7th December 2008
After the long, long time, I went to the agility competition in Hungary again - XI. Dogfit Cup, held in Dunakeszi, near Budapest. I want to go to as many carpet competitions this winter as I can, so Rudi can get some more experience in running on carpet (and that I don't have to freeze to death in riding hall competitions:-). It was a real pleasure to run with Rudi. I don't know if it's because I am able to be faster then him on carpet, so I manage to handle everything just the way I want, or are we just starting to become more and more synchronized together (maybe both:-). I made a bad handling decision on agility course which caused Rudi to knock down the whole jump, but I was so pleased with that run, even in spite few more mistakes that Rudi himself added on - slipping of the seesaw, knocking one bar down, jumping over the upper contact on the dog walk... no matter, it was just a nice run, so fluent and without any hysteria or critical situations:-). However, in Open jumping we won a 1st place:-). (results)
And on this day Rudi became a father for the first time:-)))! (Mawlch Kennel)

30th November 2008
I went to the 1st round of the Speed Dogs Wintercup in Schwanenstadt (near Wels), Austria. The competition was held on a carpet, in a beutiful sport hall. We ran two agility courses and results were counted together to determine the winner. Rudi won a 2nd and a 1st place in individual runs, and a 1st place overall:-). I am not so pleased with our time in the first run, as we were for 5,5 secons slower then the Anna Eifert's crazy Nevian, but when I recollect what happened on the course, the result was understandable. The entry to the dog walk was hard, as the "U" shaped tunnel was surrounding it on both sides, and the dogs were supposed to clime the dog walk right after they exited the tunnel. I lost too much precious time there as Rudi was a bit confused and uncertian of climbing to the dog walk, and the judge didn't help us either in solving the situation faster, as he was standing right between Rudi and me (he could see the entering contact only if he stood right beside the obstacle:-). If you add a few wider turns to that, such a slow time is no wonder. At least I again got fresh ideas of what I have to train more:-). (results)

29th November 2008
I found few old videos from agility competition in Cecina, Italy, so they are added on. You can see Rudi's A2 run, and finally some Zvoncek's runs too - the J2 run where he was disqualifed (I am sure that you will have no trouble hearing the moment where it happened:-), and the "historical" A2 run, which was a beginning of all the problems with his fear of judges. You can see how he already started to slow down at the dog walk, and when he came to the A-frame he decided to stay there and growl at the judge...

22nd November 2008
Today is the sad anniversary - a year ago on this day Miška injured her leg. I thought that it would be a good day to write some fresh news about her undergoing recovery. Unfortunately, the volume of her muscles didn't improve at all after the last report in July. She swimmed a lot during the summer and her muscles became firm, but they stayed lean nevertheless. After the infection of the knee joint she had at the end of the August, her leg needed over a month to recover to the level of efficience it had before the illness. In the October I put her on the high protein home made diet and started to exercise her with the short energetic sprints. She withstood that very well and could even run as fast as Rudi:-). Slowly, I gained courage to try to do the trotting exercises with her too. The trot was the pace she had the most trouble with, as it is the only pace where she can't spare her weak leg in any way. But trotting went very well, and she is now able to trot for 3-4 km without any afterward stiffness in the leg. As things looked promising enough, last week I decided to start training some agility obstacles - weaving poles and the small jumps - that could improve the muscles and the stability of her leg even further. Her leg held really fine after that too, without any stiffness, so I am finally very optimistic:-). I would really like to succed in recovering the normal volume of the muscles to her injured leg, I have a feeling that if we don't do it now, there will be less chance later as she gets older.
And some off topic news - my friend found few old photos of Šeša, so they are added in her gallery.

15th November 2008
Usually I really dislike Novembers, as all the worst things that happened in my life, always happened in November. But with this day, November maybe got a chance to redeem itself:-). Rudi passed the Area Search and Rescue exam RH-FL A in such a great style, that he earned 297 points out of total 300:-). Exam was held in Nova Gorica, Slovenia, with the searching judged by Andrej Stanovnik, and obedience and dexterity exercises by Jerneja Ternovec. Rudi got 198 points for scent work, 49 for obedience (NO barking at all:-) and 50 points for dexterity:-). It seems that we just needed more time - I myself to explore and discover the ways of training and communication that suits Rudi the best, and Rudi to gain a bit more experience. And now everything clicked together just fine. I am really proud of him:-).

