Weird reactions 2 or David VS Goliath

People are sometimes surprised at my sense of humour – I have lots of it, in every possible type and extent, and it can also appear in the most peculiar moments. I usually reply to their amazement by saying that if I didn't have such a sense of humour, I could probably ease the situations I find myself in only with a nice Smith & Wesson product…

Since my life has been totally overly monotonous and boring someone up there kindly decided to make it more interesting. This year has been absolutely wonderful (especially the last few months), so I got a nice finish to round it up, one that reminded me of the importances of 'coincidences' in my life. Živa and I decided to have a cartoon-watching sleepover to make the best out of the last few days of being home alone. We first agreed that Gregor and I would pick her up on our way home from the mall. But she said that would be too early, so we said I would pick her up when she is ready. Then she called and told me she would come by bus. So I wait and I wait, and she still doesn't come. Finally she calls to say that she's still waiting for the bus; since it was already past 9 pm I told her that I would come to get her. And I went – in a T-shirt, a light jumper and 10 year-old untied sneakers. When I came to the main street I saw a bus coming from her direction, so I pulled over and called her to check if she was on the bus or still waiting. She was waiting, so I started driving again and after 2 min come to the bus station where she was standing. I turned the right directional signal on(yes, that's the formal name of the blinker) and start turning right so that I would wait for Živa to come to the bus stop on this side of the road. However, while I was turning right I saw a bus driving behind me in the rear mirror. Since I couldn't stop so that I wouldn't obstruct the bus and since I know how much bus drivers love people stopping cars on bus stops, I looked ahead, saw the street was empty and turned the left blinker on so that I would make a U turn and stop the car on the bus stop where Živa was waiting. While I was turning the wheel, I looked over my left shoulder – and saw the bus going right at me without reducing its speed. We both turned into opposite directions, but a second later the quiet, empty street already resounded with a mighty Boom. My mom's poor Kia was thrusted right, I heard a loud crushing noise from the left – I assumed it was the sound of the bus running over something that was once attached to the Kia, and then all was quiet again. My first thought was to move the car to the right, but it wouldn't start. Then I thought of Živa and hoped she wouldn't run like a beheaded chicken, crossing the street and possibly getting run over as well. At last I remembered it might be a good idea to get out of the car to let everybody see I was ok (in the hopes that it was true) and check how's the bus doing. The girl on the bus stop was completely stiff and white as a ghost, Živa was running towards me with a face you can't imagine and and the bus driver was standing at the bus door, holding his head and cursing. It took me a while to convince them I was ok, the girl will probably avoid bus stops for the next few months and the bus driver calmed down when he saw there where no serious consequences on anybody. The reason for the collision was as moronic as it can be – as it was late at night I didn't think it was such a sin to make a U turn and I also wanted to get out of the bus's way as soon as possible. Since there was a person standing on the bus stop I didn't even consider the possibility of the bus not stopping – but it didn't, cause it was headed into the garage (that also means that fortunately the only one in the bus was the driver). All in all, an unfortunate sequence of events/coincidences that lead into a battle between the Kia and the bus; it's a tie, by the way /I hope that doesn't mean there's another battle to come…/

The Kia isn't that injured at all, the bumper fell unhinged on the left side and fell off without having a scratch and the left side is a bit bumped, but really nothing serious. In sum, a night that was planned to be calm and fun with cartoons and junk food developed into a night of freezing in my jumper at temperatures of minus something, waiting for the car tow to come and take the Kia away and for Gregor to take us home. Živa gave me a really weird look from time to time, so I asked what was wrong – she couldn't believe I was that calm, so I told her that it wouldn't be any better if I freaked out, so why do it. The driver was very glad to hear that; he was a really nice guy who tried to help me resolve the situation. In about an hour the car tow and Gregor finally came, so Živa and I could go home and watch Madagascar before falling into bed.

And once again I'm very glad that 2008 is almost over as it brings me more and more rounds of pure delight and I'm afraid I could soon overdose…

The greatest gift

I'm glad to report I walked into my quarter in the best company I could imagine – and I mean literally walked, as I was in the middle of our yard when midnight stroke, and spent the next 20min on a walk with Sambo. And realized I lowered my criteria with the years – I usually wished a good portion of snow for my birthday, the last few years I usually spent this day with a horse between my legs and often I would see a nice scarf or something and reported that to my nervous and frustrated relatives without any ideas. Well, for my birthday this year I got a black ciliate that rushes up and down and gives me a big grin every few metres. I admit, this is enough. But I also got a special bonus.

Sambek started with radiations on Monday – he'll have 12. i couldn't go alone through this, there's too much of everything, but at least here I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. They say you realize who your true friends are when you're in trouble and going through a hard time, and I got so many nice surprises these days I'm speechless. Thanks to everybody that is here for me, thanks for all the cheering for Sambo and me, thanks for all the help, the kind words and the support. It's awfully hard to find yourself in a hard situation that you haven't caused and where a happy ending isn't sure even if you put in all your effort. It's horrible to be standing beneath such a cloud, but when you see that many arms reaching for you it's much easier to step forward and walk until you get to a sunny spot. I believe we'll reach the sun soon, with your help too, and stay there until Sambo turns blonde like me and I tan so that I get black like him. Thanks again, you're the best.

So this year I won't wish all the best for me – I already have that. I have Sambo, Olaf, Gregor and all of you who stand by my side. This year I wish… I wish I get some socks that'll stay dry even after 100m of a doggy walk in wet grass, a good piece of cake and a massage that will cure my neck problem. I know, I'm very demanding, but I can upgrade my standards for the first 25 years of my life.

Thanks to all the ones cheering for us and thanks to Sambo for making my life better. I hope I'll live to experience many more birthdays in the company of your woof-s, toothed grins, paws offered for scratching (not to mention the hairy butt) and amazing energy and ideas.

Greetings to all of you, Urša and Sambo (sleeping at my feet)

Weird reactions

This week I realized that even my optimism and positive energy aren't unlimited. Luckily Sambo doesn't let himself be bothered, his optimism is obviously bulletproof. This weekend I took my agility group to a field trip for the end of the season and Sambo ran back and forth, counting his sheep with the biggest smile in the world. It was nice to see him that happy. Unfortunately his nose started bleeding again, hopefully because of the cold weather and all the running.

Moreover, this afternoon I became an orphan. It's been three weeks since my dad is gone and now my mom has joined him on the other side as well. They're fine I suppose, South America is really beautiful in this time of the year. I never minded being home alone, but since I'm not feeling that good it would be nice to have some company. Sambo is the best cuddling partner, no doubt about it, and Čompo is quite ok to talk to (even though he repeats himself too much).

On Monday came the first snow this year, but I somehow couldn't be as enthusiastic about it as usually. Winter, my time of the year, and snow, my big love, but the good mood didn't want to join me. The week passed by quite quickly, probably because I had something to look forward to on Friday – I had to have my wisdom tooth pulled out, what could be better. Surprisingly and totally unexpectedly this tooth pulling was the highlight of the week and I think it was the first time this week I had a good laugh. Gregor drove me to the centre, he went to find a parking space and I went towards the dentist's office, convincing myself I wasn't afraid and that this time it will be much less stressful than the first time (they had to remove the first wisdom tooth surgically and to do it, they covered my head with a white sheet so that only my mouth was uncovered, and after the procedure they took off a red sheet…). My wonderful dentist was already waiting for me, so we got to business. First injection, ouch. Second injection, double ouch. While we were waiting for the injections to start working, my dentist gave me instructions for the following days, among others which drugs I should take. In less than a minute he was sweating more than I was as I asked him if any of these drugs contain ephedrin as I once had a reaction to it – a flu medication contained ephedrin and after an hour of lying on the couch I though my heart was going a bit fast and my vision was a bit blurred. I took my mom's heart rate measurer from the table and it showed my heart was going a mere 200 beats per minute. Since the dentist wasn't sure what caused this reaction, he got pretty worried as the painkiller he gave me could also contain this substance. After a few minutes it was obvious I was ok, so he and the nurse started operation Wisdom tooth. And finished it too, because the tooth was out in less than a minute. But if you think I was out in a minute too, think again. I was so reliefed that the procedure went that quickly and painlessly that I just wanted to smile and laugh; then the dentist, poor ignorant soul, made the fatal mistake of telling me to bite together, but not too quickly and not too much because he still needs his fingers. He couldn't get nowhere near my mouth for two minutes cause I was laughing so hard the first minute he could only wait for me to stop, and after a minute he and the nurse started laughing as well, so they got incapacitated themselves. After I calmed down a bit I remembered there where two girls in the waiting room and that they probably haven't heard a roar of laughter from a dentist's office yet. So we started laughing again. Before leaving the office I told my dentist that the next time I have a bad week I'll come to get another tooth pulled out, it's definitely cheaper than shopping and I also get a good laugh at it. When I got into the waiting room the two girls where staring at me with such an expression of shock that I, of course, started laughing again. At that moment Gregor came, surprised I was already out, and laughing! We waited there for 15 minutes to make sure everything was ok with me (at least in the dentist sense) and then we went home.

