ps The Absolute ribbon in the photo is not ours. But maybe it is a good omen!
New Field Champion Cadium Aurinkosoturi with judges Lois Ballard (left) and Pam Bethke. Viljo is pictured winning the first Field Champion Dog class he was entered in. There were 14 in the class. I was so happy when he opened (voiced) at this trial that I was hitting Phil Ruggieri on the back after he started us on the line in first series!
ps The Absolute ribbon in the photo is not ours. But maybe it is a good omen!
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This morning I had just finished four miles on my exercise bike when I heard a bunch of commotion from the kennel yard. Nexus, Owl, and Viljo virtually never fight but this did not sound good. I went out and found that there was - or had been - something under the corner of the kennel building. All three dogs were digging and barking and running back and forth through the nearest dog door. I went into the kennel and Owl began barking with his head shoved behind the shelving unit. Beside the shelves is a door to a very small room (closet size) that also has a door to the outside. I opened the inside door, figuring that a black snake, mouse, or chipmunk was long gone. The dogs piled into a corner behind some stuff I have in there and came tumbling back out with a woodchuck! Woodchucks, also called groundhogs, are very tough little guys with sharp teeth and claws but obviously no match for three determined dachshunds. They pulled it into the kennel room and it took a few minutes but they killed it. I weighed it afterward. It was a 7.8 pound male and recently out of hibernation. Where it came from, I don't know. Marta killed one on the neighbor's property several years ago. But I have never seen a groundhog on my property, much less inside the kennel building! The outside door to that little storage room was gaping open a bit from recent winds which must be how the animal entered. I have to say that good old Nexus worked the hardest and with the most intense determination. At first, Viljo was like wow, I've never seen anything like this! But after a moment's shock and awe, Viljo was the one gripping most around the head and neck which was very helpful to their cause. Owl tried a few times early on to pull it outside through a dog door in an effort to claim it for himself. But he was working against the woodchuck, Nexus, and Viljo and gave that up. I knew the instant that the woodchuck was dead because Owl began a low growl toward the other dogs. I picked Owl up and took him away. While I was momentarily gone, Nexus and Viljo got into it with each other. I picked Nexus up and that was the end of that. None of the dogs was hurt except Nexus has a small puncture wound on the bridge of his muzzle and one on the flap of an ear. (From the woodchuck or from Viljo? I suspect from the woodchuck.) The dogs were very happy that the woodchuck was there. I am happy that the woodchuck is gone. I do not want den animals burrowing under the kennel building!
Well, you can see that I do not always lead a quiet and peaceful life! Just had a great little late night training session. I had been having a problem with Viljo with the weave poles. His entrances and first few poles have consistently been good but then he would look to me while in the poles and mess up what had started really well. As my instructor said, it was because I was carrying his reward (which has not been an issue with Owl or Nexus). So I started putting the food in a treat pouch and throwing it past the end of the weaves while he was in them. But that did not help because then he was looking to me to throw it! I tried using a target for him to hit after the weaves. Results with that were poor. I have been thinking that I might have to get one of those remote Ready Treat things. But this week I thought that it might work for me to just lay the treat pouch on the floor at the end of the weaves. It has rabbit fur on the outside (!) and I put the reward inside and Viljo loves to pounce on it and shake it very hard. So I was skeptical that I could leave it on the floor like that and Viljo would leave it alone until completing the weaves. But it has worked beautifully! It took just two times of me dropping it on the floor, Viljo rushing to grab it, and me explaining to him that he must do the weaves first and then he can have it. He understood so quickly! In this past week, he has gone from 8 poles often done shabbily to 12 poles consistently done well. Besides accurate completion, finally getting the focus off me has increased his rhythm and speed significantly. Yaaay!!
