27th November 2009
I took Rudi to the x-ray to check how is his hip doing 4 months after the surgery. I decided to check his shoulders and elbows as well. And the official results were - hips perfect and healthy like before, shoulders healthy and elbows healthy, OCD=free and ED=O :-)))).
Here you can see how his hip looked like after the injury, and how it was fixed after the operation.

20th-22nd November 2009
1st Croatian Sheepdog Working Championship. It finally came. And it was absolutely overwhelming:-). Being with good friends for three days, seeing so many Croatian Sheepdogs at one place, compete with them... Just beautiful:-).
And it was great to see all of Miška's pups competing next to her:-). Not just that, together they won in almost every discipline:-). Kiša won in Tracking, Rudi in Obedience and Protection, and Miška in Area Search and Veteran Agility:-).
Miška had a time of her life at agility. She was so delighted to run agility again that she simply radiated with joy. I got to feel one more time how good it is to run with her. Actually, three more times;-). Beside the one knocked bar in Jumping, we did all the runs fluently. So nice that she was even the fastest dog in Jumping, all categories included (Large, Veteran, Medium). In the end she won in Veteran category (3 runs counted overall), and earned the highest place in agility competition of all categories combined. By this great result in Agility, followed by the 1st place in Area Search and two 2nd places in Herding and Protection, she became the Overall Winner of the Championship:-). And her daughter Kiša stood by her side at the pedestal, winning a 3rd place Overall:-).
Rudi was a good boy too. We failed to find one decoy at the Area Search, however this time it was more the matter of luck and my handling. But he showed off in Protection and Obedience. The judge liked him so much that it was pretty obvious from the first exercises on that he was his favourite;-).
All in all, certainly a competition to remember. And a best possible retirement party that Miška could wish for:-). (results)

15th November 2009
This time I finally went to a SAR test with Rudi:-). Test was held in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, right on the spot where Rudi past the first level test a year ago. I will be short. I was more then pleased with him. He worked nicely, we cooperated very good and he didn't loose any of determination and focus inspite of not training for 4 months. He even wasn't so tired after the 20 minute search, as I expected him to be. But... He didn't want to bark at the 2 decoys that were unfamiliar to him, although he found them. He perfectly well barked at the decoy he new, a friend of mine from the club that helped at the test. Sooo, now I finally discovered what was actually his problem all along. And I will force myself to be positive and forget how many times we flunked the test by now, so I will say that this is a good thing, because at least I now know what we have to work on;-).

19th October 2009
Video of Rutvica's second herding training.

16th October 2009
I started to prepare more seriously for the upcoming 1st Croatian Sheepdog Working Championship in Zagreb. I decided to compete with Miška in area search, herding, protection and agility, all of her favourite disciplines (and the ones that mostly consist of running, the thing that she still feels good at). Participating in such a special event will be a nice way of saying farewell to her working career.
Rudi gave me some trouble, as I wasn't sure to compete with him or not. It's really lousy when your dogs have been injured, you never again stop to worry about them, and always wonder if they are quite OK and up to the usual challenges. Anyway, I took a deep breath and decided that he is well enough to compete in obedience, area search and protection.
So we started to train protection again, with our decoy Brane Miklobušec. Rudi thought that the heaven has come to earth:-). He really loves protection, and he looks good while doing it;-). I will definitely have to organize some photo shooting.
Miška once again showed how smart she was. She worked like a pro and remembered every single thing, although she trained protection last time 4 years ago. But, I was quite sad at the same time. Watching her work beside her children, gave me another slap of reality right in face. She is old. The Miška I remember, the crazy, fast, tireless and furious Miška is gone. Maybe I am being too sentimental, but somehow I never thought the time will come when Miška and I won't do everything together any more.

