Kokkola - Karjaa trip

Summergreetings from Finland! I'm glad to say the weather forecast looks great for this week Finally!! Do they really call this summer?

I'm of course announcing myself now to the world's worst blog writer as I'm always two weeks late. And no, I don't have any excuses now. Well, enough with the daydreaming, I'll tell you about my trip first to Kokkola and then to Karjaa! I was entered on Sunday to Kokkola, but ended up being there on Saturday and then on Sunday went to Karjaa.. Why? Don't know! Like to pay 10 euros for fun.. Love ya mum ♥

Nina Brusin was the one who tempted me on this trip because she needed a handler for her lovely beardies. Of course I was going! We drove on Friday evening to Kokkola about 6 hours and took Saana with us from the middle of the trip.. This start on Friday was a "brilliant" idea, we stayed in Nina's show tent on the shjow area and slept on an up-blown madress which took 2 hours to fill.. awesome!! We got to bed about half past 2 in the morning and woke up at 4 thanks to some idiot (sorry if you're reading this!!) who was screaming to his dog "Come come!!! Get the ball!!". Who's taking their dogs out at 4 am? Gaah! Well, they for sure got our screams right back at them :p

The show area at night..:D

Anyway, we woke up in the morning and well, the face's of the others were pretty hilarious when they realized someone's actually slept in the tent.. :D It was for ONCE a sunny and warm day! And we for sure enjoyed it. So the bearded collies started. Our judge was Mr. Joe B. Purkhiser all the way from the USA! Exciting :) I was showing one of Nina's breedings, an open class male Memorylane Had To Be Ewe "Billy", he showed himself beautifully and got EXC. He ended up as 2nd in his class, unfortunately without CQ. In the BM-competition I showed Memorylane Show Me The Party "Diesel". He ended up as 2nd with a CACIB. Team Memorylane got all the prizes, BOB, BOS etc.. The breeder's class also got a really beautiful critique, Nina can be proud of her breeding! Mr. Purkhiser really liked her dogs and he seemed like a really kind judge.

Memorylane Got Some Mighty Magic "Nöpö"

After this I went to watch the kleinspitzes and one of my friends asked me to show her klein in the BOB-ring, if her both dogs won their sexes. And so they did. I went quickly to the ring with Ticapon Young Rebel "Hans". He ended up as BOS. Thanks for letting me help out :) I miss the klein-rings sooo much.. I'm glad to tell that Ninja will be back in the ring to the speciality in the end of August and then we'll take a trip to Sweden to a 3xCACIB-show ;) There she can finish her C.I.B-title, hopefully she'll do that! Her half year-break will end there...

I also went to the ring with a lovely champion class bitch finnish lapphund. She was showing really outstanding and got EXC. There were many champion class bitches and she ended up as 3rd! Unfortunately without CQ due to her hind movement. Thanks Taina for letting her in my hands!

Now it was time for a break and also a little time for tanning (at least trying to.. always ending up red as a crab). I had time to watch the junior handling qualification competition and my dear friend Sanna Martikainen one it and therefore the ticket to the Finnish Championship-final! Congrats honey ♥

"Rekku" in the finals

The finals were about to start and I was taking "Rekku" to the finals of FCI group 1. He ran and stood beautifully but that wasn't enough for the judge today, so no success. Later "Rekku" was 4th BIS-VETERAN shown by Nina under their breed judge.

"Rekku" in the finals

We also presented Nina's breeders class under Mrs. Murrel Purkhiser from the USA. He really liked our group and we ended up as RESERVE BIS-BREEDER! Congratulations Nina for your awesome results!! ♥

kennel Memorylane RES. BIS-BREEDER

The day was over for us and we started our 6-hour drive back almost to Helsinki. I stayed over at Nina's place and we drove in the morning to Karjaa. Only an 1 hour drive!

When we arrived we got the car close to the rings but there was a little problem - the ground was very unlevel. How would we drag the whole thing with crates, dogs and other stuff in it? Well. Ended up carrying everything separately - also the dogs! Believe it or not, beardies are lapdogs ;) Almost...

