Margret blogs

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T16:05:00.002+01:00

Well, well, well... should I try this again or should I just drop it...4

I was thinking about keeping a daily blog, and seeking out for support as I plan on loosing quite a few kgs this year. On december 30th 2011 I will turn 30 years old and I do not want to look like I look now, I need to eat better/more healthy and I need to work out...

My fault is that I can stick to those things for like 2 weeks or so, then somehow I just slip and slip and slip.

There are several big events this year, in the summer and I belive if I just stick to my plans I can look great before that. I don't want to meet people in Paris at the world show and have them thinking "my oh my, someone has been living inside the refridirator" or something like that. I do feel like shit the way I am now, and I don't want to feel that way.

One of my new year resolutions is to be more positive instead of always seeing the negative first and it's hard when I feel like this inside.

So the plan it to be more active and sportive. The gym is not far away and the system they have there is great. So I need to go there a MINIMUM of 2 times a week. I'll probably up the number later on but I have to make it doable to start with so I can do it.

I want to go for more walks with the dogs, I admit to have been a bit lazy this year, and I want to use my bicycle more and use it with the dogs!

I'd love to be able to wake up early in the morning and either go for a walk with some of the dogs or go to the gym... the problem is I'm a B person and find it very hard to wake up before 10, sometimes 10 is very hard for me to do!

So there are many things that need to change, I want to live a fuller and healthier life.

The weather is kinda shitty right now, it's been raining and if it stops it still looks like it'll start again any minute so I haven't been out yet like I planned and now it will be dark soon.. so for tomorrow, I will go for a walk and I will not wait until it looks like it wont rain, I'll just go. Penny and Dollar really need to go out and stretch their legs and use up some of that built up energy they have!!

So this year will be so much better than the last!! I hope I can get to some courses, photography or photoshop, maybe webdesign..

I also really, really hope I can get myself a new camera, mine is just not doing it for me anymore and I have to work 5 times as hard to get photos I could easily get on the camera I want and I've toned it down to just wanting a Nikon D90, then I can save up for an objective later... I just want a new camera!!!!

Oh well, no complaining, positive thinking! Let's see if I will manage to keep the blog up and running:)

Super bad, lazy blogger

2010-05-18T11:33:00.002+02:00

Facebook has basically taken over the "need" to blog regularly and is the reason I haven't blogged in a long time.

But I still like blogs, I like to read them and like to follow up on friends who are blogging so I better keep this blog alive if I think others should.

Life goes on here in Belgium. For about 3-4 weeks ago it looked like summer was coming, it was warm and I could even sunbath and got some color, then Tone came from Norway for a weekend visit and the day before she came the good weather decided to go and it's been raining and been cold and what not ever since. Until today when the weather finally seems to be like it should be this late in may. I just want sun, sun and more sun!!

There have been some shows since my last blog, Casper was shown in Dortmund where he didn't really win anything the first day but surprisingly enough when I got his written critique he had gotten a reserve VDH wich actually turned out to be a full VDH because it was a big show and he got the DPK (German poodle club) CAC as well, and the same happened the day after so we were happy.

Elisa came over from Finland that weekend to bring Bling back, she's been with her since last winter and had her first litter there.

Casper has also won CAC in Luxembourg, not sure I have blogged about that, and last weekend he finally got his first CAC in Belgium! Man I am glad for that, 1 year and 1 day need to pass between the first and last CAC (and they need to get a total of 4) to become a Belgian champion so it was about time to get that first one, then we can take a little brake and focus on the other ones a bit later.

He actually got a new title as well at that show in Wieze, Belgium. He was best male, and ended up being best of opposite and got the title "hopkoning 2010". Ira got that title last year at that same show.

While Casper was in the ring with Emilie, I was showing Stella and she did the same, best bitch, best of opposite, CAC and "Hopkoningin 2010".

Of course Casper and Stella were in the ring at the exact same time. When the IGs started it looked like I'd make it, show Stella and then run to the poodles and show Casper, but I asked Emilie to take Casper to the ring for me and be ready there with him, and if I wasn't there when it was his turn to take him in for me.

Well of course the IG judging took longer, the judge had a student who was learning to judge the breed so they were talking about the qualities and faults and what you put up and so on so when Stella was finally done and I went running to the poodle ring (which was in the other hall) I just saw Emilie in the ring stacking Casper for some photographers.

So that was the past few weeks. I have been going to the gym and I was getting good, but I've taken a turn to the worse again. I don't know why I can't be consistent and why it's so hard to go back if I haven't been there for over a week. I need to get myself together and GO and go every day like I did!

Nox has been mated with Uzzah in Germany, now we just hope she's got little Nox babies in her belly:)

I have to get going now, need to bath Casper & Toshi, and groom Ninja. I'm going to a show on saturday and need to do a preparation bath and grooming today, plus I need to clean a whole lot of things and i WILL go to the gym today!

All good

2010-03-09T16:14:00.003+01:00

Everything is good here:) The puppies are what life is about these days, they will be 5 weeks already on friday! They have moved up to the livingroom/kitchen and are either in their little homemade puppypen or running free when the dogs are out. I tryed to let them be free with the dogs yesterday evening and that went surprisingly well! The only one that I need to watch is Stella, she likes to play with the puppies... she just doesn't realise she's much bigger and can't play that harsly with them but they all like her and tails are wagging all the time:)

I'm still in love with the fawn girl, I think she'll be the one. I don't want to make the choice already as they are still very, very young but she's just got something about her that draws me too her and I just have this feeling about her.. she's even got a name:) Penny!

I am mainly blogging because I am trying to post this photo and it's too small if I attach it to my post so I need to copy it from here and then it should be ok:) So with this photo of Killer we say goodbye to the winter!

Miss bad blogger

2010-02-22T15:30:00.002+01:00

I'm sorry for being such a bad blogger these days:)

It's just puppies, puppies, puppies and I have a special blog for the puppies wich you can watch here:

http://www.caeles.net/blog

Everything is just fine otherwise, I had Silja and Dora come over and pick up Orka the BC so she's gone:) They drove from Denmark to here and stayed over for the weekend and then drove back on monday:) It was loads of fun having them over:) We took photos of the showleads Dora is making, I'm also selling them here, they are fabulous:) We took photos of Orka, Dollar, Joey got to model one of the showleads and he worked his ass off.. I'm still not too happy with those photos, his coat is a bit thin always in the wintertime and his skin isn't "tanned" like it is in the summer so his coat doesn't look black and you can see it's thin.. but he had fun and impressed Dora with his will to work:)

The house is pretty empty without the clumsy little BC puppy who's name fits her oh so well!
Orka means energy in icelandic and she had plenty of that! Now Silja gets to work of that energy and maybe raise Orka to be a proper BC cuz I have found out that I cannot raise a dog of this caliber hahaha I suck as a trainer.. but Orka did kinda learn to sit while she was here.. and I shall always take credit for that hahahahaha even if it was just sit to get some food or treats:)

So there's not much to say, haven't been to the gym much, first I was waiting for the puppies and didn't want to leave Tingen alone, and I got sick.. again! It was awful, my cough was SO bad and everytime I coughed I just wanted to cry because it hurt so much. Nick made me some grugg i mugg wich has another name but I can't remember that.. it's chamomile tea, honey and whisky (jameson) and after drinking a cup or 2 of that, take an aspro (some sort of painkiller) and go to sleep..
It worked wonders! My cough got much better, and after 2 nights of doing this I got better!

So this week I'm not drinking any coca cola! Or trying, we'll see how it goes, I'm going to 2 dogshows this coming weekend and if I want coke at the show I'm havign coke! It's in Germany the first day and here in Belgium the 2nd day and Casper is entered:) We'll see how it goes, I'm definetly gonna take my head with me this time and not drink too much redwine the night before the show and get 4 hours of sleep.. no way! We're gonna make a good presentation, and I'm thinking if I should go to showtraining tomorrow and if I should take Casper, or someone else..

That's all I have to say folks:) Gonna do some cleaning now and sit with the puppies and perhaps feed little Tingen:)

puppies:)

2010-02-08T18:35:00.002+01:00

The puppies have finally arrived.. actually they came 4 days to early but that's ok, they are all looking good and gaining weight normally.
They are 3 days old today and the worlds most beautiful puppies -what else:)

I started the "super puppy program" with them today wich means I stimulate them in several different ways and it prepares them better for situations they're uncomfortable in later on in life (new places, shows, etc). It used and still is being used on dogs in the military and the police so this is not some "hocus pocus" bullshit, it's studied and proofed to be working so I always do it on my pups:)

Other than the puppies coming there aren't any news really. Casper became 4 years old on saturday and I haven't been to the gym for a week now because I didn't want to leave Tingen alone, because I knew she'd have the puppies soon.

I am getting sick AGAIN! My 2nd cold this year and february has just started.. I don't think my previous cold really got out of the system and is blossoming up now again to my great happiness so I'm taking it easy these days as I don't want to get sicker.

Orka will leave next week, I haven't done as much as I wanted with her, didn't dare taking her out to the market cuz she wasn't fully vaccinated, and last week she got her last shots of course the puppies came on friday night so I didn't go to the market on saturday and now I'm getting sick so I'm staying inside and it's cold outside!!
But it's ok, at least she knows how to live with multiple dogs, she kinda knows to be in a crate.. or at least eat in a crate.. she still doesn't like being crated in the car and complains all the time.. we'll see how the ride to A'dam will be when I pick Dora up.. 2 hours driving with Orka.. don't know what I'll do if she'll be complaining all the way hehehe but at least I will then hand her over to Dora very gladly lol:)

That's it for now, there are puppyphotos all over the place, on FB both on my FB site and the Caeles FB fan site, on my website caeles.net where I have started a puppyblog where I update almost every day now with info and photos so just check that out:)

Mouscron...

2010-02-04T14:47:00.002+01:00

allright ppl.. the show on sunday!

Gosh, I can sometimes be such and idiot and totally not using my head. I had a big plan on saturday.. when I would go to sleep, bath Casper and all that so I'd be all rested out and ready to "kick some ass" on sunday..
Well, that didn't work out as you might have found out... we had just bought tekken 6 for the playstation. It's a martial arts game and I had played it once on playstation 1 a billion years ago and loved it. So we started playing a bit in the day and it was fun, and I sucked...
Then we rented some movies, I was gonna watch one movie and then bath Casper and go to sleep..
Well when the movie (wich was awful, demon somthing with Cuba Gooding Jr) was finished I was gonna go do what I had planned and Nick was gonna watch "final destination".. it was in 3D and there were glasses with it. I had never seen a movie in 3D and of course wanted to see how it was.. so I watched half of the movie before deciding it was boring and that I had to go do something.
I didn't bath Casper though, and I didn't go to sleep. After Nick had watched the movie I had a glass of redwine, I had decided to go to sleep a bit later as I wasn't that tired and wake up earlier and bath Casper in the morning (=at 4 am)...
I had to finish my glass of wine before going to sleep so we started playing tekken.. and I finished my glass, and 2 more.. the box of redwine was empty and that should have stopped me but I was very thirsty so we opened a bottle and had that and kept on playing! I started to be better and better and won several times:)
Between 1 and 2am we finally went to sleep... it was a short night and at 20 before 4 I wake up to Casper squeezing in between our heads.. I had 20 more minutes of sleep and of course couldn't really sleep because I was up.. but I stayed in bed and at 4 I stood up, brushed Casper and bathed and made him ready.
Then I had to load the car I had already put some stuff in the night before but the table and groomingbox had to go in... I was so on time this morning that it was incredible!
I am ALWAYS a half hour behind schedule..
So I go to the car, it was rather cold outside and yes the lock was frozen so I could hardly get the key in! After alot of swearing, a little kicking and trying to getting the key in I made it.. but it took about 15 minutes I think!
Ok all stuff in the car, start the car and get it warm.. put location in the gps and finish loading the car and off I go... half an hour after schedule.. but it was ok, I got an ok parking space (the parking in Mouscron is AWFUL, there are hardly any spaces there).
So in I go and get set up next to Wendy, Caspers groomer.

Then hangover took over.. or something. I wasn't feeling bad but I was just "off" when the time came to get ready and go in the ring. Casper was also very unfocused and not performing like he usually does.. so we got the reserve after the white italian champion male who was shown for the first time and ended up best male.
It was ok, of course I would have liked to have won, I need to get a CAC on Casper to start his belgian championship (a year and a day need to pass between the first and last CAC so the sooner the better..)
Casper has now 2 reserves here and I really need to get a CAC. He's entered to Gent in the end of february so we'll see what happens then.
I am gonna go to showtraining with him and get my act together.
I was so ashamed of myself and my performance in the ring.. I looked like a complete beginner and I guess when you don't go to shows every weekend and haven't done it for a while you get a bit rusty... and there are so many more things to think about when showing a poodle vs showing an IG so I really need to go train and find my style again because I have learned alot and seen alot of I was gonna "do it all" and of course it got messy... so the reserve was deserved:)

Tingen is exploding, she's so pregnant it looks like she ate a watermelon or a football or something! She's rather uncomfortalbe now, didn't sleep much this night so I guess the puppies will be arriving soon.

We didn't go to the gym this week, I don't want to leave Tingen alone now in case she starts her labour so hopefully the pups will come this week and I can go to the gym on monday.

That's all for today:)

No news..

2010-01-29T13:47:00.002+01:00

I haven't been blogging because I just don't have much to say, I'm not doing anything special, just taking care of the dogs and the house and that's about it.

We did go to our restaurant last friday for a belated birthday dinner (my birthday dinner), it was very good as always, we ordered the same meat, as always.. and I got a bottle of redwine and a "happy birthday" song played for me:)

Tingen is just getting bigger and bigger, she still has 2 weeks to go, I sat with her yesterday in the sofa and the puppies were very active in her belly! It's an amazing feeling and I absolutely love it:) Can't wait for them to come join the real world:)

I'm still going to the gym, we've been going 2 times a week now doing our circle, and today we'll add on another circle. As I said before these are special workouts after a special system, you start out doing 1 circle (2 times) and then when ready you go on and do 2 different circles (2 times each) and that's were we're at now.
I asked the trainer in the gym on tuesday if it's ok for me to start coming in the mornings as well next week or if it was too much to do that (since I'm trying to build up my stamina and muscles) and he said it would be fine, I could to some cardio so that's the plan now.
I'm going to try to have some sort of a social life this year, and get more out of the house and going to the gym is a good excuse to go out even if I'm not chatting with ppl there.
Then I plan to go to some show/handling classes in the evenings once a week, and racing trainings when they start and maybe try to do some basic obidience training if I find good classes nearby.
I think it will do me a world of good, I'm always at home. Just can't do much now since we're expecting puppies and racing and probably obidience doesn't start untill it's a bit warmer outside and that's fine with me, I don't like standing out in the cold and the dogs agree.

That's it for today:)

Started training again!

2010-01-20T23:33:00.002+01:00

We went to the gym yesterday, finally!! It's good to be started again, all I had worked for is gone, my stamina is bad I wasn't as good on the cross trainer or the bicyckle as I was and need to work all that up again!

But it's good, I have a goal and after I reach that goal I have another one.. and 2 more after I reach that:)

today (20. januar) is Ninjas birthday, she's 2 years old today!

Tingen is just getting bigger and bigger! I'm curious how many she's got in there, she's 6 weeks pregnant today so there are still 3 weeks to go!

Other than that there are no special news, just thought I'd be a bit more active blogger even if it's just short ones:) Facebook has taken over the blogworld but I still don't think it should and I like reading blogs:)

Orka is doing great, she's been playing all afternoon with Joey, Stella and Dollar, they had ALOT of fun running around, Orka trying to hide under the sofa and pop up and run with the IGs after her, it was super cute:)

;)

2010-01-17T16:44:00.004+01:00

I am puppysitting a border collie puppy now:) Her name is Orka (Energy) and will be with me for about a month:)

She's very nice, and has a very special and rare colour, I think it was called slate merle and she's got pretty blue eyes:)

Dollar is starting to look really nice, he's 13 months now so he still has some growing and maturing to do, I'm always waiting for his topline to get a bit better and his front to straighten out, but no dog is perfect, this his Dollar now:

I don't think I have so much news otherwise, I've been sick for the entire year and am just getting better now.

I just took a new photo of Stella, she'll be 2 years old in march, her topline is a bit flat there, but she could have a better topline, that's just af fact, but she's super sweet and she can RUN! I hope I'll be able to do more racing with her and get her to start coursing.

Tingen is expecting puppies in febuary:) I thought there was nothing there when we came home from Iceland but there were a few signs and the belly has been growing and growing and this is how she looks now 5 weeks and 5 days pregnant:

That's about all the news I have, the Norwegian top 10 list is out, Joeys daugther Pernille is top IG for 2008, Joey is #2 stud of the year and Elmo is # 4 stud of the year, not to shabby:)

Happy New year!!!!!

2010-01-07T22:25:00.002+01:00

Hi everyone!!

Sorry for being such a lame blogger... I've been sick since we came back from Iceland.
I have the Icelandic flu and it aint going..
I do think I'm getting better, my coughing isn't as "brutal" as it was in the beginning of the week and I can kinda "sleep" now peacefully without waking up coughing my lungs out or yawning and have too cough... but that's life!

We went to Iceland for the holidays as most of you know, it was wonderful, spending time with my family who is the most wonderful family in the world, I just LOVE christmas at christmas in Iceland is how I want to spend each christmas and keep to the traditions:)
Then it was my birthday on the 30th. On the 29th my little nephew Benni (my youngest sisters son) turned 3 years old and me and him and a joint birthday party for the family. The house was FULL, there were probably around 50 people that came, crazy but I got to meet almost everyone! Even my oldest sister Binna and her daugther Briet who I used to babysit when she was tiny. They live in Cincinatti so I haven't seen them for AGES.
On the 30th I had some of my dear dogworld friends come over and it was great seeing all of them:) I miss not having them around here but I'm sure they envy me from all the shows I can go to... always look on the bright side this year:)

My new year will not officially start untill this weekend, since I have been sick it's been easy cooking, no gym, no walks with the dogs (it's also FREEZING) .. basicly no nothing, just sitting and watching Gilmore Girls and the L word that I always record:) So the plan is that I will get better tomorrow or saturday. We'll eat some good gourmet food and rent some movies and drink the champagne we have in the fridge that we were gonna toast the new year in when we came back but had to wait due to me having the flu.. so this weekend it's new year's eve all over again, belgian style:)
Next week I will make plans to do certain things on certain days, I'm thinking about trying a new routine with the dogs (feed them in the morning instead of the evening and those that are skinny can then get some extra food in the evening). A bath plan for Casper. Try to make some sort of a showplan.. I am just realising now that I have not entered to a show that has a deadline today. I'm not certain about that show, thinking about Elmo and getting that last CAC (or reserve) to finish his championship. That is one of my goals this year, also getting the dutch championship on Casper and preferably the luxembourg championship as well:)
The main focus will be on Casper and when the judges are right I'll enter an IG or 2 and hopefully have Ninja ready for some summer shows.
Joey will also turn 8 in june so I might enter him to some shows as a veteran and the big question is if I'll enter him to the world winner show in Denmark as a veteran.. I need to decide that before the first deadline is out:)

I also plan on getting a new camera this year! Ideas as for how to require a camera (or the money to buy one) are welcome... I NEED a new camera (and objectives of course)

So that's all for now:)

Happy holidays!

2009-12-23T10:43:00.002+01:00

To all my friends, we wish you a merry, merry christmas and a happy new year

Sorry, sorry, sorry

2009-12-19T01:51:00.002+01:00

I apologize for lack of blogging these days!! Don't know why I feel like I have nothing to say but that's not the case.

We went to a show last sunday, Brussels Dog Show, a very fancy and nice show. Casper was entered and he was reserve after a champion male but that was actually ok for me (I usually hate getting the reserve, allthough it's better than getting nothing).. but it was ok because the dogs that got reserve CAC/CACIB got a TITLE so Casper got his 2nd title in 2 weeks!!!
The new title is "Brussels Winner 2009". Apparantly I got it all wrong thinking this was the Brussels winner show as the winners get the title "Belgian winner".. I was very pleased to find this out and Casper proudly shows off his new name on his site:)

I am going to Iceland on sunday, I CANNOT wait!!!
I actually managed to make christmas cards this year and most of them are in the mailbox now, just 2 left that are now ready to go.

We have gotten some christmas cards already, I have 1 from Sweden and I'm so curious who it's from because I haven't sent a card to Sweden and I'm wondering why I cannot figure out who in Sweden is sending me a card! -so if you are reading this.. pls let me know, I have cards printet out and ready to go because I know I'll remember some more ppl and names in the next days...

I will also send the cards as e-mail so everyone will get a card:)

We have just been doing the usual.. hangin at home watching films and series, the usual cleaning, going to a restaurant.. so there's nothing really new apart from what I have said.

I have a ton of laundry waiting to be folded and some waiting to be ironed because I don't want to have anything waiting for me when we come back from Iceland. I just want to come home and relax. I've cleaned everything upstairs, of course we're there every day so I'll clean it again tomorrow before we go to sleep and make sure everything looks fine. I also have to clean downstairs tomorrow and move alot of stuff upstairs because the dogs will have the bedroom and bath/laundryroom for themselves while we're away when the dogsitter lets them out so they will have it cozy in the bed or by the ovens. If the weather will be good tomorrow I'll take them out and let them run, they deserve it.
I have to bath Casper as well and later in the day I have to drop him off to his groomer Wendy who is going to doggysit him for me while we're in Iceland:)

I got my first christmas present, Lena gave me a book I've been wanting for years. She ordered it just days ago from Amazon so we didn't expect it untill january, today I got a package from amazon and I wondered what I have ordered now... because I remember ordering some stuff, but not for me... so I open it and there it is in all it's glory "best in show" by Bo Bengtson:) I shall read it in the plane, and airport on the layovers and over the holidays:) It looks "yummi" and full of info, it's much thicker than I expected it to be so I am thrilled to finally be able to read it!
-Nota bene it took only 2 DAYS for the book to come! Unbelievable and super good service I must say, especially in december just before christmas!

Well I have to go, the laundrymountain isn't getting any smaller. So off I go, will probably throw in a little blog before christmas when I'm home in Iceland:)

The show....