9th-11th October 2009
Another SAR test, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. I thought about not going to this test with Miška after all, but in the end decided not to cancel our entry and go through with the test this last time. So I set the goal on having as much fun as possible on searching, and try not to be bothered with what happens at the obedience.
Searching was judged by Detlef Kühn. I think that I have never before in my life get so much compliments for our work, as this dear judge gave us after we finished our search. It certainly helped to feel a bit better, as Miška and I again failed to find a last person. But this time it seems that it wasn't either mine or hers fault. At the end of the search terrain there was a big area of shrubbery. The last decoy was hidden inside it, not very deep, but as the vegetation was quite tall, thick and with an intensive smell, and there was no wind at all, it was obviously enough to make it impossible for many dogs to detect him.
Our schedule for the obedience exercises was the worst possible - only an hour after the searching. Although this time I knew what could happen, I still didn't take it easily. After the first two legs of the heeling I asked the judge if I can stop with the exercises, but he said I can't because he wants the other dog that worked in a pair with me to be disturbed. So we went on:-/. In the end of that horror judge Daniel Sedlak was more then open handed, and gave us 35 points.
Next day we did dexterity exercises, which went well as usual, and we earned 44 points from the judge Karel Pavlik. (results)

3rd October 2009
Two videos of Rutvica - agility and obedience basics.

26th-27th September 2009
This time I decided to combine a pleasure with business;-). So I went to Amsterdam with my friend for a few days, and along the way did a SAR test with Miška in Oosterhout. Being in Amsterdam and Netherlands was great as ever. The test could however been better.
On the searching part Miška did a great job like always. We had to find 4 persons in 20 minutes, and she found 3 of them in the first 10 minutes. She showed some minor problems in barking on one well barricaded decoy to whom she couldn't get close enough as she wished to, but I was impressed by her determination and will. I wasn't much of the handler though, I missed checking few parts of the woods thoroughly, and made a critical error in the end, at the point where the searching area was turning to the left. I wrongly judged that we have checked the outer part of that corner well enough, and I sent Miška to search forward. Needless to say, the last decoy was right at the part of the terrain that I dismissed in my reasoning.
Obedience exercises where a complete shock to me. Miška was behaving like she was beaten. Our test in Koper 3 weeks ago was full of small mistakes, but she was motivated and focused. For this I was really not prepared. She started the heeling exercise ok, but after the first leg she started to walk behind me, and didn't want to look at me at all:-/. Same thing happened on the sit, down and stay in motion exercises. Crawling, retrieving and a send away were good, but overall she looked like she hates doing obedience. Something I never thought to experience with Miška:-(. Judge Andreas Hauk too generously gave us 41 points for our poor performance.
When the time for the dexterity exercises came, Miška suddenly transformed into her old self again, and earned nice 45 points from the judge Jerneja Ternovec. (results)
And what did I learn? That my dog is old and that I no more have a privilege of being careless, and then have her unconditional motivation inspite everything. She gets tired more easily, her operated leg gets sore after a lot of activity, and when her body starts to refuse to cooperate with the wishes of the mind, loosing a motivation is inevitable. Especially in the obedience, the discipline that obviously became too demanding for her poor leg. It's time for retirement...

5th September 2009
I went to a SAR test with Miška, held in Koper, Slovenia. Weather was sunny and bora was blowing. Test was held on a typical Mediterranean terrain covered with thorny bushes and short trees, partly not so easy passable and partly rather open, and occasionally intersected by drystone walls. Ground was hard to walk on, as it was covered by many stones (but it was probably harder for us, two legged creatures, then for our four legged friends, they didn't complain a bit;-). We had to find 3 persons in 20 minutes. Miška got high 190 points for the search, and low 37 points each for the obedience and dexterity exercises. During the dexterity exercises she slipped of the ladder and I helped her so we lost all 10 points that this exercise carries. Our obedience performance was full of small mistakes, and few bigger ones, so although our overall impression wasn't so bad, we got the points we deserved. And it serves us well for not training the whole summer! In spite that she got the highest total points of all the competitors in a second level of Area Search (RH-FL B), and she won:-).

2nd September 2009
New video of Rutvica here.

