You probably wonder about the rason for today's title. The truth is that last time I felt like Karate Kid when I was painting the boards for the fence. For the fence of the new house of my significant other, so that my significantly hairy other won't have too many problems with the neighbour's flea bag. Sambo has already taken a look at the new property and approved it. Of course he also vigilantly inspected my painting job and also our raising of the fence. And says that he's quite content. But to tell the truth it's quite tiring to equip and renovate the new den. It took us about a working day of hours to find suitable ceramic tiles for the bathroom and we spent a week chasing around the stairs for the attic throughout the whole city – at first they were the cheapest in the first store, a bit more expensive in the second and almost double in price in the third one, then they miraculously raised in price in the first one and so they were cheapest in the second store, and then… Anywho, the compromise has been made and the Stairway to (fitness) heaven is waiting in the future living room, while the fitness equipment will have to wait a while. Well, it's not like we don't exercise enough, at least while we're still erecting fences, tearing down walls etc, and the black neurosis takes care of my figure 24/7 anyway. And talking about the devil – on Tuesday we went riding again after two weeks of pause; I still have all my muscles sore while the black monster barely warmed up after two hours. I try to tell myself that when I'll be his age I'll be just as fit as he is. Yeah, right…
Today's post is more human than canine, but that's ok (and people are often more bitchy than any dog, male or female, anyway). We are all having a great time these days, the human ones, the canine one, the bird, the wabbit and the fishy ones – they have no comment, as usually, but I'm sure they're peachy too.
I wish you to have a great time too – for the last few days my mood has been up also due to Queen; they always seem to fit any situation, but these days I'm particularly nostalgic towards them, especially towards Freddie. Freddie, it's been a while since you're not around anymore, but there's still lots of us who love to listen toyou :).
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
On the road again...
A few years ago the World Championship for Belgian shepherds was held in De Haan, Belgium and a week before the event my friend, also a Belgian fanatic, asked me – What if we go to Belgium? And we went! She, her dog, my mom and I. we had a fabulous time and Belgium enraptured us as a country of of a beautiful landscape, marvellous houses and friendly people. Since then I have been waiting for a chance to go back, this time with Sambo. Last year, after the world dog show, I heard from some people that every year a wonderful show is held in Kortrijk, one of the biggest in Europe, and when this year I saw the entry form and found out that Belgian shepherds also have a specialty show I finally found my excuse. The decision was made, we are going to Belgium.
DAY ONE – LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOOOW…
My two favourite boys (one more, one less hairy) and I set out on our journey on Thursday at around 8 am. Gregor drove, so I could enjoy the increasingly white landscape as we came into Austria.
I soon was able to admire this year's first snowflakes as it started to snow with tiny, romantic snowflakes. The thing is that after a few kilometres all the romanticism was gone, it actually became quite nasty because the snow already started to stick to the road and the traffic was just dense enough so that we had the windshield dirty non-stop, which can be lots of fun in a car with a busted water-spray for cleaning the windshield…
Luckily we made it to München without much trouble, but there the traffic became impossible because of the rush hour and the weather, which was still ugly-snowy. So we decided to go off the highway onto a regional road near Freisig and make a break for lunch and a bit of exercise. After the break I took over the driving and managed to get us, not with negligible pains (the traffic was unbelievable until we got on the highway again and the weather conditions were 3 times worse than before), to Koblenz, where we spent the night in Etap hotel. We did approximately 930 km so we looked forward to the next day when we had to travel 'only' about 400 km, most of it through Belgium.
A walk by a lake in Germany near the Belgian border
DAY TWO – HOME SWEET HOME
The second day we treated ourselves with a bit less early start because we had to travel a much smaller distance in much better conditions. We slowly went to the German-Belgian border and saw an obvious difference between the two countries already on the first gass station – instead of various bratwursts, knockwursts and similar sausageries the station was packed with waffles. Much better . We continued our way to Brussels with a big smile and turned South a bit before the capital. After a short search we finally came to Groenendael. But here we encountered a problem. We were supposed to meet with Uroš, Živa and Klark (our doggy friends with whom we migrated to Poland last year, but didn't travel together this time because they parted a week before us to go to the Stuttgart show) at the sign for Groenendael, but we couldn't find the sign. We found the castle, which is unfortunatelly just being renovated, so it is all steel-bars and sweaty workers, but we couldn't find the damn sign. In great desperation I turned for help to a very kind man in a hut by the castle, and meanwhile the other part of the Slovene expedition finally found us. We drove a bit further to a big parking by the lake and went to take pics by the sign, which of course was a big must. Yes, we found the sign at last, first we didn't see it because it stands only on the side of the road if you come from the other direction (and it says Groenendaal, to be precise).
