Travels |
Polish Winner Poznan, Polen 8 november 2008The trip towards Poland started on Thursday, when Tenoch and I with the car packed drove to Emma Hansson, Fame Factory's Kennel in Skåne. Emma , Ninni Jönsson, Marco Hernandez and I gathered there so we could leave early Friday morning with the ferry from Trelleborg to Rostock, Germany. It was very nice having Marco as a travel companion. It's not every day you meet a breeder from Mexico with such knowledge about the breed, and such interest of wanting to lead the breed towards a bright future. After driving through Germany, we arrived to Poland in the late afternoon.There were a lot of work on the road, so we were delayed several hours, and therefor we arrived to Poznan very late. (Thank God for GPS!) We had rented appartements nearby the Poznan Fair, the same place as the WDS 2006 was held. Like then it was very well arranged regarding the rings. The public could sit on chairs around the ringside and there were real entries and exits to the rings. The floors were great too.
We were all very upset when we saw a woman from Russia with a Xolo Miniature with severe problems with it's legs. Patella? I have never seen such an awful thing at a show before.The dog could't walk, and of course it was aggressive.The woman didn't seem to care. She had to carry it around. She was excused from the ring, and I really hope that she was reported by the judge. This experience makes me more convinced that we have to take responsibility of our dogs and the breed, and examine hips, elbows and knees! To eliminate problems like this, you have to be determined, not letting time and generations pass. With a small gen pool it would be disaster if a male who is used several times turns out to have the genetics for ex. hip dysplasia. The show went well for all of us. Our dogs became Champions, won titles and the biggest thing, Tlaloc became BIG 2!
After celebrating at a restaurang, and having the blinkers of the car stolen, it was time for bed. The alarm would go off at 6,00 am. It was a bit difficult to fall asleep, the thoughts were spinning, thinking of good and bad things from the day. We went home early Sunday morning. We made a stop in Berlin, and visited Brandenburger Tor. We really felt the "history".
Several hours later, by car and ferry we returned to Sweden. It's fun with dog shows, but if you can combine it with cultural experiences, you get the best of two worlds! I want to thank my travel companions for many fun hours in the Polish forests!
Tozani has made his debut in the Swedish Conformation Ring!
This occured at My Dog in Gothenburg the 5th, and the 6th of January. The show is one of the largest in Sweden with 10 000 dogs participating. That the show was big was something that Tozani noticed as soon as we entered the large show halls. He is usually a tough little guy, but he thought it was scary with all the noices, all people and dogs.
The first day was as an all day practice. We walked all over the place to get used to the place, and meet as much dogs and people as possible. When it was time to enter the ring, I had to bribe Tozani with meat balls. That Tozani was trained to stand at the table, well no one could see that! The day ended rather good, the critic was fine, but as he wouldn't show himself in the ring there were no CAC. It was a very tired little doggie who fell asleep in the car on the way home.
Everything felt much better the second day, he felt much more secure. It's always such fun to be at shows. So many people are interested, asking about the breed. Tozani saw himself like a little star! You could also see in the ring that Tozani had trained the day before. Everything went so much better. The critic was fine, and he recieved CAC and BOB! The Dutch judge pointed out that I should be very thankful for the paws of Tozani. He said that in his home country Xolos have too flat paws, not like a hare-foot as said in the breed standard. It's not often judges comments the paws, so it was quite nice.
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