"Ukko" going BIG-3!

Bearded collies were today judged by Ms. Irina Poletaeva from Finland. I showed some dogs of Nina's and all of them got reserve-placements. So no BOB or BOS today. The breeder's group was BOB-BREEDER though! We naturally stayed for the finals and I was asked to show an american akita there. I was really honored and this Inuline Nut Flush "Ukko" got BIG-3 under judge Natalia Nekrosiene!! Congrats to Ukko's owners and breeder! :)

We presented the beardies breeding group in the finals and as yesterday, kennel Memorylane placed as RESERVE-BIS BREEDER under judge Otto Krcal! Congrats once again!! ♥

RES.BIS-BREEDER - kennel Memorylane in pink!
© TEXTerri

So the crazy weekend was over and we left home. Nina gave me a ride all the way home - thanks for that, really appreciate it! Looking forward to the next adventures ;)

See ya later!

♥ Hilde ♥

Laukaa NAT show

Heyy!

Pheeuf! I've had two weekends now with adventures to dogshows! Really adventures :D I will write now about Laukaa NAT show 30.6-1.7. I was traveling with Sanni and we had a really fun trip staying with my 92-year old grandma who lived 3 kilometers away.. I caught two birds with one stone visiting her at the same time :) Laukaa is situated about 300 km away from Helsinki so we took the train on Friday afternoon there.

havanese Bellezza's Black Diamond "Musta" 

On Saturday we didn't have any junior handling, only showing dogs. Or Sanni was taking a calm tourist day being my photographer yeyy! :D The show area was amazing, very short grass and it was very clean. First I was showing havaneses under the respected Finnish judge Mr. Hans Lehtinen. My job was to show the little cutie Bellezza's Black Diamond "Musta". "Musta" is a nice junior male who I showed in the havanese speciality earlier this year when he was still a puppy. Now it was time for his first performance in the junior class! "Musta" was showing himself very well competing with one other male in this class. "Musta" got EXC and won his class, unfortunately without CQ because he needs time to develop. Nothing new when it comes to a junior male? :p Anyway, his critique was fine and I'm happy about his perfomance. "Musta" will do great in the future.

havanese Bellezza's Black Diamond "Musta"

I helped out also in the Best Male-competition showing Bellezza's White Diamond "Salsa". He did great job and won the males! Miia was showing him then in BOB and he went BOS :) Thanks again for letting me help out with your awesome havaneses!

Now we went chilling with our lovely friends Tuija and Jari in their showtent. Thank you for always taking care ♥

I had been taken contact from a dachshound owner who wanted me to show her wire haired kaninchen dachshound Tuptusia Brzdac "Tuksu". "Tuksu" is a bit stubborn dachshound girl who does really now how to stand great but doesn't like to move.. So we trained and trained and sometimes she moved really well but in the ring she unfortunately didn't. She got Very Good with a really awesome critique, but where it was written "excellent movement but no drive" which is totally correct. She placed 2nd in her class behind the really nice bitch who took excellent. Our next performance will be in Forssa NAT show and hopefully she'll move a bit better :-) Thanks Johanna for trusting your girl in my hands!

kaninchen dachshound Tuptusia Brzdac "Tuksu"

After this my work was over for this day and we stayed until the finals and watched them and later went on pizza.. mmm :)

On Sunday my first dog to show was a super-cute almost white finnish lapphund which caught the judge's eye because of her color. She could easily be mixed with a samoyed puppy! It was his first time in a dog show so I took it easy and he ended up showing very well! Peikkovuoren Bocahontas "Väinö" got Excellent and placed as 2nd without CQ. The judge told she would want to have a bit more "lapphund-marking" in this dog, because now he had some samoyed features. But he'll mature and he will be a great lapphund in the future!

finnish lapphund Peikkovuoren Bocahontas "Väinö"

finnish lapphund Peikkovuoren Bocahontas "Väinö"

Next up was my lovely usual dog to handle, buhund Kimura's Dina "Dina". She's always performing very well, though we've had our problems sometimes when she wants to jump on me instead of standing still.. But today - no problems! She is a champion bitch and got Excellent winning her class with CQ. In the Best Bitch competition she placed 2nd after the same owner's veteran bitch :)

the Best Bitch competition in the buhund-ring

It was almost time for junior handling, but before that I showed a rhodesian rigdeback, which is a totally new breed for me. We had a male judge, and this rhodesian rigdeback had some problems with men... So when he came to judge him the dog didn't let him touch him. So.. Good this time for him. He did stand good though and ran beautifully too. I hope his owner gets his frightfulness for men away.