31st August 2009
Few videos...
Herding training with Miška on August 12th - sheeps were not so bidable and slow as I was used to, and didn't want to stay together in herd as much either, so everything looked a bit chaotic. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by how easy I controlled Miška in comparison to the 4 years ago when we last trained herding. How do they say? Older is wiser? Or maybe "Older is slower" could also be appropriate, she is definitely not attacking and biting sheeps so eagerly as before;-). Anyway, she worked better with my friend Alen. I couldn't do nothing at first, and then he took over. She showed really nice instinct in a few situations, when she all by herself tried to bring the herd back to Alen, or gathered few astrayed sheep back to a herd. After I took over the herding again, she immediately became more nervous and less obedient. She felt my insecurity and confusion right away;-).
Our training on the August 16th was much better. Sheeps were very cooperative. Except for the ram who was very annoyed by Miška's barking and gave her some trouble, but she managed to push him back to a herd anyway. We succeeded to really lead the herd where we wanted:-).
Here you can see the video of Rutvica, 11 weeks old Croatian Sheepdog, showing some things she learned after two days of training. She is a bride to be for a Kro, first CS in Japan, and will stay with me until it's the right time for her to go to her new home in Japan. I am documenting her progress for her future owners Katsumi Imamura and Jun Odakura, and hope that this way they will get to know her better, and don't miss this part of her life when she is growing up.
Another video of Rutvica, showing her behaviour on a walk in a new surrounding, and meeting new dogs (video).

29th July 2009
And the death was just kidding around with me after all... My sweet goofy Šeša died...

14th July 2009
This July started on bad terms and it just kept getting worse and worse... Rudi seriously injured his hip after jumping off the first floor of the ruin. And the most absurd thing is that we even didn't train at the time, we were just passing by the ruin while on a walk through the woods. I avoid training on the ruins as hell after I saw that my dogs are too unreasonable for that kind of "sport". One second Rudi was just at my heels and the next he was flying through the air. It even wasn't a matter of him slipping off the edge or being forced to take a sudden jump - my friend said that he looked down at us for a moment and heroicly decided to jump. When I turned over to him he was already jumping. No fear and no brain...
He was urgently operated by doctor Milan Matko from Slovenia the very next day. He had a dislocated left hip, torned joint capsule and ruptured hip ligaments. Doctor Matko has placed back the hip, sewn the joint capsule and put the sintetic ligaments around the joint to hold the hip in it's place. Good thing is that Rudi was able to walk immediately after the operation, and he used his leg without any hesitation. Also, the vet said that he has really excellent hips so he has a better chance for recovery. And him being young, fit and well muscled will also help a lot. Now he has to be on the strict rest for 6-8 weeks, and after that we can start with a slow rehabilitation. His vet thinks that he will be completely healed after 4 months. So I will be able to see how much is his leg really functional the next year, after we (hopefully!) start to train agility again.

10th July 2009
There are some things that don't fit to any actual dates, so I'll just make a quick notes about them...
In May Šeša got quite ill. She started to breathe havily and get suffocation attacks. The vets said that she got a serious pulmonary edema, a bad hearth and a high blood pressure. They even found a half of the long forgotten ball in her stomach while she was x-rayed (which fortunately doesn't bother her a bit). After they started to give her medicaments, her kidneys started to fail, she got gastritis, a problem with controling urination, diarrhea... Things really looked bad for some time, but in moments she was still a same normal, slightly confused old dog I knew, so I didn't want to quit with the treatment. Well, I am glad that I didn't, because after a month her condition improved and stabilised:-)). She can't go to long walks any more and I have to watch out for her more on a hot and humid weather, but she's back:-)!
While I was absent from the agility competitions, I put my mind in training few new things with Rudi - protection work, tracking and herding. So far the protection work is the thing he is most talented for;-). Well, he already knows many of the basics I teached him myself - good play, reliable release on command, searching blinds, barking at the decoy... Of course, there is still a lot of work and polishing to do! Oh yes, and we have an excellent instructor/decoy - Brane Miklobušec. I really like the way he works with dogs!
We started training tracking from the end goal, which is teaching him to mark all kinds of articles eagerly and reliably. So far it's going on well, but that's only a beginning, there are hundreds of things that can yet happen in the process:-).
Uuuuh, and herding... Well, he is wearing a muzzle when we train because when he was young he tried to kill the sheeps (or it felt like that to me;-). But now he is angry that he has to carry the muzzle, so his focus on herding is unstable and varies much (What's the point anyway if I can't bite them?!?). But I will be more stuborn than him on this matter, so we shall see:-)...

