WAZZUP?

December 10, 2007
Last weekend was the Finnish Winner 2007 dog show. On Thursday Esa, Redi and I drove to a FCI8 group show in Tampere. A surprisingly big number of Tollers - 37! - had been entered there. Redi hasn't been evalued by the judge Saija Juutilainen before, so we went there. Juutilainen would have prefered more masculinity even though she liked Redi's movement and color. The result was VG. Also Vicks was there and the judge placed her best bitch 3rd. Congratulations! Rooa had come to meet Redi, so we're waiting for some photos...
Eventually I went to my parents' in Järvenpää. I went to Helsinki to build the Winner 2007 dog show on Friday, on Saturday I was there keeping a watch over things and on Sunday I went to see the dogs. If somebody wondered why I was so quiet on Sunday I had my reason: we had lots of fun on Friday while building things and we had some pretty crazy conversations, so my voice started to fade away. On Saturday I strained it of course, because I couldn't help talking, so there wasn't much left of it on Sunday. I didn't feel too great either on Sunday, so I didn't take the photos I had planned.
Now the men in our family are fairly satisfied, because I've had to shut up. ;-) I'm trying to get my flue and voice healed here at home. Next year I'll have to the Winner 2008 show to have some fun again!

November 18, 2007
Our bunch is doing normal. I try to go to do some agility with Redi whenever I can. We got some snow in Jyväskylä, so I was able to change the photo on the frontpage.
I've heard some news about Vicks and Redi's puppies (they're not puppies any more). Rooa and her owners have done some obedience, tracking and even started agility a bit. I added a few photos on her page. Her hips and elbows have also been x-rayed and we're waiting to hear the results in a couple of weeks. Her eyes had also been checked ok.
Olga has been hunting with her owner, and I hear that Tero's been very pleased with her. I added a photo of the two and their catch on her page. She also attended a dog show, got a Very Good and was placed fourth out of seven.
Foxo's Finnish site tells us about the doings of an adolescent rascal. Stay strong, Pia and Antti!
I hear that Aatu has also been hunting. I don't know if they got anything. Aatu's owners have started their studies in Joensuu, so good luck with that!

October 5, 2007
Our Repanderi is 7 yrs today! Unbelievable but true. I'm not the only one who finds it hard to believe: during last week I've heard two people comment: "I guess he's still a puppy." Oh yeah... Yesterday Redi and I went for a walk in the forest near us. It's been quite a while since I took some retrievings with him so I took a couple of dummies with me. First it all went really well but then our old return problems began (again), so I decided to take him to do some agility today instead of retrieving. I wanted to do something fun on his birthday and he likes agility as much as retrieving. I took some photos of the congratulatory delegation and the lot.

September 28, 2007
Thanks to his approaching birthday Redi went to the vet to get his vaccinations today. He was 19,1 kg and his heart and lungs sounded good and his ears were clean and neat (as they've always been, I've never had to clean them). The vaccinations went fine. I asked the vet about Stara's autopsy report. Because of the epilepsy in Redi's background I asked if an epileptic fit could have caused Stara's death but the vet (actually two vets because anther one stepped in the room) thought it highly unlikely. They said that sometimes dogs have quite long fits and still they don't die, and Stara's case wasn't even like that. It remains unresolved then.

September 17, 2007
I seem to have forgotten to tell about the great debut Foxo made in dog shows. He was found to be Very Good, and got a great critique. You can see some photos of him on his own site (only in Finnish). Stara's autopsy report has also come and the end result was "a cardiac insufficiency as a result of an abrupt arrhythmea". In lame terms I guess it means a heart attack. *sigh* They hadn't found what had caused the arrhytmea.

September 6, 2007
Redi wishes Foxo, Aatu, Hani, Rooa and Olga a happy first birthday and remembers Stara with love.

August 26, 2007
Redi and I were in an agility competition in Orivesi yesterday. I had decided to go to one more competition this summer and I missed the last day for entries for Laukaa and then again I didn't want to attend the Jyväskylä competitions because they have local championships there and there'll be a lot of people in there and my nerves can't handle that. So I drove all the way to Orivesi to be disqualified twice on the courses. First Redi jumped a wrong fence and then he chose the wrong end of a pipe tunnel. I have to learn to control my nerves before I can dream about handling my eager dog. Anyway - it was a nice event and I saw Miian and Wäinö just fly to the first place in the first course and I met Hanna-Mari Ikonen & co. and Jonnan and Choco.