Then junior handling! I was competing with the loooovely soft coated wheaten terrier Venita's Fidelma "Martta". I just love this dog! Not the easiest one, has just enough challenge! We've trained a lot together and competed pretty many times too (: Thank you Jennamari for lending "Martta" for me! Love u! Our judge today was Mr. Jarmo Hilpinen. We did a great performance and "Martta" was just great. We swapped dogs once and I got a lovely lhasa apso girl "Maybelle". It went pretty good I think. The judge thought so too as he placed us with "Martta" as the winners in the older group! My friend, Sanni, who competed with "Maybelle" got 2nd place! Congrats honey ♥

Me and "Martta" playing while Sanni is brushing "Maybelle".
The one reason I love not to brush dogs in the ring :D So stressful :p

Swapdogs, me with a golden retriever

It was a very hot day and I thought the BIS-JH final would be with the other finals. I was already returning to "Martta" owners when I realized the final would be held right after our competiton.. So back in the game the same second! The winner of the younger group was Sara Jokela with a golden retriever. The judge wanted us to switch dogs and I got this golden which name was also "Martta" :D In the beginning she might have looked horrible because she didn't let me extend her rear legs more behind. But after a run around the ring I got her stacked the way I wanted and it went good. We got our own dogs back and took a lap of honour when the judge pointed at me and "Martta" to the winners! We won BIS-JH :) Yeey! Thank you judge Jarmo Hilpinen!

junior handling with "Martta"

I was asked to help out in the lapphunds' breeders group, but because of that we were totally reliant to the bus schedule we couldn't stay to the whole finals. So we watched the beginning and the headed for our bus. It took about 45 minutes and from there we ran to Hesburger (like Mc Donald's) to get some food. We had like 5 minutes until our train would leave so we really were in hurry! But we managed and jumped on the train glad about the weekend. On the train the there were a screaming child so we sat the whole 3,5 hours with our earplugs in our ears and talked via our chat on the phone.. lol :D

BIS-JH with "Martta" 

Thanks everyone involved for the weekend, especially Sanni of course ♥


♥ Hilde ♥

Helsinki INT show part II

Hey!

Yeah I'm really bad at this! Last post posted for 2 weeks ago.. Sorry but I'm working at the moment and running in dogshows throughout the country :p

So: Aptus INT show at Helsinki on Sunday 17th June. What a rainy day! Really horrible weather, rain pouring down ALL day! It was really "raining cats and dogs". At the end people looked really nice all wet.. me included. BUT we're dog people, and dog people prominently don't mind the weather ;) I lost my contact  lenses in the morning so I had to put on my glasses and I wasn't that pleased! It wasn't the best thing to wear in rain...

I had only junior handling this day. Yesterday I had thought about which dog to compete with and the kind people of Team Original helped me! I got the chance to compete with a really lovely irish setter, the same as I showed the day before in the breed ring, "Ines".

First up was our District Championship. The ones who are allowed to compete are all juniors from Helsinki and suburbs outside. We were 20 juniors competing in this competition. Our judge today was ex-junior handler Hanna Lemmetti. I did a great performance together with "Ines" despite the weather. The judge picked some juniors to her shortlist and we switched dogs. I got a hairless peruvian dog. I've got this breed once before when we've swapped dogs, it was a "big version" though. The dog (can't remember the name, I never do...:p) was a bit after her mommy so I had to work extra hard with it. I survived okay!

