NEW YEAR 2009 HAS BEGUN !

Some wintery picture of my beloved dogs:

We had a busy year in 2008. Jonni got 14 clear rounds in agility, participated in the Finnish Agility Individual Championships and got to the Finals with a clear run in the qualifying jumping course and a little after that he got himself the S AgCH -title that only 2 Valls in the whole world has attained until this day. His leader was Niina Leinonen in these competitions. I led him in our breed championships and we finished 3rd in the championships and 8th overall with a fiver. Later in the fall in our Regional Championhips Jonni won with his new leader, a 14-year-old Sirkku Kouki, who led Jonni to a double clear and they won the title with 0.33 secs difference to the 2nd placed dog ! A CLOSE CALL !!! In dog shows Jonni was BOB once, BOS 3 times, BOB-vet 2 and BOS-vet 2 times. In the WW-show in Stockholm he was 3rd in the Veteran Class with an EXCELLENT.
Bella competed in agility a lot more than last year and with improving results. She got ONE CLEAR ROUND (a qualifyer to Class 2) and few clear rounds with time faults, one of those in Boden, Sweden !!! She was placed 5 times and the best placing was 2nd in our own competitions ot the 6th of December. In unofficial competitions she also made clear rounds and even WON once. In shows she got mostly VERY GOOD as her results, the best being in WW-show, where she was awarded a red ribbon as being VERY GOOD !!! :-) I was SOOOO pleased !! Late in the fall Bella was MH-tested with good a result and she - again - proved to be ignorant to shooting. Just before Christmas Bella got seriously ill. She had some sort of stomach trouble and it started to look like that she would not survive. But to my relief she pulled through and is back to her normal self. I am SOOOO happy to have her with me. I love her so much and if I had lost her it would have been a big blow to me. I lost my beloved horse just before Christmas a year before and loosing Bella now would have been too much to handle. But luckily she is till among us !!!

WE WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 !!!

Updates

Hi. Sorry I have not updated this blog. SOOOOOOO much has happened this year. We have been to Sweden 3 times this year. In spring Jonni and Niina went to Haparanda to compete in agility. The result was 2 clear rounds but no S AgCAC. The next trip to Sweden was WDS in Stockholm in early July. There Jonni was 3rd in Veteran Class males with an EXCELLENT. Bella got Open Class VERY GOOD, which was great ! Bella had been shown twice before (this year) with results: GOOD and VERY GOOD. Jonni had been shown 3 times before, results: BOS (Ch class), BM-2 and BOB-vet (vet class) and BOB & BOB-vet (also in veteran class). In agility, too, both dogs have had nice results. Jonni managed to get enough clear rounds to qualify to Finnish Championships(in June)where he managed to get to the final round where he was DQ. Bella has done one clear round and her first result towards Class II !!! And we have been to podium twice, both in the 3rd place !!! And then to the third trip to Sweden. A weekend after WDS (in July) we went to Boden, Northern Sweden and competed in agility there. Bella's best result was a clear round with 11.98 secs over the deal time, our 3rd best result ever. Jonni did 3 clear rounds placing 5th twice and was 3rd in the INT agility class. With that result he FINALLY was awarded the S AgCAC thus he became the second SV ever to get the S AgCH title !!! Jonni is over 8 years old so this is a GREAT achievement !!! I am so lucky to own Jonni and also Bella has shown so much promise so I am a very lucky indeed !
Above is a picture of Jonni with his leader Niina after their victorious trip to Boden.

Winter has arrived !!

Winter has arrived !! We have over -10 Centigrades and the sun is shining ! The snow has covered the ground with a clean white blanket ! The nature shows it's best now !! It is beautiful outside !!! And the dogs are enjoying the snow !

Updates

Lots has happened since the last update. During the summer the dogs have been herding tested (Jonni with VERY GOOD HERDING INSTINCT and Bella SHOWED NO HERDING INSTICT (This time!)), Jonni has participated in The Finnish Agility Championships and World Championships qualifiers, we have been in some dog shows (Jonni was BOB in his last Finnish show until his Veteran age) and have been training agility and also competed a bit.
We have big plans for next year: World Winner show is held in Stockholm and the judge is someone who likes Jonni very, very much, AND Jonni will be a Veteran then, so we shall participate in that. Also we have one trip to abroad planned for this year. Hopefully all goes well and we will achieve our goals for that trip. But more info about that later.
We were planning a litter for this fall but now it looks like we are not having puppies. :-( But good thing is that MAYBE - if all goes well - there will be a marker test for the eye illness J175 ready by the time Bella is in heat the next time, so then I will know for great certainty which is the eye status of my dogs and also the pups could then be tested before the sale. So, fingers crossed !

This picture is taken on October.

Pictures above and below: (C) Oili Helenius

FINNISH CHAMPIONSHIPS 16-17.6.

Jonni pictured here in Sunday's competition. This time we had no success.

Miss B

"Miss B" aka Bella has been the one of my dogs that has gotten the most of my attention lately. We had agility trainings in 2 days in a row (Su, Mo) and my friend took some picture of my Lady. Here are 2 of them and more you can find in Bella's own pages !

Happy Easter !!!

This is my Finnish "Happy Easter" card. But I thougth I could put this in here too since the picture of my dogs is just marvellous !!!

THIS was the weather on Tuesday and it snowed even on yerterday (Wednesday). We still have snow on the ground so our Easter will be white. But Happy Easter to All of You !!!