August 22, 2007
I haven't updated the pages for a while. I've been at the computer but haven't been able update anything. I'll try to mend it now.
I spent the Toller Show weekend in Joensuu working in their dog shows and taking some distance to the events from previous Wednesday. Rooa attended the Show and got good from Elena Ruskovaara. She had had "complaints" about the small size and lightness but her behavior had gotten thanks. She was finishing her heat and got her "tourist" brother Foxo quite confused.
Redi and I have been training agility and we're going to compete soon. I'll tell about that later... Otherwise spirits have been pretty low.

August 9, 2007
Yesterday was probably the worst day of my life so far. In the morning everything was fine. Maija brought Stara to us for "day care" because their apartment gets really hot diring the day whereas ours remains quite ok. I took Esa to day care and and decided to go and take the dogs for a swim with Saija and Ramon. At the lake Stara swam slashing the water, Redi dove stones from the bottom of the lake and Ramon swam around doing his own things. We started to get back to the car when Stara had some sort of a fit. I stayed with her and Saija went to bring the car closer. Soon we were on our way to the vet where they put a drip on Stara and started to give her oxygen. Then her heart stopped beating. Stara was gone. All that was left was shock and profound sorrow.

August, 8 2007
We've only popped by at home during the summer but now it's "back to the drawing board". I got email from Aatu's family last month and on the basis of what Henna told me he sounds like quite a normal energetic Toller boy. I added a few photos both on his own page and on the litter page.
Redi's daughter Hani was in a dog show in Juva where Harry Tast thought she was Satisfactory, mostly because of her lightness. This was no surprise because she seems to be taking after her dad who also got an "old three" (the equivalent of which nowadays is Satisfactory) from Junior Class. On the other hand, Olga had more or less charmed the Swedish Majvor Näsman in Orivesi where she came close to getting an EXCellent but then the judge decided to send her off to develop a bit with a Very Good. I haven't seen Hani for a while but she was very light built at the litter meeting whereas Olga had much stronger bone. In Toller Show this weekend we'll hear what Elena Ruskovaara thinks about Stara who resembles Olga more. Redi's son Foxo will also be attending a dog show later this summer so we'll get an outsider's opinion on him, too. I thought he looked very nice, he's handsome and I guess some five centimeters bigger than his dad. But then again, they all look lovely to me. ;-)
While we've been on the countryside I've tried to use my camera quite a bit. I can't really boast with the photos I've taken but I only have a digital pocket camera and my photography skills aren't great either. Every once in a while I've taken some pictures of Esa and Redi and I also took load of photos of Stara when she was with us there. I tried to select the best ones but there are still quite a few of them. Sorry.
The last few weeks of July Esa, Redi and I spent at my parents' in Järvenpää. Since we were in southern Finland I contacted the two "puppies" who live there, i. e. Olga and Foxo. Olga had already become a woman so Redi stayed at my parents' while Esa and I visited his daughter who was in season in Kirkkonummi. It was a really nice Sunday: the weather was great, Esa had friends with the children of the family (and lots of toys) and I had a lot to talk about with Piki and Tero. Olga behaved very calmly and was charming in every way. Thank you, family Toppi, that you let us come for a visit!
Before we returned home I still had time to go walking with Foxo and his owner. Redi got to come with me this time and was very nice to his son. On the other hand - He showed Pia a chapter of the book "don't do this"... The day had been quite rainy but it didn't really rain at all during our walk. Nevertheless - I didn't take that many photos. But I did talk a lot...

July 13, 2007
Our family has been quiet for a while. We've been in the countryside where Nikke's been renovating his old home, and Esa, Redi and me have just been hanging. Redi and I have stopped by in Jyväskylä for our agility trainings, too. I have Stara with us over the weekend so we'll get to do all fun stuff with her, too. We'll most likely be taking a lot of photos, but we'll see when I stay at home long enough to put them on our website.

