Merry Christmas!!

From Liina (Barbwired Champagne), Baxter (SEVCh, MultiJCh Barbwired Better than the Rest), and Freddie (J, HR JW2011 Fallilou du Sangre Bleu)

... and a few pictures that are still adorable, but didn't make the cut!

Back on Track

I know, I know, what an inactive blog, right? Well, as I stated before, the weather and multiple other factors (life, work) has prevented us from doing a lot of work with 2 of the 3 dogs in the house. Baxter had a great year earning a Swedish and Lithuania CERT as well as getting 2nd prize in underground (gryt) and his Tracking Championship (SEVCH). We neglected our brown dog a bit, though he worked his way towards a fabulous 1st prize underground late this summer, and we decided that it was his turn to go out and have fun! We are still trying to set up a natural underground test for him, but this has been easier said than done. In the meantime, we decided that Fred and Liina would go and do some practice tracks.

So Tuesday we went down to Sjöbo and did some practice tracks despite the rain and crappy weather. Actually, we were supposed to go on Friday, but a strong storm called Alexander put a halt to that. It is fine to be out in the woods in the rain, but high winds and hoping that branches don't land on your head is a whole other matter! We had set up 2 tracks, one 650m track with Fred and one 250m track with Liina, both anlagsklass level (2-5hr old). For Freddie this should have been a walk in the park as he has previously received 2nd prize in Schwhk/20 and 100 pts CACT in a SchwhK/40, but we haven't worked him much in the past year, so we just hoped that he would be as good as ever.
Well, we weren't disappointed. Freddie managed the 650m track in just 17 min and would have been even a bit quicker, but deer had recently been on the track. Freddie was "laut" and would have easily gone after the deer if we would have let him. We took a few minutes and allowed him to calm down and he was back at it. Freddie is interested in wildlife, just as much as Baxter, but very easy to read on the track as when he is off or "uninterested," he looks like a pointer; head up, very stiff. The thing which is great about Fred is that if you stop moving, he immediately goes back to tracking. So a little bit of obedience training with Fred and he'll be fine, he just has to remember exactly why he is out there.

The best treat of the day was Liina. I handled the little one and she was AWESOME! She was super interested in the blood, stayed really well on the track, went back and checked the line, took the corners without hesitation like a pro and plodded confidently and not too quickly (always moving, but not running) to the end of the track. I think that she was fortunate to get a great noise from her mom! She thought it was SO fun and was very proud of herself and her hoof prize. :) She is not yet 9 months old, so she can't officially be tested yet, but I see a bright future ahead of her in tracking!

We will have another round of practices with both of the dogs on 600m+ tracks a few hours old in January if the weather holds up and then testing starts again! Wouldn't it be great to have 3 Champions in the family?

Wandering in the woods on a non-rainy day here in Skåne

Liina's first time in the ring

So our little Liina (Barbwired Champagne) comes from show and working lines. We have already started working her nose with short blood tracks and hoof drags as well as hunting the mice that have been sneaking into our laundry room since the weather is turning cold. She is really promising and definitely interested in her environment, so we hope that she will be promising for blood tracking and future hunting excursions.

In order to prepare for a future show career we also have to practice. We are still figuring out how to be good handlers with Baxter, so we figured that it would be a good opportunity to start Liina a bit early. She need to get used to the sights, smells, and sounds of a show venue as well as walking on a show lead, stacking, and being examined on the table. In the upcoming month there were 2 puppy shows near us and these unofficial shows would have a lot of different types of dogs and a great chance to practice with the little girl. So today we were off to the Puppy & Junior show in Hassleholm hosted by the Southern Poodle Club. 

Group photo!

Well, Liina's first time in the ring could have gone better. She was a little melty on the table and didn't understand why the judge wanted to touch her all over, though she cooperated with him and gave him kisses. She was very ok with him checking her teeth and tail though. I think that this is where our countryside living is a bit of a disadvantage. We need to get more people over here and have them handle her and feed treats while on the table. She also was a bit of a rocket in the ring for the first 1/2 a lap. Once she settled down, she looked very nice and comfortable walking. Her stacking was also really nice. Liina is a pretty natural self stacker, so a bit more practice to hammer in foot placement and she will be great there.

So, definitely things to work on, but I think that Baxter's first time in the ring was quite similar. It will get better with time and we always have things to work on.

Results from today... 

BIR (BOB) valp 6-9 months with Honor Prize!  No dachshund was placed in group- in Sweden, FCI group 4 & 6 and judged together- but it was still fun to watch Liina trot around the BIG ring. :)

Not a bad start for the little one!

And then there were 3

It has been 3 weeks since Liina joined our little band here in Sweden. Where does the time go? She is a funny, vocal little girl. She loves snuggling on the couch, recently learned to use the dog stairs up to the bed (oh no!), and has quite the little nose on her. We have starting short tracking practices with her. She has gotten 25m tracks aged 30 min-1 hr and she works them SO well for such a young girl. She also is really good at following the scent from hoof drags. Deer hooves are quickly becoming one of her favorite things to play with. In addition, we practice basics and she is already really great walking on a leash, sitting, holding in stand (show training), comfortable in the car, and EXCELLENT recall on whistle. We need to find a dog class in the area for better socialization and basic obedience relatively soon. Anyhow, she will really be something at this pace.

Liina at exactly 4 months

She and Baxter are very close. They lay with each other, play together, and most often Liina is following Bax around in the house and in the yard. They both also have the very annoying habit of liking to be very close to me in the kitchen. Neither of them beg, instead, they think lying next to, or between my feet is the best place in the world. I think I need to institute a no dogs in the kitchen rule.

2x Barbwired

How can I be mad at these faces?

Freddie has also taken a liking to Liina. Even though he is over 4 years old, he still plays like a puppy. He has shown Liina all the best areas in the garden to explore (and dig). We are re-proofing our fence as we write this as Freddie and Liina decided to explore the neighboring field through a hole they dug. We don't let the dogs out in the yard unsupervised. With a new dog (and a female) in the pack and two males (even if they are great together 99% of the time), we don't want to take any chances of a fight or an escape. Luckily, we caught the dogs in the act and got them back into the yard within minutes and could fix the fencing. Oh dogs, what will you do next? 

For us, having Liina has been a new experience. It isn't having a female dog that is different, but living out in the countryside! Admittedly, we don't take long walks as much anymore with the dogs and certainly not several times a day as we did in the city. I know, it is horrible, but they get tons of time every day to run in the yard and explore. We do still go on walks around our area 3-4x per week depending on the weather. Additionally, we try to do a lot more individual activities with the dogs: dog shows, tracking and trainings, etc... With Liina, this has been taking trips to the city. We want to make sure that bikes, cars, crowds of people, and other dogs are not scary to her. Recently we went to the Stadtspark in Lund and took a nice walk and then practiced Liina's ability to be a "cafe dog" that could quietly sit under the table while we stopped for 20 min and drank a coffee. Baxter is an excellent cafe dog, whereas Freddie needs/wants more attention and would rather go, go, go. Liina did a nice job at lying down and observing, rather than barking at everyone that wandered by. Good training for a little girl. 

So this feisty little girl has wiggled her way into our heart and our home. I think in the future she is going to be the ruler of our pack, but for now she is enjoying being a puppy. The boys tolerate her to a point and then put her in her place, but I have found everyone happily lying together on our living room carpet. I think they like her all right. :) I can't wait to see what this girl can do!