A Year

Sometimes it is very difficult to judge what you accomplish in a year. In my work, *maybe* a paper is published or you can flip through a lab book, but with the dogs it is sometimes a bit easier.

The above picture are some of the results that Liina earned since March 2015. 

Now I need to figure out a nice way to display her prizes. :)

I'm very excited to see what the upcoming years will bring for my little dogs.

Road tripping to Gävle

So, once a year I have to do some sort of crazy show trip. This past weekend was that trip. When my boyfriend said that he had to head up sometime in the near future to Gävle, I immediately began looking for a show possibility. Low and behold, one of my favorite judges would be judging dachshunds at a hunting dog exhibition up there in early June. I confirmed that Liina would fit in the car with an arcade machine (the purchased item that helped initiate the trip) and Baxter could stay over the weekend with a friend since there was no need for him to spend all day at a show that he really didn't need.

Admittedly I was a bit nervous. We had showed at the local shows in Hässleholm two weeks earlier and had just so-so results- 2x Excellent, but without the final CK needed for the Champion title. It was a strange weekend though, especially at the International show where no mini wires were awarded with CK and the judge was in the dog's faces, poking at them all over, lifting them off the table to test the weight, really testing the mentality. Needless to say, I won't be rushing to either of those judges again.

So I still needed 1 CK for Liina to get her Champion title and was *hoping* that this long road trip would be worth while. So after a Friday night spent at my colleagues PhD defense party, we woke early Saturday morning, loaded the car, dropped off Baxter and started the trip up to the Gävle area. We made a few stops along the way. I think our favorite was at the ruins in Brahehus.

We were graciously hosted by our friends at Skogvetten's kennel in the little village of Järbo about 100km from the show grounds and similar distance from the boyfriend's arcade. Sussi decided to brave the show with her youngest female Hera and join Liina and I for a show day in Alfta at a hunting dog exhibition. 

We had lovely weather around 15-20C with sun and a little wind. It was a long day though as we were not up until very late (the last 20 dogs) in the ring, but we had to be checked in by 9:45am. So, waiting, waiting, waiting. It was a nice show and it was interesting to see new dogs and people.

I got a little nervous waiting around so long, but it was not in vain. There were not many minis (only 3; 1 male and 2 females), but there was still competition for me. Liina and I did our best and we were greatly awarded:

In Jaktklass: Exc1 CK CERT and finally Best Female-BIM! 

With that result, Liina finished her Swedish Beauty Championship! 

Better yet... she unlocked a LOT of other Champion titles! So little Liina is now:

SEU(v)CH, SEVCH, DKCH, FICH, NordicCH, LTCH, WUTCH!!!!

I was so proud and overwhelmed and excited. No, I didn't cry, but I almost couldn't believe it! My first Champion solely put on myself (OK, so FI, LT, and WUT were helped by Markku, but close enough! ;) ).  We will continue to show a bit and hope we can add some International titles to her name as well, but for now, we can rest as her first CACIB was in March this year and we must wait at least 1 year for the final result.

Everyone was tired after the show (Hera-above- was totally exhausted on the car trip home), but we were greeted back home with lovely dinner and company. 

The next day was already time to head towards home for work the next day. On the way down we decided to stop for lunch and sightseeing in Eskilstuna, where Andreas is originally from. I very much enjoyed the city. Big enough to feel like a real city, but still small and cosy, with a nice river front, shopping road, and little bits and pieces to see. After an impromptu Fika with Andreas' brother, we were back in the car and headed on our 6.5 hr drive towards home.

We stopped in Höör to pick up a very excited and happy to see me Baxter, said our thank yous and good byes and shortly thereafter we were home. It was a long, but fun road trip. It was nice to see the middle of Sweden and it was definitely as far north as I had been in the country. We all wound down on the couch, watching an episode of the Flash... or rather, drifting off to sleep while watching the Flash. All happy and content to be back in our house. :)

Wonderful day in Denmark

On Saturday, Liina and I traveled over the bridge to Roskilde, Denmark to participate in our first Danish International show. Based on general life-things, I took a chance and only signed up for 1 day of exhibition. Well it surely paid off!