2009-11-30T14:11:00.002+01:00

The show is over, Casper did GREAT as most of you already know! I was so happy and proud of him because he really showed him self off so well.
There were 6 males entered total, 1 junior, 1 intermediate, 2 inopen class (casper & someone else) and 2 champions.
Casper started out winning his class, I was thrilled of course but not to hopeful that he would win one of those champion males. They were both black (Casper was the only white male) and one of them had Smash lines behind him (super famous poodle kennel, most known for theyr superb white poodles(Caspers grandsire is a smash poodle)).
Well the smash lined poodle did not win the champion class and I preferred him so I thought maybe we have a shot at it. Then we went in again for best male and Casper just put his head and tail high up and walked infront of me like he owned the world! We had to go 2-3 rounds and I was just keeping Casper in balance making sure he wouldn't get to excited and break the gait and the judge points to us and I think omg does he point to the one that is number 2 first" and then he pointed to the FIRST PLACE!!!! My little Casper was best male, he got his first CACIB, his first dutch CAC and at this show it's always a double CAC so now he only needs 2 more for his championship, he's also crufts qualified for either 2010 or 2011 and he got his very first title, Amsterdam Winner '09!!!
So all that work really paid off! I was so nervous before I went to the ring I just felt it build up the closer it came to going in the ring, but it all worked out nicely:)

Now I need to bath Casper, he had so much spray in his top and I didn't have energy to wash it out on saturday or yesterday so I'll have to do it today.

I got nothing yesterday with the IGs there was a change of judges and the judge was judging very strangely and he gave alot of "very good" and "good" so I was happy with my "excellent" on Ira. Flame got "very good" he needs some more ringtraining.. he forgot how to stand still..

Casper:)

2009-11-20T20:26:00.003+01:00

Caspers new showlead made in Iceland by Handlers

I'm working on getting Casper in good shape now, he's going to be shown on the Amsterdam Winner show on saturday as I have probably mentioned about a 100 times here on my blog..

There are 13 toys entered to that show!! I wonder how many males and what colours.. the judge is from Spain and is a poodle breeder (miniatures)

anyway, I have been looking for a showlead for him for AGES and never found anything that I'm thrilled with. I did buy a golden one at the European winner show in 2006 but still it wasn't anything special, just gold.. . I looked for elegant white ones for him but nothing appealed to me. I have a gold snake chain on him so I needed the hook to be golden, of course whenever I found something I liked, the hook was silver, and usually rather big and clumsy in my opinion.

-I haven't found the right size of snake chain for Casper in silver, I bought one some shows ago but it was way to big and that was the smallest they had..

Then I saw on facebook that a woman in Iceland was making showleads, just trying it out at home and seeing what ppl thought and I wrote to her and told her what I have been looking for and she made this lead for me and I'm so happy with it because it's all I wanted, and then some:)

Now they are about to do these leads for most breeds in several colours in all types. There is a trial base now for the leads so they wont be available for the common user untill next spring I guess, but hopefully non icelandic ppl can get those leads through me:)

Casper had an appointment today with Wendy, his groomer. She has a beautiful white Standard poodle called Missy and she's been winning quite alot with her both in the breed ring and in senior handling competitions:) Me and Casper are thrilled with her, she clips him very well and makes him look super good and has given me excellent advice:)

So today was the appointment for "shaping". She clipped and shaped Casper up, but didn't clip him "perfectly" because that will be done next friday, the day before the show, then he wont have to be to long on the table, and the shaping and most of the clipping is done and he just needs to be refinded and trimmed to perfection so he'll look his absolute best on saturday at the show:)

Then we just have to hope that my nerves wont get to me.. it's one thing showing and IG who you can just whip out of the crate and put a lead on and go in the rings while with a poodle you need to put the topknot up, spray if you can, groom and trim some more and brush the coat in the right places and scissor a bit over the whole dog and make sure it doesn't get any dust or nothing on them (especially a white one). I haven't put up a topknot in ages, and Casper always moves his head so when I put in a normal topknow it's never in the middle because he always, always moves his head. Thankfully the toy ring is next to the standard ring so hopefully Wendy will have some spare time and be able to help me.

Everyone has been asking for photos of Casper after his trim today... well that's all I get:

Then we have one weekend off and the weekend after Casper is again entered to Brussels Winner show. I can't find how many toys are entered there, they've probably not posted it yet as I'm getting pretty good in finding this information:)

The judge for this show is also a poodle breeder, he breeds toys and dwarfs (and yorkies and maltese) under the prefix des supers supers so as you can imagine from the breeds he has presentation and coat will play an important roll along with showmanship. I hope we'll pull it off.. Casper has been trained to be a showdog since he was a tiny little puppy, but he hasn't been to a show for so long now that I'm not sure how he will react and hope to god he'll keep his tail up.

Wendy will clip Casper at the show in Brussels so he'll look super nice and from what she said he likes, Casper should be "right up his alley" so we'll see how it goes.

I think I'll then not show him untill in the summer, get his coat in superb condition and come in that ring and really show off. I want to take him to Luxembourg in the spring though, there are only 2 international shows a year there so I should go there if there is a good honest judge there.

That's all I had to say for now, Tingen is not in season yet so send her "bloody thoughts" lol...

Please, please..

2009-11-17T16:04:00.002+01:00

I'm still waiting for Tingen to start her season!! I have marked out that december 3rd is the last day she can start so I can mate her before we go to Iceland.. if she starts after that I'm not sure what I'll do!!! Then I just hope she wont start untill after we come from Iceland, or just a few days before we come home.. but I'd prefer not to have any bitches in season while we're away.

Stella just started her season so Tingen gets to sleep with her now, she should get her season around now (middle of november) and I really, really hope she does.

Other than that, there aren't much news from here. It's been lazy weeks, no school, no training.. nothing! Need to get myself out of this period and get going again. At least training, I kinda regret signing up for school for another year because I'm just not interested in it at all.. not this, and not this class or anything.

I just got photoshop, finally and now I really want to learn how to use it properly. I know a little bit but not nearly as much as I'd like to do.

I am looking forwards in going to Iceland, it's getting close!! My niece Adda just gave birth to a baby boy 2 days ago and it will be fun seeing him, and of course my sisters little daugther whom I have yet to see!

We, finally, got our new freezer this week, it's bigger than the fridge! Plenty of space and we've managed to almost fill it already and I still need to buy dogfood to have, dogs have just been getting their food mixed with tuna and they get sick of it if they get too much of it so it's time for them to get some meat!

I don't have anything else to say really.. just want everyone to send "season thoughts" to Tingen.

Time for blog:)

2009-11-12T13:56:00.004+01:00

The next caeles couple

The computer is up and running again, Nick finally did the reconfiguration yesterday and he's not finished but at least I have the keyboard working again with everything in the right place. But I'm still missing the office pack, photoshop (finally we can install it!!) and lots of basic things.

But as most of you know Lena came over for the weekend, we did some shopping and some showing and Lena's little "accident puppy" just kicked ass going BOB and BIG-3!!

Now she needs to come before april to finish the dutch junior championship. I had plans to get that on Dollar but I seem to be a genious in choosing judges that do mind his crossing, unstable front and don't give him the excellent because of that.. it's very irritating when I have been seeing dogs getting the CAC and even CACIBs with the same front movement as Dollar but not even close in the side movement that Dollar has.. so I have decided not to enter him to anymore shows as a junior and I'll wait untill he's all grown up and mature, I do not like to go in the ring and get a "VG" actually I hate it and lately I just feel so "beaten down" before even going in the ring that I'm not doing a good job in the ring, totally unfocused and sure that the judge just doesn't like my dogs and perhaps sabotaging for them by just giving up.. not fun.

Next shows are Amsterdam with Casper, Ira & Flame will be there and I will show him and then it's Brussels Winner with Casper only. We'll see if I manage to get myself together for those shows and at least show my dogs asses off..

I got the great news that my oldest sister will be coming with her daugthers to Iceland on december 29th so I'll get to meet them:) My birthday is the day after perhaps we'll have some coffee and cakes evening like always, my little nephew has his birthday the day before me.

I was thinking if anyone wants to give me birthday presents that everyone can just give me money because I am saving up for a camera:) Then I thought ohh man but the icelandic krona is worth so little so if I exchange it to euros it'll be "nothing" hahaha.. unless I'd buy the camera in Iceland from my dad, wich I very likely will do:)..

Anyway, me and Lena had a photoshoot on monday before she left, the weather hadn't been very good so we were very happy it was good enough for photos on monday. Of course it could have been better, IGs are not the easiest breed to stack and make pretty if it's a little chilly and the wind is blowing every now and then..

The main goal was to get photos of Tingen & Elmo, and Vita since Lena doesn't really have any photos of that type of the little star:)

Well we did get some nice headshots & movement shots of Vita and useable stacked photos but not the "it" photo because it was to cold for her to relax.

Same with Elmo... it was to cold for him and he just doesn't want to. I got 1 movement shot that I have put on his page but no stacked photo... don't think i'll ever get a good stacked photo of Elmo! Maybe next summer.. I know I'll try again when Lena comes again hehe:)

Tingen did great though, we got some nice stacked photos of her, she looks alot like her sire Marco on those photos, I also got some nice movement photos, unfortunatly I didn't get the headshot I wanted, her ears are a tad bit light so sometimes she uses them perfectly, but at other times she's a bit too curious or excited and the ears aren't quite correct..

Hopefully she and Ira will get puppies with good ears, Ira has a little bit big ears and I really hope that the girl I plan to keep will get the best from both parents and be my super dog:) I do have big faith in this combination, I like so many things about the Bling and I like so many things about Ira and they don't have the same faults so I really hope I'll get something good out of this combination.

Tingen moving

Tingen

Joey

Ira eating Lenas fingers

Ira

The only usable photo of Elmo

And last but not least, Dollar:)

Here it comes..

2009-11-03T13:46:00.005+01:00

All right, what has happened since my last proper blog..

Well, Joey and Elmo had a fight. The dogs are spending more time out now because Nox is in season and she needs her attention too.. I was upstairs preparing dinner and the dogfood and then I was going to get the dogs up but I heard them fighting so I ran downstairs and came out and saw Joey on top of a screaming Elmo holding him down. I saw blood on both so I of course took them apart as soon as I got there but Joey was So quick that he was right back on him and he was furious! So I had to be firmer and I pushed Joey rather harshly away so he'd "bounce" far away from Elmo so that I could pick him up before he managed to run back into him..

Well that worked, Joey was all battered up and I put him inside in a crate while I let the other dogs up and then checked on Elmo.

I threw him in the bath and after the bath I saw that Elmo had no puncture wounds, no blod, no nothing... Joey just doesn't fight that way. It tells me that Joey is just defending himself.. he's not in it to hurt, but he's certainly not backing out.

It's always Joey who starts to agitate Elmo, they look at each other and Joey seeks him out, puts his head over his shoulders and growls... that's usually all they do but when they are alone outside I do not see when they do it , I often hear it and tell Joey to stop and he does, but this time I didn't and Elmo apparently had enough and took the next step..

So Elmo was fine, no problems or wounds or anything. I let him go up and took Joey out and he did not look good. I bathed him and he had some puncture wounds and bruises.

Then when I put him down, he wasn't using his right front leg... great I though.

I took him on the table and looked over him, at first I was sure it was my fault for pushing him harshly away from Elmo and that I had broken his leg or something but that's not the case.

He had 2 puncture wounds under his wrist and most likely has an injured nerve. I wrote to Lena to ask what I should do and started him on antibiotics and pain killers. He slept in a crate in the bedroom that night, at first he was in the bed but everytime I moved or accidentally touched his leg he "screamed" (not loud but he always made a noise) so I put him in a crate. The day after I looked at his leg and it was all swollen in the area around the wrist.

He had also been licking his leg so I wrapped the leg in vetwrap to give support and so he couldn't lick it.

So now Joey is basicly living in a crate because Nox is in season and he's sniffing all around and jumping in and out of the sofa to see where she's been and basicly forgetting that he needs to spare his leg. Of course he comes out in the morning and night and gets to be alone with Casper, but for the most part he's crated now... and the weird thing is that the dogs are SO calm now. Joey has AD/HD, he is never still, always busy but with him in a crate the dogs are much more peaceful.. and of course Lucy is gone and Blondie is also gone so there are fewer dogs.

I went to Ramstein in Germany to deliver Lucy, it was a 3 hour drive each way and I just stopped for about an hour or so and now Lucy is in America:)

Elisa came last friday to deliver Ira:) It was great to get him back, he's such a sweet and great dog:) We didn't do much, went to a restaurant on friday, went to the shopping center on saturday and were going to go to ikea on sunday but it was closed, it was raining like hell that day so there wasn't really much to do. It's not fun to go to some towns or cities in weather like this so we stayed at home.

I was clipping the nails on the dogs and cleaning their teeth and when it was Elmos turn I saw something I really didn't want to see... he has lost one of his tooth. I could see he had definetly lost it in the fight because he has really nice, big strong teeth and there have never been any problems or infections on him like on some of the others.. so poor Joey was definetly bitten hard.

The worst thing is that with this missing teeth his chances of finishing his dutch championship just shrank ALOT. But I will not give up, I'll get an attest that he has had all the teeth and maybe that it was lost in a fight and I'll enter him to a show where there will be a suitalbe judge for him and hopefully I will manage to finish his championship. He's just to close to it, I can't not finish him and he's finally getting slim!

Yesterday I drove her to the airport again, and she didn't go alone back home, Bling went with her and she's gonna stay with her for a few months and go to some shows and have some pretty babies:)

Now I have some days off untill thursday when I go and pick up Lena. We're going to a show on sunday. I just got the papers for the show in the mail:) I also checked online, there are 8 IGs entered, me and Lena have 3 total.

When I was cleaning up in the attic last week I went to ikea to get some boxes to sort out the stuff that was all over the place. I also bought some photo frames and printed out photos of my dogs so now when you come upstairs you'll see some friendly faces:)

My mom had also told me about a way to store rosettes, so I got what I needed in Ikea for that and it works out great:) I don't have so many rosettes anymore because I threw alot of them away when I was moving and just didn't have space for all those rosettes I had saved over the years, but I did keep the most important ones and of course the ones I got after I moved so I had plenty to work with:)

Nice isn't it:) The photos are bad, the light here isn't good but you see how it is:) I'll hang the other frame next to the one that's allready hanging, just need to get me some nails:)

I think I'll let this be enough for now... my crops in farmville are calling me lol-- help me I'm hooked on farmville!

Lazy blogger

2009-11-02T20:05:00.003+01:00

I'm sorry I've been a bit "lazy"... but there are reasons, our freezer is "kapot" and he took out the electricity in the house for a day and it took a while to get the computer again up and running.. then Elisa has been here now, she came on friday with Ira and left today with Bling so the week prior to her coming (mostly the thursday though) I was busy cleaning..

Lena is coming on thursday and we are going to a show on sunday:)

I'll have several things to blog about but I don't have time now.. gotta feed the dogs, just came home fromt he airport and prepared their food and it's ready now and then Nick is gonna make his world famous steak and we're gonna watch some series on TV:)

So I'll probably be back tomorrow with a proper blog:) Just wanted to throw in a line and say I'm alive.... I stopped getting comments so I don't feel obliged to blog as often as I perhaps would/could...

Early christmasshopping:)

2009-10-22T15:18:00.002+02:00

I had the car today and the plan was to go to the Lidl to check some things out there and then go to Dendermonde to buy the salmon oil I always give the dogs. Well, I did go to the Lidl, they didn't have what I wanted and instead of driving to Dendermonde I drove to Sint Niklaas to buy christmas presents for the young ones in the family, I had already decided what it was a long time ago.
Then I thought I'd look for something for my sisters as well and ended up buying more than planned but at least I have some nice presents for my sisters:) I also found something I think my mom and grandmother will LOVE so I'll have to get that next time and see if I find something clever for my dad:)
I think I know what to give Nick, the question is if I should get it in Iceland or if I should get it here.. it might actually be cheaper in Iceland so I think I'll do it there, our bags will probably be full of presents anyway so it's ok to try to get some things in Iceland:)
They were already putting up christmas stuff in the stores, I love looking at different things but I still think it's to early to be looking at actual christmas decorations so I just walked through but I will definetly check it out later:)

As I was walking through the shopping center I was checking out some clothes in H&M (actually bought a dress, 50% discount so it was like 9 euros) and other stores and there's a dress I'm totally in love with in H&M, I saw it a while back and it's still there but I can't buy it because I have told myself I can't buy anything in this size I need now, and I'm certainly not gonna buy it in a smaller size.. been there, done that, nothing happens. So if I want clothes I better work hard to drop some sizes so I can go and buy some:) I think I'm so clever, but I really hated the fact that I actually found several different clothes that would be great for shows. I've been wanting a suit for a very long time now and I found 2 and both had pants and skirts, then this dress I like so much, he'd be good for shows as well... I also found black jeans that I really liked but no can do.... "tough love" here on myself:)

That's it for now:)

training, training..

2009-10-20T23:01:00.002+02:00

I went training today, as I do ever tuesday and friday:) Tuesdays are for some reason always better for me, I feel I do better, I'm stronger and have more stamina.. maybe it's because I get 1 more day of rest than between tue. and friday...

But next week is my 6th week of training and the trainers at my gym said they only wanted to see me do the training I'm doing for the first 6 weeks and then I could do something else as well... , so today I asked what my possibilities are and I'm going to a spinning class on monday morning! I dread the class.. I suck on the bike and I have no stamina!! But I'll do it, and I'll do it every monday. Unfortunatly there are only morning classes on mondays and sundays and the weekend are my "off time" and sundays are definetly a day off so I wont be doing more classes but I need to do something else I think in the morning and need to make some kind of a program.., I don't know if I should go to the gym in the morning of the day I do my circle with Nick tuesday, and friday afternoons.. I have to see and ask.
But mostly I' just thinking what I should do, what the next step should be and how much I should train each week...

The electicity went out yesterday.. not fun at all. I was "almost" out for electricity all the day today so I had no internet, not TV, no nothing basicly. I didn't dare to wash anything because what's the point if the electricity goes out.. so everything was unplugged and so the fridge could work and I could make food and have light if I needed it. The in the afternoon Nicks friend (who is luckily an electician) came over to see what the problem was and yes indeed it was the freezer so on saturday we need to go buy a new one.. hooray, hooray, we were going to go out to eat just the 2 of us but now we are going to buy a freezer "the 2 of us instead"....

I don't have anything else to say really... so adios:)

Tingen

2009-10-17T23:29:00.003+02:00

Tingen; NW-05 Caeles Just In Time

Tingen is here:) I haven't seen her for years and she's here to be mated with Ira, this is my litter and I am very excited about it.

Tingen is very much the type I love and what she lacks Ira makes up and they also compliment each other very nicely and both have some of the same good things going on but not the same faults:)

I am planning to take photos off her, maybe when Elisa comes with Ira if I will have managed to slim her down, otherwise I'll have one more week and then Lena is here so I'll post new photos of her then, she's "packing some extra weight" at the moment and I intend to get it off.

She's so easy around the house, no fuzz with her and it's like she's always been here around the dogs, everyone acts around her like she's always been here apart from Dollar who is totally head over heels in love with her:)

Now I just have to hope she wont come in season untill at least wednesday next week, then she'll be 9 days when Ira comes and that's ok but no sooner I wont chance that. The reason I'm worried is that Sonic and Lucy are very much in season now and Hans told me she sometimes start when Peggy is in season so I hope she'll wait a bit.. she's supposed to start in November and that's good for me:)

I am very, very, very excited about this litter and plan to keep a girl for myself:)

I don't have any other news, I'm home alone, Nick is out playing poker with his friends and I rented "bride wars" and "he's just not that into you".. girl movies as all I watch with Nick is thrilles/horror and guy movies and I just need a little batch of silly, stupid girl movies...

I'm dying I really want candy, I didn't get any today, thought I'd tuffen it out and of course I regret it now.. I mean it's saturday!

But I've been bad this week eating chocolate that I should not have eaten so I guess it serves me right. I did get some strawberries and sprinkled some sugar over them and melted some dark chocolate and poured over so I did get some sugar but still not nearly as much as I want and crave for right now....

But I'm gonna stop, "he's just not that into you" is in the playstation and I think I'm gonna make some popcorn.. and now I want normal coke with it not that light stuff I'm trying to drink when I want coke... but hey, if I want to get in shape I have to alter what I eat and make cutbacks and if I can't stop drinking coke then I better switch over to light... right?......

....

2009-10-12T15:31:00.003+02:00

a banner I made

Yes people.. what's up from this part of the world..

uuu not much really, I'm still working out in the gym twice a week and I have lot 5 cm of my waist wich is good:)

Joey & Elmo are driving me mad, Joey just doesn't give up trying to dominate Elmo who does not give in, I've started to put one of them in crate everytime they are both upstairs because it just pisses me off and makes me tense and irritated and of course I live in a country where I don't know anyone and can't put one of them out to end this "torture".

Sonique is in season and Lucy is also in season, Nox & Stella should be starting soon as well so it will be lively here.

We have bought tickets to Iceland, we leave on december the 20th, we go from Brussels with a stop in Amsterdam and then to Keflavik where we'll be landing at around 15;30 I belive:)

We go back on the 1st of january, there were no seats available on the 2nd when we planned to go -well there were seats but those were some expensive seats and the tickets were expensive enough as it is. On the way home we'll go through Heathrow and have an almost 4 hour stop there and arrive in Brussel at 18:00 pm :)

So for those that want to meet up with us/me, let me know so I can make some plans:)

Elisa is coming with Ira the october/november weekend, I can't wait to get him back. He's also entered to a show the weekend after .

Tingen is hopefully coming to me soon and when she starts her season she will be mated with Ira and I will have my very own Ira litter:) Can't wait.

The world dog show in Bratislava is over, from photos and videos of the arrangement I'm not to sad about being home, the rings looked small and it wasn't nearly as "big and special" looking as it was in Sweden last year. Next year it'll be in Denmark and I really, really want to go.

I don't know if there are any other news, I just got a very, very, very nice showlead for Casper. I have been searching for a special, light and elegant lead for him now for years and never found anything that I thought was really that special and those I found that I kinda liked they costed an arm and a leg.. but now I have a special, handmade showlead for him and it's just perfect:)

I'll take a photo of it when I feel up for it:)

Blondie is still spending most of his time in his crate in Italy, not making me very proud.. but all I can do is hope he comes around and remembers what he has learned here.