In the afternoon it started snowing again. At first I didn't plan to go for a walk as it is still a good idea to avoid cold after such a procedure, but I changed my mind. Who knows how many snowy walks we'll experience, we have to make the best out of each one. And so we went. Two friends, together in the dark and the silence, which was interrupted only by the screeching of the snow beneath our feet. The streets have a special charm at nightime, even more so if it's snowing. I often call Sambo Waffle, and this night he surely looked like one, a waffle sprinkled with sugar; it's funny to see him, the blackster, sprinkled with snowflakes on the top. And he races around, with his ears folded back on hs shoulder blades and a big smile over his face, so quickly that his feet almost unbuckle… Without him I would never know the charm of night walks in the snow, even with a hole in your gums and a swollen cheek. Thank you for your company, Sambek, you're the best!

The blonde, the niggers, the ghost and the mouse

If you have read the last post you know Gregor went away and left me all by myself. But if you think I was a lone this month, you are way wrong! Yep, visitors just kept coming… But not the kind you would expect. Already when Gregor was still here we noticed something weird was going on in the house. He was working on the cmoputer and I was next to him, watching TV on the couch. And the radio turned off and on, and off and on. After a minute or so Gregor turned around with an annoyed expression and asked if it was really necessary that I play with the radio as well as the TV. I raised my hands and showed I was holding only the TV remote, while the one for the radio was on the couch, lying between us. This kept on for a day or two and then Gregor figured out that the radio turns on and off when you use the button to go down the programmes for the TV (but not if you go by the numbers). That obviously the frequences are mixed up. Ok, a totally legal explanation. But that wasn't all…

We returned to home to a playing radio, so that we accused one another that we forgot to turn it off before leaving home. Of course we couldn't agree on which one of us was the forgetful one – until one morning we heard from the bedroom that the radio in the living room suddenly turned on. And the next day again, at approximately the same time. ok, so maybe the radio has a timer about which we didn't know anything. The problem is that after a week we realized that the radio doesn't turn on every day and also not at the same time. Hm. This probably can't be explained with frequences, right? My friends tried to convince me there was something wrong with the (new) radio. Very well, I could accept that too. But then the day came when I went from the kitchen to the balcony across the living room. When I was halfway there, the TV turned on (the radio was off). Apparently this itself isn't interesting enough, so the TV turned on at one of the high budget, highly intelligent movies with Jean Calude / Dolf / Steven as the main character; this of course means that not only did the TV turn on suddenly and very unexpectedly, but it turned on during a machine gun blast, turning the bad guys into a strainer. I got so scared that I landed on the balcony in one jump and for the rest of the week I crossed the living room with a very sceptical face. Most friends were out of ideas at that point, only one still persevered that the (new) TV was busted as well :). As far as I'm concerned, there's only one explanation – we have a ghost. A ghost that runs the radio off and on, that one time (until now…) turned on the TV as well and that changed the broadcasting station on the radio a few times last week (and I have never done this myself, I only listen to one station). As you can see, even though Gregor isn't here, I'm not alone – if I don't find company myself, company finds me, even if it's a bit on the unmaterial side. Anyhow, Casper is having a blast, but is obviously a bit shy as he never turned the radio on while I was in the living room. Well, after two weeks of spending quality time together he obviously got comfortable enough and turned the radio on even when I was in the living room reading, and he even turned it off a few times.

Last weekend I went home to keep my mom company and before I left I said goodbye to Casper and ordered him to be good, watch over the house and not to turn the radio on since that would be uneconomical, with me being away for the whole weekend. I came home after three days and the house was completely silent. I took off my shoes, greeted Casper, put the coat on the chair and went into the kitchen to make myself some tea. Not even a minute passed by when the radio turned on :). Obviously Casper was really glad I was home again, I'm surprised he didn't bring me my slippers…

So there you have it, these are my adventures with my new friend, Casper. But he isn't the only visitor I had while Gregor was away. A few days after he left I went to the garage to get some chopped wood for the fireplace. I said hello to Olaf in the darkness and then heard a grating sound. It took me a moment to realize Olaf didn't get anything hard to eat so that he could be granting… I moved towards the end of the woodpile and realized the sound was coming from there. I followed the sound and found myself right next to it, but the little intruder didn't let himself be bothered, he kept nibbling at the firewood right until the moment I turned the flashlight directly into the rift between two logs where he was obviously hiding. I wasn't exactly crazy about the idea of my proprietorial rodent getting a roommate as the garage is stacked with nice, aromatic logs, Olaf's food and hay and the little cheeky fellow (probably a field mouse) unintentionally came into rodent Mecca, but I would prefer not to have a rodent colony in the garage. Anyways, the symbiosis lasted for about a week and then the granting stopped. My mom says Olaf got rid of his competition. But I know that it was Casper who helped me with the uninvited guest.

October news

It's been a while since our last report, but as usually that doesn't mean nothing has been going on in Groenenland. On Sunday, 12.10., the last RO trial this year was held; the Waffle and I fought against very good competitors once again. And won! For the second time in a row! This time I was really sure we didn't work that well and that our Croatian colleague, Tanja, deserved to win, but after seeing our video I realized we didn't do that bad at all. I would still deduct more points than the judge did and I still think that Tanja should have won, but I have traumatized about it enough at the trial, now I'm just hapy about our success :). The second big surprise was at home, when I took a look at our working booklet and realized our qualifications this year were disqualification, second place and then two first places. I didn't remember we were that good this year and I was even more happy about it because we were fourth alltogether this year, even though we attended only 4 trials out of 7.

On the 18th Sambo and I went to the last agility trial this season, where we enjoyed the nice weather and good company. A few days after that Gregor left us as he wanted some more vacations (and a break from us, probably), so he went to Morocco for a month. So, Sambo and I moved to Orle to guard the house, where I'm having a crash course in starting a fire and Sambo is making friends with the village dustmen and postman. But Sambo isn't the only one with a new friend… More about it next time.

This weekend we went to the last two shows this year. On Saturday we went to our international show in Vrtojba, where I worked as a ring steward and handled Bina, while Sambo and Ula competed in JH, where they were 5th. On Sunday we went to Zagreb to the Croatian specialty for BSDs. Sambo was entered into champion class, where he got an excellent, then we competed against the male from open class and won, and after that with our friend Essa, won again and so got CAC, club champion and BOB. After the judging of the Malis Sambo competed against the BOB male for the BISS title. The victory of the local dog wasn't a surprise, even though the judge's argumentation for it was very far-fetched to say the least. But this is part of the game and certainly not a reason for bad mood. Another reason to keep our spirits high was an older couple who came to me after the judge's decision and started appologizing for it, saying something like that should never happen, and I came from so far away, and how could the judge do that, how could that dog beat Sambo… They were certainly more disturbed by it that I was and I thank them for their kind support. At the end they did a competition in handling, so the presentation of the dogs was what was evaluated. Sambo and I won, to the great satisfaction of the above mentioned couple, so we got another trophy. I think such a competition is a very nice and useful decision as most exhibitors don't frequent to shows and don't know how to behave in the ring or show their dogs properly. A correct presentation of the dog makes the judge's work much easier and it certainly looks much better than a handler, lost in space, with a wild mustang jumping all over the ring. My compliments to the organizers, I truly hope they will keep up this kind of education in the future.