Warmer !!!!

The weather is getting warmer, it is close to zero degrees and the snow is very heavy and wet. Yesterday it snowed more snow and today the dogs had fun playing in the snow. I let them run loose in the forest because there were so much snow the dogs could not run off from me. I took some pictures of my lovely doggies.

Jonni is going to an agility training with Niina today. Former World Champion in agility Juha Orenius is training here during this weekend and Niina is attending his lessons with Jonni. IF my camera is working I will try to video something. But now I gotta go ! It is time to leave ! The training starts soon and I will have to take the dog there.

Tuusniemi Group show 24.2.

I was ill (sinusitis, for the 2nd time THIS YEAR !!!) so I could not go to the Tuusniemi dog show. So, Bella couldn't go either. BUT, Niina was going there with her own dog, border collie male Luka, just about 9 months old, so I asked if SHE would take Jonni with her also. She said yes and - like they say - the rest is history. Jonni did what he always does, which is: was himself = Mr Macho and he charmed the judge and was Best Male and finally BOS. Nice start for this show season !!

Above are today's prizes. I just LOVE rosettes and trophies.... <3

Missy goes to work !!

Miss B aka Bella is going to WORK tomorrow !!! She is attending her first REAL training session ! Our agility club's coach is coming from Imatra and I am taking a lesson with Bella !!!! It will be her first ever training session !!!!
I am excited and nervous of how she will cope in the new situation and how she is going to work with me. But tomorrow I'll be a lot wiser !
Tomorrow will determine also our time table for this spring: when and if we are starting our competitions together. But, like I said, tomorrow I'll be a lot wiser.

News and Happy Valentine's !

Last Saturday (the 10th) Jonni competed in his first agility competitions this year. His season started in the best possible way !! He got 2 clear rounds, placed as 2nd and 3rd and has now gotten all the qualifiers for this year's Finnish Agility Championships !!! Hooray !!! That's my boy !!!

Also, I wish You all a Happy Valentine's Day !!!

Sunny weather --- but COLD !!

We have enjoyed sunny weather these past few days. It has been beautiful but COLD !!! On Sunday I took the dogs out to the race track and let them run free a bit. The Sunday was nice, only -10 degrees. But since then it has been rather cold. Between -14 and -21 degrees Celsius. Brrrr !

I have entered both dogs into a dog show. It is held in Tuusniemi, not far from us, at the end part of this month. Jonni's first agility competition is on the 10th of this month. Also, this Saturday our agility club is having an unofficial competition and I am planning to enter both dogs. Niina could take Jonni while I could go with Bella. But it all depends on the weather. If is is colder than -15 the competitions are cancelled. But, we'll see. Only 2 days untill Saturday...

Some news for the beginning of the New Year...

The new year has started on a good note. I have a new job and now (the 22nd of Jan.) the winter has finally come ! We got snow few days ago and now the cold front has reached our part of the world. We had -22 degrees Celsius this morning so quite freezing, don't you think ?

This is how our house looked like just few days ago. Looks like something from a fairytale, doesn't it ?

Jonni and Bella play a catch-me-if-you-can -game when I let them run loose on the near-by forest. Bella is the one who is running and Jonni does the catching !

Both Jonni and Bella visited a vet and they were eye examinated. Both had clear eyes. Also Bella's Mum Umbra (living in Sweden) was examinated and she, too, had clear eyes. Bella Grandmum Cajsa was BOB-veteran in an INT dog show in Göteborg, Sweden. So things have started out quite nicely, thank you ! Jonni has been entered into this year's first agility competition so soon our holliday season will be "officially" over. Hopefully this year will be as good as the past year was.

Peaceful Christmas

What a year this has been !

What a Year this has been ! Just amazing ! Jonni has had success both in the show ring and in the agility field. He has gotten great wins and placings at shows, such as the two great BOBs in Kuopio with great critiques, and the icing on the cake was the second male placing in Hund2006 among the top Swedish males !! And the greatest achievement is of course his FIN AgCH title !!! What a dog he is !!! I cannot describe what he means to me !!!
Also this year has been a break-through year for my little Bella. She has started her show career (not that she was supposed to be a star in the ring) and has gotten some nice critique and she got a respectful GOOD as a quality judging at Hund2006 so I am pleased what what we have gotten. She is a good specimen of the breed and has shown her abilities to me this year. I have plans to show her a bit next year, just to see if we could make a Champion out of her. Also she will be starting her agility career and hopefully she will have some results under her belly by the end of the summer when it is time to think about other things.
I am blessed with two nice dogs and wish to thank both of their breeders for these lovely friends that I have !!!
I wish You all a Very Merry Christmas !!!

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day !

Finland 6.12. 1917 ->

Now it is official !

That is: Jonni's FIN AgCH title has been confirmed by our Kennel Club !!!

Birthday girl poses

Here is a modified picture of my birthday girl Bella. She had her 3rd bithday on the 24th !!! Congrats to my little lady !! By the way, doesn't she look nice ?

First snow !!

The first snow has fallen ! When there is snow everything looks less dark ! Sadly the weather is so warm that this snow will melt away quite soon. :-(

Jonni's agility video

I added a new link to the right column. There is a link to Jonni's agility video from yesterday's competition in Kajaani. Jonni and Niina placed third in one of their 3 classes. They got a clear round which was the 5th clear round qualifier for next year's Finnish Agility Championships ! Jonni and Niina have gotten 3 out of those 5 !