My dogs have given me a day of agony. What began as a 30 minute walk for exercise turned into a 25 hour nightmare. I was walking in the field with Marta and Owl who were on lead and Nexus and Viljo who were off lead. This was at 11 am on Thursday. I normally don't have two dogs off lead at the same time but Thursday I'd made an exception. Viljo was a little ahead and to the left of us when I saw him pick up his head and catch some scent, probably of deer. He ran down hill in a beeline for the woods. Nexus saw Viljo do this, and ran after him. They both went a short distance along the woods line, then headed into the woods. I didn't think much of it. I figured they'd be back soon. I continued on my walk with Owl and Marta through what was left of the snow. On the way home, we stopped and waited a little while for the others, but there was no sign of them and we went on home. An hour later, it began to snow again. The prediction was for 4 to 6 inches and for the temperature to begin dropping. Two hours later, no Nexus. No Viljo. I called work and told them the situation. I said I couldn't just get in my car and leave with two dogs out in the woods somewhere. Thankfully, they understood. One co-worker, Karen, offered so stay over until I got there. I never got there... Three hours, four hours, five hours went by. It was snowing hard. And getting colder. And the wind picked up. And darkness was coming. I went out several times, walking and calling, and whistling. And praying. I didn't know who to be more concerned about. Nexus, nearly nine years old, had surgery in September and might have trouble with the deep ravines and the snow. But Nexus knows the woods and roads for a couple of miles in every direction, we've walked them many times. (This is a very rural area.) On the other hand, seven months old Viljo was only familiar with our own acreage. I was really concerned that deer lines would take them further than Viljo could find his way home. 5.5 hours later, at 4:30 pm, Nexus arrived on the front porch. He was thirsty but otherwise absolutely fine. Huge, huge relief! One dog home now, one to go. Viljo, where are you?? The last time I went out was just after midnight. I tromped in the snow for 45 minutes but I had no idea, really, which direction to go. After that, I had to call it quits for the night. It was an extremely long and difficult night for me, knowing that the air temperature was 8 degrees, the winds were blowing up to 25 miles per hour, there was half a foot of new snow, and my puppy was out in the woods somewhere. I tried to sleep but every time the wind rattled the house, I was wide awake wondering where Viljo was and if I would see him again. My three main concerns with Viljo were his lack of familiarity with the area, the difficult weather, and fox traps. Ohio fox trapping season runs through the end of January. I have met and talked with a lifelong trapper who lives in my village - and I know that he is very good at what he does. Among a myriad of other possibilities, I wondered if Viljo could be caught in a trap somewhere. The next morning, I designed a lost dog flier using an excellent Internet resource for people who have lost dogs and cats. http://www.sherlockbones.com/ "Sherlock Bones" may sound hokey but don't laugh. John Keane has made a 30+ years living helping people find lost pets. I'd read his book many years ago and found a few years ago that, sure enough, he is alive and well...and has a website. You can buy his e-book for $30. It is just 14 pages BUT 14 pages filled with concise, precise, very valuable information on the Dos and Don'ts of looking for lost dogs. Mr. Keane has identified certain "best practices" when it comes to locating a lost dog and it is certainly good to know what they are. If you lose a dog, you will be very glad you have this information on hand. I handed a copy of my flier to the plow driver as he went by while I worked in the bitter cold to shovel out my driveway. Then I left to drive to a copy shop to have a bunch of card stock copies made. I planned to spend the afternoon tacking up fliers, handing fliers out to everyone I saw, and going house to house asking people if they had seen my dog. Thankfully, when I got home from the copy shop at 12:30 armed with 200 posters, Viljo was waiting on me! My 7.5 month old puppy was a little tired and a lot hungry but in great shape after 25 hours in severe cold and nearly half a foot of new snow. I wasn't doing as well... I would LOVE to know where and how Viljo spent the night. But let's just say that I have never been so HAPPY to see an animal in my life! Viljo is a grand youngster and I am very happy to have him. The picture shows his thoughtful face but Viljo also has a great sense of humor. He spent some time with the Stock family earlier this month. Julie emailed me, "Hi, Patt! You should see Viljo playing with Nike! [cat] It's too funny. They run back and forth, and Nike acts like she's