And so our competitory season has come to an end. We fought in agility and loved it, we fought in Rally Obedience, where we did amazingly well, and we fought in the show ring, where we also kicked some ass, and much younger, may I add. But now Sambo has to fight another fight; he will undoubtedy fight well and I believe he will win this one too. Sambo was diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of November, a nasal tumor to be specific. Apparently it is not the kind of tumor you should aspire to have – they are malign in 90% of the cases and almost impossible to operate; the good news is that we discovered it at an early stage, so I hope and believe that we will be able to cure it. Right now I'm gathering info, making the arrangements for biotherapy and in a couple of weeks we'll decide what to do.

Greetings to all Belgian lovers out there from me and the blackster, who's enjoying muddy walks and cuddling by the fire. And to finish, here's some pics of our 3 day weekend in Bovec from the beginning of October

Take care, Urša and Sambo

Even though I had serious back problems I decided to do some hiking – and so we went, in an absolutely beautiful sunny day, and came into a totally cloudy area where you could barely see the tip of your nose…



One minute of sun!





Sambo and Essa

European chaos

We have put another roadtrip behind us and I am sure you weren't so naive as to think that you will get through without another lengthy travelog. But I'll try to make it shorter this time, promise. Let's get started!

FRIDAY – LAZSLOLAND

Usually our roadtrips begin with 'We took off early in the morning…', but since this time we had to travel merely 460km to Budafest we started our journey at exactly noon. Our expedition consisted of Katja and Neca with Nuba and Firer in one car and Gregor and I with the Black Death in the other; we met with our usual travel buddies Živa, Uroš, Klark and Leia in Budapest itself since they came a few hours behind us. Sambo and Nuba had obviously hear that mud baths are good for the skin, so they decided to take the opportunity to bathe in lake Balaton (means Muddy lake) where we stopped for an hour to stretch our legs and let the dogs have some fun. We arrived at Budapest at 18.30 and had some trouble finding our hostel since the GPS lady failed on us right at the most critical point. After some struggle we managed to finally find it, unpacked our stuff, made ourselves some dinner, took the dogs for a walk to a park nearby and went to sleep. But not for long…

SATURDAY – STANDING, RUNNING AND RAINING

Saturday started even earlier than planned – we have planned to get up at cca. 6.15, get the dogs and ourselves ready and go to the show (which was 7 km from the hostel) at around 7.00. But it didn't quite go that way… To begin with, a mammoth stampede started pounding through the hostel's stairway before 5am, people were slamming doors, all in all, the wake-up call came a lot earlier than planned, but considering the way things developed further on this wasn't that bad at all. We took off a bit before 7am, drove through the first 4 km towards the show without any problems, and then… And then not any more. The traffic stopped, and when I say stopped, I mean STOPPED. It took us more than an hour to do 1 km and after this hour of watching an increasingly longer caravan of dogs and people migrating on the sidewalk, passing our car, we decided to join them as well. And so we did - Neca, Živa and I with Sambo and Nuba walked a bit more than 2 km to the show. In the rain. Heavy rain. When we got to the show grounds we wanted to find the hall for Great Swissies and Bernese Mountain dogs asap, which was rather difficult to accomplish as there was no map of the show grounds and the security guards and doormen only nodded their heads to our questions. After a tormenting rave through the show grounds we finally arrived to the right hall, completely soaked, found the Swissy ring, where Neca and Živa stayed, while Sambo and I went to find the Bernese ring, where Tončka awaited us with an expression of total relief. Due to the traffic hold-up the judging started with a delay, so after two hours of agony I could handle little Bina after all, the Bernese puppy with whom I was training the last few weeks. Sambek guarded the Bernese headquarters and dried himself, while Bina and I went to the ring to compete for a nice placing in the puppy class with three more females. The babe was very cooperative, she ran beautifully and stood really nice, and most of all was all thrilled and happy to be doing something with me again; I was at least as happy because she convinced the judge she was the best and we won! We were all overjoyed, including Gregor, who finally got to us after two hours and a half in the car (for 3 km)!!! The second I was finished with Binny we took Sambo and rushed through the hally to our clubshow. And almost got there with an empty leash. While we were running, a guy was standing in the middle of an isle with an Akita on a long leash and was probably thinking about his winter vacation or something; he sure wasn't thinking about his dog, who, without hesitation and any overture, jumped right at Sambo's neck. Sambo somehow got off his collar and tried getting rid of the dog that was hanging from him, without any success - he only managed to move him 2 m away. Then the guy finally woke up and tried pulling the dog back but apparently the dog didn't think it was already time to let go, so the guy lifted his dog by the collar - and Sambo as well, since he was hanging from the Akita's teeth. When the dogs where in midair, I dropped the leash from my hands and jumped to them, screaming again, and swinged towards the dog; he released the grip for a sec, which I took to push Sambo away. I put Sambo back on the leash, cursed the guy's complete family and ancestors back to Adam and Eve and I think he got the point even though it was in Slovene. I quickly checked Sambo's neck, ran forward and yelled to Gregor behind me if Sambo was limping, but luckily everything was ok. Again, thank God for Sambo's mane, if it wasn't for that I don't think his neck would still be in one piece…

And so we were back on the rain again, running towards the other end of the show grounds where our clubshow was being held under a tent. We came there just in time for me to borrow a towel and wipe poor Sambo, soaked all over and covered in Akita saliva, and relax and calm him down an bit. We were on in 5 min, with Vito de Chemin des Sorcieres keeping us company in champion class. Sambo ran and stood quite ok, but it was obvious he wasn't his usual self (how could he be, considering the circumstances); apparently he wanted to get some revenge for the early wake-up call and stretched the whole way to the show in the car because the only critique the judge had for him was that he was a bit long in body. My French isn't the best, but I managed to overhear part of the description – among other things he has an excellent expression, ear setting, eye shape, topline, a well balanced, connected and elegant movement, and the comment to the ring steward that he is the only dog that let himself be touched without any problem. Which was unfortunately true (the ones I saw) as most dogs started shrinking as the judge approached them and some even snapped towards her… A sad truth with a working breed. Anywho, Sambo did well except for his lengthy body, he got lots of compliments from the judge and R CAC after Vito. Since we were wet and very cold due to the low temps, the rain and the wind we headed back to hall A to the Bernese ring after our judging. There we defroze a bit and after that Binca and I went to our next battle – with the male puppy to go to the BIS. We presented ourselves very well again, ran super and – won once again! We were really ecstatic, happy that the running up and down in the rain payed off. So we went to the BIS as well; we didn't get far, but we were still happy with the result and with showing off a bit in the BIS of a Eurodogshow. The day ended with a lovely walk in the park where we relaxed, got some fresh air and gathered our stregth for our Eurodogshow.

SUNDAY – ANOTHER VICTORY, PASSING THE SCEPTRE

Sunday was Sambo's day again, he was in a much better mood as the previous day (I would be too, dry and without an Akita hanging from my neck). This time the judge was Norman Deschuymere from Belgium. Sambo was in champion class again and his competition was Vito and Bergerac Fax - Chester, another old acquaintance. The atmosphere was much better, surely also due to the conditions, which were really awful the previous day to be honest. This time we were indoors, nice and dry, and we had more space around the ring to camp and follow the judging. Sambo was, to put it plainly, in a samboid mood – lively, playful and frisky, as usually he entertained the audience by doing tricks while waiting for his turn, and when his turn came he stood very well and ran like a train. The judge touched him from nose to tail, motioned us to run again and then pointed to the new winners – us! The happiness was indescribable, and so was the surprise – for me Sambo is the best anyway, success or no success, and I am also very well aware of what I have (probably nobody could find as many faults on him as I do), but still, winning champion class on a European dogshow under a specialist is a tremendous success, and if we take into consideration that the winning dog has nine years, the success is probably nothing less than amazing. But then again – Sambo IS amazing :) . Obviously not only for me as he had quite some fans there, among others our Italian Tervueren friends and a gentleman that applauded enthusiastically every time we ran (which I noticed only when running the third round as I tend to be totally unaware of what is happening around me while working with Sambo (even if I see only when looking at the video that I nearly knocked Gregor over while running), may it be on Rally Obedience, on the agility course or in the show ring). Sir, I have no idea who you are, but thank you for your support and I hope we meet again.

