26th Dec. Future mama Diva celebrates today her 3rd birthday!
20th Dec. Diva's tummy has grown already and today it was confirmed at ultra-sound - Diva is pregnant! Ultrasound showed 5-7 puppies.
24th Nov. Diva was mated today! Handsome fiancé was Am CH C-Quest's Echo of Eldorado "Echo" who flew to Helsinki-Vantaa airport from Germany. So now we are waiting for the result of three hours honeymoon! Naturally we had reserved a "honey moon suite" from a local hotel (recetionists had fun when they heard why we needed a room for couple of hours :-)
17th Nov. Aatu-darling celebrated today his 10th birthday! Eija-"grandma" had made a huge "wiener cake" for the dogs and it seemed to be delicious ;-)
10th Nov. Diva finally started her "season" today!
30th Sept. After "Junkkari" Arto left to North with big girls and they have also got several birds, Katja stayed at home with basenjis working and waiting for Diva to start her season - lady has looked like she will start at anytime for a months now and we couldn't take that risk that she would have started them up there - she is going to mated this autumn :-)
21st-23rd Sept. JUNKKARI 2007 in Lapua - Saksanseisojakerho ry's breeding quality examination for young Continental Pointing Gud Dogs. What a great weekend! Neida's breeders Kirsi and Heikki had reserved a "own house" for the puppy buyers and and there was 8 kids of this 10 puppies litter. On Saturday it was the Field Trial, judge for Neida was Mr Vesa Nummi. Neida's search style got lot of attention. Only bird situation was in the afternoon in difficult spot, pheasant didn't wanna go up and when it finally did, Neida started to go after it but stopped when told so. But this was a goodbye for the 1st prize! She got 2nd prize in Youth Class and we are happy of this - as she already has the 1st prize :-) The whole litter did just wonderfully, congrats to the happy breeders! Out of 8 dogs 6 was awarded, brother Ykä got 1st prize and went to Finals, Neida, Petu, Mosku and Leevi got 2nd prize and Sara got 3rd prize! On Sunday it was time for the breeding quality examination, males were judged by Mr Raimo Louhio and females were judged by Mr Jorma Silta. Neida, Petu, Ykä and Leevi got Excellents and the rest got Good (there's no VG). Arto showed Neida himself (first time in the ring!) wonderfully :-)
5th Sept. We tried Open Class water retrieving test with Neida in Karuna, but this time she coudn't find the bird .. she tried many times but all she could find was pheasants head ;-) Better this way - we think she's not ready for the open class yet!
2nd Sept. Yesterday we had a great day in Kotka, Neida entered her 1st Field Trial. Her trial career coulnd't have started any better, result was 85 points and 1st prize in Youth Class :-) Judge was Mr Jari Koho. Neida got a good critique with compliments of her fast and wide search. Huge thanks to Kirsi & Hessa for food & acommodation! Now it's good to go to Junkkari! Neida was also entered to other Field Trial today in Lieto but we decided that it was not necessary so we skipped it. Today was also Helsinki autumn show - basenjis (35) were judged by Mrs Saija Juutilainen and Diva was BB2 (Saija thought that she was a bit too fat .. you should've seen her few days ago when Nessa had kindly open the door to the room where the food bag was ;-) Piitu got today Very Good 1 from Veteran Class, swedish judge Mr Kurt Nilsson liked our old lady a lot but wanted more muscles. He was very tough, out of five GSP's two got Very Good, two got Good and one got Satisfied, so there was no BOB-dog today.
25th Aug. Tervakoski INT wasn't a good day, Diva was BB3 and Neida-junior was also in the ring, judge Aila Lehmussaari liked her structure, bones, gait etc. but tought that she had too soft and short coat .. hmm ;-) So today she only got Good. We'll get better results later :-) Thanks to Hansu for showing our "little" rascal!
23rd Aug. Today we got great news from States - Diva's Fanconi Marker Test came back as "PROBABLY CLEAR/NORMAL" :-) More info about the test here!
18th Aug. Water retrieving test in Tuorla, Piikkiö. As Piitu is now officially retired we only entered the "youngsters" Nessa and Neida. The test place was good as always, but there was a hard wind from the sea. Our ladies started as last ones as both were in season lately. Neida did excellent job and got maximum 5/5 points from Youth Class, and Nessa didn't do any worse, maximum points 5/5 too from the Open Class! :-) Our judge Mr Vesa Nummi told in his critique that both were just like from the school book, good girls! Out of 8 entered dogs 4 got full points and all got some result so it was a good day.
4th-5th Aug. Not so good success this weekend - on Saturday Diva started in Tampere INT Lure Coursing competition and was Disqualifed .. :-( On Sunday we were working at Turku autumn show and Piitu was entered in Veteran Class under judge Mrs Erja Nummi - huge thanks to Anne Rumpunen-Virtanen for handling our old lady! Piitu got a good critique but just a Very Good.