11th November 2008
Thanks to Agnes Ács-Kövesi from Hungary, here are some videos from Zapresic:-) - Kaj, Kiša, Rudi, Gera (Grom's sister, aunt of my pups), Šaj (Grom's half-sister) and Cita (their 10 year old grandmother). Enjoy:-)!

9th November 2008
And finally some agility news too:-). I was at the Final round of Croatian Agility Championship held in Zapresic, and although I didn't do much (actually nothing, my handling has totally rusted), I still have something to brag about - my pups won in A1:-)! Kaj was 2nd and 2 seconds faster then any other dog, and Kiša won a 1st place by being even faster then Kaj:-). With this great runs Kiša earned her first condition to pass to the A2 class, and Kaj fulfilled his last, so he can now compete in the higher class:-). I am very proud of them, and grateful to Zsuzsa and Polona for training them so well. Thanks girls:-)! (results)

8th November 2008
Don't laugh, but I went to the NP-A Test again:-). I just had to get to the bottom of Rudi's crazy behaviour and barking! Test was held just outside the town of Rijeka, situated on the Adriatic coast. And this time we got 99 points. Almost perfect:-). Although he still felt a need to express his delight with the exercises and barked mad here and there, he was focused on the job and didn't have any wrong expectations. Next weekend we have a Search and Rescue exam, so I will have a chance to check his obedience performance once more, and see if today's result was a product of our improved training, or he just had a good day:-). Hope it's not the last one:-).

3rd November 2008
A couple of new videos...
Thanks to Jasna, the new video from the Rudi's last Rally Obedience competition is added.
Also, I asked my friend to film me while I was doing obedience training with Rudi, so you can see that video too (10 Mb). I performed the exercises of the NP-A Test, that I described earlier on (only the long down at the end isn't really long on the video, it would be too boring), and I took Rudi to a completely unknown terrain. I am glad that I decided to film the training, because now I realized many of my handling mistakes:-). For instance, I am swinging my hands too dramatically (which is a consequence of trying hard not to hold them still, so now I just passed from one extremity to another:-), my about-turns are not exactly sharp and they look rather like an "U" turns, etc, etc.
Anyway, I liked Rudi's performance very much, he didn't loose concentration at any point and did heeling almost perfectly, although we trained for a half an hour and he didn't get any reward until the end:-). You can also notice that he didn't bark at all, but when I go to trials I am always struggling to keep him silent. You can see how his mad barking looks like by watching his Rally Obedience video, but this was far from his loudest performances:-).
I also noticed that Rudi gets excited when we do the slow pace, that he sometimes does the slow sits, that I have to enhance his movement in the about-turn, that he doesn't after all understand the sit out of motion exercise so good as I thought, and more... Well, I have a lot of work:-)!

26th October 2008
I couldn't accept the fact that Rudi and I had such a bad result on the last weekend's NP-A Test, so I went to the same test again, this time held in Zagreb. I changed the way of training and spent more time training obedience a week before. My main goal was to lower Rudi's eagerness for action and calm him down, and to lenghten the time he can work before he starts to expect the reward. I gave him a chance to rampage himself a bit before doing obedience, and trained without rewarding him after each exercises or a sequence he did good. He got only a verbal praise, and was rewarded with tugging just at the end of the whole training.
Well, this time we got a higher points, 86, but the same mistakes showed again, only in a milder degree. He gazed around during the heeling on the lead exercise, and started to bark at one point, but did calm down after some time. Free heeling was much better, but still too unfocused for my taste. He didn't do the sit out of the motion exercise, and stood instead. The down out of the motion was good, but at the long down he was tense again and got in the sitting position right after I left him, but few moments later he remembered what I expected of him and laid down.
He is really giving me much to think about - I clearly have to train with him in a completely different way then I trained ever before. The interesting thing is that we already attended few tests that consisted of the obedience exercises, and he didn't act like that. Although, he does have a tendency to get more and more crazy about the things we train, instead of being more concentrated or even bored. He is focused only when he learns someting, and after that does everything only with his heart:-). When I see video clips of his father Grom doing obedience, there is no question from were he inherited those loud and unpatient genes:-). Now I value Miška even more, with her great ability to focus, to adjust to the situation, and to direct her abundant energy into something useful - the goal to perform the task:-).