Liina ended as Best Female 2 with all the prizes! So we were super excited to take both the Danish CERT as well as our very first CACIB. :)

Liina also got quite a nice evaluation from Judge H. Almgren (SE):

Translated- Well moving bitch. Eyes could be darker correct bite, good shape on ears, could be higher placed. Strong, tight back, somewhat flat croup. Strong double coat, good, strong wirehaired attributes, nice overall impression. Tail nicely worn additional to the back.

As always, the Danish dachshund people were very, very welcoming and I was extremely happy to see many facebook friends and familiar faces. 

Liina does it again!

My show girl is on a role! At the spring exhibition in Tvååker she was shown in jaktclass:

Exc1 CK Best female 3 with res-CERT!

3rd time this year as Best female 3 with res-CERT. Wish it was a bit more, but I'll take it! Happy with this happy little show girl! <3

The only thing that was a bit sad was that this was Liina's 3rd CK in jaktclass and her 2nd birthday is on Thursday. If it was a week later she would have been a Swedish CH. ;)

Ah well, we will hope the next exhibitions go just as well! 

When we returned home it was still quite early (up at 5:30, home by 15:00), so we went for a walk in the forest near our house. It was a really nice day and you could feel that spring was definitely in the air.

Sorry for the silence!

I just realized that I haven't written any posts since the end of 2015!

Very sorry everyone! Our life here in Sweden has been a little bit quiet. The dogs were supposed to be on show tour starting this month, but that won't happy until later in the year. I was in a small car accident earlier this year, spinning out on black ice and damaging my poor little car. Well, now I have a sporty, little Ford and dog show money has been pumped into buying our transportation. C'est la vie! There will always be later this year...

My poor little car. Luckily I am perfectly fine.

Liina and I went up to My Dog in Gothenburg early in January and happily came home with 2x Exc and 1xCK. It was a nice weekend and we are hoping that the next couple months will bring a few more nice results. :)

Liina and I at My Dog 2016

Baxter will not be shown much this year. I am hoping he can finish his few titles with Nikos later this year and then "retire" from the show ring. He has done enough... Exc1 in 11 countries is quite a great accomplishment for a small dog... especially when he is/was mostly owner handled. Maybe we will show a little bit more in Germany or Austria or Denmark, but no stress for my handsome boy. Now I am working on taking a little winter weigh (off both him and me!) and getting ready for this fall. We may have *finally* found a couple spots to try out Drev and I would love to try out Bax and see how he does. Otherwise, he will be a happy, healthy, pretty boy. :) Maybe we will start training viltspår again and go for trials in Finland or Denmark or Norway... maybe even Germany! We will see.

Bax and his BFF Leo

My goals this year are mostly for Liina. I would love to see her get her CH in Sweden. I would love to try her again on Gryt and see if a year away sparks her interest even more. I would love to do a small show tour with her and try for a Nordic Champion. I would love for her to get a CACIB and start her international Championship. I would love to start looking for her future husband (though this is a few years off). Lastly, I would like to keep training viltspår with her and try for the 40hr exam in Denmark later this year.

Finally... This is year is a big year as Freddie should have a date in summer/autumn! We will keep you all updated if and when tiny Freddie's will make their appearance. It should be an exciting pairing and a COI of 0%, a mix of German-French and Swedish lines. If you are interested in knowing more, let me know!

Freddie on holiday in Oslo

A lot of goals... We will see what 2016 brings!

Liina is home!

After 3 months away, my little zwerg (Barbwired Champagne) returned home with me to Sweden. She was a good houseguest during her stay in Finland and came home with very nice results from the 5 shows she attended:

2xBOB

2xWinner

1xBOS

3xCERT

5xExc

4xExc1 CK

1xExc2

With these results, she should earn 4 new titles upon reaching 2 years of age. Not too shabby for the little girl.

Now we have a little bit of time to rest before the next shows start. Good to have you home my sassy little dog!

Great News from Finland!

Markku and Liina went to the National Dog Show in Tuulos, Finland yesterday. Liina had to originally be entered as a normal size wirehaired dachshund because on the closing date of the show, her Swedish confirmation paperwork had not yet come. Anyhow, as she is now recognized by the Finnish and Swedish kennel clubs as a miniature, she was allowed to change classes. This made her a bit of the dark horse in the competition... an unknown dog coming in for the first time in Finland and now as a mini.