28th July Pori INT, basenjis were judged by Mrs Leanne Coffey (Australia) - great success again, Diva was ROP with CACIB, her pal Soni was BOS, Diva's niece Neela was BOB-puppy and cousin Rytmi BOS-puppy :-) GSP's were judged by Mr Theo Leenen (Belgium). Piitu got a great critique and was BB2 (again) with ResCC and BOB-veteran. In big ring there was no placements for our dogs, though Kari Järvinen chose Diva in 8 best ones :-) Huge thanks again to Tipi for handling the girls!
14th July Diva was entered in Lahti Derby Lure Coursing -competition but this was not our day - she was running with her brother Tepi until she fell over, the muzzle hitted her face and then she just tried to take it off. She got anyway 190 points from the first run. After that we visited our Myrskylä summer cabin :-)
12th-17th July Arto was in Salla fishing, thanks again to Jukka for company!
7th July Swedish Basenji Club's 30 year anniversary Specialty Show in Skara, judged by Mrs Cheryl Myers-Egerton (CONAMORE, Canada). Entry in adults was 72, Diva left there with her breeder Tipi and Tiina, Hansu & Janne. Besides Diva they had Tuuli (Fin Est Rus CH Afrikenji Hot Sumabreeze), Timon (RKFW-07 Bulldobas No Regrets) and Soni (FinJW-06 EstJW-07 EstW-07 Bulldobas Finnish Flutesong) with them. We had promised to go our friends wedding in Espoo so couldn't go there .. though when the phone started to ring for the results it was very hard to concentrate on anything else ;-) Timon was 5th in Intermediate Class with HP, Soni was 3rd in Open Class with CQ but no BD-placement. Tuuli won a big Open Class and Diva won the Champion Class! At this point mama in Finland started shaking :-) and after that almost screaming when Hansu let us know that Diva was the Best Bitch and Tuuli was 2nd (congrats to new Swedish Champion)! In BIS-ring Diva was against very handsome tricolour male S CH M Wami's American Devil In Disguise who this time took the jackpot to Sweden, but we were not that sorry of that as Diva also won the Best Gait (Aatu won the same prize year 2001 in Swedish Specialty), was the Best Red/White Basenji and Best Championbitch :-) HUGE HUGE THANKS again to Tipi for superb handling of Diva! Young lady came home on Monday morning tired but obviously very proud of her huge amount of trophies ;-)
1st July L-S KKH summer happening in Vehmaa! We only took part on Sunday's retrieving competition (Piitu won that last year). This time the boys were better, after water retrieving part Piitu was still leading but at the land retrieving her time wasn't good enough so this year she was 3rd and got bronze medal :-) Congrats to Santeri for winning and cousin-Chubby for 2nd place! Exactly the same dogs placed also two years ago ..
25th June Arto was water retrieving trainer at L-S KKH's Rusko training.
18th JUne Arto was water retrieving trainer at L-S KKH's Rusko training.
10th June Finnish Basenji Club's Specialty Show in Nurmijärvi, judged by Mrs Jill Avis (MJARA'S, England). She was very tough, only 5 bitches out of 55 got Excellent and Diva got this time Very Good as so many others. Congrats to Aatu's granddaughter Fin CH Dakarai Thumbelina for great BB2-placement and of course to Diva's relatives too for their success :-)
28th May Arto was water retrieving trainer at L-S KKH's Rusko training.
27th May Finnish Basenji Club's Lure Coursing Championship race in Valkeakoski, basenjis ran separately (males and females had their own competitions) as the entry was huge 23. Diva's start didn't look too good, sender had some problems and Diva was 9th after first run. They decided to take 10 bitches to the Finals and Diva had a good run, taking total 444 pts and was 6th out of 16 bitches with CQ :-)
19th May Lure Coursing competition in Lieto, judged by Mr Mika Nyman - Diva started her LC-career just wonderfully! Entry in basenjis was 7, weather in the morning was cold and basenjis started as first breed. At the first run Diva didn't have a pair, clean run and 238 points. In Final she ran with another first-timer and it was great to see a clean run also with a partner, Diva won this start and got 237 pts. In total points Diva lost only 2 points to the winner, so she was 2nd with CQ and 475 pts. and also got the title Varsinais-Suomi Kennel District's Coursing Champion 2007! :-)
14th May Arto was water retrieving trainer at L-S KKH's Rusko training.
12th May Great spring day in Santahamina, challenge game between Uudenmaan Kanakoiraharrastajat and Lounais-Suomen Kanakoiraharrastajat (our club). Arto took part to shotgun competition and did great even though he hasn't been shooting at the track since autumn - 5th place of our Club's shooters. Piitu naturally took part to retrieving competition and even though the time ran out and she couldn't get full points, she was best of our Club's dogs! We lost the challenge this time but had a fun day :-)
5th May Today at Somero group show Aatu got his 11th Champion-grandkid when Dakarai Tingeling 'Tiuku' was BOB with CC & BIG-2, congrats Sanna-Maija! :-)
29th April Today we were at Lahti INT, Diva was BB2 with ResCACIB (will be confirmed as CACIB) and Piitu was again nicely BB4 & BOB-veteran!
