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.