After a snack Živa and I went for a walk with the dogs through the beautiful autumn forest and I have to admit it is definitely one of the nicest places I've ever been – surrounded by a green valley with small hillocks and typical old Belgian houses and arround the castle, an old forest with huge trees, a little lake and a river. I don't know if it was like this already 200 years ago, when the breed was created, but in any case it is absolutely beautiful now.
After a break in the woods of Groenendael we parted towards Wevelgem, a little town about 15 km from Kortrijk, where the show was organized. The B&B I reserved is managed by a friendly man named Gino and we stayed there for two days. But we faced another problem there too. Our room was in the third floor of the house and you had to climb three different sets of steps to go there. The first set had no 'back' so you could see through them and the last were very narrow and steep. And Sambo, as I have mentioned once before, quite the stairophobic. After two minutes I persuaded him to begin climbing the first stairs, but he changed his mind halfway and when he was turning to go down he slipped and his foot got stucked in the whole between two steps, so he was sort of left hanging. Not a very promising start, I would say. But then we somehow managed to get him out of that and Gregor carried him to the room. The following day Sambo pleasantly surprised me and after a brief moment of 'panic' and reluctance, he climbed all the stairs and even came down the second (most normal) ones. It seems that next time I'll have to check if the room is in the ground floor, otherwise he'll kill us all with his phobia… Anyhow, we made it our next stop and at night we all fell into our beds and started recovering and gathering strength for the next day.
DAY THREE – TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE, THAT IS THE QUESTION NOW
Saturday was no my day. It all started in the morning when Sambo and I went for a supershort walk because we were in a hurry and all Sambo did was pee a lot and nothing else. The six of us came together to the fair halls but then the guys left Živa and me there with the dogs and went looking for a car service to fix the headlight. We were only about halfway to the hall when Živa and I started looking at each other more and more often. The way to the hall was so well marked by what dogs with uncivilized owners left behind them that one could just close their eyes and be guided by the very pleasant smell… After a long wait we somehow made it into the first hall and we found the place where our specialty was to be held. Živa encamped herself and the dogs and I went to the registration table – where we found out that my entry was either not received or not accepted and they didn't inform me, either way, Sambo wasn't entered. Fortunately they were so kind that they entered him on the spot and added me to the list, so after a few very tense minutes Sambo was entered in champion class, where only a Dutch male held him company. Despite the slight regret that there is so little competition (there were 17 groens all together, just like in the european show in Zagreb, which is a lot for those conditions, but one would expect a slightly bigger participation on a specialty in Belgium) I was happy that we solved the problem about the entry, but since there weren't many dogs, I was now in a hurry to prepare myself and Sambo for the show (go to the wc, water myself and Sambo and take Sambo out to pee). So I left Živa in our camp and rushed to the wc, from where a woman in her 30ies ousted me, screaming, because I didn't have 40 cents with me. I tried to tell her that I'm in a hurry and that I'll bring the money later, but the Cerberus she was didn't let me. So I went back, shared my indignation with Živa and wanted at least to take Sambo out. This plan failed too – they didn't let us out, instead they directed us to the 'dog wc', which in practice meant: go out to a fenced 10x10 piece of parking place, where there are two truck parked for a better atmosphere and try to convince your dog to do his business on asphalt that had only so much clean surface that you could go to the fence and back. I'm not sure who was more disgusted there, us or the dogs, either way none of them did anything. So both Sambo and I waited for better times to come (and they came only late in the evening…).