After winning our class we competed for the CACIB – European winner – title with the winner from open class. The judge examined Sambo thoroughly once more but decided for the other dog this time, so Sambo passed the sceptre and the new European champion became Apache de la Douche Plaine. Sambo ran for the last time with the second dog from open class, won and thus got the R CACIB and the unofficial title of ViceEuropean champion. I think we can be very proud of ourselves, Sambo showed (not only in my opinion) the best movement once again and I could see once more that even though we go to very few shows, even though Sambo doesn't come from a widely recognized kennel and even though he is a year or two or more :) older than most other dogs, we can successfully compete even on the most important shows.

And what is the most important thing after all the kilometres we drove, the rounds we ran and the (un)successes we achieved? That he is mine and I am his, that we have fun together and enjoy ourselves big time, what else! That I come home to a turbo tail, the biggest toothed smile on the world and a snout that shoves in between my legs and parks there, waiting for a portion of scratching. So I say – to many more fun and exciting moments and enjoying this life together!

Sambo after his win





CACIB male, Apache de la Douche Plaine



CACIB female and BOB, Paris de la Terre Sauvage



ps: if the title isn't obvious enough from my essay – the show was an organizational catastrophe; apparently the organization committee thought it was completely acceptable that at an event of European/World proportions the staff on the most critical points (food stands, entrance, stands with dog articles) speaks nothing but Hungarian. I'm well aware that a 60-year-old woman selling pretzels doesn't have a Cambridge certificate in English, but I think it is unacceptable that panic spread on 70% of the stands I visited when I spoke to them in English. Furthermore, they could have predicted traffic problems and did something to avoid them; I can, however, commend on the carpets in the rings as they were very good to run on and the size of the rings was great as well – on the European show, I would rather not comment on the clubshow (I admit, the weather didn't help the organizer)… All in all, we had a good time, as we always do, although the organizers could have done a better job. But what can we do, that's part of the game and we love to play! Plans for Bratislava 2009 are already in progress :).

September's ending...

The European show is approaching and we're enjoying the first autumn days with some shorter trips (sadly I still don't have as much time as I would want to have), clicking, belly-scratching and agility trainings. His body isn't as agile and fast as it was two years ago, I admit it - but Sambo doesn't, and his legs barely manage to keep up with him most of the time when he flies around with his one-of-a-kind smile. Usually he moves his legs so fast that it seems he has 15 legs instead of 4. but that's Sambo, the Belgian neurosis.

JH victory on the Trbovlje show



Sambo and his levade





Posing with a friend



Sambo's face says: Can anybody please turn him off? All this dog does is bark…



Sunny greetings from us



This is it from me today, I have to get to bed and gather some strength for tomorrow's and Thursday's adventures and on Friday our caravan departs for Budapest. As usual we're mostly looking forward to a nice roadtrip, to meet some old friends and make some new ones, and if we get a nice description and/or result, even better.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, type you soon!

Hyper times

Summer is slowly coming to an end and it's time I report to you about what has been going on here. As you can imagine, the answer is – plenty, which is why I didn't have time to update you regularly. First things first…

A week after Sambo's burthday we attended to the unofficial agility trial in KD Barje. We like to do some swinging on such trials, that is change our original partners, and was wanted by three babes (not bad for a sixty-year-old guy, huh?). Since the weather report was quite nasty only one of them came after all, so Tina was the one who had the honour of doing some agility with the Black Death. Since this was the first trial after the summer break I gave up my running with Sambo since I didn't know in what condition were his joints and I didn't want to overdo it; you have to be a bit careful with a nine-year-old dog who had borreliosis, especially since he's not looking after himself at all. But since it's not proper to be on an agility trial without doing some agility, I borrowed Vista for my share. The four of us did great, but unfortunately Tina and Sambo experienced some technical problems (erm, Sambo's digestion problems); however, they did a great job with the second run. Vista and I did great too, so great even that we were second and if I'm not mistake, we were even the best un-original pair in open class.

A weekend after that passed by in – yeah, you know it, doggie style. Two national shows in two days were held in Trbovlje and my two boys went there with me on Saturday. Turns out that Sambo's so good that he doesn't even have to be entered to a show to get a prize ;). A young handler borrowed him for the junior handling competition and they were second! Congrats, Ula and Sambo! September's first weekend was, shockingly, doggie stylish as well. On Saturday we had a good time at an agility trial, which was as usual more fun than successful, and on Sunday we fought for fame and honour on a RO trial in KD Barje – and won! Both figuratively and literally. The competition was the biggest so far and among the 10 pairs in RO II we impressed the judge enough to get 162/170 points and win! A nice bonus to the event is that third place went to Ike, a Boxer that is even a few months older than the Black Death. Well done, fellas!

On Saturday, the 13th, I gave up Hrušica's agility trial with a heavy heart as I had an enormous ammount of work to do translating and studying and an exam on Monday, moreover the weather wasn't the most hospitable. Since my choices were either to risk a collapse of the immune system because of the weather, the superabundance of work and the lack of sleep or to stay at home, nice and warm, and to read 300 pages of a book for Monday's exam, I chose the latter. After a whole day of studying I had to have some fun, about which you can read next time... Meanwhile, Sunday started very early when Živa and I headed to Varpolje to the shar-pei club show, where we spent the day freezing at a barely plus temperature and on the rain. Nevertheless, we spent such a nice day with our wrinkly friends and, most of all, the judge, Mr. Law, that we decided to accept the invitation and join them for dinner too. We came home at 23.00, but my immune system and brains apparently didn't suffer as much damage as I thought they would, I passed the exam with a 9 .

And so we came to the last weekend, which was – unbelievably – canine as well. There were two international shows in Maribor, where I worked again (and spent the day freezing too, again). Gregor and Sambek went there with me on Saturday and finally we managed to do a fotoshooting of Sambo and Yar, who is developing into a very handsome boy. This doesn't go unnoticed by the judges – after getting second place in FCI I group in Trbovlje's show he got third place this time. Way to go, Olga and Yar!

As you can see we know no boredom, and currently we're especially looking forward for some things, planned for the near future – a week from today we're heading to Budapest to the European dogshow and the Hungarian club show and the next two weekends we have the last RO and the last agility trial this season. And how is Sambo spending the last days of his (first ;) ) reign as Europe's prettiest whiskers? With a smile on his face, what else! He's enjoying himself on agi trainings, learning new clicked tricks, showing how to behave to a Bernese gang and soon we're planning to start with a new series of '10 legged trips'. No boredom in sight!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today is my best friend's birthday. Yep, it's 9 years already since he roared into this world and I hope and believe that his roaring will stay with me for many years to come.

Years go by but both of us still behave like a couple of kids. Sambo is - well, Sambo, and I (at least this time) blame it on the fact that tonight I haven't slept a minute - long live insomnia. I wrote a short poem for Sambo (the rhymes just kept coming to my mind while I was tossing and turning in bed), but it's in Slovene and I'll spare you guys the translation. :)

Either way - dear Sambo, I wish you all the best in life, may your legs carry you around in your standard working-pace trot for many years, may your throat serve you well and keep producing the most amazing sounds in the world and may a thousand and one silly ideas come to your mind so you keep keeping me busy. Stay the way you are as for me you're the best there is - a friendly, neurotic, goofy boy with sparks in his eyes and a smile on his face that never fades. Love you!



ps: I'll use the insomnia excuse this time too... Happy birthday to Živa as well, a great friend that makes you think that it's really a dog's life ;). I wish you and the Black Death celebrate many, many birthdays togetherin the future. To roadtrips! Happy birthday!

