Holiday memories

The picture above will be my strongest memory of our fall vacation in Poland. Maybe because I never expected that Ruda , a Laekenois, would enjoy herding so much and Prima, a Border Collie would rather watch from the distance than get involved. My dogs wil never stop surprising me!

But lets go back to the beginning of our journey.

Instead of flying we took a ferry to Poland. Partly because we had the dogs with us, partly because it was much easier to move around in our own car.

The first stop was made on the Baltic sea coast on the Polish side. I love the wide, sandy beaches, completely empty at this time of year. The weather wasn´t the best but I had dreamed of streching my legs after the long night in a little cabin on the boat. We had a very nice walk.

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A clear difference between an always raised Belgian Shepherd and an always lowered Border Collie

Our next activity was a 5 days long herding training at Pastuszkowo, a farm with sheep, goats, sheepdogs and other animals owned by a passionate young woman who left a noisy big-city life and made a brave move to the countryside. A beautiful and peaceful place where all the daily struggles would be forgotten and every single moment enojoyed immensly.

While working with the dogs, talking to all the wonderful people I met and just sitting and watching the others I was contaminated with desire to run away from my current life and find such a place for myself.

I was very proud of Ruda, acting like a herding dog already on the very first day and puzzled about Prima, not showing any interest before the very last day. Maybe she just needs more time? I hope I can give her another chance some day!

We rented a big and comfortable room with a kitchen in a nearest village. A cosy and quiet place surrounded by open fields where we could take long walks. I even managed to train some obedience on the lawn in front of the house.

Eventually we even got some sunny evenings. Not often but I was not upset about the weather. We had wonderful time anyway. The countryside was beautiful and woods full of mushrooms, some of them real beauties!

The next goal was to drive to the south of Poland, where I come from originally, and visit family and friends. 

I must praise my dogs. Always quiet, friendly and well behaved anywhere we go. They stay where I ask them to stay, they put up with all these people petting them all the time and sleep under tables in restaurants, totally unseen. I really cannot understand how on earth I managed to make them like that!

In my hometown there was time for walks in the mountains, some training and lots of visits to different places. And both girls decided to start their season exactly the same day!  If I did not plan the litter with Ruda I might have been annoyed by the fact that it was at least 2 weeks earlier than expected. But this time I was just happy. The panties were purchased and we managed to keep the floors clean.

Now there is a silent hope for an early season next year so the puppies will be born in the beginning of summer!

We even managed to visit Cracow and walk around the Old Town where my dogs were treated as some kind of tourist attraction.🙂 Both American and Russian tourists stopped to make pics with them!

After few sunny days in Wadowice and Cracow there was time to move on to Warsaw, our last stop.

The weather changed to rainy and we did not see much of the sun until we left Poland. While in Warsaw I lived in a rented appartment in a quiet area near a wonderful forest where we could walk for hours.

Some parts of the forest were magical!

But getting the dogs clean after such walks was a nightmare! I used clean water from the ditches to rinse off the dirt and towels I had with me. Somehow we managed to leave the place fairy clean anyway. It´s so important to show the landlords that they can rent a flat to people travelling with dogs without taking too much of a risk!

I met a friend training obedience in Warsaw, went for a long walk with her and her dogs. We hoped for some training together but it was raining heavily. Hopefully she will come and visit us next summer! Hopefully the weather will be on our side then!

So after few days of family visits and fighting against mud and dirt we headed back home. We saw full moon on the ferry and hoped for a change in weather on the other side of the sea. But no, this must be such a fall that makes even the mushrooms rot!

 We get sun glimpses sometimes of course but otherwise it just rains and rains and rains. The only joy for the eye are the bright colors of the falling leaves. All water depots are filled properly so I really hope the raining will cease soon!

Now I would like to go back to training as soon as the girls are over their season which should be very soon! I do not dream about sunshine but I hate to be soaked with water!

The fall has come

Time flies inexorably. The fall has come with rains, colors changing from green to yellow and red and lots of mushrooms in the forest. Days are getting shorter.

I do not panic yet. It is the very best training season of the year. The temperature is just right both for me and the dogs and there are a lot of activities at the dog clubs after the summer break.

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Some exciting things have taken place. First av all Ruda completed her mental test and did not show fear for gunshot. I knew she was "shot proof" but it is always more complicated in real as the shots come in the end of the test. Belgians have rather reactive nervous system which gets really aroused during the whole test. And then, after a lot of scary experiences the four shots come from a very short distance. I myself jumped up though I knew they were coming. I think I must have the nerves of a Belgian Shepherd. Ruda looked at the man shooting wondering why he did so much fuss. She was rather puzzled.

But the test was also the last thing we needed for breeding. And now it´s done! And the breeding plans are made for next year!

