Happy Holidays

What a way to end our show year!

We decided this fall that we wanted to take a week long vacation to celebrate finishing our degrees. Of course we planned on bringing the dogs with, so I looked for a few locations that I'd like to go to and also possibilities for dog shows or trials. Low-and-behold, there were double CACIB shows in Wels, Austria, only 2 hours from Vienna. Even better, there was a lovely Wine and Spa hotel, that I had seen on CNN about 2 years ago as one of the top wine destinations in Europe, only an hour and a half away. We've been wanting to visit Austria for the past couple of years, but never made the 8 hour trek to Vienna. So after I finished my degree in October, the first thing I did was to book hotels and sign up for the dog shows.

Well, I have to say, our last dog shows of the year paid off! After a disappointing weekend in Geneva in November, in which Baxter received the Excellent 1, but the CAC was withheld, this was a great pick me up. Not only did Baxter receive Excellent 1 with CACA (Champion certificate in Austria) on Saturday, but he repeated the win on Sunday and, in addition, picked up another CACA and a reserve CACIB! The CACIB is given to the best male, so our little guy was picked as 2nd best male dog.

There were over 30 dachshunds from all over Europe there this weekend, so we were very happy about our first wins in Austria. Now we have at least 1 year to collect at least 2 more CACAs. :)

Not only did we have a nice time and, of course, had some nice wins, but we finally met the breeder of Freddie's father Kobeddus Effendi, Caroline, in person! We have been Facebook friends and emailing back an forth for years now, so it was nice to finally meet and chat.

Now Simon, the dogs and I are having our vacation. We explored Linz a bit and visited the Christmas market and had great views of the city, even though the weather was a bit crappy. Now we are settled in for the night at our fantastic fancy hotel. It is the best graduation present that I could have at the moment. :)

So with our wins, we are ending our show season. It has been an amazing year and I couldn't ask for more from the dogs. They have both done amazing and been incredibly successful this year. I can only hope that 2014 will be as fruitful as 2013!

Reasons to be Thankful

Being a born and bred American, I'm still a fan and proponent of Thanksgiving. For the past 4 years I have hosted Thanksgiving dinners for our friends. They may not be necessarily exactly on Thanksgiving (usually they are 1 to 2 weeks later), but they are always a warm atmosphere of camaraderie and a feeling of the season. My tiny Swiss oven (with the help/recruitment of at least 2 other ovens) has managed to feed up to 30 people, though I'm still wondering how we managed to get them all in the house!

Although this is a few days late, I felt that it still deserved a posting.

This year I have a lot to be thankful for:

First of all my friends! Through thick and thin I have had a lot of great friends. Here are just a smattering of pictures from the past couple years, but they are all fantastic, wonderful people and I am thankful to have them in my life.  

On a stroll in Luxembourg

Hiking in Basel

 

Playing with the Wii at one of many parties

Second, is our breed mentors, who are also Baxter's breeders and our close friends Markku and Salla (Kennel Barbwired). They have always been supportive and encouraging and always push us to be the best we can. I have missed them a lot since they moved back to Finland two years ago, but having the dog connection, they are never more than a phone call away. I would be lying if I didn't say I was excited to be a bit closer to them for the next few years.

On a trip to Croatia with Baxter's 1/2 sister & brother, Aura and Arnold, and mom Iiris

Third is my ADORABLE goddaughter Emma. She is the daughter of Markku and Salla and she is the happiest baby that I know! She is a heartbreaker and I love spoiling her. She is really starting to have a wonderful personality and I look forward to watching her grow up.

Fourth of course is my boys!! They are clowns, they are my footwarmers, and they are the monsters that I struggle with every evening when I go to bed and find a dackel shaped lump on my side of the bed. They have taught me so much about the breed and what these little dogs are capable of. They have made me feel more integrated into the community and forced me to really learn more of the language (though I still need to practice a LOT). They are extremely successful dogs in their own right and I look forward to a lot more wonderful years with the two of them. They have also really got me thinking about dog breeding and I have begun my search for a nice female. I don't know how long this will take... a few month or a few years, we will see, but I have a good idea of what I am looking for and when the right pup comes along, I'll know it.

