Playful obedience

The last couple of days we have focused more on obedience (also cause the next monday we participate in our very first unofficial obedience competition). Monday and Tuesday instead of our agility trainings we did some playful obedience practices. Actually it was basically all about playing. I concentrated on fun and playing and through that to do little obedience tricks (heeling and down stay) - the aim of that is to get Aapo to be more active, spunk and quicker doing obedience. We played with different toys and ways (some tuging, frisbee, ball and racing).

Aapo playing

Tuesday we did mostly all training some jumping exercises (3 series and aprox 5 minutes per time), cause we have done it less compered to other obedience tricks. Greta's owner borrowed us for experimental reasons his new tennis ball during the training and Aapo just liked it for the very beginning.

Aapo ready to jump

Aapo jumping over the barrier


Today, to let Aapo earn his food, we trained down staying, recall, send away and turnings during heelwork. When Aapo was starting to loose his energy I brought out the tennis balls he has started to like (thank you Leelet, we just had to buy these magical balls now too:) Don't know what's the trick with them, but they just work ;)). Then we basically trained some recall, to get the speed :) And the mission was accomplished!

Some pictures of our trainings here (I did a new photo-album, cause there was some problems with the one we have used for now).

Tunnels competition, II cup

Today we participated in the TAKO tunnels competitions second cup. This time the judge was Elika Lass, who has many times reprented Estonia in the world agility championship. Cause we don't participate officially yet we again competed in the beginners class. All together there were 36 dogs. As last time the baths were interesting and tricky.

The beginning of the first bath I almost got a DSQ for my own bad memory of the bath. But luckly it hit me on the right time and I leaded Aapo into the correct tunnels entry. We did the first run beside that incident pretty Ok for our level. The second run my aim was to run it again with no mistakes. Cause for now when we have participated two times in the tunnels competition and we have had one run clear, second with mistakes or even with DSQ. And we achieved our goal juhuuu, we had two runs with no mistakes! A big thing for us. Also Aapo was pretty contactive, so this time he didn't want to go to boom (dog-walk) nor to say hello to the audience. Progress. One thing what we could have had better was the speed - Aapo run the two baths with moderate speed. I still quite haven't learned the way to put his engine work the way it could be :)) cause Aapo could be really speedy, as I've witnessed! But I'll keep on working with that. ACD Poppy's owner filmed our second run. Thank You Karin for that :)) Here it is:



Today I prepared for the tunnels competition like for a real agility competition and tried to think as it would be a real - official agility competition, to get used to the competition situation and feeling. In the end I was satisfied with our results. We did good for our level and it gave even more inspiration to do better the next time. But what was really inspirational was the latvians runs with shelties. They were so speedy, the contact with the handlers were excellent and it was just enjoyable to watch them.

Videos of the competition here.

Results here. We got 7th place and it is so far our best results :) All together we stand according of the score-table 18th place out of 58 participants :)

My pictures of the awarding here.

Little Goat-Yeanling herding sheeps :)

Today Aapo had his second herding practice in Jaani farm, Valistre. Beside us there were ACD's Greta and Anny. This time when Aapo saw where we were, he got all excited to see his old "friends". When the first practice I all concentrated on getting Aapo familiarize the situation and the sheeps, then today I already tried to get him more into his role on herding. Also not to let him run himself breathless as well sheeps, we tried doing herding slowly and calmly. Any now and then it even worked, but then Aapo got too excited and made some guick lures after sheeps.

Few pictures done by Leelet, ACD Greta's owner.

Thank you Leelet, for filming us and making pictures :)

Some videos of herding:

Hiking at Kõrvemaa

Today we went hiking to Kõrvemaa. The weather was excellent for the walk, not too warm, neither cold or rainy. Few pictures of the hike here.

Slowly but consistently...

Yesterday we went with Dagmar and irish setter Pipi to the Klooga beach. The weather was warm and we decided to have a nice evening with the dogs at the beach and familiarize them with the sea and maybe take a little swim. While I went swimming, Dagmar stayd with the dogs at the cast. Some times later Aapo and Dagmar slowly approached me and Aapo even swam by himself a little, but then he turned his way back to beach. A little later when I was closer to them Aapo again started by himself swimming near to me jeeeiii :) I'm happy - our little developments on swimming has done .. I truly hope Aapo will recognise the enchantment of swimming and will keen on it soon :))

Picture of the night at the Klooga beach.

Agility is FUN!

...Yep, that was the main slogan that the swedish Peter Holmberg puncutated constantly at the dog-school Koerus summer camp at 16. and 17. july in Hallika farm, Padise county.

Peter Holmberg is the Norwegian agility teams head coach, he acts as an agility trainer and has taught multi-level courses in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Peter is also trained obedience trainer who has written a book of clicker training in obedience.


