under my covers) in the morning, got a nice breakfast, played for some time with Funny, went for another good nap in the crate. and in the late afternoon when I was on a conference call with Seattle he decided now was the time to bring the pack into the office and start playing.....
later - after dinner - he thought that birthday boy deserved some of the 70% chocolate on the table - NOT! but that was hard to accept - now he is asleep at my side

RR day 2009

2009-09-12T00:50:00.004+02:00

the RR day is well over now and we are slowly recovering from all the excitement . The Lewanikas did OK under very tough judge Janet Wang:
Taitha 3v Junior male, Funny got a VG and Sammy was no 4 in the very large Open bitch class. More pictures on the right.

family visits

2009-08-13T12:13:00.005+02:00

With such a large and extended RR family it is wonderful to travel, earlier this summer I visited Mandies breeder Denise at Revodana in Long Island, USA and had the fun of seeing his mother and two sisters and right now I am visiting Marianne at kennel Ikimba where many of my dogs originate. It was wonderful to meet old Ikimba Okoa again, the half brother of Puuma and great grand sire of my F litter - he is now 11½ years old but still going strong and still as interested in food as ever. here he is busy eating blueberries straight from the bush - way to go great grand dad!

Funny's first "roadwork"

2009-08-02T21:07:00.002+02:00

Funny is a teenager - 13+ months old and with all the energy and mischief that goes with the age. She spends hours teasing the other dogs, barking at them - trying to get them to play... and with not nearly enough (in her opionion) success.
SO today I decided to try get a new outlet for all this energy and took my new bicycle and her out.... weird... this thing is noisy.. I have to run on the RIGHT side????? NO WAY!! this is wroonngg and there is a car coming, let me get out of here.... so to cut some very long seconds short, I went heads over the handle bar and she was running loose on the road.
Fortunately the car belonged to a neighbor who was more frigthened then I was (it must have looked pretty dramatic) and Funny just ran to her with a waggy tail.
SO - some training seemed to be in order and we walked up the hill, me, the bike and Funny - teaching her to walk close to the bike AND on the "wrong" side from what she was normally used to.
This went well and after a km of walking we found a quiet closed road and started cycling first without leash and then quickly with leash. Soon Funny was trotting at full speed next to the bike and looking quite pleased with herself :-)
AND she is VERY quiet tonight!

no puppies this year

2009-07-30T10:46:00.003+02:00

Sammy is finally in heat - or rather, just out of heat - but we have decided not to breed her before next time. The long delay meant that the pups would be born in late fall and be winter puppies. I have had one winter litter before and even under the best of circumstances (plenty of time for all involved humans and clement weather) it is just not optimal. The puppies dont get the exercise and different experiences as our summer puppies get, the cold makes it dangerous for the little ones to come along exploring the farm as our puppies normally do, and the smooth indoor environment do not give the same experiences as the big wild outdoors. Our pups are normally almost housetrained by the time they leave home, which of course is only possible when the weather is safe enough for little six weeks olds to be taken in and out at all times.
So - we wait, and look forward to spring 2010

Congratulations

2009-06-21T23:41:00.003+02:00

To two littermates Caziba and Cekezi has just achieved their first Rally title today ! they are now Rally Begyndermester - super!

Funny has been at "work" camp

2009-06-16T12:40:00.003+02:00

Saturday afternoon the two "girls" Funny and Sophie left for an evening out in the woods. Sophies work Toursport had invited staff and family for a day out in the nature and of course Funny being a close family member and much less embarrassing than the rest of the Lauridsens had to come along.
It was a fun night - little kids all over the place, some of them in distinctly "strange" clothing (like a bicycle helmet) adults sneaking treats and playing football and so much petting that all the loose hairs (she is molting) just flew off and Funny just enjoyed it all being her gentle well behaved self (hmmm wonder where THAT comes from?)

Only once during a particularly rambuctious race she had to be left behind, and that was a bit hard to understand

LureCoursing in Kasted

2009-06-13T23:35:00.003+02:00

LC gruppen
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

OK OK - yes it was last Sunday, but what a day we all had: high sun, cool enough for the dogs to run and high spirits. Altogether 16½ (incl one puppy) Ridgebacks was present and everybody had a great day... even if a couple of the dogs found the home made chocolate cake more interesting than the bunny

Lewanika Eliza Doolittle - New Danish Champion!

2009-05-02T22:21:00.003+02:00

Eliza - went BOB again today at the Danish Terrier Club show under judge Sean Delmar, Irl:
"nice expression, would like the head a little longer, excellent topline, excellent angulation in the front and hindquarters, colours well defined. Coat in excellent condition, moves well"
Ex1, Best Bitch, CAC, Best of Breed
YEYAYYYYYYYYY!!!! finally, Eliza seems to be getting her act together, she shows beautifully, is happy and confident in the ring, is obviously enjoying herself and the attention she is getting. Her tan colours, which was rather muddy when she was younger has cleared and three BOB in her last three shows just proves that some dogs just takes their time to mature.
She is an absolute joy to show and I think both of us look forward to more ventures in the ring.

yeahhh - Ben has been approved for breeding in Denmark

2009-04-21T22:14:00.003+02:00

Today I heard from the Danish Kennel Club that all Bens papers are in perfect order and that he can be used for breeding in Denmark :-)

And Eliza's progesterone has finally begun to go up and tomorrow she will go and visit Jack - it will be interesting to see if the two youngsters will know what to do! read more on Elizas own blog

Show weekend

2009-04-20T21:31:00.005+02:00

Last weekend was hard work - two show days: Saturday an all breed Danish National show in Hedensted. Both Eliza and Funny was entered and of course it was rather chaotics to bring two excited dogs as well as chairs and blankets the long distance from the car to the show grounds.
The weather was brilliant and it was nice to sit at the Ridgeback ringside in the sun. But the peace could not last as Eliza and Funny was due in each their ring at almost the same time :-( As Eliza stood a good chance of getting her second CAC I tried to let a friend handle Funny, while I went to the indoor terrier ring. When I got there it was obvious we still had some time to go and I rushed back to show Funny - quite lucky as she absolutely refused to be shown by anyone else... and it turned out.. by me... so her VG was not surprising, and I was relieved when I could run from the Ridgeback ring to the Terrier ring and grab Elizas line and go in. This however went splendidly - Eliza showed herself as a professional, stood quitely on the table for examination (amazing taken her antics the day before when the vet tried to draw blood for her progesterone test) and walked nice and straight, and it paid off: BOB, CAC : Very good type, good proportions, little bit over the weight, nice feminine head, good topline, very well angulated, moves well :-) (judge Astrid Lundava, Estlonia)
Sunday was Ridgeback club show in nearby Stouby, 62 dogs was entered from 4 countries - pretty good. Just Junior class bitches (Funnys class) was HUGE 10 bitches between 9 and 18 months. But now Funny moved like a dream, stacked like a pro and even her bad experience from the day before where the judge forced her mouth open to look at teeth was overcome by the nice approach of judge Per Iversen (Norway) , so this time she went #2 with excellent: En elegant ung tispe, med gode prop, fem hoved, god længde, men kunne have lidt mere dybde, meget god hals, velkroppet for sin alder, stærk ryg, meget god lårbredde, kunne have en anelse mere vinkel i front, god ridge, bra bevægelser, kunne være lidt mere frimodig, men dommeren kan gå til hunden.