July report

There is no rest for us in Groenenland, so I can't manage to update you about our happenings and mishappenings as regularly as I'd like to, there's just too many things going on. At least I've managed to update the English version of the blog, which is quite a success considering my essays. And before I start with a new one, let me tell you in brief (even I don't believe it) about our activities in July.

The last weekend in June we were supposed to go to the agility trial in Domžale, but we came only as spectators as Sambek apparently had some muscle soreness from all the activities that week. He didn't limp or anything, but I didn't want to expose him (even more), so we only cheered for our doggie friends. A week after that we were back in shape, so on Saturday we went to the agility trial in Ljubljana, whereas on Sunday we visited the summer festival in Rovte, a small village near Ljubljana, where we had a presentation of obedience, agility, frisbee and informed people about a responsible ownership of dogs. At the same time the world dogshow in Stockholm was held which our Swiss friends and roadtrip companions attended. Our cheering from home seems to have helped as both Klark and Leia were second in their class and also achieved some other very nice results on other shows they visited during this massive radtrip. Meanwhile, we stayed at home, wishing ans sighing….

I suppose nobody believed that one. We took walks, clicked, ran and had our fun, and on Saturday we went to Portorož to our only night-time agility trial. We had a great time and did a very nice job too, especially in the second run. The first run was very nice, except for the last but one obstacle. Fact is this combination was quite hard for speedy dogs as the temptation of the tunnel next to the distance jump was too big for many dogs, which went directly from the dogwalk into the tunnel and disqualified themselves. Many dogs, but not Sambo. Something like that would be much too normal for him, such a banal disqualification would be much beneath him. No, to catapult yourself directly from the (jumped over) contact into the tunnel, positioned 2m to the right of the end of the distance jump would be just too simple. Sambo really put an effort into it and jumped over the distance jump, made a sharp turn to the right and after a professional looping popped just about 5cm of his snout into the tunnel, only a little bit of it. So actually we were just a little bit disqualified. The second run was even nicer and this time flawless, so we really deserved the applause at the end. With this the first part of the season was concluded and it was time to do some summer relaxation.

Which in practice means that there are no trials or trainings, but we find another way to keep ourselves busy. Sambo apparently had a patriotic inspiration and took advantage of the reparation works of our club's obstacles and put on his national colours. He diligently glazed himself with yellow on his flank and ear and put some red onto his hind foot. Thus he transformed himself into his own flag and since there isn't any show in the near future he remains that way to this day. Gregor tried to clean him up a bit but he wasn't entirely successful…

The end of the month was more mine than Sambo's I admit, cause I started working (isn't exactly what I planned, but there aren't many jobs for 2-3 times per week and one has to earn money for dog kibble) and got also some translations, which of course require quite some time. that of course doesn't mean that Sambo was at home, dust accumulating on top of him. As always we went on walks and runs and also had did some hiking – we visited a beautiful waterfall near Kranj with our agility friend Katja and her two doggie friends and went to Kurešček with two buddies from the doggie forum. All in all, we weren't bored and I assume this won't change in August either… Until next time!

Expedition to the waterfall - Sambo, Tai and May

Blisters, screes, sun and nettles

This week was really Belgian. On Sunday I roamed around Vrhnika for almost 4 hours with my friends from highschool (and of course with my most loyal companion) and Sambo got to try out his new equipment – a backpack with a harness that will be useful especially for our two- or three-day hike in the mountains that we're planning for the end of the summer / beginning of fall. On Monday my poor Belgian soul had only two regular walks, which I tried to correct on Tuesday, when we went running for an hour in the usual good company.

Wednesday was meant for hiking. Despite of my scepticism due to the hot weather the last few days and the chosen destination our guide decided to conquer Bivak II once more, a mostly rocky and quite big mass above Mojstrana. Soon I realized that my mountaineering boots weren't that perfect for my foot (it may be partly because they're inherited from Gregor, but I doubt it since he wears only two sizes bigger than I do…). Anyhow, after an hour or so the boot started to rub the area above my heel which I unsuccessfully tried to ignore up until the moment when my mind got occupied by the awareness that we're rising above the trees and that we'll be trapped between the rocks and the sun for the next three hours. I admit, the third ascent to this destination can easily be matched with the first one regarding the difficulty, when they took me onto this negligible 2200 m in the phase of recovery from a severe bronchitis I had… up through the scree! One would think that after such an experience a person, a normal Homo sapiens, could only be fooled once. Since this is the third time I went to this peak I wonder where would Darwin place me in the branches of the tre of evolution. It's probably better that I don't know it.

Even though the temperature of the air fell in reverse proportion to he height we were gaining, the ascent was still very hard in such a sunny and sultry weather and I have to say that this is probably the only time in my life I really sweated like a race horse. The other members of the expedition were in similar condition too; the two human members were marinading in their own juice, like me, and the dogs were grateful for every tiny twig that cast a little piece of shadow. An hour before the top they gladly took the opportunity to cool off in the cold shadow of a rocky cave and we crawled and hopped to a bench over a big area of nettles to take a short brake before the last effort. But you have to admit that Bivak II always redeems itself for the torture of hikers with truly beautiful views and the descent offers a true adrenalin-filled experience with a nicely relaxed finish – half an hour of sliding down the scree, some walking on a rocky surface and then a stroll through the forest to the car on a gently sloping path.







Thursday wasn't that exceptional, so we only had our regular walk and agility training, and today we headed to the mountains again, but this time in a more easy version. We went to Komna, but since we had a limited amount of time we really only went there, but didn't get there. This time we tried out the boots too; they were bought to protect Sambo's feet on our summer vacation on the seaside – last year he got some very nasty cuts when running through the rocks. The weather was very pleasant, sunny and not too hot, and if you're in the woods and near water it's always quite magical anyway… To as many such outings as this one!





My boys



Sambo thought it would be fun to get in between my legs, as he often does at home… while walking downhill… with saddlebags on him…



At the end it feels good to refresh oneself

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (or at least as far as we make it...)

The Black Death loves many things, travelling being one of them. Since he's a smart boy, he figured out that there's only a slim chance of getting a nice roadtrip during the exam period, and the poor fella's allowance is too small for him to afford a car. So, as it becomes of a youth of his age and the time of the year, he decided to become a backpacker :). His first adventure is of a more local sort, he conquered one of the hills nearby the city where we live, but he has an all-european tour in mind, considering his hitchhiking is successful enough, of course. So if you happen to run along the guy pictured here, please be generous and take him on board so he won't be deprived of his summer adventures because of my exams...




He added me himself using photoshop in this pic, so I wouldn't feel too left out. Looking at it I almost feel like if I was there for real...

And our brain finally caught up with us...

As I've told you in the previous post there was a double show in Hrušica for the first time this year. On Saturday my two favourite boy took me and Živa to the show and took me for short a walk with them near the show area. I was working as a ring steward with the first FCI group both days and I have to say that quite a few very nice and interesting dogs came to the Serbian judge Sunčica Lazić the first day. After work we stopped for a walk with Ivana and her numerous pack on the way to the hotel and Sambo and I took the opportunity to pose together after a long while; the fact that I was wearing some decent clothes was worth the session anyway…



Gravity doesn't really work on Belgians...



A big smile during the walk :)



On Sunday I worked with the shepherds again, this time the judge was Kenneth Edh from Sweden. Towards the end the rain tried to give us some trouble, but we still came to the end successfully as the last ring working (it was a tie with Živa's ring). So we came to the end of another successful weekend but had no time to rest because new obligations came with the new week – studying, arranging the house, agility trainings and more.

