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We love spending time at our vacation house in Velika Ves – the girls enjoy the big field. During all the kerfuffle with work, getting the mortgage and then fixing up the new house in Terneuzen – and then the arrival of all the STUFF – we have not spent much time at all in our favourite place. So once we had a clear schedule, we jumped into the van and travelled down here.

With help from the neighbours, it took the first week to sort out the back field which was chest-high with overgrown weeds, bracken, bramble, thornbushes (possibly wild roses but no roses). Thankfully after the first pass, it is short enough that the dogs can all get out and move around. One of the things with Dachshunds as my pack is to remember that their short legs mean things that are quite OK for us can be tough for them.

Makar and Belle don’t know this place as well as the older girls, the girls started getting really excited long before we arrived on our 10 hour drive overnight, because I know they recognised our break places on the way. When we got here they couldn’t wait to go in the field….so I am very glad it is now short enough that they can have fun. Here is Belle in the foreground, starting to get the hang of it! Tolka is already fatter from her mole and mouse hunting.

Our little placed here is up for sale by the owner, so we hope it takes a LONG time to sell because we would be very sorry to have to leave it. AND we are playing the lottery hoping for a win so we can buy it!

Belle in the field with Vicky and Ushya (guest) in the background

Last weekend we had the 2018 World Dog Show in Amsterdam! It will be many years before it is here in the Netherlands again. Yestie went with me to World Dog Show in Moscow in 2016. Makar was at World Dog Show in Leipzig in 2017. This year, Makar again was at the 2018 show at the Amsterdam RAI. As always, it was great fun to see so many dachshund friends, and exciting to be in the ring.

There were three days of shows, the Benelux show, the Speciality show (WUT for Dachshunds) and the World Dog Show.

We were really happy that Makar won his class at the World Dog Show, and was second at the Benelux show. In the Best Male lineup at World he was 4th of 7 males in the lineup, and at the Benelux show he was 3rd of 7 males and was the Reserve CACIB dog (the junior was 2nd and does not qualify to receive the CACIB).

I have been exhausted lately and not in the best of health, but I still really enjoyed being at the show and was grateful to have the support of friends to help out. Makar is like Belle, very easy to have at a show; we clearly need more training at home, but overall, against really super competition, we were very, very happy with our results.

Our next “big” show is the European Dog Show in Warsaw in October. We will be practicing now in our little vacation house in Czechia so that we are super in the ring (again). We have all had a bit of a training break as I have been working a lot of hours, hopefully this will start to ease off.

Photos of our weekend!

Every year we all talk about going to Split for the Four Summer Night Shows. I have gone four of the last five years, it is without a doubt my favourite set of shows of the entire year. Ante Lucin, who is “father” of the show, creates a fantastic event, full of song, dance, drama, lights, stages, and just simply the best fun you could have at a show. They start judging at 7pm, the sun is going down shortly after that and the day is starting to cool off. The shadows are already getting long as you settle in before the show starts. Some cool drinks and a chair – and our tent!! – helps us set the stage for another great show. Yes, I brought the tent with me on the plane, along with Belle, all my show kit, dog food and a couple of changes of clothes.

We were lucky this year that three of the four nights, the kaninchen smooths were at the beginning of the judging in our ring – I don’t like hanging around for hours and I always think we do best when we are in early in the show. I am less tired! In any case, we had three fantastic results ( 1 Excellent, Best Junior, Best Female, JBOB and BOB!!) and then one night where our dear Belle was hopping like a kangaroo in the ring – and we were Very Good. We didn’t mind, she really was hopping. The judge said (German humour I think), “She has to remember she is not a rabbit, she is a rabbit DACHSHUND!” And he said because he really couldn’t see her movement, despite excellent conformation he could only give her a Very Good. The judges the other nights all found her movement to be Excellent as well as good looks (lol) and we had some nice critiques.