Apart from that Funny was sooo well behaved that it was a treat being with her, just laid quietly in her crate when I didnt have time for her, and walked around on loose lead enjoying herself when she could.

Wonderful Easter holiday

2009-04-14T08:01:00.005+02:00

Easter is over, and it feels like it has been weeks of vacation, where lots of stuff has been accomplished. The decision to use Ben for Sammy still makes me feel just right, and I cant wait for her to go into heat so we can go to Bavaria to meet up with Monika Pehr and Ben.
But much more has been accomplished: the lambs has all been earmarked with big yellow tags and yesterday they were let loose on the field, which seems incredibly green all of a sudden. The sudden growth of grass also made me take out my new robot lawn mover - quite a set-up the first time, but I look forward to a long summer of sitting on the porch watching the grass being mown.

And the last few days has been in the summerhouse - the Yankee, Sammy, Funny and Taitha playing on the beach, going crazy in and out of the water enjoying themselves and the light of spring

Planned Breeding

2009-04-10T14:36:00.004+02:00

Spring has really arrived, daffodils are blooming, the lambs are lovely and fluffy, the little chickens cute and yellow and I have been busy walking the web for suitable males for Sammy. Requirements have been high, Temperament and health are the topmost- I want to retain Sammys intelligence and ability and will to learn, but still want an easy tractable dog without aggression towards other males or OF COURSE! humans. We have been blessed with healthy lines so far, of all Sammy's 30 siblings only two have had any problems: one had a small mast cell tumour which was successfully operated on and another had problems with allergy which was treated and has now vanished completely. So of course I do not want to do anything to endanger this. When outcrossing (the opposite of in-breeding) it can be difficult to know what the lines contains of problems as so many different lines and dogs are behind the planned puppies, so it is even more important to investigate the lines of the coming sire completely.
Finally I want movement and structure - beautiful dogs, who can move like the wind, that be running next to you on a long run or at full speed at lure coursing and with Sammys coming mate I hope even to be able to improve Sammys already great movements.

I have been lucky enough to find everything I was looking for in MultiCH Tusani Big Ben
He is born in Slovakia, but lives now in Germany. He is of course hips A, Elbows 0, OCD free, has passed the very difficult club E.L.S.A Verhaltenüberprüfung (temperament test) with this comment: "Souveräner Rüde, der die Testsituationen in idealer Weise absolvierte" (Outstanding male, who passed the test with excellence). Ben is out of American and Australian lines and a complete outcross to Sammy.

New Manchester home page

2009-04-08T16:28:00.003+02:00

FINALLY! www.manchester-terrier.dk has been updated to a much nicer and sleeker look. It also contains it's own blog so most info about Elizas breeding and hopeful coming puppies will be published there.

Eliza is in heat

2009-04-07T00:17:00.002+02:00

Little Manchester terrier Eliza is in heat. We should have caught it was close as she was very antsy yesterday when visiting her favourite human being Sophie and even the day before when she literally went into a "pissing contest" with her dam Kay - it was rather fun to see the two little black dogs running after each other seeing who could aim highest (yes a bitch CAN stand on her forelegs and aim rather high) and who got the last drop on a specific piece of ground. All this a very unusual behaviour for the usual much more laid back Eliza.
We hope to breed her this time which would mean that puppies can be expected around midsummer.

Another wonderful day in the big forest

2009-03-21T23:31:00.007+01:00

Early morning departure... we were all going to meet in the middle of Rold Forest at 9am. This time I remembered to bring a LARGE lunch packet and lots of tea - all that fresh air makes you hungry.
Today the tracks had to be official test quality: 400 m and rested for 4 hrs. So after laying the tracks we went back to the hunting hut and later we all went for a fun ride on a cart through a small part of Rold

By the time we were back the tracks were ready and we went out to see if the dogs had improved since last time... Some of them are becoming pretty stable trackers and Sammy did a not bad full test size track - she lost it once, as she just HATED having the wind right in her face and it confused her no end, but she was very enthusiastic and worked hard, so it was a real please for both of us to do it.

Puppy puberty.... phew

2009-03-09T10:29:00.002+01:00

Funny, my beautiful, sweet, easy going little puppy has disappeared...... instead has arrived a long legged monster, suffering from attention deficiency and hyper activity. She is testing her limits continously: for how long can I bark at Yankee before he gets annoyed? how much can I bite Sammy before she beats me up? will mummy REALLY scold me if I chew this? or that? or perhaps this?
sigh..... I KNOW ... it is a passing phase... necessary for any youngster to find her place in the pack, learn to behave, etc, etc..... but, I do think we all look very much forward to it being over again.

Tired dogs..........

2009-03-01T23:27:00.003+01:00

Tracking practice today - no point in driving up to the forest once a month if the dogs are not trained at home. Thawed the blood, found the legs of deer (the treasure the dog finds at the end of the track) and went out to lay the tracks - an easy one for Funny and far more complicated ones for Yankee and Sammy.
Hours later - the difference in the ability and experience between the three dogs is astounding: Funny, happily sniffing from blood spot to blood spot, but not really getting the idea about forward motion or that a great reward is waiting at the end, and just as happy going backwards as forwards - Sammy, eons better, strong forward motion, a few insecurities mainly due to human errors, finding her leg smoothly even through the last bit of wet black bog water.
Yankee - the professional - full line, full speed, no errors, taking the turn in the same speed as the straight bit, doing his track in less than half the time it took Sammy - and proudly carrying his leg all the way home.
Now they are all asleep, also Eliza who had her nice long walk - the RRs are so tired that they hardly stirred at dinner time - using your nose is exhausting business

Schweiss tracking in Rold forest

2009-02-21T20:54:00.005+01:00

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

2009-02-15T23:39:00.002+01:00

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!

