southern counties 2015

Usually I really enjoy the Southern Counties dog show.  Usually we have a Finnish judge and no one can ever predict what choices will be made on the day.  It's usually great fun and we usually have a terrific turnout.  And usually the sun shines on us.

Yesterday all that was true again ... apart from the sun bit, that is.  It was cold, it was wet, it was crowded in the tent.  But still a good day for team Infindigo, overall.

Our judge was Harri Lehkonen and first up was Tito in the big Postgraduate Dog class.  At only a month out of Junior, I dare say he was the youngest in the class, so I was especially thrilled when he placed 3rd out of 8, qualifying for Crufts 2016.  And hot on his heels in the same class was Kuura, shown by Jane and placing 4th.  Kuura & Jane then went into Limit Dog and placed 4th again.  So proud of my boys!

Infindigo Pippuri Aatami (Tito)

L: Tito  R:  Infindigo Persikka Kuura

Kuura & Jane

I should take this opportunity to point out that despite appearances to the contrary, I was not actually wearing baggy men's Y-fronts over my trousers.  Truly I wasn't.

Next up was Taika in the mixed Veteran Dog or Bitch class.  I took Taika to the club show last month, and that was the first show she had attended in .... I don't even know how long.  But the time can be counted in years rather than months.  And plenty of them.  But once a showdog, always a showdog, and she was a little brown star, placing 4th out of  a big class of 8 and beaten only by 3 champions.  You go, old girl!

Infindigo Taika - the old girl's still got it

Next came the biggest class of the day, Postgraduate Bitch, where the total of 9 competitors included Emmi, Talvi, Kiittaa and Jaana.  We were all thrilled when Emmi took 2nd place and qualified for Crufts and Talvi took 3rd.  And then they both went into the Limit Bitch class and did exactly the same thing again.  Super proud of my girls too.

Infindigo Riemu Emmi & Jane

Infindigo Pippuri Talvi & Ian

Apparently the judge didn't like the creams - he binned every one of them, including Kiittaa.  For Lexi it was a completely novel experience not to place.  Never mind, we thought she & Kiittaa did a great job anyway.

Infindigo Riemu Kiittaa & Lexi

As Mark was pressed into service showing Jaana, photography for the class fell to me, which explains why the pics are not up to their usual standard...  But after a little emergency ringcraft from Jane, Mark did a stellar job of showing the tiny brown dog and she actually looked more or less like a showdog.  Perhaps for the first time.  Can it be that she's growing up just a little?  I particularly love the shot of her looking straight at me, wagging away.  Hopefully that doesn't count as double handling (which, in case you are not aware, is strictly forbidden).  I wasn't actually trying to attract her attention. 

Lapinlumon Pilvipouta for Infindigo (Jaana) & Mark

Cutie-pie Jaana & Mark

3 of our 4 girls.   L-R: Jaana, Kiittaa & Emmi

You can visit Fosse Data's website to see the full list of Southern Counties results. 

beach & woods

Around about this time every year a bunch of southwest Lappy nuts meet up for a beach walk.  Some years the weather is wet and miserable and typically November-ish.  Other years it's freakishly warm (like the year it was 17C).  This year it was chilly but sunny - perfect.

Whatever the weather, the Lappies always have a really fabulous time, sleep like logs that evening, and the people are vacuuming up sand for days after.

It's usually a great opportunity for me to get some family photos, and this year was particularly good as there were a couple of sets of siblings present who are not often in the same place at the same time. 

Thanks to Emily for taking this photo of Neka with a selection of her kids.

L-R: sisters Kaija & Maija from litter 2, Neka, Taika from Neka's first litter

Taika (middle) with her kids Usko (left) & Minna (right)

Tuuli (middle) with her kids Talvi (left) & Kaito (right) - & the beautiful view behind us!

And a few close-ups.

Siblings Talvi & Kaito

Kaito was a bit excited to see us

Somehow I managed not to get photos of Emmi & Jaana, who I am lucky enough to get to see more often.  But a couple of weeks ago there was a walk in the woods and an opportunity for pictures of Emmi with her mum and half-brother, and we got some great shots.

L-R 3 generations: Neka, her daughter Keksi & Keksi's daughter Emmi

Middle: Neka & Keksi with Keksi's kids, half-siblings Kuura (left) & Emmi (right)

The whole gang L-R: Jaana, Neka, Tuuli, Emmi, Keksi, Kuura (Photo: Jane Treasure)

World Dog Show 2014 Helsinki

And so to the dog show.