19th October 2008
Some obedience news again! I went to a Final round of Croatian Working Trials Championship held in Varazdin, with the intention to pass the Basic Obedience Test NP-A with Zvoncek and Rudi. NP-A Test consists of the 5 exercises: heeling on the lead, free heeling, sit out of the motion, down out of the motion with the recall, and the long down. Quite unexpectedly, Zvoncek won the 1st place at the competition, and Rudi got the minimum 70 points and almost flunked the test! Although Zvoncek got scared of the judges again, and lost concentration few times when we passed near them during the heeling, he did other exercises very good, so he earned high 93 points, out of total 100:-).
Rudi was nervous and unfocused. During the heeling on the leash he at first thought that we will do agility and gazed around for the obstacles, then I managed to turn his focus back on me, but he started to scream and bark, and didn't stop all through the end of the exercises. So he didn't hear me properly and mixed the commands in the sit and the down out of motion exercises, and when I left him in the long down he got up in the sitting position, and stared at me intently like he was expecting that I will call him any moment. Very interesting and unpleasant experience!

15th October 2008
Links page added!

12th October 2008
At the Rally Obedience competition in Krim, Slovenia, Miška won a 2nd place in RO-2 class. Rudi competed in this class too, for the first time, and passed the exam. Beside the few small mistakes that are always bound to happen, he entered the weave poles from the wrong side, so we lost too much points and won only a 4th place. I am very happy with his work though, as he was really attentive and ready for a team work:-). It was a pleasure to work with him:-). Beside Miška and Rudi, this time I myself wasn't bad either:-). I didn't forget the thing on the course, and I moved fast - so Miška had a 2nd and Rudi a 3rd fastest time:-).
Another interesting thing - Croatian Sheepdogs were the most numerous breed at the competition:-). In the RO-2 class Polona's Mawlch Shay won a 3rd place and in RO-3 class Jasna's Mawlch Grom (Rudi's dad:-) won a 3rd place too. Congratulations:-)! (results)

6th-8th-10th October 2008
Rudi mated with Alen's Cita (Djana Colonia Aurelia Cibale)!

5th October 2008
Just another hiking day, this time on Medvednica, and a few more new photos in Rudi's and Zvoncek's gallery.

4th October 2008
Actually, nothing much happened in last 4 weeks. I took a kind of break from agility and mainly trained obedience and search and rescue with Rudi. I started to train running contacts with Zvoncek though, the autumn and winter are always easy going so they make the best time for any training experiments:-). Considering the fact that I have trained in a very not-commited and relaxed way, and he had only 5-6 training sessions in the last month, he is doing really
fine:-).
Through the 19th-21th September I attended the search and rescue camp with Rudi, organized by my Club near the mountain Bjelolasica. The countryside around Bjelolasica is very beautiful and it offered many various terrains for search training. I was very satisfied with Rudi. Actually, we both showed a step forward:-). We have developed the kind of communication that suits us both and are now better understanding each other, which was the thing we lacked most. He is the dog that easily gets excited, so I have to be calm, firm and confident enough for both of us (which is sooo opposite from my own temperament, but I am trying:-). I still have to work much on his endurance, and introduce him to many different situations and type of terrains, but this are mainly the things he will naturally master through gaining more experience.
After that weekend Kiša came to me and I watched over her for a week, while her mistress Polona was away at the Agility World Championship in Finland. Do I have to repeat myself again:-)? Well, I will:-). She is a great, wild, crazy, obedient, sweet, inteligent and attentive dog! It was a real joy to have 3 identical black devils at home. It's amazing how similar Miška, Rudi and Kiša are - they have same thoughts, ideas, wishes, they listen in the same way, react in the same way, do what they are told equally fast. It was like having a colony of clones always at my feet:-). Well, there are some differences beetween them too. It was evident that Kiša is not such a stable dog like Miška and Rudi are, she does react in a kind of nervous way in some unexpected situations (sudden moves, being touched when she doesn't see it coming, etc.). She always behaves well, but you can see that she was a bit startled. And her looks - hmmm... it would be most honest to say that she looks like a mix-breed... I think that nature has a great sense of humour - to create such a naturally talented and remarkable working dog, and then completely misfire in combining the genes for the right look - really hilarious:-).
On the 28th September I again visited Bjelolasica, this time as a hiker:-). So, you can see some new photos in Rudi's and Zvoncek's gallery.