Belle is a fun girl to travel with, she is happy to just hang out with me anywhere, so we went to the beach, to restaurants and avoided being outside on the hottest parts of the day. We could stay indoors in the air conditioning and do work!

We have now been in our Tiny House in Terneuzen for almost six weeks, since the boxes and furniture were all delivered.  We are still “boxed in” but there are some rooms with a bit of space in them for the pack and I to live in comfortably.  We took a break from unpacking about three weeks in to go to Croatia, which was a wonderful experience for the dogs and me to be able to work by the seashore.  And my blood pressure started going down again when not spending the whole day either working or hefting boxes around!  The back garden is a lovely place for us to relax in the sun during the day, and a great place for a glass of wine in the evening.  And when there are puppies it will be a safe place for them to get used to the outdoors.  So we are “feeling settled in Terneuzen”.

We have just come back from 10 days in Croatia, such fun with the dogs down there.  We had a lovely place to stay with a nice garden, wonderful food – and lots of time with the dogs.  This was Belle’s first big trip to go to shows, she has been in Junior class since March.  Claudia came with and did wonderful with her dog Harvey in the shows.  And she took some stunning photos of Belle in the garden of our little apartment in Umag.  Belle had her first Best of Breed at the Umag show on 2nd June, I was so proud of her in the ring.  She has such attitude!  She is happy to be at home, on the road, in the hotel, in the ring.  She is a lot like Mum Yestie.   Keep an eye out for this girl, she is just one year old now and one happy pup!

The Winter and the Spring were filled with shows, travel, long trips and short trips – and the hunt for a new house.  The dogs and I have moved out of the flat in Leiden (with the upstairs neighbour who really enjoyed making our life difficult) – and have found a house in Zeeland with a lovely enclosed back patio garden which is our very own.  We still have our holiday house and field in Czechia and all in all we have had quite the last six months.  We spent almost four months on the move in the van, hotels and Czechia whilst we sorted out our “new” house in Holland, built in 1881.  In between, we did a lot of shows in Belgium and Holland, the Winter Classic in Zagreb, Croatia and Crufts in the UK.  Highlights were Peony 3x BOB in Zagreb and then Luxembourg Champion, Makar 2x BOB in Belgium and JBISS-2 in Zagreb, Belle being Best Opposite Sex, Luxembourg Junior Champion and Crufts Qualified at the Luxembourg Spring CACIB Show.  We had quite a lot of success in the ring which helped keep us buoyant when the Homefront wasn’t in place.

Now that we have Wifi again, TV again, a BED of our own for the dogs to share again – life will return to normal and we will also start updating the website again!  Here are the dogs enjoying the new patio garden at our 1881 house.

And here are some photos of Makar, Belle and Peony at our shows since October 2017.

 

This summer was mostly about Yestie and her four little pups!

Yestie’s little ones were born in May and I travelled to Moscow several times to see them. I am so grateful that Yulia had the puppies and that Yestie was a wonderful mum. There are some wonderful photos of the little ones to show on here. The hardest thing was deciding WHICH puppy I would keep. BECAUSE I could not keep EVERY puppy like I did with Vicky’s litter in 2015!!!

There were two boy pups (one dapple) and two girl pups (both dapple), and I wanted to keep a dapple pup. At 8 weeks, we had some stunning photos done by Irina Sasonova, and Yulia also watched the pups run around very carefully – and we made the decision I would keep little Reine Belle. But that the Black and Tan boy pup, Royale Bonbon, was also very lovely and possibly looks better than his sister. I decided I would look for a co-owner for Bonbon and keep Belle.

Photos at 12 weeks also were done, and again, little Belle was wonderful and Bonbon as well….but I also LOVED Bisou and Beau. BUT NO, I could not keep everyone! So I looked and found wonderful owners for the two larger dapple puppies, one boy and one girl.