Next exciting event was a very first competition with Prima. I was fed up with training for the lowest class. My worst nightmare was retieving of the object. Not because Prima has any problems with retrieving but the way it is carried out. In the lowest class the wooden dumbbell is placed on the ground between the handler and the dog. The dog is supposed to run quickly, pick it up and continue running to bring it to the handler. I have been training hundreds of times. If I focused on speed she wouldn´t be able to pick up the dumbbell properly, risking dropping it, if I trained the clean gripping she would be slow. That´s why my only ambition was to get enough points to move to the next class where retrieving is much, much easier for my dog. And so we did! Prima got 180,5 points ( of 200 possible) which was more than enough. I am very proud of her!

But I am not proud of myself and I did not feel happy with the result. Actually I was completely drained of all feelings. I was so nervous during the trial I thought I would faint. And this is such a pity! My dogs are so well prepared before I enter any competition that I just should walk in there and enjoy the moment! But I cannot! The only thing I feel is death anxiety with my legs shaking and my heart beating hard and my brain totally absent. I am more ballast than a help to them! And yes, I have been trying to work on it for a long time now and some competition were better than others and I thought I was over it, but now I do not know anything anymore and I just want to quit!

Of course I know I will continue because training dogs is the best part of my life and I do not give up so easily but I just have to find a way to skip this terrible anxiety that poison the competitions for me. I train for the results and the only way of knowing how good we are is to compete...

With Prima being quite ready for class 1 and Ruda for class 2 I suppose I will have to enter another competition soon. I can wait until spring though...

Maybe my state of mind has something to do with being extremely worn out. I need to rest from my demanding work so next week we are leaving to Poland for 2,5 weeks long vacation. The dogs are going with us and the first thing being planned is the 5 days herding course for both Prima and Ruda. 

Whatever it will bring it will be a new experience for all of us and a wonderful relief from every day distress for me!

Wonderful summer continues

Another month has passed. I read people around the country have been complaining about the weather for being too rainy and too cold. Here around Stockholm we had sun, lots of sun, so much sun that we were desperate to get some rain. We had to water our plants in the garden every second day. And they have been growing like crazy. We have all the veggies we need and lots of berries, all organic and tasty. The rain came this weekend and it was very welcome.

Yesterday I took Ruda and Prima to the annual Begian Shepherd Club show. Ruda got excellent but not CQ, the judge wanted her to have more furnishings on the head. I was a bit upset about the judge who´s only criteria was the amount hair on the dog´s face and I mean it was much more important than any other qualities like body structure and the shape of the head. It felt like a bad joke!

I expect the judges at the specialty would at least read the breed standard!

This is Rudas critique.

Anyway I had a nice time with other Laekenois owners and managed to train some obedience with Christel and Compis after the show. In my opinion Compis should have won the best male title. But he also had too little hair on the head...

Vajert Compis Cracker

I believe he will be a very good match for my Ruda though.

With or without face furnishings!

Otherwise nothing special happens. The summer is about enjoying every moment of the best time of the year. To feel alive and free! 

We go for long walks in the forest, we swim as much as we can and see after Orca as her owners are on vacation.

I take care of the garden and consume a lot of fresh veggies.

We try to train every day. When it is too hot I go to the nearest club on early mornings. Even a short training is better than nothing. We are getting more and more flow in our sessions. I enjoy it and so do the dogs. I think I have to start thinking about competitions soon!

But first of all I just live the life and enjoy the company of my dogs, being outside most of the time and the beauty of the nature around. Life is good!

Summertime, busy time

June is over. I don´t know how a whole month can disappear like that. Almost unnoticed....

Only when I look at the pics I had taken I can recall some great events during that time. It has been a busy month, as it should be during the short training season.

First nice event was a family trip to Gimo where my son works during the summer holiday. Beautiful little town and spectacular nature around, like in many places in Sweden. Nice day with dogs playing on common beach with some unknown people around. And nobody seemed to mind, nobody complained about them being off leash, just on the contrary- some people watched them playing with a friendly smile. Just a normal, tolerant reaction. Afterwards the dogs rested in the shadow while we were talking, totally exhausted. Water and sand, such a powerful combination! .

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In Stockholm most people are either afraid of dogs or alergic and some have the urge to control that the poo (and preferably the pee also) will be collected. And the dogs have to be on leash no matter what. I do understand and respect their fears and medical issues but how come this only affects residents of big cities? Strange... Big cities are sick formations...

In the middle of the month we took a part in obedience camp. Two wonderful, inspiring and joyful days with two experienced trainers. I did not have so much time of my own with every coach as I had to devide it between two dogs but learned also a lot by watching the others.  As dogs are different individuals different approaches might be needed to solve the same problem.. Working with positive reinforcement gives a lot of room for testing. While I was learning the new methods my dogs trained passivity during the long breaks, the essential  training which unfortunately is often neglected.