26th September 2008
Another Eddie's litter is born - six males and one female:-)! This time the mother is Pupica Slavonski Brod. If you are interested in the puppies please contact my friend Jasminko Kormoš on mobile +385981838734, or e-mail jasminkokormos@net.hr.

7th September 2008
On Sunday I went to the Rally Obedience competition with Rudi and Miška, held in Ljubljana, Slovenia . Rudi won a 3rd place in RO-1 class and his fellow Croatian Sheepdog Shay, owned by Polona, won a 2nd place:-). Miška competed in RO-2 class for the first time and I managed to blew up again. This is the second time that I forgot the exercises, and now I am really mad at myself! She had such a good performance and was attentive and easy to handle, as opposed to Rudi who still has to walk over the half of the course just to realize that we are not doing any agility after all, and needs a lot more preparations and management to do the exercises properly. So it seems that my major mistakes are my bad memory and slowness. Damn it! (results)

6th September 2008
I competed at the agility competition held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This time I found enough courage and nerves to compete with Zvoncek too. I came home with 3 disqualifications and one nice Zvoncek's run in jumping, were he won a 3rd place. And he did run fast:-). I think that the competition in A3 Medium class is very hard in Slovenia, as we have a two time World Champions Silvia and La there, European Champions Polona and Šja, as well as the three times IMCA World Champions Vinko and Gala. So it's nice to see that Zvoncek can get near them when he is in his right mind:-). In agility run judges managed to cause a slight problem to him after all, as he decided to run into the tunnel rather then on the A-frame to be watched by them, but through out the rest of the course he behaved really fine.
I had a great run with Rudi in agility but he misunderstood my command at one point and - you already know the result:-). I wasn't so pleased with jumping because I had the feeling that he was too crazy and didn't bother to read my handling properly. (results)

31st August 2008
I went to the 5th round of Croatian Agility Championship held in Varazdin, only with Rudi. It was the first time that Rudi competed in A3 class, and he won in agility run right away. I hope it was not just a beginners luck:-)! (results)
There are other great news too - his father Grom won in A2 jumping and his brother Kaj in A1 agility run:-). Family sticked together once again:-).
And - Rudi's sister Kiša competed in Varazdin too. Well, I have just two words to comment that dog - FAST AND FURIOUS:-))). She is running like she is angry at the obstacles and is ready to kill:-). I realized that on the course she looks very much like her father Grom (whose name by the way means "thunder" - believe me, the name says it all:-). Kaj looks more like he is sliding through the course with the speed of a jet plane:-).
Buco also competed with Eddie:-). And again without any previous training. It's a pity because they could do quite well if Buco would gain some experience. Hopefully he will manage to organize repairment of the obstacles in his club, and be able to train some until the Finals, which will be held in November.

29th August 2008
Only 3 days after the right therapy and Miška is walking again:-)!

26th August 2008
Unfortunately I had to take Miška to her orthopaedist in Slovenia again:-(. When I was away in UK she suddenly stopped walking. Our vets didn't know what's wrong with her leg as the x-rays of the paw, knee and hips once again showed that everything looks OK. They gave her Rimadyl and her condition improved for a few days, but after the therapy was over she rapidly got worse again. Apart from not using her leg at all she even didn't wan't to lay down on that side of the body, and showed signs of great discomfort. She became dispirited, didn't want to eat and got the temperature. Her orthopaedist did a punction of the joint immediately, and soon discovered what was wrong with her. She had a bacterial infection in the knee joint which progressed to the serious purulent inflammation of the knee because it was not treated in time. After he took the blood samples he also discovered that she had Erlichiosis. My poor Miška:-(.
While I was in one part of Slovenia, Rudi went to another with my friend Alen. He kindly agreed to take him to an eye check along with his dogs. The check confirmed that Rudi is RD, PRA, HR and PHTVL/PHPV free:-).

