Liina's first show success!

So yesterday was a dachshund clubshow held by the Kronoberg Taxklubben in Moheda, Sweden. It was a cold, but really nice day. It was also one of my first dachshund memories in Sweden as it was the first clubshow we went to last year and the first time I had the pleasure to meet Majsan in person! Now I am of course making a name for myself, popping up on several Swedish FB pages from the show. Hahaha! From unknown to "adopted Swede."

We had a WONDERFUL weather week leading up to the show- warm, sunny, beautiful weather. Then on the day of the last solar eclipse until like 2039, it was horrible, cold, and cloudy. :( We even had flurries of SNOW on Saturday in Skåne. It made me oh, so sad. I learned my lesson from Moheda last year and knew that I had to dress like I was going to stand outside for hours on end. So on went the long underwear, hunting socks, turtleneck, sweater, fleece, etc... and at half past six I was in the car and headed to Tjorup to join in on a carpool with Eva and Marianne. Around 7:30 we were on the road- 3 women and 6 dachshunds (mostly of the mini variety) heading north. Although it was a club show, it was by no means small. There were at least 100 dogs entered, probably more. Standard wires made up the biggest percentage of dogs- 28 males and 24 females- a crazy huge number of dogs. So many dogs means a big jaktclass as that is where one needs to win CKs towards the Championship. In the male jaktclass there were 11 dogs, so very stiff competition.

It was also an exciting day as it was Liina's first show! She had been to puppy shows, but those were mostly for fun and practice, this was the real deal. It was also the first time I had her officially measured. For a while now it has looked as though Liina may turn out to be a miniature, but of course it is hard to tell when they are young. At 11 months old, she has had her first heat and has stayed roughly the same size since about 8 months. So now I can say that currently the little girl weighs in at roughly 5.4 kg and is 34cm in the chest, putting her in the mini/dwarf category. So she was switched to the Junior class as a mini. She did an excellent job in the ring and we only have to work a bit on standing nicely for the judge. She preferred to sit on the table if no food was present. Regardless we got a wonderful evaluation:

"Excellent type, feminine, very beautiful profile, dark eyes well set ears, correct bite, good neck, enough chest, well angulated front and rear, excellent bone, nice feet, compact good body. Excellent topline, excellent coat, moves very well from all directions"

She was awarded Exc 1 and CK in Junior class and we walked for BOB. There were only females at the show that day, so there was no BOS. We were placed 2nd best female of the 3 competing for BOB resulting also in a Cert! In Sweden, a CERT is a bit pointless as the dog needs at least a CK from Jaktclass to go towards the championship, but oh well. Fantastic results for the little girl!

Chilling after our ring time-photo by Majsan

Ribbons!

Me and the little girl

So of course I was so excited, but I had to do a quick change of dogs as Baxter had to be walked and prepped- ie, moustache brushed out- before his ring time. I was ready for a battle as Baxter was one of 11 dogs in the Jaktclass, many of whom we had shown with previously. So we showed our hearts out. Baxter was in good spirits, moving well, and looking great.

Part of the jakt class, including the judge asking us to start going around.

 We made the cut as 8 of the 11 dogs were awarded Excellent, then the judge narrowed it down to 5. Majsan with Jaktvallens Loke and I with Baxter walked again to try for a spot in the top 4. Baxter was chosen over Loke and we were in the top 4! Very exciting. We then did our final laps for the best male and we were placed 4th best, unfortunately with no CK, but with a very stellar evaluation. I was also happy to see a little note about me at the end.

"Excellent type and size, very masculine, good bite, good forechest, well angulated front and rear, excellent topline, well angulated hindquarters, excellent stride from the side, slightly wide in the front, excellent coat, very well shown"

I would have really liked the CK, but an Excellent and evaluation like that from such a big class is great. I am very happy to also say that in 4 out of the past 5 shows that we have gone to and I have shown Bax, we have placed in the top 4 in jaktclass. Not too shabby. He and I are making a pretty good show team. :)

My boy and I at the show

All in all it was a nice day, if not a bit long. I was very happy by the judgements and placings, happy to see old dog friends, and more happy to meet and make new ones. I had a woman tell me before the show that Liina was the prettiest dog she had seen and should surely win. Very flattering. What I love about my dogs is that they are SO calm at these shows. Both Baxter and Liina could easily sit on a camping chair instead of their kennel. They like to people and dog watch as much as I do. So great to have such laid back dogs. Hopefully more amazing things from these two youngsters in the future!

A new blood tracking Champion in the family!

So we have been practicing our blood tracking with Freddie. He is a great tracker, but at almost 5 years old, he is much more interested at finding the animals in the woods, then following an old blood trail. None-the-less, with 1x 1st prize, we are hoping to re-focus him, do some more training sessions and hopefully get 2 more 1st prizes for his blood tracking championship.  I would really like to start training him on fox in Denmark this spring, but I want to see if the old boy can focus enough to "finish" his blood tracking trial career.