At 17 weeks, they could travel, and thanks to the help of a friend, we drove all the way to Moscow and brought Yestie and the four puppies back, along with a lovely 13-month old Black and Tan kaninchen boy that Yulia has bred called Eschio Odno Chudo iz Mishkinogo Doma (Yet Another Miracle). He is amazing, already Russian Junior Champion, wonderful personality and I think will be a lovely father to some pups we have planned in 2018!

Now I have Bonbon and Belle living with me! But….possibly one day little Bonbon will be living with a co-owner. We are waiting to see how they look in a couple of months. I didn’t get to have them as little puppies, so I am enjoying the 4-5-6 month old puppy phase with them!

I am lucky that the owners from Beau and Bisou send photos and I can see them growing up, as well!!

Last weekend, Makar went to his first show at Leuven, where he became Best Junior with his first point towards Belgian Junior Champion. And for fun, I took Yestie, not quite five months after having the puppies, she went in the ring and only became Best Female/Best Opposite Sex! She still loves to show. My sweetheart Yestie!

SO, finally, my Mandaladax team is all back together! Photos top to bottom, Royale Bonbon, Reine Belle and the bottom is all four pups together.

I have been waiting to post about Yestie’s puppies until they were a bit older and I was sure which puppy I am keeping!  I know now I will be keeping Belle!

Many of you will know the story – I got Yestie (Dachshaus Yesterday) at 25 months old, she had been bred by Maria Stanovoi but had not been shown.  She was Maria’s keeper from her “Y” litter in 2012.  As Maria wasn’t showing but I had started being serious about showing – I took Yestie to a few shows for Maria so that she could be certified for breeding – to my surprise she won a CAC and Best Female her first time in the ring!  Yestie and I had a wonderful 18 months showing together after she became my own girl in November 2014.  She only came into season every 12-13 months though, and when she came into season this last March, I had summer surgery planned and was in no position to have a litter – but Yestie is coming five years old next month and if we waited another year she would be too old for a first litter.  So she was bred to lovely boy which Yulia Chalova had bred and stayed with Yulia to have her puppies.  I have gone up and back to see Yestie, be there when she whelped and to spend time with the puppies.  Maria and Yulia both tell me I really cannot keep all of the puppies from this litter (I still have all three puppies from Vicky’s litter in November 2015) — so Yulia and Maria both have said “keep Belle” and I will believe them.  

There will be some lovely photos soon of the puppies to share, but here is a collage of some of the best photos we have had to date.   I am so very happy to have this litter!  Yestie has been a great mum and Yulia has been fantastic with her and the puppies.  I can’t think of anyone else I would trust more with my very special girl!

Puppies going to new homes will be:

Reve Beau iz Mishkinogo Doma – a charming Black and Tan dapple boy

Rose Bisou iz Mishkinogo Doma – a lovely Black and Tan dapple girl

Royale Bonbon iz Mishkinogo Doma – a sweet Black and Tan boy

And I will be keeping Reine Belle iz Mishkinogo Doma for MandalaDax – a darling Black and Tan dapple girl that I will show!

For the first time in quite a few days it was warm and sunny today (well, it was 10C and sunny) – and in the sunlight it did actually feel pretty warm.  Whilst all the other girls were mole hunting – the girls certainly seemed to indicate there was mole activity going on – Peony was snoozing in “her” dog bed.  This one was bought for the flat in Leiden (yes, it migrated to the Czech Republic somehow), but this is her favourite spot to sleep.    I think she might be more like Willow – who loves to be laid back – than her Mum Vix – who is ever alert.  This little one prefers a nap in the sun – she might be dreaming about a tasty field mouse, though!

We are expecting puppies in early June – Yestie and Gorsha will (hopefully) be having a litter at the beginning of June – and I am over the moon!!

Both carry the chocolate gene, so we could be expecting Black and Tan, Black and Tan dapple, Chocolate and Tan and Chocolate and Tan Dapple puppies.
This is Yestie who is now just over one month in pup, and Gorsha at a recent show.