Blog Archives

What else does CHAMPION Salo LOVE? Here's a quick look .....

29/10/2014

Hurrah! It's finally arrived - confirmation from the Kennel Club that Salo is now a CHAMPION - yippeee!!

He got his first CC at the FLCGB Club Champ Show under breed specialist Pat Patch in April. The second CC was awarded along with Best of Breed, at Southern Counties in June under Finnish judge Pekka Teini. The third and crowning CC along with Best of Breed, was awarded at Richmond in September under Dutch judge Rony Doedijns - all three in six months, not bad going Salo! Although he absolutely loves strutting his stuff (and he focuses better in the ring than anywhere else!) he also loves life, as the following photos testify :-)

He loves being groomed by 'his bitches'

He loves agility.

He LOVES young puppies.

Bless!

He loves the beach.

And he LOVES water!

And going to the pub of course!

Being King of the Castle ....

Making new friends on adventures.

He loves being spoilt.

And doesn't love it when his Humum embarrasses him!

But he DOES love special time out with her.

But most of all he LOVES his cuddles & we love them too :-D

3 Comments

Lovely Lappy Walk

27/10/2014

0 Comments

Once again it's been a busy month! There's lots of info to add but I'm going to start with the
Lappy walk I organised over Hankley Common, a fabulous location just up the road from me in Surrey but not so easy to find for everyone else.... When I saw how many cars were sailing past the lane entrance, I decided to park up with my boot open so that people could see the Lappies & would realise they were on the right road. I then proceeded to speak to the many drivers who pulled alongside & I explained that they needed to drive to the end of the lane and pull into the car park - also known as 'follow the sound of the barking!". I did have a bit of a fright when a lady pulled up & wound down her window - "are you here for the big Lappy walk?" I asked, "no, I'm here for the big German Shepherd walk" was her reply - YIKES!!!!! Actually I have to say that the GSD people were lovely and in fact came to the rescue when a couple of Lappies went AWOL - but moving swiftly on & mentioning no names .....

The walk was incredibly well supported with 25 Lappies present. There were some potential new owners on the walk - and what better way to show off the breed then to have people see them at their worst ha! I don't think we managed to put anyone off though. It was so lovely to meet again with T. Jaska, my Sisko's brother, looking amazing at 10.5 years old! It was definitely a family affair as also on the walk were Leks and his full brother Dante from the Kantri litter along with half brother Anakin from Peppi's first litter. Ruska got to meet five of her furbabies from her Jako/Glazyr litter - Enni, Luna, Kaura, Kali and Loki aged 8 months. Determined not to be left out was little Pretzel from my Taffel Salo x Peppi summer litter. Roope from my Nalle litter came on the walk and would have been reunited with brother Kimi had my directions been better and errr, they hadn't ended up walking on the common on the opposite side of the road! Ah well, they found the pub OK (which is the most important bit right?) and Kimi got to come in and watch us eat :-) Apologies if I've forgotten anyone!

It's not difficult to see why I love homing my pups in the South East!

Huge thanks to Dave Page's brother for these photos although the first couple & the crappy last one are all my own work ;-)

Scrabble is actually standing on Ilo & pushing her nose into the grid! She's so sweet she's just putting up with it.

It doesn't look particularly comfy does it and it's certainly no way to treat a guest!

Gathering in number .....

Lovely pic of Leks

Ruska's kids having a bundle!

And a paddle

Sisko's gorgeous brother Jaska.

Pretzel found a friend - another little brown bear cub!

Jaska & Sisko

Group Shot!

"Mummy Liz, please can I have a packet of crisps, please, please, pleeeeease!"

0 Comments

Guest Blog - Passing Silver GC Award & First Show by Heather Pickard

16/10/2014

0 Comments

Luna, formerly known as Mini Milk - 5 Weeks

Six months ago we welcomed our gorgeous Lappy Luna into our family. Having met Liz several months previously and avidly followed all the updates from the Ruska x Salo/Ice litter we jumped at the chance when Liz offered us one of the puppies.

We have 3 children (9, 8 and 5) so from the day she came home life has been busy with quiet times fairly limited! She has proven herself to be an amazing family dog, not even batting an eyelid when we had 9 children in our garden just days after bringing her home. With so many children living in and visiting our house obedience training was a must. We started with things we had read in books, tips from Liz and YouTube clips but as soon as we had the post jabs all clear from the vets it was time to start obedience classes.