Anyway, soon the guys joined us again and after a few hours we finally lived to see our turn. You can imagine that neither of us was in a peachy mood (because of the dry air in the hall I had to drink a good deal of water and so did Sambo, and we all now how it feels if you have to go and can't…). Moreover, after the first round we saw that the surface was very slippery (there was a carpet only through the middle of the ring, which doesn't help you much if you are running in circles), so to be honest, Sambo didn't present himself as well as usually. We were second but weren't disappointed because of it. The organization of the specialty was very good, the staff kind and proffesional, but a big reprimand goes to the organizer of the whole show (the hygiene level was a catastrophe, the ground surface in that hall very slippery and the carpet unfunctional). Still, it was nice to be a part of a specialty, meet a few new people and chat with old acquaintances, and to finish, we got a very nice trophy. After we finished we went cheering for Uroš and Klark, after which we finally went to do some windowshopping on the show. We had to wait for our trophy until late in the evening, we got home only at around 8 am. and left the dogs there to rest while we went to dinner. Which we waited for 2 hours. As I said at the beginning, Saturday was not my day, after 12 hours of waiting for the wc I waited for another 2 hours to get my first bite of food. Looking on the bright side we were in good company, so we were still in a good mood and a bit after midnight the tiring day finally ended.
DAY FOUR – GOOD EVENING, WE'RE HERE
This day started with a walk on the field nearby that Uroš and Klark had discovered the previous day. The dogs ran like crazy and we breathed the fresh morning air and despite the low temperatures we warmed ourselves while marching on the field and admiring the nice landscape (and the huge Belgian sheep that looked at us fixedly, I swear they have heads the size of a bear's). After breakfast the other half of the Slovene expedition set out home while Gregor, Sambo and I went to the show once more. We decided to come there at around 11 because we knew there were about 40 dogs before us. This was a very wise decision as, unlike the first day, there wasn't any crowd at the entrance at all, so we could pass through to our ring much faster and less stressful than the day before. We encamped round the corned, by the italian-dutch camp of our agility colleague Sandra and her friends. This time a French man was the judge and after seeing the judging of two classes of tervuerens I looked forward to a quicker judging and a quicker end. That day was the first time I entered Sambo into veteran class, so the already minimal nervousness was even smaller. While Sambo rested in the box we went to take a look at other interesting breed, after which we took Sambo to an empty ring nearby and played a bit with him. Finally our turn was approaching and we waited close to the entrance of the ring because I noticed that the ring steward wasn't the most experienced and resourceful. Soon our time came, the judge petted Sambo, took a look at him and sent us to run a few rounds. Unlike the previous day we were both in a much better mood and Sambo was back, being his good old usual self with a constant smile on his face and the tempo of a juvenile. The judge was enthusiastic and was happy to give us an excellent grade and explained to me his description (as distinguished from Slovenija the dog's report has only the grade and the title, without the description, so the judge told each handler the description orally); among other things he told me Sambo was in excellent shape, has a very pleasant, typical expression and an excellent character. The ring steward gave me the papers and told me to come back for the choosing of the BOB (best of breed). So I waited nearby and when I saw that the judge was looking at the last class of the bitches I placed myself by the entrance of the ring to wait for our turn. While I was waiting I started chatting with some spectators that were seating at the margin of the ring and admiring Sambo. He of course didn't hesitate to come and ask for a good portion of petting and belly-rubbing. Then I saw the bitches were leaving the ring, so I entered and asked the ring steward if it was our turn already. She looked at me, the dog, the catalogue number and said that yes and that I can step closer. After us two more dogs entered the ring, which I found a bit strange as there are usually 4-6 dogs for the BOB selection, but ok. The judge looked at us, sent us to run and Sambo ran like a maniac again, whereupon the judge announced that we are first. We were very happy, but then the ring steward started telling me something about the best puppy that has to come once more… I asked her which puppy is she talking about, I have a veteran! At this part of the video you can hear the spectators (with which I was talking before) start hooting with laughter and after the first moments of astonishment Gregor and I followed their lead. I mean, after all the screw-ups I ever witnessed at ahows I have never seen a dog from veteran class get the best junior title. Well, Sambo did . Anyhow, after a long laugh and a wait in the ring itself by our smiling fans the BOB selection finally started. Sambo again presented himself wonderfully, running and standing, but the BOB title went to the (very nice) bitch.
