On July 14th-15th I was showing in Forssa NAT show with 2600 entered dogs.. This time I decided to stay close and not travel to Oulu INT 8 hours away.. A wise decision for once :p
So I jumped in Rauni's car and we drove to Forssa. I was showing her and Heidi's cairn terrier puppy. Heckler's Written In The Stars "Ester" is a lovely puppy who showed herself so well! Stood free-stacked perfectly and the table was no problem. There was 2 or 3 pups entered and "Ester" won BOB-PUPPY! In Finland we don't have BIS-puppy competitions so no finals for her.
 |
| U like the mud? :p |
I stayed a while at the cairn-ring because my friend Riina needed some help with grooming and showing. I quickly handled a cairn "Selma" in the ring and she was BB/2 :)
I started to rain very heavily so we enjoyed our time in the ring soaking wet.. Again. Finnish summer <3 The show are was very beautiful, a park by the lake, but thanks to the rain it turned to a mudcave. Seriously, I was all over in mud!!
Anyway, the show must go on, so I found myself in the norvegian buhund ring with the lovely CH Kimura's Dina "Dina". "Dina" had no coat today so she ended up as 3rd best bitch under judge Mr. Tino Pehar from Croatia.
 |
Putting the hair on the right place,
a havanese as a swapdog
© Sonja Kaurola |
Today I had also junior handling. The juniors were judged by Mrs. Viva-Maria Soleckyj-Spunar from Poland. It's not often we get judges from abroad to judge jh here in Finland, so I was excited. I had no junior handling-dog when I came to the show but Riina kindly lent me her "Selma". Selma showed herself beautifully. The judge asked to do a triangle and up-and-down. She picked us to her shortlist and swapped dogs. I got a havanese-male, no new breed for me so it went great :) We got our own dogs back and the judge had made her decision. We placed as 1st with "Selma"! I was really happy and the judge told me "You're so ready for Cruft's! Very professional". I'm glad she liked us because she seemed to really know about junior handling. The BIS-JH competition was held right after the older group and we placed as BIS-JUNIOR HANDLER with "Selma"! <3
 |
Free-stacking "Selma" <3
© Sonja Kaurola |
Afterwards the judge came to talk to me and told about junior handling and how she's been coaching juniors in Poland. I was really happy to talk to her but I'm disappointed about the entry number of juniors in today's competition. When we for once have a judge who know's what she's doing we're only 19 entered.. 50 would've been better :p
 |
| 2 of the 4 junior handling-trophies :p |
After the junior handling-competition I handled a lovely kanichen dachshound Tuptusia Brzdac "Tuksu". I got to know this dog in Laukaa NAT and she's a tough piece BUT we're working on it. And the training shows results already as she actually walked nicely in the ring without any stubborn stops! I was really happy. The most rewarding thing in dog showing is to get a challenging dog to really work with you. That's why I love difficult dogs! "Tuksu" was also judged by Mr. Tino Pehar, he gave BB/2 and RES-CAC with a great critique for "Tuksu". "Tuksu" will be a shining star in the future!
I had nothing to show in the finals so I just enjoyed watching and taking pictures! Nice to be at the ringside for a change :)
 |
| a beautiful face of a klein, Mustaojan Pilke going BOB |
I stayed the night at Tuija's and Jari's caravan, thanks for that! We had a nice evening with dear friends :)
 |
"Madde" in movement
© Sonja Kaurola |
Sunday then started with junior handling.. Of course I didn't have a dog for this competition but I found a lovely dog. Kristiina Bergström kindly lent me her PBGV Nightdream Karla Du Pont "Madde". "Madde" was only as a tourist there and was not groomed. I didn't have time to do anything about it so we went to the ring with some knots in the coat.. And yes I did hear about this from the judge :P I was sure that Ms. Maija Sylgrén who judged the juniors would say thank you and goodbye because of that. BUT the opposite happened and she took us to her shortlist. We did some figures and at the end she placed us as 1st!! She said "Despite the knots.. You're the winner!"
 |
| Free-stacking "Madde" |
 |
| "Madde" on the table |
To the BIS-JH competition I went to groom her as much as I could. In the final we swapped dogs with Jonna who'd won the younger group. I got a lovely samoyed which barked a lot :D But otherwise it went good. The judge pointed me and "Madde" to winners out of 29 juniors! Two times BIS-JUNIOR HANDLER in one weekend! Awesome!
 |
| A samoyed as a swapdog |
I ran straight to the beardie-ring because I had promised to Nina that I would help out. Unfortunately the timetables didn't quite match so I had time just to show CH Memorylane A Flash Of Magic "Viivi" in the BB-ring. She ended up as 2nd! :)
Our breeder's group got BOB-BREEDER with an HP.
In the finals kennel Memorylane ended up as 3rd BEST IN SHOW-BREEDER under judge Ligita Zake! Congrats once again Nina!
 |
| kennel Memorylane BIS-3 BREEDER |
It was a great weekend, though a bit muddy but hey, we're kinda used to it already.. The next weekend it was time for Pori/Mikkeli-tournee :)
♥ Hilde ♥
