Sweden Sighthound Speciality July 25th and 26th

As I couldn't go there last year, I was very eager to go to this show this year. It's the biggest Sighthoundshow in Europe, with Sighthound Speciality one day (arranged by the Swedish Sighthound Club) and breed specialities the other day. This year, there were 64 IGs entered for the IG Speciality (Sighthound Specialist Elena Ukhabina Tripoli, Russia/Italy) and 51 IGs entered at the Sighthound Speciality Show for Breed Specialist Waltraud Peschges, Germany (vom Sausewind IGs).

The IG Speciality didn't really do us any good. Only Easy did some winning

Esso got excellent, and went reserve (nr 5) in champion class, no CK (champion quality). He got picked out (the judge only picked 8) to compete for Best Movement.
"3 years. Typical, good head, eyes a little bit too prominent. Good neck, good topline, good angulation. Good chest, very good movement."

Vita got excellent, and came 2nd in juniorclass with HP (honorary prize).
"10 months. Very typical. Good head, good neck. Sufficient angulation in front, good angulation in back. Good topline, good movement."

Easy also got excellent, but no placement in open class. She won Best Movement!
"3 years. Typical, good head, not perfect teeth. Not perfect set on neck. Good topline, good angulation, good movement."


The Sighthound Speciality Show on Sunday went so much better! Critics loosly translated from German.

Esso went Best Male, then Best of Breed!!!
"Complete scissorbite. "Gepflegte" teeth. Isabell. Very nice general appearance. Typical head with very typical proportions. Medium brown eyes. Well set rose ears, long neck. Correct top- and underline. Correct front- and hindangulations. Excellent movement both from the side and coming and going. Friendly."

Vita won junior class, Best Junior and was placed Best Bitch-4!
"Complete scissorbite. Grey. Graceful bitch with good proportions. Narrow head, dark brown eyes. Very good set/carriage of ears, long neck. Correct topline, deep chest. Correct front- and hindangulation. Sufficiently long "Rute". Good sidemovement. Friendly."

Easy got an excellent, and was placed 4th in Open Class with CK
"Complete scissorbite. Grey. Very good head with dark brown eyes. Small rose ears, long neck. Correct topline, deep chest. Correct front- and hind angulations. Sufficiently long "Rute". "Aussreifende" movement. Friendly."

2 upcomming show-weekends

It's weird to actually do nothing these days - I'm so not used to a quiet life anymore! well, I went to Lærdal from Saturday to Sunday (4,5 hours drive each way) to do some paperwork and also go to a party, and I didn't leave Lærdal untill 21.30 on Sunday night. With a couple of stops of eating/coffee/letting the dogs out, I was back in Nannestad at about 02.30.... I suppose I'd get used to all this latenight driving, but I was more than happy when I parked the car!

On Thursday, I'll deliver Chivas at Evy's + pick up Beida, then sleep over at Ludmilla in "svenskehuset". Friday, we're off to the Annual Sighthound Speciality Weekend in Sweden (earlier Skokloster/Tammsvik/Mariefred - now Västerås). Saturday it's the Italian Greyhound Speciality - 64 IGs entered for judge Elena Ukhabina Tripoli, Russia/Italy. On Sunday, it's the Sighthound Club arranging - 51 IGs entered for judge Waltraud Peschges, Germany (IG kennel vom Sausewind).

The following week, I'll be driving "home" to visit my mother in Svolvær, Northern Norway. I'll be in a friends wedding on August 8th, and on August 1st and 2nd, the yearly show weekend is taking place at Leknes, 1 hours drive from Svolvær. Of course, I'm entered!