Well, I have a shitload if things to do, I need to get the house in 200% order so I can start on the attic before Elisa comes with Ira:)

So off I go.. have a nice day:)

POURING rain!!

2009-10-07T18:47:00.002+02:00

The rain is just pouring down like there will be no end of it, the sky is grey and it just doesn't look good out there!!

Blondie went to his new home in Italy yesterday, I got news now that he's being shy and just staying in his vari kennel all day like he doesn't excist! Ohhh I'm so irritated of his behaviour, and he even snapped his new owner in the finger! total idiot! (blondie, not Fabio hehe)..
He has never, ever shown any signs of snapping at anyone here and we've had guests and people coming that he doesn't know. He tryes to be a hero and barks and then runs away, maybe that's what he was gonna do because when he barks he also moves his head torwards the person he's barking at before he runs away.. I don't know but me no likey!
Of course his life has changed totally in the last 24 hours and Blondie is definetly the type that needs time to adjust.. but still I really don't like to be the breeder of a dog who didn't even come out of his crate the first day because temperament is so very important to me!

I'm just irritated because of this, wish I could fly over to Italy and just make Blondie snap out of it and see that it's very nice where he is with lots of new friends to play with.
Another thing I thought of is that Blondie has also never been away from his mother.. that might have something to say of his insecurity. I let him and Dollar sleep in a crate with Lucy, mostly because Blondie could not be in a crate with Ninja.. she was to hard on him and Sonique also told him if he was to klingy and Sonique doesn't like Ninja so they are in separate crates and the dogs are "split" in 3 big crates... so Dollar and Blondie usually had Lucy with them allthought some nigths Lucy was in some of the other crates.. I tryed to rotate them around the dogs they could be with so they wouldn't get hooked on some one dog..

We went to the gym yesterday and it was great, I really feel it and even when I'm tired and feel like I should go a bit slower on the bike or cross trainer I just think about how I don't want to be and that next summer if we go on vacation in a nice place with a nice beach I can actually enjoy it and not be covered up all the time.. I can walk the beaches proudly:)
I'm also thinking about all the new clothes I'm gonna have to buy because nothing I have will fit and that keeps me going:) Especially thinking about getting new showclothes hehe:)
I don't know why but everytime I go to look at some clothes the first thing I look for and think about is something to show in,....

-The rain is pouring even harder now, with a little bit of thunder "on the side"...

Sonique seems to be coming in season, the dogs were going crazy upstairs.. everytime I had to go down and change the washing machine or went up to check my mail and farmville on Facebook they were marking here and there in the house!! I HATE it, the males have been wearing diapers but the markers are apparently the bitches.. so season-season is right around the corner. Nox and Stella should also be starting soon.

That's about all I have to say for now...

Have a nice weekend:)

2009-10-03T00:58:00.002+02:00

I think this week has gone by so fast! This is the third week I don't go to school, the first 2 weeks and last monday my teacher was sick and on wednesday I was (of course) sick.. (great timing to be sick).
But at least I'm "done" with it then.. hopefully I wont get the flu again untill next year. It's still there but I'm getting better. I even went to the gym today and apart from doing my usual program I asked if I could see how the rest was and got that and was told that I need to do my usual program 2 sets and then the new program for another 2 sets and I have to do the first one first 2 times and then the second one.. no cheating. I thought ohh well at least there is no cross trainer thingy on the second circle.
After I finished the second set of the first round I was beat and thought "why did I want to see that second circle now.." but I didn't want to look like a wimp so I did it, 2 times just like I'm supposed to do now every time I go working out! Thankfully it's just 2 times a week, but you really feel it when you go. 2 times a week sounds little but it's not, with this kind of workout it's enough and the muscles need time to rest as they are used differently because in all the power machines it's f.ex. 20 kgs when you're pulling and when you are going back it adds 5 kgs and you really need to control it and make it go back steady and then pull and go back steady...
I think I really suck at where I have to push with my hands away and then take it back slowly, my hands are shaking when I do that. Maybe it's to heavy but I've been doing it now for 3 weeks almost and I'm not about to make it lighter now. We always have to an 1 kg in the beginning of the workout so you always, always have to push yourself:)

Enough about my workout.. wonder what I'll do when we come to Iceland for christmas. We haven't gotten the tickets, I'm always hoping they'll go down but they are going up rather than down so we'll get them very soon.

I have been playing around in a program making photos. Thought I'd put some here and show:)

Now Nox isn't mated yet, this one is for next year hopefully, but I was just trying

----------

I'm actually still working on this one, it's supposed to show my photography skills..
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The boys and girls.. well some of them

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The next planned litter:)

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I like that one:)

So I hope you have a great weekend! I'm staying at home, taking it easy, getting the cold out of my system and ironing a big pile of clothes and washing an even bigger pile of clothes and dog blankets!

Beware of the influenza!!

2009-10-01T21:17:00.002+02:00

Just wanna warn everyone that now's the time the influenza is going around from ppl to ppl! It has gotten to me, missed school and bath day for Casper and cleaning day (what else hehe) !
So if you're cold, get dressed, if you're feeling shitty.. rest if you're sick stay home and don't let anyone else get what you have!
My influenza has to go by tomorrow because I cannot drop the gym tomorrow! It's 2 times a week for now while my muscles get used to this technique we do there and tomorrow I get to use some new machines! I must get well, even if it's just for that one hour I'm there!!!

I'm on dayquil and nyquil! wonder medicine from the USA!! Total lifesavers at times like these!

The show..

2009-09-29T15:40:00.003+02:00

I was at a show last sunday in Maastricht, Netherlands and I had Bling and Dollar entered.
The judge was Magnus Hagstedt from Sweden, I knew he's pretty strict but I didn't know what he puts emphasis on and what not...
So first in is Dollar (who was accidentally entered as a greyhound..) and he did so well. He was very good on the table, stood still and behaved and I have never let strangers look at him on the table so I was very pleased. On the move he was also good, I had been walking him a bit before we went in the ring and he was mostly jumping around so I wondered what we'd do.
But in the ring, I was aware of it and made sure to be calm and not speak to him and just walk and he walked beautifully for a first timer!!

But he only got a "very good" grading and I am not happy with that, it was because the judge wanted him to be more stable coming and going in the front other than that his critique was just "excellent this and excellent that" so I wasn't happy at all.
Here's the critique:
Elegant & Masculin male. Beautiful expression. Would like more fill to the foreface. Balanced angulation but could be sounder and stronger in front. Excellent body and brisket, fine hindquarters. Stylish mover from the side but could be much sounder coming and going. Excellent coat and skin. Shown in excellent condition.

So as you can see, it's more than a very good critique and Dollar being a 9 month old junior I think deserves an excellent.. but I can't do anything but nag... he's entered to Bleiswijk under Gunnar Nymann in the beginning of November (btw Lena, the deadline is out on 1/10)

Next in was Bling, she showed well as always and got excellent. She was alone in championclass so she got to compete for the CAC wich she did not get, then she had to compete for the reserve CAC wich she also did not get and out of the ring I stormed, not happy at all. I really, really hate being the only one not to get anything!!! Seriously!

I went to pick up the critiques and saw something attached to Blings critique, a reserve CACIB, the bitch that got the reserve CAC was a junior so she could not get the reserve cacib so that went to Bling so I guess we did get something but there's no use in that....
Here is her critique:

Elegant & Feminin, Excellent proportions and balance. would like more fill in the forface. Excellent legs and feet. Strong angulation. Good mover from the side but quite wide from the front coming and going. Excellent condition.

I honestly think Dollars critique is better than Blings critique.... wich is why I'm so pissed off that Dollar got VG while Bling got Excellent!

I don't have anything more to say right now, I had my camera with me but it just doesn't handle taking photos on halls, I seriously need a new camera, hate that I can't take photos at shows!!!

-oh I forgot to say I handled a whippet for someone from the UK, the bitch was very shy and didn't show herself well (she just lacked energy). I got her just a few minutes before she was supposed to be in the ring so there wasn't much time getting to know her and finding her buttons. She was last in her class with a "very good", there were 5 bitches in the class and 3 of them got very good, the critique was good and it seems that because she wasn't showing herself so well got her that grading. Poor girl had been at some kennel and was going back home now because they didn't take good care of her, she was filthy, her teeth were awful and some had to be retracted due to plaque and tartar. She just needs time to get to be a dog again and play and be loved. I felt so sorry for her because you just looked at her and saw she was sad.
It was nice to get to handle a whippet though, I thought I had but when I put her on the table I figured out I had never done that before, I thought it was weird putting a "big dog" like that on the table hehehe.
I hope I get to do some more handling, I really miss not having more dogs to handle like I did when I was in Norway. I feel I'm slipping and not on the top of my game anymore.
I'm thinking about going to Charleroi and watch group 9 & 10 next sunday. There might be some nice french dogs there that I'd like to see.
Just wish I had a camera so I could take proper photos!!!! Ohh I hate not having any money!

Well, I gotta do something, we're going to the gym today and the dogs need to be fed before that:)

Good day

2009-09-23T15:56:00.003+02:00

It's been a pretty ok week, I finally got myself together yesterday to do some total cleaning upstairs, clean windows etc.. not fun!
Today I woke up at 9am and had some nice computer time, washed over the floors and took it easy.
Casper is getting special coat care since he's now entered to the Amsterdam winner show, he gets his bath every week (I sometimes "forgot" to bathe him) with all the best plush puppy products for his coat, now he's oiled up so his coat wont break so easily:)

Joey and Elmo are just not gonna be friends, it's getting more and more irritating, one of them has to go.

We're going to the gym in an hour to work out, then I'll go again on saturday, hope I wont be too sore as I am going to a show on sunday but to the gym I shall go!

Blondie is soon leaving, I've sent a mail to order a flight for him and am just waiting for a reply.
Lucy is also going in 2 weeks and Sonic in november so there wont be so many dogs here.. but Ira is coming back, Tingen will most likely come here for a litter and I'll keep one from that litter. Ninni is also scheduelled to come next year hahaha... I'll never get down in numbers..

I don't really have anything to say, just needed to blog because it's been some days and I'm keeping up a blog rythm here:)

Untill the next blog...

The first workout!

2009-09-19T13:50:00.002+02:00

Man I have such a bad stamina!!

The gym I have joined is very well equipped and they have this training system called "the milon circle" (or miha circle I've seen both names used), it's a very effective way of training and keeps your heartrate up all the time.

There are 4 machines you have to do first, in the right order, each focusing on different muscle groups and you have to be there for 1 minute and work out (about 15 -20 reps), then you go to the next one and it's the same. When you're done with the first 4 you go on this "skying machine" to get your cardio up and you only have to be on it for 4 minutes. I thought "ok I should be able to last for 4 minutes on it on proper speed". The thing is you have to keep your heartrate at around 170 and the speed at a certain number. After a minute and a half I was excausted! This machine is something I have always found very difficult but I just worked my way through the 4 minutes, ok I didn't go at the full speed but my heartrate was always high enough and that's the important part.

Then there are 4 other machines for 4 other muscle groups and it's the same 1 minute in each and you have to move fast, there's no waiting around after you're done, no pause to drink water untill you've finised the whole circle once.

After the 4 "power machines" or whatever they are called you have to go on a bicykle for 4 minutes and keep your heartrate up and a certain "speed". I managed the bicyckle better than the skying machine.

Now the trainer told me that when most people come in for a trial they just take 1 round, but when you're training you must do 2 rounds and I told him that I would do the 2 rounds then. So I got to drink some water and catch my breath for a minute or 2 and then start the same over again and man that second round was so hard! I really had to pull myself together and when I was on the skying machine I thought I'd dye... I went alot slower but I still kept my heartrate up.

I will get better at this, I know I will but I also don't want to overdo it the first time, I haven't been training or working out now for years so I think it's better to start a bit slow.

I only have to do this workout 2 times a week or with 3 days in between workouts because it's very effective on the muscles and they need 72 hours to recouperate after this.

For the first 6 weeks I can't do anything else than this, then I can join a spinning lesson or crunch/body combat or whatever but I need to build up some stamina and strenght first.

I really like this and I really felt it. It's easy, I have this card that is programmed so I don't have to set the kilos or the seat or anything, it's all programmed to fit me now.

And at every new workout it also adds 1 kilo to the weights (it's like some automatic weight system) so the workout will always be a challenge and I always have to push myself.

I signed in and Nick will come with me on tuesday or wednesday and he'll probably sign in as well:)

You can see photos of the machines here to get an idea what they look like: http://www.easyfithamme.be/ just click "miha circle" and you'll see it, the bubble thing in the middle is a timer, so you start your 1 minute workout when the bubbles start and end when they stop:)

So all is promising now! I'm thinking about starting to work a bit next year so we can get some extra money so Nick doesn't have to work his ass off every day.

But I got to go now, just wanted to keep you updated on my workout progress:)

We're going out for dinner tonite, I have to brush Casper and colour my hair and feed the dogs before we go so I'll quit now:)

The first day of official life change

2009-09-18T12:48:00.002+02:00

Yes people I am going to the gym today, it's a trial day, the trainer there will show me some special stuff there that makes your workout last longer and shorter hahaha... you train for a shorter period of time (around 45 minutes, 2 times a week) but the training itself is special and has more effect on your muscles so they need to rest and recouperate for the next 72 hours before you do that special training again.
I got to try one machine when we went there to check things out and I really felt it so today I'll do the whole workout, the trainer says he's gonna let us sweat... Nick is coming too:)

I'm excited actually! It's about damn time I do something like that and I belive this is something I can do because it's all set what you have to do. The gym has spinning, body combat, crunch & zumba lessons as well but the trainer says I can't do any of that the first 6 weeks because I need to build up some stamina and muscles before I go do that.

So that's the plan for today, then we'll have a very relaxing evening, Nick went to work at 5 this morning so he'll be super tired!
Tomorrow the ol'Norwegian TI gang will go out to a restaurant and eat:) We're 6 and take turns inviting each other out to dinner and tomorrow it's my time to be the driver ohhhh... not looking forward to that, I hate being sober around drunk ppl, no matter if it's my friends or not.. been there done that EVERY TIME I went out in Iceland because I was the one living the furthest away so ppl sometimes took advantage of that.

But, positive thoughts...

Casper was clipped yesterday, he looks like the fine poodle he is now! He's really looking good now, it's taken him 3,5 years to get mature but he is now, and he will only get better! I will most likely drop all IGs out of the showring for the rest of the year and take Casper out to the big shows in november and december:)
I have one show coming up next weekend, Bling and Dollar are entered, then the deadline for some other shows is coming up fast so I have to decide what to do:) But it looks like Casper is the safest bet now seeing what judges are doing each breed.

Have a good weekend:) I plan on having a great one:)

Accident in our street

2009-09-15T14:45:00.007+02:00

Yes my dear readers, I feel like a news reporter now with this blog.

Yesterday, I guess around 6pm, I was minding my own business in the computer and Nick was playing something in his holy playstation like we do often in the afternoon/evening.

I hear a car honk his horn and then I hear a big "bonk" sound.

Nick pauses his game and I ask if he heard that, and he says he did and stands up and goes to check out the window because the sound came right outside infront of our house.

"Yes, an accident" he says and I go down to see.

2 cars, driving in opposite directions had a head on crash right infront of the front door on Evangeliestraat 15!

All the neighbourhood was gathered around there, seeing what had happened. (and I played paparazzi from our window)

Both the airbags in both cars were out so it was a pretty heavy crash.

The fire department was first on the scene along with the ambulance coming shortly after. The man in the dark car was still in behind the steering wheel and they took him out and put him on stretchers and took him to the ambulance.

Then they were trying opening the hood of the dark car, and ended up using big, big electric clipper to get it open. I don't know why they had to open it, but I'm guessing it was a fire hazard..

Alot of more ppl gathered there after all the loud cars (fire dep, ambulance, police) came and they ended up putting up a perimiter so they could work in peace.

Nick went out in the evening later to check why they hadn't taken the cars (the cars were still there at around 9pm when they were finally towed.

We were wondering how this could have happened, a head on collicion like that, belgian ppl are used to crowded small streets and that sometimes on a street that can take traffic from both sides there is no space because, like in this instance there was a big car parked on the side of the street.. but Nick was told that sadly the driver of the dark car had gotten a heart attack while driving and that he passed away.

So all in all, a very sad evening for someone and brought up some memories of mine.

------------------

And now going to something brighter and more positive, Lucy had her last control visit today for her leg, it's healing very well, there is still a little fracture there still healing, hopefully it will be ok in 2 months or so so she still needs to be a bit careful, other than that everything looks good.

I haven't done much since my last blog, we didnt' do much this weekend, went out for a few beers and kriek on friday, I went home and Nick went on to some bar, I just didn't feel like it and had to attend to the dogs.

On saturday we stayed at home, rented some video and had a good meal and just relaxed:) I went to the shopping center during the day and there were so many nice things, and now I saw alot of clothes in H&M but I didn't buy anything.. no way I'm buying clothes in this size that fits me now... not happening! So if I want clothes I need to slim down enough so none of my current clothes fit me and that's that!

-and with that thougth in mind, I am watching what I'm eating, eating less, drinking more water etc.. and today in that spirit I went to a very nice grocery store (like Hagkaup in Iceland and like Meny in Norway). They have everything and they have good products and there I walked past the fish and I bought some and tonite I will try to make fish!

OMG... I have no idea what I've gotten myself into trying to make fish.. I don't like it so much and can only eat a special fish on the restaurant I used to work at, the plan is to do the same fish as they make there... problem is I don't know how to make the sauce with it. I know I should really not have sauce but this is fish we're talking about and if I do not like it I need to be able to cover the taste with some sauce.. I did buy some fish sauce, but I want the good coconut-curry sauce I'm "used" to eating with fish..

Well, all ideas to make fish good are welcome in the comment area, as long as it's healthy.. no fishgratin with cheese and fatty fat stuff, I'm trying to get healthy here and look good before I come to Iceland;)

That's it for today:)

-ETA , I blog about a big accident involving death and I even take paparazzi photos just to put on the blog and I get no comments.. common, I think this deserves some attention...

Super lazy week

2009-09-10T13:34:00.003+02:00

I've been so lazy this week!! I seriously need a slap int he face to get out of this hole I'm in!!
Sleeping late, not doing anything... it's not good! I even went very early to sleep yesterday (22.30pm) and still slept till 10pm + hehe.
I did however clean the bathroom, then I folded some stuff that needed folding and went up to eat something and watched the L word and then I haven't done anything... checked my mail, blogs, forums, websites... I need to finish the bathroom and bedroom and then upstairs so I can start changing the attic into a office/guestroom:)

I entered Bling to Maastricht for M. Hagstedt, then Dollar wont be all alone and has someone who knows the ropes.
I'm thinking about taking Ninja to a show.. I plan to show her at Brussels winner but I want to take her out once before that to see what she thinks about the whole showscene..she's never even been to a show (as a xtra dog for training) so I need to do something about that.. maybe this show in Leuven, Rodi Hubental is judging.. I have to check and see what he's put up in the past:)

Ok, Waterloo is on the radio.. I must go and clean and get in the mood and this is the perfect song to get me going!!!

Not going..

2009-09-08T13:13:00.002+02:00

Ok, talk about expensive shows!! The show in Zwolle that I was planning on going to apparantly had 2 deadlines and I had written up the latter so it was 60 euros to enter!!!
I was making everything ready so we could just pay when Nick came home and then I saw the price and decided to drop that show... I'm just not paying this much for a show it's ridiculous!

Instead I'll go to a show in Leuven, don't know anything about the judge and cannot/will not enter Dollar because it's just a waste of money cuz he can't win anything... but I might enter him to Amsterdam in hopes of winning the juniorclass and getting a little title:)

The weather is beautiful today and I am not gonna sit here in the attic on the computer!!!

Over and out

Change of judges...

2009-09-06T11:56:00.003+02:00

Home sweet home

oh man I hate this.. but at least it's announced BEFORE the deadline...

I have been planning to go to this show in Zwolle, they had a US judge and I was very excited about that.. now he's not coming and what do they get.. a "local" dutch judge, what else.

The good thing is that this is the judge with the endless name that put Joey up as BOS and his half sister Tingen to BOB (from the junior class).. and her brother Justin got the CAC that day so needless to say I'm quite fine with the choice of judges.. question is who will I show for Mrs. Stuifbergen-Hoetjes..? I think Dollar and Bling will get to go out and play this time, I need a CACIB on Bling..

And I have some good news as well, I will be going home to Iceland over the holidays!! Hopefully for 2 whole weeks, but it depends on how much the tickets are. Yesterday they were at an all time low, I have been checking all week and it was good yesterday.. today it's up again so I'll be watching the price throughout the week and if it drops again on saturday I think we'll buy the tickets then, so we'd come aproximently between the 19 and 21st and leave on the 2nd of january:)

My mom told me yesterday that my youngest sister, Kitty, will be staying at her boyfriends family on christmas eve... I don't think so... I'm coming and I have not seen her new babygirl and I haven't seen her son for a year and a half, I think I have the "right" to demand that she'll be at home since they can see them whenever they want, while I can only see them now and I don't know when the next time will be.. hopefully every christmas but still., one never knows!

Short and simple today:) Adios

Expensive shows...

2009-09-03T17:09:00.002+02:00

The shows here are pretty expensive with usally 45 euros per dog you can't enter many dogs because you'd just go broke!
I hate this as I feel it's a waste of money with all the loosing I've been doing.. and then there is this show I have been very excited about, the Amsterdam Winner show! I wanted to show Casper on saturday and Dollar and Stella on sunday.. untill I saw they are charging 56 euros per dog and no discount at all for people who are entering more than one dog!
I do want to enter Casper but I also want to enter Dollar.. there is a double CAC at the show and a winner title and the judges for each are not local so I'd love to try... but for 56 euros and the breeds shown on separate days makes it a bit expensive..
I don't know what to do.. I really, really want to show Casper, but I also want to show Dollar.. but I'm not sure I want to spend 112 euros on just 2 dogs!

