Here he is...

...Atlas. James' beautiful brother who did so well at the show today... He's a handsome young man. :)

Results from Strängnäs

1a Kv, 3a Kk

Jay did alright at the Dog Show today. He came 3rd with HP (Honor Prize). The reason why I'm not super happy with the show today is because he did not behave in the ring. However, he was not the only dog who wasn't feeling it. I think it could be because it got too crowded inside, dogs and people everywhere in an area that was just too small... It was hard for James to relax, and unfortunately he did not show his best side. But for some reason I didn't think he looked that good no matter what..hmm, he looked small (as in skinny) compared to the other dogs. I think he will need a little break and time to develop more. He still eats poorly, so if he only could eat like a normal dog he would put on some needed weight.

Someone who did great and looked fabulous today though, was James brother Atlas. He was sooooo pretty. His 2nd place finish with HP was well deserved. Congratulations, Sofia & Atlas (and family)!!!!!

We had a Finish judge by the name of Pirjo Hjelm and the show was put on by Östsvenska Terrierklubben in Strängnäs.

Here's James' critic (in Swedish):
En junior hane som behöver mera tid. Trevligt huvud, bra bett, tendens till tunga öron. Hals ok samt överlinje. Bröstkorgen behöver utvecklas, benstomme ok, tillräckligt utvecklad bak, rör sig ok.

The critic in English:
A junior male who needs more time. Nice head, good bite, inclined to have heavy ears. Neck ok and top line. The chest needs to develop, bone structure ok, enough developed behind, moves ok.

As always - a big THANK YOU to Marina who showed James.

An extension

Got some great news when I logged in to one of my classes last night, the deadline for the research paper that was due on Tuesday has been extended to Thursday! :) Wow, sounds like music to my ears. That means I only have to worry about one paper this weekend ...fabulous!

We are packed up for tomorrow's Dog Show. I will be getting up around 5 am so I have time to take Jay for about an hour's walk and get myself ready before leaving at around 6:45 am. We should be at the show grounds around 8 am (so we have time for the vet check-in and for James to calm down:)) and at 9 am the show starts and Jayness is first up. Eeeeeeeiiiii, so exciting!

Cross your fingers!!! :)

Happy Birthday, Jodi!

Today is Mr. L's niece's birthday, Miss Jodi. She's the cutest little girl in the whole world..

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Happy 6th Birthday, Jodi!

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Sending you lots of hugs & kisses all the way to NYC from Sweden.

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ps. She's having her b-day party tomorrow, and she's gonna have a princess-pirate cake..hihi...

A summary

As I mentioned before, this week is, and will continue to be horrible.. including the weekend since I have so much school work to do. I will get a break during Saturday though, considering we have a Dog Show to attend. I'm really excited about it, it's been a while since Jay was shown. Please cross your fingers for the Baby Blue. :) Oh and not this weekend but the following, Gabbi and I are going to attend a handler class.. should be fun!

The results for the exam I took last Friday came out today, and I did really well. I cannot believe it considering I thought I totally failed it. I don't want to honk my own horns, but I've done great in school ...I'm a VG-student (honor student) but OMG I'm so tired of it now. So to be honest, I can't describe how shocked and happy I am for passing this test with flying colors when all "the school energy" has been drained out of me.

Right now we are working on a research paper (Ulrika & I), we did an interview with the CEO of a company last Tuesday. The paper is due this Tuesday coming up ... and another paper/analysis is due on Sunday in the other class I am taking.. so as you can hear, my weekend is screwed except for when I get a break to go to the Dog Show. I so long for Tuesday to come along, I will jump high when both these papers have been sent in.

We had WP training last night. It was fun as usual. Did "chain training" and "cart training". I had bought a new tug-of-war toy for James which he hadn't seen before and he went totally crazy for it. When pulling a little heavier, his technique was no longer any good because he was so focused on trying to get to his toy. He even started bouncing in order to get the cart rollin' ... Next time I will go back to using treats during the pull, and not until he has finished the pull will he get his beloved toy.

We were supposed to meet Anna & Aston tonight for obedience training but it was cancelled. Anna had forgotten she was going home to visit her family for the weekend and had to leave straight after work today. But we'll see each other next week ...

Anyhow, that's about it. Back to school work. :(

Busy "school" bee

I'm a busy bee when it comes to school work. I have so much going on right now.. aaaaahhhhh. Tired of it, but I have to suck it up! Anyhow, I'm about to call it quits for tonight.. Time to watch some TV.

The rain stopped

In the late afternoon the rain actually stopped and even the sun came out. :) Jamie and I immediately jumped in the car and sped off to the park/forest we so often go to (Mr. L is sick with a cold and Baby Alih is in the country this weekend thus it being just the 2 of us) . We did obedience and search in the park, and we were all by ourselves... nice! Jay was really, really alert. His heel was great and his search was even better. He found the items I hid for him in no time. :)

After that we went for a walk in the forest. I had (and always have) James off leash when we take this route... He may be a wild baby with an ADD disorder (damp/ADHD), but he has soooo many good traits too. For example, having him off leash. When we meet other dogs or people or horses (yeah lots of horses in this area), he immediately comes back to me when I call him. Such a good baby - just wanna kiss and kiss and kiss him. :) And I have to say, with age the ADD characteristics have become so much better. He was such a wild puppy but I believe along with him getting older and with maturity an amazing dog has appeared. Obviously all the work and training put in to him has helped a great deal! Me LOVE Jamie. :)

Bored!

Yeah, I'm bored today. The weather sucks (rain, rain and more rain). I should take the opportunity to get some school work done 'cause the next week and a half will be miserable. I'm gonna be crazy busy with school stuff. :( But the problem is, I don't feel like it. All I ever do is study or train with James. Now, don't get me wrong. Training with James is great fun but it would be nice to do something else too.... Mmmm, what to do??!!!

Jay and I have practiced some stacking today. We have a show coming up next weekend. I'm really looking forward to that since he hasn't been shown since August when he brought home the C.A.C (CERT). I'm crossing my fingers he will do great this time too. Not necessarily another C.A.C but sure, that would be nice. :) The thing with dog shows though, is that you never know how it will end ... All judges are different, so it can end ANY which way. One must never assume anything. It's going to be a Finish judge at this dog show and what I've been told, a lot of Finish judges like the AmStaffs quite small which may not be great news for James. At the same time, this judge may not look for that... All we can do is cross our fingers (& toes) and wish for the best. :)

I have also practiced on trying to get Jay to understand that he can move his hind quarters (bakdel) separately. 'Cause trust me, he suck at that. That's obviously my fault for not having practiced that earlier, but some dogs just seem to get it on their own almost. However, Jay is not one of them. :) He knows "back up" and I'm trying to get him to learn to back around corners so he can learn to "control" his hind quarters better, that way. Well, well...we'll see how that goes.