Markku is an old pro when it comes to showing and he and Liina have been practicing together. Well, Liina was not only awarded Exc1 and CQ, but Best Female 1 with CAC and Best Opposite Sex (BOS)! Her first show in Finland and she practically took it all! Not bad from the first miniature wirehaired dachshund out of kennel Barbwired. :)

Happy breeder and little Liina!

Such wonderful news after a shitty couple of weeks! Additionally, Liina was entered in Junior class and won best junior female, so she also earns the WUTJCh title. So proud of this little girl! Also very proud that she has been awarded CERTs in 2 countries at 17 months of age and with limited showing. It also means that when she earns her Swedish Championship, she will also have earned her Finnish CH as well. I hope that big things lay ahead for her. The house is for sure quiet without her here, but the big Barbwireds and keeping me company.

Many thanks to Markku for showing Liina and I hope for continued success in the next couple of months!

Huge success for Baxter's nieces and nephews!

It has been a rather slow month in our dog world. We are waiting on shows (5 next month) and hosting Baxter's sister Iita. She will be my new project as a "temporary" show and tracking dog. It should be a fun time!

Barbwired Bella Bambina "Iita" winning her 3rd CERT as well as BOB in Finland

In the meanwhile this has been a fantastic month for Barbwired kennel and I am EXTREMELY proud that Iita's puppies are rocking it in the show ring around Europe!  All of these puppies are out of Iita's one and only litter (currently!) to WW-15, EUW-13, CH Lollipop della Val Vezzeno.
Just to recap...

Barbwired Ducati (here at 5 months old) was rated Excellent 2 in Junior class at his first show.

Barbwired Dolce Gusto "Viola" was awarded Excellent, CK and Best Female 3. Viola currently lives with mom Iita.

Barbwired Diatto "Väinö" not only totally handsome, but on his very first match show was BIS1 and at his first official show at 1 year old was Best male, CERT, and BOS out of 38 dogs!

12 months old

Väinö (right) with breeder Markku (Barbwired) and Gordon (Liina's dad on left)

And last, but not least, is beautiful "Pippa"- Barbwired Dietorelle. Pippa lives in Switzerland with my very good friend Rebecca. Earlier in August, Pippa was shown twice at the international dog shows in Innsbruck, Austria where she rocked the Junior ring and was awarded 2x Ex1, 2xCACA/J, and 1x 2nd best female! It was very stiff competition as there were 7 junior females on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. To make things even better, Pippa attended the Landessieger Show (Swiss Dachshund Club Specialty) where she won junior class earning the Landesjugendsieger title and went on to win BOB and BIS1!!! 

Amazing results from the pups in this litter! Not even in the adult classes yet and they are doing fantastic on show! Furthermore, these are only 4 of the 7 puppies, so it will be super interesting to see what happens in the future.

I can only hope that Iita and Baxter share the genetics for producing amazing puppies! Maybe in the future it will be Baxter's offspring rocking the rings. Only time will tell.

Congrats to all the owners and, of course, the breeders!

Baxter's most successful trip

Baxter is finished with his show tour and coming home soon. 

Bax, BIG1 in Thessaloniki

In the meanwhile, here are his stats from his 2 month show tour:

12xCAC, 4xCACIB, 2xresCACIB, 5xBOB, 2xBOS, 2xBIG2, 2xBIG1

 He gained 4 national championships (LT, RO, SE, SRB), 2 international championships (CIB, CIE), 1 Grand Championship (SRB), Welt union teckel (WUT) championship, and has now open championships in AT, DE, HU, and GR.

He and Nikos were a great team and Baxter has gotten nothing but the highest compliments from judges and show people/friends alike. He will return to Nikos next year to finish HU and GR, but in the meantime he will be going on a diet (he was too well loved while in Budapest) and meeting with the badger this summer. I hope to have him in shape for hunting this autumn/winter. 

So excited my boy will be back home to snuggle soon!

Liina BOS and Junior BIS-4 in Kjugekull!

