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...

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!

Sick October nights

Me and Liska have both been really sick tonight, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with food we ate. But then, come to think of it, we hardly ever eat the same food. Liska isn't allowed to eat food from my table, and I very seldom get so hungry that I need to feast on her ProPlan pellets! Today has been such a weird day for both of us. No long walks, we've just been flat out on the bed both of us until now, when Liska finally got to get out of the house for a run with Halldor. I cross my paws for the success of it. And I'm sure it's going to be fine. Liska absolutely loves him to the point where I almost get jealous! And if she behaves, maybe he can be talked into doing it again..!

The last time I wrote a post here, I was going to tell you about our new puppy friend who moved in with us this autumn - Dagmar. She's a beautiful mixture of Cocker Spaniel and Spitz. A real heart-breaker! Liska is behaving like the ideal big sister towards her. Dagmar is Christina's new dog who's been living in our happy household now for two months. Check out the really sweet picture of her and Liska together from a trip we made a week ago!