Trimming and training

February has been a bit of a whirlwind so far. I can't believe it is already 1/2 way gone! I spent the past weekend in Helsinki for a very special little girl's birthday. My dear little godchild Emma turned 2 and Auntie Julie was invited to the party, but I also was the birthday cake baker. It was a Moomin themed party and we had Moomin drawings, balloons, and of course winter Moomin figures for the cake. I was happy that the Finns appreciated the American style cake and only 1 small piece was left after the party. :)

Now back home in Sweden things are getting back to normal. Liina was in need of a trimming, but I was debating on when to do it. I was unsure if she would be going on tour to shows with Markku and as she is now looking as though her size will be mini instead of standard I didn't know if or when she would be shown. I figured that now was as good of a time as any and spent yesterday trimming the little girl.

Pre-trim

Pre-Trim

Post Trim photos

 The weather has been pretty good and we are able to do some blood tracking practices. I realized this past week that neither Freddie nor Liina had ever seen/practiced the "starting box" that they have here in Sweden in open class tracks. 

example of an open class track

So yesterday morning, we went out with the object of laying starts for each of the dogs along with about 100m afterwards. Short and sweet, but a good confidence boost for each of them and good practice. The tracks were down for approx 20 hrs and we took the dogs out in the blustery, cold wind this morning to do the tracks. Conditions weren't so ideal as I woke up to 2C (about 36F) and 25 mph wind gusts, but we didn't want to waste the opportunity or leave our deer hoof out in the woods. Liina did great with the start and confidently started on the track, but then got a bit distracted. There are a TON of deer and boar in the woods near us and I saw a lot of very, very fresh poop in the forest, but Liina was very good about coming back to the track and working. She found the end of the track very quickly and confidently and was thrilled to have a deer hoof to play with it!

Freddie was an old pro, what can I say? I was taking down the markings from the box and he was already done. He is so fast and accurate that I don't expect him to have many problems... unless he jumps a deer or hare or boar. Then we have to really get him calm before starting up again.

Overall, a nice, calm weekend. Now I am hanging out with my favorite champion on the couch, enjoying a little quiet time. :)