After a spurlaut practice in 2012

Freddie in his element

Baxter in his chair

Fifth is Simon. He has been my rock and has been there for me through a very difficult last couple of years. In addition, he agreed to dive into the dackel world with me and has been a companion, partner in crime, and interpreter. Together we made a house and lives for ourselves and soon we will go through the process of moving and starting over in a new country. Thanks for being part of the adventure!

Sixth is for my family. Being back in the USA for Thanksgiving made me realize that sometimes it is just really nice to have family close to you. Laughing uncontrollably over stupid jokes, playing games, chatting over dinner or a drink, just everything is nicer in person. Although we don't always agree on things, they have always been supportive... even when I moved 5000 miles away.

The final thing I am thankful for is finding a place to live in our soon-to-be homeland. It is a townhouse instead of a house, but the location is totally ideal. It is near a huge green space, a 2 minute walk to the seaside, 5 minutes into town and shopping, and a direct bus line to Simon's work. I'm still in the process of looking for a job, but I am hoping that the next 2 months bring some success. Here are a couple pictures of Malmö, which we can see from our section of seaside near the house. Of course I forgot to take pictures when actually touring the apartment!

The sea off Malmö

in Malmö

Panorama of the seashore in Malmö

As 2013 comes to a close, I am hoping that 2014 brings great things. A lot will change and I am sure it will be challenging, but it will definitely be an interesting adventure!

What a month!

So the past month has been a whirlwind in our household as you may have realized from the flurry of posts. Every weekend we have had a dog event. Although this is not the most ideal for our personal life, it has been extremely fruitful for us as dog owners!

Just to summarize it all:

Baxter successfully completed 3 tests- BHP-G (BHP Tagessieger), Schwhk/40 (Tracking), Sp (Finding Hares)

Best of all, for his BHP-G exam he achieved 1st prize and best of the day (Tagessieger) and 92pts and 1st prize on his blood tracking exam. Spurlaut could have been a bit better, but we can live with 3rd prize and can work on getting him a higher prize later on.

Furthermore, for his first exhibition as an adult (sniff, our little puppy is now officially too old for junior class... they grow so fast!) he received V1 CAC towards his German championship (Karlsruhe).

Plus our little guy has developed into a very handsome dachshund if I do say so myself!

Fred amazed us with his continued great work! For the first time in over a year he ventured back into the fox den and earned 2x 100pts, 1st prize in trials and furthermore, 1 second reserve CAC (RRCAC). Plus he did amazing in the rather tough BhFK in Italy where the dog must work the fox up a chimney. He only needs to work on being a little bit faster...
Additionally, Fred did amazing work on his tracking exam, earning him 100 pts and a CAC towards his Italian working championship. I guess we will have to plan at least 1 more trip down to Italy to try for the remaining CACs and get the brown dog a show rating (Fred's Hat-trick).
Finally and the biggest surprise of the month was Freddie's rating at the IRAs. As I mentioned, we took Fred in order to get him a rating in a catalog show because who knows what we'd like him to do in the future. In working dog class Fred received the rating V1 CAC (Karlsruhe)! He is a great mover, but the ring is not his style and he was far happier in his kennel or on my lap, so he'll remain our "little" hunter for now.

So good job boys! 

Finally, I have one more big announcement... 2014 will begin a new chapter for us and the dachshund as we are planning for a move to Sweden! Simon has officially accepted a postdoc position in Lund (~60 km from Copenhagen) and so we are all excited to continue with our new and exciting adventure. Of course we will miss Switzerland, but Basel is only a 12 hour drive away. It's amazing to me how small Europe is. :)

So get ready all! New tests, new shows, new environment will all be coming in 2014! Now I'm off to practice my Svenska. Hej då!

Italian trip 2013

This year we decided to make our trip to Italy slightly earlier this year to ensure that we would be able to get in some tracking trials. We signed Freddie up for tracking as well as fox trials and with Baxter we focused on tracking.
We went down a few days earlier this year in order to do a Saupr. practice as well as try our little dog on the fox. We couldn't have picked a prettier day to drive down. Please enjoy some of Switzerland's gorgeous views. :)

Driving through the Vierwaldstättersee in Central Switzerland 

Simon is from this area and I have to say, I'm jealous I didn't have this view growing up

A view of the Alps 

Our last sunny view before the Gotthard tunnel

  

Ticino was cloudy, but the hanging clouds are beautiful

Getting closer!

