Sweden has granted us a warm welcome

We have now lived in Sweden for 6 months. Can you believe it? There has been a lot of changes and a lot of frustrations, such as a never-ending waiting period for my residence permit, which I am still waiting for by the way, but I digress. One thing that I didn't expect, but which has been a completely wonderful surprise has been the kindness of the people.

Of course most of our early contacts were dachshund (tax) people, so naturally they must be wonderful, right? ;)

The group after a gryt training (photo H. Arlock)

 
It has been so much easier to start to integrate into the new culture and surroundings with the dogs. We had activities and busy lives once again. We weren't just sitting home alone in the middle of the countryside, we were going to practices, shows, and social outings. Social media has been crucial to getting to know people and Facebook has connected us with a lot of Dachshund people. It is really a wonderful thing to meet and hangout with your Facebook friends on a regular basis. We even met one of our blog followers (Lindsjö Taxar) that was kind enough to chat us up, give us training tools, and invite us for future hunting practices with the dogs. 

Majsan & Simon at the show in Tvååker. Neither of us got the results that we needed, but it was fun to get together none-the-less

Simon has even started playing his trumpet once again due to our friend Elisabeth. Luckily, we now have a house with no neighbors, so he can play all he wants... now I'm just waiting for the drum set to appear.

Simon and Elisabeth playing horn at the club show in Kjugekull (photo E. Ahlin)

We haven't necessarily been as successful in showing as we would like to be since moving here, but it will come. We have a young dog and  The dogs have made up for it with their natural abilities. We had to "re-learn" how to track since the Swedish method is different than me previously learned (which reminds me that I should have Simon do a write-up regarding it). The dogs are doing just fine, but it is the handlers that need more practice!

All in all, things are going well here in Sweden and summer holidays are just around the corner. What more could a girl and her dachshunds ask for?