The Brussels winner show is better, 45 euros per dog and 40 euros for 2nd and 3rd..etc..
of course the judge list isn't as good there and group 9 & 10 are on the same day so it would be pretty hard to show 3 breeds and 2 of them need some attention before going in the ring.. I could have Ninja ready to go, but she'd still need some brushing but Casper needs to be brushed up, topknot put up and brushed and sprayed and name it.. so I don't know what I 'll do there,
Again I want to show Casper, and I really want to show Ninja as the judge really, really likes her sire so I'll most likely drop the IGs...

Today has been a lousy day.. very windy and raining all day, not fun and I have been freezing.

I have been looking at tickets to Iceland and why, oh why is it always more expensive to fly from Brussels! It's 350 euros difference between Brussels and Paris, and now aproximently the same between Brussels and Amsterdam... tomorrow I'll know for sure if we can make it or not.. but it's promising:) Hopefully Icelandair will lower their fairs just for an hour or so at the moment I am looking to book a ticket:)
I am so excited about going home!! It will be so great:)

First day over and done

2009-09-02T14:14:00.003+02:00

Ok, ok.. just updating anxious readers about my first day...

I couldn't sleep at all last night, and I wasn't excited or anything like that, just when I went to bed I just felt I was wide awake! I kept looking at the alarm hour after hour.. at 8am I was like ok I should get up, but felt like lying a bit longer so at 8:16 I got up and took a shower.. let the dogs out found my stuff and a half hour later I hopped on my beautiful bicycle and went to school.

I was there just a few minutes before 9am.. no one was there and I had no idea what classroom I should go to..

I went to the office and asked where my class was and was pointed to a building, when walking there looking around I passed a woodshop course and the guy came out asking what I was looking for and he pointed and said it should say on the door what it was.. I walk and see latin and think nope.. not what I 'm gonna learn, then I walked along the building and didn't find anything.. walked some more to make sure and gave up and decided to go to that latin class room and ask where in the world the dutch class with my teacher was. Now I have the same teacher I had last year so I was looking for her and knew if I saw her I'd be in the right place.. well as I said I didn't and went in the latin class and the teacher was speaking to one of the students and I waited and then she turned and I asked, and then I just looked and the teacher looked at me and then all of a sudden "Margret" ahh you're here!... she had changed her hair so I didn't recognize her lol.. and my hair is much darker so she didn't recognize me when I walked past there the first time hahaha.. so the latin class was actually dutch class and there I was.

We are 5 ladies in the class, I think there's one more.. now since this isn't intensive I know more than most of these girls do and I speak, understand and pronounce it better than most. There is one polish one that is really good so there is my motivation... be better:)

Anyhow, I survived my first day of school, now I just need to look in the book a bit and go over the "perfectum and inperfectum" because that's what this semester is all about and I need to be on the top of my game. Next class isn't untill monday.

I also forgot to mention that my darling Nick found a dogtraining group here in Hamme and they are doing basic obidience, obidience agility and some other stuff and they are training quite often so I can definetly go there, he's gonna come with me first so I can see where it is but hopefully I can start to do agility with Ninja and maybe some basic obidience with some of the dogs so they learn how to behave for once hahaha.

That's it, just wanted to report about my schoolday:)

Shoes

2009-09-01T22:48:00.005+02:00

So as some of you know I like shoes... and I own quite a few pairs from working in shoestores and after quitting that and moving having a sister that worked in a shoestore...

So one day I was bored, had nothing better to do so I started gathering some of my shoes and took them out in the sun to take photos... just thought I share..

This one is special, as you know if you are devoted readers I was taking photos at a friends wedding, well this one is from that, it's the wedding shoes, it wasn't planned, the bride just got a bit tired and took the shoes of, she was talking to some guests while I snapped this one and I think it's my favourite photo from the event:)

These are one of my favourite pairs

I just love them

When I saw my sister in these I fell in love and I think I went the next day to buy myself the same pair.. I usually don't imitate others, but I couldn't resist these, plus I was going out of the country:)

My hot pink San Francisco sandals:)

These are from my time as a shoegal working in a shoestore:)

ahhh.. my darling stilettos! I love these, to bad I don't last very long in them and can only use them when I know I will be sitting down for the most part

I got these in San Francisco in a second hand store.. it was love at first sight:)

Now these are from my "affair", cheating on the shoestore I was working in to help my friend who was working for the competitor getting payed in shoes:)

That's it for now, I might take photos of my other shoes, I have plenty more I think I have over 40 pairs... I should get them out of the boxes they are in so I can use them more:)

Ok now I go to sleep.. 2 blogs in one night almost at the same time, that must be very good!!

school..

2009-09-01T22:30:00.004+02:00

photo taken in Iceland outside my parents house

yikes... school starts tomorrow! How weird is that! I am not excited at all, I don't know why but I'm not so interested in learning this language, I don't think I'm trying hard at all.. otherwise I'd probably speak it close to fluently now as languages come quite easily to me when I get the basics.

Sure the writing is something else, but just to speak is usually not that hard. I want to learn french, I plan on going to France in august next year and it would be nice to know some basic french so me and my non-french speaking friends can maybe network a bit and ask questions to french breeders that only speak french... maybe I'll pull myself together for the rest of the year and see if I can take a french course next year along my advanced dutch....

But, it's not terrible starting school, it's not intensive course because they didn't have one here and I didn't want to go far since we only have 1 car and I'm just not a bus person. Not here anyway.. in Denmark it's not a problem but here and elsewhere nope..

So I'm taking a normal speed course here and it's only 2 times a week 3 hours a day and it's not even early, on mondays it's not untill in the afternoon and tomorow it's from 9-12 . But still, there's just something about school that makes everything in me negative, the feeling when I go there, the smell, the atmosphere.. the fact that it's at a normal elementary school or something with kids/teenages running around just doesn't bring up good memories... not that I was bullied or anything like that in school, for me school was just not an "important part of my life", guess I don't have that school gene... still I want to learn something now, something I can use and perhaps earn some money and get better payed because of my education... but I also feel I'm getting old for school...

-yeah, yeah I know, bullshit, you're never to old for school... sometimes I wonder if I wasted my life in not going to school but when I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do, wouldn't it have been a waist of time and money to maybe learn something that I had absolutely no interest in at all and wouldn't do me any good now that I still don't know what I want....

It's food for thought....

I've gotten mails from the family that has Flame, everything is going great and they are totally in love with him and say I really made a nice little gentleman there:) It's really nice to hear:) Makes me happy. I just can't belive I wont have a litter untill next summer!! It's so long untill next summer, this one just finished wich means I have to wait for the fall, winter and spring.. and in the spring I can mate but still I'll have to wait! And I'm not the only one waiting, I have some interested ppl in the future litter, hope I get "lots" of puppies lol not sure when the next litter after that will be...

BTW it looks very, very, very promising that we will be coming to Iceland for the holidays!!! The dogsitting lady is coming on friday so we can talk to her, let her meet the dogs and see if what we have in mind is possible and if all goes well I'm ordering tickets home!!

So, bla bla bla bla... I'm just trying to break a blogging record or something.. keepin it going:)

Nitee night my devoted readers, those who comment and those who don't.. you know who you are........... I don't, lol:)

Getting the "poodle fever"

2009-08-31T23:37:00.002+02:00

Ohhhh.. I'm dying here, surfing throught different poodle websites, looking at how they are clipped and seeing different stuff and wishing I knew how to do this!!!!

I had Norways BEST poodle groomers at my fingertips, I had plenty of "practising poodles" when I was in Norway, WHY oh why didn't I use the opportunity?!?

I'm feeling so stupid, now I live in a country where I think most poodles aren't clipped and trimmed to my likings and I'm going around wanting to show Casper but not really wanting to let anyone have his hands on him...

And no.. I am not clipping him myself and showing him and "learning the hard way" I will not step in a ring with a badly groomed poodle in a country where I am trying to establish myself as someone who knows what she's doing!

I do have an appointment for Casper to be trimmed with a girl who learned from someone who learned from a danish groomer, I do like her bitch and she keeps her tightly trimmed wich I think is nicer than overflow of coat... but that is a standard bitch, how will she do on my Casper who's a small toy with a coat that could be better.... I guess she'll do a better job than I will do, then I can always practise after she's clipped him in keeping him that way and hopefully improve and find my own style.. but gosh, I WISH I would have let Astrid teach me how to do it, or Terje, or Edgar... or any of these great poodle people and groomers I have met and gotten to know!!

Nick was asking me if I didn't want to go to a course to learn to clip Casper hahahaha.. I told him it takes alot more than a course to learn to trim a poodle and I highly doubt they have a course called "how to clip a poodle" lol....

Nope, lets hope that Casper will be clipped nicely, then I'll take him out for a "testride" in Kortrijk and if all goes well he will be entered for poodle breeders and specialists at the Amsterdam and Brussels winner shows!

-Nick thinks I'm crazy wanting to go to Amsterdam on saturday and sunday.. but group 9 is on saturday and group 10 on sunday and I want to show Casper and I want to show Dollar...

Brussels is a bit harder, I want to show Casper, I want to show Ninja and I want to show Dollar... 3 breeds and they are all on the same day.. I wonder if I can do that, it's been a LONG time since I showed alot of dogs in different rings.. and a poodle always takes time and needs attention because of the coat and topknot and everything... pfff... wonder what I will do, I figure I have the least chance in the IG ring actually since I don't know a thing about the judge (who is italian). I know the crested judge likes Ninjas type, and the competition in toys isn't much.. the question is if it'll be more at that show but the judge is a belgian breeder so at least his dogs will not be shown.. wich is good for me.

I just needed to get this out:) Got to go to sleep now:) Nighty night, have a nice day tomorrow.

Going, going...gone

2009-08-29T16:22:00.004+02:00

1 less dog here! And to make it better, 1 less MALE!!

Flame was picked up by his new perfect owners Ronald and Mariette today and moved to the Netherlands where he will live with a Galgo, Whippet and a German Sheperd if I remember correctly:)

I think he will fit very well into this home, he loved his new owners and was already very attached to them when they came here wich is always good:)

So now I just "need" Blondie out of the house, it's hard to have dogs here and get attached to them when I know they're going. I try to keep some distance but Blondie is just so hooked on me that it's hard!

Lucy is also going in october/november to the USA so that makes 3 dogs less in the house.

I am hoping to find a home close by (up to 2 hour driving distance) for Elmo because he and Joey aren't getting along to well, they have fought, and allthough that is a very rare thing, theya re constantly growling at each other and I don't think it will ever be better as neither gives up.

Since Elmo is younger he will be the one to go out, but I still want to own him and keep all breeding rights on him and I don't have any network here to find someone that can "just" house him. I just need that last CAC or even reserve on him to finish his dutch championship and we WILL get that done, but other than that I don't plan on showing him more, he's a good dog and an outstanding producer, but he's no superstar in the ring and for the entry fees they are asking here I can't "waist" it on a dog I know doesn't have the biggest chance. Sure if the perfect judge comes along, yes I might take him out but my focus in males is on Ira and Dollar, and perhaps Joey when he's a veteran next year.

Elmo likes to eat also, and I can't keep starving him just because I might take him to this or that show... it's just not fair. Plus after he broke his leg he's a bit sensitive about his leg, and can limp if he's just overly stressed or overly excited. -There's more to dogs than just shows, if they don't like it I don't force them.

Now what would be absolutely perfect is if Sonic and Elmo could move together, Sonic is a bit sharp in the temperament and I have to be careful not getting her overexcited when she is up and other dogs are coming up, or vice versa.. she would be a great only dog, or with Elmo, they are a good pair... but again networking is something I suck at.. well normal people networking, I think I'm quite ok building up a network with other breeders, handlers, groomers... dog people.. but they usually have the same problem as me, to little space/time and to many dogs..

So now I got that out of my system.. I really hope I manage to do this so I can keep a pup after Stella and Ira:) Then of course Ira is coming back so numbers jump back up.. well actually they might keep the same as another dog might go for a short visit but more about that later:)

I'll also get Ninni next year so again numbers will jump up, and when Lucy has puppies in the US I will eventually get a puppy back from her that I'd like to keep, unless I find a perfect co-owner, interested dogppl please come forward:)

I am about to enter Dollar to his first show!! I've been training him a bit walking on a showleash, I actually have a snake chain on him, just trying so I can correct him when his tail goes up, up, up... his tail is definetly not his greatest feature so we want that one down, down down..

he's getting better, I've just been a bad trainer, same with Stella, I haven't trained them as I should and know I can.. so I'm gonna make up for that and train them better now so they'll be fabulous in the ring:)

We're going out to eat this evening:) It's always lovely, I can't wait to just sit and be served;) Much better than the pitta i planned (because it's easy food and I don't have to do so much)

I'll let this be enough... maybe someone will comment this time, my last 2 blogs have no comment whatsoever! Lena has en excuse but not the rest of u;) If

I have to give my comments elsewhere I charge comments here:)

Over and out....

Casper

2009-08-26T11:38:00.002+02:00

I have been doing some thinking and I think that I am going to start to show Casper again!

The competition here is not big, only 1 or 0 toy males at every show! Casper is in good shape, he likes to show, I just need to get his coat in order and I'm working on that.

I'm quite excited about this decision of mine, I love showing him allthough he hasn't been shown much. He is a good dog and he should be seen! He'll be 4 years old in january so I think it's about time I take him out.

I just need to plan how I will do this, it's a bit hard to show him and some IGs at the same time so I'll have to pick shows with the groups on separate days, like Amsterdam Winner, there group 9 is on saturday and group 10 on sunday so that wont be a problem.

I think I'd also like to show him in Kortrijk in november, I'm not sure I want to show IGs there because I don't know anything about the judges and feel I'd have a bigger chance with Casper so I'll take him there:)

That's it for today:)

Reserve

2009-08-23T18:09:00.002+02:00

-gosh I really "love" getting the reserve at dogshows...

Arrg, just came home, Stella did so good at the show today, and her competitor (who is nice) was scared so I thought we had it in the box... but no... the competitor had better topline and better arch on her neck so therefor she got the CAC, CACIB and BOB... hooray, hooray, I love dogshows here....

Seriously, I am starting to be a sore looser, I really feel sometimes that I'm totally overseen. I know when my dogs don't behave and don't deserve winning and I accept that but when they show well, head held high and even freestack proudly and still get nothing I start to get irritated...

I wont give up, this is only the 3rd show I take Stella too and she's always better and better, I think I will enter her to Maastricht for Magnus Hagstedt.. so anyone who reads this who has shown for him please tell me before sept. 1st that I can chance it or I shouldnt' spend money on it... I wanna know, I will hopefully show Dollar there as a junior, just need his papers first and I am taking Stella out and showing her now "full time" so that's why I'm thinking about trying her for Hagstedt.

I'll also take her & Dollar to the shows in Zwolle & Bleiswijk (netherlands) and maybe to the Kortrijk show in Belgium, then it's the big winner shows in Amsterdam and Brussels and I'l show Dollar for sure on both, Stella at the Amsterdam W show I think.. not sure at the Brussel.. italian judge, I know nothing about him and I'm not sure I'll enter any other IGs since I want to show Ninja there for Hans Almgren.

Then I was going to steam off about other things that are going on.. I have been going crazy for a while not reaching a certain person, some of you know what this whole thing is about, some don't but god damn.. WHY can't ppl that are supposed to be working with you reply or get back to me!!!

It looks like there will be a big change coming soon.. very soon, I've had it.

Thinking outloud

2009-08-20T22:46:00.003+02:00

Stella training stacking on the ground

Dollar 8 months old

Stella giving me kisses

Nick & Stella

Stella eating my earing

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I am again stuck with these thoughts in my mind of what breeders are thinking when they are making certain combinations, when they get a new dog etc..

What I like about browsing around on different IG (or other breed) websites is that it often makes me think, I look for a silver lining, what is this breeder after, why has he/she brought this dog in and so on and so on. Sometimes I think I know it, and sometimes I just don't see the "point".

Some breeders just seem to be gathering different pedigrees with hardly anything in common, and the dogs being of totally different types. More like a collection "yes I have this dog behind mine".. "yes I have this one to" that type of a breeder can have this answer for all questions, and takes pride in having all those lines.. I don't get it.

As a breeder I think the goal is to have dogs that are of the same type, now of course to get your own type you need to mix and match a bit to get "your look", but when mixing and matching everything, not keeping from any litters and breeding onwards from bitches or males from previous litters.. where exactly does that get that breeder?

It goes on this way for years and years and it's still at the same point all the time.. you can not see that this is a dog from that breeder just by looking at it without knowing the name or pedigree..

Then there are those that have a few bitches and one male and they use the male on all the bitches 2-3 times, they keep a puppy or 2, get a new male and use him on all the new generation, and on and on and on.. instead of using differeng males and then being able to use your own "stuff" on your "stuff" and thus create a line, a history in a pedigree where ppl like me can follow and "read" what the breeder was thinking and perhaps learn something from it.

I like to look at pedigrees from breeders who have a long strain of homebred dogs and see how they have put the pieces in the puzzle of a dog I like.

I do hope that when people look at my dogs that they see a silver lining, that they see that each dog has it's part to play and that in the future I will have a nice strain of my own and in the future ppl can look at an IG and say "ahh this one has to come from Margret" (and of course I hope they will say "I LOVE that dog, it's so correct")

Then there is this other type, has had some dogs of different breed and stumbles across and IG, ok it's a nice dog, does some winning and the person thinks it wants to breed, so it goes out and buys dogs, often from the very same lines (again this applies for other breeds as well).

I've seen ppl import new lines and it's halfsiblings, and full siblings, often 2 females and a male and I'm thinking WHY are you spending your money on this.. what's the point... if a person is has the financial resorses to import a dog why not speak to ppl in the breed first and see what is needed, maybe see what type that person prefers first, get to know some lines, and most important what kind of temperament some dogs have because it can be inheritet.. some dogs a just born stupid and not everyone can live with a stupid dog (I don't mean to sound harsh.. ).

I hate to see ppl just diving in the deep end of the pool and just getting new and new and new dogs without the knowledge or even preferance.. just get something new..

I know I can look at myself I haven't been in the dogworld long, and I have 12 dogs sleeping softly in their crates now. I certainly know that I might have rushed into things a bit too fast, and if I would have thought things more through I wouldn't have a full house and not a chance (chance= space, time to care and share) to keep a pup from my own litters that I have thought about and been excited about having forever now.

Still I did my homework, I "stumbled" across the breed when I was 3 years old... loved this photo of an IG in a dogbook I got as a B-day present, then the next time we got a dogbook I again always secretly wanted an IG.. then when I started to think seriously about getting a dog (after the family had FINALLY gotten one) I managed to forget my absolutely favourite breed and looked at the whippet, the puli, chinese crested, coton de tulear.. I have breedbooks on all these breeds that I was thinking about.. memories:)

Then one day I was working and I was on msn talking to a friend and she said "well if you're thinking about whippets, why not Italian Greyhound" and it was like something clicked.... how could I have FORGOTTEN all about my dream breed!!

I went deep into looking at EVERYTHING I could find on the IG on the internet, I bought a few books and read them, was told to go to a certain show in Sweden (skokloster) and stayed for 2 weeks going from Tammsvik to Ronneby where there was a 4 day show! This was in 2003 wich is 6 years ago so I feel that I did my homework well:)

I went out there and got to know dogs, speak to breeders, see many different types, learn tons, get new friends and take a whole bunch of photos wich I learned alot from looking at them later thinking what I liked and disliked..

And then I see these ppl that "just do it" just like that... and it bugs me. And then I see these breeders that I just can't find the silver lining, makes me think why r they breeding..

Then there are these breeders that just breed and breed and breed and have endless litters and you're like.. and what are you getting out of this, of course if you breed alot occasionally you get this start quality dog but when ppl look into the past of those kind of breeders you count litters, and then you count champions and wonder again.. why is this one breeding.

Then there is the one that just has a few dogs, and breeds from generation to generation, always keeps from a litter, and then goes on from that. If there is nothing good from a litter, the dam gets bred again and then hopefully something is good enough to keep.

I have gotten alot of knowledge, and alot of info from different people who breed in different ways. I remeber one breeder, very respected one that basicly breeds now from generation to generation because there is not time for more litters than 1 a year, maximum 2.. but that breeder told me that if he/she had the time he/she would have alot more litters, and would be more free to take a chance and "experiment" and he/she was sure it would benefit the line greatly and that's something I've taken with me.. now I know I haven't bred alot of litters, I just don't have homes enough to place puppies or space enough to keep but I have bitches I am willing to take a risk with, and other ones that I have more plans for when it comes to keeping, creating and evolving a line. So if those "risk" litters don't turn out like I hoped for.. no big loss, if they exceed my expectations I guess I'm that much richer in creating my bloodline..:)

Ok, I think I'm done ranting... this isn't pointed at anyone, just me needing to get things off my chest after overloading my mind going from website to website:)

Let's end this with a link to one of the most beautiful song ever made

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2trUP6p2COc

I need to learn...

2009-08-18T17:11:00.003+02:00

... to wake up early! Nick goes to work at 7am and always tryes to wake me, the day before I'm all "yeah, yeah I'll wake up with you" but then when the time comes.. NO WAY..!

He's now started to take the dogs out when he wakes up and it's supposed to make me wake up but no.. I just sleep some more and get up 2-3 hours later, then I'm always rather lazy the first hours I'm awake and do nothing, just hang around and before I know it it's 4pm and I haven't fed the dogs, washed, done dishes, washed, made the bed, washed.... and all goes to hell!

Does anyone have any advice in getting up.. and don't say "just get up".. it doesn't work with me, in the morning I can convince myself that I just want to lie there for a few minutes but then I fall asleep.. always! Irritating, if I get up I can go for a walk already, it's good especially when it's warm like today, and I have time to lie down and sunbath a little bit without thinking "oh no I have to do this and this and this..."

I hope I'll manage tomorrow, I need to change my rutine.. well I need to get myself a rutine actually I think that's the problem, I live a chaotic life, nothing is organized, I don't plan things.. well I plan alot but it seldom goes further than just my from my mind on paper..

I don't really have anything to say, I was gonna do the dishes now but the sink is jammed so I can't do a thing.. I also have to make new soup but the souppot needs washing and the sink is jammed.. I also need to be ingredients for the soup but we only have one car and the tires on my bike are flat!!