1st-5th July 2009
Miška and I went to the IRO Rescue Dog World Championship in Craiova, Romania, as the members of Croatian SAR team. It looks like this just wasn't our year, we all came back without accomplishing the search part of the competition, although we have a remarkable and talented dogs in a team. I also had a bad misfortune with Miška during the searching - after she found a second person, the organizers told him to come out of his hiding place, but the last hidden person missunderstood that and thought it was meant for him, so he also got out of the terrain. As then there was no one else left for Miška to find, judges stopped the search and offered me to accept the points I got so far, or the chance to repeat the search that same day, after all scheduled dogs finish their job. As the second search would then be only 3 hours apart from the first, which I knew was too much for Miška's age and strenght, we asked the main judge Martin Gut if it's possible that she has a search tomorrow when she is rested, and that way get a fair chance like all the dogs at the competition, who had to do only one search in a day. He kindly agreed on this, so on Sunday we were back in the woods. However, as it showed, Miška was too tired even with a one day rest. Her natural drive for searching was much lower, so she greatly relied on my sendings. She also needed more encouragement, which is in opposite with her usual attitude "you just stay here and let me do the work". She even gave a false alert, the thing she didn't do for many years, and which was a problem she showed when she felt really frustrated. However, even with all of this, we found two persons and had a near miss on the third. If we were just a bit more persistent, she in her search, and I myself in sending her to check the terrain more thoroughly... Beside that, she got nice 44 points on dexterity, and 48 points for obedience. You can see the IRO Rescue Dog WCH web page here.

27th June 2009
After almost a month and a half without agility, I competed with Rudi and Miška in Domzale, Slovenia. No good runs in Agility, but I managed to run clear Jumping with both of them. Miška won it in her Veteran class, and Rudi was placed 8th, having a 2 seconds slower time then the fastest dog. I had quite a good feeling running this course, so I was a bit surprised by such a time. Who knows, maybe I can blame it on a heavy rain that soaked the ground just 10 minutes before we ran;-). (results)

9th-14th June 2009
I attended the seminar in Slovenia, held by Resi Gerritzer and Ruud Haak as lecturers for the search and rescue, and Milos Kovac as the lecturer for the obedience. I had a great time and enjoyed every minute of it. Even the weather decided to join the fun, and we had beautiful sunny days all the way, which was quite unusual for this years moody spring.
I also got good tips for training with Rudi, which confirmed to me that I was on a right track with my thoughts about what to do with him, and helped me to decide and feel more certain on our way of training. Basicly, Milos told me that I have to watch out carefully to reward Rudi only when he shows calmness and focus in obedience, and never when he is over-excited and nervous (and barking!). He said that by doing that I will teach him to control and lower his drive, as the right feelings of the dog during the performance of the exercise are also the things that are trainable. I started to concentrate on that right away and it helped, I even managed to throw him the ball in complete and utter silence the rest of the days;-).
Resi and Ruud gave me almost the same advice. We all agreed that Rudi enjoys running even more then searching and barking at the people, so they told me to go back to basics and make him think of the searching as the thing that is better then anything else. I have to be passive and not provide him with a pleasure to be sent away in a search (he ADORES send aways!), or pump him up for searching by my voice. These are the things that actually just make him over-excited and unfocused on the job. It is very strange to have a dog that is so motivated that his mind goes blank from overload;-).
On Sunday, after the seminar, there was a SAR test. Must I repeat it again? We didn't pass it! He found the first person quickly and barked excellent, after that searched nicely again, found a second person, barked 10 times and then... left her and ran back to me! After that I searched for some time more, but ceased the search few minutes before the time elapsed - I just didn't want to allow him to get even more rewarded just by enjoying the good run in the open.

6th June 2009
Kiša passed the IPO1 exam:-)))! Following her mothers steps;-)! Tracking 83 points, obedience 96 and protection work 98! Congratulations Polona!
(obedience and protection work videos)

24th May 2009
Miška and I went to Solymár, near Budapest, Hungary, to compete in Area search at the SAR competition. And she won:-). She is just a plain smart dog:-). (results)
With this great result she qualified for the SAR World Championship as well, so we will be a members of the team that will represent Croatia at the World Championship in Romania, from 1st - 5th July:-).