This region of Italy is often quite foggy

A little sun to end the day

We were extremely happy with the extra private practice at the Palladini's house. Antonio and Barbara are really some of the nicest people that I have met. Antonio was more than willing and happy to allow us to try Baxter in the artificial fox den and pit both dogs against the boars. Success in both practices and maybe we will try the small one on these trials in another year or so, but we didn't want to overwhelm him this time.

The boys were ready to go! Freddie spent much of the time in the front seat "driving" the car while we were waiting for our start times. Baxter occasionally jumped to the front, but preferred sitting on top on the wine that we picked up.

Waiting for our tracking trial

My team

Success! Great track guys!

Picking up our awards for tracking

All I can say is success! Freddie is really coming into his own as a hunter and I really need to get my hunting license ASAP so I can continue with this talented dog. Not only did he ace his 40 hr tracking trial with 100 pts and a CAC (a certificate towards an Italian working certificate), but he once again was a maniac on fox. In both trials offered (BHFK95 and FBJA) he received 100 pts, 1st prize and 1 RRCAC(2nd reserve) in FBJA. The Fbja competition came down to how quickly the dogs made it to the fox. Amazingly, there was a standard long that was amazingly fast at 15 sec from the entry to the fox. Just for reference, the fastest kanninchen dachshund in an earlier trial made the trek in 9 secs, so this longhair was quick! Fred took what seemed like the longest path possible (which included a dip/incline) and took 26 sec, putting him in 3rd place of the 4 top dogs. For the BHFK95 he did amazing and pushed the fox like a champ, but did the trial in 4 min 13 sec and he would have needed to complete it in 4 min for the CAC. Oh well, no worries! Still a great job!

Atta boy Fred!

Our haul

Additionally, Baxter did amazing on his tracking exam. Both Simon and the judge were amazed at how meticulous and focused the small dog was on the trail. He just needs a bit more practice on corners as he tends to overshoot, then back track and start again. We are planning to continue with tracking practice this autumn since it is great exercise for the dogs and for me! Hopefully we can continue to get better and better. Next year's goals include finishing Freddie's Italian working championship, tracking and hunting tests in Germany with the boys, and hopefully partaking in working trials in the Nordic countries. Of course at least one of these goals require me to follow up in my goal to complete my hunting license/exam! Let's see what next year brings!

IRA in Karlsruhe

We spent the weekend in Karlsruhe for Baxter's first round of shows in the more "adult" classes. In addition, Freddie came along to receive an adult rating (his only other shows were at 15 months in Jugend class). We wanted to get Fred a rating in a Katalog show since Simon would like to try and put a Gebrauchssieger title on him eventually and a rating of at least SG/sehr gut is required. The exhibition hall in Karlsruhe was large and bright and airy, though a bit cold today, and it was nice to see old show friends. Overall, it was a very successful trip. Both boys received an Excellent 1 rating and VDH-CAC on Saturday in their respective classes (intermediate and working) and we were elated. This means that Baxter has "started" his German VDH championship (he needs 5 VDH-CACs) and the minimum amount of time to the title is in 1 year. Freddie was a complete shock as he is not a show dog, as I have mentioned in the past. What we didn't know is that the judge on Saturday has a soft spot for brown wires. :)

All in all, a nice weekend.

Dear Readers

Dear Readers of this page...

I am troubled that some people seem to need to feel superior. I would like to state that everything written on this page is MY experience and MY opinion. 

The simple facts are these: I love my dogs. I want to work with my dogs. I want them to be the best that they can be.

If certain groups feel the need to kick out a very active member simply because I express my opinions, then so be it. I hope those people feel proud of what they have done.

A marathon Spurlaut exam

When I checked the weather for Altenheim on Sunday, I kept it to myself- 10˚C max temp and a 80% chance of rain all day. Yup, just what I wanted to see for a Spurlaut test... ugh. The thought of being drenched and wandering through muddy fields in search of hares did not make me very happy, but it was our last opportunity until March/April to perform the exam. Baxter had showed promise at our practice in Grünstadt (which I still need to write about) and the concept of hares + chasing + trailing + barking, seemed to finally switch on in his, sometimes thick, head. With trailing he is excellent. His nose is fantastic and he has been beautifully trailing hares since he was ~ 1 year old, but the sound wasn't coming. On the last few practices he actually saw the hares and I think that triggered something. Those few sichthase (sight hares) were a blessing and since the end of September we knew he was Spurlaut.

