Champion cross

Today we have received Trae's cross issued by our Kennelclub for the Dutch championtitle.

Next to the diplom this cross is issued (used to be for free but now they charge a small amount of money for it).
In the back of the cross the official name of the dog is engraved and the year in which it won it's title.

We have 10 at home now (for our Shelties, we have a few more from the Keeshonds and Pomeranians we used to show)
They come in different colours but it seems to be random concerning what colour you are going to get.
We have several different colours and colour combination but most of them are blue/yellow and red/yellow like Trae's.

Hoogstraten

This weekend was the show in Hoogstraten (Belgium) where I had entered both Howard and Flirt again.

We started off later as planned and I arrived just before the show started, luckily for us Shelties were the last to be judged in the ring after Spaniels, Collies and Nizinny's so we had plenty of time to get the dogs ready and looking good again :-)

Both of them were entered in championclass again.

Howard was not that much interested in showing himself off, he doesn't mind going to shows but is more interested in doing something with more action and when I take him to shows several weeks after each other he just doesn't seem to be interested anymore.

Despite this he still got 1st Excellent in his class and in the challenge for Best Dog had to be content with the Reserve CAC / Reserve CACIB.

Seems like Belgium is just not the place where Howard is lucky at the shows, he has 2 CAC's towards his title but still needs another 2 to finish it...

We'll be back ;-)

Than finally it was Flirt's turn, she behaved much better than last week and showed her little socks off.
I was so happy that it finally looked like if she gets used to the noise at the shows in Belgium, also today there was a lot of dogs barking, loud music in the mainring which was close to our ring and a lot of big dogs close to where we where.

Flirt got 2nd in her class with Excellent (not may dogs did get graded Excellent) and in the end also had to be content with the Reserve CAC / Reserve CACIB behind the BOB winning bitch.

So now out of 6 shows she has 4 Reserve CAC's, 2 Reserve CACIB's, 1 CAC, 1 CACIB and a 3rd place and so far has always been graded Excellent.......

We also had news that Howard's son Krishna Heartbreaker from Ohmtalteufel (Howard x Ch.Dawnville Where There's Smoke) won a CAC on Sunday, this makes 3 out of a litter of 3 that did win CAC's.

Very proud of Krishna's succes ofcourse.

Next to the show in Belgium I spent my weekend walking the dogs at different places, they enjoy it so much to run around and explore.

I also do need to show you the picture of my little niece that I have received today:

Nina is my brother's daughter and sooooo adorable :-)

Show in Fredericia (DK)

This weekend the show in Fredericia was on the agenda.
We had entred 3 of the dogs: Howard, Boots and Flirt.

After lots of discussions and change of minds we (Thea and me) decided to travel to Denmark on Saturday and stay in a hotel so we all would be a little more relaxed at the show on Sunday.
Boy, were we glad we did, due to roadworks it took us a lot longer to get up there and when we finally arrived at the hotel we were really tired and ready to get to bed :-)

The hotel was really great for dogs, at the reception we got 3 blankets for them which we used to cover the beds and one of the seats, especially Flirt thought it was great and made use of them ;-) We got up early in the morning, had a good beakfast and than it was off to the show. We arrived early giving us plenty of time to settle in.
54 Shelties entered so we had no illusions of any win or what so ever. After the Border Collies were finished it was the Shelties turn, Howard was the first to go into the ring and got 3rd in open class.
I was already pleased he was graded "Excellent" as a lot of dogs that didn't look too bad to me left the ring with "Good".

After this is was Boots her turn which Thea decided to show herself, she got 1st Excellent in a class of 10 Intermediate bitches, directly after that it was Flirt's turn in the open class, now she had been naughty all morning being only interested to run and play in the snow that was outside and it was hard work to get her to show and walk properly but somehow we managed and she got 1st Excellent in a class of 12 bitches which made me so happy......

In the end she also got Best Bitch (CC/CACIB) and Boots got 3rd Best Bitch so we had a wonderfull day and I was especially delighted for Guy and Mark that Flirt did so well.

We left for home straight after the Shelties were finished and as the weather was so bad with snow and rain we knew it would be taking it's time again.
We stopped several times to walk the dogs and had some fun playing with them in the snow.
I sometimes feel quilty about taking the dogs everywhere even if they like to travel and think it is exciting to go all these places.
I guess I am trying to make up for that by taking them out as much as possible .....

Here's a picture of me which Thea took secretly:
And here's one of the dogs (front Howard and Boots and in the back is Flirt) chasing the (snow)balls I threw :-)

I arrived home very late and went straight to bed, even left unpacking the car for the following day as I was so tired.

Hoping to be back in Denmark for some more shows later this year again.

Saturday

Today I Took Scott's In Memoriam card from the openings page of our homepage and it feels like betray to him :-(
He will still be on our homepage on his own page and ofcourse will always have that special place in my heart, still miss him so much.........

Today the weather was not really good with lots of rain and everything but I felt I needed to go for a walk with the dogs and as I was already feeling miserable the rain didn't bother me really.
When we drove up to the place where I walk the dogs the rain had stopped and the dogs had lots of fun in the sand and water that was all over the place.

I really enjoy looking at them running and playing and having fun, don't think that someone would take me seriously when I told them we are also showing them if they would see them like they do on our walks.

This is Tinsel's favourite thing to do on our walks:

The others are also quite happy there's water to drink after they have been chasing balls for more than an hour....... Of course this water is much better than the water I have in the car :-(

Next weekend is a little more serious, we're going to the International show in Fredericia, Denmark so they have to stay clean ;-)

Spooky

I have made some pictures of Tinsel's daughter while she was here visiting us last weekend.

'Spooky' is officially named Dawnville Gotta Love My Looks - and I for sure do ;-)

Here's one of the pictures I liked best:

She's cute isn't she?

I am quite pleased with how she turned out and although she is living with a friend of mine, she still belongs to us.

Spooky is around 35 cm's at 6 1/2 months of age, has all her teeth and a temperament to die for, just wished she had a little longer coat already but it is thick and harsh so hopefully lenghth will come as well.

I am hoping to get something similar in tricolour when we are going to repeat the combination this summer/fall.
O, before I forget, Spooky is a daughter of Mohnesee Mr Palmer and our little blue girl Ch.Dawnville All That And More and was the only baby in this litter.