16th May 2009
I competed at the agility competition in Loznica, Slovenia, this time with Rudi and Miška too. She ran in Veteran class for the first time:-). I forgot some handling moves with her so in Agility we had two refusals and one missed contact, but in jumping it all came back to place and she won:-) (video). Her leg held really fine, and she is still very fast:-). There are not so many dogs competing in Veteran class, so maybe it was not a big victory, but later I compared her results with the dogs from A2 class who ran the same course, and she was only 3,5 seconds slower then the fastest dog:-).
Rudi and I only collected another two disqualifications. Guess why? The TYRE! (results)

7th-10th May 2009
I went with my friends Alen and Zeljko to Italy, as Alen wanted to breed one of his bitches with Matilde Caprino's young excellent agility dog Bujo. Matilde was kind to let us stay at her most beautiful house for a night, as well to train at her place while we were there. I must say, I have never seen such a beautifully arranged property:-)!
On Saturday the 9th, Alen judged at the competition in Lecco, and Zeljko and I tried our luck at his courses;-). Competition was held in a hall, on a rather slippery carpet. The day before while we were training at Matilde's place, Rudi surprised me with crushing into the tyre over and over again. I know that occasionally he doesn't understand the tyre, but it usually happened when the obstacle was built too differently then the one we train on. Well, in Jumping Rudi crushed into the tyre again and I was disqualified after repeating it. I have a feeling that he doesn't think at all how to master the tyre, he just throws himself into it, shuts his eyes and hopes it will work out;-). In Agility he knocked down one bar, so no placement. (results)
On Sunday we went to Monza, to compete at the Trofeo Frontline Combo, competition reserved only for the A3 dogs. What an experience it was:-)! Thrilling! Alen won a 2nd place in Jumping with his Border Collie Myf, and 7th place with Rudi's 11 yrs old grandmother Cita:-)! And in Agility the 4th place went to Polona with Rudi's cousin Shay:-)! I was too nervous even to breathe properly, and thinking was certainly out of question, so Rudi and I earned only two disqualifications... (results)

4th May 2009
Few interesting videos...
Rudi's cousin Nala (Lu Slavonski Brod) running like mad and winning a 1st place in A1 medium with her owner Sandra Pavlovic at the competition in Zagreb:-).
Another Rudi's cousin, Kro (Mawlch Cres), first Croatian Sheepdog in Japan, also running like crazy with his owner Katsumi Imamura in the beginners class, at the agility competition in Japan:-).
And one quite sentimental video for me - a beautiful clip that my friend Darja Jaksic made after our SAR team won at the World Championship in 2005:-)). You can see it here.

3rd May 2009
I went to the SAR test with Rudi, held in Gmunden, Austria (near Wels). This time I am feeling too down to write a bigger report. In short, we didn't pass the test. It turns out that we didn't solve some of the problems we had in the beginning after all, they were just keeping it low for a while. It seems that the mere chance for running is more satysfing to Rudi, then actually finding somebody:-(.

26th April 2009
I competed with Rudi and Zvoncek at the 3rd round of Croatian Agility Championship, held in Varazdin. This time the course was set to my advantage;-). Rudi won in Agility and had the fastest time again. In Jumping I unfortunately did a wrong estimation about his line of movement at one point in the course, so I led him into the disqualification. Otherwise he was attentive and we cooperated very well. (results)
Zvoncek got scared of the judge again, and after that I just ran out of the course with him. I didn't want to run Jumping after that. No more agility with him, at least for some time. For now on he will be a professional tail wagger, smile wheedler and a bed warmer;-).
Rudi's father Grom also ran in Varazdin. He sweeped all of his rivals in A2 by a furious run and won:-). He had the best time even with the one really big turn! You can see his run here.
And in Hungary Rudi's brother Kaj also had a great weekend:-). He won in two Jumpings! You can see them here.
Big congratulations to Jasna & Grom and Zsuzsi & Kaj:-))!!!

22nd April 2009
New Miška's photos added in her gallery!

