Monday, November 23, 2009

Aapo's & Leena's puppies are born!

Leena' & Aapo's puppies are born! As of today Aapo is officially dad :)



There were born 8 puppies - 2 tri colour male & 1 sable male, 1 tri colour female & 4 sable female.


Picture's author Teija Lehtoranta.

Unfortunately one tri colour male didn't make it :( But the other 7 puppies are growing strong and are loud :) We are very thrilled and happy! We wish Leena quick recovery & happely motherhood and strength & thriving growing for the puppies!

You can see more pictures of the puppies from kennel Koiruuksen webpage, just see the puppies and role the page down a little.

Finally there was also a purpose to light the candle what Teija gave to us while we stayed at Finland. It is actually very cute candle, where is picture of Leena on one side and picture of Aapo on the other side :)

Dad-Aapo

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Finnish 2008 smooth collie's top ten

Every year Finnish Collie Association announces the collie's top ten show dogs.

2008 years:
3rd best male place got Aapo's father Dandinas True Swinger "Rico".
3rd best female was Aapo's pride Calibra's Drop of Honey "Leena" :))and 5th best female was Aapo's sister Milli Miller Viisakas Virginia "Milli"! Juhuuu!
2nd best veteran female was Aapo's grandmother Dandinas Candy Dan and 4th best veteran male was Aapo's grandfather Honey Melon Hartley Henry "Tico"

Gongratulations to all!!

Information is gotten from Colleiden Topten.

Aapo, the uncle

Aapo is now officially 2 x uncle.

Aapo's sister Milli's (Milli Miller Viisakas Virginia) first litter in kennel Glingstone's was born on 14.11.2009. Milli is now mother of 3 beautiful sable girl.

More info about the puppies of Clingstone's No Comments & Milli Miller Viisakas Virginia you will find from kennel Glingstones homepage.


Aapo's estonian sister Essa's (Milli Miller Valgekrae Violetta) first litter was born on 17.11.2009. Essa is now mother of 4 smoothies (1 sable girl, 2 sable males and 1 tri colour male).



More info of kennel Milli Miller smooth collies and Essa's puppies you will find from kennel Milli Miller homepage.

Gongratulations and we wish all the best, luck, good owners and great future for the puppies :)

Uncle Aapo

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Mental test in Finland

08.11.2009 we went with australian cattle dogs Greta and Echo, south-russian sheep dog Jaanu to do the finnish mental assessment test in Anjalankoski. The judges were Pirjo Ojala-Laine and Auli Kiminki.

We drove all in one car to the test place. It was a bit difficult for us, cause Aapo had to be at the boot with Greta and Jaanu. Aapo didnt seem to like Jaanu, well no wonder really, cause she was really furry, like Aapo's favourite playthings. Next time I won't do the same mistake and we'll better travel alone or with familiare dogs, not to stress Aapo that much before the test...

Well we arrived about one hour earlier then our test times should have started, but because the other dogs who did their tests the first half of the day had already finished and judges eaten, they decided we could start doing the tests earlier. Aapo was second estonian dog doing the test. Aapo was waiting his turn not that far from the test site in his kennel. But in conclusion Aapo wasn't in his best condition, he was even a bit discomposed doing the test and the results came out as following:

Capability to function +1 (15p) Moderate
Tendency to aggressive behaviour +1 (1p) Low without post-attack agressiveness
Desire for defence action +1 (1p) Low, controlled
Desire to fight +2 (20p) Moderate
Nerves +1 (35p) Tendency to nervousness
Temperament +3 (45p) High
Mental hardness -2 (- 16p) Soft
Accessibility +3 (45p) Kind, accessibile, open
Shots: ( -) Disposed to shots

RESULTS: 146 points and Aapo didn't pass it, because he was disposed to shots. The dog will past the test when its total points are at least +75 and it has got positive rank (at least +1) from the following features: tendency to aggressiveness, nerves, accessibility and reaction to shots.

I was almost satisfied how Aapo reacted in the beginning, but still he wasn't quite himself, not that confident and energetic than I was looking to get out of him. Aapo was a bit unglued the all day. I was surprised how quickly the test ended actually, it lasted about 10-15 minutes all together.

Now later on I'm the most displeased to myself that I hadn't familiarized Aapo with the situation where dog is on the leash and left alone stuck on the house-wall or what ever thing, cause seeingly Aapo was really confused of the situation and didn't know what happened, so he tried to get off the leash and even choked himself. All that just locked his mind and he got in panic, so later on it was shown while doing the shot part, i believe, especially cause Aapo has never given before any attention to the shots. But in the end I believe the pressure got him and thats why he didn't pass the test. But in the other hand again the shots weren't at all that loud as I would have been imagined - they were much louder then I was expecting. Usually there is 2 shots, but the judges weren't sure and did 3 shots for Aapo.