A proud boy after a successful tracking training

Unfortunately for Freddie, last Thursday was not his day. With the warm weather there is always a lot of movement in the forest, which isn't good for a dog that is very interested in wildlife. Additionally, the forest where we went for the tracking trial has the ground mostly covered in dead leaves. With warm, relatively dry weather and the wind here in Skåne, that means that, of course, some of the trail is bound to blow around a bit. Anyhow, despite all that, Freddie just was not focused. He made it from start to finish in a time of 35 min, but not without several ventures off the trail to explore something else. He ended the day with a 3rd prize and suggestions from our judge that maybe he is a bit too old to track as he has gotten a taste of hunting. I think he can do it, but Freddie is a true stubborn dachshund and he needs a few training sessions with a real judge giving a few tips may be needed or he needs a VERY stern hand and a little yelling to get him to focus ONLY on the track. Regardless, I think even though it may be a bit complicated, Freddie will do it, but it may take a little time.

Freddie at almost 5 years and Liina at almost 1.

Liina on the other hand was on a roll and I wanted to keep the momentum. With 2x 1st prize in 1 week, I was hoping that we could get her last 1st prize and, thus, her Swedish Blood Tracking Championship. After Freddie's rather disappointing track, I knew the woods were alive and buzzing with animals and I was in for a challenge. Liina, though more distracted than on the previous tracks, was good. She circled more than usually and often went back to check herself, but in the end, she finished in 23 min and was very proud of herself. The judge agreed that it was still 1st prize work and with that Liina earned her first title at 10.5 months of age- Swedish Blood Tracking Champion (SEVCH)!

The newest SEVCH in the family!

Awesome, awesome, awesome! That little girl has a crazy good nose on her and definitely got some abilities from her parents- both are also Blood tracking Champions in Sweden and additionally, mom, Aura, received her Italian Working Championship from 20 and 40 hr blood tracking. I am especially proud as I handled this little girl! MY first CH as well. :) Baxter and Freddie were always handled by Simon, so even though they got their great results, it was never "officially" with me.

Additionally, I was offered an apprenticeship once I get my hunting license to train as a blood tracking judge.  Quite flattering and I think I would DEFINITELY like to try it. So much to do and so little time! We will see what the future brings, but what I can say is that the new champion was treated to a special dinner of sausages and I bought a bottle of bubbly to celebrate.

So now there are 2 SEVCH in the family... 

2x Barbwired, 2x SEVCH hanging out in the sun

Will Freddie pull through and prove that his nose is as great as ever? Only time will tell...

2nd great track for Liina!

Originally I had planned a track today for Freddie in the hopes that we could finish a Championship with him quickly as he is such an experienced tracker. Well, Freddie had been away from the forest a bit too long and his first overnight tracks were good, but not great. Lots of new wildlife here in Skåne and he decided he wanted to do a little spurlaut at one point instead of tracking. So we decided that since Liina was such a star on Wednesday, I decided switch her out and take her to track today instead.

So yesterday it was about 6C all day with heavy fog in the morning that lifted and gave us sunshine in the afternoon. I was excited as this would be perfect tracking weather for the next day and hoped it would stay. Well, I woke up this morning to a grey sky, the thermometer reading 3C, and raindrops on the windows- not so ideal, but ok, I could deal with it. As we drove through Skåne to make it to the tracking test at 11:00, the temperature dropped to 0.5C and the rain turned into fat snowflakes. Great. Ugh.

Well, the track was the most difficult the Liina had been on, lots of icy stream crossings and mud puddles, lots of crossing and tracking next to heavily used animal trails,  lots of fresh animal droppings and obvious places where animals had just been, even a few crossings over low stone walls. The day before the judge said that when she showed up to lay the track, there was a large Red deer  (Kronhjort) standing and watching her for a good minute or two before turning tail and running over the stone wall. Liina was not as quick on this track as her last one (35 min), but with snow starting to accumulate, cold, and wind, I still think she was SO good. There was only 1 spot where she freaked out a bit and that was at the first stream crossing. There were a lot of fresh tracks (boar and deer) in the area and Liina was a little apprehensive to cross over the 1.5-2 m "puddle" and was looking for the easiest way across. She is quite a clever girl, though a bit frustrating for the handler that just wants to cross. ;)

Anyhow, after that little hiccup, Liina did awesome and really showed that she could track. near the end there was one last blip where an animal had clearly run recently and Liina took off wanting to run after it, whining a bit when I told her no. Once I asked her to find it and show me the track, she went back to work and finished it with flying colors.

By the time we had walked back to the house from the tracking area, we were all wet, cold, and the snow had started to accumulate.

A view from the warm house after the track

The judge said that she really liked the working style of Liina and that she thought she did a really good job, especially considering the conditions. I also have to say that I thought it was a rather long track and the little girl did an excellent job and she was awarded a 1st prize. Now the Championship is close... only 1 more first prize needed and then Liina has her first title. She really is a natural and has quite the nose on her. I really appreciate this little gem that Markku and Salla entrusted with me.

Here's to hoping for more more amazing track... and better weather!