On Friday I finally managed to get some sleep and gather my stenght for the busy weekend that was ahead of me. On Saturday I had to get up early and go to the agility traning (Thursday's training was cancelled because of the rain, so we had a substitute trainig). After agility training we rushed home to help with the preparations for my dad's birthday picnic. Of course the preparations weren't the only tiresome thing, the picnic itself was quite tiresome too – so I escaped from it, to another picnic, this one in Gregor's honour. And yes, my pants still fit :).

Sunday came with another opportunity for new RO successes and Sambo and I joined the battle full of optimism. The trial was a very pleasant one despite of the raindrops here and there. There were 6 competitors in RO II and Sambo and I were the last to perform. We did very well, the only evident mistakes were a crooked Sit in one task and a less than perfect side step in another. I was pleased with our performance as we did much better than in Ljubljana, but I know we can do even better. Well, the judge was obviously less critical than me, he gave us 164 out of 170 points, which meant we were second! Here's our performance in RO II.

Since there was only one competitor in the RO III category I volunteered to double – you have to work in pairs in categories III and IV. i wanted to take the opportunity to train because I never practice with signs and I never do whole courses, I only train individual tasks as tricks. Furthermore, we'll probably compete in this category on the next trial as we have all the necessary requirements to advance into a higher level. I predicted our performance in III to be better than in II and so it was. Despite three not exactly shiny moments – the first one was my fault, I got lost in the course, again!, I have big problems with orientation between the signs (I would probably do better if I ran through the course, like in agility), especially if there's a 270 degrees turn in the course, so ¾ of a circle. I usually forget to stop, make a full circle and after two steps I realize that the next sign isn't ahead of me. That was the case here too. The second moment was fate or better said bad luck, I actually started training the table on our club's training field since I had problems with this obstacle, but this trainings don't help me at all in trials because our table is considerably larger than the one prescribed for RO and Sambo apparently doesn't perceive this as a table at all. It seems that we'll have to make a smaller table in order to train it effectively. The third moment was contributed by Sambo only, while performing one of the tasks he remembered he's a reincarnation of a Friesian and got in between my legs. Pure Sambo! I though that the least appropriate moment for such a move was when I'm walking down the stairs, now I see I can fear such an episode on RO trials too… Nevertheless, I'm very content with his performance – here's our RO III.

Enough for today. The weekend tempo hasn't calmed down yet, this Saturday I'm working on CACIB Portorož and we have agility trials the next four consecutive weekends. I hope they'll be more successful than the last ones, I'm certainly optimistic about it (as always) – apparently our brain finally caught up with us, at least in rally, so we're not only pretty anymore ;).

Greetings from the second place, type you next time!

Action!

Last time I forgot to add a shortened clip of the show in Kočevje, where you can see Sambo's tail set almost on perpetuum mobile mode. Due to the lenght of the clip I cut out the parts where Sambo is stamping his feet like a ram before the attack and deprived you of some good fun (the lesson of the sotry being that it is not wise to click a dog with some footwork tricks a week before a show because he can perform a Footlose scene, like Sambo did; the only thing missing was a good soundtrack…).

As you can see I forgot to pack things three days in advance on Friday so I showed Sambo in very sporty clothes for a change (euphemism for 'the same rags I wore all 4 days with only one shower along the way'; now you know why the shower before going to bed on Thursday was such a good investment…), but thinking it through it's better to show in raggy pants than to run agility in summer linen pants and flip-flops…

On Saturday we went to the agility trial in Žalec where the last requirement for the advance to the highest level escaped from us in a most imbecile way – when we make all 6 contacts, when no bars fall off we get a refusal in a really stupid place and 5 points for it. Ok, the run wasn't perfect – towards the end I sent Sambo to a jump, yelled at him because I thought I got the jump wrong and then tried to start him up again, which is quite difficult with a dog that doesn't know (or doesn't admit to know, I'm not sure) the command Forward, especially if your course ends with three jumps in a straight line and uphill (you can't see it in the clip, but the field is quite inclined and the finish was uphill, of course). It's interesting that I actually find the run quite good, even though we managed to make a refusal, even though I almost killed myself a few obstacles after that (when we had to make a 180 degree turn while running downhill) and even though we really looked like Dumb & Dumber on the finish line – first I got wrong that I got the obstacles wrong and then Sambo turned towards me after every jump and roared at me to say 'where the hell are you, speed up!'. Oh well, we do make sure that the audience is entertained. Judge for yourselves, here's our first run.

We had one refusal in jumping too – Sambo thought I didn't show the entrance to the tunnel clearly enough, so he did one spin, but otherwise we did a good job and ended up sixth.

Yesterday we went to our first RO trial this year. The working atmosphere wasn't the best and Sambo followed the mainstream; on the start he yelled as if he were on agility, but as soon as we started with our performance his enthusiasm vanished. He had a very bad concentration and to be honest, we didn't do well; the judge's opinion was that we didn't do three of the tasks so we were disqualified (as many other competitors, even from more banal reasons). Oh well, our rally career sp far was too good to be true anyway, we made three requirements in three trials, so we'll try to prepare better for next time.

The season is in its peek and we have quite some things ahead of us – this weekend there's a double show in Hrušica where I work both days (on Saturday the Black Death and Gregor will be accompanying me), next weekend we have a RO trial in Domžale and the weekend after that there's CACIB Portorož, where I'll probably be working one day and on Sunday I'll probably go to RO in Žalec. Still plenty of action to come!

FMBB 2008

Belgians of all shapes and sizes flooded Slovenija during the second week of May. The World championship for Belgian Shepherds was held in Kočevje from the 9th to the 11th of May with competitions in IPO, mondioring, agility and a show. So Sambo and I migrated to Kočevje from Thursday, when we had agility trainings, to Sunday afternoon when the closing ceremony was held. The Slovene agility team was composed by Vista the Groen, Pia the Mali, Vinny the Mali, Dancer the Terv and the longhaired Batman and Robin, Sambo and his friend Pan. All six of us ran in the individual competition, whereas only Vista, Pia, Sambo and Pan ran also in the team competition.

Thursday beagn early, as same as the days to come. We came to Kočevje in the morning crush and some of the more diligent members were already preparing the obstacles. We set the course and the trainings began. First it was our turn to train, the Croatian team followed, and then the rest of the teams in alphabetical order. I have to say that after a whole day of watching the trainings of almost twenty teams I can now send a dog to the tunnel, to the weave poles, and yes, to hell too :) in a variety of languages. It was a long day and when I came home in the evening the only thing I could do is shower and sleep. A very good investment…

I greeted Friday's morning much too early for my taste; Gregor and I packed our things and Sambek into the pick-up and drove off to Kočevje. This day the real action began – we had to perform three runs, first two individual and then one team run. Surprisingly, or maybe not, I was considerably less nervous during the whole event than on our regular competitions (and you couldn't say I'm a nervous wreck there either), I actually wasn't nervous at all. The judges were Zlatko Gorjan and Mirja Lapanja and I can honestly say that I liked all of the courses, they were medium demanding and very fluent, so it was a real pleasure to run them. Our first run was also the first Slovene run, we were number 14 (out of cca 130 competitors) and thus were the first Slovenes to engage in the bloody fight for fame and honour (I'm only kidding, of course). Zlatko set a nice and interesting jumping which we ran very very well – except for the disqualification mistake, of course. One would think that at his age Sambo could already tell the difference between Left and Right and turn in accordance to it and I, well, I could be a bit less of a moron and not stick with my decision but moved the dog right if he really didn't agree with me. You can see the result on the clip. Around one in the afternoon we had our first agility run, where Sambo obviously couldn't decide wether to jump over the contact as usually, use a geriatric excuse to knock off a bar or surprise me with something completely new, a refusal for example. So he decided for all three options, what else. But since the jumped over contact was the first on the seesaw instead of the second on the dogwalk (which was done nicely) and since he's actually already a year or two over puberty and I contributed myself to the refusal with a less than perfect handling, I forgive him. On Friday we also had the team agility run, which we did very well. So well even that Sambek was the best dog from the Slovene team – Pia and Pan unfortunately got disqualified, Vista got 10 penalty points and Sambo with his standard jumped over second dogwalk contact 5 points. By doing that he ruined my optimistical plan that I designed during the walking of the course, so I didn't have time to do a turn at the end of the dogwalk and lead him past the obstacle nicely into the tunnel. On account of his own iniciative and perspective on doing the contacts on the dogwalk I had to change that plan slightly and improvise on the course to get him over the obstacle and into the right hole in the tunnel. Luckily I'm a good improviser in general, so here's our team agility.