2009-02-14T19:21:00.003+01:00

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

Funny best puppy

2009-01-12T05:35:00.005+01:00

The pups - remember? the cute little ones from just a few months ago - are big and rambuctious now - long legs and lots of jumping. It was a huge pleasure to see 4 of them at the show in Tilst yesterday, friendly happy pups, not the least bit intimidated by the situation.
Great of course also that Funny, even if she really would have preferred to play in the ring and thought that the time it took judge Martin Klopsch to get through all 6 bitch puppies was excruciatingly boring won Best puppy in Show. The critique will come at a later stage. After the show over half of the exhibitors came back to our place and we had a lovely and very animated New Years lunch
... and only three hours later I had to get up and fly to San Diego, so poor Henrik was left with the cleaning on top of making all the wonderful food.

Happy 2009 - or Mandies last diary

2009-01-01T23:41:00.007+01:00

What is happening in this house - the last few days I think a war must have broken out just behind the hills, heavy booms, loud whistling, lots and lots of coloured lights and the night sky. The other dogs didnt seem to notice, so sometimes I had to go out and give it all a good bark. Yesterday it seemed worse than ever, and I must admit I didnt like it too much, but some of the nice people visiting took me and Sammy on a 8 kms walk through the frozen bogs, so that was nice. Then back in the house more people arrived, and then more again music was on and then they all started cooking - and responsibilities or not, when Henrik is cooking no dog can worry about anything, you must keep your nose CLOSE to all the goodies!
Then that little Taitha boy came, he does need a good telling off sometimes, but he is so much fun to play with and we played for an hour or more outside, just running and running. We did try to take the play indoors, but the humans werent too happy about that.
Everybody was really nice and I got a lot of pats and hugs and totally forgot about whatever was going on outside. Weirdly enough, at one stage the noise outside became really strong, and that was the same time as the humans started standing on the sofa and jumping down and hugging -very strange, but fortunately nobody asked ME to jump down from my soft spot so I was OK. The two little ones actually wanted to go out and play even if the sky was totally filled with colours and lights.
After a lot more human talking and sitting around I went to my crate and went too sleep and nobody woke up before very late the next morning, actually we dogs were so tired that we hardly even had the energy to find our breakfast in the yard and most of the day was just spent lazing about in bed.

the boys Mandie, Thaita, Yankee

2008-12-28T00:22:00.001+01:00

the boys Mandie, Thaita, Yankee
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

....Mandie's diary, cont... today was another weird day in this house, or rather it wasnt in this house, they put me in the car right after breakfast along with Yankee (who is actually rather nice, now I know him better) and drove for a long time. When the car stopped I was in a new place! which was a bit worrying, but then that little rascal Thaita came running and wanted to play and then suddenly the girls Funny and Sammy arrived in another car and all of us was leashed and taken for a walk. I have to say it was a bit embarrassing - I mean that Funny? she just pulls and pulls and does not have any ideas of how to behave. But suddenly we were at a wonderful BIG empty beach and we were all let off leash to run, and did we run and run and play and even Yankee played like a puppy again, and I wanted to chase the waves - but.. they were quite cold and WET! and the humans just laughed at me as I got rather wet.
Helle was annoyed as she had forgotten the battery to her camera, so no pictures.
Thaita is such a baby, everytime I just bumped him a little, he started screaming for his mum and looked like his legs were broken but of course they were not, and honestly I do play very gently.
In the end we all went into the little house - all 5 ridgies - I dont know why the humans said the house was rather full? There are some strange rules in the house: we are not allowed in the sofa =:-0 (imagine) and not into the kitchen, so us three boys spent a lot of time begging right at the edge to the kitchen.

Diary of a holiday guest

2008-12-26T16:02:00.004+01:00

Mandie - aka Revodana's Manhattan's Transfer - is staying over for Christmas and even if he has stayed here before I do believe he is writing a secret diary - to present to his mum when he gets back home:
day one (Dec 23rd) I arrived rather late in the evening (mum said something about a broken car?) and of course all those crazy Lewanika dogs was barking their heads off when I arrived, I got a bit frightened, especially as that Sammy was telling me to p... off right away and not even think of returning. Not nice, and I would have liked to follow her advice but mum just wouldnt listen!
But then suddenly I noticed that Sammy was actually a rather lovely bitch, who smelled really nice and I mean - bitches are supposed to be ... bitchy? and she isnt really, if I am not "stupid boy" I can lie really close to her, with my head on her back.
The other dogs were fine right from start - I mean, I KNOW that the old guy Yankee will kill me if I step out of line, so of course I dont and then he just ignores me, and the little one Funny is really a lot of fun - but why do they throw the two of us out of the house all the time? something silly about not playing indoors? do they know how cold it is to play outdoors?
But the humans!!!!! they are NUTS. I had hardly arrived before they dragges a huge tree all the way through the house and stuck it up in the middle of the living room? WHY? not because I was supposed to lift my leg there, I am certain of that. Because shortly after they started putting all sorts of weird stuff like candles on it.
The next day was a bit better - I mean, when someone is cooking a goose SOMETHING at least have to fall off to a diligent dog? and then in the afternoon lots and lots of wonderful people arrived - and more dogs? dont they think they have enough? but no! Funnys brother, a six months old total terror arrived, FINALLY someone I could put right - which I did, boys like him has to learn who is in charge.
But the humans - I mean they are nice enough, and the food is brilliant - but all of a sudden they started walking around that tree and singing???? never in my life..... fortunately they sat down soon after and ate some more, which was good because then I could finally relax.
More cooking and more people the next day, lots more, and someone had been nice enough to wrap some wonderful cookies in nice paper and put it under the tree, which was a really nice surprise for us dogs.... weird that the humans sort of started shouting when they found the paper, did they expect us to eat that too?

Today has been almost NORMAL if such a thing exist here? no new people and a very nice run on the fields and a long walk sniffing deer tracks. And lots of playing (out doors again - dont they know it is freezing?) with Sammy and Funny, and even Yankee joined in a couple of times, but ouch I really have to remember that I am not the resident male here, he does something nasty with his lips when I forget.

a week later.....