Last weekend the World Dog Show 2014 was held at the Exhibition and Conference Centre in Helsinki.  In their planning, the Finnish team decided to offer free entry to the national breeds, and so they had record numbers of dogs entered for Finnish Spitz, Finnish Hounds, Lapponian Herders, Karelian Bear Dogs and, of course, Finnish Lapphunds, who had the biggest entry of all at 526 dogs entered.   I must say it was a bit of a treat to see a Karelian Bear Dog (several, in fact!), as it is a breed I've only ever seen in photos before.  They have fabulous two-tone tails.

When I heard about the show offering free entry for Lappies, I thought it too good an opportunity to miss, as with free entry there was sure to be an enormous number of dogs to see.  So a bunch of like-minded Lappy nuts from Britain decided to visit Helsinki for the show.


If you read my Helsinki sightseeing blog post, then you will know that I had to scrounge photos of the show from other people.   I did, in fact, get a few early pics, but I only know who some of these dogs are as I haven't yet had the opportunity to sit down with the programme to puzzle it all out.

Strong boy with lovely tri markings
Bear face








Lapinlumon Ilo
Lovely Eisenfest domino boy

Another nice tri
Brown bear
Lovely male I think I know







Pretty little bitch
Even a tiny pup was there
Smiley boy






It was a lovely surprise for Jane and I to get to meet Jaana's dad, Dagolas Ferrari.  And as I was otherwise engaged when I spotted him, I have to thank Liz for grabbing some photos of him.

Photo: Liz Mowatt

Photo: Liz Mowatt

So, what on earth could I have been doing that would interfere with getting photos from this once-in-a-lifetime event?  Well you may ask!

When the show entry deadline came and went, Jaana's breeder, Sarah from Lapinlumon, posted on Facebook that she had entered a large number of dogs and was looking for extra handlers.  I have always wanted the opportunity to show at a big FCI event like the World Dog Show, and so Jane & I wasted no time in volunteering for the job.   We packed our show suits and hit the Exhibition Centre bright and early ready for a crash course in European showing.   So while 5 rings were full of Lappies all day, I didn't get to see much of the actual showing. 

Jane showed Lapinlumon Qumina in an enormous Open Bitch class who was graded Excellent, and I showed Lapinlumon Gloria in Intermediate Bitch, where she was also awarded Excellent. 

Me showing Lapinlumon Gloria

Photo: Liz Mowatt

Photo: Liz Mowatt

The show style was very different to what we're used to in the UK.  For one thing, the dogs line up in the ring in numerical order.  I don't know how the numbers are allocated - they don't seem to be alphabetical as they are here.  I was very impressed and grateful at how well all the judges and stewards spoke English.  As always when I travel abroad, I was humbled by their skills and embarrassed by my single language.  They were all so patient with a neophyte like me.

As the classes were so enormous, each judge would call in the first 20 dogs, judge that group and then move on to the next 20 until all the dogs of the class were seen.  Each dog is given a verbal critique (and a written critique later) and then awarded a grade, shown to the spectators as a coloured card held aloft - red, blue, yellow and green for Excellent, Very Good, Good and Satisfactory.  I must admit that I'm not sure about the last 2 grades and I also can't remember which colour goes with them.  Very few dogs seemed to be sent out of the ring with no grade, although I think there were some.  Perhaps these were considered "unsatisfactory" for some reason.

After all the dogs are seen and judged, then all those awarded an Excellent grade pile back into the ring to be judged again.  In the UK a judge will look at a class of dogs then either pick out their 1-4 or 1-5 choices, perhaps immediately in order or perhaps in a short-list.  Then all the other dogs leave the ring.  I much prefer the European style.  The judge looked at all the dogs again, then shook the hand of each handler in turn of dogs who were at that point excused from the ring.  Then she considered those that were left, got everyone to move their dogs again and excused a few more.  This process is continued until there are only the last 4 left for placing.  It's a style that builds a lot of suspense for the spectator and the handler alike.  It's so much fun!

In the end, I was absolutely thrilled to place 3rd with Lapinlumon Gloria.  Quite a feat, I thought, as she wasn't keen on standing.  Or keeping her tail up.  Or, for that matter, moving.  Mainly she was a cuddle-dog rather than a show-dog, but she did me proud.  And Jane and I got to keep the lovely commemorative ring clips awarded to each dog who was graded Excellent, which you can see at the top of this post.

At the end of all the showing, Jane and I then went into the Breeder Team competition with the Lapinlumon group.  It was quite impressive to see so very many teams of Lapphunds in one ring.  There were no fewer than 46 teams entered, although presumably not absolutely all of them turned up.  But take my word for it when I tell you there were a lot of them.  Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a Lappy lover.  It was so exciting to place second amongst such venerable company.