going to run away and hide, but she "hides" where he can get her (usually under the dining room table, but on a chair). He gets up in her face. She then proceeds to smack him and hiss, and he think's it's hilarious, so they run the other way across the living room. So don't worry about Viljo not getting any exercise!" All the dogs except Kasi went for a walk this afternoon. Later, near sunset, I took seven months old Viljo out by himself. I shot some video of him with my Flip camera. The video was very bouncy, though, because I'd walked up and down hill in snow. So I pulled stills from the video and made a slide show instead. The quality of the photos isn't great but you can see something of the qualities of Viljo! The temperature was 25 degrees, the air was still, and we were out for about 40 minutes. When the sun went down and the moon came up, we called it a walk and headed for home. In some of the photos, it is obvious that Viljo is following (old) deer tracks. It is not a habit that I encourage. I just keep walking and pretty soon he breaks off and comes with me. Viljo is very responsive to my whereabouts in the field. In part, this is due to his age, then again it is a habit that I fully encourage! I drove three hours up to the Crown Classic show at the IX Center in Cleveland today - just so Viljo could see 160 breeds of dogs! The International Exposition Center is an enormous place. Over 3000 dogs were competing in conformation, obedience, agility, and rally - in one room - so there was a lot to see and hear. It was a really far cry from anything Viljo has seen and heard here on the Ponderosa! One of the few downers of living in the sticks is that it takes much more effort to socialize puppies. Well, let's see. First, I accustomed Viljo to all the noise and commotion by leaving him in his crate so he could acclimate. After that, we took short walks through the place followed by longer walks. Viljo took it all in and became very comfortable. Then he became playful. It was really cute when we watched some agility and Viljo saw dogs 'disappear' into the tunnel by us. He tilted his head and craned his neck looking for the dogs that disappeared. Ha, ha. And while we were wandering the many booths, a guy who sells dog treats went under a table to dig around in a box for something and Viljo went under there to help him. He got a treat for that. Either it was payment for helping, or payment to stop helping, could've been either one. Many dog lovers from the general public attend these shows and Viljo got a lot of attention. He is not really an affectionate dog with people (not with me, either) because he is too busy to be affectionate. He always has things to do! In the spirit of keeping busy and doing things, however, Viljo likes to shake hands. Children, especially, thought that was fun. Thanks to their agreeable owners, Viljo said Hi! to a springer spaniel, wanted to play with a beagle, was turned off by a pushy Belgian sheepdog, was turned on by a big and hairy but gentle 22 months old Otterhound (he pulled her hair a couple of times like he pulls my pant leg to greet me), played duck, duck, goose with a Bull terrier puppy, was held by kids, hugged by adults, had his picture taken a few times, chased wisps of dog hair floating on the floor, and scarfed a couple liver treats thrown by handlers in the group rings. We were there for six hours so it was a fairly long day. Viljo didn't have to drive so rested up on the way home. After we got home, he capped his eventful day by separating wicker from the new wicker basket. It's the first thing he's ever torn up. I should've seen it coming. I thought it would be a good place to put the dog toys that are scattered all over. Viljo thought it was a toy and scattered wicker all over! It was a great day for Viljo! Addendum: We enjoyed the otterhound so much that I have done a little research on the breed. The otterhound has an interesting heritage and is quite uncommon. I read that only about half a dozen litters are born in the US and Canada each year. I also learned that in lineage and vocation, Otterhounds are true hounds. Here you can read an old descriptive article, An Otter Hunt in North Wales . And here you can hear the voice of an otterhound at only five months old! At two o'clock this morning, home after a late night at work, I was out walking Nexus and Viljo. In 17° temp, 10 mph winds, and light snow, I was actually enjoying myself because the dogs were having a great time in the snow. Then Nexus peed on the little branch I call a peach tree...and Viljo lined up behind him. Ah, I said to myself, Viljo is about to lift his leg for the second time today. And he did. He lifted his leg high and it teetered a bit the whole time but didn't fall down. I stood there kind of awed by instinct. Viljo will be seven months old tomorrow. All of his life he has squatted to urinate. Today, something in his physiology has told him to do it differently.