So our judging ended and it was time for us to go windowshopping again and admiring other dogs. I also met a Belgian breeder of working Groenendaels and had a chat with him about the breed and working with it. Late in the afternoon we had to attend the BIS, which actually wasn't far away because our judging lasted until 4 pm due to the lunch break. This time Sambo really got his portion of action… I took him out of the box about 5 min before veteran class started and played with him for a minute in the empty rings in the corner of the BIS hall. Then we slowly approached the entrance of the BIS ring and I saw Sambo was sniffing the wall in a weird way. I immediately knew he wanted to pee. I felt sorry for the poor fella becuase this was the second day he didn't pee for 8 hours, but still my conscience didn't let me tell him to pee on the wall. After a few seconds I decided to take him outside to pee as I hoped the very 'kind' guards of the doors were gone by then. And we went. Up the stairs and across two halls to the first possible exit, where Sambo took the opportunity at once and watered the fence. When he was done we turned around and sprinted back again across two halls and the stairs and we just made it to the entrance when they started letting the veterans in. We ran well and Sambo did really nice, but we didn't achieve anything other than the judge giving a brief pat on Sambo's head. But who cares. We were done with the show weekend with lots of running, which suited Sambo just fine. But now we had enough of it and we were glad it was over. We were looking forward to the last part of our trip. We got into the car and drove to Middelkerke near the coast, where we found the correct address after a brief bickering with the GPS lady. Gregor and I stepped out of the car and rang. An older gentleman opened the door and looked at us in great surprise.
- Can I help you?
- Good evening, I'm Urša from Slovenija, I wrote you an e-mail a few days ago about staying at your B&B for one night.
- E-mail about our room…? Oh yes, now I remember, but I wasn't expecting you, I answered your mail two days ago and you didn't respond.
- I'm sorry, I couldn't because we were on the road and didn't have interned access, I hoped there won't be a problem anyway.
- No, not at all! Come in, please. Actually it's a good thing that you didn't come sooner (it was Sunday, 20.30…) because we were on a family reunion and my wife and I retured only about half an hour ago.
At that moment the wife came down the hall, with wet hair and her bath robe on. The gentleman announced at her that they have guests, the lady blushed a little and then they showed us where the room and the bathroom are. Then their very goodhumoured cavalier Tobi welcomed us as well and soon we went to get our things and Sambo, drank a juice with the couple and went for a short walk with Sambo. After that – a shower and to bed. I don't know whether it was the bed that was so phenomenal or it was me that was really exhausted, but that was one of the best nightsleeps I've ever had. In the morning I got up and took Sambo out and then Gregor and I were served an excellent breakfasr after which we didn't feel a great need to rush back into the car again. Finally we gathered the strength and packed; a few minutes before we left the gentleman knocked on the door and said he is very sorry, but he has to go out and that we should just leave the keys to the house on the table and wished us to have a safe trip. In sum, this was one of the most unusual stays I've ever had at a B&B (or anywhere, in fact), from the beginning 'ding dong, good evening, we're here – great, and who are you?' to the following extra friendly little dog, an amazing sleep and a super breakfast and the gentleman's unconcern about leaving total strangers alone in his house. But it was all great and I truly hope we manage to stay at their B&B for a night or two on our next Belgian roadtrip.
Sambo in front of our B&B in Middelkerke.
DAY FIVE – THE BEACH
As I already mentioned that day started with a walk on the suburbs near the coast and an excellent breakfast. Then we drove from Middelkerke through Oostende to De Haan, where we went for a walk on the beach. Unlike Groenendaal, where it was warm and sunny in the autumn forest, it was more or less cloudy and windy here on the desolate coast – but still these two walks were both wonderful and I have beautiful memories of both. Sambo ran like crazy, we made tons of pics and some video clips too (where you can see how Sambo jumps on the scarf that was dangling around my neck and nearly strangles me…) and we had lots and lots of fun. Then we went to the car, Sambo was packed into the boy and the two of us went to make a very short tour of the centre and to buy some waffles and pralines. We said goodbye to the beach and drove along the coast to the highway that lead us to the Netherlands a bit further from Rotterdam, to Zoetermer, where we went for a short visit to Oliver, Gregor's friend. After dinner we headed South, into Aachen, which is almost on the border of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, where we slept in Etap hotel, our last night on the road.
The cold beach.
The lovely train station in De Haanu.
Floating on air...