I have a show next weekend, just Stella entered this time, I don't know what to expect, dutch judge, there are only 5 IGs entered so we'll see who's there and how Stella behaves, this is really more training than having to win, but if she's the best one and doesn't get anything I'll get pissed off I tell ya!

Joey & the rooster

2009-08-16T15:08:00.002+02:00

I can't belive I forgot to blog about Joeys encounter with a rooster for about a week ago!
We were out walking, I had Joey and Casper with me and where were were almost at the end of our routine walk Joey heard something and jumped down in a ditch (a small ditch) I let him be, and walk ahead but when he wasn't coming several minutes later I turn around and call him, no answer..
I go back and hear a weird sound, then all of a sudden a big rooster jumps out, I got scared and ran away screaming like an idiot for about a minute when I gathered myself and saw Joey standing behind the rooster trying to catch him, poor rooster was running torwards me and I'm not a bird person so I ran away from the rooster and Joey after the rooster and Casper somewere in between...
this must have been a funny sight, eventually I got Joey away from the rooster, the rooster had bitten him so he had a small wound on his side, but nothing serious. Casper decided he wanted to check that rooster and went after him but when I walked away Casper came after me.. he is my shadow after all:)

I have been pretty good this week. Getting into daily powerwalks/jogs always bringing a dog or 2 with me, I went constantly, every day for a week now but I might have been a bit to hard on myself, on friday Frankie and Nick were doing the backyard for the dogs so I couldn't go because I had to be upstairs with the dogs. I was also very stiff and it hurt very much on my left side, I could harldy turn or sit or lie without alot of discomfort so I took that day off, and saturday as well just to get it out instead of probably getting worse and worse and worse.
I do plan on going today, just a bit later in the day when it isn't as warm as it is now.
We also started the famous soup diet today.. day 1 out of 7 and this time I will not cheat and have candy the first 2 days. I didn't like the soup so much the last time, it has sellery and I almost throw up when I smell it so I dropped it this time around, I also looked at several different recipes for this soup and decided to mix the ingredients a bit together and voila, the soup is actually very good!
I'm just sitting here eating my melons, it's fruit day today and we went to the market yesterday to buy ingredients for the soup and fruit for the first day. I got some melons, cherries, strawberries, apricots, grapes.. mmm I'll have to go to the grocery store tomorrow to get some veggies and potatoes as we can eat a big baked potato tomorrow with butter!
-I remember the last time I was on this diet making my baked potato... it was NEVER ready and took hours to bake so I think I will try to find a different solution this time baking it:)

I got some sad news this week, Jennifer Gielisse passed away. She bred IGs under the prefix "il piccolo azzuro" she used to go to all the big shows, and seemed to have world winners in every generation. I had known who she was for a long time, since starting in the breed. I met her and spoke to her for the first time in 2006 when I was at the European Winner show in Helsinki, then again now when I moved to Belgium. She was extremely nice, offered to help me with shows, telling me what shows I should go to, and where not to go. She called me often to tell me about her wins and just to talk, I am really happy I got to meet her and get to know her, even if it was for a short time.
She had plans on using Joey on her world winner bitch Indira when she'd come in season, I felt very good that she wanted to use my male and was curious how that combo would be but I guess I'll never know now.

I'm gonna let this be me last words for now, I need to feed the dogs, go out for a walk, clip some nails and clean some teeth.. allthough I think I'll do that tomorrow.. but there is a stack od dishes waiting to be cleaned..

cows or pigs...

2009-08-10T15:12:00.003+02:00

I have been really good in the past few days going for powerwalks/jogs every day since thursday. I usually take a dog or 2 with me and let them run free with me, halfway through my route there is a field, actually there are a number of fields I can choose from and they're all approx. halfway through my normal route. So there I relax a bit and let the dogs run and play for a little while so they get their exercise as well:)

Yesterday I was feeling a bit stiff, especially on my left side, don't know why I'm so stiff and sore just there.. but I didn't feel like walking at all but I still thought I just need to go out, it doesn't have to be a super brisk walk, as long as I go out and walk, no matter the speed, it's still exercise of some form.

So I took Dollar with me and my camera. I thought I could maybe get some photos of Dollar standing as he's 8 months old now and starting too look handsome but of course that didn't work as planned and 2 persons are needed for that job.

Or maybe another dog so they can run and play instead of, like yesterday, always being close to me. Too close when he stood perfect and if I moved, he'd move...

Well, I did get a headshot of him:) He's such a pretty boy!

Then I took photos of the horses I always pass, some flowers and trees and the cornfield... and the cows that I always mistake for pigs the first microsecond I look at them!

Everywhere around there are these weird cows and I swear, somewere along the line the must have been crossed with pigs! So I used the chance and took photos of these cows to show you and to see if I'm the only one that thinks of this, or if others agree with me to some point...

The cows thought we were very exciting and gathered around, Dollar wasn't sure what to think about these weird looking animals... lol:)

Anyway, there's not much to tell, this is the last week of Nicks vacation. I really wanted to get 2 things done during these 4 weeks and neither is done.. the attic still looks like a bomb field exploded, and the dogyard still looks like shit.... great, we still have 1 week to go....

Here are various photos from my walk yesterday

A pigeon, devils pigeon mabye, spying on me... lol

Some flowers

This is my favourite:)

Balloons in the evening sky

The corn is so high now, it's like walls on each side of the road on some parts:)

The river I walk along, Iras future swimming spot...

Here are more photos, you can see the cows there, the white one is the pigcow and the other one is just what I consider a normal cow...

http://picasaweb.google.nl/photos.by.m/Various

That's it for now:)

Elmo, a popular stud:)

2009-08-06T12:16:00.002+02:00

Elmo med sin kjære Chiqui

Chiqui, Biscotti Hermosa Piccolina

Yes, Elmo has been quite popular amongst the ladies, this week he's had a spanish beauty coming to visit him to have some fun:) This spanish beauty is Norwegian bred actually, but she's living in Spain and her name is Chiqui. We had 2 good matings and Elmo was very, very happy.

I took some photos of Chiqui for her breeder to see, and her owner to have and for you to see:)

About a week ago, Elmo had another bitch for a visit, this time it was a German bitch, bred by Darkl Legends, owned by Simply Heurekas. Her name is Ch Dark Legend's Vitesse and she's a little spitfire!!

Elmo & Sissi

So, needless to say Joey has been a bit on the edge because of this, and 2 days ago they had a fight... we were out and I thought I had taken Elmo in (I never leave them alone together when I can't hear them) and when I came home they looked like shit, but Elmo beated Joeys ass... still Joey doesn't give in and he will not give his alpha position to him!

This irritates me, I cannot live with dogs I cannot trust and I'll need to find someone living around here who can take Elmo, I can't have him far away as he will remain mine and I can't put Joey away because I think he's simply to old for that and he's already had several different homes.

Talking about puppies, Joey mated a bitch from Latvia 2 months ago and on august 1st she gave birth to 6 puppies! 3 bitches and 3 males. I will hopefully get photos of them soon, but they were red, black and blue:)

There was a kind of a carnival in town and the last day was on tuesday with fireworks and all.. we went to see the fireworks.. got hooked on some machines playing games and missed it hahaha! But we did win a vacum cleaner:) Just what we needed:)

I woke up early today, Chiqui came to mate with Elmo around 9 so I got up at 8 so Elmo could be well awake (he's a sleepyhead). The plan was to have an active day because yesterday was spent watching Heroes.. volume 3 and 4.... that's all we did!

What have I done... well of course I mated the dogs, took some photos but they left 2 hours ago and I've been sitting on the computer ever since, uploading the photos, cropping, fixing and sending.. and looking at some blogs and stuff so I think I'm gonna stop now and just do something!!!!!

Keep on blogging

2009-07-30T21:13:00.003+02:00

I have to keep on blogging now since I started it again..

So what has happened, Nick is on vacation, the first week we didn't to much but this weekd we've been taking days to take each room in the house and make them clean and throwing things we don't need etc.

The bedroom, bathroom and hallway are done. The plan was to do upstairs today, the livingroom and the kitchen but that didn't work out.. we were a bit lazy today.

We did wake up and get the car to the garage for some upgrades and basic and needed fixing, we took 3 dogs with us and walked home, passed a nice place where the dogs could run free.

I had Flame, Stella and Dollar and Flame and Stella went crazy they were bursting with energy (as they are every day) and ran like crazy. Dollar ran a bit but he's not that much into running like a mad dog like those 2.

Then later in the day we had to pick the car up and Elmo, Bling and Casper got to tag along this time, run free in the same place. They were not nearly as crazy as the others, Bling did a little runnig around, Casper was overjoyed and trying to get the others to run and Elmo was just Elmo.. running a bit and then sniffing around the ground.

But they were all very, very happy.

Yesterday we took ALL the dogs (minus Lucy) for a walk and run on a field close by. It was a sight to see and we passed a bar where lots of people were sitting outside and you just heard them talking and saying "oh my god" , "wow", "look at all the dogs" etc..

Thankfully I was not alone with all 11, Nick was with me and he got the easy dogs while I took the ones that are a bit more all over the place.

It went remarkably well and the dogs got to run free in 2 different places, they were so happy!

I love to see the dogs faces when they are out running, the happiness just shines through their faces and eyes:) Makes me happy.

After that we went to a restaurant with a good concious, the dogs were fed, and exercised so we could take it easy, eat at our ease and stop at our bar on the way home for a kriek or 2.. or was it 3:)

We have big plans this weekend, this weekend there's a blues festival in town and we'll go there on saturday, on sunday we'll go to Lokeren, we've got tickets for a concert with Anouk and something else.. the Scepps or something like that, not sure but that's our sunday. There is also a normal carnival or something in town and lots of things to do and on tuesday it will be fireworks here for some reason...

I have to get going now, gonna watch a movie or something. Nox is sick, has been very calm and weird and totally unlike herself, then she threw up some liquid, alot actually and she feels a bit cold to the touch. And Nox, miss eats everything doesn't want to eat! It doesn't feel good, I wish dogs could talk at times like this.

She'll sleep in bed tonite and hopefully she'll be better tomorrow.

I also forgot to say that Lucys cast is off!! Finally, but she still has to be very careful cuz her leg is unsupported now so it means more crate time, she's due for a control check up on september 15th so she's basicly been spending the summer in a crate.. but I've been good to her and had the other dogs downstairs, outside for longer periods so she can be free, then I just take 1-3 dogs up so she's not totally alone all the time so it's been working out fine.. I'm just screaming and worrying when Lucy is being Lucy and feeling like playing with me or needing attention that her leg will not heal like it should.. gosh, IGs are not the easiest breed to keep calm and a Joeydaugther is even harder!

What's new..

2009-07-22T12:28:00.003+02:00

Well... what's new..

Ira was shown for Jean-Louis Grunheid and was 4th best male, usually I don't think that is something to "brag" about but for a breed specialist who himself breeds "big moving dogs" I must say I'm very happy with that placement and he thought he was of champion quality.

Ninja and Bling are finally done with their season so no more splitting them up, being careful about all doors and all males being together not near the bitches.

Dollar started to lift his leg recently and I don't know what it is with the dogs that are just realising they are so cool when they do that.. in the sofa!!! He peed on a pillow in the sofa, lifted his leg high up and marked that pillow! "Dollar has joined the territory markers"... I feels miserable when I but a diaper on him, he can't find his penis and gets so sad, just sits and cryes but if he continues doing the sofa, the diaper will stay on, that's what they get for peeing inside.

Of course now with the bitches in season marking is always a big problem, the dogs are just loosing it because they smell the bitches and know they have been in the sofa and upstairs.

Then it gets a bit better, Joey and Elmo are talking alot these days, they seem to do more of it when I'm not around, they don't listen to Nick when he tells them to stop.. I am the boss and as soon as I come down they usually stop..

Joey is penis obsessed. He likes to clean the oter males penises, he's trying to do Elmo, I don't know if that's the reason for them being unfriendly. because Joey thinks Elmo isn't sanitize enough there and doesn't let Joey clean it properly...

Then he goes on to the puppies and cleans them good.. it's just Joey that does this, I don't know why.

We went to a wedding on monday. I was the designated photographer so we were picked up at 11 in the morning. I had to get up at 6.30 so the dogs could go out, get some food and attention cuz this was gonna be a long day for them. Thankfully Nicks dad offered to let the dogs out in the middle of the day so they could stretch their legs and do their business.

We came home around 4 or 5 in the morning... drunk as a skunk, the wine was flowing there, I don't think I ever had an empty glass.

This was a different wedding than any other I've been to.

First we met at one of the parents house, a lovely, lovely house with a big lawn that my dogs would just LOVE.. (it's for sale, man do I want that house).

There the brides family was getting ready and then the groom and his family came and we had some champagne and then went off to the courthouse or whatever it's called, not a church..

So there the bride and groom sit infront of a judge and he says some things and they double check that all identity information is right, then the question is asked.. answers were "yes, and yes" and they could kiss.

Then some more double checking went on and then they had to sign a million papers. Then they went out and rice was thrown and hooray, hooray...

We went back to the brides parents house, there were some small breads and, of course, champagne floating around and the glasses where never empty.

I took photos of the family, the perfect golden retriever that pranced around happily and proud with a red bow.

Then some more photos were taken, we ate some "snacks" and then we went off to the place the party was to be held at, a beautiful big mansion and there more people came , friends and co-workers.

The champagne was floating there as well, and when dinner was served redwine started floating.

Dinner was very good, then the father of the bride made a speech and desert was seerved. Apparently here only the family of the bride and groom make a speech, I really wanted to make a speech, I had some words in my mind (I was not drunk, if that's what you're thinking) but my other half was opposed to that while everyone else thought I should go for it... so what does one do, I was put in a spot and I got very uncomfortable and upset with following drama.

Then there was some dancing, and I, still upset started to drink heavily wich is why I was drunk as a skunk at the end of the night. I was trying to sleep in the car on the way home and just wanted to hit the bed.

We woke up around noon and I took the dogs out (I took them out when we came home in the night as well) and had a slow, slow hangover day. I really don't like those hangovers, and I don't like when I drink that much.. wich is probably why I don't do it so often. But every now and then the occasion arises.

So I did manage to upload all photos to the PC and clip and crop and fix and delete and ended up with 433 photos.

Today will probably be a slow day, maybe I'll go to track racing.. if it wont rain, I don't trust the weather as it is now so we'll see.

I'm gonna let this be enough. I'm gonna make myself something to eat and go down and do some cleaning... I'm always cleaning!!

Nothing new...

2009-07-15T14:40:00.002+02:00

"Flame"

I have no news.. there is nothing special going on here to blog about..

I am trying to make some plans, breeding plans and what dogs are staying and who are going, I have to many and if I want to be able to keep a pup from my own litter I need to have fewer dogs in the house and I have some pretty exciting plans in my opinion but I can't execute them (the plans not the dogs lol) untill the numbers here go down a bit..

So Flame will hopefully have a home soon, Blondie will go to Italy in august I hope, the plan is that Lucy goes to the USA in september, hopefully her leg will be healed just fine so that's minus 3, but really Flame and Blondie were never supposed to stay here so I'm in the same situation, and instead of Lucy, Ninni will be here... so back to square 1..

I should find a home close by for Elmo, he and Joey aren't the best of friends, allthough they aren't fighting, they are talking alot and I just don't like it, some days it's alot, some days it's not so much but I always wait for the day one of them wont just talk and will bite...

I simply cannot have that going around and Joey is older and has been placed more often than Elmo so the choice has to go to Elmo.

Ira is staying here that's that, Casper will of course NEVER leave, I love Dollar, there's something about him and same with Nox, I can't part with her.

Bling isn't owned by me, maybe she'll go to Kari-Anne, maybe not, I don't know, Bling is an easy dog to have around.. Sonic should be in a home where she is the only dog, spoiled rotten.. but she will go only if the perfect home pops up, she's 6 years already and I don't like placing older dogs..

Stella is a nice bitch, I like her alot and I do have plans for her... so as you can see, this is hard, very hard... why do I do this!

I have a pile of stuff to wash, and iron.. and fold and sort and blablabla.. my closet looks like a bombing ground, I need to sort everything in it! Then I need to clean the bedroom and make it look like a bedroom again. The laundry/bathroom also needs attention, gosh I've been so lazy in the past 2 weeks! And now when everything is piling up I just don't know where to start and feel exhausted all day long, I don't want to get up cuz there's so much to do... and now I'm blogging as an excuse not to do anything.. how lame am I!

Friday is Nicks last day of work, then it's 4 weeks of holiday!!!! We're going to a wedding on monday, I have been asked to take photos of the couple, I'm dead nervous, pretty sure the weather will be shitty and my camera wont co-operate! I NEED a new camera.. anyone have 3000 euros to spare so I can buy a proper camera and a proper objetive?

I am starting to eat more healthier, had chicken yesterday, I didn't know what kind of a sauce to make so I did cheat a little bit and made my moms famous butter/cream sauce but I didn't put the butter in untill the chicken was ready and I only took a little spoon of it on my portion and Nick got the rest, I can't go hard core immediatly and I can't forbid myself everything cuz I will burst into a frenzy and eat out every fatty thing I will find if I don't allow myself anything.

I don't have a clue what to make for dinner today, I do have turkey but Nick doesn't want chicken one day and turkey the other... so I dunno what to do, I think I have pitasauce, pitameat and pitabread... maybe I'll do that.

I'm gonna stop blogging and start working on some of these big piles of laundry now....

Long time...

2009-07-11T17:43:00.005+02:00

Dollar- Dies Irae Caeles Du Manoir Des Ombreuses

Ninja - Eugenios Capricorn

Sorry for not blogging for a while. Lena has been here for a visit so I haven't had time to post anything.

So what's new... uuuu, we went to a show, surprice surprice. Lena won BOB with her junior bitch Vita and BOS with her champion male Esso, he got his last CACIB so he will soon be known as an international champion!!!

I got the CACIB on Bling so she has 2 CACIBs now in 2 countries. Flame competed agains himself in the juniorclass and got excellent and a great critique. He behaved very well exept in BOB-BOS where I got to handle Vita, he jumped out of his pen, 2 times... it ended so that the judge, Paul Stanton, took him and held him while deciding who to put up as BOB hahahaha!! Since Lena and I were both in the ring at that time we did not get a phot of it, I felt like an idiot... and the rest of the day Flame was crated with Esso.

Elmo did not do well at all, he was SO warm, he was rolling around in the pen we had out for them, looking like a whale. His leg was seriously bothering him so he was limping all the time in the ring, and in this warm he was totally flat, he was panthing so his head and neck looked awful... he just made the absolute worst of him and I don't know why I didn't take him a bit before we went in the ring and walked him to see how he was! I felt so embarrased and Elmo got the worst grading so far.. since they couldn't give "cannot be judged" in this country for some reason... so now Elmo wont be shown outside in extreme heats, he will not be shown untill he has really slimmed down, I will take a bloodtest soon on him to see if it has anything to do with his thyroid. I will NEVER EVER again take a dog looking that awful in the ring!! -But I do plan on finishing Elmos dutch championship, he's just one reserve cac away from it and I hate when ppl don't finish dogs that are that close so I will sure as hell not be one of them..

So on to some nicer topics..I had thought of something to put on here as a "food for thought" but I have totally forgotten what it is....

I'm feeling VERY tired now so I'll stop, just wanted to write a bit so you'd know I'm alive and well:)

Party, party!!

2009-06-28T22:47:00.004+02:00

The weekend had been absolutely great!
On friday when Nick came from work he dressed up and said maybe we'd go out.. we've been home alot so this came to me as a surprise and I asked what was going on, then there was something happening in the town, like a market or something were people were selling their old stuff and shops were open and with special offers, there was a big stage setup very close close to our home and live music there while the bar next to it had a BBQ and there were tables set out on the streets wich were closed from traffic.

The plan was just to walk and look, but at the bar where the stage was we had to wait for Nicks friend who was checking for something in a store there (mamma budin sem tig langadi ad kikja inn i sem var med 2 ginum alltaf "sitjandi fyrir utan budina") . Well he took his time so we figured we needed something to drink so I had my usual Kriek and Nick had a beer, and when we were on our seconds his friend came from the store and then of course he needed a beer as well and then we had one more and then I said we need to move on if we're gonna look at the things here.

Nick spotted a box filled with old toys, and the toys were for sale for 20 cents, so we bought the whole box for 2 euros and the dogs got some new toys:)
Joey and Casper got to tag along to this market-festival and thought it was great.
We saw alot of things, and then stopped again for some beers and krieks for me, I went home and left Nick there, I had to take Casper and Joey home, it's a bit hard sitting there with both dogs in my lap demanding attention and then falling a sleep (and therefore always almost slipping out of my lap) so I took them home, spent some time with the other dogs and then crated them and went out again, I couldn't drink more Kriek, sometimes I can drink plenty and pretty fast cuz they are good, but sometimes I turn into a whale and get so bloated and that was one of those nights, I had already had 8 or 10 or something so maybe it's natural, but I just feel SO bad when it happens and it looks like I'm pregnant!

So I made Nick finish his beer and come with me so we could eat dinner, it was already 11pm and we hadn't had any dinner yet so we found a burger joint and had a burger and were home around midnight, we had to take a detour so we wouldn't pass the local bar with the stage where most of Nicks friends were, we'd never gotten to pass it without stopping for at least 2 beers.. if not more.
We had plans on saturday wich is why we didn't keep on that night, we had a birthday BBQ planned for Nicks friends and I had to do some cleaning, washing and shopping and I didn't want to have a hangover for that.

So on saturday we went late to the market, around noon, got the usual chicken necks for the dogs and dogfood, and I went on to get some tulips, then we had to to help Nicks friend to buy sheets - I had to help cuz he's from the states and doesn't know the size of the bed so I had to go see the bed and estimate how big it was and then go find sheets, but the store was closed so that didn't get done. Then we went home, I started cleaning and cleaning, I thought everything was pretty clean but I wanted "this, this and this" to be good and then some more things added on my to do list and I was cleaning all day making the house ready for the party.

At 7pm we fired up the BBQ and about 40-50 minutes later the lamb went on it.. ICELANDIC lamb yummi!!! It was good!
We had some champagne, the fridge was so stuffed that nothing was really icecold.. it's still a bit stuffed so I haven't been able to get an icecold cola like I LOVE to have after a "rough night".
So we stayed home all yesterday with our deer guests, it was fantastic, I think everyone was happy, the house was emtpy at 5am and we went to sleep shortly after that.
I was wise enough to do the dishes immediatly and take some glasses as they came and then in the end of the party I started to do some more cleaning because I didn't want to wake up tomorrow and have to do everything then and I'm so happy I did that!!

