Zanna Zinat of the Kakapo Nest

Kiwi wearing her favorate Lagotto

Yesterday was Kiwi’s first day back at “dog school”.

We were unfortunate that the puppy class last season did not slot in nicely with the “A obedience class” this season. So Kiwi had a very long holiday between them meaning we have to do a lot of revising now…. Ok I should have trained in her holiday time but I admit I’m not such a fanatic. As long as my dogs do the basic things I’m pleased with them.

But I am a big believer of dog schools. Besides learning the basic obedience they learn so many social skills that are so much more important. It should be include in every dogs upbringing along with the city training, going to zoo’s, taking them to train stations, walking in busy parks, taking them to restaurants…. Well the list is endless.

So off we went to school with Vaglie and Kiwi. Tieka and Zanna had a nice peaceful evening at home.
First Vaglie had an hour fly-ball lesson. This was good for Kiwi as she learns to be alone waiting in the car. She is always accompanied by at least 1 Lagotto so this was totally new for her. At first she barked and barked but pretty soon she realised this wasn’t going to do her any good and she went quiet. Lesson one is learned!

Then I swapped Vaglie for Kiwi. Kiwi was waiting so nicely in the car. She controlled herself and waited till I attached her leash before coming out. I am very strict on this subject. My dogs are never aloud to jump out of the car before I tell them they can. Still it was a very cleaver thing to remember when your only 9 months old.

First I took her into the canteen. She was very happy to meet old friends and make new friends. She eagerly looked out of the windows at the classes that were training in the field outside, her tail wagging in anticipation.

And then finally it was her classes turn to join on the field. Straight away she and her class mates were straining on the leash to be able to play with each other. Something that is frowned upon, and rightly so as that is something they get plenty of during daily walks. But who can blame them ;-)
So we and our dogs stood around in rows waiting while each dog had their turn to follow on the leash etc.
Hmmmm needless to say this active rotten girl started to get bored and I could she her think “Well if we cant play then Ill try to catch mosquito’s”. And so she jumped meters high and you could clearly hear her mouth snap shut. Of coarse I held her back from doing this but she can jump so high just when you think she is relaxed and looking innocent.
And looking at the other classes that were doing much more interesting things like agility and fly-ball was good too…. “hmmm time to cry a little, maybe she’ll let me off the leash then so I can get on with playing”. Bad idea Kiwi and I would surprise her with a quick walk in an unexpected direction.
“pfffffff ok Ill just lay down and get mum believing I going to be good from now on”…. You can probably guess this was a short but affective plan and unsuspecting me was again pulled forward in her next attempt to catch mosquito’s.

But actually she did very well. Sat when I asked her to sit, laid down when asked to lay down and gave attention for more than anyone could expect for an independent Estrela mountain dog. I think she will settle down in the next few lessons and hopefully finish this “A obedience” group ok. Next season…. Well that maybe be difficult as then they have to retrieve and that is difficult with the best of breeds let alone with a Emd…

An hour of “Kiwi jumping” and fun and back to the car. Vaglie was pleased as punch to see us, drove home where Tieka and Zanna were sooooo pleased we were back and the family was complete again.

Btw Vaglie did very well doing fly-ball on her way hopefully to be able to be good enough to compete in competitions.

Emerging of mushrooms.

Its super weather here in Holland making walks even nicer.

Dotje has been with us the last 2 weeks.

She goes back home tomorrow. It takes me weeks to get used to having “only” 4 dogs instead of 5. I hope to keep a daughter of hers one day so we will have a “Dotje” to keep at home.

While we enjoyed our walk in the woods….



one of Zanna’s daughters, Nina, had a great day at the beach

Tjitjak


Nou ben ik ook geen voorstander van blikjes maar t gaat al de goede richting uit met diervoeder onderzoeken...

Uit 'de Gelderlander' door Hélène van Beek

Huisdier eet als mens en krijgt dezelfde kwalen.

Huisdieren, vooral katten en honden, eten vaak verkeerd voedsel. De Wageningse dierwetenschapper professor Wouter Hendriks waarschuwt: "Ze eten als mensen en krijgen dezelfde kwalen als mensen"

