Monday, April 18, 2016

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.

Saturday, March 19, 2016

IDS Malmö

As I said, this spring my focus will be on Liina and trying to achieve her Swedish Championship. At the last minute this February, I decided to strip Liina and check her coat to see if we would be participating in anything this spring. To my pleasant surprise, he coat was great and it meant that we could show a bit this spring. So, with 1 day to spare, I signed up for Malmö International Dog Show.

I am happy to report that Liina received the following score:
Jakt (hunting) class: Excellent 1, CK, Best Female 3 with res-CERT and res-CACIB.

Liina with her prizes
Liina's evaluation (translated from Swedish):
Harmonious female. Feminine head with god proportions. Correct bite, excellent neck and overline. Well angulated front and back and well developed body. Could have a little more ground clearance. Fluid movement, excellent coat quality, good temperament.

I was so proud of my little girl and her great performance. The judge was a bit heavy-handed on the table, but we have been training this aspect very, very hard and she handled the situation great. Liina is a bit low, but the comment is likely due to my grooming... I forgot to properly groom her chest (oops!) so it didn't help the ground clearance. In any case, I am pleased with today's results.

We have a show again in about a month and then middle of May. I'm hoping that they will go just as well for my little gal! :D

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

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!

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Happy New Year!

After a day of moving all of my things and another couple hours of cleaning (knowing that tomorrow there will be MORE cleaning), I decided to sit on the couch with a beer and my dogs. It is giving me a great opportunity to look back, not only at 2015, but also at the blog and life.

This past month, my little blog turned 3 years old! I really can't believe it. What does 3 years give us?


  • A new dog
  • A Kennel name
  • A new start
  • A new website: Moniker
  • A loaner dog and a confidence booster
  • Show/working trips to 12 countries
  • 17 Champion titles
  • More than 25 successful working trials in 4 countries
  • 125 posts
  • More than 20,000 visitors to the site

 



2015 was a year of change. Simon and I parted ways after almost 6 years. Although the break up was difficult, we are on good terms and have continued to work together with the dogs. He of course loves them as much as I do. This collaboration led to 2 bloodtracking champions and an approved Gryteftersökhund (in homologation). I have debated changing the blog banner and information. The name of the blog (WHdackel) wasn't just for Wirehaired, but also represented our last names: W & H. Although our tag says "a couple and their dogs," I still don't feel it is totally wrong. The blog was made out of love for our boys and it will continue to function as a medium for me to report their awesome accomplishments and bitter losses.

2016 will continue to be a year of change. A new house, a new start, and, hopefully, soon a new job. Where will we go next? Who knows. Regardless, we will keep you posted!

Have a great start to 2016 everyone!

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Happy Holidays from Moniker!


A very Happy Holiday season from us!

This year it is warm (10C/ about 50F) and rainy, but hopefully the dogs will get to run around in the snow again soon!

We wish you a happy and healthy 2016!

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Freddie will return to Switzerland Dec 20th until Jan 10th!


Our very own Fallilou du Sangre Bleu "Freddie" will be spending the holiday season with Simon in central Switzerland. 

Freddie kommt aus der Schweiz für Weihnachten (Dec 20-Jan10)!

Freddie is available at stud to approved females

Freddie has to following merits to his name:

Germany/Deutschland:
Sfk
Sp (TS)
BHP-1 & 2
BhFK/95
Italy/Italien:
SchwhK
SchwhK/40-CACT
Fbja (Fox trial)-100pts RCAC
BhFK95-100 pts
Sweden/Schweden:
1st prize Grytanlagsprov (artificial underground with badger)-->"J"- Jaktmerit, Grytapporterungsprov (underground retrieving),
Gryteftersökhund (Underground tracking and retrieval dog)
Swedish Blood Tracking Champion
Has been practicing drev/hunting/stöber. Loud on hare and deer, will be tested in 2016.
PRA & Katarakt Frei (ECVO: 30.01.2012 & 29.12.2014) 
Gene tested: crd-PRA(NHPH4) free (N/N); OI-frei (N/N)
Formwert & Wesenstest Approved (While in Switzerland)

Parents: CIT, CIB, GS Ch. Kobeddus Effendi x Canaille de la Meute a Cheops (Sp, St)

More info: https://monikerkennel.wordpress.com/fallilou-du-sangrebleu/
Contact Julie (English oder Deutsch): whdackel@gmail.com








Wednesday, December 16, 2015

First go out at Drev

This was a post I meant to post more than a month ago... but, well, life got in the way.

After a year in Sweden, making connections, and trying hard to find land to practice on, we were kindly invited up to the Northern part of Skåne to try Freddie on Drev.


The only way I can describe Drev is that it is real hunting. The dog is released into the forest to search for animals. The dog then, hopefully, takes up the fresh scent of a deer, fox, or hare and chase it through the land. This was Freddie's first go out, and even though he did great on Spurlaut, it was hard to say how he would do with the "real life" situation.

In our area of Sweden there isn't the vast area lacking major roads that are ideal for Drev. Furthermore, as I am not yet out hunting, it is a really big deal to get an invitation. Well, a contact from our local dachshund club was so kind and she and her husband offered to let us go to them and try Freddie in their forest! 

For Drev, there are always risks, wild boars, wolves, cars, etc... but as Freddie is a smart dog and wolves (the biggest threat in my opinion) are not as common this far south and not in that area, we thought we would try. We were lent a GPS collar so we could see where Freddie was, how fast he was going, and how far away from us he was.

The first thing we did was go out and basically tell him that he could go search. Freddie was very good at going out and circling back to check where we were. While on one of his first searches, he opened a little, but it didn't lead to anything and we didn't see any animals (though their bedding and tracks/poop). After being out about 1.5-2 hrs, we headed back to let Freddie rest a bit and have lunch. We then took out Anna and Joachim's 11 year old shorthair Pixie, who was fantastic. She did indeed find something out in the forest, but by the barking and GPS track, Joachim thought it was a boar and called her back. When we went closer to pick her up/call her back, we definitely smelled boars and I am happy that Joachim had his rifle with "just in case."

We then took Pixie back and decide that as the weather hand turned beautiful for the end of October (15c and sun... see photo above) we would try a different area and see if Freddie found something. We did a little initial searching, then we came upon a glen and in the very back corner, Joachim noticed a couple of Roe deer. Freddie followed him into the glen (above) and Joachim and Simon told him to search. Then a few minutes later there was music! Freddie had taken up the deer scent and was off. I wish I would have thought to get a video! It would have only been barking, but who cares! Freddie worked really well for his first time out- roughly 30 min and about 300 m away from us. Anna said that we couldn't have asked for better work on his first time out. We only called Freddie back because he must have lost the scent and started circling in an area about 100m from us. Simon and Joachim went, called him back (with name and whistle) and you could watch him march slowly back on the GPS. Getting the dog back to you is a huge and important aspect of Drev, so Fred coming back was just as important as him taking up and chasing the deer.

On the way back to the car, Joachim asked if we wanted to swap a labrador for Fred. lol. I think he liked him. We are invited back out, but this autumn was a bit hectic for me as I was in the US for almost 3 weeks and writing papers at work. I recently bought a used GPS collar from another Swedish dackel friend and I am hoping we can get him out again this year for practice if the weather stays mild, otherwise, we are shooting for a few more practices and hopefully testing in 2016. Either way, Freddie definitely didn't disappoint! 




I really hope to also take Baxter out in the future to see what he's got, but we are taking one thing at a time at the moment. :)

A BIG Thank you goes to Anna and Joachim for allowing us to further work with Fred and offering their land!