June 17, 2007
We spent the weekend at my little sister's family in Hämeenlinna. I had entered Redi to an all breeds dog show there when I realized that I had promised to work in a dog show in Joensuu at the same weekend with Toller Show. This year we'll miss the Show for the first time for long. SOB! So I looked at the different possible dog shows to enter Redi and decided on Hämeenlinna because I could visit my sister at the same time.
The trip was extremely successful! I don't know if the judge Kari Salminen was impressed by the pear juice Esa had sprayed on the dog as we drove to Hämeenlinna or by the blood red patch on Redi's neck close to his right ear (scratch in his ear) which was a result of the "talk" Redi and Romppu had in the morning about who could play fetch with Esa or could anybody. I don't know for sure but the critique was really nice and the result Redi's third CC and BOS. BOB was the charming Vieno (Trindy's Pearl of a Girl).

June 11, 2007
The tenth Finnish Toller Camp is now history. It's incredible how fast the weekend was over and I only had time to meet a small proportion of people I know. Phew. On Saturday I went to the agility training field and back via the beach, made a trip to Jyväskylä and back and on Sunday I was organizing the vet's checks, so I guess it's not surprising. Not too much sleep and a lot of heat also resulted in my not being very sharp. I didn't take that many photos even though this time Esa continued his trip from Jämsä to his grandparents and left his mom at the camp alone with the dog. After I get the paperwork done, I could start orientating to be the camp "slave" next year instead of the chief. HOOORAY!!!

May 7, 2007 Never say never...
This was quite an awing weekend. I visited my parents in Järvenpää with Esa and Redi and on Saturday I took Redi to a dog show. There were quite a few Tollers there that I knew. All in all there were 11 Tollers. Right in the beginning Redi took a fancy to Oona (Rocmin Daddy's Dream) and behaved like a monkey screaming, jumping and doing all sorts of crazy things. I wondered how we'd do in the ring. However Redi calmed down and for example run very relaxed and got EXCELLENT from Hannele Jokisilta. Finally we went to best dog -ring with Saija and Ramon (Fireheart Kid Sundance). The judge said that they were two very different shape of dogs, the one (Ramon) was a bit longer and the other (Redi) a bit shorter. After one round of running she placed us first because Redi "carried himself a bit better in the move". So Redi got a CC and jumped up and down a bit like his brother Allan does. ;-) I "missed" the bitches judging a bit but Sohvi (Trindy's Kind and Lovely) came to best of breed -ring with us. She was in her "summer clothes" and since Redi's coat is pretty long at the moment, he got the red and yellow rosette. Wow! The critique was very flattering. We sayed for the big ring but really had no chance amongst some thirty (?) BOBs. It was still pretty grand being there.

Feb 26, 2007
Last Saturday I drove to Tampere with Redi, Stara and Maija. Minna had invited the whole Ready litter there. All puppies were there, only Vicks the mom had had to stay away because of her owner's trip to Thailand (as if she couldn't have stayed at home and come to our meeting ;-) ). It was a lot of fun seeing everybody. I guess the temperature was a little more than ten below zero but nevertheless we were outside for some two hours. You can see the speed of the whole gang from the photos. We didn't take posing pictures but maybe someone has the kind of photos I could put on the litter page. *hint, hint* ;-)

Jan 20, 2007
Redi and I went to an FCI8 group show in Alavus. The judge had changed so Markku Santamäki assessed the Tollers. We were in his ring last summer but since Redi's coat is in a pretty good condition and we car pooled with Saija and Ramon, why not? There was a trainee judge for some other breeds in our ring before Tollers and they really took their time. We started some two hours late. Santamäki still thought Redi was very good but the critique was a bit different than in the summer. Other Tollers there also got VGs except for one so BOB and BOB-VET was Tollerbay Jade Mirage. She tried to lure our boys to play with her as we were waiting for our breed to start. ;-) She clearly isn't bothered by her age!
The last few days we've finally had snow here but it's been a bit difficult to get descent photos because the days have been quite gray.

Jan 4, 2007
My mother-in-law called this morning that their dog Rufus had passed away. He was almost 12 years old. We had already planned to go to Viitasaari this weekend but I recon it'll be odd when the dog's not there. We'll also have to try and explain to Esa where "Lovus" is... :'(

Wazzup in 2006