25th August 2008
Today was Šeša's 15th birthday:-)!!! I couldn't resist and took her to the Club to try out if she still remembers anything of agility. And she remembered everything:-). I didn't expect that, as she is quite senile in everyday life, and also trained agility last time six years ago, but when she came to the Club, it was like she was never gone:-). This was of course the sort of agility that would fit in Extra Veteran class, but anyway. Dogs are really great creatures:-)! I made a video clip of that happening too, and you can see it here.
And few more birthdays will have to be celebrated on this day - Eddie became a father again:-). The mother of the litter is Pipica Slavonski Brod. If you are interested in the puppies please contact my friend Jasminko Kormoš on mobile +385981838734, or e-mail jasminkokormos@net.hr.

12th-17th August 2008
After the International Agility Festival, we moved on to the Dogs In Need held in Ipswich. And Rudi continued with great results there too:-). On Tuesday he won a 2nd place in Grade 4 Agility (118 dogs), on Friday 3rd place in Grade 4 Jumping (125 dogs), and on Saturday he won a 1st place in Grade 4 Agility (129 dogs). He qualified for the Sunday Finals there too, but it seems that the bad luck followed us there - he knocked down one bar only few obstacles before the end. As far as I know he had the best time, so the victory was almost in our hands:-). (results)

8th-10th August 2008
I was at the International Agility Festival in Peterborough, UK, again:-). And competition was once again great, too:-). I competed only with Rudi, and was really amazed how good he was:-). On Friday he won a 10th place in Novice Cup Agility (combined Grades 3-5) out of 190 dogs, 9th place in Novice Cup Jumping (188 dogs), and qualifed for Novice Cup Finals by being placed 8th overall out of 569 dogs who ran in Novice Cup splitted in 3 groups. We had a bit of bad luck in Finals as he missed the last jump, thinking that the course is over (well, no wonder, as I acted like it is over too:-). Next day he won a 2nd place in Combined Grades 4&5 Agility, out of 302 dogs:-). On Sunday we unfortunately didn't run at all, because I got sick and was too weak for competing. (results)

19th-20th July 2008
This years EO was certainly the hardest one I competed on. Agility courses for Large, both Individual and Team, were so hard for me and Rudi, that I didn't even know how to handle few situations on the course. So I realized that we are both still quite under-trained and uncoordinated together. Jumpings were better, or at least it felt better to run them, as in the end we got eliminated on them too:-).
On the other hand Zvoncek had quite an inspiration on the EO:-). He ran fast, not as fast as I know he can, but didn't show any of his latest whims:-). He was unfocused here and there, ran a bit slower at the beginning of the each course, but generally it looked like he got hooked up on agility again:-). First day we got eliminated in all Individual runs and Finals because he didn't read my handling properly and just ran brainlessly, but in Team runs we had two clear runs. He was placed 27th in agility and 52nd in jumping, out of 314 dogs who competed in 81 team. He still needs to speed up a lot to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the best, as we were 8 seconds slower then the fastest dog in Agility, and 4 seconds in Jumping. Maybe in time:-). (results)

5th July 2008
I went to the competition in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Due to my over-casual handling Rudi missed one jump in agility, but in jumping he won a 1st place, and ended at the 2nd place overall:-).
Zvoncek got scared of the judge again. He droped out of the weave poles as he was unfocused when we got near the judge, and was additionally startled by the thumping of my feet when I suddenly stopped. On the second try he did the weave poles good. Then same thing happened at the next obstacle too, the A-frame. He ran off it and didn't even try to stop in the "two on, two off" position, and I decided to bring him back after all, in spite of the elimination that will bring us. On the repetition he did an excellent position, but when I released him he tried to ran as far away from the judge, so he ran to the wrong obstacle. But after that whole circus, and when we moved away from the judge, the rest of the course was quite good:-). In jumping we also had to repeat the weave poles (judge was again standing near), and the rest of the course was done accurately, but with half speed. So, a bit of the drawback in progress. Well, the next competition is EO, I hope that judges will smile and be pleasant and cheery when Zvoncek will run:-)! (results)

4th July 2008
Miška's operated leg has gained another 3 cm of muscles in last two months, and is now 31 cm in perimeter:-). But muscles on her healthy leg are also still growing (36 cm), so it's hard to catch up with them and finally create the balance:-).