2008-12-22T10:22:00.002+01:00

The couch seems empty - and so does the house, somehow the remaining 4 dogs does not take up as much space as the one who has left even if the dog pack has been volatile and extremely noisy in the past week. Even if Puuma was old and her powers waning her presence still gave the pack a necessary equilibrium they now have to find again. The hardest hit is perhaps little 6 months old Funny, whom Puuma just had to lift her head and look at to make her shut up and behave as a good puppy - her respect for the rest of the pack is not great enough and she has been a holy terror this last week: barking and inviting to play wether the other dogs wants to or not, biting in EVERYTHING, peeing gallons indoors. Sammy has been too depressed to take up the challenge, which of course is interpreted as a weakness by the cheeky little brat - but fortunately this has been changing over the weekend. Yankee is still withdrawn, lies more by himself than he usually does but here Funny's persistance helps, he is her favourite playmate wether he wants to or not :-) The next days the house will fill with favourite humans and dogs and it will be a good change for all.

Vale Ikimba Puuma 17.2.1999-15.12.2008

2008-12-15T22:09:00.002+01:00

Puuma is no more, the cancer had spread and today her beloved vet Dorte came to the house with a lot of lovely treats and put her to sleep right on the kitchen floor where loved to lie watching the cooking and eating. Puuma went to her final hunt with her mouth full.
Even if Puuma did not get as old as she should have been, she was one of the grand old ladies of the breed.
With Puuma everything was larger than life: her constantly happily wagging tail - which once during a Ridgeback party at the house wagged so much that it sprained, her appetite -which was legendary for its ability to eat and digest EVERYTHING (including a bag of dried chick-peas when Yankee emptied the larder for her) , her love for all mankind - reserved? not her, her courage - even in the face of ghosts at the temperament test she did not back down even for a second, her undiluted resent for all canines not in her pack- and of course her sheer size which did not dimish over the years.
The house is empty now - quiet.....

First show for the babies

2008-12-08T10:55:00.005+01:00

Yesterday was the first show for the DD and Zazu babies - now 5 months old and it went fabolously for both Thaita (Lewanika Fulumuzi) - who won best Baby boy (of four I think) and Funny (Lewanika Fufuna) who was # 2 of many baby girls.

Thaita's critique couldnt be better:
5 måneder, fin størrelsem smukt hovede og udtryk, korrekt bid, god bredde på skalle, lang elegant hals, kraftige benstammer, pæne faste poter, lidt åben i sine skuldervinkler, god længde på kroppen, må gerne være lidt kraftigere, meget velvinklet bag, vel ansat hale, korrekt ridge, smukke frie bevægelser, fin farve og pels, vel trænet.

and neither could Funnys:
5 måneder, fin størrelse, meget feminint hovede og udtryk, korrekt bid, tilpas kraftige benstammer, god længde og dybde på kroppen, velvinklet bag, korrekt ridge, frie bevægelser, fin farve og pels, vel trænet

Both pups behaved really well in the ring, and I was especially impressed by Thaita who had never been in a show hall before and never ring trained and who still behaved really well in the ring and gaited at full speed

This is embarrassing

2008-12-07T20:54:00.005+01:00

no posts since September!!!! and it isnt because we have all been hibernating in the encroaching darkness and wetness of Danish Autumn. We have been at puppy classes with Cassie - former Rosa, who is totally recuperated from her DS operation and Sammy and Eliza have been working hard learning the right steps and turns in Rally-O.

But we have also had some really bad news: old beloved Puuma, the mother of many beautiful puppies and the undisputed alpha female in this house started fading, during the fall she was not as active as normal, and I noticed she was limping and was in some pains.
First trip to the vet - (after a thorough physical and clear blood panels) elderly dog, maybe a little worn, but a light pain management should clear her ... it didnt and she was most definitely not better, back to vet who on my requests did a hyperthyroid panel on her - positive, but by then her pains were clearly noticeable and her limp concentrated to her left front leg. Now to x-rays : and now the truth showed it self: Puuma has osteosarcoma - bonecancer, which is irreversible and usually quick. Diagnosis was 4 weeks ago and we were not given many days to say goodbye. ... But a different (and stronger) pain management has given us a little hope that we might have her even past christmas - but with cancer nothing is sure, so now we enjoy her every day as a gift

what happened to Blue and Bordeaux?

2008-09-14T22:43:00.003+02:00

Helle og Henrik og Funny
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

the story about the F-pups on the old farm is finished - now they are not blue, green, purple, red, rosa, white, bordeaux and lilac but Taitha, Diezel, N'kosi, Fuba, Cassie, Fuma, Funny and Phoebe and real little puppies trying learn how to live and behave with their new wonderful families. If anybody has been counting the images of happy new owners with their pups - two was still missing: Blue and Bordeaux: Blue who is now Taitha has moved to become a city dog in Fredericia and as his new "mum" is a member of the family and I am still co-owner on him we will see him frequently in the future. Bordeaux the poor little thing ;-) has been sentenced to stay on the farm and Funny Bunny is a daily joy to the two legged and a daily frustration to the four legged - cats, dogs and sheep........

Lazy weekend

2008-09-01T22:41:00.004+02:00

Yes I know - I am getting Lazy, now things are returning to normal. Also the weekend has been rather busy: Saturday Sammy and I travelled south to Svendborg to participate in a ring crafts course with Stockholm based, Irish born handler Gerard O'Shea. After an entertaining start with quite a few unfounded presumptions we had three hours of .... I am not too sure .... any way it was WAYYYY to much running around keeping the dogs up beat for a lot of them and in the end Sammy was so tired that her eyes just glazed over. That was of course the first time the trainer looked in our direction and took her leash to show how to put life back into a tired dog ..... gggg ... Sammy had lots of life left - she jumped like a rubber ball - but every time her feet touched the ground she went into a flying sit as she didnt understand what he wanted her to do and sit was her best offer.... so that was a bit of a light relief. It has to be said that training on Sunday was more useful and no doubt we all got a good few tips to aid our future handling success.
Saturday afternoon we took little Funa on a trip into Aarhus Festuge just to give her a little city experience. She just loved it - trotted happily in her little leash with her pretty red collar and it is a wonder there is a hair left on her body from all the people patting her.
Sunday the pups spent most of the time in the kitchen learning how to cut up a lamb - if sheer attention to details can make a successfull carver especially Taitha will be top drawer.

getting back to normal

2008-08-29T22:27:00.005+02:00

With only Frieda and Thaitha left, life is getting back to normal here, the older dogs have no issues now with only two babies around. So now the x-pen fences are being packed away and the pups have free run of the house. Today Puuma even found her duck toy and tried to show it to Frieda and Thaita, but Sammy saw her and became a puppy again.Yesterday was the first Rally-O training day of the season for Sammy and me - the rain was pelting down - but hey - it's great to get started? But the thing about training with a RR is also training your trainer, a new enthusiastic lady had just started and she wanted us to repeat a turn for 8-10 minutes - Sammy did it right the first time AND the second and then we decided to something else...... when the trainer asked us to repeat the movement I kindly explained to her that certain things are just not done in RR training .... ESPECIALLY not when it is raining :-)

how to....)