From 12 weeks old I took her to a combination of Kennel Club classes in a hall and ‘real life’ classes outside. The first few classes were, in short, disastrous! All Luna wanted to do was play with the other dogs and I began to despair that she would ever learn anything. A few weeks in to our Kennel Club sessions and the instructor gave me some invaluable advice - to relax! Sure enough, once I had stopped worrying about everything that went wrong and started focussing on the little victories she came on in leaps and bounds. She was accelerated out of the puppy class and at 5 months (in July) she passed her Bronze certificate.

The next week we were given the criteria for the Silver - it seemed impossible she would achieve all that in a couple of years let alone the 3 month time frame they gave us. Once again Luna demonstrated just how clever she is and quickly progressed to a point where the instructor commented that much of her behaviour was ‘Gold’ standard. Then we hit a huge hurdle - at 7 months on the dot we woke up to a teenager! The next training session was the worst we had had in weeks, she pulled, barked, tried to jump on the other dogs and generally ignored everything I said! To add to the stress, that same weekend was to be her first proper dog show!

If I’m honest showing was never something I thought I would enjoy. I couldn’t see what I or Luna would gain from it but with encouragement from Liz and other TabanyaRuu owners decided to give it a go. Our first show was in Maidstone just 10 minutes from where we live so there was no option to back out despite the terrible obedience session earlier that week! I banned the rest of the family from the event, knowing the biggest distraction for Luna would be the children she adores, and so turned up on my own feeling ill with nerves. I really shouldn’t have worried, I was greeted on arrival by the other Finnish Lapphund owners (it never ceases to amaze me how owning a Lappy brings with it a whole social community) all keen to see Luna as we had not made it to other Lappy events since we brought her home - must get my diary more organised for next year! Luna certainly seemed to enjoy the atmosphere and as soon as her show lead went on she was ready to go. I was terrified the Luna of the previous obedience class would come out but she rose to the occasion beautifully. She simply loved the undivided attention (and treats) she received from me and the praise from a very friendly and patient judge.

Placing Third in Junior Class

In the absence of a Puppy class I had entered her in the large Junior Class with no expectation of placing against older dogs. Despite a bit of lead chewing from her and my nerves meaning we did our lap too fast so had to go again she clearly impressed the judge. To my surprise (and great pride of course) she placed 3rd in the class with Imperial Storm Shadow du pays de l'Aurore Boréale TabanyaRuu (Otto) coming first and TabanyaRuu Nalle Roope taking second. This also put her as the highest placing puppy in the class so she won a pink and blue rosette to go with her yellow and a chance for a lap of honour with Otto and Salo (who won BOB). Sadly she didn’t place in the best Pastoral Puppy class but overall it was a brilliant experience and she is now entered for the Southern Finnish Lapphund Society Show later this month.

The show definitely had an impact on our communication and Luna’s obedience improved again. There is still the teenager lurking underneath but the daily ring craft sessions we do at home combined with her obedience practice is paying dividends. Earlier this week we arrived at our Kennel Club obedience class to find an assessor there. Luna and Zayda (a 1 year old GSD) were being assessed for their Silver obedience. For the test they had to demonstrate, amongst other things, a 2 minute wait, leaving treats uneaten, a road walk (in the dark to add to the distraction levels!), getting into and out of the car safely, playing with and dropping a toy on command, greeting people without jumping and a sit, stay, recall. Then came the hardest part - the questions for the handler! I am sure Luna could have given more succinct answers but once again my nerves were in danger of getting the better of me. Fortunately I managed to give the correct answers about the responsibilities of dog ownership and we had passed!

Luna has all the traits of a very bright 7 month old puppy. She definitely has her naughty days but she has come so far since her first classes. First and foremost she is a much loved member of our family so we’ll continue with our classes all the while she enjoys them and can benefit from them. Gold seems a long way off but it’s a great goal to aim for and maybe she’ll surprise me again!

Heather Pickard.

0 Comments

What else does CHAMPION Salo LOVE? Here's a quick look .....

Lovely Lappy Walk

Guest Blog - Passing Silver GC Award & First Show by Heather Pickard

Author

Archives

Categories