28th June 2008
At the agility competition in Domzale, Slovenia, still no success with Rudi and Zvoncek. I had a fault on the weaving poles with Rudi in agility, and a knocked jump in jumping. Two disqualifications with Zvoncek, but he is running fast still:-). (results)

22nd June 2008
On Sunday I went to the 4th round of Croatian Championship held in Djakovo, this time only with Rudi. Again two great runs but two disqualifications:-). Buco competed there with Eddie too, and they ran quite well considering that Buco never did agility in his life, and that Eddie didn't train at all for a year:-). I hope that Buco will also compete with Eddie at the remaining rounds of the Croatian Championship, and maybe this time manage to train some before the competition after all:-). (results)

21st June 2008
I was at the agility competition in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and although came back home with 4 disqualifications, I was happy:-). Rudi's and Zvoncek's runs were great, except for that one crucial mistake every time, that brought us eliminations:-). And my spoiled little "princess" Zvoncek FINALLY STARTED TO RUN:-)! (results)

8th June 2008
I went to the Rally Obedience competition in Domzale, Slovenia, this time with Miška and Zvoncek. Miška won a 2nd place in RO-1 class:-), earning the same points as the dog at the first place, but she had a slower time. I have to work on gaining more speed! Zvoncek was horrible, this time he noticed that there are judges watching him here too. He did exercises good only when they moved away from us to a greater distance. Horrible, horrible! (results)

6th-8th June 2008
Polona won a 3rd place overall with Rudi in Pairs Competition at the International All Breed Cup in Hungary:-). They were placed 6th both in jumping and agility, out of 170 competitors who competed in 85 pairs. This good result ensured her to run with Rudi and Shay in Pairs Finals, but unfortunately they didn't manage to combine two good courses there. However, I think that winning a 3rd place overall is more then enough succes for the handler and the dog who trained together for the first time just three days before the competition:-). (results)

1st June 2008
On Sunday there was an agility competition held in our Club in Zagreb, it was the 3rd round of Croatian Championship. This time Rudi and I had more succes on agility course, winning a 3rd place. Still no improvements with Zvoncek! (results)
After the competition Rudi went on holidays with Polona:-) - as I won't go to any competitions for the next 3 weeks, he will have some fun with Polona competing at the International All Breed Cup, which will be held in Hungary from 6th-8th June.

31st May 2008
This weekend was also full of activity. On Saturday we were at the agility competition in Maribor, Slovenia. No good results with Zvoncek still, we did manage to have a clear agility course, but it was sad to watch him running slow and without any enthusiasm. If this was some kind of soap opera, I would be sure that his evil twin brother has somehow taken his place.
Rudi had nice runs. In agility we had one refusal, he fell of the dogwalk on the ascending part of the obstacle. In jumping he won a 1st place:-). (results)

25th May 2008
On Sunday we attended the Rally Obedience competition held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Miška, Zvoncek and Rudi passed the RO-1 Test, and Rudi won the 2nd place out of 31 competitor. I performed first with Mišhka and Zvoncek, and lost a chance for earning good points by not knowing the rules properly and forgetting the right order of the course. Thanks to Polona's multiple instructions (Kiša's owner), by the time it was Rudi's turn I finally managed to remember what am I supposed to do:-). (results)

24th May 2008
On Saturday we were at the agility competition in Slovenska Bistrica, Slovenia, but we had no succes. Our courses were full of my handling mistakes, and Rudi contributed well to our downfall by not reacting at all to commands I gave him, although he does them perfectly on trainings. At least one good thing happened - he finally did a good seesaw:-).
This was also Zvoncek's first competition after almost a month of retraining contacts with the goal of improving his motivation and getting rid of the fear of judges. Well, he didn't try to run out of the course, but he jumped over all the contacts just to get away from those obstacles as soon as possible (on trainings he usually does the contacts with 95% accuracy). (results)

17th May 2008
At the competition held in Loznica, Slovenia, Rudi won in A2 jumping:-). It was in fact an open jumping, as all the grades ran the same course, but the results were counted separately for each grade. Anyway, between all 94 competitors counted together, Rudi was 2nd, and had a fifth time:-)). In agility run he missed the up contact on the dogwalk and jumped off the seesaw too soon, and we were disqualified after I went back to repeat it. (results)