Here is a definition from Wikipedia (emphasis mine): "Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism toward a particular behavior. The fixed action patterns are unlearned and inherited. Instinctual actions - in contrast to actions based on learning - have no learning curve, they are hard-wired and ready to use without learning. Some instinctual behaviors depend on maturational processes to appear." Viljo's processes are maturing. : ) I am happy to report that Viljo has all 42 permanent teeth completely in or coming in. I have been looking at his teeth regularly, both for my own information and for giving him experience with really thorough bite examination. Vijo's father has complete dentition; his mother is missing one 1st premolar (not considered a fault). It's funny (not ha, ha) that until a few years ago, while I knew what correct and incorrect bites looked like, I had never counted teeth or even knew how many teeth a dog should have. "Should have" is the key note on this topic. Since my involvement with the Deutscher Teckelklub, I have learned that not all dogs have complete dentition and that there is a genetic component to missing teeth. It was in 2000, and my first experience with a German judge, that I first saw any judge open dogs mouths wide and study teeth, and I'd been going to shows and observing judges off and on for 32 years. Following are statements from the FCI Standard for the Dachshund regarding teeth. Faults: M3 (Molar 3) are not to be considered when judging. Lack of 2PM1 (Premolar 1) is not to be penalized. The absence of PM2 should be regarded as a fault, if other than M3, no other teeth are missing, also a departure from the correctly closing scissor bite. Serious Faults: The absence of teeth other than those described among faults or eliminating faults. Eliminating Faults: Lack of other premolars or molars. Exceptions : The two PM1, one PM2 without consideration of M3, as mentioned under Faults. What this means is that a dog may be missing one or two 1st premolars (the teeth just behind the canines), and one or both 3rd molars (found only on the lower jaw), without fault. Missing a 2nd premolar is a fault. Missing any incisor, any canine, any 3rd premolar, any 4th premolar, any 1st molar, or any 2nd molar is a disqualifying fault. Missing a 2nd premolar plus any other tooth (except 3rd molars) is also a disqualifying fault. Missing more than two 1st premolars is a disqualifying fault. So now I pay attention, not just to the alignment of incisors and canines, but to the presence of all the teeth. Above left: This is a good canine dental chart. Click on the diagram for a full-size view.
Above right: The bite of a 5-6 month old puppy is in transition. During this transition, puppies go from 28 teeth to 42. This photo shows adult incisors, two erupting adult premolars, and a puppy canine with no evidence yet of the permanent tooth. Nexus, Viljo, and I were out on our usual walk in the field this morning. The wind was blowing but it wasn't cold and we were enjoying ourselves. Nexus suddenly pounced on a dirt spot in the grass and began digging. Viljo joined him and the dirt flew. I stood and watched. They have played this game before. Next thing I knew, a mole appeared in the excavated earth behind Nexus, mere inches from Viljo's nose. Viljo snatched it and shook it like crazy. He did that for quite awhile. Nexus, intent as he was in his digging, did not know Viljo had the mole until we started back to the house! I got my Flip and made a little video of Viljo and his prize. After 40 minutes or so, Viljo began looking for a place to hide it. I nixed his request to bring it into the house. My tolerance for the game of Mole! has limits. Got moles? Get a dachshund! Viljo and I spent the day in Columbus yesterday. First, we visited Jennifer Fry and her standard longhair Griffin. (Gretel is still on the field trial circuit with the Knolls.) Jennifer has taken some weight off Griffin and he is looking and feeling good! Now 13.5 years old, he was downright frisky during our little nail cutting and paw grooming session.