Cause I had the dog massage theory lesson in the morning of 16. july I arrived at the camp just before our practice time, but the next day we had the opportunity to take part the camp all day long. Peter contcentrated in handlers and he pointed out that he is here to teach the handlers not the dogs (it is the handlers job) and if the dog makes mistakes in the path it is always the handlers fault not the dogs! If you do faults on the combinations then make them like that the dog doesn't understand you did something wrong. He talked and concentrated about how we can won time in the jumps and runs choosing the right path and using the right leading ways. He also said we need to be on motion all the time and run the track fully till the end and even a bit farther. Too many handlers stop running just before the last obstacle and for that the dog also speeds down and looses time. He also said correct handling is when the dog knows the next obstacle afore. And related to that the first day while doing some jumping exercises Peter noted that Aapo is already A2 dog, because he observes my blodylanguage really good. After the practices Peter talked little about clicker training and it's principles. At the end of the day we had a snooker agility game. It was pretty interesting and also for me (handler) a bit hard mentally, cause we hadn't played it before. But we got to have some fun and a lot to laugh :)))

Picture done by Annika, more pics here.

Early the next day Peter talked about the running contacts. It was really interesting lecture and good to know especially cause we haven't trained the contacts that way, but it doesn't mean we can't start practice it now the way Peter taught us. Also he taught us the different crossing ways (front, rear and blind) and traps on the paths. He reminded us that agility is fun and you need to have fun with your dog and run as good as you know to run. For the A3 handlers he gave some advice for the coming agility championships. Also he said something so nice that I would like to write it down here as well: "You have your dog and that is the best dog for you and whom you need to go home with!" It is just something to think about while doing any sports with you dog ;) It was just a brief overview of what he talked about and what I really liked as well was that he was extramely thourough and explained everything down to small pieces.

Picture done by Annika.

I really simpaticied the trainer because he has such a multible backround and he has owned and trained soo different type of dogs, so that he knew how to give advice or recommendation for different type of dogs. I found the agility camp really useful not only for agility point of view but as well in many reasons.

Picture done by Kärt Pingas.

The trainer talked also about obedience and in the end of the second day I had the opportunity to talk with him privately and ask him the things that interests me the most and also he gave me some really good tips in obedience field as well in the bigger picture. I'm truly happy and satified that I participated in the training camp.

Picture done by Annika.

And meanwhile when we were waiting our turn, we did some obedience exercises with distractions.

Picture done by Kärt Pingas.

In the end I want to thank the organisers for the educative, versatile and fun training camp :))

My pictures of the camp and the 18. july agility competitions rewarding you find here and Kärt Pingas'e pictures here.

The beginning of our holiday's

Today officially my holiday's started and it began pretty actively. Today the weather was really hot, but still we had our agility training in the Tallinn shelter. Beside us there were ACD-s Greta, Poppy and Ella.

Picture done by Ella's owner Madis.

It was really hot and Aapo was languid and didn't feel like doing any training today. I didn't want to let the day on waste, so I still made an effort and played with him on the practice field to get him active.

My pictures of the training here. At the end of the training we did some down staying in the group.

Picture done by Ella's owner Madis.

After training the ACD dogs went swimming near the training place. Aapo firstly just looked at them, but later he kinda joined them and went to get the sticks as well.

Picture done by Ella's owner Madis. Aapo and Ella playing with the stick.

At home Aapo and german shepherd Rexy played little and made some quick rounds.


.. and later I did some obedience tricks with Aapo and german shepherds Freya and Rexy.

What a day.. Aapo is nicely tired and rests - the dog-owners joys :)

Stormy walk

Today we took long walk in our neighborhood again. It was stormy and the nature was admirable. So I took some pictures of the walk to keep the sight memorable.

We went to the sandpit, where Aapo could go after and get the stick on the water..


Aapo enjoyed the water and the stick..


..and was happy that he didn't need to go that far to get it, cause the water basically brought it closer to him..


Shaking some water off..

But still he likes better going after the stick on the land :)

More pictures of the walk here.

Back to basic

Today as well on monday we practiced some obedience. On monday we practiced obedience during our walk on the Männiku forest. We trained some recall with finishing to heel, some heeling and stopping on command. After training we played some frisbee and some pulling. But today we went to our dog-school trainer for some advice how to go foward with our trainings.


Firstly we practiced some going down (lieing) straight and the down stay with distractions.


Next we reminded the jumping excercise. We started from the very beginning and concentrated on that Aapo would turn back quickly to me after jumping over the bar and staying in the middle behind the bar.

We finished the training with going down while heeling exercise. We need to practise it from the very beginning again to get it right. Our trainer watched how we did the exercises and gave us feedback and advice how to go foward. I got some good ideas and how to exercise that Aapo would go down quicker through playing and fun.


Cause it was raining it gave a good opportunity to practice again with "bad" weather. It is good to train with versatile weather situations cause in the competitions you never know what kind of weather you will get and need to deal with :)

Illustrative pictures done by Greta's owner.

Happy B'day Grets!

Today was Aapo's good friends Greta's 2 year B'day. On that occasion Greta's owner celebrated the B'day, as suitable for sport dogs, practising some agility and obedience. Greta's B'day party participated beside Aapo the smart and friendly ACD Poppy. Because it was raining and it was slippery, we practised the obstacle "O", the slalom and also little tunnel.