2008-08-27T22:35:00.003+02:00

How do you keep a newly operated 9 week old puppy just reasonably quiet? Rosa woke up this morning in her lonely bed (no I didnt want her to sleep with her sharp toothed siblings) at 5 o'clock - howling!
since then every waking hour has been spent keeping an eye on the pack that no little sharp puppy teeth bit into the wound because Rosa herself certainly didnt care about it, she was as fresh as nothing had happened.
But early this evening also Rosa left home - to an experienced Ridgeback owner living not very far from here, I am sure that Phil and Nicole will take excellent care of my little one and I look very much forward to following her at puppy classes etc.

Dermoid Sinus

2008-08-26T22:39:00.004+02:00

Last Thursday afternoon Sophie noticed a lump under the soft skin on Rosas throath. At first we thought it was the id-chip which had been infected. But it wasnt and even if it didnt feel like anything I have ever felt before we had to admit it was probably a Dermoid Sinus. I decided to have her operated on as soon as possible and today was the day. She was so tiny when they carried her away to the operating room.
The operation went well, the DS was a so called type V with no connection to neither the surface skin nor the spine, and even if its' texture was different from the normal ones the removal was successful.
Rosa was a little dizzy at first and we tried to keep her quiet - but as the evening progressed this was just not possible. Rosa wanted to make up for her lost day of playing NOW.
So the main problem tonight has been to try to keep them from playing too much and making Rosa relax just a little. She is finally asleep now, safely on Sophie's lap and she will soon be as good as new. The only consequenses to her future life will be that she cannot be bred from.

Rød - Lewanika Fuba - has left

2008-08-25T22:02:00.003+02:00

Little "Red" with her sweet face and gorgeous colour has also left for her new home, she was picked up by her new family in Store Merløse

Sammy is back!

2008-08-25T21:39:00.003+02:00

Things are returning to normal - at the show in Store Merløse DD went back to her beloved Zazu and Cassandra in Amager (no more puppies YEAHHH) and Sammy could come home to Vestekærgård and reunite with her parents Puuma and Yankee and meet her new "siblings" Rosa, Funa and Thaitha. The reunion went well and all three adult dogs are really happy to be back together - today they had the first howling bonding session and Sammy is busy telling her parents that really honestly she is still just a sweet little puppy (lick lick around the mouth, ears back, head down). Sammy is puzzled by the three real puppies - they are kind of fun, their play looks tempting, but????? of course the three little rascals have cast Sammy as LION and spent quite some time practising how to hold a lion at bay - a core compentency of a Danish Lion Hound......

DD wins best gait at Danish Specialty!

2008-08-24T20:16:00.006+02:00

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The Ridgeback Day - or the Danish Ridgeback Specialty - is the day in the year where most Ridgebacks from all over Europe competes against each other a breed specialist judge, this year Orit Nevo from Israel had made 74 RRs find their way through the rain to Store Merløse on Central Sjælland - oh, sorry, MORE than 74 RRs had found their way - as 4 little Lewanika babies also had set up kindergarten in the corner of the big show hall (no puppy minder at home meant they had to come along)
Mandie was the first from camp Lewanika to go in the show ring - he is still in the throes of adolescense and miles too thin - but .... Margit must have done it right: he won his (Intermedieate) class!!!!
19 months old dog, with a bit of a feminine appearance - good body proportions, head a bit feminine, ear carriage could be better (he didnt want to "prick" his ears so looked more like a wet bloodhound), good dark eyes, correct bite, muzzle could be stronger, clean elegant neck, enough forechest, enough front angulation, good feet, good topline, good tail set, good back angulation, moves well, correct ridge - Ex1

Zazu was all turned on by seeing his beloved DD again and also by all the other males, so he did not behave his best and at one time we wanted to pull him as he had more eye for the other males than for Michael showing him...... But we went on with it and he ended up being #3 in his class also with an Excellent : 4 years old masculine dog of good size and good body proportions, strong head, good ears, good eyes, strong stop, muzzle could be longer, correct bite, enough front angulation, good bone, cat feet, strong topline, tail set a bit low, good back angulation, in movement a bit weak in rears, but moves okay from the side, okay ridge.
DD - with her 8,5 weeks old pups playing in the corner was most certainly not in show condition but I wanted to show her anyway as she is so lovely to show and she didnt do too badly, even though she only got a Very good :
3 years old bitch of good size,good body proportions, enough bone, feminine head, good size of the ears but could have better ear carriage (even after some desperate taping the one ear is still UP), good dark eyes, good proportions between scull and muzzle, correct bite, just enough fore chest, good feet, good depth and lenght of ribcage, topline a bit soft at the moment, rump a bit high and a croup a bit sloping (STACKING - not done she crouched like a rabbit) good back angulation, okay ridge, moves extremely well with a lot of drive and reach, too much black in coat, because of that and because of poor show condition she gets today a very good.

BUT - because of the comment about her movements I thought I would enter her her in the competition about the best moving Ridgeback in show - over 40 other dogs was on the floor and we had very little room to stretch out at first round, but then the finger pointed at me and DD and suddenly the competition became more fierce - only a few was left and with feet pounding and paws flying we went round and round the ring, now only myself and DD and the best in show male Mwisho was left for one more run ( good thing DD and I had been taking our little runs every day for the past few weeks, so we were both in shape) but a litter of puppies does take the toll and I could feel her fading on me when we where finally stopped by the judges hand - AND the silver trophy!
8 weeks and 4 days after she had her cesarian DD had won the competition about the best movements - competing against the top Champions from all over Europe!
DD you are amazing - I hope your puppies will have your grace and power

Getting packed for Ridgeback dag

2008-08-22T22:23:00.003+02:00

Tomorrow we are all trekking to St Merløse on Sjælland very early in the morning, so the car is waiting, packed to the gills with tent, crates, a little fence to make a small run for the pups, a huge sheet of plastic for the bottom of the run if we need to be indoors (the forecast is RAIN) blankets, food + a huge pile of books on Ridgebacks for the club to sell and many boxes of the wonderful Ridgeback wine the Danish Rhodesian Ridgeback Club is sole distributor on.
But the pups couldnt care less and a certain large male is using unfair methods in keeping the girls down!

- and now there is four...