DAY SIX – HOME AGAIN
The final part of our trip came. We had to travel a bit over 1000km from Aachen back to Ljubljana. The trip was tiring because of the lenght, otherwise the weather and road conditions were much better than on the way to Belgium. What we gained on time on the way up because of the bad weather we caught up because of the many roadworks, but we made it to Ljubljana at around 22.00 when we arrived home happy and tired. We had a marvelous roadtrip and I'm already looking for excuses for the next one… ;)
DAY ONE – LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOOOW…
My two favourite boys (one more, one less hairy) and I set out on our journey on Thursday at around 8 am. Gregor drove, so I could enjoy the increasingly white landscape as we came into Austria.
I soon was able to admire this year's first snowflakes as it started to snow with tiny, romantic snowflakes. The thing is that after a few kilometres all the romanticism was gone, it actually became quite nasty because the snow already started to stick to the road and the traffic was just dense enough so that we had the windshield dirty non-stop, which can be lots of fun in a car with a busted water-spray for cleaning the windshield…
Luckily we made it to München without much trouble, but there the traffic became impossible because of the rush hour and the weather, which was still ugly-snowy. So we decided to go off the highway onto a regional road near Freisig and make a break for lunch and a bit of exercise. After the break I took over the driving and managed to get us, not with negligible pains (the traffic was unbelievable until we got on the highway again and the weather conditions were 3 times worse than before), to Koblenz, where we spent the night in Etap hotel. We did approximately 930 km so we looked forward to the next day when we had to travel 'only' about 400 km, most of it through Belgium.
A walk by a lake in Germany near the Belgian border
DAY TWO – HOME SWEET HOME
The second day we treated ourselves with a bit less early start because we had to travel a much smaller distance in much better conditions. We slowly went to the German-Belgian border and saw an obvious difference between the two countries already on the first gass station – instead of various bratwursts, knockwursts and similar sausageries the station was packed with waffles. Much better . We continued our way to Brussels with a big smile and turned South a bit before the capital. After a short search we finally came to Groenendael. But here we encountered a problem. We were supposed to meet with Uroš, Živa and Klark (our doggy friends with whom we migrated to Poland last year, but didn't travel together this time because they parted a week before us to go to the Stuttgart show) at the sign for Groenendael, but we couldn't find the sign. We found the castle, which is unfortunatelly just being renovated, so it is all steel-bars and sweaty workers, but we couldn't find the damn sign. In great desperation I turned for help to a very kind man in a hut by the castle, and meanwhile the other part of the Slovene expedition finally found us. We drove a bit further to a big parking by the lake and went to take pics by the sign, which of course was a big must. Yes, we found the sign at last, first we didn't see it because it stands only on the side of the road if you come from the other direction (and it says Groenendaal, to be precise).
After a snack Živa and I went for a walk with the dogs through the beautiful autumn forest and I have to admit it is definitely one of the nicest places I've ever been – surrounded by a green valley with small hillocks and typical old Belgian houses and arround the castle, an old forest with huge trees, a little lake and a river. I don't know if it was like this already 200 years ago, when the breed was created, but in any case it is absolutely beautiful now.
After a break in the woods of Groenendael we parted towards Wevelgem, a little town about 15 km from Kortrijk, where the show was organized. The B&B I reserved is managed by a friendly man named Gino and we stayed there for two days. But we faced another problem there too. Our room was in the third floor of the house and you had to climb three different sets of steps to go there. The first set had no 'back' so you could see through them and the last were very narrow and steep. And Sambo, as I have mentioned once before, quite the stairophobic. After two minutes I persuaded him to begin climbing the first stairs, but he changed his mind halfway and when he was turning to go down he slipped and his foot got stucked in the whole between two steps, so he was sort of left hanging. Not a very promising start, I would say. But then we somehow managed to get him out of that and Gregor carried him to the room. The following day Sambo pleasantly surprised me and after a brief moment of 'panic' and reluctance, he climbed all the stairs and even came down the second (most normal) ones. It seems that next time I'll have to check if the room is in the ground floor, otherwise he'll kill us all with his phobia… Anyhow, we made it our next stop and at night we all fell into our beds and started recovering and gathering strength for the next day.