Back in Norway

The last 4 days in Belgium were gray and rainy - I think I had 2 "Sundays" during those 4 days ;) Nothing to do but sit inside on the couch with a blanked (filled with dogs) and watch old episodes of "Sex and the City". Thursday, we took a trip to Rotterdam to visit Nina (Avendesora, sister of Vita) and her family. Bas and Jessica + all their dogs: Nina, 2 pharaohounds, 2 whippet and old Harry. We went for a nice walk on a looooooong stretch of sandy hills, which will become a new Highway next year. For now, it's a very popular place to walk dogs :)

We got some really nice photos of the dogs running and playing (see my picasa webalbum: http://picasaweb.google.no/LenaHSD/BelgiumHolidayJuly2009# ) and also some nice stacked photos + headshots of Nina! There are some really crazy photos of the dogs there ;)


I flew home to Norway on Friday evening, and I've never been through a quicker or smoother arrival. I was sitting in the backrow of the plane, and they opened the hinddoor - quick exit. When I got down to the luggagearea, I went to the SAS desk to ask where to pick up the dogs later, and then headed straight back to the luggagebelt. They had already started to unload baggage, and my suitcase was the 3rd on - quick pickup. Then I went to the other end of the hall to pick up the dogs, who was already there, waiting - another quick pickup. Because of the dogs, I had to walk on red through customs - there were 3 people sitting there - I tried to get eyecontact with them, but none of them were paying any attention - so I just walked straight through - quick exit. So if I spent 15 minutes from exiting the plane until walking through customs, that's maximum! Rox was going to pick me up, but wasn't prepared for such a storming through the airport - and was just leaving home when I called from outside the airport!

Yesterday, I took the bus to Oslo to pick up my car at Marie's (my sister) work. Then I drove down to Evy to pick up Chivas - he's spent my holiday in the countryside with Evy and Knut Erik and their gang of salukis, iggies and cirnecos. I got a very warm and loud welcome from Saoudie, Chivas and Don ;)

While I was there, I got a call from Rox. Vita had been a bit eager to hund in the garden, and had been tasting a toad - not just once (although it tasted awful) but several times, as the toad tried to jump away from her (hunting instinct, no - not at all...?!?). She got sick - vomiting, peeing and having diarea all over the place... After checking a book (luckily in my car), Rox forcefed her lots of milk. The vomiting stopped immediately, and after shaking a bit, she fell asleep - really sleeping like a rock. When I got back up to Rox, it was all over, and Vita was as crazy as usual - it takes more than some toadvenom to stop a daughter of Esso!

So, now I'll have to adjust to "vacationmode". No work for at least a month - we'll see when, I'm applying for jobs at the moment in the Eastern part of Norway (close to friends and IG activities). There are quite a few dogshow on the agenda - first I'll go to Sweden with Ludmilla and her boys for the annual Sighthound Summer Show (formerly known as Skokloster or Tammsvik), then I'll pick up my sister and her dogs in Oslo, and we'll drive home to Svolvær, Lofoten. I'm invited to a wedding on August 8th, and (by lucky chance) there's a double dogshow at Leknes (1 hour drive from Svolvær) the first weekend of August! Of course I've entered all my dogs ;) Friday August 14th, I've bought tickets for "Øya Festivalen", a music festival in Oslo. I'll be going with my sister Marie and also my friend Malin & Catharina. I see my "non-doggyfriends" far too rarely, LOL And either Saturday 15th or Sunday 16th, I've entered the IGs for NKK International Oslo at Bjerke Travbane. That's my summerplans - nothing more, nothing less - except a trip up to Lærdal to do some paperwork and tie some loose ends (and PARTY!!!)

Holiday in Belgium - Echt International, the Netherlands

I'm on a holiday in Belgium at the moment, visiting Margrét and Nick - and all the dogs! I came her on July 1st, and will stay until Friday the 10th. Before I came here, I had to move out of my house in Lærdal, as someone else is moving in today. It's amazing how much junk you can collect in less than a year! I filled my car twice with stuff, and also once with junk for the scrapheap... It was so much to do that I just marginally managed to drive down to Evy (starting from Lærdal at 01.00 in the morning on July 1st), deliver Chivas and pick up the flightcrate, then drive up to Gardermoen - check in myself, Esso and Vita - get them to special cargo, deliver my carkeys to Rox, then go through security and run for the plane! But I made it!!!

Margrét picked me up at the airport, the flight went quickly (probably because I was halfsleeping, no sleep at all in the night...), the dogs survived the flight beautifully, greeting me with happy, wagging tails at special luggage delivery. I was a bit worried about that, but I guess I'm just a worried mummy ;) Sending them together in a crate was a relief though, knowing they had eachother.