Friday's night was more interesting because we decided to skip the migration from Kočevje to Ljubljana and back and camp on the scene itself. Despite the powerful sun and the high daily temperatures the night came with a surprising cold. But we survived that too and even though we camped on the scene where the event was held (20m from the agility course) we didn't sleep any longer than we would if we'd be sleeping in Ljubljana. Maybe the serenades of a pack of Pintzers in the car next to us had to do something with it, I have the feeling that the frisbee morning workout of some dogs by our tent at 7 am could also have contributed to that, not sure though. Anywho, this day started early too. Saturday was even more variegated than Friday as we had also the show ahead of us. So in the morning I took Sambo for a walk and then ran to the place where the show was supposed to be held. There was nobody and nothing there. I returned to our camp with the intention to eat breakfast and then go and check again. I wasn't that successful with that plan because they recruted me to help the Spanish agility team with some problems with the organizers. Then I found out that there was something actually going on at the show, the same time they were setting the last obstacles for the first Saturday run, so I knew it was going to be quite intense and I wouldn't have much time for everything.

From that point on the next hour and a half was really full of adrenaline; while I was taking my usual two minutes for Sambo's coat Gregor went to enter us to the show. The three of us ran to the show scene where we came just in time to cheer for our friends from Maribor, Olga and her Yar, and then it was our turn already. The judge was Myrjam Vermeire from Belgium and Sambo, being the only mature male (in champion class), got a nice description, an excellent, CAC and BOS (Best of Sex). The BOB went to a Russian female bred in Finland, Je M'Appele Ilona. There were 5 Groenendaels altogether. After our show I rushed to walk the agility course, ran through the obstacles three times and ran back to the show ring where I showed Navajo, a Terv from our Italian-Dutch friend Sandra. We got exc. 1 and CAC, after which I hurried back to the agility course. Gregor had already taken care of Sambo's warm up, so we just exchanged leashes and Sambo and I were already on the course. When we were done I took two minutes to cool both of us down and then – yes, you know it!, I returned to the show, where Navajo and I got also CACIB, BOB and BIS 3

But let's get back to agility – Saturday's jumping was far from being perfect, we did a really nice job (and fast too), but unfortunately a bar fell three jumps before the finish. But we still got (and deserved) a big aplause from the audience for a really nice run ;). The agility at noon was nice, but not as good as morning's jumping. We could have had a better time and besides the standard jumped over contact on the dogwalk Sambo managed to somehow miss the entrance to the weaves, which isn't exactly typical for his repertoire. But then again it would be too dull if he woud get on my nerves only with the dogwalk, right? So here's our Saturday agility. in the afternoon we had the Team jumping, perhaps our best run. Unfortunately we did this one with points too, I probably didn't show clearly enough the entrance to the tunnel so he ended up in between the two holes, but otherwise it was a very fluent, quite fast run, all in all, a run we can be proud of.

I think we did well in the 6 runs in 2 days so I'm more than pleased with our performances. All four pairs in the team did very well, especially Vista and Pan who fought for our honour also in the Sunday's finals and came in 12th and 19th. Slovenija did even better in the IPO competition, where a Slovene competitor and her Mali bitch even won. Go, Slovenija, go!

As far as the agility is concerned I can say that all expectations were fulfilled, however, the show fell short of my (and I think that also other's) expectations at least looking at the organization. Regardless, we had a good time at the show too, met a few old friends, made some new ones and at large, Kočevje will remain in my nicest memories for the wonderful atmosphere at the event, an atmosphere only becoming of a Belgian event. If everything goes well, we will be able to enjoy a great Belgian atmosphere next year in the Czech Republic too, hopefully competing in the agility and show again…

Until the next time

Urša

This year's show season for Sambo began in May. I knew that after half a year I would have a big case of delirium tremens due to the show abstinence (our last show was Belgium in November), so I decided (around new year) to enter Sambo to the international show in Klagenfurt in May. Why not sooner? Because I worked on every single show this year, earning money for dog kibble, and there were no shows nearby with judges that would convince me (in order to meet my criteria the judge would have to have at least one live encounter with a BSD in his/her life). So when I saw that there was a show in Klagenfurt this year for the first time my alarm bell started to ring and when I saw that the judge was Štefan Šinko I definitely decided to go. Klagenfurt isn't far from Ljubljana, Šinko is a good judge and we'll probably have some competition too…

So on Sunday, May fourth, the standard team Živa & Uroš & Klark & Leia (ok, she's not a traditional member yet, but she will be) and Urša & Gregor & Sambo packed ourselves into the car and drove off, heading in search for new adventures. The showing ground was nice and quite big, we could smell the stands with reserve animal parts (Sambo's favourite being piggy noses and cow tongues) from a distance and the rings were medium big and with a very good carpet to run on – yep, we were definitely in Austria. I saw that it would soon be our turn so I dedicated the usual 1,7 minutes for Sambo's hairstyle. After the makeover we saw that we had still some minutes left, so Sambo and I went outside the hall and made good use of the green area outside. Nobody was outside, so I let him run off leash, we played and clicked for two minutes and thus returned to the hall with our spirits high. We entered the ring and Sambo was, as usually, floating in air, hopping around me and giving big smiles to anyone that would look at him. We were alone in the Champion class, presented ourselves well and got the CAC title. In a few minutes we returned to fight for the CACIB with the nice Austrian groen I met in April in the show in Celje, won the fight fair and square and got also the BOB. We happily returned to our camp and went to see what's going on with the Swissies. The answer was – nothing. And it satyed like that for a while. So we went to have a look around with Chuna the Kelpie and her human escort and came back just in time to cheer for Slovene Swissies Nuba and Klark that won both CACIBs and the BOB in an exclusively Austrian competition too.

We rewarded ourselves by setting out on a hunt for muzzles, tongues and… well, other animal parts and then let the dogs play in the almost empty hall whle waiting for the BIS. The judge for the shepherd group in the BIS was the Austrian judge Erwin Deutscher. The Black Death apparently charmed him too since Mr. Deutscher placed him among the best 9 dogs from the first FCI group, but this is as far as we got this time. Still, we had a wonderful time, made friends with the handler of the Czech wolfdog in the ring and entertained the audience with a few tricks while waiting (cause Sambo figured that he had to do something else other than simply stand for that last piece of treat I had left, so he tried with giving a bow, making a totem, and…). All in all, we left Austria in a very good mood and with nice memories of the show, and, of course, with a car that smelled like a pet cemetery. A big sack containing 100 piggy ears sat onto my head in every left turn, and on right turns this pleasure belonged to Gregor. Oh well, at least we weren't hungry :).

Neca and Nuba



Uroš and Klark







Running...

Evolution

A quick course or Evolution in a day. At the beginning there was

Homo sapiens. Today I watched the clips of Skinner and his pigeons for an inspiration before the agility training and an easier dealing with the eventual clumsiness of the students with the rewarding and marking the (good and bad) behaviours of their dogs. Skinner was a wise man.

Homo erectus. What can I do, even years of experience don't guarantee a correct functioning. Today I forgot that despite of my not exactly magnificent hight my head still reaches higher than the frame of the kennel door. I think that the stroke hurt even the neighbour that was crossing his backyard and waving hello...