We reminded the obstacle "O", cause we hadn't done it for a long time. Next we tried to do the slalom in different ways, like with a play-toy or with a treat, also with strange sounds to figure out what would make him more "crazy" for doing it :)) Like in obedience we now concentrate in agility on the right feeling, energy and drive.

While Greta and Poppy had their time to do agility we in the same time practised some obedience - like lieing with the head down, coming beside, going to lieing down, etc. The environment was excellent for the practise cause it was raining, the shelter dogs were barking and the Greta or/and Poppy practising agility the same, was also kind of disturbing factor.

After training Greta's owner offered the dogs some delicious special B'day cake made of minced meat, chopped turkey haunch meat and paneer :))

The Happy B'day girl enjoyed the cake first and then the guests could have a taste too :)

Weekend thrills

On friday Pipi, Grets and Aapo decided to go swimming in Männiku. Grets was the only dog who went swimming by herself and brought the sticks to her owner what she throwed to the water. I tried to lead Aapo to swim as well, but he still didn't want to go by himself. Pipi's owner tried as well lead Pipi to swim and for a moment she even forgot that she had clothes on :), she was so into it that in one moment not only Pipi was in the water but she was as well :)) Too bad I didn't have the camera with me to catch the moment hehee. The conclusion of the story - what all we need and want to do for our dogs ;))

On saturday we had our day off, but in the evening we still decided to be a little practical and practice some obedience. We tried to practice it in different ways, but mainly through playing. So we played some pulling and frisbee to get the right energy and drive. But when we were playing with the frisbee and I tried to get it from Aapo - he jumped and I bowd at the same time - the result was a "beautiful" black eye for me. Luckly Aapo didn't get any injuries, only I did. But oh well things like this happen, so no worries. Just I had to give some effort to hide it the next day on the dog show, not to look so awful :)

Today we participated in Luige national dog show. I signed there because the show is basically like our home show, we just live so near the place were it was held. Also I was nicely pleased that the judge in the morning was Dina Korna from Estonia. She had the first smooth collie living in Estonia who became international champion. So I was even looking foward to be judged under her and get the characterization. It was our first show were the judge has herself owned and breeded smoothies and has a good overview of the breed.

Characterization: Very bredly, correct growth, good bone, correct bodybuild, beautiful head and expression, good moving, very good fur, good temperament, well presented.

We were the only smoothie participating so Aapo was the best of breed (BOB).

In the group competition we had complete failure in my opinion. The place where it happened was full of dogsmells (like weewes, etc), so that Aapo acted completely strange. He was really careful were he stepped and therefor he didn't move normal. I have noticed his that kind of behaviour some times before on our walks (and made a joke about it - that he is a total aesthete), but today it hit me that it is not at all good habbit and we need to train in these kind of circumstances more to get ridder of it. So I was a bit dissapointed but in the other hand I got to know Aapo's weakpoints, so we can train them to be better. Aapo was 4th of best in group. PKKK pictures of the show here.


The weekend gave me so much information and feedback of what to do with Aapo, how to go foward in many ways - and I'm pleased that the reality hit me. Sometimes when I think we have developed so much I will notice that we still have (or we can have) a big way to go ahead, to practise and train for and strive for ourself. I keep forgetting sometimes that I don't train for someone else but I do everything what I do with Aapo for ourselves wellbeing and to see how far can we go and incognizable where is our barrier. I don't want to make lines what we can or can't do. I believe that with hard work and some luck - you can achieve a lot in life. But unfortunately sometimes in the world you maybe strived with the flow and forget what are your purposes and goals. I know I want to have a cheerful and active dog who is pleased with his life. So keeping in mind our main purpose we slowly but persistently keep up training and do our doings playfully and cheerfully. I believe you are truly succesful when you and your dog are happy what ever you do together :)

Announcement - Aapo&Leena

We proudly present that Aapo's first litter is planned into 2009 autumn. Aapo's gorgeous pride will be Calibra's Drop of Honey (Leena, born 07.12.2003).

Leena is very beautiful, versatile and active smoothie. She competes in agility level 2 and in the highest (elite) obedience class.

Also she trains for search-and-rescue and they also have done some herding.

Leena has excellent show titles and results. She is Multi Champion (IntCh, FIN Ch, S Ch, ESTCh, LT Ch, LV Ch, RUS Ch) and Multi Winner (FINW´05, LTW´06, BALTW´06, LVW´07, FINW´08).

Her hips and elbows has been tested (AA/OO). Eyes (CEA-free/CEA-free) and genetically tested normal by Optigen. This means that all their puppies will be CEA-free. Leena has done the BH test in the year of 2005 and the Finnish Dog Mentality Assessment test in the year of 2006 with the results of 240 points.

Aapo's and Leena's inbreeding percent in 4 generation is 0%, in 6 generation 4,9%. You see their pedigrees here, as well here.

It will be Leena's II litter. Her I litter (1 male and 3 females) was born on 29.09.2007. More information about Leena, the breeding plans and among other things you will find on the Kennel Koiruuksien webpage.