DAY THREE – TO PEE OR NOT TO PEE, THAT IS THE QUESTION NOW
Saturday was no my day. It all started in the morning when Sambo and I went for a supershort walk because we were in a hurry and all Sambo did was pee a lot and nothing else. The six of us came together to the fair halls but then the guys left Živa and me there with the dogs and went looking for a car service to fix the headlight. We were only about halfway to the hall when Živa and I started looking at each other more and more often. The way to the hall was so well marked by what dogs with uncivilized owners left behind them that one could just close their eyes and be guided by the very pleasant smell… After a long wait we somehow made it into the first hall and we found the place where our specialty was to be held. Živa encamped herself and the dogs and I went to the registration table – where we found out that my entry was either not received or not accepted and they didn't inform me, either way, Sambo wasn't entered. Fortunately they were so kind that they entered him on the spot and added me to the list, so after a few very tense minutes Sambo was entered in champion class, where only a Dutch male held him company. Despite the slight regret that there is so little competition (there were 17 groens all together, just like in the european show in Zagreb, which is a lot for those conditions, but one would expect a slightly bigger participation on a specialty in Belgium) I was happy that we solved the problem about the entry, but since there weren't many dogs, I was now in a hurry to prepare myself and Sambo for the show (go to the wc, water myself and Sambo and take Sambo out to pee). So I left Živa in our camp and rushed to the wc, from where a woman in her 30ies ousted me, screaming, because I didn't have 40 cents with me. I tried to tell her that I'm in a hurry and that I'll bring the money later, but the Cerberus she was didn't let me. So I went back, shared my indignation with Živa and wanted at least to take Sambo out. This plan failed too – they didn't let us out, instead they directed us to the 'dog wc', which in practice meant: go out to a fenced 10x10 piece of parking place, where there are two truck parked for a better atmosphere and try to convince your dog to do his business on asphalt that had only so much clean surface that you could go to the fence and back. I'm not sure who was more disgusted there, us or the dogs, either way none of them did anything. So both Sambo and I waited for better times to come (and they came only late in the evening…).
Anyway, soon the guys joined us again and after a few hours we finally lived to see our turn. You can imagine that neither of us was in a peachy mood (because of the dry air in the hall I had to drink a good deal of water and so did Sambo, and we all now how it feels if you have to go and can't…). Moreover, after the first round we saw that the surface was very slippery (there was a carpet only through the middle of the ring, which doesn't help you much if you are running in circles), so to be honest, Sambo didn't present himself as well as usually. We were second but weren't disappointed because of it. The organization of the specialty was very good, the staff kind and proffesional, but a big reprimand goes to the organizer of the whole show (the hygiene level was a catastrophe, the ground surface in that hall very slippery and the carpet unfunctional). Still, it was nice to be a part of a specialty, meet a few new people and chat with old acquaintances, and to finish, we got a very nice trophy. After we finished we went cheering for Uroš and Klark, after which we finally went to do some windowshopping on the show. We had to wait for our trophy until late in the evening, we got home only at around 8 am. and left the dogs there to rest while we went to dinner. Which we waited for 2 hours. As I said at the beginning, Saturday was not my day, after 12 hours of waiting for the wc I waited for another 2 hours to get my first bite of food. Looking on the bright side we were in good company, so we were still in a good mood and a bit after midnight the tiring day finally ended.
DAY FOUR – GOOD EVENING, WE'RE HERE
This day started with a walk on the field nearby that Uroš and Klark had discovered the previous day. The dogs ran like crazy and we breathed the fresh morning air and despite the low temperatures we warmed ourselves while marching on the field and admiring the nice landscape (and the huge Belgian sheep that looked at us fixedly, I swear they have heads the size of a bear's). After breakfast the other half of the Slovene expedition set out home while Gregor, Sambo and I went to the show once more. We decided to come there at around 11 because we knew there were about 40 dogs before us. This was a very wise decision as, unlike the first day, there wasn't any crowd at the entrance at all, so we could pass through to our ring much faster and less stressful than the day before. We encamped round the corned, by the italian-dutch camp of our agility colleague Sandra and her friends. This time a French man was the judge and after seeing the judging of two classes of tervuerens I looked forward to a quicker judging and a quicker end. That day was the first time