13th May 2008
I took Miška to a check. Last few weeks I was really down because I had a feeling that too many things are still wrong with her leg - I noticed that her hock is also not normally flexible, she pushed her paw aside when walking, and her leg was stiff at the end of the day. But the opininon of the orthopaedist was very positive:-). He said that the knee is very good and not swolen, the clicking sound heard in it before is largly reduced, and he was now sure that she can recover completely. He said that the loss of the flexibility in the hock doesn't have anything to do with something being wrong with the joint itself, and that everything will come back to place when all her muscles will be built back to a normal size. Which will probably take a long time, a year or so after the surgery. And he said that I am too perceptive for my own harm, because many owners don't even notice such small diferences such as the posture of a paw, which is just causing me to worry too much needlessly:-). He said that we don't have to come to any more checks:-). Btw, her leg has gained 4 cm of muscles in 3 months and is now 28 cm in perimeter (it was 24 cm after the removal of the suture). But the healthy leg has a perimeter of 35 cm, so we still have a long way to go!

3rd May 2008
This time I went to the competition only with Rudi, as Zvoncek's strange problem now started to show on our trainings too. It was held in Ptuj, Slovenia. My bad handling in agility caused a disqualification for Rudi, and in jumping he knocked one bar. (results)

27th April 2008
Day after we went to the competition in Varazdin, Croatia. Two stupid mistakes with Rudi in agility, and knocked broad jump in jumping, so no succes there. Zvoncek started with being a bit strange, and when he came to the point when he was on the dogwalk, he again noticed the judge, but this time stopped right away and stared and growled at him. In jumping he tried to run out of the ring after every few obstacle:-(. I really don't understand why being observed by the judges so suddenly became such a problem to him. (results)

26th April 2008
We were at the agility competition in Gornja Radgona, Slovenia. Rudi won in A2 jumping, his father Grom was second, and in A1 jumping first place went to Rudi's brother Kaj:-)). All stays in a family:-)! Zvoncek ran in A3 for the first time, but it was a disaster. He started the first course OK, but when he came to the dogwalk he saw that a judge was watching him, refused to go on the dogwalk and went into the tunnel behind my back. On jumping he was so unfocused and stressed that he just ran brainlessly through the course. (results)

20th April 2008
At the agility competition in Felixdorf, Austria, Zvoncek was 1st in agility, but in jumping refused to listen and went to a wrong obstacle - AGAIN! It's a pity, because he ran like hell and he would have a great time. However, he fulfilled his last condition to pass to the A3 class:-). No luck with Rudi this time! (results)

12th April 2008
I went to the Area Search and Rescue Test with Rudi again, but unfortunately we failed once more. The test was held in Kamniska Bistrica, Slovenia, in an absolutely beautiful forest. Weather was very moody, constantly changing from sunny and warm to a heavy rain. Only objection I have regarding organization is that it was not really fair to put terrains for Grade 1 and 2 right next to each other, as many dogs sensed the markers from the neighbouring terrain (vice versa both), the ones they were not supposed to find. Same thing also happened to Rudi right at the beginning of our search. But of course, that was not the reason why we failed:-). After the first Test we went to, I realized that I had to work more on training sending and guiding with Rudi, because it showed to be necessary when he is faced with impassable terrains. But it seems that I have overdone it, as he was mostly focused on running like crazy where I sent him and coming happily back to me, without really being in a searching mode. However, we at least again found one person:-).

30th March 2008
At the competition held in Kutina, Croatia, Zvoncek was first in both agility and jumping. On the first course he didn't want to wait at the start as I told him to (not listening to me again!), and started to run behind my back, but I noticed him in time to prevent a possible catastrophe:-). Rudi was sort of OK, we didn't have any critical situations and he was nice to handle, but on the agility course he didn't do any of the contacts properly. He didn't jump over them, but he didn't stand or stay in the position as he had to. And then he also jumped over the first contact on the dog walk, and jumped off the seesaw. I went back to repeat the contacts so we were disqualified. I obviously have some work to do on that matter! In jumping he won a 3rd place:-). If it wasn't for my bad handling, he would probably be first, because he had a great time. I moved too early aside at one point, and he almost missed the obstacle in front of him, to which he was supposed to go on. Somehow that didn't happen after all, and we only lost precious time. (results)