As the judges said, we can always try to do the test again, but not earliest then 6 months. In the moment I don't plan to do the test again that soon. I will let Aapo recover, mature and let him find himself more as well, so later on I will see if and when we will do the test or similar test again.. Either way I was pleased to try to do the test with Aapo. It was really interesting and again I could read more about Aapo, so I know of what are or could be his weakpoints and what should I pay attention in his training later on.

Videos of the mental test:





















The reason and my aim to do the mental test for Aapo without any previous special training (as a blank page) was to have an objective and honest overview of Aapo’s mental stage to compare later the results with other Finnish smoothies, to know where Aapo suites compared to them. Unfortunately there aren’t that many smoothies in Estonia and there a lot of in Finland, so the test should give a good overview what kind of wood is Aapo made of. And as I found out Aapo is in the moment just too soft and is disposed to shots - but these are the facts to handle and work with now on...

Monday, November 2, 2009

Weekend in Riga

This weekend we spent in Riga participating in 2 international dog-shows. This time again we traveled with Miliam and stayed at BaltPark hotel (very nice hotel, but with too light walls, so that you could hear the dog singing coming from the next room :))

First day, at 31.10.2009 we participated in Zooexpo international dog-show "2010 Crufts qualification". The judge was Margit Brenner from Austria.

Characterization: 2 year 2 months old, masculine head, very correct eyes and ears, good neck, correct withers, a little bit falling down in croup, good angulation, good movement, very good temperament, well presented.

Results: Excellent 1, CQ (certificate of quality), BM 3/3, res CACIB.

Picture done by Eve Ojavere.

All together there was 6 smooth collies entered (3 males and 3 females).

All results:

-BM1, VSP was tri-colour Walensian Maitre "Vili", who also got SERT, CACIB and Crufts qualification.
-BM2 got Aapo's very promising 10 months old half brother Timonan Viking Viggo "Viggo" (he also got Jun SERT, Crufts qualification).
-BF1, BOB and BIG4 was Aapo's very lovely 10 months old half sister Timonan Veronica Velvet "Lilli" (she also got Jun SERT, Crufts qualification).
-BF2 was beautiful Shulune Imperial Mystique "Moira", who also got SERT, CACIB and Crufts qualification.
-BF3 was elegant Timonan Qiana Qinnie "Bombi".

Congratulations to all!!!

01.11.2009 was second international dog-show in the same place. The judge was Igor Selimovic from Croatia. That day's judge I liked more because for my opinion he was more thorough and watched everything more detailed (the movement, expression and even touched the ears fully to be sure they are real, etc).

Characterization: Medium sized, good format, excellent head proportion, good expression, topline not perfect straight yet, good angulation, enough power in action.

Results: Excellent 1, CQ (certificate of quality), BM 2/3, SERT & CACIB -> LV CH


Picture done by Eve Ojavere.

All results:

-BM1, BOB and BIG4 was Viggo!
-BM3 was Vili,

-BF1, VSP was Bombi,
-BF2 was Moira,
-BM3 was Lilli.

Congratulations!!!

In conclusion I think we did good in the shows. Aapo still needs to get in better show fit, but we have about 1,5 months left for the Finnish Winner show to improve that as well :)


After the show Aapo & Viggo posing.

Aapo: " Hey little brother ;)"








Picture's author Viggo's owner Katri Leikola.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Fetich

Well for some time now I have noticed Aapo's great useful little fetich - furry things. The furryiest the better and when he sees the furry thing, his eyes and heart just lights up (mhmm I wonder what animal he was in his previous life). So now the little furry teddybears aren't out of sight in the closets, but out and I use them while doing playful obedience practices or just tugging with Aapo.

Today I acknowledged the fetich again when I found these old jackets furry sleeves and Aapo just went mad and so active that he would have done what ever to get them - excellent toys again for our obedience practices. And it's just so funny how he behaves when he wons the toy while for example doing tugging - he is just like a little rabbit (jumping and running so weirdly) with his catch :)


Picture done by Teija Lehtoranta.

Well again it's proven that you don't need to buy really expensive toys to play with your dog - it's all in the simple things and you just need to discover them :)

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Webpage

Aapo has now also a webpage :) You can see it here.

In the moment it's still under construction.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Good news

Beside that we have had some rest lately from trainings because I'm sick and Aapo's foot his hurt - so we both recover - we had some great news today..

Aapo's bride Leena had her ultrasound today and the results was pretty good. Now it is definite that Leena is pregnant and 5-6 weeks from now there will be punch of little Aapo's and Leena's :) Hopefully everything goes well!
Sending our regards and best wishes to the Koiruuksien kennel ;)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Dogs..

Dogs are so lovely, funny and smart ;) See the above little video and acknowledge it too ;))