Training competition this evening

This night I went to a training competition with Arwen at the club to prepare us for Sunday's official obedience.
It was dark and rainy and everything out there was scary. We didn't do our best performance, the darkness and shadows bothered Arwen very much. Anyway we achieved a 5th place among 17 and I was very pleased with that!
Now I know exactly what to practise tomorrow and on Saturday...

Ny hemsida!/New home page!

Arbetet med en ny hemsida har börjat. Den nya sidan administreras av mig själv och blir därför en enklare variant. För tillfället ligger sidan på http://www.strandkungens.dinstudio.se men är ännu långt ifrån klar. Jag plockar med den så mycket jag hinner. Så snart det mest väsentliga är klart flyttas den över till strandkungens.se .
Välkomna in och ta en titt! Kom gärna med synpunkter på vad som ska finnas med!

The work with a new home page has started. The new page is administrated by myself so it is of a simplier kind. For the moment you will find it on the adress http://www.strandkungens.dinstudio.se but it is still far from ready. I work with it as much as I have time for. As soon as the most important parts are ready it will be moved to strandkungens.se .
Welcome to have a look! If there is anything missing, please let me know!

Denmark today

Two happy medallists, one World Champion and one vice Swedish Champion!

The picture above is from our Champion party Friday night. Always catch every opportunity to celebrate, Carpe Diem.

Today we've been to Denmark, Arwen, Aragon, Cissi and I. Köge is just outside Copenhagen and there were about 70-75 dogs from group 1 and 2. The show was in a sports arena with lots of space, only one ring with carpets to run on, lots of space to warm up on, lots of seats, lots of free parkings just outside the entrance, a nice cafeteria with very nice prices, lots of nice people, just marvellous!! I loved it!

Six Whites were in the show, Aragon, Arwen, Horsebo Vi2, Cherie of TBB and two juniors from Horsebo. All six achieved Excellent, they were all very, very good. Helle's Junior male became BOB and Cherie was Best of Opposite Sex. Disappointed? Even though I of course had hoped for a CAC for at least one of my dogs I cannot possibly be disappointed. Arwen and Aragon got very good critics and Excellent and they lost to very good dogs. Congratulations to Helle and Inge-Britt!! See you shortly somewhere else!

On our way back home we made a quick stop in Sölvesborg to see Alva (our first litter), Lenny and Therese. Alva is a very nice little lady, absolutely white, even whiter than Aragon, black eyes and a lovely and lively temperament. A sweety! As a puppy she was the one in the litter that came up with all crazy ideas. She ran after the hens with Arracc close behind. She jumped from the stairs trying to fly. She examined an interesting cover and fell down in the cellar below the stable. Always when you heard something was going on it was Alva that was doing it. With Arrac one step behind. And she is still pushy but with very nice cooperation with Lenny and Therese.

Alva, Aragon and Arwen, all from our first litter.

Back home again Arwen had a nap before she went out in the stable to check everything out there. A rat happened to get into her way. That rat is now dead and Arwen is very pleased with life. Starting the day with a show in Denmark, ending the same day with chasing a rat and killing it, could it be better?!

Finally, our best wishes and CONGRATULATIONS to Aragon's son Sunnantorp's Guinness Garon who today was BOB, BIG 1 and BIS 2 at a show in Örebro!!! Yeah, what a start of the career!

Preparing for Denmark

Strandtorp

After last weekend's success in sports we are now back to normal life again. That means, among other things, walks along the beach. Two days ago it was a wonderful morning, all four dogs enjoyed the morning walk. Hoss was half way to China

and Bambi jumped into the water for a swim.

Today we have started the preparations for Denmark the coming weekend. Arwen and Aragon are entried for the show in Köge, close to Copenhagen. Five White Swiss Shepherds are entried and as far as I can understand it will be Arwen, Aragon, Cherie of Trebons Berger Blanc and Horsebo Vi2 and of course one more. Benny Blidh is the judge.

Actually it is closer for us to go to Köge than to Stockholm so I didn't hesitate to entry to this national show.

Today I sorted out the last things, that means I took the dogs to Kalmar Djursjukhus for the 4-week assurance.

Aragon has gained some more weight and is now 38,2 kg and Arwen has got her coat back. Now we are ready to go! Almost. Must buy some schampoo tomorrow and clean Arwen after today's close contact with a rotten fish... should not consider it to be a good idea to bring a stinking bitch to a show.

The 19th we are entried for a new obedience. We will see, we have not practised very much lately.

Betty will make the mental description the 25th. I hope/think she is ready for it now. If she does not do it now I think she will be too old and affected by envirnomental factors and what she has learnt.

Actually I am very critical to the mental description as a whole. Firstly there should be an upper limit in age to do it. Secondly the interpretation of it is a catastrophe. People and breeders are talking about "a good result" and "a bad result" and that is totally wrong. There is no right or wrong in this, only a description of how the dog reacted that time that day in that special situation. Of course we all have our idea of how the "perfect" dog should be and I think we all agree in some factors. For instance I do not believe anybody would like to have a dog with remaining fears or with aggressiveness. But what about the social part? Do we want dogs licking everybody's hand? Cooperating willingly with anyone? Some do, some do not and that is why we cannot say what is right or wrong. It is all a matter of an opinion which some people express as a "that is how it is". Thirdly it depends very much of the describer, how she/he looks at the reaction of the dog. I do not think it will ever be possible to have a totally standardised test to get an equal evaluation of what has happened. The validity (measuring what it should measure) and realibility ("objectivity") could not be sufficient.

Of course I am waiting for Arwen's season to come. We are ready for Denmark this weekend as well as we are prepared for our trip to Germany. When she is on season we will go mating. The route is planned and I have bought another car to make sure we will get there safely. And for each day I get more and more convinced that Akhiro is the absolutely best choice for Arwen. I hope that Arwen's season will not start for another month or six weeks but with her you never know. She is exactly as Mona Lisa, looking at you with that mysterious smile, hiding a secret. Only she knows.

Today's success!

Today Kinka won the silver medal at the Swedish Championships in Modern Pentathlon (Modern femkamp/Moderner Fünfkampf).
What a weekend!

World Champion!!

An hour ago my husband Peter won the World Championship for veterans in fencing in Limoges, France! 65 gentlemen from all over the world took part in this competition.
In the final Peter beat the old Olympic winner and World Champion Karagian from Russia. Well done!
Hurrah!
www.fencing.se