I just woke up on my ease, let the dogs out downstairs, let Lucy out upstairs, fed the cat, started to prepare lunch for us, my famous "croc Margret", Nick has been nagging me for days to make one but I hadn't done it for a while.

Today was an easy day, we watched Mother of Tears a kind of a horror/thriller something, not a good one, don't recommend it.. if you don't like blood this is definetly not a movie to you, they are poking peoples eyes out and torturing and poking sticks into womens private parts and sticking them all the way throught the body absolutely yucky, we started watching it while eating and I lost my appetite the first 5 minutes so we stopped watching it.. I don't like these types of movies.
Then while eating we watched "conspiracy" with Val Kilmer... a rather dull movie, then Nick started watching the awful movie again and I for some reason thought I'd try to watch it with him.. hope I don't get nightmares. The acting in it was also awful!
Then he watched a movie called doomsday, I had had it with dark films for the day so I did some other stuff.
Sunday evenings are always good TV wise, there's Las Vegas, followed by NCIS, followed by CSI Miami, followed by CSI NY and then it's time to sleep:)
I've paused CSI so I could check my mails, facebook and showresults from Iceland:)
Gotta go down and watch it so I wont be to late in bed, I'm getting visitors tomorrow.
It's people I met when I went to the Amsterdam winner show, they were totally in love with Ira and are interested in a dog from me perhaps next year, they are on vacation in the neighbourhood and asked if they could come for a visit and meet the dogs so I had to say yes to that:) Very nice people, hope I'll have a nice pup for them one fine day.

So untill later.. I have a busy day cleaning in the attic so Lena can sleep here.. after cleaning the entire house everything I didn't know what to do with went up there and now it's time to get that semi-organized.. at least so Lena can sleep there:)

Have a good one:)

Dollar

2009-06-24T14:27:00.003+02:00

Just thought I'd put in photos of Dollar, on the above photo he's just arrived to me 3,5 months old.
The photo below is taken this week and Dollar is 6,5 months and much less of a puppy but still supercute:)

I always think puppies are looking the same from 3 months and up and then suddenly I notice they aren't the same at all, they've actually changed alot and are getting bigger and more mature. It's hard to explain, of course I notice some changes but it's like I noticed last week that Dollar is all of a sudden starting to grow into a young man, he still has some months of puppyhood to go, in september he'll be a junior and maybe he'll get to do some shows in Holland:)
Then he'll probably wait a while, I don't like showing juniors that much and in Belgium they get nothing so I can put my focus on Ira when he'll be back from Finland:)

I don't even remember if I said in my last blog that Ira is a finnish champion now!! His name just keeps getting longer: American, Swedish, Finnish Champion Alfheim's All Things Considered !!

Handsome Ira, photo taken by Elisa:)

The weekend

2009-06-23T16:42:00.003+02:00

Blondie

The weekend was great, on saturday Frankie, Nicks friend came and put lights and electricity in various places so now I have lights and an electrical input in the doghouse, I have a light outside the doghouse, a light upstairs outside on the veranda and a light over the kitchen sink so I can actually see what I'm washing when I'm washing late:)

Then I started cleaning like a maniac, and was finally done at 7pm when our guests were told to come.. of course I looked like shit and had to take a shower and make myself a bit pretty so when the guests arrived I wasn't there ... great host lol. But it's ok, it's all good friends and I'm not the type that needs 2 hours to make myself ready.

I had bought some cheeses and snacks, and the fridge was filled with beer and kriek, and around 8 we went to a local restaurant that serves the biggest steaks ever ! (400 and 500 grams).
We all had a lovely meal, and went to the Ricos our local pub where the guys played some billjard and after that we went to the Excuus, or however you write it and stayed there untill aroound 3ish am.

Then we went home.
On sunday I had a bad day, a tiny hangover and it was just a day where I felt bad for some reason, everything irritated me or made me sad and I spent most of the day infront of the computer, it calms me down actually when I'm upset.

But, but I made some dinner and in the evening watched some movies:) I didn't do much on monday, went to the store and bought some stuff and today it's Nicks birthday so I'm making him a good dinner, roastbeef with sweet potatoes and carrots, and icecream with strawberries and hot chocolate sauce for desert:)
There are presents laid out on the table and a "happy birthday banner" hanging and I bought soem party decorative stuff that I've put in all the flowers and around the house.
Nick just called he's on his way home:) Can't wait for him to come and see what I did and open the presents:)

I woke up early today, went to pick up something at the postoffice, decided to walk there and take Flame with me and then take him to the vet and have him vaccinated and get a passport for him since the vets office is just over the street from the post office.

I cleaned outside upstairs and downstairs, took out the trash did some washing (reminds me to put a new load in the machine) and just came home from an hour long walk with Stella, Elmo and Casper:)

So we're basicly pretty happy right now, I need to give the other dogs some attention now and feed them and of course greet my man who should be coming home any second now:)

Margret the doggroomer..

2009-06-19T13:01:00.006+02:00

Yesterday I FINALLY did what I have just not thad the guts to do, I clipped Casper!

Now I have more than once, and more than twice clipped poodles down in short cuts, but I've never really messed with the ones in showcuts, sure I've clipped a bit after the lines and done a little trimming, but never clipped them into the trim or before a show, in Norway we had access to the best, and when you have the best you use the best!!

I really regret not taking the time and learned how to clip a poodle in a show trim.. I wish I had.

Yesterday I faced my "demon " (casper lol) and bathed him and clipped him. Now his coat was awful, for 2 weeks ago I was brushing him and he had so many mats and his coat was so long that I just took the sciccors and clipped alot of the coat just to make the brushing easier for me (the puppies really like to play in the coat, esp. Dollar), so needless to say there were absolutely NO lines to follow, his coat was very uneven, short somewere, long in other places... but I just started, imagined how it should be and followed my imaginary line. I do find it hard to make it totally round, always when I've tryed a bit I end up with an eg shape..

At least Casper looks like a poodle, a very pretty poodle for the untrained eye of people who don't know how to look at the grooming, to the ones that know he looks like a badly trimmed poodle lol.

I didn't finish him, I was getting tired, I had to cook food, take care of the other dogs and so on so it wasn't anything I'd call "final trimming" and his legs are also not done, I took his hindlegs rather short since I'm not planning on showing him untill maybe next year, or in the end of the year here at the big shows.. I have to think about it.

I'm proud that I did it, then I got a mail from the girl I had asked to clip him today.. typical ( I sent her a mail for a while back about clipping him lol).

But that is still needed, I need her to trim the correct shape, and then I can maybe keep it up.

I just have to save up some coat now before I go there so maybe in a month or so I can do that:)

Lucy is still doing well, she was a bit pissed off this morning while I was sleeping so she started singing in her crate and woke me up, I got irritated, told her to stop this nonsense and went to sleep again and overslept! I hate that I can't just wake up, it's like I get insulted that I am woken up not when I plan to wake up so I go back to bed and "force" myself to fall asleep again and then of course I sleep to long..

I'm also experiencing a great case of having the munchies.. I just want to eat all the time, preferably candy, and drink cola, I'm going mad and I can't stop myself cuz I have no self control when it comes to that!! And when I'm alone home and Nick is working, there is nothing that stops me from going and getting something sweet.. I am going to stop to buy candy "to have", and ice cream to have in the freezer.. and I have to drink less cola, when this batch is over with I will switch over to light and as I don't like it as much as the original one I suspect I'll drink less..

Then it's that fucking diet again, and this time I have to stick to it all the days and make wise foodchoices AFTER the diet.. I just went crazy, and then I couldn't stop myself! I felt so much better on the diet (after day 4) less bloated, felt like I was getting a bit slimmer.. now I'm just bursting out!

Yesterday was the last day of school, a week from now I have to go and pick up my report card or a diploma or something. I got 92 out of 100 wich is quite good. I blew the last exam, not knowing what one word meant I answered the question wrong so I just got 7 out of 8 on that test, all reading and listening exames I have 10/10 except that one, then the written exams I have 9/10, I always manage to do something wrong, I think it's pretty hard to write in dutch but I'm getting better.

Next semester there is a course here in Hamme so I will follow up on that, it will be nice to be able to just take the bike and be close to home. It's only 2 times a week, 3 hour sessions and I have the same teachers wich I think is nice.

I think there is more focus on the written part, nouns and pronouns and that sort of stuff that semester, more grammatics basicly, not my favourite but good to have and if I were to go to any other courses, like photoshop or something like that I need to know the language.

I am seriously thinking about starting in agility with Ninja, the only bad thing is that the club I'd like to train with has trainings on wednesdays, just like racing... but there is racing training also on saturdays in another club so I'm not missing out on anything, the wednesday trainings are just better to train dogs to go out of the box as they can but the bait right up to the box so the dogs will learn to stand right at the opening of the box wich saves time when it's opened and they have to go out..

Dollar is starting to look like a youngster, not a fat puppy, he's really cute and when Lena comes I will take some photos of him, untill then, here are some candid shots taken yesterday in the sofa:)

The oldies cuddled up together, Sonic recently turned 6 years old and Joey is now 7 years old:)

Sonic is very much Nicks dog, this is how you see her when he's in the sofa watching TV, Bling is also very much in love with him and often sits with them:)

Joey has also started to show his love to Nick ALOT, the past week every time he comes home Joey stands waiting for him, and when he sits down Joey puts his frontlegs on him and starts smiling and bringing toys and demanding more attention than usual, then he shows him some love:)

Nick with the 3 favourite dogs, Sonic, Bling and Ninja

Flame relaxing in the sofa:

I think I'll stop now, need to do somethings today, there was supposed to be a party here tomorrow, a BBQ party but the weather doesn't seem to know about that plan so we will probably go to a restaurant instead, but we'll start here have a beer or two and then go to the restaurant so I have to make the house look nice;)

Next saturday the weather better be good, then, another BBQ party is planned and I have some icelandic yummi yummi lamb! I took it out of the freezer yesterday and I know it will be ohh so good, but we have to BBQ it so the weather better be on board.

-The reason for these parties is that Nicks birthday is on june 23rd. Tomorrow friends from work will come, the TI gang that went to Norway and in a week the friends are coming.

Tomorrow I will FINALLY get some electricity outside upstairs and downstairs!! Can't wait!

Lena is coming soon, we're going to a show, I've gotten the papers for my dogs, of course it doesn't say how many dogs, or at what time we are in the ring.. gotta love the excitement I guess.. but it's an outdoor show, the only one there is I think! So I really hope the weather will be good and we'll have a good day there!

I'm thinking if I should start to show Stella a bit now, she's out of the junior class, I could show her as a junior in the Netherlands but Fiefoerniek's have a junior bitch that is winning everything there so it's almost pointless for a no one like me..

There are 2 shows I want to go to here in Belgium, then there are some shows in Holland I would like to do.

Ira is doing great in Finland, he's officially lost his virginity and apparently he's a born proffesional! I am very excited about Ira babies and seeing what he can produce, one of the bitches has similar lines to Bling, allthought they are very unlike in type (Bling and the bitch) it may give me an idea of what I might get from a Bling-Ira mating:)

I also got a photo of Diva, Sonics singleton from last year, she's sired by Eugenios Fellini (who is a son of Joey), I think she's pretty, looks alot like Laila in type, it made me wonder if I should take a litter on Sonic or not, I'd use Ira on her then.. not sure but I keep going back to thinking about it.., she just finished her season so I have plenty of time to think about it:)

Here's Diva; Eugenios Bohemian Rhapsody, she's 1 year old.

That's it for now:) Have a great weekend!

Just babbling

2009-06-15T14:38:00.002+02:00

Puppy from the "Thirteen" litter

It's raining like hell here! Belgium should be called the country of rain, I don't think I have ever experienced as much rain as here!

Lucy is enoying some out of the crate time, she's sleeping now in the sofa under a blanket so I sneeked to the PC to check my mails and babble a bit, then I'll crate her and let the others up who are pretty pissed off having to be outside in the rain (they are in the doghouse, not crated so they can do what they want), but Lucy does need some 1 on 1 time too so this is how it has to be for the next weeks.

I was surfing around the internet yesterday going to various websites and I was so surprised by how many breeders had planned or born puppies and always used the same male on their bitches, always their own male.. I just don't see the point of it using ones own male again and again and again.. if you are keeping something from every litter all you have are halfsiblings, then what, are people gonna purchase one other male to mate all of those and go on like that?

It's one thing to use your own male but on EVERYTHING.... I can do this and I will do this but I have 5 different males to choose from at the moment and that's a whole different case and I'm still looking at sites of breeders and dogs I know of to see if there are better males there for some of my bitches.

Of course not all people and breeders are doing this but still I saw it on a couple of sites and it just started me thinking about what is the point of breeding to these people..?

I SO need to bath Casper but I'm just not in the mood cuz when I've bathed him I need to blowdry him properly and I need to do some clipping and trimming cuz he looks like a ragdoll, just awful! My clipper gave up when I was half done with his face so he looks like Wolferine with big bushy sideburns lol!

I'm thinking about getting this clipper from Geib, not the big ones but the small ones, the trimmer, I know the people that sell it will be at the dogshow in Liege in the end of july and maybe I can enter Stella as an intermediate.. it's kinda pointless to drive all the way to Liege and not have a dog. Ann Ingram is judging poodles, I was tempted to enter Casper but I have made myself a promise not to show a dog unless it's in peak condition and as said Casper looks like I picked him up from the street so I think I'll take a chance with Stella allthough I am wondering if the french IG folks will come to that show as it is in the french part og Belgium and the judge is french I think, or from the french part so there would be some politics I presume... but I need that machine, I can't go on with the white ones looking like they do (Casper & Ninja). I also need photos of Ninja, haven't taken stacked photos of her forever, she needs to slim down a bit and I need to trim her nicely and take a photo, she's very nice.

I took a walk with Dollar on saturday and decided to go somewere else than I usually do. I usually walk a bit and then go to a place where I can let the dogs run free. So now I went the other direction, Nick had shown it to me when I first came here about a year ago but I somehow forgot it because I liked my place better cuz I could let the dogs free on this field.

But I'm very happy I went there, sometimes I'm just stuck in the routine in my organized khaotic life...

So I go and there is a restaurant there and a river, there is a bicykle track along the river and I walk along it with Dollar, it was pretty hot outside so I turned around after a while cuz I didn't know where it would lead me cuz Dollar is only 6 months old and I can't let him have too long walks.

So yesterday I took Joey, Nox, Ninja and Casper (the negros and the blancos) and thought I'd see where this road will lead me. I walked and walked, had the dogs loose some parts of the road (there er no cars or traffic anywhere near the route). I came to a place where there was a big house and I wasn't sure if it was going to a private propertie or not, there was a big field next to it and I let the dogs free there to run a bit. Casper was overjoyed, as soon as he came to the field he knew this is where we run and play and chase each other. Joey and Nox were more interested in sniffing around and doing their own thing and Ninja couldn't decide what she wanted to do.

Then Joey started shaking his leg like crazy and I went to check and there were ticks or some yucky insects climing up his feet so I brushed them off and put him down but he keept on shaking his leg, there was a little puddle by the "entry" of the field and I picked Joey up and put him in the puddle and called the rest of the dogs and went of the field.. not very interesting to be there if the place is crawling with ticks or some yucky bugs...

-reminds me, Lena the dogs get Lepto here because there are rabbits and rats in this area that carry it and there are some damp areas here and if a dog has a small wound or something on his leg and is in an area wich is damp they can get infected there so that's why they get the lepto vaccine:)

I thought of this lepto stuff when Joey was shaking his leg but he is vaccinated against it, I only have 3 dogs not vaccinated against that, will do it when their next vaccine is up in october, the vet said it was ok, then I just do the normal vaccination, rabies and lepto all at the same time.

So after the field I thought if I should walk back or walk a bit further and see what this house was. I am curious so I walked further and found out the house was a restaurant the "palingshuis" (paling is eal.. yuck, not sure with the spelling though).

There was another field there and there were some birds on it and Nox was going mad, I found the entry to the field and took Nox out of the lead and held her, she was so fixed on those birds, I just had to let her have a go at them and so I let her go and she went wild after them, of course they just flew up but they were flying low, I thought afterwards maybe they have eggs or babies somewere around cuz they were protecting themselves and not going from the area. Nox came back very, very, very happy and was put back on a lead, no birds were harmed.

I knew approximently where I was, I have never been to the restaurant but I have seen the signs to it so I walked on, still the road was peaceful, and then I came to this crossroad and I of course followed the signs that said Hamme, it was a bicykle track, but a good one and lots of fields around it (mostly potatoe fields). All dogs were on leash except Joey who was only using 3 legs, I guess he got bitten and was itching or something.. I didn't find anything and it was easier for him to be free and control his own speed.

Then all of a sudden out of nowhere a rabbit jumps over the road and Joey goes wild after it, it just dissappeared in some potatoe bushes but Joey had no problems using all 4 legs when he saw it, Nox went wild as well and I let her go run with Joey and try to find the rabbit, it was a big rabbit and I just lit up seeing Joey and Nox in their hunting mode figuring out where it went and how to find it... these are not toy dogs, I could never see them in the toy group like they are in the US! Ninja and Casper got more excited just to run after Joey and Nox rather than the rabbit I think, allthough they'd probably go after it if I had just them but when it disappeared I guess they would have lost interest and come back to me.

So I keep on walking and find myself close to the restaurant where I started my walk so basicly this was a nice little round I went and it took me about an hour I think so I will try to go there every day as long as it isn't raining.

It was SO warm outside, I was doing my walk after dinner at 7pm, but it's nice:)

I should go down now, put Lucy in her crate and let the other dogs come up, it's stopped raining, hopefully for today so I can take my walk later today or in the evening. I'm gonna try to do some organizing today and tomorrow, just need to get in the mood!!!!

It's the last week of school now, I had 2 exams today, one I didn't know of and didn't study for it and the other I couldn't study much for cuz I wasn't in the class when it was and most of the chapter involved listening to a CD and mark what was right and wrong so I couldn't do that at home as I do not have that CD. But I did ok I think.. we'll see.

There's no school tomorrow, just cleaning and organizing day and school on wednesday, one more exam and on thursday the class (that usually consists of 2-3 people these days) will go to a museum.

Then it's getting a diploma or something on the 25th and I'm done with that I have to do. I will go next semester as well, one of my teacher is teaching here in Hamme so I will go there, it's not intensive so i'm afraid I will get bored but it's a bit harder, and only 2 times a week while the intensive course is in Lokeren and it's 4 times a week and I know I'll do some skipping school if I do that so I'll just take it easy next semester, have a teacher that knows me and what I can and in my own town so I can just walk or go on the bike.

That's all for now:)

Surgery over

2009-06-12T11:47:00.003+02:00

Now the surgery is over and I picked Lucy up yesterday, she's in fine health acting like her usual self.

The surgery went well, she has a plate over the joint between the metatarsus and tarsus bones and 6 screws. So basicly that joint doesn't work anymore, but it's not the worlds most important joint so she'll be able to walk around and be a normal iggy. She needs to have the cast on for 4 weeks, then we'll have a control check on july 9th (looks like Lena can come with me and see the vet school in Gent..).

Then they will take the cast off, take some photos and see how it is and estimate if she can be without the cast or if she needs it a bit longer.

Her cast is huge, but it's pink so it's ok. I'll try to take photos today or tomorrow.

There are no other big news, the IG open show in Norway went well, there were 31 IGs entered and Lena took almost all the big placements!

Esso was best male and won my photo (it's mine because Joey was the first one to win it) for the 3rd year in a row! Easy was Best in Show, Aviendha the daughter of Esso and Easy was Best puppy in show, Keira, out of Elmo and Sasha owned by Lenas sister and Evy her breeder was BIS junior, Easy and Aviendha were best brace, Easy got best movement.... so Lena went home with ALOT of prices and new stuff!

I do plan on being there next year for sure! I can't wait to see photos and critiques, just waiting for Lena to get home so she can update me... hint hint..

So not one person commented on my previous blog, it is quite allright to comment I like it and I promise I'll do some more commenting than I do:)

Accident..

2009-06-08T20:22:00.003+02:00

Yep, Lucy got hurt, and it's mostly my fault. I had put the dogs out as I was cooking dinner and I don't like them to be all around me when I'm cooking and we're eating so I always put them out.

In the doghouse are 3 crates, on is on a table (because I can't take the table apart and store it properly .. hmm maybe I should move the table upstairs..).

anyway, the crate that is on the table is always closed, the bigger dogs have a tendency to jump up there and sleep when they don't want to hang out with the others and once Nox got her leg stuck there while I was there so I knew that could happen, along with a dog could land badly and break a leg, so I always kept it closed.

On thursday I came from school and let all the dogs out, they were out for some time and then I let them in... as said, when I started cooking I put the dogs out.

When I'm in the middle of cooking I hear a scream outside and run downstairs and out to see my Lucy hanging from the crate with her leg stuck on the hock! To make matters worse Sonique the idiot was attacking her! If Lucy wouldn't have been wounded I don't know what I would have done with Sonique, I got so mad!

So I look at Lucys leg and it was pretty swollen but it didn't seem to be broken and Lucy wasn't screaming. I could squeeze the leg and look at it without Lucy doing anything.

I just wrapped her leg, gave her metacam and crated her for the night and then I went on to the my vet the next morning where he took her in and took an X-ray. I went back home and left Lucy there so he could put a temporary cast on her and wait for the x-ray photos. At 2 I went back to pick her up and see the photos and hear my options.

She wasn't broken, but she had a severe luxation of the metatarsus bone up where it connects to the hock. Now the vet told me they couldn't know how severe this was untill she had a surgery, and that this injury was for to much for them so he had to refer me to the Vet University in Gent. He made an appointment for me there and I go tomorrow (tuesday) at 8.30 am.

My facebook horoscope tells me tuesday will be my lucky day... I can't see how I can be lucky, it will be an expensive day, the surgery can go up to 1500 euros and I have my vet coming to me to vaccinate 7 of the dogs and that's 220 euros.

