Sunday 14 June 2009

What happens in Roudnice...

Of course, in the time of exams nothing feels better than updating ones blog!

Since the last update, our family of three went for our first real road trip.
The car was rented for the weekend, and as it had no air conditioning whatsoever, we were sweaty and happy to finally reach our destination after a day and a half of driving on country roads.
We put up our tent just by the track, at a sweet camping-place just by the river Labe, which runs through the beautiful old town of Roudnice - location of the Belgian Shepherd World Championship of 2009.

People came to Roudnice from all corners of the world. Cars from Netherlands, France, Germany and Sweden were parked outside the show grounds, where beautiful Belgians could be observed mastering sports like agility, mondioring and tracking, and where eager dog-lovers stood in line to pay up for their dog's chance to win 1st prize in exhibition!

As we stood there, ready to part from the 50 € it was going to cost us to walk our three exclusive rounds with the dog on a leash, we had no idea that the hard work we had done on brushing off all of Liska's winter fur the day before would actually harm her chances!
It wasn't until we came home again that we found out from the Norwegian Kennel Club's data that it could be not less than disqualifying for a Belgian to be put on show without underfur. News for us! Liska got away with a "Very good" diploma, also reminding us how little we indeed know about dog-shows, as it says conclusively; "Completely out of coat today!"

The judge was very fond of Líska though, and as we went to talk with her after the show, she had only good things to say. I would not be surprised if she'd let Líska get to the top if she had just not shed her fur yet! We had a lot of fun that weekend anyway. Halldor was completely fascinated by the activities on the mondioring track, and I hardly get tired of letting the agility dogs and their masters impress me!

And the town of Roudnice Nad Labem is a sight - a typical Czech small-town with a town center that lets you believe (for a short time only) that you're in a city of some size, with just farmlands upon farmlands stretching out around it!
We might just take a trip to visit it again.

I would love to write more, but Liska hurt her paw and I should go tend to it - and then maybe study a bit for my physiology exam before today is over and panic enters the building...

Thursday 19 March 2009

-F-R-I-S-B-E-E-

Liska just loves anything that flies, runs or is thrown. After being obsessed with tennis balls for a long time now, we switched her over to frisbees a couple of weeks ago. She just loves it! Playing in the field the other day, we happened to stumble over her old frisbee; the one she had when she was a puppy. It seemed so big when I got it for her when she was a baby, but now it looks surprisingly small. I did not realize before how much she has grown since last summer! Wow! Have a look at her play, though. She's still undoubtedly just a playful little puppy girl!

Thursday 19 February 2009

A short update on all of us!

It's not only Elisabeth living with Liska anymore. She found the love of her life, got engaged, and after Christmas Halldor moved in and "adopted" Liska.
The weather here has been great the last couple of weeks - we've been up to our knees in powder snow. Liska loves playing in the snow, with the snow and even under the snow. Her favorite winter game is when we hide the ball and she gets to search for it through the snow. When she finally get the scent and finds it she's the happiest girl in the world!

When it comes to diet, it's all working out as expected. She's gained the weight she needs, and her coat and build looks great! We're very satisfied with her, and with BARF - and she's more than satisfied with the food she gets these days. Chicken necks and wings proved to be delicacies - and veggies are not that bad either once you get a bit of offal blended in with them.

Some weeks ago, we thought we had a flea infestation at our feet. Nasty stuff... Both Liska and Dagmar scratched themselves like crazy, and soon the humans fell victim to the great Placebo effect and started scatching away as well...after a while all our self-provided red scratch marks made it look like there had actually been biting activity! (Now that's just sick...) After shampooing the dogs with an anti-parasite shampoo we got rid of the pest, if there ever was one. The humans were, no doubt, hardest to turn over. We still feel like scratching from time to time, just to make sure!

Sunday 11 January 2009

Little miss Carnivore



Happy new year!! This Christmas, Liska has been staying in Martin without her mother - at the sweetest kennel ever. She stayed there together with Dagmar, my friends 5 months old mixed-breed puppy, and apparently they both had a really good time there. The only downside to it was that Liska, once again, stopped eating her dog food. I've been trying a lot of different food brands lately - all of them are quite popular the first day or two, but then gradually go out of interest. I got her back skinny as ever a week ago, but luckily happy and healthy in every other way.
I have, for some time now, considered feeding her the B.A.R.F diet, based on raw meat, bones and vegetables. When I got her back from her kennel holidays, I decided to go for it - all the way. For one week now, all she has eaten is chicken necks and backs, vegetable purees and organ meat from different animals. I have been feeding her according to a nutrition plan that I got from an experienced B.A.R.F-er in Norway, and so far I'm very satisfied. She has put on quite some weight just during this week, and looks a lot more healthy - and this food does not seem to go out of interest either (knock on wood..!). Once she got the hang of chewing bones properly, she's been all over her food the moment I serve it to her. The most eager supporters of the B.A.R.F diet promise me a dog with a healthy weight, full and shiny fur and good appetite!
I am not yet experienced enough to recommend the diet to others, but I will keep you posted, and in the mean time I cross my fingers for success.

And, by the way, Liska rounded the magical 12 months yesterday, and is finally ready to start her agility training. We are looking forward to a spring time at the track!

She is also, right now, at her 2nd rutting season - meaning she's been acting the flirtatious bitch of the flock for a week or two. She got her season while at the kennel, meaning the girl watching her and Dagmar had to put her own male dog on a leash a lot of the time. I'm really satisfied, however, that Liska's still very obedient even though her hormones are running wild, making it possible for me to let her run the fields without her leash on - even with all the horny dogs of Martin just a stone throw away!