Blog

This is one of those questions I really don’t know how to answer.  I have only had one litter – and that was so that I could have a puppy to show.  Now I have my first winning girl from my own breeding and I feel like possibly I will be able to have another litter and actually find homes for the puppies, lol!!  I am already have a waiting list for Yestie’s hoped-for-litter (more on that in a separate post).

In preparation for this, I have worked with a really lovely lady to create a logo for MandalaDax which has on it Peony, who I hope this Autumn/Winter will become my Foundation Bitch having a litter when she is two years old.  Planning has already started to find the perfect boy for her!  

I am so looking forward to retirement as I truly want to spend time with the dogs – showing, breeding, training and enjoying them.  Peony is a joy to show.

I have been showing the puppy mafia (my very first litter) over the last year, first in Puppy class, then in Junior and now in Intermediate.  After a lot of hemming and hawing and 9 months of showing, I have (pretty much) decided that Peony is my keeper.  Lol.  Of course, I actually have all of them still…but Peony is the one I take most often to shows, as I do find it easier to travel and show only one dog, all three of the girls is a bit too busy and too expensive for me at the moment.

So I have been taking Peony around to shows for the last six months, we go off to our first really “big” show on our own when we travel to the WUT (World Union Teckel) show in Moscow in June by airplane.  But we have already done some shows with just the two of us together – we had a great time in Poland at the Bydgoszcz show with Peony winning BIG2 (day show) and BIG4 (night show) and two Polish CACs — we hope to go back and show there again in the Autumn or Winter to try to finish a Polish Championship for Peony.  We also have enjoyed shows in Belgium with some nice results, including a BIG4 at Genk in January – that was her third Junior point and we are waiting confirmation of her Belgian Junior Championship.  And in Holland we have our first Dutch CAC from the show in Groningen.  And she was club champion in Zagreb last Autumn.  But life is not always a feast of lanterns – she has had Very Goods in  Luxembourg and Holland at shows as well as her Excellents and awards.  But we do have a really good time always no matter the result.  She is a very pleasant and sweet girl to travel with and is learning to be friendly with everyone.

We have a show next weekend at Antwerpen, I am hoping she shows as well as she has been doing the last few shows and we will see how it goes, really all depends on the judge of the day and the other dogs in the ring – and then end of May we have a few shows in Holland and …. then we head off to Moscow!  This has been such wonderful fun, showing a puppy that I have had since the moment dot, that I bred, whose Mum I love dearly.  I hope to have her sisters out again in the summer, and we are all going to the Green Show in the Autumn, one of my favourite shows and it was always lucky for Yestie!  I hope to have a Yestie puppy showing there, fingers crossed.   And my greatest hope – being able to one day mate a Yestie son with Peony —  wouldn’t that be cool!

So our photo of the day, little Mandaladax Antique Peony, KS, with her very best award to date, the Best in Group 2 at Bydgoszcz in February.  I am thrilled, I think she is just tired after two long days showing!

It has been a tough few weeks.  Just four weeks ago, when out walking in the local area, a big dog charged Willow and Tolka from out of a field, latched onto Willow’s head and I really feared for her life.  I managed to get her loose, scared off the other dog with my can of “Pet Corrector” and a lot of screaming and shouting and got home with the girls.  I was bit, Willow had quite a few bites, Tolka managed to escape with just being a bit shook up.  But that has started a month of unrest in our little pack, as Willow’s position as “Top Girl” had been effected by her attack.  It has been a learning process for me as all the “big girls” (Willow, Tolka, Vicky and Yestie) are extremely well behaved and listen well and I have always spent time training them.  Kina is always a work in progress as she is just SO active all the time, but she does listen – although the smallest at 3.2kg she really likes to think she is in charge.  Up into this point, that had never been a problem.  But all of a sudden, Kina became the band leader of the puppy mafia – Rockette (who is just as active as Kina), Star and Peony and the four mounted a takeover attempt.  After a fairly dramatic last week, we are back to a normal state.  Why was the normal pack order destabilised??  Willow’s attack, Tolka’s recovery from IVDD, Yestie being in Moscow to be mated, the puppies going off to Crufts last month on their own – and me not realising that all this was going to cause havoc in the group.   I also realised that I had never spent the time training the puppies as I had the older girls.   It has been a tough lesson but they are all back to “normal” now, the puppy mafia is no longer running rampant, the girls are all listening and are much better behaved – – and Kina is back to her normal place of being cheerful and bossy but no one listens to her.  Willow is back as Queen of the Pack as she is feeling much more like herself and is fully recovered, a few minutes ago she was playing with Rockette and Rockette was deferring to her and not challenging her.  So calmness reigns again – – but this was a real warning to me about having such a large pack of girls.  During the worst of this period, 6 of the 9 were in season.  I had some good advice from friends who breed and show, and I am determined we never go through this again!  So to celebrate – a photo above of all the girls together (except Yestie who is still in Moscow).