28th April Arto passed today the Hunting Trial Official test!
19th-24th April Arto went again to Norway for ice fishing, this time with Tapsa and Janne, to Näätämö. Looot of arctic chars came back also to home :-)
8th April Great Easter visit to Stockholm, with Diva and Aatu's grandson 'Ami' (Fin CH Bulldobas Adofo Amani). Judge in the show was swedish Ewa Nielsen and she really liked our dogs, Ami did superbly by winning BD1, CC, S CH, CACIB and BOB, Diva did very well too: BB2, CC, S CH and ResCACIB! :-)
2nd April Today came the Basenji Club's magazine that included the results of Basenji of the Year -competitions .. TADAA .. Diva was the 2nd Top Winning Basenji female in Finland year 2006!! :-)
1st April Korpilahti show for FCI groups 5 & 7/8 - Piitu started the day nicely by winning BB3 and BOB-veteran, GSP's (11) were judged by Mrs Leni Nousiainen. In the afternoon basenjis were judged by Mrs Anneli Sutela. The show place was way too cold for Diva-princess but still she won BOB! :-) Congrats to handsome cousin Timon for BOS & 1st CC! In the big ring Piitu didn't place but we got a happy surprise when judge Hannu Talvi placed Diva as 3rd in big group :-) Huge thanks again to Tipi for showing our girls! Arto was this weekend in Nauvo for whitefish -fishing and got some too.
29th March Tuesday evening we had a LC-training at our field with 6 basenjis, Sanna-Maija came with her 4 brindle girls: Barbi 6 yrs (Aatu's daughter), Fudge 4 yrs (Aatu's granddaughter), Tiuku 2 yrs (Aatu's granddaughter) and sweet swedish import Elsa 4 mths. The weather was wonderful and dogs had fun! Today we got the rest of Diva's thyroid test results, all values were normal and TgAA negative :-)
25th March Today we went to Tampere INT with Piitu, judge for GSP's was Mrs Nina Kharatisvili (Russia) and entry was 26. Piitu got again Excellent and was BOB-veteran! :-) Huge thanks again to Kati Ojaniemi for handling the old lady in both breed and BIS-veteran ring!
22nd March Spring is on it's way in Somero! We have stared the Lure Coursing training with Diva and have been busy otherwise too, calender is already getting full. Two weeks ago Arto was again in Salla, there was lot of snow but they got some fish too. Thanks again to Jukka & Krista for everything!
16th March Happy 1st birthday dear Neida! Time is just flying .. :-)
23rd Feb. Yesterday we visited Pet-Vet for eye checking with Aatu (9 yrs) and Diva (2 yrs), both had clean eyes (J1) :-) Aatu though has some old age senile sclerosis in his eyes.
17th Feb. Today at Jämijärvi group show Aatu got his 10th Champion-grandkid when Dakarai Thumbelina 'Sella' won ROP, CC, BIG-1 and BIS-2, congrats! :-)
1st Feb. Happy birthday to 8 years old Piitu-darling!! Now she's officially veteran, even though it doesn't slow her down a bit ... ;-)
28th Jan. This years 2nd show, Turku INT - GSP's were judged by Mrs Aina Lundmark from Sweden. She was very tough, out of 11 entered GSP's only 3 got Excellent, and we were very happy that Piitu was one of them. She got 2nd place in Working Class, BB3 and ResCC :-) Huge thanks to Kati Ojaniemi for handling Piitu superbly! Diva competed first time in Champion class and she wasn't at the show mood, our spare-handlers (thanks Nora and Tiina!) did their best and result today was BB4. Basenjis were judged by Mr Jarmo Vuorinen (Finland).
13th Jan. Happy 3rd birthday dear Nessa! She had a very fun day at deer hunting, she got over ten deers out of the woods - one youngster and one male were shot :-)
6th Jan. This years show season was started at Kajaani INT and it really couldn't go any better! Basenjis were judged by Mrs Elina Tan-Hietalahti, Diva competed first time in Open Class and did the same than Aatu did year 2000 in Kajaani, finished her Champion title in first possible show :-)! The result for Diva was BB1, CC, FIN CH, CACIB & BOB, unfortunately we couldn't stay for groups. And what made this special was that Diva's brother Tepi (Bulldobas Le Charmeur) finished also his Champion-title at first try by winning BOS! After basenji ring we rushed to GSP ring, entry was 28 and our judge was Mr Albert Bijker (Netherlands). Piitu's show year started also wonderfully, judge liked our old gal a lot and she won the Working Class and was also BB2 with ResCC & ResCACIB!! :-)