Freddie is a Champion!

Championat!! Found out today that Freddie received a 1st prize in open class at the Tax camp in Bassholma. This closed Freddie's blood tracking championship (SEVCH)! Freddie-Fallilou du Sangre Bleu- is a son of Kobeddus Effendi and Canaille de la Meute a Cheops. LZ: Sfk, Sp, BhFK/95, BHP1&2, I-Schwhk, I-Schwk/40(CACT), I-Fbja(resCACT), I-BHFK95(100pts), S-grytprov Kval 1, S-Schwhk 3x1st prize
FW: Ex1 JBob, int. Ex1 VDH-CAC
Many thanks to judges E. Hörnfeldt Ahlin & J. Nilsson for their time and judgement.

So proud to have all three dogs in the family complete Championships! Such a great group of dogs to work with. 😊

Freddie at 4 months and his first tracking practice

Freddie at 3 years old and 5 years old below

Skåne Blekinge Taxcamp

Sorry for the long delay, but there hasn't been too much to report. Baxter returned home on the 28th of June and then from the 11th til the 19th Kennel Barbwired was in Sweden doing tracking trials with Baxter's brother and 2 of Liina's full uncles. They had great success and ended up with 5 new titles for the boys: 3x SEVCH (Swedish Tracking Champion), 2x FICH! Now their first breeding bitch Iiris (Baxter' s mom and Liina's grandmother) has 5 Working Champions out of her 11 total puppies: Austria-MultiCH/Winner, SEVCH, IT Working CH; Andau-FIJVA (Finnish tracking CH), SEVCH & Drevprov (Mäaj-1); Amadeus-SEVCH, FICH; Better than the Rest-MultiCH, SEVCH & multi-working trial; Blaze of Glory-SEVCH, FICH. Quite an accomplishment for such a small number of dogs from a relatively young kennel! Grattis! Onnea! Congrats guys!

Team Barbwired: Salla with Viljo, Markku with Max(left) & Pronto (right)
More info on any of the Barbwired dogs, check them out HERE

So this was my last week at work before a short holiday. I wasn't going to take holiday this year, but the weather in Sweden has been SO cold and rainy, that I needed to get away for a little bit. On Thursday my vacation started bright and early by driving up to Bassholma for the Skåne Tax Camp. It was the 1st time this camp was being held and, overall, everything was well organized and went smoothly. 

I spent my days at gryt training with Baxter-who hasn't been in the den since last year- and doing Permodjur with Freddie and Baxter.

Swedish gryt

The bear (Björn), Wild boar (Vildsvin) and Moose(älg)

Basically the Permodjur is a reaction test. The dog is put into a fenced in area with a bear, boar, or moose for upwards of 20 minutes to see how they react. The animals move via remote control, the pelts are all real, and all of the animals have scent. We thought it would be stimulating for the boys and just fun to try. Would I ever put them up against a real bear... no. I would also avoid the boar as they are usually a lot quicker than dachshunds, but with the Permodjur, it is a fun activity and the dogs leave unhurt.

Freddie was the real star! He is persistent, unafraid, but smart about how he works. He also can go, go, go! The 1 day that Freddie and Simon attended the camp he had 2 tests (one on bear, one on wild boar) and a tracking trial. He was awesome, but led to a very tired Freddie. 

Baxter also did well, but he isn't the natural hunter that Freddie is and he is a bit slower for the lightbulb to click on. When it does click, he shines, but he is slowly becoming a more self confident dog. He barked up the bear, but at a much further distance than Fred, and today he went in on the boar. He was slow to start and admittedly was more likely to go chase and bay at the boar when it was moving. He also did SO much better on the badger this year, working right against the bars a couple more practices and maybe a 1st prize is in his future...we will see.

For those interested, here are short clips of Freddie's boar and bear tests.

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. :)

Freddie's weekend at Ales Stenar

Simon had colleagues in town and Freddie went along as a "mascot." I received some great photos of the brown boy!