Willow is the Matriarch and has always been the most settled of all my girls.  The confidence knock the attack last month gave her had changed all the dynamics – but you can see here that she is much more her normal self again!  She will be six years old in June.  She has been greying on the muzzle and face since she was three, a bit prematurely.   She loves a relaxed life and sunny days in Czechia outdoors are her favourite thing – where she can lay on a rug or dog bed and soak up the rays.

It is so nice to be able to get your hair cut, enjoy a coffee in the square and still spend the day with your dog!!  Today Peony and I had a great time visiting Toni & Guy’s in The Hague!  Peony got a biscuit and a water bowl and I got a new style!  Then we had a coffee in the square in front of the salon.  A lovely day!!

I find it rather interesting that depending where you live, the rules for walking with your dog vary.  

In Holland, in most provinces unless you are within the specific confines of a dog park which is fenced, your dog must be on the lead at all times.  Where I live, I am very close to fields with cattle, sheep, horses – but in Holland these fields are divided by water and there is a paved path (meant for bicycles and pedestrians) which go along side the fields and at the edge of the housing area.  Here all the dogs are on a lead and are walking – as in with a purpose to get somewhere – unlike when they potter around to use the toilet.  There are special dog “toileting” areas, and here dogs are also supposed to be on the lead, but you see the people all standing around with them, chatting and holding the lead whilst the dog decides what to do.  There are poles, and sand and lots of dog waste bins (which have free poop bags in a dispenser).   You are definitely supposed to pick up your dog waste and properly dispose of it in the frequently found bins, and there is a hefty fine if you don’t – but along with parking enforcement, the people who would do that have been reduced to almost no one as a result of the 2008 economic crisis-induced cost reductions.  Then we have the dog parks, most housing areas have one or more – they are decent sized (40m x 60m or so) and fully fenced with latching gates, a bench and sometimes various obstacles for agility permanently placed.  People who use them tend to know each other and which dogs can play off lead together.  I typically go down there with three of the girls at a time and let them run around like nutters.  I try to get them to do the tunnels and the weaves and the balance beam – sometimes it works sometimes they are more interested in sniffing out who was there earlier.  I don’t take the girls to the park when they are in season, we do on-lead walks and quick trips to the toilet area — and I am always ready to pick them up if needed.  Because we live in a flat, they do need to go out beyond our tiny garden.
In the Czech Republic, some parks require you to walk with the dogs on the lead, but the general rule seems to be that they need to be either on the lead or under voice control.  When I walk at the local castle park, they do require you to clean up after your dog, but it would appear to me that in the countryside that doesn’t seem to be the case, although in urban areas it is required.  I am fortunate to live in a rural area with a lot of winding roads and pretty views.  But the back garden is almost the size of my local dog park in Holland, the girls really enjoy running around whenever they can convince me to let them be outside.  I am surprised by how often they are happy out in the rain as well!

I compare this to the UK where places like Battersea Park require you to have them on a lead and pick up after them – but where walking in big parks like Hampstead Heath don’t seem to have that rule – and not everyone picks up after them but most owners seem to and it is legally required.  But in the rural areas in the UK, it seems to me one is more likely to find the dogs off lead than on.  Mine aren’t used to that and find dogs running up to them from everywhere rather startling.

Yesterday I was walking in the park by Krasny Dvur, an earlier palace rebuilt in the Baroque style in the 17th and 18th century.  It is a lovely place, but the girls need to be on the lead.  I really appreciate the fact I have someplace this lovely to walk with the girls!

Well, this is the airline we will use in the future, they had no problems with Yestie being out of the carrier during the flight.  She also charmed the customs people at both ends.  Safely in Moscow now.  And we wait to see if she and Gorsha might have puppies in a couple of months, fingers crossed!!  

There is a saying “I only work so my dogs can have a better life!” And for me that is quite true, if I could manage with just being at home with them, I think I would really prefer that!!  Not because it is easy – in fact pretty much the opposite – but because I find so much joy in working with them.  But here are a few photos of Peony last week which make me think of the time spent with the girls in the garden at home.

Yestie is all packed to go to Moscow.  We are hoping that the result of this trip will be puppies in June!

We had a wonderful time going to Crufts with the entire Bonfire litter — I did not expect anything other than a tour around the ring and stacking on the table for the judge, and that is exactly what we did.  But we enjoyed the day!