Thursday July 2nd, we went to Tienen to visit Katrien - owner of Dervisch Fiorina des Ombreuses (littersister of Easy) and also Biscotti Maya of Ashra (littersister of my sisters Biscotti Mademoiselle). We had a great time, Katrien and Peter were so nice! Lots of dogtalking in the heat - not much photographing done, it was so hot that the dogs were mostly flat out in the shade (except for Esso, who was in love with all Katriens bitches - especially the sloughi Uva).

On Friday, we went to this local shoppingmall - got to buy some summer tops and a skirt - why do I have to come to Belgium to find clothes, when it's in the same stores as I'm looking in in Norway?!? I also went looking for a new lense for my camera - found one, but decided to check vs Norwegian prices before buying anything. In the evening, we went to dinner at a friend of Nick, and had some nice steak :)

Saturday is marketday in Hamme, so we went to look and do some groceryshopping. A long street was closed off for all the stalls and shops, selling everything from clothes to flowers, fruits and food. We brought some dogs for socialicing, and they did great! Their rewards were raw chickennecks from the butcher :)

Yesterday, we went to an International show in Echt, the Netherlands. Down here, you have to be at the show 30 minutes before the judging starts in the rings, and you'll have to stay for the judging to finish at around 3. Both Margrét and I had dogs entered - I'd brought Esso since he only lacks his last CACIB for his International Championship (1 year and 1 day since his first was around June 10th) and Vita was entered "just for fun" as she only turned 9 months 3 days earlier. There were 11 IGs entered for Paul Stanton, Sweden. I've never shown for him before, so it was quite exciting to see if he liked my dogs.

Males:
Best Male, CAC, CACIB and BOS - Nord Ch NW-08 Biscotti Esclusivo - now International Champion!!!!

R-CAC and R-CACIB - Bidule (Diavolo des Achka Rapidoss x Poesie D'Amour du Domaine de Chanteloup)

Junior CAC - Caeles Let's Get Ready To Rumble

Females:
Best Bitch, CAC, Junior-CAC, BOB - Aviendha!!!

R-CAC - Carmen il Piccolo Azzuro (Ch Angeli il PA x Ch Evita il PA)
CACIB - N Ch Topaasin Bling Bling
R-CACIB - Geluksoek du Chien d'Ebene (Ch Fiefoerinek's Forza del Destino x Ch Clementine du Chien d'Ebene)

Esso now needs 3 more CAC to finish his NL Ch - and it has to be at least 1 year and 1 day between the first and the last CAC. The same goes for Vita, but she also needs to be 27 months to become a NL Ch. If she wins Junior Class with Excellent 2 more times, she'll become a NL JCh! I guess I'll be coming back here, bringing the dogs with me ;)

Critic for Esso: "A little big; elegant; beautiful outline. Excellent expression, excellent ears, could have a little more underjaw, good eyes. Very good neck and topline, excellent underline. Fine bone, good feet, good angulations. Good skin and muscles. Very sound and typical mover. Excellent style."

Critic for Vita: "Very elegant junior. Excellent long legs. Lovely expression, good eyes and ears, needs more underjaw. Very good body for age; excellent bone and feet, quite good angulations, good coat and muscles. Light and elegant sidemovement, excellent behind, good in front for age. Excellent style."

We took a ton of pictures at the show, amongst others of the salukis. Only 10 salukis were entered, and I think we got them all on photo - they were the breed directly in front of the IGs, so the female championclass/best bitch didn't get really good photos. I'll post a separate salukipost later ;)

I/we have taken almost 800 photos so far (ok, also quite a few of them have been deleted by now), and today is another photoday - this time Margréts dogs are up. It's not as hot today, so it'll be a better day for photographing than the other days so far.

I don't remember if we have any plans tomorrow, but wednesday we'll hopefully go to racingpractice at Beringen (?), and Thursday is Lucy's visit to the Vet hospital in Gent to check up and x-ray her injured foot. Afterwards, we'll go to Rotterdam (NL) to visit Nina, sister of Vita, and her family! Friday is my last day this time, but don't be surprised if I suddenly disappear for Belgium again this autumn! We do have some showplans ;)