sloooowly ever so slooowly

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

the boys

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.

Sammy is in heat!

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 :-)

bird dogs?

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

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

On Safari in Kasted Mose (the moors)

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 :-)

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.

Happy Birthday old boy

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

family visits

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"

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!

Congratulations

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

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

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

yeahhh - Ben has been approved for breeding in Denmark

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

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

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

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.