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. :)

FCI & SKK approved!

So the month of January was a bit hectic. Between coming back from winter holiday, Liina going through her first heat, going back to work, and tracking trials with the dogs, something great happened... my kennel name was officially approved!

The name I have chosen...

So what does it mean? Why chose this name? Well, it wasn't easy. I checked out a variety of different names on FCI, but many were taken or similar to what I loved. I tossed around something German, French, Finnish to represent the dogs, but none felt right. I tried to go back to my Wisconsin roots, but the same. I couldn't choose anything. Then it came to me. What is something common to all of our dogs- multiple names. 

Ever since we picked up Fallilou he wasn't Fallilou, he was Freddie. Freddie evolved into Fredster, Freddog, F-dog, Fredrick Baxter McCloud (which, by the way, it where "Baxter" comes from; sadly McCloud and it's variants were taken), Leedrick, and Ledrick- just to name a few.  Barbwired Better than the Rest was a bit of a challenge. We didn't want to "steal" Freddie's name, but we loved Baxter, so that's what we decided on! Baxter's name list is a bit shorter, but he has: Baxi, Bax, Captain Wiggles, Stinkwiggles, and Wiggles. Lastly, our Barbwired Champagne became Liina and she has been Liina-Puti, Puti or LP. Simon is especially excellent at renaming the dogs. Surprisingly, they all respond to all their names, especially Baxter with Wiggles and Liina with Puti. Go figure!

So after checking some ideas on FCI and using my trusty thesaurus, I decided on Moniker. 

moniker

 (ˈmɒnɪkə) or monicker

n

1. a person's name or nickname

It was short, simple, and sweet. Not too far into the alphabet so my dogs wouldn't be shown dead last (in Sweden/Finland, maybe the other Nordics, dogs are shown alphabetically), but also not the very 1st ones either. Right in the middle. I am registered/approved to breed Wirehaired dachshunds in all 3 sizes- Kaninchen, Miniature, and Standard.

The process was surprisingly quick. I sent in my application in September, received an OK from FCI in November, was announced in the December SKK magazine and approved in the middle of January, about 4 months in total. Not too shabby! 

Just because I have a kennel name doesn't mean puppies are around the corner. I won't consider breeding Liina until after her litter at Barbwired, so that can be until age 4. Also, Liina is turning into a gorgeous little dog, but her size is currently unclear. She seems to be taking after her daddy quite a bit and although mom in standard, Liina may end up a mini. We will have to see how big she is at 15 months, but she hasn't grown chest or weight-wise since November, so I think she will just be my little girl. No worries about that, but it means that the search for standard bitch to carry my first litter is still out there.

So there it is! A new kennel name and hopefully a bright future awaits!

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!

PRA-Cataract Free!

Right before New Year's Simon was kind enough to take the boys to a wonderful eye Dr. in Lörrach, Germany for their ECVO eye tests. We had used this Dr. before for Baxter's first eye exam and admired her attention to detail and competence so when Simon took the dogs for the holidays, I asked if he would mind making appointments. Freddie was due for a new test and Baxter should have had a new eye test when he turned 3 on April 1st, but we figured why not do both at once.

I am happy to report that the repeat eye tests for both dogs show they have clean and healthy eyes free from PRA & Cataracts! The vet even remembered Baxter from when he first visited her a year and a half earlier. What nice service! :)

        

Freddie and Baxter outside Lucerne, January 2015

Snow dogs

Simon and I took separate holidays this Christmas, so while he was with the dogs at his parents in Switzerland, I was visiting friends in Reykjavik, Iceland, and spending time with my godchild in Helsinki. Both locations had tons (!!) of snow and I received a lot of great photos and videos of the dogs while I have been away that I thought I would share with all of you! Enjoy the photos and I hope you are all having a great start to the New Year!

Freddog

Liina-Puti

Baxi

rough-housing Barbwireds

SNOWWWWW!

Here comes Puti!

Follow me!

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2015!!

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