Homo habilis. Ok, I can't hold it against them, after all - they're beginners, but I'd still like to know if there's a person that in the first few months of his or her agility training gets the direction of the turns right in at least 25% of the cases. I also admit them the aggravating circumstance that besides all the standard components (where's the dog, where are they, where's the obstacle, where are they heading) they also have to think about where's the mud patch where half of their classmates lost their fight with the laws of rotation and gravity and met the ground and the half that's left will face that soon. Anyhow, I have to admit that it's fun watching :), and I also know that they'll get better, we all know that practice makes perfect.

Homo moronis. I think that it happens with most people that their physical, cognitive and morally-social skills decrease towards the end of the day. But I still didn't expect such a decline from early in the morning to the evening. We went for a walk, 2 girls + 2 off leash dogs. We finished our round, chatted and ran around and for the end we got a special treat. Since I'm always on the lookout I sensed that there were two bikers approaching from behind. Both dogs were on the grass and the two of us were on the margin of the path, but we still called the dogs so that they wouldn't think of crossing the path right in the wrong moment. Subject A passes by, but subject B yells at us 'Two off leash dogs, and without a muzzle on them!' I answered, with a smile, that he doesn't have one either (and added in my mind that he could obviously use one more). Subject B, who was already past us, turned back, roared that he's also a hunter and that he could come and shoot both the dogs and the two of us (the fact that he almost ran over some of the passers-by since he was still driving forward while looking back at our 'threat to the surroundings' dogs is unimportant). He could, he could indeed. Just like I could remove his testicles in many inovative ways, but that doesn't mean it's legal (yeah, I know, I was disappointed too when I found out…).

Anyways, I sometimes think that the more progress we make with technological advances, the more we recede in evolution. But I didn't think that I would experience such a reverse proportion in a single day. And I'm not going to bed earlier than in a few hours, who knows how will this day end… I only hope that tomorrow I wake up with all my fingers and two opposable thumbs. Since I'm an optimist – type you later!

Twosome's good, threesome's the best!

Yesterday we finally managed to get a friend for our joint running adventures. The last few weeks the weather has been truly awful (my hip didn't contribute to my well-being either), so I could go running only once a week and my will to run fell in accordance to the decrease of the frequency. So when Sambek saw me getting dressed into my running gear his smile went not only from ear to ear but all around his head and he couldn't believe that we're really going running, and in a threesome way! Maybe he was a bit bewildered because once for a change the running adventure we were setting on wasn't of the vampire kind; you have to know that we usually go running late in the evening when it's (almost) dark outside and yesterday we went out in broad daylight. Having said that, there were many more people running and walking than we're used to. I even had a leash with me, just in case, but I used it only once, on the encounter with two girls with three dogs. We were approaching each other and when they saw us one of the girls started reaching out hastily to grab one of the dogs. I threw Sambo a lasso around his neck and passed by when one of the other two dogs placed himself in the middle of the path, his tail wagging. At that moment I remembered having met this group a few times before, so I let Sambo go and the scenario went like usually – he wagged his tail, the bitchy little bitch snapped at him a bit and we went our separate ways.

For a change we also met some dogs that were on leash even before we met. My best dog in the whole world dedicated a raised tail and a 3 metre bypass to a Bullmastiff; to the rest of the dogs, that had a less perilous look, he didn't dedicate neither a glance nor a single raised hair, he simply sailed by them with an unchanged tempo as if they didn't exist. It's nice to have a good dog :).

Singing in the rain

I have to say that this year April's weather was reaččy April-like after a long time. The last 2, 3 years we rarely had to cancel our training because of the rain (but we had to do so in June, July, September…), but this year April was true to itself and served us a great ammount of it already.

I had to cancel two trainings so far – and I rather don't even count how many mud-baths and prolonged braking distances we had on our soaked training place. At least I make good use of the bad weather and teach Sambo stuff and do some studying myself. One exam down, erm, well, 'n' to go (but it still feels good), and Sambo is mastering two new tricks.

During the week we go for walks, herd our friend Klark, click and the weekends are doggie style, what else. Gregor and I seized the opportunity and went to an exotic animal expo one weekend in April, where we made friends with a 3 m long python. One weekend we went for a short hike to the mountains and last weekend was really doggie style as there was an international show in Celje. There I worked as a ring steward the first day and showed my friend's Dobermann the second day. And again after a bunch of dogs I petted I returned to the most beautiful of all :).

The Black Death is feeling like a million bucks, the ants are flying off his pants and once again he's spending more time in the air than on the ground as he spends most of his waking hours skipping around like spring bucks, the gazelles that show off in front of the lions with spectacular jumps. Most of the time the thing is quite amusing, but the other day I didn't feel like smiling at all for a moment cause the little monster dedicated me a biiiiiiig smile 'up, close and personal' – he ran past me and thought it was a good idea if he made me a nice display of his smile right by my face, so that his teeth snapped a cm or two from my left cheek. I wonder what would the lions' reaction be if the spring bucks would start showing their teeth besides prancing around them…

New guidelines

Metrosexuality is a fassion guideline that embarks an increasingly bigger part of the human population. Now it's spreading to dogs too. A few days ago I noticed that Sambo's wooly undercoat began separating from the overcoat. His coat doesn't come off him by itself, but the grey coat in the middle of his otherwise shiny black coat bothers me so much that I decided to brush him to get the dead wool out (I know, I'm getting worse, it's only been two months since I've last brushed him…). But considering the fact that brushing his coat represents a reciprocal torture and cause I was already disappointed in myself since I was preparing to engage in such an unnecessary activity (to me) such as brushing my dog, I decided to go one step further and make things at least a bit easier for both of us. So I went to get my hair conditioner and sprayed him on the critical areas, rubbing the conditioner into his coat. After a few minutes I started to brush him and I have to admit that the conditioner was a wonderful idea. Those 8,5 minutes were noticeably less stressful and yapping from both sides than usually, so conditioner with shea oil – two thumbs up! And so it was that besides all other not exactly manly nicknames Sambo became a metrosexual too…

Spring pleasures

We took the opportunity a nice, sunny Sunday was offering and went to Kurešček for a walk. We expected to find some last remains of this year's snow, but we did not expect to trudge through snow for half an hour, realize this was too much, turn back and enjoyed the sun in the meadow. Yesterday was the first time this year I got back on the horse (or better said – mare). Except for some adrenalin, well known rodeo elements the ride was very pleasant, but my aching muscles today aren't that pleasant. Nevertheless, yesterday was great and I hope that Sambo and I can start getting around regularly on 10 feet again.

Is it a bird? No!



Is it a plane? No!



It's Sambo! :)





We practiced for the filming of Karate Kid again...



And for the Olympic games :)

Last breaths of winter

We continue with our clicking and learning of new tricks, we still amuse our agility classmates (actually this relationship is completely reciprocal) and besides that we're working, studying… All in all, we have no shortage of action and sometimes it happens that despite of my multitasking nature there's too much of everything and my wires get mixed up… For example, the other day I was grumbling over the electrical gate that wouldn't open and then I realized that I was trying to open it with a clicker. And no, that doesn't mean that later on I tried to click Sambo with the remote control of the gate; but I did have our malign bird on my shoulder the other day when I went to get a frozen chicken for Sambo's dinner and I almost threw the wrong bird into the oven… /just kidding :) /.

A few days ago I told Gregor that I wanted to experience some real snow for the last time this winter, so we decided to go for a roadtrip to Pokljuka (where cross country skiing competitions are held every year). We went there on Friday and I'm happy to report that Pokljuka didn't fail me – it was Siberia. The snow was falling with force, the wind was blowing hard, the temperatures were low and there was even up to half a metre of snow on the ground. A true winter expedition, to tell the truth. Sambo had a blast and so did we. Happy and content to have experienced some hardcore snow for the last time this year, we drove home… to snowy Ljubljana. There was some heavy rain on the way home, but when we came to Ljubljana it was all snow. So we had a bit of snow at home too, although not much of it sticked to the ground. But the aesthetic effect was just as welcome :).

Put your paws up and your head down...



... and then we're also shy...



A wolf in Siberia...







Snowy sprint