Summer

Hi everyone!

Yeah, I'm the worst to keep promises.. This blog is kinda dead, but always when I'm bored and have inspiration, I'll write here. So. Since my junior handling career ended, my dog show-hobby has taken a step down too. It's sad, really sad, but no can do. I don't have a dog of my own to show because none of them is in show condition :/

Nelli has grown a beautiful coat, but entering her to shows is kind of "useless" since she could get great results, yes, but she wouldn't probably win as we have such high standard in kleinspitzes now. And she doesn't need any CAC:s or CACIB:s from Finland, so, too much for my wallet.. :(

Ninja is still not growing her shaved coat back after her surgery.. I'm thinking she could have post-clipping alopecia (NOT bsd!), cause its symptoms are that the coat won't grow back in a long time from clipping/shaving. And it hasn't. In a year :( But I've read that it should eventually grow back in two years or so. So let's hope for the best!

Ninja is March this year

Otherwise they're both enjoying summer and living the life. I'm sitting at work the whole July and in September I will have my first part of the matriculation examination. For those who don't know what it is, it's compulsory to pass these "final exams" to be a graduate in high school. In autumn I will have my Finnish, English and Geography final exams. That's why I thought about writing here again, to keep up my English skills. I'm a lousy reader and student so maybe this could be a way to study..

Also, I visited Cannes in south of France a few weeks ago - loved that place! So beautiful!

Me in Cannes on vacation

I've had a break from shows since Kuopio INT show in the end of May, and now last weekend I was in Mikkeli NAT. Yey! It felt like I'd been out from shows forever. I really need to be there regularly, haha!

Me and english pointer Lamark Painted Lady,
winning BOB in Kuopio INT show

I went there together with Nina (Memorylane bearded collies) and helped her with her dogs. It was only a 2-hour drive there, but the walk from the parking area felt like forever.. A note for the organizers - people are not happy to drag their million cages and other stuff with them many kilometers.. =) Well, we had lot of time so the world wasn't going under because of that.

First up was Nina's young (but not so small!) male "Elmo". Such a sweet dog, he was 2nd in junior class and finished 3rd Best Male with a RES-CAC! Nina's co-owned junior male won CAC and was 2nd Best Male. "Rekku" the golden-oldie won all the males and finished BOB and BOB-VETERAN!

I showed "Java" who won her class with excellent but unfortunately without CQ. "Liinu" won 2nd Best Bitch and again the veteran dogs took the highest prizes. "Lexxy" won the bitches and ended up as BOS and BOS-VETERAN.

After the bearded collies I showed a cute schipperke-boy "Papu" in junior class, he ended up as 3rd Best Male and got RES-CAC!

Now I had time to watch the junior handlers, my friend Erna Halttunen was judging - and she did such good work! My other friend, a bit younger one - Ellen Harjanne won the whole competition being BIS-JH and qualified for the Finnish Championship final!! Huge congrats Ellen! <3

The weather forecast predicted awful rainy weather but we got only a few drops on us. So for once, we were lucky with the weather! And I guess we had luck with us all day..

Memorylane Hold On Tight "Rekku" went to the groups and together with Nina they came out winning the whole thing! Rekku went BIG-1 under judge Mr. Antonio Di Lorenzo!

Memorylane Hold On Tight winning BIG-1!

And it didn't stop here.. I showed a beautiful keeshond Ikurin Stella Polaris "Keksi" in the group finals, and he got shortlisted to top-7!

..And last but not least Memorylane kennel won 3rd BIS-BREEDER! Whoo! The day couldn't have been better. Thank you especially Nina for dragging me to the show and all my friends for awesome company =)

Next up is Tornio and Ylivieska shows, far up north in Finland.. Fortunately Nina is crazy driver, so the trip shouldn't be a problem :P

I also started my own facebook-page for pictures I've taken! Take a look :) https://www.facebook.com/PicsByHilde


♥ Hilde ♥

New year - blogging more regularly? yes!

Hello world! Am I dead? Nope!

SO sorry dear readers. Can't say that enough but I haven't had inspiration for writing.. Many things have happened during these months.. Many shows, wins and also disappointments. Christmas was, New Year came and here we are, January 23rd today. I will turn 18 years old in 8 days.. I feel so old!

What's on topic now then? Well, future plans of course! Junior handling years was a big part of my life and now they're gone. Can't say I wouldn't have achieved anything at least, I have something to be proud of! Now I need to carry on with normal handling in the breed rings.

A summary of my junior handling-years

I have some projects for this year.. I will handle some pretty dogs a little more than others as their "handler". At least a little west highland terrier is training with me now and we'll head out for the shows in spring. This little funny thing knows the technical stuff but need a big more courage and happy tail wagging for future rings!

Also a pretty english pointer-girl will be seen with me this year in the rings. I got to know this dog in Kuopio INT shows last summer and thought - how come I haven't seen this dog before? Our first experience in the ring led to a BIG-4 placement! Not bad in a show with over 5000 dogs, huh?

A beautiful junior class smooth collie bitch will also be seen with me in spring. We'll see how that goes ;) Also of course I will keep going with the bearded collies bred by Nina - love to show these little hairy monsters!

These ones will be the main focus now in spring, we'll see what the year will bring us! I'm always up for challenges so just ask if you need help with your dog and shows, you can't ever have too much to do ;)

bearded collie Memorylane Samba Caramba last weekend at Turku INT show
such a funny little fella who gave me something to work on ;)

And shows abroad? Oh yes of course! I will go to Cruft's this year, yeyyy! But not to show my dog, but to be the coach for our Finnish Champion in junior handling 2012, Sanna Martikainen! It will be a funny trip and Sanna will do a fantastic job, such a joy to be a part of it.

The World Winner is a must.. So we'll be there also. Ninja will be attending, hopefully she won't drop her coat but you never know..I will have some exciting dogs there to show, it will be so much fun! We'll be staying with my friends from Sweden, junior handlers and ex-jh's! Excited!!

Other trips abroad are not on the list yet.. The European Winner may be on the same days as my matriculation examination so that's a no-go if it is like that :/ But we'll see!

I will also hold some junior handling courses which will be super exciting! I hope many young hopefuls will attend :)

So, in a nutshell - eagerly waiting for this year to really kick in and we'll see what can be achieved!


♥ Hilde ♥