22-23rd March 2008
We were at the competition in Cecina, Italy. I was again most satisfied with the courses that I was disqualified on, with Zvoncek and Rudi both - the saturday jumping. It was a hell of the run, they were both running at full speed and were so easy to handle:-). Rudi slipped two times in the slalom and I didn't want to repeat it, and I made a handling mistake with Zvoncek so he went to the wrong obstacle. Next day it was raining really hard and I didn't expect much, but Rudi and Zvoncek did a clear agility course after all:-). Rudi won the 5th place. Zvoncek was 1st, although he wouldn't be if there were more competitors running. He got suspicious of the judge in the raincoat and stood on the contact in the "two on, two off" position for 3-4 seconds, growling and staring at him - until I finally noticed that he didn't come with me to the finish line and called him again. What a circus! (results)

17th March 2008
I took Miška to a check. Her orthopaedist said that her leg is healing nicely:-). She started to use her leg five days after the surgery, paused for a week after the removal of the suture from the leg, and then started to walk again 3 weeks after the surgery. She now walks 90 percent of time, and can even walk in a faster pace:-). She still evidently limps, and holds her leg a bit aside from a knee down, but she is finally walking:-)! Orthopaedist's main concern now is the injured cartilage and the arthrosis that developed on that side of the joint (which is why she throws her leg aside). Next check is in a month!

16th March 2008
I went to the Area Search and Rescue Test with Rudi. We found only one person (had to find two), so we didn't pass, mainly because I was not prepared for such a hard terrain - combination of very thick and to a third almost impassable woods and bushes. Hot weather, sun and no air flow didn't help either. At least now I know what our week points are, and we will work on them! For the obedience exercises we got nice 46 points, and for the dexterity exercises 49:-).

15th March 2008
We were again at the agility competition in Prestranek, Slovenia. Although we came back just with four disqualifications, this time I really enjoyed running with Rudi and Zvoncek. It was the first time that Rudi ran in A2 class and he was so attentive and easy to handle that I had a room for making my usual handling mistakes, but inspite of my clumsiness he managed to understand where I was trying to go. It felt like we make a great team together:-).
On the other hand, being easy to handle certainly wasn't the thing I was happy about when running with Zvoncek:-). That little devil was totally out of control and we didn't function at all together, but he was crazy and eager to run on both courses, without any oscillations in his performance. Missing the three months of training (they were all put on hold because of lack of time I had due to engagement with Miška's recovery from injury), has obviously left much more ''damage'' on Zvoncek then on Rudi. We have started to train regularly now, and hopefully things will soon get back in place!

2nd March 2008
At the Final round of Slovenian Winter Cup held in Prestranek, Rudi won the 1st place overall among 44 competitors. He was 3rd in agility as well in jumping, both times having the fourth fastest time. Zvoncek was very fast and eager for work in agility run but again refused to listen at one point, and we were disqualified. After that we of course had a perfect run all the way to the end:-). He wasn't so eager for work on the second course, though. Although at the end he did won a 2nd place in jumping, even with having one refusal, I was much more happier with his performance on the agility course. (results)

1st March 2008
Eddie moved to a Kennel "Slavonski Brod", owned by my friend Jasminko Kormoš - Buco (mobile +385981838734, e-mail jasminkokormos@net.hr), where he will give his share to Buco's breeding program and hopefully help Buco to finally have a representative in agility from their own Club too.

16th February 2008
Rudi got his breeding license!

4th February 2008
Miška was operated again. As she constantly showed signs of pain and didn't start to use her leg although two months already passed from the first surgery, by now she developed arthrosis and severe muscle athrophy, inspite all the phisycal therapy. After hearing opinions of few orthopaedists and vets, I decided to put her through another surgery again. This time her knee was ''mended'' with the TTO method (Triple Tibial Osteothomy), which is the combination of TTA and TPLO methods. During the surgery her orthopaedist Mr. Milan Matko from Slovenia also found an injury on the cartilage, which probably occured in the same time her ligaments and meniscus broke too. And, he took out the fabella that was broken and dislocated in her previous injury 5 years ago. I hope that this time everything will be OK.

19th January 2008
Alen again took Rudi to the competition, the 2nd round of Slovenian Winter Cup held in Gornja Radgona. And again, they ''misunderstood'' each other on the agility course but won in jumping, this time having a third fastest time:-). (results)

9th January 2008
I took Miška to x-ray to check her hips, as she is still not using her leg at all, and the vet suspected that maybe in time she developed bad hips or injured them. Fortunately, Miška's hips showed once again to be in perfect health, so it seems that only her knee is still a problem. While I was there I also checked Rudi's hips and knees, and they are normal and healthy, too:-).