2nd Place Lapinlumon Breeder Team - Photo Berit Koehler

Photo: Alice Fowler

One of the very great things about going to a show like this is the opportunity to see so many of the dogs that you only ever knew from photos before.  Another dog I was thrilled to get to meet was a long favorite of mine, Dagolas Qultapoju (Max), who is owned by Christian Lauluten at Kennel Vintervidda in Norway.  If you think I love him because he bears more than a passing resemblance to my Infindigo Taito, then you would be right!  And having met him, I can confirm that he has the same adorable chilled temperament too.  It's no coincidence that they are so alike - their pedigrees share many of the same dogs.

Gorgeous Dagolas Qultapoju (Max) getting brushed

 

Me photographing Max - photo Liz Mowatt

Another dog I have admired from afar for a long time is one of Max's sons, Ukkonen av Vintervidda (Ukko).  So when Christian was looking for handler to take Ukko into the challenge of the Open Dog class, I said "I'll get my jacket"!  There were apparently 91 really outstanding dogs in the Open Dog class and this number had been whittled down to, perhaps, a third of that for the challenge where all the dogs graded Excellent returned to the ring.

As with my previous experience with Gloria, each dog was examined by the judge again and then she moved to shake the hand of a few to excuse them from the ring.  Then she had another look at the dogs and excused a few more.  Then she got everyone to move again and excused yet more.  The audience was enormous and the atmosphere tense.  My own excitement was mounting with each cut that Ukko and I survived.  Although I was concentrating hard on Ukko and remembering the scrap of Norwegian to speak to him in, I was very aware of being one of only 4 or 5 left in the ring.  The judge moved me into second position and then got us all to run around the ring again, calling out her 1 - 2 - 3 - 4! as we ran.  It was unspeakably thrilling for me, so you can imagine how the other two people from England in that lineup felt with their own dogs.  That's right - I was 2nd after Toni Jackson with Elbereth Matkamies and before Elaine Short with Glenchess Ilolas, sire of my Riemu litter.  In 4th place was Sarah with Lapinlumon Elämänilo, Ilolas's dad.  

Me showing the magnificent Ukko

 

Open Dog First-Fourth Place - Photo Helena Bergstrom

Open Dog First-Third Place - photo Helena Bergstrom

Open Dog Second-Fourth Place - Photo Helena Bergstrom

I found it incalculably entertaining to have the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in the strongly contested Open Dog class taken by British handlers; I was only sorry that Ukko did not belong to me!   The whole experience certainly made for an unforgettable day.

And now I know how to say "stand" in several European languages.  Well, it's a start.

an adventure of a different kind

The search for a compatible stud dog for one's bitch can certainly lead down new, unexpected and interesting paths. 

I had it easy for my first two litters.  The dogs were right here in the UK; in fact, in the case of the second litter, the dog was right here in the same house.  And in each instance I had help trying to figure out how to accomplish a mating.  (Oh, did you think it was easy to get two dogs to mate?  If they were neighbourhood mutts then I have no doubt it would be easy as pie.  I'm sure it would be a matter of turn your back and - bam! - a litter of 12 or 14 more little mutts on the way in 2 months' time.    Take two prized pedigree dogs, their ancestors all pairings carefully chosen and planned for many generations over many years to maximize looks, health and character, and try to get nature to take its course - see how far you get without a little experience and knowhow.  Uh huh.) 

For the next two litters I cast my eye abroad in search of dogs unrelated to mine and to specific lines I was interested in crossing with mine.  In each case I took the bitch and dragged her to France at the appointed time.  It wasn't exactly simple on those occasions - oh no.  The first trip to France started well enough on time and with the stud dog in question accomplishing his task with the least pomp & circumstance you could imagine.  The trip home, in contrast, was hair-raising involving way too much snow and summer-grade tyres on the car.

The second visit to France was also a little more "interesting" than I would have preferred.  The French ferry workers were striking on and off with little or no warning so I took off very early in the bitch's cycle and waited it out safely within driving distance of the stud dog.  In the end we were away from home for a whole week and I had a complicated return home with an unscheduled drive south to a ferry that actually was running. 

That was followed by two more relatively straightforward matings with dogs located here at home.

My next planned litter will be a whole new adventure in dog mating.  The planned sire is the gorgeous Uni, aka Dk Ch Lapinlumon Noiadi.  You can see some more photos of him on my website here.