Onze honden en katten proppen zich vol met het verkeerde eten. De schuldigen? Zowel de baasjes als de diervoederindustrie , zegt professor Wouter Hendriks, die morgen zijn intree-rede houdt aan de Wageningse Universiteit. "Diereigenaren leggen hun eigen menselijke waarden en normen op aan hun huisdieren. Honden en katten zijn vleeseters. Maar doordat sommige eigenaren hun eigen opvattingen overdragen op hun huisdier, worden katten en honden soms opeens, gedwongen, vegetariërs of veganisten. "omdat veel mensen nat voer, blikjes met vlees of vis, vinden stinken, ontstaat volgens de hoogleraar de wonderlijke situatie dat echte vleeseters als katten en honden steeds meer droge brokken krijgen voorgezet met plantaardige bestanddelen. Helemaal onbegrijpelijk vindt Hendriks het geven van kattenbrokken in allerlei vormpjes en kleurtjes, terwijl katten vrijwel kleurenblind zijn. Ook vinden baasjes dat een huisdier gevarieerd mag eten en dus om de paar dagen ander voer moet hebben. Hendriks: "Want zeg nu zelf. Wie zou er drie weken lang spaghetti willen eten?" De petfoodindustrie - de producenten van honden- en kattenvoer - komt maar al te graag aan de wens van de eigenaren tegemoet, stelt Hendriks. "De regel is: mode in menselijke voeding wordt binnen drie tot vijf jaar mode in de petfood industrie."
De gevolgen van de vermenselijking van het voer voor huisdieren, laat zich raden. Obesitas of zwaarlijvigheid neemt onder honden en katten de vorm aan van 'een ware epidemie', aldus de Wageningse dierwetenschapper. geschat wordt dat 40 procent van de honden en 25 procent van de katten te dik is. kwalen die daarmee samenhangen, zoals suikerziekte, gewrichtsproblemen of hart- en vaatziekten komen daarom ook steeds vaker voor.
"Een zware kat wordt geassocieerd met gezondheid maar als je de ribben van een hond of kat kunt zien, zijn ze veel gezonder. magere katten en honden leven langer." Maar of gezelschapsdieren straks gezonder te eten krijgen? Hendriks vraagt het zich af. Petfood is booming bussiness. Wereldwijd eten 430 miljoen katten en honden jaarlijks rond de 35 miljard euro aan petfood. Driekwart van het voer wordt verkocht in Noord Amerika en Noord Europa. Twee bedrijven mars en Nestlé, hebben meer dan 50 procent marktaandeel. Hendriks: "ieder jaar groeit de petfoodindustrie met ongeveer 3 procent waarvan de groei in verzadigde markten wordt bewerkstelligd door verdere humanisatie van onze huisdieren." omdat het zo'n groeiende markt is, en kennis over goed dierenvoedsel heel belangrijk is, gaat Wageningen Universiteit studenten opleiden voor een carrière in de petfoodindustrie. Hendriks wil dat 'Wageningen' het Europese Centrum wordt voor onafhankelijk onderzoek van en onderwijs over het gezelschapsdier.

Its nearly the end of the black berry season.

After my story a few weeks ago about them Kiwi and Tieka went and proved me totally wrong and started to pick them themselves. Typical girls, they just love to surprise and prove you wrong.
Tieka

Kiwi

And Vaglie getting the best as high up as she can


But a bit of old fashion hand feeding is good!


If this little rat-bag had been white you would see a dog that is 30% green. Good old cow pooh.... And doesn’t she look proud of herself!


Getting a photo with all 4 dogs in the same one is quite a task!

Me being very proud with Zanna 3rd place open class females. 1st place Liz, 2nd Duchy.

Vaglie 3rd place females overall. 1st Liz, 2nd Liz's daughter Annabelle


Here are 2 links to see photos of the LRCN clubmatch.

These photos were taken by the "official photo maker" of the LRCN day. He did a great job!!!
http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album=SWVD6VLY

These photos are taken by friends of mine, hence the fact that I am in most of them. Sorry for me but enjoy the dogs :-). Thanks Els en Ellen :-x
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/arrow_8/album?.dir=/mail&.src=ph&.tok=phm1WcFByRFO6PGg

What a great day we had today!!!

Today was the “Lagotto Romagnolo club Nederland” (http://lagotto.nl ) show. The judge was a very well known Swedish breeder from the Bonebreakers Kennel (http://go.to/bonebreakers ) Karin Lindahl-Eriksson.
She did an excellent job and made the day very special by not only judging the Lagotti with an excellent eye for the breed but also telling us why and how she judged and that taught us all a lot.
She had a BIG job as there were very many Lagotti!!!!! Over 50 Lagotti were entered!!!!!!!!
Everyone enjoyed themselves, talking about your favourite dogs with other “Lagotto crazy” people…….. what more could one wish for?
It was an outside show so the day was made even more perfect because of the excellent weather.

My girls did very well. Valgie and Dotje were 1st and 2nd in the young female class. A daughter from Zanna’s first litter, Nina, came a very good 3rd. Bono, Nina’s brother, show himself as such a handsome fellow and even though he had no competition in his class he did his family proud.
Zanna was in the open class females, a group of I would guess 15, and came a wonderful 3rd place!!!! And to think I wasn’t going to enter her but did at the last moment.
End of the day Vaglie went against the other best of group females and came 3rd.
There was a great turn out of Zanna’s last litter and so we had 4 “Kakapo babies” in the baby class. I thought they were all wonderful so for me there was no competition, but for the judge Cash was 2nd after another awfully small and lovely puppy 3 months younger won. Her name is Donna Casa la Vita and has the same father as Zanna’s babies.

Best bitch of the day was “Liz die Casa Cleo” owned by Susanne Davies.
Best male and overall winner was “Comes Cordis Allegro” owned by Daan and Giena van de Weide.
My biggest congratulations to them and there wonderful Lagotti!
No show would be complete with out such great examples of this breed.

Kiwi the Estrela came first place. Ok, I have to admit she was the only one in her group LOL. But she got a very nice report so that made that special too.

I didn’t take my camera with me, walking and showing 4 dogs kept me busy enough. Hopefully we will receive photos tomorrow.

In the mean time this is how “Zanna the show dog” looks after a day at the show.