19th April 2009
Today was the 2nd round of Croatian Agility Championship, which was organized by my Club, and held in Zagreb. No results to brag about again. Zvoncek went back to his strange behaviour - he ran like he was beaten, with few sudden crazy speed-ups when he almost torpeded himself out of the course. I really didn't expect him to act like this on his familiar ground, and after a month of a such motivated behavior he showed on our trainings. After the competition I was very close to stop doing agility with him any more. I really don't find it fun to watch him behave like he is tormented. I'll try to persuade myself to enter him to another competition and try again. I'll see.
Rudi knocked down one pole in Agility run and I think he missed one contact (I don't know exactly, I didn't notice anything being so nervous;-), but we managed to finish the course without any critical situations, and to actually have a very good time too. He was 2 seconds faster then other dogs. We were disqualified in Jumping. Both courses were really heavy for my handling capability. I can't run fast and when the course is very enclosed, with broken lines and the obstacles thrown in a heap, and it is too risky to send the dog or take the shortcuts and use some distant handling, it is hard for me to lead him through the course. Maybe it would be easier if my dogs knew commands for left and right, but as I myself don't have any clue on which side is which, no help there;-). (results)

5th April 2009
I went to the SAR test with Rudi again, this time in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. We had to find 4 persons in 20 minutes. The terrain was nice, mixed evergreen and deciduous forest, partly opened and partly covered with shrubbery, with occasional slopes. Rudi's work was again very good, but we didn't succed anyway. We missed two persons. This time he didn't try to leave the persons he found, but the consistency of his barking was not so good. Also, I distributed our available time poorly, and lost too many precious minutes at the beginning, so we had to search the second half of the terrain in a hurry (no wonder we missed two persons;-).
I was thinking about my SAR tests wit Rudi a bit, and I realized that during the all 5 searches we did there was no wind at all, and that we always had a first person hidden only after the first half of the terrain. Interesting! If there is no wind to carry the scent then the dog really has to search the terrain in detail, which is very exhausting. You can't rely so much on his sense of smell, but you have to watch closely that he covers absolutely all the ground there is. On the other hand, when persons are hidden only in the other half of the terrain, it is the handlers who have the problems with it. Pure psychological obstacle - you constantly wonder if you maybe missed someone at the beginning;-).

29th March 2009
I competed with Rudi and Zvoncek at the 1st round of Croatian Agility Championship held in Kutina. Two disqualifications with Zvoncek - he wasn't running at the full speed, but he was happy:-). I did bad handling choices with Rudi, so we were disqualified in Agility, and lost some time in Jumping, where we were placed 4th. (results)

27th March 2009
Two new Rudi's photos added in his gallery!

22nd March 2009
This weekend was reserved for the search and rescue. Our Club organized an Area SAR test, and I entered Rudi to the second level exam, and Miška to the competition. I didn't fulfill the task with either of them, but I was very content anyway:-).
Rudi had to find 4 persons in 20 minutes, on a 100 m x 300 m big terrain. The search area was a level, rather thick wood mixed with shrubbery. His work was excellent, he was motivated, persistent and guidable all through the end, and he found all 4 persons, but... he left three of them after he marked their findings, which is not a tolerable behaviour, so we flunked. And as I always say when that happens - now I at least know what to train more:-).
Miška's search area was consisted of a various types of vegetation and terrain - light woods, thick woods, shrubbery, glades, narrow uphills and slopes... She had to find 5 persons in 30 minutes. To my great happiness Miška endured everything without any problem with her leg, and worked like a pro:-). We didn't find two persons, because I wrongly estimated the terrain she covered, so I missed few spots, and of course that were the crucial ones:-). After the search the judge complimented her on an excellent work, so I felt really proud. My clever old girl:-).

14th March 2009
I went to the Hungary again, this time the competition was held in Szigetszentmiklós, near Budapest, in a nice sport hall on the artificial grass. As this competition was the Hungarian qualification for the World Championship, all the runs were open. Rudi won a 1st place in Jumping:-). In both Agility runs we had one refusal, I am not exactly sure why, probably because of the combination of my slightly hesitant handling and Rudi's craziness;-). In the second Agility run we were rather surprised by an unproffesional and incorrect behaviour of the judge Szilvia Varga, who interfered by her own movement so much, that almost 50% of the dogs had mistaken her for their handler, and went the wrong way on the course. Otherwise, it was a really beautiful competition:-)! (Jumping video, results - Jumping, Agility 1, Agility 2)

7th March 2009
I competed with Rudi at the Crufts 2009 International Agility Competition. And I had such a GREAT time:-)! I didn't expect so many excellent competitors from all over the world to be there, and they really made this competition exciting and fun:-). We ran 3 rounds - Jumping, Agility and Finals, and I am very happy to say that Rudi and I had all 3 clear runs. I forgot few things here and there, lost us some time, but we did good:-). We won a 5th place in Jumping, 6th in Agility and 6th in Finals. Not the best, but right around the corner:-). Here you can see some of the results, and videos from few other competitors too.