2nd great track for Freddie

Freddie and Simon went for a blood tracking exam today in Sjobö and it couldn't have gone better. With a time of 17 min and high praise from the judge regarding his work, Freddie was awarded 1st prize in Open Class! Hard work and extra practice to focus paid off for our oldest boy. :)

Big Congrats Freddie my boy! Let's get that last 1st prize!

Doesn't he look so proud of himself?

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!

A Great Day out in the Forest

Today we headed out to Sjöbo for tracking trials and we couldn't ask for better weather this time of year, a bit damp and around 6C- heck, the sun even peaked out for a bit!

Both Freddie and Liina were signed up to do tracking trials today. Freddie went first and although there was a lot of wildlife in the forest today and he was a bit distracted, he squeaked by with a 1st place due to his ability to check the track and restart if Simon was sure he was off. He hasn't been tracking much since the end of 2013 and it was clear that he needed a little "practice" in his obedience on the tracking lead. He was just a bit too excited to be out in the forest today. Sadly, the poor boy had no "prize" at the end of his track as an animal had stolen the hoof.

The requirement for the woods for tracking in Sweden are that there are different types of terrain (and ideally not flat) and full of wildlife. Judging by the boar damage, deer and boar tracks, and fresh poop I saw today, there is no doubt that the woods were alive. Liina's track proved just that...

Liina was such a natural talent on her anlagstest, that I decided to risk it and try an open class track with her today. She definitely didn't disappoint me! She did excellent work and completed her track in 18 minutes! The biggest challenge for us was on our 2nd corner (the återgång- a back track) when we got to the turn around point, Liina turned to head back to the blood track and, whoops!, up popped a deer! All I could think was, oh shit, do I try to take her back to the start, do I pick her up and calm her down, do I try to continue, what? Luckily, the judge saw the situation and after Liina started to whine and longingly watch the running deer, we were called back to the start of the corner. Liina was a bit quick and more excitable than usual at that point, but she was working like a pro. I couldn't have asked more of her. Super dog and super time- 1st prize!

Needless to say that I am overjoyed with my talented group. I also have to pay great thanks to the ancestors of both these dogs. Though in different ways, both dogs  have Suddebok/Kobeddus in their lineage- dogs known not only for their beauty, but for their working abilities. Fingers crossed for more great results to come!!

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. :)

2x Anlagstests, 2x GK!

Our oldest and youngest dackel rocked it today! We were going to Sjöbo for a tracking practice, but last minute our trainer/judge asked if we would want to just take the test as she thought both dogs were excellent on their previous practice. So, we took the last minute decision to test both of the dog and boy am I glad that we did!

Both Freddie and Liina were stellar and managed their tracks in 13 min and we doing SUCH great work! Simon handled Freddie and I took Liina. Freddie was a total star and did exactly what he loves to do-TRACK! He worked brilliantly and years of practice made this Anlagstest look like a breeze. If Simon had let Freddie go the speed he really wanted to, then we would have all had a nice jog through the woods. He is a wonderful dog to watch and I would love to use him on real game tracking.

I think what was great about this last minute decision to do a test is that it didn't give me any time to be nervous that I would be handling the dog in a test for the 1st time. I am usually the organizer and track lay-er, but not the handler. The past few months have been totally nerve-wracking for me as now I have been dropped into the role of both show handler and now tracking handler. Liina didn't let me down though... that little girl has a great nose on her! Her mom and dad would have been so proud. :)

The woods were quite wet today since there was snow last week and rain on and off since then, so quite a few ponds and mud pits had formed. Honestly, they didn't seem to phase Liina (I on the other hand, was very, very happy I had decided to wear my tall rubber boots) and she happily moved forward through the whole track. At one point a large Hare jumped out in front of us, but I didn't see it. Liina followed after the fresh track for a few meters, but when I stopped, she looked at me, and went back to the last point she had the track and restarted herself without my help. She is really great about back tracking and checking if she is unsure. She doesn't need much encouragement-only the occasional "Suche" or "Hyvää."

The judge was so incredibly happy with the work that Freddie and Liina did and the critique was not only kind, but extremely flattering for us and the dogs.  

2x Anlagstest (Beginners class tracks), 2x PASSED with FLYING COLORS!

I can't wait to start these two in open class tracks!