Hopefully "lucky day" will mean that Lucy's injury isn't as bad as it can be and the surgery will cost less than the estimated 1500 euros.

Since I will be at the vet uni in Gent I am going to check if they do check eyes there and if I get any better prices if I bring in a group of dogs. I need to check the eyes of my dogs, I do want to know if there's anything there so I can breed away from it and not double up on it.

I will also ask about AI (artificial insemination) and frozen seemen, I'd love to have frozen semen from Joey, but it's said that it's best to get that while the dog is young and Joey will be 7 yrs in just a few days.. but he's acting and looking like a youngster.. but that's just checking, I can't see I can afford anything with this surgery tomorrow.

Now this blog is just fucking with me, I'm trying to insert the photo of the crate in the right place but it just doesn't work and now some of the text is underlined and I can't find any underline command here.... jeeeez I don't need this to get fucked up now, I've written to much to just stop and start over...

Well I'm out of the mood for writing some more, wish us luck tomorrow

Visitors

2009-06-02T13:31:00.004+02:00

I've had alot of visitors already here in Belgium and there are more to come!

Now I have visitors from Latvia, Joey has a new pretty girlfriend called Kika:)

Then a in a month Lena will come and we will go to a show on sunday and I guess we'll go to the race track on saturday, it will be nice to have a helping hand there for once!

I don't have many news now, nothing much has happened this week. The weather has been beautiful, VERY warm! On saturday I went to the tracks with the dogs and they did not make me very proud..

Nox is always good and now I'm starting to train her to run through the box and that went well. She used 30.41 seconds I think she ran 345 m, or if it's 480m.. not sure but I think it was a pretty good time for her not being in the super muscular shape that most of the racing dogs are.

So now I'm working on slimming her down, she and Elmo have always been these "forever xtra weight" but I got a great advise on how to slim them down, I changed it a bit and it works like a charm. I only did Elmo first, the only thing is his skin got very, very dry, now I'm starting the same diet on Nox.

So you dogpeople are probably wondering what magic diet this is.. because they can eat alot, and I'm definetly not starving them because that just doesn't work.. been there done that.

I buy some beans ("prinsessebønner") you can buy them in cans or frozen, I prefer the frozen ones. Then I just put it in a bowl and defrost it (doesn't matter how much, just put enough it's not fattening), then I mix it with tuna from a can in a mixer and with Nox I also use salmon oil, with Elmo I used some supplement called Viyo. The salmon oil is of course fattening but I want to try it with Nox because it does wonder for the coat on the dogs:)

Back to the race training. I had Flame, Stella, Bling and Dollar with me.

The training starts at 11.30 with just short straight runs for beginners, I took Flame for that and he just stood there and looked at me, and I had to get up and run after it and Flame ran after me... very good!

But even if he showed no interest I just know it in my heart that he can do this, he just needs a bit more confidence in places like this were there are alot of noises, people. It's not that he's afraid, he just needs that little extra and I know he will run because when we had been there for a while and I had tryed him again (with no luck) he did for a moment forget to watch out for himself and watch the dogs and the bait go pass him.. so we'll keep on trying and working on it. He doesn't even play with toys he hasn't been in a "normal" household, he's been a kenneldog while growing up so he doesn't know all this stuff.

Then I had Stella, I thought she would be ready for a whole round and signed her up with Nox and was sure I'd see some great things... Nox was WAY ahead of Stella and when Stella got dragged more and more behind she turned around and came back to me...not good at all!

So for the next round Nox ran alone, and from a box and all went well, then I had Stella for half a round and alone... she ran and she is interested in the bunny but at the end she turned around again!!! ARRRG It really pissed me off because they are not supposed to get used to running the other way, and when I am letting them go half a round I cannot stand by the finishing line when they come because I don't run that fast.. So we need to start from scratch with Stella. But I haven't been to a training for a long, long time now so that also has something to do with Stella's non-success.

I also thought I'd see what Dollar thought about running lol---- no interest what so ever! I'll wait untill he's a bit older and see if he wants to try again.

That's what I have to say today:)

Diet week over

2009-05-25T18:13:00.004+02:00

Flame

Sunday was my last day of the diet, and a total of 4,6 kilos went away. I do not see a difference.. but I do feel less bloated. Now I'm trying to be careful with what I eat, yesterday we had chicken and french fries. We usually get fries for 2 but now we only got for 1 and I just took a little bit of the fries, and only ate the meat of the chicken, no skin.. of course I had to have some BBQ and mayonese sauce with it, but moderate portions and I will get light mayonese as soon as we finish the one we have.

When I lived in Iceland and Norway we NEVER had mayonese.. I never used it on anything, here I have to have it with my fries.. but we do eat more fries here, I never ever made french fries in Norway, or bought them..

Enough about fries, before I start wanting some. We recently bought a BBQ and today I intend on using it for the first time, I got everything I need, the weather is fine so I hope I'll be successful. I used to BBQ ALOT when I lived in Norway and I do miss sitting on the porch with my beer or cola (this time it will be a kriek) waiting for the coals to get ready.

So last weekend was a long one, no school on thursday and Nick didn't have to go to work on friday. We didn't do much. We went to Ikea on saturday and bought some stuff for the bed & bathroom, I have changed the bedroom, was planning on doing the bathroom yesterday but it was too damn hot to work, today I have no energy.. I had school today and mondays are always hard days for me, I always lack the energy to do stuff.

There is no school tomorrow so hopefully I'll get up early, do the bathroom, and wash the veranda upstairs and the dogarea and house with the high pressure cleaner we just got.

I'm trying to do some show planning, my focus right now is on Flame and showing him as a junior in the Netherlands to go for his Junior championship, I will do the same when Dollar is old enough. Bling needs some CACIBs so I should show her a bit, there's just always more competition in bitches, and I've been told to go to a show here but I think Chanteloup will be there and they have a bitch that she cannot beat (and shouldn't) so I don't think I will waste money on that and rather go to a sighthoundshow in the Netherlands and show Flame for the judge that gave Joey BOS at the Norwegian Winner show in 2005.

There are some shows I am excited for, most in the Netherlands, there's one in the beginning of july with Paul Stanton as a judge, then it's that sighthoundshow in the end of july, in the end of august is a show I'm told I should go to and I will most likely enter Bling there, no one else since it's in Belgium and I can't get anything in the juniorclass with Flame.

The end of september, in the Netherlands Magnus Hagstedt is judging at an International show.. he can be a bit strict I don't know what he likes and am thinking about Bling and Flame.. advise appreciated if someone has shown for him.

Then in the beginning of october, in the Netherlands there is a US judge, JC Ramirez and hopefully Ira will be here by then and I can show him and Flame and probably Bling, or Stella depending on how Bling has done.

In the beginning of november, again in the Netherlands, Gunnar Nymann is coming from Denmark to judge the IGs, I think I'll take Flame there, I know he likes Lenas boy Esso so I think I might give that a go, if Flame is a junior champion I will take Dollar in junior class there.

Then it's Amsterdam winner in the end of November, Kristi Lummelampi from Finland is Judging.. any info on her would be greatly appreciated. Then 2 weeks after that Brussels winner is held and they have an italian judge, C. Montefusco, again info about him.. likes, dislikes would be appreciated!

Those are the plans, there are no shows here in Belgium with judges I find interesting, some baltic judges, russian judges.. I'll rather go to the Netherlands this year then I can show Ira a bit here when he comes back, and start to try to get CACs on the junior males I have here as soon as they get out of juniorclass (you can't compete for a CAC in the juniorclass here..).

Tomorrow I will hopefully take some photos of the bedroom and bathroom and post here.

Next weekend is another long weekend, "pinsehelgen" in Norwegian and I can't belive I'm not going to Hurdal to the sighthoundshow there! I've been there every year and I really want to go!

But I will stay here, go to the track with the dogs on saturday finally! I was planning to to last wednesday but after sitting stuck in traffic for an hour and not be anywhere near the place I turned around. Maybe I'll try again next saturday, I'll just drive at 16pm not 17pm.. I think I should make it there by 18pm.. it takes about an hour to drive with normal traffic.

I do want to focus on running and getting some licence on some of my dogs so we can start racing and coursing. At least get it done so we can do it next year... allthough I do plan puppies out of Nox if I manage to find that suitable, perfect male that I am always looking for. I need a correctly sized male with good sizes behind him, I don't want to use a very small male because then I'll just get big and small puppies, maybe I'll try Dollar on her, that could turn out nicely, he will be 16 months then.. maybe a bit young, but Nox will be 5 years old so I don't want to wait any longer.

Well it's an idea, I'm thinking "out loud" here lol..

I have to go and do something, I'm falling asleep out of doing nothing and the dogs are going crazy outside.. maybe I'll take them out for a little run on this new field I found close by.

The photo above is of Flames sister Maggie, I just got the fantastic news that she has now been shown 4 times and has gotten 3 junior CACs and is therefor a new German Junior Champion!!

First Champion in the litter!! Man I'm proud of the babies!

-oh yeah, there is no harm in commenting, I promise I don't bite, just curious who's reading.

Keeping up the good work

2009-05-20T19:35:00.003+02:00

I'm always on my way complaining about other bloggers that aren't doing anything... but I can't complain properly if I haven't blogged recently...

So what's up, diet is started this 7 day cabbage soup diet is what I am doing and I'm still alive on day 4 eating bananas and drinking milk along with the soup.

I did NOT like the soup at all, I should have put less sellery in it, but I think I found a way to actually make it good.. maybe it's cheating a bit.. not sure. I found other recipes than what I have who had it a bit different, one had mushrooms and I LOVE mushrooms so I fry them on a pan (no I don't fry them in butter or oil) for a little while and then put them in the soup, I also put chicken stock in the soup wich is allowed in the original recipe. Then I just put a little bit of tomatoe soup (knorr, it's ready, "just add water") and VOILA the soup is SO much better!

Then I just spice it up with chili, parsley, garlic powder and cayenne pepper if I want it spicy.

It's way, way better and I really hope I'm not totally ruining it by adding these things that are in the other recipes for the same soup. -well the mushrooms in the recipe are not fresh ones, but I can't see the harm in using fresh organic mushrooms.

So that's what I'm doing, the first day I failed a bit and ate some chocolate.. I was DYING and couldn't be strong, day 2 same thing happened.. "what will a few bites do".. day 3 I tuffened up and said I'd either do it the right way or just drop it (that's the day I managed to fix the soup and make it good).

So I ate no candy yesterday, just lots of fruit like cherries, strawberries, mango & apple, for dinner I roasted some veggies on a pan and had cherry tomatoes and cucumber with it and it was quite good actually! Today is a boring day.. just bananas and milk but tomorrow is BEEF DAY!! I've been waiting for this day, tomorrow I can eat lots and lots of beef, and on friday as well. Then sunday, the last day isn't so fun.. brown rice and unsweetened fruit juice I think.. the fruit juice is fine, I've gotten 2 different ones, but brown rice.... yuck, I think I'll put it in my soup and eat it that way.

Other than that nothing new is going on, dogs are good. We were planning on going racing today but after being stuck in a traffic jam for an hour and not even be half way there I turned around and headed home. I'll go on training on saturday, the weather better be good!

So now I've blogged.. you other bloggers, I challenge you to blog too!

Extreme makeover..

2009-05-16T19:03:00.006+02:00

As promised, photos of the extreme makeover my mom did while she was here. It took place ona friday afternoon and I think everything looked so much better and more personal after it!

I had to take the photos today, while my tulips are still looking good.

Here is the livingroom/kitchen where we spend most of our time. We found this picture of a corvette in a store in the shopping center we went too and thought it'd be perfect for the living room:) Gives it some colour:)

Here's the kitchen, you don't see much there, just that I'm about to feed the doggies:)

Ok, it was getting a bit dark, and I wasn't in the mood of finding the right settings on the camera.. dining table wich we almost never use cuz we always eat by the TV.

We got some flowers, and as you can see tulips, they had these beautiful tulips on the market, 20 tulips for 10 euros... so we got them and placed them all over the house and used beer mugs for a wase :)

So this is where we eat, and hang out and cuddle with the dogs.

The veranda outside got some flowers as well so now it looks much nicer

That's that. I got a message from Elisa who has Ira. She was in Piteå (sweden) with him at a show and my oh my don't you think my boy went BOB and is now a new Swedish Champion!

I wasn't sure at first if he'd get the championship on just one CAC, we had checked it but weren't clear with it. So I went upstairs and checked on Neo's showrecords on the swedish database (Neo the one and only afghan Ch Elan Sebring the Matrix..) he was a US champion when he came here, and my worries were blown away, he got his championship when he received his first CAC so that works for Ira too!

I also got another conformation, if he's over 2, and american champion and entered in openclass, he'll become a champion in Sweden if he gets the CAC.

I don't think Elisa stayed for the group, long drive, they were done early and it takes so long time to wait for the groups. I would have done the same!

Tonite is Eurovision song contest, the main evening! I'm excited, wish I had a BBQ so I could do some good food to eat and get into the mood. But that wont happen this year.. I don't even know what we'll eat, I totally forgot to take anything out of the freezer and it's dinner time now..

I don't have any other news really. Just wanted to post the photos and tell you all that Ira is now known as "American & Swedish Champion Alfheim's All Things Considered".

Enjoy your evening everyone!

Flame

2009-05-14T22:34:00.009+02:00

Allright people, the "Flamme from Hamme" is here:)

I met with Bjarte today (Fjascho) and he was on a road trip with Britt (knl Bernergårdens) picking up and delivering some dogs, amongst them my little Flame.

For those that don't remember, Flame is Nox's first born, he's the one she decided to give birth to in the living room around all the other dogs while we were eating!

I got a bit stressed, checked fast what sex he was and thought he was a she and thus the "sex and the city" original litter theme came along and he was to be Miranda.

Well the next day I figure out he's a girl with a penis so the whole theme had to change and I had to let everyone know I was an idiot who didn't know the sex of the puppy lol!

Well, he's here now, and will be looking for a good home, I just want him to settle in a bit and get to know him before I send him out, but he's looking good. Same size as Joey and same colour and type as Ninni.. he would make a great brace with Ninni actually and I'm already dreaming about doing that on the world show in Denmark next year.. and an all red progency group sired by Joey! Wouldn't that be cool!!

Other than that there are no news here, I haven't taken photos of the livingroom after the total makeover. I was going to start on some diet yesterday but when I woke up I felt really weird and decided to stay in and not go to school.. wich was kinda good cuz I spent the day running to the WC throwing up and not eating anything.. what a good way to start a diet lol. I had made the soup and bought the fruit and veggies I was supposed to eat with it the first 3 days... I was still recovering today and just thinking about the sellery in the soup made me naucious so I decided to start the diet on monday and freeze the soup (only problem is I don't have space in the freezer so the soup is in the fridge untill I find time to fix the spaceproblem .. guess I need to eat some icecream and stuff to get some space lol)

So what else.. Lucy is very much in season and today while I was picking up Flame, Joey and Elmo apparantly got into a fight. I had Lucy upstairs with the puppies and the others outside wich I often do if I have to go for a short period of time (in this case 1,5 hours). Well I come home, look outside immediatly and see Elmo... his head was red! I took him in and bathed him immediatly and he had no wounds, just small ones on his muzzle nothing big. Joey just doesn't "fight to death" and Elmo doesn't give in when Joey tells him who's the boss and now they are both very tense.. plus the fact that they are obsessed with Sonique and her behind allthough she shouldn't be in season for another 2 months.. so they exploded today when I wasn't home to stop it wich means I will have to separate them if I go somewhere.

If this happens again when there is no bitch in season I will be putting one of them out, I cannot live with dogs like that.

I'm watching the 2nd semi finals for the Eurovision song contest and I'm telling you folks, Iceland has one of the best songs this year I think.. Now I know one is always a bit partial to ones own country but I've critisized Iceland for bad songs before so I can safely say we've got a good song and performance this year!

Wouldn't it be funny if we'd win it when the country is broke lol!!

Gotta go, the photos are from Flame meeting the pups, Elmo , Nox and Joey:) Enjoy!

Busy week

2009-05-10T18:24:00.004+02:00

"Dollar" photo by Elisa H

Finally I have some time to blog again. My parents have been here and I drove them off to Schipol today, and now they've landed safe and sound in Reykjavik.

We've been busy, when they came we went out to dinner at a restaurant in our town, they have gigantic steaks, 400 and 500 grams and always serve them with lots of sauce and french fries or "croquetes". We were there a bit late and just went to sleep after we came home, on thursday we went to the market in Sint Niklas, and looked at some shops in Waasland shopping center and got some nice things:)

Again we went out to a restaurant, this time we went to a rib restaurant about 20 minutes from us, they serve really good ribs in 50 different flavours (for those who think it's amadeus it's not).

It was my dads birthday and we had a good day. Friday was spent in Ikea.. lol maybe not the most fun place to spend time in when you're in Belgium but we got some things there and decorated the livingroom and kitchen! The house looks so homie and cosy now, my mom is a genious when it comes to "decorating" and we got some things from my parents as gifts and we bought some things ourselves and the 2nd floor looks so much better now! (will take photos soon)

Next time they come for a visit we'll do the attic lol, that NEEDS some work, and I want to change it into an "office/guestroom":)

In the meantime I'll do the bedroom, bathroom/laundry room, toilet and hallway, mom planted some ideas in my head on the way to the airport:)'

So what else, yesterday me and mom went to the local market, we also went again to the shopping center to get some things to make the finishing touch upstairs, we went to the local chocolate store/factory and got some chocolate and we went to a store my mom had been waiting to go to since they came. I had seen it and thought I had to take her there, and she loved it and spent some money in there:)

In Brugge we walked around a bit, sat down for a beer/cola and then went searching for the restaurant me, Nick and my dad went to when my dad was there on a business trip. After going a bit to the wrong direction we figured out it didn't look like everything did now cuz we went there in the winter time and now there was a terrace with tables outside so we went back to the squeare we were at and looked over it a bit better, I was convinced it was called "the three..." something but couldn't remember. We finally found it: De vier vinden or something like that, translates to "the four winds" so I was almost correct:)

We ate there a good dinner. I ate "stofvlees" wich is a "flemish stew" it's quite good, it was just like something to eat at home but I didn't want a steak, chicken or pasta. I figured I'd leave space for some desert.

For desert I wanted some strawberries, and ended up with a waffle with icecream, strawberries, warm chocolate saus and whipped cream! It was huge and oh so good. Mom helped and I thought I would explode later in the evening and looked like I was 6 months pregnant!

Tomorrow the diet starts!

I have to go make some dinner:) Just had to put in a little blog:)

Ira on tour

2009-05-05T11:58:00.006+02:00

Ira went to Finland yesterday with his new friend Elisa. He's going to stay there for several months and be shown there and in Sweden.

His birthday was yesterday and poor boy had to spend it at the airport, and "stuffed" in a bag in the cabin. But I got a msg yesterday from Elisa when she was home safe and sound.

Other than that there's not much happening, my parents are coming tomorrow so I'm not sure I'll be doing much blogging while they are here.

I really should get going, I have to go to the store and buy some food, I have to clean, and clean and clean.. my hair needs some colouring, Casper needs a bath, actually all the dogs no show dogs should be bathed, it's been a while. And to top of plenty to do, I need to clean Nicks car, and we're getting a guest tonite. How will I manage (don't say turn of the computer and start.. I know that).

Stella is no more in season and Nox has her last day tomorrow.. finally there should be some peace around here, but Lucy thought this was a fun period and started her season a few days ago. Ninja should be starting as well, so I'll start having her with Lucy so she will hopefully also start as soon as possible. I don't want them to start when the others are finished, I'd like for them to do this at the same time all together...

No one will be mated at this point, I was thinking alot about mating Nox and Ira, but decided to wait as Nox is up in size and Ira could give big pups so I'll rather use him on someone smaller and see how his offspring are before I'd use him on Nox, then I can always use him on a Nox offspring, or something. There are plenty of possibilities, if I could only find a suitable male for Miss Nox. Small, with small dogs behind him and preferably black, and of course good looking of a type I like. Gosh I don't see this happening, there's always something, but I have a year I'll take a litter out of Nox next year around this time when she comes in season, I don't want winter puppies as I want to go to Iceland for the holidays and I need to find a kind, kind person (or persons) who can dogsit and having puppies just makes it harder.

That's it for now, will blog again later this week. Keep checking the caeles website (caeles.net) I'll probably update some of the dogs pages with new photos:) I think Elisa got good photos of all our models, except for Elmo who is proving to be a hard dog to get a good photo of. He's still fat, and I was looking at photos when he was a junior and wondered how a dog so good looking could turn into what he is now.. sure, Elmo has his faults, but he also has his qualities, but if he looked like he looked as a pup now he should be doing some nice winning and NEVER get a "VG" rating"

Here he is 3,5 months old:

Elmo, still a puppy, not sure how old he's there:

Elmo was so handsome as a pup, he even won a BPIS (best puppy in show), and here's the photo:

And this is how he looks now, where did that neck and elegance go?

He's definetly going on a diet.. he's been on one, but it's getting more extreme now, I will find that elegant male with the elegant neck within that fat turtlenecked Elmo I have here..

over & out.

Busy

2009-05-02T23:59:00.003+02:00

Sorry, I've been busy:)

Elisa came for a visit from Finland on wednesday and I haven't had the time to blog a bit.

We went to a show in Dortmund on friday, I'd prefer not to speak about that show, there was a change of judges and he liked a totally different type than the planned judge. I did not see that there was a change of judges untill I was there and had picked up my numbers, and since I didn't know this judge I didn't know what he wanted so I decided since I had already entered, payed and driven to Dortund I might as well show.

Well remind me to pull dogs when I should and not enter those that aren't in tip top condition.

Elmo is forever fat, I hate feeding him so little so I will finish his dutch championship and retire him from the showring. It's no life for him to always be hungry, never get a proper meal and I'm sorry I'm not running off buying diet food for only him.

Lucy is always very nice on the move, but if I hard stack her her topline gets absolutely awful, she crouches like a shrimp and looks bad. She freestacks nicely and is much more relaxed but she does not hide her super long loin wich also when stretched makes her rather flat in the topline...

And she recently lost her 2 upper incisors so that was her last show. She got a good critique but due to the teeth she was placed last. (the teeth went after I had entered her...).