In the end of that week we had 4 days off from work to celebrate Midsummer. This holiday falls out around the time for a shortest night of the year. We usually travel away to the little cottage owned by a friend of ours in the coutryside, hidden in huge forests.. We have been walking a lot, swiming in a lake nearby and enjoying the silence and peaceful environment.

 I even managed to track with both once and met another friend that owns a Border Collie from the same breeder. We trained obedience on the soccer grounds in the nearest village. Flat surface with shortly cut grass- a dream for obedience freaks! And such a pleasure to have a friend that shares the same hobby even in the countryside!

Happy Minna med Karolina

The weather was as it usually is around Midsummer, both sunny and rainy. Our second training was suddenly interrupted by heavy rain.

But hopefully we will meet again!

There was another activity the dogs were exposed to. Our neighbour Frida has 4 sheep and invited me with the dogs to meet them. Prima was a bit shy and followed them from a distance  but Ruda had a very close , nose to nose contact with one of them, a very tame little sheep from last years litter. Next time we`ll meet I will have my camera with me!

The world around me is in full bloom. Sometimes it is a bit too hot to train and the mosquitos and midges try to poison our life but I would never change it for something else if I could!

A long weekend

I have been free from work the whole 4 days. Love the wonderful feeling of not having to rush anywhere and do  things I like to do, like training dogs or digging in the garden. Well, there was some cleaning and cooking included, but it did not take half of my weekend as it usually does.

One of these days we had a training competition at one of my dog clubs. It was such an important activity for me as I normally do not have any feedback on my training at all. I mostly train myself. And there there was a judge looking at us as on a real competition,  they were stewards walking around and giving commands and I even felt some kind of nervousness, though it was just a training.

Prima is prepared for the start class without doubt. The only thing we have to work on is performing without rewards longer time. This has always been the hardest part of dog training for me. I love to reward! 

Ruda has some things to learn still if we are to start in FCI class 2. It is so much difficult that before. The rules have been changed this year so the former class II that she completed without much effort last year was much, much easier.

Retrieving a metal object and jumping a hurdle with it seems to be clear. I was worried that she would never manage to do it, she hates metal objects! Distance control, recalling with stand and scent discrimination are still something we have to improve. I am working on it trying different approaches. It would be nice to be able to compete in fall but I do not have so much time to train as I would love to. And of course it would be nice to have someone to train with as it makes things so much easier.

We will see how it goes! There is no hurry!

As to my other hobby, which is growing my own veggies, the first month of spring was not optimal. Half of the month we had very cold weather with temperatures down to -6 degrees during nights, the other half was warm enough but my small plants, grown from seeds at home were big and did not get enough outside training. They had a tough beginning of their new life especially as It has not been raining for weeks now. We water them almost every day but it is not the same.

On the other hand a swimming season has been opened and water in the lake is actually much warmer than expected! Swimming in the lake with my dogs is my third hobby.

A spring day at the beach

Last weekend,as the weather was nice, we took the dogs with us to my sister´s place in the countryside. Even Orca stayed with us for the whole week.

Every time we go there I stop at the dog club in Akersberga and train some tasks, nothing complicated but at the place that is pretty unknown for my dogs. Changing places is very important I think. 

The young ones were very clever and the day started well.

Afterwards there was time for a long walk to my favorite beach. This is a spring tradition too.

At this time of year the beach is empty and the dogs can play freely.

Prima was first in the water. I suppose she did not have an idea of how cold it could be. After several jumps in and out she stood on the shore shaking all over.

Ruda, Orca and my sister´s Dandie Rura were wise enough to play in the water without soaking the whole body. But they are older and smarter of course.

The Laekens have no chance to get a stick.They don´t even have a chance to try! Prima is always first!

Spring 2017

Introduction.

It has been a long time since I last wrote a post.

My old blog disappeared  somewhere in the cyber space and was very hard to find. It is not certain I would be able to attach it to my new website.

My old homepage became out of date and I could not update it without professional help.

But thanks to changing times creating a new website is an easy task, even for an older lady like me.

I am very grateful to my friend Renia and my son Nik for helping me to get started.

 One of last pictures of all my dogs together

Spring 2017 will be remembered as the time of Queen passing away. She moved to the painfree world on April 17th.

Letting her go was not an easy task.

It took long time before I could allow the thought cross my mind. It took long time to set up the date and plan the day.

It is going to take time before I can think about her without feeling pain tearing my body into pieces.

She was not an ordinary dog.

Farewell my Grand Lady! I will always miss You!