NEW! 16.6.2009 It's been a looooong time since the last update. Great news from both agility, obedience and field trials :)

OBEDIENCE: Kide became on 29th March an unofficial Finnish Obedience Champion. Unfortunately the title is only unofficial since he has cryptocism and thus, cannot get a prize from the dog shows. The actual merits that do matter are however there (3 x 1st prize from the elite class), so for us he is a pure Champion :) Dreams came true...

Kide is also Golden Retriever's obedience champion, since he was the best Golden in the championships competition held on 30th May.

FIELD TRIALS: First trial for this year (13.6.09) and we got a 1st prize in the open class (cold game test) and were chosen as the best in the class!! It was a great surprise, and we were so happy :). It was Tiina's first trial in the open class and a good way to start :)

AGILITY: We have had fun in the class III competitions and have also once made our way to the podium which was a fantastic feeling. So far we have got 5 clear rounds this year and hope to do some more... 

1.11. A lot has happened since the last update. We have competed in the elite class in obedience and gotten 2 x 2nd prize, once 3rd prize and finally, today, a 1st prize with nice points (297). I'm really happy, this was a good way to end this year in obedience.

In the end of October we attended a working test, only one for us this year. It resulted in a nice 2nd prize in Open class and we were also placed second out of 24 dogs (only three dogs got a result)! The points were (9,18,18,16).

We have had good runs in agility competitions, but a lot still needs to be improved :)

And last but not least, many good retrieves for Kide in the hunting scene, so he has spent an active life these last few months :)

9.9. We have been hunting quite much and Kide has had many good retrieves. We had also planned to participate into three cold game tests this year in the oh so scary open class, but we have had a bad luck. Kide was sick at time of the first competition and for the next two we did not get in (tests are full so you have to make a lottery to see who gets into the test). So it seems that no cold game tests for us this year, such a shame!

I have applied in few obedience tests in the even more scary elit class this fall. It feels that they are getting closer way too fast compared to the training we have made. Let's hope we will have good time trying out our skills there, and hopefully will have some better results next year :).

Here are few photos of our hunting scenery, note the drastic change in the amount of water between the first and the second picture (taken within a week difference).

3.8. Kide made 3 clear rounds in class 3 agility competition and finished the day as 4th best in district championships! A fantastic result :)

9.6. We have had a great agility turnee with Kide! After almost a half year of not competing in agility we started in 24th May with two clear rounds, one with winning the class II. Within two weeks after that we were qualified for the class III (the highest) with again class win. In the first two class III competitions we made clear rounds, one with a bit of extra time. But anyway, a fantastic return to agility competitions.

Now we will have a pause from competitions the rest of the June and probably also July and try to train for field trials in the autumn. Looking forward to that! :)

Sad news: My father's puppy "Lumo" 4 months got suddenly (during one evening a week ago) really sick with symptoms including blood in the urine and total lack of energy. It turned out that blood in the urine was not red blood cells but their waste products. Lumo is thought to have immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA), possibly caused by vaccines administered two weeks earlier. She is on cortisone treatment and has gained her energy back already in few days. We are hoping that the test values will also get better (hematocrit 60, hemoglobin 46). We will know more about it hopefully tomorrow. So please keep your thumbs up!

10.5. Kide got winner class 1st prize in obedience with really good points (308,5 p). Kide also won his class and is now qualified for the highest class. Yes! Now we will start practising so there will be no obedience tests for a while. In the beginning of June there will be quite many agility competitions and in the fall hopefully field trials in open class.

Spring 2008: It has been a quiet spring because of our moving and Tiina's graduation and studies at medical school. We took part in one obedience test and again winner class 2nd prize with a really nice performance. Maybe some day....

Here are video links to the obedience competition (the size is small because of the limits in the video camera in Jyri's mobile phone)

http://www.students.tut.fi/~palmuj/Video000.3gp
http://www.students.tut.fi/~palmuj/Video001.3gp

Kide was chosen as the best agility newcomer of Golden

retriever association of Finland in 2007!

YEAR 2007

1.12. A clear round in class 2 agility and a 3rd place out of 27 dogs!

24.11. A fantastic obedience test, even though we got only 2nd prize in winner class. We both enjoyed so much and the points were 10/10/10/10/10/0/10/0/5/10. We were 2nd in a class of 6 dogs.

21.10. Kide got a 3rd prize in working test after one unsuccesfull post. The points were 14, 18, 7, 20 (20 being the maximum). Hopefully better luck next year :)

30.9.-6.10. We spent a week hunting in Lapland and the trip was succesfull in every way. Tiina got her first game and with a beginner's luck it was a male capercaillie. It was a nice way to start! :) There are plenty of pictures from our trip in gallery.

1.9. Cold game test Yesterday we got a 1st prize in beginners class with Kide and moved up to open class!! Hopefully we will start in open class next summer, but before that we need to train quite a lot :)

20.8. Duck hunting season started in Finland. Even though the start was bad, Kide finished the day by 9 great retrieves and made good friends with the local hunters :-)

Waiting for the game at the lake

18.-19.8 Agility competitions in Lempäälä. Kide did two clear runs finishing up as first and second in classes of about 20 dogs!! So we moved up to class 2, yes!

5.8. We participated in a cold game test (Nome-B test) with Kide and got a 2nd prize in novice class. Unfortunately Kide missed a dubbel mark which dropped our prize. Otherwise we were really pleased with his working today.

4.8.2007 Kide did in his second agility competition a clear run and won the class of 14 dogs! The clear run was the only one in the class 1 with about 40 dogs altogether! Nice!

5.8. English pages finally opened!