So I learn from this, even if I've told myself now that I'm showing here in a new country mostly for totally new judges (to me) I will only bring the best.. but the excitement of going to a show and entering sometimes gets the overhand I enter someone I just feel like showing at the time of entering and then when I come to the show I'm like "why did I do this again..". This is to expensive to just enter someone and someone.

Hopefully Ninni will be coming here soon, so I can show her, she's nice and she's always been in top condition. I don't know how she's looking now that she's had puppies but if she's anything like Lucy she's looking good..

We went to Brugge today, took Nox & Stella with us and had a nice day out. Got some nice photos of the girls, I can't wait to see them! Tomorrow we'll try to take photos of the others, we did Ira, Joey and Elmo on thursday I know we got some good ones of Ira, but I'm not sure with Joey and definetly not Elmo.. he was not co-operating at all and then some childern started running around and stand in the way and watch and .. OHH being irritating!

When Ira was waiting I tied him and Joey to a bench while doing Elmo, Ira really wanted to come and chewed the lead... Joeys lead. Then I took Joey for photos and put Elmo with Ira... again Ira wants to come and voila.. chews Elmos lead. so I need 2 leads for my boys.. horray and thank you Ira, that will be 40 euros. But who cares, Ira is so handsome and cute.

I don't have much to say, finally I got a hang of the FTP program and how to update the site, thanks to Elisa! don't know what I'd do without her when it comes to the website, but anyway Dollars page is up.

I have to go to sleep now, tired, tired, tired. Good night y'all, sleep tight.

1 year!

2009-04-28T22:24:00.002+02:00

We have a 1 year anniversary today! (well the day is basicly over..).
So I went to the butchers and bought some good meat, spiced it up today and made the good tomato salat (thanks Lena for the bag you put in with the cheese) and sweet potatoes & carrots in the oven:) Yummi.
Then we watched Harry Potter and the order of Phoenix and now we're going to sleep. I've got school tomorrow and after school I'm driving off to Eindhoven (the Netherlands) to pick up Elisa (knl Beryline).
Not much has happened, I guess when I blog this often I wont have any super news all the time.
The males here are incredibly horny, Ira & Joey don't really want to eat but I'm still managing to trick them (make them compete for the food). Elmo goes in his crate and waits for his portion as always, and eats it up.. as always.
Now he's on a chicken neck diet, that's about all he gets, with a little bit of kibble, and a teeny tiny portion of meat.. very tiny portion. Still he's not loosing weight!

Ira and Joey are keeping their weight on. Stella is soon done with her season, Nox is reaching the top now so I'm still in for 2 weeks of "hell".
Ninja & Lucy should be starting and I hope they will soon so I can get this over with!
Poor Dollar & Blondie are being abused by horny bitches, and horny males. They are always upstairs cuz they don't know they're supposed to mate the bitches and I don't wanna put them down all the time like the others because they're so young.
I really don't like this "time of the year" when the dogs have to be separated and some have to spend some time outside and in the bedroom alone, but it's better than being locked up in crates all day and it's what I have to live with if I am too keep males and bitches....

Joey and Elmo got into a fight today, that's how horny they are. Nothing serious thought, Elmo has one little wound on his shoulder, no biggy. Joey is just SO dominant, he HAS to go to Elmo and put his head over his shoulders ALL THE TIME. Joey doesn't do any more than that, but it's getting pretty irritating and Elmo is getting tired of it. He's put up with it, not that he backs down, but he doesn't go against him either.
I HATE when they have these little "talks" and now when they are incredibly horny of course it's even worse and more often.
Even when I've clipped Joeys nails and I put him down' he goes straight to Elmo to put his head over his shoulders and tell him who's the boss. Totally irritating and I'd love to get a solution on how to just get that "dominance" established!
I've sometimes thought "if they fight I'll just leave them" cuz it will never be a "life or death" fight. But the problem is, like today that all the other dogs (apart from pups, Nox & Stella) were out there with them and they all get excited and some try to get in between while others figure they can just join sides.. and that's not acceptable.
sounds like hell here right now, well it is, but this fighting thing wasn't a big deal at all, and not a life or death fight as I said. Just a dominace establishment that's been going on forever.
I think Joey is just really insecure around Elmo and that's why he has too do it, he leaves Ira totally alone, Ira told Joey from the start who he was and how he dealt with things and there has been no discussions what so ever between them since then! I don't understand why it's not so easy with him and Elmo.. the age difference is big, Joey will be 7 this year and Elmo will be 3. Ira is 2 years in may, I thought Elmo and Ira might have to "talk" but that's not the case..

Well, my darling man is calling me, dead tired wanting to sleep and there are things on the bed that he doesn't seem to be able to remove... adios amigos i amigas:)

I don't like mondays...

2009-04-27T14:46:00.004+02:00

I'm feeling so weird today. I don't feel like doing anything, just hanging and doing nothing.

I wish I was in Iceland, my grandmothers husband died just before easter and his funeral is today in Iceland. And I'm realising now that I FORGOT to write a memoir for the newspaper like I always do! Makes me feel even worse.. can't be there and didn't even write a memoir!

The puppies were not nice today, they are always in a puppypen during the night, and when I'm not home and today when I came home from school they had done some pooping... and some stepping in the poop, and some more stepping in the poop! The bathroom, where I keep them smells like poop and they're bed was covered with poop-prints and of course their paws as well!

How great! I usually crate train my dogs fairly early, but I'm waiting for Blondie to move to his new home, then I'll start to let Dollar sleep in a crate with the others.

Worst thing is that Dollar makes AWFUL sounds when he's not happy, his bark is so loud and high pitched. Every morning around 10 he starts complaining about getting out of the pen and start the day. Blondie is always a good boy and doesn't make a sound but Dollar is a handful, he knows what he wants and isn't afraid to tell!

Yesterday they managed to get out of the pen, and into the bedroom waking us up with kisses and running and playing in bed. It's cute.. but when you've been drinking the night before and just want to sleep it's not so cute.

I got up and took them up and Nick slept some more, he's been working like a maniac 12 hours or more a day so he deserved to sleep for as long as he wanted.

Yesterday evening while I was browsing around the net, the cat was meouwing at me like crazy, he had just eaten and I was about to put the bitches down so he could go downstairs and eat so I kept on telling him to shut up. I really can't stand that... meouw, meouw. meouw.. I'm so not a cat person.

Then he went in to the toilet and I heard him doing something with his paws, but didn't really think of it. A few minutes later I had to go to the toilet and what is there waiting for me? POOP!

The f*cking cat pooped on the floor! And don't try to tell me he was almost right, just missed the toilet.. it was not funny. Dogpoop I don't have a problem cleaning, but catpoop was taking it a step too far! Cats are supposed to be clean animals and do their business in the litterbox!

I was very, very mad and went to sleep very mad and irritated and woke up feeling mad and irritated.

so today when I log on to check my mail, the computer is upstairs in the attic (it's a big attic), I have a bed there for Casper, he always follows me, and I also have a little blanket on the floor where he sometimes lies. Today that blanket was peed on! And I can tell you it was not Casper, it was the f*cking cat!

Peeing and pooping upstairs cat! You can bet your ass I'm moving his litterbox upstairs now, this I will not live with, catpee smells awful and the floor is wooden with no protection so if it's peed on, the pee just goes in the wood!

so all in all, it's a pretty bad monday and I just want to lie in bed and sleep through it and wake up on tuesday feeling happy and having no problems. Tomorrow is a special day, me & Nick have been together for a whole year!

Tired...

2009-04-26T19:50:00.004+02:00

So yesterday after the show we had this dinner thing to go too. We had yummi dinner and even more yummier desert where I went wild (the appetizer was a shrimp thing and I don't eat those.. so I said I'd get more desert then lol).

We had some redwine with dinner, been a long time since I had red wine and I tend to like it, alot.. and I did yesterday and managed to get myself a wee bit drunk.

For some reason after drinking redwine all night I wanted something cold and ordered a Kriek ("cherry beer").. that did not work well and I started feeling really bad and I think it was around midnight, or 1 o'clock when we went home.

My foot is killing me, for 2 days ago I was wearing some shoes I haven'd used for a while and they started to hurt me so I haven't been able to wear closed shoes because I got a little wound near my heel, so for the show I find one pair of closed shoes I can wear (I'm not gonna show in my crocs) and they felt fine, untill I was at the show and had been wearing them for a while.. then they started too hurt me close to my toes, and I now have a little wound there, and on my heel, and on the back of my heel.... I can't wear any shoes now, not even the crocs and I'm limping! Not fun!

So next week Elisa is coming from Finland, we're going to the show in Dortmund on friday and we'll probably take some photos of the dogs during the weekend. Elisa has a great camera and takes really nice photos so I can't wait for her (and her camera) to come for a visit!

Well, Las Vegas is about to start and I have to make some french fries and lay in the sofa and watch Las Vegas, NCIS and CSI Miami.. it's s school night and I'm super lazy and a little bit hung over...

Have a good evening

-ohh yeah, yesterday I met someone who can clip Casper for me!! Hooray, she clips a bit scandinavian style so I can't wait to get Casper too her!

yeah...

2009-04-25T19:20:00.002+02:00

Allright, show's over. No I did not win a god damn thing..

Ira was first out, he was very, very distracted by Stella being in highseason today. He stacked himself quite nicely and made a very nice impression on the table, but on the move he wasn't doing his thing, and was more interested in going to our setup where Stella was waiting, even if I put the setup a bit away from the ring so he wouldn't see it.. I don't know if it made matters worse or not, he kept on trying to look up, wich made his steps shorter, and lift higher..

His critique was quite ok, but those that know me know I don't like getting "very good" so..

" Standing he is a very nice picture, Excellent head, well carried ears, nice neck, very nice body and forechest. Elegant limbs, moves with a little too much hackney and he has white on his throat"

Next up was Bling, I had her out a while before she went in so she wasn't as super excited, all over the place when she was in the ring. She got "Excellent" and placed no 1 in her class (where she was the only one lol). Her critique is as follows:

"Very beautiful little bitch, very nice had, excellent neck. A little barrel chested wich pushes the elbows out. Beautiful angulations. Quality bitch that moves very well"

And last, but not least. Stella debuting! She made me proud, she was very happy on the move and stood quite stil while stacked on the floor and quite still on the table while being examined.

She got an excellent rating and placed 4th in a class of 4 because she was carrying her tail very happily. I don't mind that tail being carried like that on a youngster, she's just a year old and this was her first show so I was not pulling her lead and saying no to her in the ring, my main goal was to get her to move like she can move and that we achieved.

Her critique:

"Sweet temperament, nice size, good head, nicely formed chest. Excellent body with good spring of ribs. Balanced angulations. Moves well but turns elbows out"

So good critiques on all, everyone performed quite allright, apart from horny Mr Ira.. but he performed better than many of the IGs, I just know he can do better, he is trained incredibly well, I wish I could send all my dogs to camp Alfheim:)

I have one more show planned, then no more plans. Dunno if I will manage to go to many more shows for the time being.. money, money, money makes the world go round.....

So, I should get going, we're going to eat dinner out tonite, Nick is gone, playing billjard with his friend and I was supposed to be there now... but I have to change clothes and then find shoes I can walk on, should be there in fifteen minutes if I stop now.. so have a nice day y'all

Keeping it up

2009-04-24T18:18:00.003+02:00

I'm planning on being an active blogger as you can see!

The weather was great today, we (me & the dogs) have been lying outside working on our tans.

I did go to the Lidl today and bought myself a flower to have on the veranda, it's a Fuschia, it's pink and pretty and I need a pot for it so it's steadier.

I also bought some tomato seeds, thought I might "breed" my own tomatoes, allthough I do not have green fingers, and don't have a clue where or how I should do it..

I also got some flowerseeds, I thought the colours were pretty and didn't see untill I came home that these flowers are "climbing flowers" so I have no idea where to place them. I'll wait untill my mom comes, she can help me out with that and maybe we can go get some more flowers.

I am getting nervous for the show tomorrow, if I do not blog about the show, don't ask...

All the dogs are ready to go, I just need to bath them and I always do that in the morning of the show. But teeth and nails are done, I'm wondering if I should take the whiskers as well.. I think I will.

I'm so clueless about this judge.. I guess after tomorrow I will know if I'd show for her or not lol! Wish I knew it now though!

Well I think I'll stop moaning around, get my groove on and start thinking more positive and that I will win!

Gotta go, there is a salat in the fridge waiting to be eaten and a hungry man downstairs waiting for me to finish putting it together and serve:)

Wish me luck and think good winning thougths for me!

ohhh!!!

2009-04-24T00:13:00.003+02:00

I HATE when this happens! The show is on saturday the 25th and on the 21st they announced a change of judges on IGs!!!!!!
I didn't even think about that ever happening, and just saw it now and I am so pissed off!
I have been so excited to go to that show, I was sure Lotte Jørgensen would LOVE Ira and I looked so forward to this!
Now they have replaced her with Birgit Wamberg, she is a whippet breeder and she is also danish. I have never shown for her, she was judging here not so long ago but I didn't show there cuz I forgot to enter. But the known dogs of the known breeders won, and she only gave excellent to the first in each class -but sometimes no one got excellent in a class.

I looked at Mrs Wamberg on the swedish database and she judged IGs in january this year, there was only one dog there with some extra white and he was only given "very good"- but I don't know if it was because of the white or something else.
She isn't throwing out the "excellent" ratings, seems to be rather strict, wich is fine but I have dogs entered for Lotte Jørgensen.. Stella is on the tall side of the scale, Ira has a little, teeny, tiny bit too much white and Bling .. well Bling is Bling, she's wonderful, but she also has her faults.

I don't know what this judge will think about the dogs, I don't know if this was a waist of money, I don't know if I can be refunded because of the change of judges but I do have to be there for that and I'm not driving there for an hour one way too maybe see if I can get my money back!

Shit I'm pissed off, I entered to this show for 2 months ago, that's how excited I was, I had to enter asap!
damn it, damn it, damn it!
If anyone reading this has shown for her and knows what she looks for please let me know.

Forgot my brain

2009-04-23T13:48:00.001+02:00

Jeez.. so today at school I forgot to bring my brain with me. We were supposed to take familyphotos with us and stand up and tell the class (who consisted of 4 ppl + me today) who everyone was.

I had printed out some photos yesterday and even written down some text that Nick corrected for me. I was gonna be so good!

What happened when I went up there, I didn't read what I had written, but just pointed to the photos and said everything the wrong way... dit is mijn zus.. sounds quite right for "this is my sister".. but no "dit ZIJN mijn zus" is the right sentence and I kept mixing this "zijn" and "is" and lots of other words while trying to tell my fellow studenst who was who! I ended up dropping the last 2 photos cuz I felt awful and stupid and took up a photo of my dogs and said, that those were my dogs, I had 11. I think I managed to make everyone forget how stupid I just looked and being interested in seeing the collage I made with my dogphotos!

I do however always lie a bit ahead of the class when we're working in our textbooks, and when we're suppose to do this on that page I'm almost always already done with that page so I just start on the next one.

Sometimes I think it goes so slow and I'm going crazy hearing the same thing over and over again and trying to understand how some ppl got into this advanced/breakthrough class when they don't even understand the simplest things.

-Then I have a day like today where I am supposed to stand up and speak and everything that comes out of my mouth comes out the wrong way and I am standing there swearing like a sailor.

2 more months and then my obligatory period is over. Nick wants me to continue next semester but I'm so not a schoolperson.. but I should do it, but still.. I don't want to go to school ahh! What to do.

I didn't have to go to school to learn Norwegian.. but then again, I did speak danish, and we do learn danish in school so understanding, reading, writing was already something I knew and understood. Speaking is always different, you don't speak the same way in class as you do "on the street" but I had been living in DK and worked at a bar/restaurant so I did know the language and then just had to change over to norwegian..

allthough it took me a year cuz I started out speaking english and then found it hard to switch and figure out a dialect! But I did and speak fairly good Norwegian (and write it with a splash of danish).

So... I guess we'll see in the end of the summer what I'll do. If I want to take some courses in something else I do need to know the language so it's not a dumb decision to keep on for a semester or 2.

Anyhow, enough said about school. I don't think I have anything else to say, I need to do some cleaning and wash some clothes and dishes as well so adios amigos!

save me..

2009-04-22T22:17:00.000+02:00

arrgh! I do not recommend having bitches and males!
Nox & Stella are in heat so I have to split the dogs from the bitches, wich is fine.
Today I was lazy, the dogs were downstairs outside and the bitches were up. Just before I made dinner for us I swapped the dogs (so there would be fewer dogs upstairs while we ate).
I didn't bother taking the bitches in heat and crate then while swapping so I just rushed all the bitches out and the males in, while passing each other I just saw Joeys nose move torwards Stella and he just floated after her (she's on day 11), then Ninja tryed to go in again and Elmo slipped out but I got it sorted out and nothing happened of course.
But, now they KNOW who it is and that they are there, they weren't like this earlier today but now that they have actually met and sniffed the ones in heat Ira and Joey weren't feeling so hungry and were just whining upstairs and everywhere the girls had sat and been.
Elmo ate his meal, of course... it can't be vice versa.. Joey and Ira eat well and Elmo goes on a strike. I'd be so happy if Elmo would go on a food strike and loose some weight!

Elmo is not loosing his weight, he looks better and is showable but he's not in the top condition I want him to be, and he needs to be on the slim & slender side to look good. I don't feed him much, but he does get salmon oil on his food (all the dogs do), know while I know that is fattening, I will not stop that because he needs it the most for his coat.
I think the last resort will be starting him on a diet food. I just don't have any experience from it, but I hate feeding Elmo so little, he's ALWAYS hungry and is a rather good thief.

Elmo has a show coming up in a week and 2 days in Dortmund and I really need him to shed the extra weight before then!! Any advice is greatly appreciated. -Excercising him is hard, he is lazy and hasn't been very interested in running with the others, maybe I'll try riding my bike and have him running along.

I trimmed Casper a bit down now, he was so hairy and I cannot put him in a trim cuz there is absolutely no shape. I just trimmed a bit, and wasn't even trying to do it well, it was before I bathed him just so he'd have a little less to help getting him all tangled up.
I do plan on trying to trim him, practise makes perfect... I have a bunch of photos printet out to guide me, he'll probably look like shit lol. I also want to put him in a continental trim now that he's in good shape and can get some tan on his legs.

Well that's enough for now, 2 blogs in 1 day must be fine! Gonna go down and watch criminal minds & the L word

Good night

The first blog

2009-04-22T16:37:00.000+02:00

Allright, I've started blogging again.

I think I'll do it in English as I am a very international person:)

I haven't been doing much lately, been rather lazy.

Nox & Stella are in heat now and the boys are starting to get a bit crazy. Casper HATES to be away from me, but he's not to be trusted around bitches in heat and a shut door has to be in between him and them so he cannot be upstairs all the time!

Right now the males are outside, the weather is beautiful so I don't feel sorry for them, Casper is complaining.. Joey talks to Elmo about who's the boss every 10 minutes and Ira tells them to shut up. So they are rather vocal down there.

The bitches are upstairs, I've fenced the roof (yes I can open the door out on the roof and they can sunbath there) . The dogs LOVE it, and use it all the time.

I'm really starting to think like a true housewife. I want flowers on the roof, and maybe a little tree to provide shade (and a spot to pee on..), and I want a special dogbed I saw at the market, I think it would look great outside and the dogs would like it.

Downstairs I need to do something about the outside area, we need to put some grass or something, there are tiles, white, and then there was a salat garden.. but with the dogs there that stopped and it's just mud and when it raines it's hell, and everything gets dirty.

I do want to plant a tree there as well, for shade and peeing, what else!

We have some things coming up, 2 shows big shows the next 2 weekends, the latter one being on Friday, wich will be nice.

I will have a guest that weekend, and when that guest leaves one of the adult dogs will go with her.....

I also have a great plan for Lucy now, she'll be going to the US and I have some very exciting litter plans for her now but that's not untill next year, her current pups are 4 months old.

Dollar, the new frenchman is doing great! He's such a lovely dog, great attitude, sweet personality, likes to give kisses but does it in a way that is not irritating or too much like some dogs that just attack your face and kiss you so it hurts cuz they are so excited!

This photo does not do him justice, he is stacked wrong, and it was extremely warm. I was just training him on the table when these were snapped, but you see he has the attitude.. if he can just stand still for a little bit more than 5 seconds....

Blondie is still here, he'll be going to Italy soon. He's looking great, I like him very much and think he'll be a very nice IG when he grows up!

Maggie, from my last litter went to her first show and was Junior BOB with her first CAC and a great critique! I'm so proud!

My youngest sister gave birth to a huge baby girl on april 15th! My sister is incredible, she did it without any medicine. The girl was around 4,5 kgs and 53 cm I think!

-Talk about being housewifey... I should be cleaning upstairs now, it's time for that but instead I'm creating a blog and writing... hehe. I'll clean when I'm done.

I did the car yesterday, that was needed! I haven't cleaned the car since we came here in october, the sun was shining yesterday I didn't have school so I finally got that done. The icecream car drives by our street every day and of course it drove by while I was busy doing the car so I took a well deserved break and had a bananasplit!

Nick will not be happy to find out lol. But what can I say, that music just lures me right to the car and before I know it I'm standing there with a bananasplit!

My parents are coming for a visit in the beginning of may, I CANNOT WAIT! That will be fun. I have some things planned, Nick wants be to plan almost every minute, and meals and what not.. I'm not up for that, I have thursday fully planned, some of the saturday and the rest we'll see where it takes us:)

Then after the show in Dortmund I have no shows planned! There aren't any shows with judges I am dying to show under, I don't know any of these judges so I'll drop it. There's one show in the Netherlands I want to go to and see if I can get Elmos championship at for Paul Stanton but that's it.

I'll focus more on racing, and in the fall I'll start to show some more. Hopefully there will be more exciting judges next year, there are almost only belgian or dutch judges for the IGs.. or german ones and I can't take Ira for a german judge. so we'll wait, cross fingers for better judges. The other sighthoundbreeds often have interesting judges I'd like to try to show for, but do they judge the IGs.. no! Even at some shows I've seen IG specialists judging another breed, but then they put an allrounder on the IG.. what's the deal!

I have a home phone now, so for those that want the number send me a line and I'll give it too you.

I think I'll let that be all for today. Lets see if I'll manage to keep this up!