This pleased us and also his breeders. In the nordic countries, Spurlaut isn't a requirement for any tests and, thus, many don't know if the trait is retained. From their first litter, only their own bitch from their 1st litter, Baxter's 1/2 sister Barbwired Austria, was tested for Sp when they were living in Switzerland. Aura did a phenomenal job and earn 100 pts and tagessieger in Austria for her work. Baxter's mom Iiris (at age ~5 years) had also been tried on Sp, but by this time she was accustom to blood tracking and fox work and was quiet while trailing the hares. Maybe with sichthase, this would have been different and triggered her voice a bit, but as I've mentioned before, hares in Switzerland are not plentiful and even Germany can be a gamble. We knew from the Palladini's that Baxter's dad Apollo was spurlaut, so we hoped that Baxter retrained this trait. Once we knew that he was Spurlaut, even if he still needed practice, we figured that we would take the gamble and sign up for the last test of the year in our region in an attempt for him to earn the achievement: Sp. 

On Sunday the conditions were not the greatest for this exam, but they were better (rain-wise) than the forecast had predicted. A foreboding sky that looked ready to storm at any moment, standing water on many fields, still many fields covered in left over wheat and corn, and winds that reminded me of tornadoes made this an interesting exam. Furthermore, in order for all the dogs to have at least 2 hares (and for 2 dogs to have 3) we walked 3 different sets of fields from 10am until 3pm, making for a rather exhausting day and likely about 10-15 km worth of field walking...which I am feeling today!

Of the 5 dogs that were examined, Freddie and Baxter were the only dogs to pass.  Since Freddie had a score of 2nd place last year in Nordbaden, he was eligible to take the test again for a chance at 1st place. This was advantageous as we were in need of 1 more dog to partake in the exam in order for it to happen. In the end there was a late entry and Freddie wasn't needed, but he loves running hares on the field, so we thought we'd give him a shot. It was also an experience for me as it was my first time participating with a dog in the exam (I was handling Fred). Freddie's first hare was a rückwards hase (backwards hare) the jumped up from behind and ran where we just walked. I didn't see the trail of the hare as I was trying to calm Freddie down because a deer had jumped right in front of us and of course he saw it and wanted to chase it. So, all in all, it was a bit of a disaster. He tried to follow the hare, made some progress, but with the commotion, the scent of 10 people and dogs, etc... he just didn't do it. It would have been great if he did, but even the judges agreed that it was a difficult situation.Fred's second hare was much nicer. It jumped about 20 feet in front of me while we were waiting on another dog. Fred did a great job trailing it, but the wind was strong and I could tell in the end he was struggling to find the scent line, which by that time was likely dust in the wind. Regardless, he performed and was the best of the day with a 2nd place rating.

Baxter was our wild card. We knew he was Spurlaut, but he was still rather inexperienced since he had run about 3 "proper" hares in practice not as sichthase. His first hare was a good one, the judges had to jump it from it's sitting place, it ran straight and over the road, but I think Bax, as the 1st dog of the test, didn't quite know what was going on and started doing more "Stöber" type work on the field. He failed this hare horribly, but we knew he at least got another chance. The second hare jumped on his own, ran a weaving pattern and disappeared over a hill and onto a grassy field. Bax was loud on the hare all across the first field until he broke the hill and then Bax was quietly searching for the scent. By this time the wind was getting extremely strong and though he searched, the little dog didn't pick up the line again. The judges felt that this work warranted a 3rd bunny to see if the 1st one was just a fluke. On his 3rd and final hare, it jumped, ran a straight line over the road and into the corn. Bax found the line, took off like a rocket and barked his little heart out. He searched the road for the scent and with a little coaxing, found it again and trailed it through the corn. We didn't hear much more due to the wind, but Simon had to retrieve him, still trailing, 2 fields over. Baxter found his voice, but still needs more practice to be very confident in trailing the hares, especially in hard situations like over roads. Regardless, the judges said, Yes, this dog is definitely spurlaut and has the desire to follow the game and awarded him a 3rd prize. Now we can continue on with more work with the small dog, such as fox and Stöber. We are all exhausted, but happy with the results.

Baxter was the BHP Taggessieger in group Hochrhein

 So the first in a series of updates and where to start...

