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!