2008-08-20T22:45:00.002+02:00

og så er der fire
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Four pups left to share the teddy bear, plenty of room for now - Fuba will be joining her new family on the RR dag in St. Merløse, Taitu, Funa and Rosa will come along to learn about how it is to be at a dog show andmeet new people.

they are leaving now.......

2008-08-19T23:57:00.004+02:00

The first three puppies has left the nest - Syren, Green and White pups are now safe in their new homes and learning new names like Phoebe, Diezel and Fuma and have already encountered many new things like cats, mopeds, strange dogs .... and a carpet =:-0 which was not really meant to have an accident on....
Also Lilla has moved to Viborg and got his new official name: n'kosi

paperwork

2008-08-18T23:24:00.002+02:00

While the puppies play wilder for every day (todays game has been racing up and down the fence to the top paddock - a couple of pups on each side) they also sleep better and with the crates in good use nights are getting positively peaceful - and MOST even make it out the door in the morning before the accident happens.
But today has been hectic collecting the folders for the puppy folders, there is just so much stuff to give the new puppy owners: articles on behaviour, temperament and training, sheets and sheets of advice, the food bowl, food bags, the individual stuffed lions as well as the health insurance covering until 4 months, the DS certificate, the DKK contract and..... I think much more..... hope I havent forgotten anything.... but then again - I probably have....

The last chores

2008-08-18T01:15:00.003+02:00

Apart from rather unsuccessfully trying to keep 8 very curious, very active puppies out of mischief such as being stung by wasps, caught in the electrical fence, getting back into whatever made the tummies unsettled, today has been spent getting the final things done to make the puppies ready to leave in the next days: the last worming, DNA swaps for the DNAaH project - 6 per puppy means altogether 48 swabs in 8 little biting mouths, a final weighing - big Green has almost hit the 8 kg mark and the print out of all the articles and information for the puppy pack - phew. Now the pups have been put to bed in their crates, which is a huge success: they all slept till 6.30 this morning and NO ONE had had any accidents in the crates, amazing! DD is still being cornered perhaps once a day for a few minutes, the pups loves it of course, but she is getting truly tired of it.

too long time away

2008-08-16T22:56:00.004+02:00

The 7th Rhodesian Ridgeback World Congress in Portumna, Ireland was a great experience - not just the joy of being back in Ireland and the challenge of left hand driving, but the exhileration of being able to talk Ridgeback genetics, Ridgeback Health, Ridgeback behaviour and naturally Ridgeback gossip for more than two full days fantastic.
But - being away for almost three days is a long time, the pups had grown legs and is beginning to look like dogs and their range of curiosity have grown considerably. In fact so much that they had spent time in the sheep winter stables and got hold of something not quite safe for puppy tummies. So now they are on a light diet to get the little stomachs back in order and it seems to be working - certainly enough for the entire pack to enjoy a long walk on the newly harvested fields.

Healthy!

2008-08-12T11:51:00.002+02:00

Early start today - to get 8 puppies fed, and played a little tired and to make sure all of them have pee'd and poo'd to avoid any accidents in the car - it does take some time, but at 8.04 Denise and I started carrying the pups into the clinic.
All got a clean bill of health, no heart problems, clean ears all testicles present and accounted for - and the clinic wasnt TOTALLY destroyed afterwards.....
Now I am off the the Rhodesian Ridgeback World Congress in Ireland, so this space will probably be quiet until Friday :-)

Buzy day!

2008-08-11T01:43:00.003+02:00

Today has been very busy - Mandies US breeder Denise is visiting and not only did we go to Sunds yesterday to visit friends and do some handling classes, but this morning started with lurecoursing not too far from here - DD and Yankee LOVED being big dogs away from the pups and just running for the fun of it.
The pups have had a bit of runny tummies so today has also been a LOT of cleaning - esp as it has been raining so they have been indoors most of the day.
But finally came the long awaited Puppy aptitude test (read about it)
Jette and Stinne came and as it was raining and the ground VERY wet and not really comfortable for a heat loving RR puppy we decided to go into the barn - huge, darkish and with lots and lots of fun things to investigate.
The puppies did well, and even if it was visible that a couple of them had tummy pains they all behaved pretty much like I had expected them to. From Bordeaux and Blue being totally happy with waggy tails and little noses all over, to Red being a very careful girl and Green being taking things at a paws length and sitting for quite some time before deciding to participate. More to come later.....

finally finished

2008-08-08T23:01:00.002+02:00

så færdige
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

...... OK that is it.... I think this is it for tonight.... zzzzzzzzz

An active bunch

2008-08-08T22:28:00.003+02:00

It is late evening and the pack is safely tugged into the puppybox behind me in the sitting room - they are supposed to go to sleep while I get a well earned cup of tea and a chance to see the Friday night movie....... but .... I can hear little feet galloping, growling, see the shadowplay of fat bums and happy tails and I think it will be a while yet before they zonk out.
And it is not like they havent experienced anything today: a nice adventure out to the wild corners of the farm: through high grasses, brambles, up and down, climbing and crawling. Later they were supposed to go for a nap in the puppypen, but broke out for new adventures instead.

Time to explore the world

2008-08-07T22:42:00.002+02:00

blaa i fuld fart
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

The pups are 6½ weeks now and BUSY - the day is spent playing and exploring the world around them.
Soon comes the time to evaluate them physically and mentally to fit them to the requirements of their new homes. A correct male and bitch are still available, so if you are interested in a puppy from this wonderful litter please contact me.

it's a hard life

2008-08-06T22:26:00.003+02:00

to be a 6 week old puppy is totally exhausting - WALKS! into strange and exciting places such as the field with grass much higher than any puppy - high enough to hide 8 puppies completely to the great worry of DD. And also walks on with Helle without the rest of the pack in new and exciting places such as the sheep field which Rosa below though a lot of fun (lots of yummy sheep dropping there). Syren took a name change to Frække Frieda - no translation provided

no milk today!

2008-08-06T00:22:00.003+02:00

Six weeks today and DD made a decision: no more milk! she blankly refused to go anywhere near the pups and even lures of nice food or even a good bone could not persuade her. Enough is enough. It held all day, but late afternoon the pressure became to much and she came down for a brief drink - which the puppies enjoyed hugely of course.

RAIN!