I entered Sambo into veteran class, so the already minimal nervousness was even smaller. While Sambo rested in the box we went to take a look at other interesting breed, after which we took Sambo to an empty ring nearby and played a bit with him. Finally our turn was approaching and we waited close to the entrance of the ring because I noticed that the ring steward wasn't the most experienced and resourceful. Soon our time came, the judge petted Sambo, took a look at him and sent us to run a few rounds. Unlike the previous day we were both in a much better mood and Sambo was back, being his good old usual self with a constant smile on his face and the tempo of a juvenile. The judge was enthusiastic and was happy to give us an excellent grade and explained to me his description (as distinguished from Slovenija the dog's report has only the grade and the title, without the description, so the judge told each handler the description orally); among other things he told me Sambo was in excellent shape, has a very pleasant, typical expression and an excellent character. The ring steward gave me the papers and told me to come back for the choosing of the BOB (best of breed). So I waited nearby and when I saw that the judge was looking at the last class of the bitches I placed myself by the entrance of the ring to wait for our turn. While I was waiting I started chatting with some spectators that were seating at the margin of the ring and admiring Sambo. He of course didn't hesitate to come and ask for a good portion of petting and belly-rubbing. Then I saw the bitches were leaving the ring, so I entered and asked the ring steward if it was our turn already. She looked at me, the dog, the catalogue number and said that yes and that I can step closer. After us two more dogs entered the ring, which I found a bit strange as there are usually 4-6 dogs for the BOB selection, but ok. The judge looked at us, sent us to run and Sambo ran like a maniac again, whereupon the judge announced that we are first. We were very happy, but then the ring steward started telling me something about the best puppy that has to come once more… I asked her which puppy is she talking about, I have a veteran! At this part of the video you can hear the spectators (with which I was talking before) start hooting with laughter and after the first moments of astonishment Gregor and I followed their lead. I mean, after all the screw-ups I ever witnessed at ahows I have never seen a dog from veteran class get the best junior title. Well, Sambo did . Anyhow, after a long laugh and a wait in the ring itself by our smiling fans the BOB selection finally started. Sambo again presented himself wonderfully, running and standing, but the BOB title went to the (very nice) bitch.
So our judging ended and it was time for us to go windowshopping again and admiring other dogs. I also met a Belgian breeder of working Groenendaels and had a chat with him about the breed and working with it. Late in the afternoon we had to attend the BIS, which actually wasn't far away because our judging lasted until 4 pm due to the lunch break. This time Sambo really got his portion of action… I took him out of the box about 5 min before veteran class started and played with him for a minute in the empty rings in the corner of the BIS hall. Then we slowly approached the entrance of the BIS ring and I saw Sambo was sniffing the wall in a weird way. I immediately knew he wanted to pee. I felt sorry for the poor fella becuase this was the second day he didn't pee for 8 hours, but still my conscience didn't let me tell him to pee on the wall. After a few seconds I decided to take him outside to pee as I hoped the very 'kind' guards of the doors were gone by then. And we went. Up the stairs and across two halls to the first possible exit, where Sambo took the opportunity at once and watered the fence. When he was done we turned around and sprinted back again across two halls and the stairs and we just made it to the entrance when they started letting the veterans in. We ran well and Sambo did really nice, but we didn't achieve anything other than the judge giving a brief pat on Sambo's head. But who cares. We were done with the show weekend with lots of running, which suited Sambo just fine. But now we had enough of it and we were glad it was over. We were looking forward to the last part of our trip. We got into the car and drove to Middelkerke near the coast, where we found the correct address after a brief bickering with the GPS lady. Gregor and I stepped out of the car and rang. An older gentleman opened the door and looked at us in great surprise.
- Can I help you?
- Good evening, I'm Urša from Slovenija, I wrote you an e-mail a few days ago about staying at your B&B for one night.
- E-mail about our room…? Oh yes, now I remember, but I wasn't expecting you, I answered your mail two days ago and you didn't respond.
- I'm sorry, I couldn't because we were on the road and didn't have interned access, I hoped there won't be a problem anyway.
- No, not at all! Come in, please. Actually it's a good thing that you didn't come sooner (it was Sunday, 20.30…) because we were on a family reunion and my wife and I retured only about half an hour ago.