Baxter and Simon took part on the 19th of October in the BHP exam in the Hochrhein club in the Badischer Dachshund Club of the DTK. The day started with coffee and choosing of the numbers (which were baked into dog biscuits).

The festively decorated table in the clubhouse

Which is the right biscuit...

Waiting for instructions

Finding out the order of the dogs

 This is an all day exam which consists of 3 sections:

BHP1:Führigkeit, Folgsamkeit, Ablegen, Verhalten bei Geräuschen, Verhalten gegenüber Menschen, Verhalten in Strassenverkehr

Ready for BHP 1 on the training space

BHP2: Führersuche & Warten

The view from the hills were the Führersuche was performed

BHP3: Wasserfreude

Baxter on a water retrieve

 So, for the non-Germans, I'll walk you through the test:

In the first section the dogs must show their obedience through a variety of tests, many of which can be performed with or without leash. First, the dog must walk at a heel over and around a variety of obstacles and they must demonstrate walking ~ 100 ft on heel off leash back to the starting point/judge. The dog must show that it is not afraid of loud noises, such as a pipe being hit with a hammer (ie, no running away from the sound). The dog is surrounded by people who approach the dog clapping and the dog also walks through a crowd. The dog must walk on the sidewalk next to a road and be approached by people with umbrellas, newspapers, bikers, cars, etc... going by. The owner must send the dog away from them and then call them back on command. There are variations of this part where more points are awarded if you can bring the dog to a stop on command before they reach you, but this is quite difficult. Finally, the dog can be free or on leash and they must wait. This test is done all at once whereas the other parts are done individually. The dogs are placed on a fence and told to lie down for 5 min in sight of the owner. During this time a person walks by and another dog walks by, etc... The dogs are allowed to stand and move a bit, but not to cry or try to walk towards the owner.

Waiting, waiting...

Iamira, the lone longhaired dackel in the test. She did excellent!

Waiting for 5 minutes to be called so the owners can go retrieve their dogs from the fence

Bax walking at heel with Simon during BHP1

Simon is a really great handler. Before each activity he makes sure the dog is calm and has his attention. This was before walking at heel back to the judge.

Checking for fear of sound. Baxter LOVES Eri! He didn't care about the long clang from metal on metal, he just ran laps around her until Simon called him back.

Jup and Kerstin showing off their skills in the street/traffic portion

.

Baxter could care less about stopping to help with directions

Iamira was unimpressed by Eri and the umbrella

For the second test there are only 2 parts. First the dog is given to a handler while the judge and owner walk ~ 300 m (1000 ft) into a wooded area and hide. The track should include 2x right angled turns. Once the owner and judge are hidden, the dog is released and must track and find the owner. For the second part of the test, the dog is put in wait similar to in the 1st test, but the owner is out of sight. Again, bikes, people, dogs, etc... go by and the dog must stay calm and ideally not move.

Jup waiting while his mistress was out of sight.

For the third test, it is basically a variation of the Wassertest, except there is no gun shot and any toy can be thrown for the dog to retrieve.

Baxter with his favorite dummy duck

The dogs can pass each test individually which is then indicated BHP-1 or BHP-3, etc...

If the dog passes the combined test, it is given the title BHP-G (G=gesamt: entire)

We weren't sure how Baxter would do as we weren't able to go to many of the official trainings, but we do regularly train obedience and tricks with the dogs. Originally I was supposed to do the trainings with Baxter, but well, finishing up my degree got in the way and I was a mess of nerves.

Tallying the points

Handing over the score sheets

Handing out gifts to all of the helpers

Simon though is a star and amazing for taking over Baxter's training! He and Baxter totally shined and of the 6 dogs that participated in the test he received the maximum points he could get and was awarded BHP-G 1st prize Taggessieger (winner of the day).

We are extremely proud of our little dog! He performed like a star and worked perfectly with Simon. Simon said that the judge was especially impressed with the attention that Baxter gave him before each activity. Simon is big on making the dogs make eye contact with him before they start an activity and this was unique for the dogs at the test. It was a long day (roughly 6 hours), but well worth it! Baxter now gets to add the test score: BHP-G to his name. :)

The boys with the judge

Congrats Bax! Good job!

*** Many, many thanks to Peter for the pictures during the exam!!***