2008-08-04T22:12:00.004+02:00

Today began and continued in pouring rain - a phenomena the puppies have NEVER experienced before and really never WANT to experience ever again :-( cold, wet against little fat, bare tummies and goes right to the skin. The grass was nasty and cold and.... but then they were allowed to play indoors!!! that was so much fun, especially to see me rushing around puppy securing the sitting room for a whole day of playing and not just the usual evenings - a book here, some electrical wires there, the big wonderful bag with wet papers from the puppy box and...
But that done everybody had lots of fun playing... except..... that everytime they had eaten, or slept or played - the whole pack had to go outside AGAIN - in the rain, sorry - and they werent allowed back in before everybody had done their business. Poor puppies!

Something entirely different - LURE COURSING

2008-08-02T23:11:00.003+02:00

... puppies are cute and wonderful and there is nothing like being able to follow a litter of pups in their daily development, but it is the adult dogs and their strength and power that we live with for hopefully 12-14 years and these pictures taken by Jette Fuglsang from a Lure Coursing event in early summer really show the joy and hunting instinct of the RR - and that this does not disappear with age, Yankee is almost 10 years and still loves the hunt more than anything
See the rest of Jettes wonderful pictures from the event in Kasted at http://picasaweb.google.dk/pip2pip/LURECOURSINGKASTED02

Sammy shows the "pronk" a Ridgeback speciality for hunting and keeping eye contact with the game in high grass

Lots of biting

2008-08-01T23:33:00.001+02:00

Bider lige hvad der er nærmest
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Bite control is being learned at present - or rather.... what happens if you bite as hard as you can? and things happens: if it is a sibling he or she cries VERY loudly, if it is DD she growls, if Puuma... oh no, nobody has dared THAT yet and if a human being? hmmmm they seem to use the scream high approach too. But verbal communication is growing and sounds becoming important. This is also why I have introduced noisy things for them, such as an old mail box to pull along with a very loud (and a little scary ) rattle.

Lion hunters at large

2008-07-30T23:09:00.001+02:00

Bordeaux har taget på løven
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Our puppies always leave home with their own personal stuffed animal - the Manchester terriers got rats and the Ridgebacks.... of course they are getting LIONS! The lion pack arrived all the way from IKEA today and was immediately a huge success, many of them have already been killed and I think they will be well known, comfortable friends by the time the pups have to go to their new home.

Evening games

2008-07-29T22:55:00.004+02:00

aften leg
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

It is still hot, +30C during the day and nights not much cooler - so evening is the time for games, just like in Africa where days are spent asleep and evening / nights is the active time.

"Det er aften nu og solen er lige gået ned
Vi har lige slået lejr på savannen et sted
Bwana Bwana, store kriger, han har lagt sine våben
Sidder under sit moskitonet med teltdøren åben

Safari, safari, safari "

The character of the pups is emerging and body type is changing from fat little guinea pigs to something resembling slim puppy bodies, behavior is also improving - even if DD is a very soft teacher and have a lot of problems REALLY telling them to stop suckling, Puuma puts a lot more power behind her lectures and the pups are becoming slightly more respectful - at least a few minutes at the time

new food habits

2008-07-28T23:13:00.003+02:00

another hot day, but hey, I cant keep using that title line. So not much has happened except that DD really IS trying to wean them, although quite tentatively so far, some serious sounding growls when they are trying to nurse, which might even impress the softer pups for several seconds and when it doesnt help: a small nose pinch but she softens quickly and instead they get a loving lick in their faces - not very motivating to stop drinking the lovely milk.
She has also barfed food up for them twice today - she is acting purely on instinct and really doesnt believe in letting them eat it afterwards: it is perfectly good for a second time and why share it.
More pictures tomorrow I hope

it is even hotter....

2008-07-27T23:17:00.002+02:00

and the pups really enjoys it, they are learning by leaps and bounds every day: training doggy language (one little misguided girl growls dangerously when picked up - wagging her little body madly at the same time, this language thing IS hard!) learning when to push and when to back off, all parts of becoming a well functioning adult dog. The big dogs are NOT as lenient any more: Puuma has sent more than one baby howling back to momma for being less than perfectly polite and even DD has started weaning them by growling when she doesnt want them to nurse.

it is HOT

2008-07-26T07:47:00.004+02:00

It has been some hot days here , the puppies spends most days doozing under a garden chair but there are still a few things to see: first of have DD started using the large den she buildt when she was giving birth: it is lovely and cool under the jasmine bushes and the pups enjoys being taken there - one time when Puuma barked at a car coming up the drive all the puppies ran for shelter in the den, like proper little fox cubs :-)

DD is enjoying the company of her puppies now, even if some of them insists on eating others want to play with her and she is trying to teach them good doggy language - like yawning when you want someone to stop. They find the open mouth hugely interesting - but I am not sure they understand the finer points yet.

- and then, in the coolness of the evening the pups finally play

Garden life

2008-07-23T22:54:00.001+02:00

De er nu dejlige
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

The sun has been out today and the puppies have spent serious time in the garden - almost an hour of waking time used for eating - a little playing and a lot of investigating. But best of all was when DD took her entire brood for a short walk and as a treat even laid down in the grass for a good long drink of milk. It is amazing how keen the little noses are, they can smell their milk bar 5-6 meters away and go in a mad scramble to get to it.

4 weeks old today

2008-07-22T22:49:00.002+02:00

4 weeks and proper little toddlers: from last weeks very first meal mainly ingested through feet and skin till todays 5 solid meals a day, and just as regular potty trips in the garden in connection with each meal. This way the puppies learn early to relieve themselves outside to be almost housetrained by the time they leave home. They wake up at 5.3o sharp in the morning loudly demanding BREAKFAST!!! and is taken outside while complaining bitterly about the wet cold grass. Today they also started nursing consistantly from DD while she was standing up finishing their food, so the cosy baby times seems to be over....

Busy weekend

2008-07-21T10:21:00.004+02:00

The weekend has been busy for humans and puppies with lots of visitors. Best of all was DDs personal visitor her best pal Cassandra who spent most of Saturday in the puppy box, teaching the puppies about little girls

The pups are now big enough to look out of the puppy box and breakfast time is most definitely the best time of the day! Blue and White are eagerly waiting for their humble servant to finish mixing the food!

Pups are out on the floor in their waking time, Yankee is not enchanted by the little ones checking his underside for milk so he sought refuge in the puppies box!

kuku Puuma and little Lilla

2008-07-17T23:47:00.002+02:00

kuku Puuma og lille Lilla
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

When the pups ventures out of the puppy box Puuma is happy and attempts to play with them, she has quite forgotten that babies this small do not understand the richness of doggy language and in a lot of ways are a lot more interested in investigating if she might have some milk? But even though she hasnt the pups naturally gravitate towards her - except when DD lies down in the puppy box: then everybody scrambles for a place at the best tits.