Uni - Dk Ch Lapinlumon Noaidi - pretty blinking boy

Uni - Dk Ch Lapinlumon Noaidi

The first intended stud dog was one of those conveniently-located-here-in-the-UK types.  In the end, though, I had to change my arrangements, which just goes to show that even an apparently straightforward plan can go haywire for one reason or another.  By contrast, Uni is not living here in the UK.  He's not even living a simple ferry ride away in western France.  Nope.  He is in Sweden.  And there's nothing simple about getting to Sweden for a mating.  Particularly so when one's bitch doesn't have a passport.  

So what's a breeder to do?

Artificial insemination, that's what.

And so it begins.  First of all it's absolutely imperative to know exactly when the bitch ovulates so that you know exactly when to inseminate.  Of course, it is also absolutely imperative that the semen of the stud dog is collected at exactly the right time so that it can be chilled and sent off by courier for nextday delivery to the waiting bitch.  (Did you know that the drivers for Fedex, TNT and the rest have in their vans canisters of semen from various species?  Bet you didn't.  Next time you receive a bag of clothing from your favorite online retailer, have a sneaky peak into the delivery van.  Those big metal urns?  Yup.  You're welcome.)

Having established that the timing is crucial, you can be certain that the bitch's season will coincide with the longest holiday it possibly can to make getting blood tests tricky.  Enter Easter.

However, the gods of Finnish Lapphund puppy breeding were smiling on me this week because somehow everything went brilliantly.  The timing worked, the blood tests were done, the results discovered in good time, the stud dog delivered the goods, said "goods" made it to the UK in tiptop condition, and so the deed was done.

"The deed" was very different from the usual "deed" that results in puppies, though.  It involved Jane and I setting off with Emmi (and Jaana for company), and heading 3 hours up the motorway to Surrey where a very nice vet at UK Clone was waiting with the Uni juice on ice.  A little root around to find Emmi's cervix with a scope of some sort (ok, a big root around that took several minutes that felt like hours to the one kneeling on the floor holding Emmi still).  Then in went the juice, then a few minutes' wait as the vet held Emmi's altogether together in a somewhat undignified manner.  Then his hand cramped and so we were free to go.  

All in all it was much less traumatic for the bitch, in my experience, than their first mating.  I do worry, though, that not having gone through the mating process, Emmi will wonder where the puppies are coming from.  But then, maiden bitches always seem to have no idea why puppies are popping out of them anyway.  Luckily hormones take over and all is well, so I'm sure it will be a similar experience for Emmi.

No, there are no photos of Emmi in flagrante delicto with the scope.  And if you are wondering how the boy-juice is obtained from the stud dog, I'm not telling you.  Suffice to say I wish I had never asked.  

And now it's a waiting game for a month or so to get Emmi scanned by ultrasound and find out whether this was all worth it.  

Jaana's first day

Jaana's very first photos have already been posted on the blog here and she now has a page all to herself on my website, which you can see here.

Jane and I drove up the M5 on Tuesday afternoon to collect Jaana from the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow.  We expected the normal 2-hour wait following the arrival of the flight for her to clear customs, but when we arrived the waiting room was full of people waiting for their pets and we were told it would be another hour.  So we headed out to find a coffee.  Not to mention a toilet.

When we got back there was no waiting, but, intriguingly, we did see the arrival of no fewer than NINE cats that someone took delivery of.  And they appeared to be nothing special - just standard, adult-sized moggies.  Not that I mean to cast aspersions on moggies or anything, you understand.  I am the proud property of one such ginger gentleman. 

With me at the Animal Reception Centre

And with Jane - the beginning of a love affair

It did take us a little longer to get home than it did to get to the airport.  You might think that it was because we had a bewildered 3-and-a-half-month-old puppy with us.  But no.  Jaana was a complete angel.  She settled on Jane's lap and caused not one moment of trouble for the 3 hours it took us to get home.  However, my satnav and I did not get on very well with the various motorway junctions.   There might have been more than one occasion when we found ourselves heading the wrong direction on the motorway.  There might even have been more than two.  Ahem.

But I got us back to Jane's safe and sound in the end.  

Jane and Mark very kindly invited me to stay that night so that I could enjoy Jaana too and be there for the following day.  So in spite of being in the house of a famously excellent dog photographer, somehow I ended up being the official photographer of a few of Jaana's firsts.  Well, it was only fair that Mark got to enjoy her without a camera between them, for once.

She met the big dogs - and they were so great with her

Miika looks pleased with his new playmate

Then it was time to meet the pussycats

Some pussycats were less impressed than others

Next morning there was some lead training on the way to the vet

Taking everything in her stride

It's sooo stressful at the vet's!  Not.

Then there was a lunchtime trip to the pub

Learning correct pub protocol from Emmi

After her busy day, finally back home to reclaim the toy stash

All settled in - photo Mark Treasure