I have heard a rumor that there is always rain for the yearly dachshund show in Kjugekull. Last year Baxter was BM2 with CK and CERT and this year it was Liina's turn to shine. Liina and I were up and on the road at 6:30 this morning to join our friend Marianne and her puppy Laura for the taxklub show. It was the biggest club show I have ever been to with 133 dachshunds of all 9 varieties registered! The judges were great and moved along at a relatively good pace despite the adverse weather conditions. The day started and ended with sunshine, but there was quite a lot of rain in between. Regardless, good times, good friends, and good results!

Liina was shown in Junior class as a mini wire (measured today at 32cm) with 2 other female mini wires in the class. The judge loved Liina and awarded her Ex1, CK, Junior BOB! I was over the moon! We then walked for Best female and won! SO exciting!!! Then the heavens opened up and the rain poured down. Both Liina and I looked like drowned rats, but were awarded BOS (best opposite sex). :)

Evaluation Translation " Excellent type, size and proportions. Beautifully well balanced head. Good ears, eyes (though eyes could be a bit darker). Good bite. Very good forebreast and front. Excellent neck and shoulders, good ribcage depth and length. Beautiful back/pelvis and well angled back. Excellent coat quality and excellent movement

To top it all off, we walked today in the Best in Show Junior competition and placed 4th! So proud of my little dog and how well she did today! A little more practice and she will be a superstar. :)

What a weekend! New Champion!

So as I alluded to in my last post, Baxter is with a handler friend of mine in Hungary for training and shows. So far he has met with great success, winning his class in all 3 of the shows that he has been in. So he now has show results also from Hungary and Serbia.

The greatest news came today though... Baxter's show results from this weekend (1 national and 1 international show): 2x CAC, 1x CACIB, 2x BOB, 1x BOG2, 1x BOG1!

Aside from the nice trophies, Baxter finished several titles: SRBCh, which then also finishing SEU(V)CH, LTCH, WUTCH and finally... C.I.B (International Beauty Champion)!

I am over the moon and so excited for my little guy! I of course cannot take credit for showing Baxter though, that awesome distinction goes to Nikos Papadopoulos (Sunshineland kennel) for doing amazing work with Baxter in such a short time.



So, many of you might wonder why Baxter is away from home touring central/eastern European shows. Well, the answer is a bit simplistic... Simon and I have decided to separate. It has been an ongoing process and I have now moved to Lund (you may have seen this on the contact page). There were elaborate plans this year to do a few big "show-cations" to try and finish Baxter's Championships and do practice showing with Liina. Since a single income does not lend itself to crazy trips on the other end of the continent, I had to evaluate my options. The result was that Baxter would spend the month of April (and maybe part of May) in Hungary with Nikos and his family, who are totally wonderful! He spends his days running around in the garden with other dogs, show training, and getting love from the family and the weekends showing. Although I miss my little man, it has made the stress of moving a lot easier since there was a lot of tension between the boys at the old house and they had to be separated the past 2 months. Freddie just is not good with 2 other dogs... 1 of either sex is ok, but 2 throws off the balance and makes him nervous and on constant guard. It is also giving me a better opportunity to train and bond with Liina, since Liina and Baxter will ultimately live with me in Lund. So there is the past 6 months in a nutshell. Thank you for continued reading of my blog! I hope for many more dog-filled years to come!

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!

Baxter's first CERT in Sweden

Happy news from Kjugekull today!

Simon sent me this picture around 12:45 this afternoon:

Wow, wow, wow! Bax got Excellent 1 in the working/hunting class out of 6 males with CK (certificate quality), then best male 2 to an already Champion male, so he also got a Cert/CAC! I am so excited and proud for my boys since this was their first show without me there.  Hopefully more good things to come from this handsome little guy!

Here is his evaluation:

"Attraktiv hanhund, vackert huvud o uttryck. Mycket bra hals, något brant skuldra. Utmärkt rygglinje o kors. Utmärkt välbyggd , välvinklad. Utmärkt päls o kvalité. Bra rörelser fram o bak, något vida frambens rörelser." 
Ex 1 (working class), CK, CERT, BM2

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!