At that moment the wife came down the hall, with wet hair and her bath robe on. The gentleman announced at her that they have guests, the lady blushed a little and then they showed us where the room and the bathroom are. Then their very goodhumoured cavalier Tobi welcomed us as well and soon we went to get our things and Sambo, drank a juice with the couple and went for a short walk with Sambo. After that – a shower and to bed. I don't know whether it was the bed that was so phenomenal or it was me that was really exhausted, but that was one of the best nightsleeps I've ever had. In the morning I got up and took Sambo out and then Gregor and I were served an excellent breakfasr after which we didn't feel a great need to rush back into the car again. Finally we gathered the strength and packed; a few minutes before we left the gentleman knocked on the door and said he is very sorry, but he has to go out and that we should just leave the keys to the house on the table and wished us to have a safe trip. In sum, this was one of the most unusual stays I've ever had at a B&B (or anywhere, in fact), from the beginning 'ding dong, good evening, we're here – great, and who are you?' to the following extra friendly little dog, an amazing sleep and a super breakfast and the gentleman's unconcern about leaving total strangers alone in his house. But it was all great and I truly hope we manage to stay at their B&B for a night or two on our next Belgian roadtrip.
Sambo in front of our B&B in Middelkerke.
DAY FIVE – THE BEACH
As I already mentioned that day started with a walk on the suburbs near the coast and an excellent breakfast. Then we drove from Middelkerke through Oostende to De Haan, where we went for a walk on the beach. Unlike Groenendaal, where it was warm and sunny in the autumn forest, it was more or less cloudy and windy here on the desolate coast – but still these two walks were both wonderful and I have beautiful memories of both. Sambo ran like crazy, we made tons of pics and some video clips too (where you can see how Sambo jumps on the scarf that was dangling around my neck and nearly strangles me…) and we had lots and lots of fun. Then we went to the car, Sambo was packed into the boy and the two of us went to make a very short tour of the centre and to buy some waffles and pralines. We said goodbye to the beach and drove along the coast to the highway that lead us to the Netherlands a bit further from Rotterdam, to Zoetermer, where we went for a short visit to Oliver, Gregor's friend. After dinner we headed South, into Aachen, which is almost on the border of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, where we slept in Etap hotel, our last night on the road.
The cold beach.
The lovely train station in De Haanu.
Floating on air...
DAY SIX – HOME AGAIN
The final part of our trip came. We had to travel a bit over 1000km from Aachen back to Ljubljana. The trip was tiring because of the lenght, otherwise the weather and road conditions were much better than on the way to Belgium. What we gained on time on the way up because of the bad weather we caught up because of the many roadworks, but we made it to Ljubljana at around 22.00 when we arrived home happy and tired. We had a marvelous roadtrip and I'm already looking for excuses for the next one… ;)
Monday, November 12, 2007
Final countdown
Yep, I'm counting down the days until the big roadtrip and at the moment we're stuck at number three...
In the meantime, we're enjoying the nice autumn. On Saturday I took my agility class on a school trip to the zoo, where Sambo was totally fascinated with the seal (he wanted to herd it, just as he herds the fish in the mini pond in our garden). When he saw he couldn't, he started shaking all over his body and soon he started yelling at it as only Sambo can. Soon, the seal and Sambo where having a nice conversation (to the great amusement of my students and other visitors), yoddling at each other. Oh well, such is the Belgian life...
In the meantime, we're enjoying the nice autumn. On Saturday I took my agility class on a school trip to the zoo, where Sambo was totally fascinated with the seal (he wanted to herd it, just as he herds the fish in the mini pond in our garden). When he saw he couldn't, he started shaking all over his body and soon he started yelling at it as only Sambo can. Soon, the seal and Sambo where having a nice conversation (to the great amusement of my students and other visitors), yoddling at each other. Oh well, such is the Belgian life...
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Roaming around
We decided to enjoy a nice autumn day to go for a walk on Kurešček, a small hill near Ljubljana. There we discovered that in addition from flowers that are insect-pollinated and wind-pollinated there exists another kind, the ones that are dog-pollinated...
(in case someone gets the wrong impression - the sticky thingies fell off by themselves by the end of the walk, Sambo's coat be blessed)
... then we sunbathed on the meadow for a while...
And how does a Belgian look after almost two hours of hiking, fetching sticks and 5 min of sprinting across the meadow with me? Well, not that beat, to be honest...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aNKuH_hSJU
(in case someone gets the wrong impression - the sticky thingies fell off by themselves by the end of the walk, Sambo's coat be blessed)
... then we sunbathed on the meadow for a while...
And how does a Belgian look after almost two hours of hiking, fetching sticks and 5 min of sprinting across the meadow with me? Well, not that beat, to be honest...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aNKuH_hSJU
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