Apparently the judge thought so too, and she picked us to her top-3! In our District Championship we place only 3, otherwise 5. The final was judged at the main ring in the afternoon.

A cavalier kingcharles spaniel as a swapdog

So it was time for the younger group where lovely Ellen competed with my love "Nelli" ♥. Nelli isn't the easiest dog to show because of her movement, you really have to keep eye on the feet. This was Nelli's 2nd time in JH with someone else, the first time was about 4 years ago.. She used to be after me a lot, but now she showed great! Ellen did a great job with her and the judge thought so too as they went 1st! In the rain they both looked awesome, thanks Ellen for competing with "Nelli"! Ellen is only 13 years old and really experienced already. She's really a hope for the future as she's already so great! I'm really proud of both of you.

A glad pair 1st in junior handling!

A bit dryer pic.. Ellen with Nelli res. BIS-JH!

After the young group us "old ones" were competing. There where 26 juniors entered in the older group. I was competing this competition too with "Ines". Poor dog had to stand in the rain.. She did a great job and our performance went really good again. The judge picked us again to her shortlist and we swapped dogs. I got a little cavalier kingcharles spaniel. This dog too was a bit after her mommy.. We managed though and her owner came to say to me that the dog hasn't ever showed that good with anyone strange. So I was really pleased :)

a very wet pair 4th in JH!

The judge said thank you to some more juniors and we were still there. We did a up-and-down in pairs. The judge was ready to place us. The pointed me out to the 4th place! I was really glad, this was my first time competing with a setter! It went so good that I started to think about competing with a setter in the Finnish Championship in December.. Do you think it's a bad idea?

2nd in the District Championship

Through the whole competition we thronged ourselves in Elina's tent which thank god was there! We all were soaking wet.. not so nice! We got some very "stylish" clothes to wear but DRY! A real rescue. Thanks Harjanne family..!

Well, the day wasn't over yet! Ellen was competing in the BIS-JH final, she went RES. BIS-JUNIOR HANDLER. I'm really proud of my girls ♥ The District Championship had to be finished. My setter had to go home before the afternoon so I got permission to switch my dog. I asked Janette from Aziz salukis if they could lend a dog, and yes they could! I competed the final with a lovely saluki Aziz Jalila "Lilla".

2nd in the District Championship

We all three got scottish terriers as swapdogs, as the judge had competed with this breed in her former junior handling-career. Scottish terriers are known for their stubborn character. The one I got was okay, and we did a nice performance :) We placed as 2nd and my friend, Nea Harjanne won with her golden retriever! Congrats dear ♥ This was my last Disctrict Championship. I got the chance to compete 6 years in this competition, 6 competitons. I was 5 times 2nd and last year I won :D

A scottish terrier a swapdog

Nina asked me to help out in her breeder group, and of course I helped! I showed a little beauty beardie "Maija". Unfortunately our group didn't get a placement today in the finals.

kennel Memorylane's breeders group

I was already heading home when Tiia Nyberg called me. She was on her way in the train to the show area, as she was in Kotka INT show earlier the day. Yesterday she had showed an english setter to win the group and she was supposed to show him in the BIS-final today. Unfortunately, because of the rain, the finals went really fast and she asked me to show the dog if she didn't make it in time. I of course said yes, I was really honoured to help. The sad thing was, that Tiia didn't make it in time and I showed the english setter Warmahill's Funny-Funny ET "ET". I'd never touched this dog before but I did my best and hoped he looked great. He didn't get a placement in the BIS-final, but showed himself beautifully. A lovely tibetan spaniel Down-Goblin's Fernando won the BIS-final, really deserved! Congrats to his owner and handler!

in the BIS-final

After this very wet day we got a car to pick us up together with mum.. Really appreciated the car drive! When I came home I immediately ran into the sauna and stayed there to melt down my freezing body :D

What can I say, no matter the weather, it's ALWAYS fun in a dog show! You just have to spend your time with the right people and dogs :-) Thanks for the company all!

Soon I'll write about this weekend's show in Laukaa!

♥ Hilde ♥