From Jennifer's, we went to the OSU equine sciences facility to watch Julie Stock ride her thoroughbred mare Callie in a jumping lesson. It's the second time Viljo has visited "the barn", he likes it there. Before, during, and after the horse agility, Viljo gets to play in the dirt, snatch an old horse turd now and again, and vacuum for bits of sweet feed along the stall doors. He is not intimidated by the horses. Julie rode for about 90 minutes. She and Callie did a nice job! Viljo and I assisted Christian in moving the jump standards and poles in and out of the building. Made me really appreciate the size and weight of dog agility equipment! Afterward, we went back to the Stock's house. We watched the ESPN broadcast of six year old thoroughbred super horse Zenyatta in her last race. She lost her second Breeders' Cup Classic by a head. We were not happy. After dinner, Julie and Christian and I stayed at the table and discussed options of who to breed their bitch Pie to early next year. Unfortunately, the options are very few in number. We will check out one or two possibilities for stud dogs that we need more familiarity with...and we need to do it soon. Pie, Owl's daughter and out of the Stock's last litter, will be five years old in April. Viljo was very playful with the Stock's dogs - and especially the cats. He turned himself inside out trying to get those cats, Zoe and Nike, to play with him! For brief moments, he actually succeeded. (By the way, the two year old cats are the two reasons why Owl is no longer a welcome guest in the Stock household! Owl is obsessed when it comes to cats - and he does NOT want to play.) I am fairly sure that there was at least one cat in the house when Viljo was a very young puppy. Other than a few drowsy lifts of his head, Viljo slept all the way home. Back to the horse race, I find it rather astounding that "Blame" is the name of the only horse ever to beat Zenyatta! It is exactly the same ironic coincidence as "Upset" being the only horse ever to defeat Man o' War! It also happened to a record crowd that came to see Triple Crown Champion Secretariat at Saratoga: "Onion left 'em crying by upsetting Secretariat in the Whitney." As one article about Secretariat noted, "It’s a funny thing about horses who can’t lose. Sometimes they do." I am, however, with the multitudes who consider Zenyatta's last race not a blemish but a beauty mark. The Boston Herald has a well-written article about Zenyatta - and Blame - yesterday . Svante, 2 years old, is father of my new youngster Viljo. Svante's owner Tia Eskelinen of Finland tells us what happened. "A man called us at 6.30pm on Friday that he has shoot a deer but they can't find it. They have checked one area but it's already dark and they need help. We just took our flashlights (that you can keep on your head) and a dog and drove to that hunting cabin you saw. We met the hunters there and drove to the place where they found some blood. It was about 7pm. They showed me that here is some blood and that is the way the deer run and I showed that blood to dog and said nothing - and he started tracking! I was so excited that I didn't remember to say the word "jälki" what I always use when we start tracking. He did so well, all the time I knew that he is on line. He was full of energy but still calm, he tracked very carefully. Once he spend more time checking under trees (maybe deer has been lying there a while) and few times he smelled ground more carefully (maybe there was some more blood, I didn't see, it was so dark). I was checking the area all the time and then I saw it, deer was lying down on ground. I told shooter that goes to check that deer and very soon I let the dog go to see the deer. Svante has never seen deer before and first he looked that like thinking "oh no WHAT is that?!". Very soon he realised that it's not going to kill him and oh he was sooo proud! His ego filled the whole forest! After tracking we were so proud of Svante, his career couldn't start any better!" Good job, Svante, Tia and Jarkko! Here's to many more deer recovered! I found out when I was in Finland in August that the Finns imported whitetails from the States in something like the '40s. Today they have a very healthy whitetail population and whitetails are a favorite game animal. (But not more favorite than the moose!) MACH2 Nutmeg v Dorndorf L CD RN CG (8 years), Sage v Dorndorf L (13 months), and Cadium Aurinkosoturi (5 months today), all passed the DTK test for steadiness to gun at the NATC-sponsored event in Roscoe, Illinois. This is an important accomplishment, for the Deutscher Teckelklub specifies "a dog may only participate in a hunting test or test of innate ability if he has proven he is not gun shy." Thus Nutmeg, Sage, and Viljo may now participate in such tests.
Nutmeg and Sage are owned by Maxine Brinker of Illinois. This was Maxine's first time attending NATC events. Said she had a lot of fun! I made the following video of Viljo during the test. The first of two gunshots has just gone off and the video starts with Viljo running back to me. However, he is running back happily, in no way appearing to be fearful or terrified in the manner of a gunshy dog. (We have learned that this test does require some judgement on the part of the judges.) The dog is to be off lead and approx. 30 meters away from the handler when the shots are fired. With a dog that tends to stay closer to the handler, one way to accomplish the distance is for the handler to back up while the dog is moving forward. This works to increase distance - until the dog notices and comes running back! You will hear judge Larry Gohlke call "wait" to gunner Cheri Faust as Viljo returns to me a couple of times. When he gets far enough away again, the second shot is fired. Viljo's reaction is quite sound, (pardon the pun), then he happily runs back once more. I believe that is Carrie Hamilton, the other judge, chuckling in the background. Good boy, Viljo! |
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February 2015
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