First meal - or?

2008-07-14T22:19:00.007+02:00

21 days old, little teeth breaking through the gums, active legs.... and a very solid appetite, it must be time for the first solid meal? but no, only Grøn tried a couple of mouth fulls, the rest found the food dish great fun to play in - but when DD came to clean it all up she had a few problems eating around the eager puppy feet.
sh

..... and while DD is busy looking after her brood, the puppies father, Zazu is having a ball of fun with her worst rival Sammy!!!! -

Puppies have started playing

2008-07-14T01:11:00.001+02:00

Hvid leger med Rød
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Today it is not just Bordeaux attempting to play - they are all going for this fun new thing, it is very difficult: first you have to stand on all four legs to pounce (White had a spectacular attempt which ended miserably with all four legs up in the air) then you have to open your mouth and then... tadaaa... PERHAPS you get a mouthfull of brother or sister which you can try to bite.. fairly difficult given the still not quite emerged teeth.
And when you have to use your front paws to invite to play? ahhh, THEN you have to sit down, just like White is doing here. Notice Reds ear: she is actually moving her head so fast that the ear is swinging loose :-)

Home again

2008-07-12T19:05:00.006+02:00

Back home again, it is great to see the little ones again - and my they have grown in those two days, much more walking, attempt on playing, and tiny little teeth!
I have also invested in a new battery for my scales so the puppy weight chart can be kept updated!

no puppy news today

2008-07-11T00:59:00.003+02:00

Today and tomorrow I am travelling to a business meeting in Cambridge, UK - the pups are safe at home with their mum, Sophie who is busy with the screw driver to make the puppy box bigger and more comfy for DD, Puuma and Yankee, who as always has gone into a sulk because I am gone....

2008 07 09 puppy pile

2008-07-09T19:42:00.001+02:00

2008 07 09 puppy pile
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Little puppies stack together for warmth and comfort

Walkies - a mixed pleasure

2008-07-08T23:28:00.004+02:00

Although thunderclouds where building around us, it was a lovely evening and DD decided to leave the babies to come along for a walk in the meadows - none of us had considered how exposed her milk filled underside was to thistles, nettles and biting bugs, so even if she enjoyed getting out, she did spend quite some time biting at her underside.

The puppies are busy eating

2008-07-07T23:39:00.004+02:00

The puppies are incredibly energetic when nursing, lots of sounds, busy tiny paws and the most difficult choice of all: should I stay here or go looking for a better part of the milk bar?

grrrrrrr en ny lyd / new sounds in puppy box

2008-07-06T23:43:00.003+02:00

All the eyes are now open and even if the ears are still closed the sounds of the puppy box is changing. Puppies are growling and - I think - barking as well as making very distinct clucking sounds when drinking.

weighing

2008-07-05T00:20:00.002+02:00

All the pups are weighed daily and grows well. The eyes are appearing now - see individual photos and the little legs getting stronger. It is obvious that they drink more at each go and that their stomachs can hold more as DD suddenly has a lot more time on her hands (paws?) - today the two of us went for a run (and no, she was wasnt the one panting the most) and when I went for a short drive she jumped in the car with me and was perfectly happy watching the going ons outside.... pretty amazing.

2008 07 03 Breakfast time

2008-07-03T12:25:00.001+02:00

2008 07 03 Breakfast time
Originally uploaded by kibutata

a small movie showing how lively the pups has become

- og hvor mon mor er? / and where is mummy?

2008-07-03T00:28:00.003+02:00

It is night after yet another day of concentrated eating and sleeping, the first puppy, Bordeaux, has reached the 1 kgs and I just saw a glitter of eye at Red.
The pups are asleep under the warm glow of the heat lamp.... but where is DD?

2008 07 01 se hvor meget vi er vokset

2008-07-02T00:22:00.001+02:00

2008 07 01 se hvor meget vi er vokset
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

One week old today! Most of us have doubled our weight, we are training hard trying to get up on the legs and the sounds in the puppy box has become a lot more focused: screams if DDs moves , the deep gurgling sound of milk running into puppy bellies, the little grunts of sleep.

Peace in the puppy box

2008-06-29T20:24:00.002+02:00

syren sover
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Eating, sleeping, being cleaned, that is what life is all about. DD is totally relaxed even when strange people come by to look at the puppies.

DD is a quick learner

2008-06-27T23:09:00.001+02:00

2008 06 27 003
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

the Milk is flowing, DD is rejecting the help of Puuma and the pups are gaining weight FAST.

granma comes to DDs aid

2008-06-26T20:13:00.002+02:00

this way
Originally uploaded by kibutata.

Things are definitely looking up, the milk is flowing and DD is (most of the time) like glued to the whelping box (last night she *did* prefer to sneak into our bed). All puppies are steadily gaining weight.
But one thing is still missing: little pups needs to be licked a lot as they cant empty themselves. DD is at present totally clueless why she should stick her tounge anywhere near that yellow stuff coming out of the little ones...... but fortunately experienced help is at hand: grandma Puuma is more than happy to lend a hand (tounge) and DD is slowly catching the idea (yikes...)

It is an exhausting business

2008-06-25T19:33:00.004+02:00

6 o'clock evening, DD has accepted her new position as mother (just think of all the nice food) and is actually beginning to enjoy her babies. The human part of the family is exhausted and Puuma waiting back stage to help out with the cleaning of the babies (these young mothers have to learn how to do things properly) - and DD is happy to accept her help.

Kejsersnit.... / Cesarian

2008-06-25T15:35:00.004+02:00

Despite all DDs good efforts of going back to the wild, we finally had to resort to the vets knife at 3pm on the afternoon of the 24th, after 30 hrs of not strong enough contractions to bring two head on collission pups out. No wonder, there was 14 large puppies, however 6 of them were ridgeless and for the sake of DD I made the difficult decision of not letting them wake up after the operation. 8 puppies, 5 girls and 3 boys came back home, and the last 24 hrs have been tough on both humans and DD as she didnt want to have anything to do with the little scary screamers and didnt even want to go near the welping box for a look. But eventually she came closer, by midnight one pup at the time was allowed to suckle.
And now 24 hrs later they are all by her side, and Puuma is teaching her to clean them. More to come - pictures etc...

tilbage til naturen?/ Call off the wild?

2008-06-24T11:17:00.004+02:00

Veerne er begyndt og DD har travlt med at indrette sin hule under jasmin busken i haven
Contractions has started and DD being true to her RR nature have insisted on building a lovely deep hollow in under the jasmine bush, MUCH better than the soft couch indoors