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.

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 :)

Webpage

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

In the moment it's still under construction.

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 ;)

Dogs..

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

Portraits of Aapo

Teija Lehtoranta made just too many beautiful pictures of Aapo while we stayed in Finland last week. That doesn't happen that often when someone makes really good pictures of Aapo or if they even get out good :) Here are some more that I really like :)

Weddings in Finland

Most of this week we spent in Finland, Tervakoski, related to Aapo's and Leena's wedding. It was love at first sight and hopefully everything went good, so that little healthy Leena's and Aapo's will be already expected in the end of november. But after that we had the opportunity to take part in Koiruuksien kennel's usual week plans and dog events, of what I was really pleased with.

Aapo and Leena got along very good, as well did Aapo and Jaana, but they mostly liked to play tug with each other. The suipponens had such a great temperament and good character- no wonder Aapo got along with them so nicely! :)

But after that hard work, on wednesday we had the opportunity to go with Teija and Jaana to their agility practice in Riihimäki hall. All together there was 4 dogs training. In the beginning they run some baths, but at the end of the training they had some tehnique exercises for example jumping, contacts or leading.

On thursday we took a little walk in Hämenlinna and later that day we had the chance to go with Teija, Jaana and Leena to their search and resque training. It was nice to see how different level dogs (puppies or already many years taught dogs) worked. Aapo could also try it, you can see the videos of his tryings here - first, second and third. It was really interesting to do that kind of training, especially cause we hadn't done that before. This trip as in Leena Välimäki training in Estonia I noticed again how guiet I am doing dog sports with Aapo compering for example finnish. They are much louder and praise dog with high voices more.

On friday we took a walk in the forest with Suipponen Jaana, greyhound Bree, Teija and Talvi, so the dogs could run a little and play with each other.

Later that day we went to see the Riihimäki's unofficial agility competition. Interesting in there was that all the participants needed to run the same bath, eventough the level varied (some hadn't competed oficially yet, some competed in A3). Here is one video of one good run.

Teija made some really beautiful pictures, while we stayed there:

Aapo tugging

Aapo playing frisbee

We had great time meeting the Koiruuksien kennel, Aapo's pride Leena, daugther Jaana and greyhound Bree. Thank you so much Teija for your hospitality and kindness. We are keeping our thumbs up for the little ones!

My pictures of the trip here.

Obedience competition

Today we dipped our toes into the official obedience field. The obedience competition was held by IPSON dog-school in Keila. The judge was Taimi Leib.

The elements and results:

1. Accessibility - 10 p (koef 1). This time Aapo did it perfect. He sat next to me and stayed nicely and was friendly when the judge approached.

2. Heeling on leash - 6 p (koef 2). He didn’t do heelwork well. He wasn’t that contactive and perky. Also he was in a really naughty mood (women in his mind) and wanted to do tricks with my legs khmmm. Our heelwork is just too unconstant yet, but we'll keep on working the most with that.

3. Heeling without a leash - 6 p (koef 4). See the previous point.

4. Going down while heeling - 0 p (koef 2). Instead of going down he sat.

5. Recall - 9,5 p (koef 3). He was perky and run to me fast, but he made behind me too big round while coming next to me. It also could be of it that I train him with the ball and I throw it back when he approaches and don't train the coming next to me that much.

6. Stopping while heeling - 10 p (koef 2).

7. Over the fence - 8 p (koef 2). Aapo grazed the fence.

8. Down stay - 10 p (koef 3). The dogs did it twice. First time while dogs did the down stay, one dog run away and made circles around other dogs, 4 of them joined her, but Aapo and irish setter stayed – I was really pleased with that. The judge decided to gave another chance and the dogs did the down stay one more time. This time Aapo did down stay good, but he started wihneing :((

9. Impression - 8 p (koef 1).

Results: 148,5 points, II rank and 5th place. Mihkel Rikas pictures here.

In the morning I had a hunch that there isn’t going to come anything good.. Aapo was distracted and in a naughty mood (later it clicked that it could of been because our german shepard Freya (my brothers dog, who lives with us) is in a heat and it made Aapo just crazy in head) but I decided to go, give it a try and get experiences. And I don't have any regrets participating, getting the feeling and experiences. This year we won't compete in obedience any more and just keep on training with it. We'll see what the future brings us.

Meanwhile we keep on working with the obedience details, teach Aapo some new tricks to develope his mental abilities and to keep him happy, and many more things...

Training herding

This weekend we went herding at Jaani farm again, but this time there was held special herding training in association with Swedun Paimennuskoulu and the trainer was Kimmo Klossner from Finland. All together there were 8 border collies, australian cattle dog, australian shepard and Aapo participating in it.

The place where it was held is just so unbelievable beautiful and peacefull place near Pärnu-Jaagupi, in Valistre. The weather was also in our favor and didn’t rain.

Well now more about the training. Kimmo approached individually according to the dogs level and breed. Even the border collies were all so different, you could see whom of them herd in everyday life and how developed they are. Also some of them were still pretty young but you could see how talented they already were and that wasn’t actually no surprise if you see who the dogs ancestrys were and what they did for everyday’s work.

The first day started for us not that early, so that Aapo could rest a bit from the show while I watched how others did herding and how Kimmo taught them. The first ring we herded with long leash and Kimmo was with us in the ring cause he didn't know how Aapo would behave in the field. The first ring he brandished with the stick couple or more times when Aapo was too energetic, made the sheeps run too much and barked too much - but the times he brandished were maybe even too much for him, beacuse that kind of behaviour was very new for Aapo. And for the result he was affraid a bit of the stick and his interests against the sheeps went down :( But now he could herd without the leash cause he was more calm and maybe thought more. The next and the last ring I didn't use the stick, to get him confidents and energy back. Kimmo also said that maybe using the stick at first that many times was too much for his character, and I think even one time would have done the trick for him, and the next times use the stick only very calm and quietly.

The second day started early. Today I decided to take the stick with us in the ring, just to get him use to it and at the end of the day he was more confident and used with the stick more as well, so I could use it more.

A video done the very beginning of the second day:




And little video of the last herding of the training:

Kimmo said that for the second day for training Aapo was really good – he developes. Kimmo also said that as much smooth collies or at all collies he has seen, then they really varie a lot what is involved with herding. Very few that he has seen are really good (he mentioned two – but these two have done herding now for 2 years), some have had no instinct at all (they didn’t notice and give any attention to sheeps), and he was sad that the breed has been ruined with that the owners use their dogs basically only for dog-shows. One dog-owner also made this unexpected remark in the training to me when she noticed Aapo, that would also say something about the nowadays oppinion of the breed.... She said that: „wow collie, I thought collies are extincted in the herding point of view“. Khmmm..

Kimmo said that we develope and need to keep on training ;) This time we still basically concentrated to practice Aapo with the sheeps and the work. When he really gets the point then we can start with the serious trainings. For ideal I would like to go herding in Jaani farm once more this year in octobre cause I see how good it is for Aapo, but we’ll see how the times will suite for us.

Pictures done by border collie Roxy's owner.

In the end I would say that the weekend was just fabulous – good weather, company, excellent home made food (compliments to the chef!!) and activities – just like in vacation, but even better :))

Some pictures from ACD Greta's owner: Aapo herding

And meanwhile when other dogs did herding, Aapo and ACD Greta had fun on the fields.

My videos of the weekend here, and pictures here.