14th February 2009
At the agility competition in Prestranek, Slovenia, Rudi won a 1st place in A3 run:-). In the J3 run he wasn't focused at my instructions enough, he was in a mode of running crazy ahead, so we were disqualified at one point. I must train more distance handling, because whenever he outruns me there is a big chance that he won't listen to me and will do as he pleases. (Rudi's A3 run, results)

7th-8th February 2009
I competed with Rudi and Zvoncek at the agility competition in Voghera, Italy. It was a real joy watching all those passionate Italian handlers and their fast dogs:-). Zvoncek surprised me with two clear jumping runs in which he earned 3rd and 2nd place, and with a well done contacts:-). He didn't run at his full speed, but he was OK. Rudi and I managed to have only one almost clear jumping run, but he knocked down one jump and at one point went to the tunnel instead of the opposite obstacle, which nearly brought us a disqualification. I really must try to focus better and handle him properly. On the first Sunday run he fell of the dogwalk and started to limp, so I didn't finish it and decided not to run a jumping either, just in case. (Rudi's J3 run, Zvoncek's J3 first & second run, results)
I started to train running contacts with Zvoncek in October last year, but I wasn't too constant. Through the periods in which I trained regularly he sometimes showed great progress and had over a 90% of success, and the very next day it all knew to just fell apart. Then it came to the point that I couldn't get him no more to run without jumping even on the straight plank, and soon he slowed down and started to look distressed whenever I wanted to train contacts. After that I decided to let it go for a while and just think over it. I decided to put the hoop on the contacts and throw the ball far in front, and just let him run without any thinking, so he could gain back his motivation and run fast and happy. Two weeks ago I bought a small plank, and started to train him at home. He jumped like the maniac over the end of the plank at home too, so I marked the end of the plank with the duct tape and shaped him to touch it like a target. I don't know if his performance on the contacts in Voghera means that he really started to understand what I want, the time will tell. He didn't do the fast "2 on 2 off" release as he used to do before, or the true running contacts when the dog speeds up like hell on the descending part of the obstacle, but he moved constantly without slowing down, so I hope something will come off it:-). You can see here how his contacts looked.

4th February 2009
Exactly a year passed from Miška's last operation, the one that finally made possible for her to walk normally again, thanks to the great doctor Milan Matko from Slovenia:-))).
After the last report I wrote in November, the weather unfortunately started to be so bad that we had to stop with every training and exercises I planned. In January I started to take Miška to hidrotherapy again, so I could continue to build up her muscles in spite the winter time. And after the 3 weeks of fast trotting through the water her muscles improved for 2 cm, so the difference between her operated and healthy leg in volume of the muscles is now only 3 cm:-).

1st February 2009
I again competed at the Speed Dogs Wintercup in Schwanenstadt, Austria. On this 3rd round of the competition Rudi and I didn't have any success. Only clear vision I had for it is that I wanted to run as much as I can, and don't slow down Rudi by my too cautious handling. So I ran - but forgot to handle while at it:-). Rudi spiced up the runs additionally by falling aside of the seesaw and jumping over the upper contact on the dog walk in a quite heroic style every time. (video & results)

18th January 2009
I visited Rudi's pups again and I am absolutely delighted with them:-). They are very sociable and open pups, and they have an excellent prey drive. You can see a video clip of the little crocodiles here, and more videos and photos on Alen's web page.

11th January 2009
At the 2nd round of the Speed Dogs Wintercup in Schwanenstadt, Austria, Rudi won a 3rd place in first A3 run, and the 6th place in second A3 run, and finished on the 3rd place overall. (results)

5th January 2009
Rudi's pups are already 4 weeks old and they seem to be very advanced pups with a good temperament. And they are cute too:-)!

1st January 2009
Zvoncek had a great time at the New Years Eve party, and thanks to my friend Zeljka you can now see him in his disco edition too:-). I wish you to find a lot of happiness and content in the Year 2009:-)!