A Day In February

The dogs had a great time in the forest (Asta, Micke & Mirakel):









Then we made a trip in the forest together with the two golden puppies Micke and Mirakel (Miracle) and the old dogs, Vega and Sally.

We had a great time and the young ones were running, playing and jumping until they were absolutely exhausted:











/Akka

New Year, New Experiences, and New Expectations!

Year 2008 started with brilliance! Snow! It snowed beautifully on New Year's Eve, so Asta and I were out playing in the snow. We brought one of the puppies with us and Asta and her had a great time. I took some pictures on Asta and Ginza...



It snowed a lot. It snowed so much that I could build a snow dog, a snow bull terrier! I call it, or her, Olga, and she was my lovely white princess! My chance to get a white bull terrier...



...but the "snow-happiness" did not last for a long time. The snow melted quickly and a brown, muddy law entered and knocked on our door. *sigh* Not a beautiful sight. Well, that simply leads me to switch subject!

This new year, this new year of expectations has begun! Asta and I have started to train better and more often, than last year. It is far from enough, but it sure is a start! We have made some progress when it comes to the obedience, but sometimes she is far from listening to me...

We have also started a little to practice "searching". I do not know what you call it in English, but I can tell you what it is all about; The dog should search in the forest after people who are "lost" (really, they are hiding, but we pretend that they are lost!) and then show these people to the owner. Well, it is a bad explanation, but I hope you get a grip of it at least!

It is not only Asta who has tried something new this year. I have also done something I have never done before! I tried out for a theatre education ("BA Programme in Theatre") in Gothenburg. I passed the first test, the first audition, and I was very happy and extremely pleased with myself! I am also very pleased with my second audition, but I will not know if I did pass until 25th of February!! Or, at latest I will know then, but it is truly painful to wait. Well... fingers crossed!!

/Akka

Almost One Year!

It has been almost one whole year since I last wrote in this blog...

Well, what can I say! Asta has really grown up a beauty! She is a great girl, even though I have not had the time with her that I wanted. After the graduation I will have though, and I really long for that!

We have started even more with the agility, shows, and the obedience. It has really been mixed results, but I am more or less pleased with everything we have acomplished!


Next post will not be posted in a year... it will for sure be sooner!

Here is some pictures from this summer! Enjoy! :D



/Akka

Merry Christmas, to you...

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight.

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you"
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)



Yes, although it's been said, many times and in many ways... Merry Christmas to you all!

Birthday!

Congratulation! The 14th of November my wonderful, beautiful girl turned 1 year old!

I cannot believe that she is that old now! I mean that it feels like yesterday when I got that call from Asta's breeder. It's fun to think of how different it can feel. Although it feels strange to think of Asta as 1 year old it feels like she has been a part of my life forever. I cannot imagine my life without her anymore. It is impossible to do!

I took this picture of her at her birthday. The weather was not beautiful (typical Swedish Autum!) and it was quite difficult to take pictures, but I think this picture turned out okey... At least it is a memory of her first birthday!


I love you, my sunshine,
I love you, my light,
I love you forever, right here and right now...

Hello Snow! Bye Snow!

It has been snowing here in the South of Sweden. Not much but enough to make it cold and icy! Asta has already been through a winter. She was born in the middle of November and last year the cold winter was quite late... but long! She did not at all like snow or the winter at all! Too cold, too slippery and too windy.

The first picture shows what Asta looked like last year. She was so cold in the winter, but still wanted to be with us while we trained out other dogs, so she had to sit in a back pack!

Yesterday, it was different! Oh, she had so fun in the snow and played with it, ate it, but then it got cold and she wanted to go inside the house. Later we had a long walk in the forest and she loved it and did fine... but the last five-ten minutes was kind of cold, she thought. She lifted her paws and looked at me with an expression that said "Oh, if we're not home soon, I will..." but it was okey. We were home soon so I did not really get to know exactly what she ment...

In the evening Asta had to go to class. There I (tried) to teach her "heel" and to come when I call her. This was very successful if you think of the cercumstances. It was very cold, much colder than previous in the day and Asta gets cold very easy, so she wanted to go inside. Even though she wanted to do so, she was very good!

Today she played with her "sister" Disa. Disa, this very beautiful golden retriever, does not mind at all if it is snow or not. That is quite funny because she has almost got no fur at all! They played with each other, ran and chased one another and they also played with sticks! Oh, they are such a cute "siblings couple"...

Today the snow is all gone... It was a short, cold period which we both liked and disliked, but we wish it wants to come back to us until Christmas Eve...!

Open Trophy Show

It has been long time since I last wrote anything. It has happened a lot but I will not bring up every single event (that is not possible), but I will mention some things... In this post I will mention two things!


As I have said before... Asta is not a very good swimmer. I mean: She survives in water, but do not really know how to swim! Therefore we got her a life jacket! Now she swims more secure and better (not at all as deep and heavy as without life jacket). She has built up a lot (and I really mean A LOT!) of muscles in both front and hint legs. Her thighs are very thick and strong and she moves in a much better way now than she did before swimming. We will definitely continue with this sort of training!

The biggest event that has happened since I wrote is the Swedish Bull terrier Club's yearly Open Trophy Show. This year the club has existed for thirty years! The show was situated in Kolsva this year (about the middle of Sweden) so we (my father, Asta and I) had a long drive before we actually got there. We had a great time with a lot of fun. We met Asta's sister Lilly (the beautiful white dog) and their breeder, that was very nice. Lilly and Asta was shown in the group "Miniature puppy's 6-9 months". Asta was placed as number four (out of four!), but she got very good criticism from the British judger Mrs Gaynor Richardson. Lilly was placed as number three.


This is what was said about Asta:
"Tricolor. Bitch of very good size. Perfect mouth. Head requires more fill. Good body shape. Moves ok."

Asta was a bit grumpy that first day at the show. She thought that it was too much... Too many dogs, too much stress but she was most tired of the heat! It was very hot (and an absolutely beautiful weekend) and dry and tiring for the dogs, but we had fun... Even Asta had fun the second day! That day she was more relaxed and could enjoy the day fully! She even found another miniature puppy to play with! His name is Nelson and is a very beautiful red puppy, younger than Asta but almost bigger than her! They could not play free (there were no fenced places were they could run) but they could play calmly when they were in strings.


This is the handsome Nelson and the very playful Asta!

My little miniature puppy has grown extremely. Suddenly she had more muscles than I thought was possible to build up only during the summer! But I can also say this: Puppies are very cute and adorable but a grown up Bull terrier is the most beautiful and lovely you can get! Asta is only getting more beautiful every day and it is fantastic to have her! I love her more than anything I know. Check this picture... It was taken the 7th of August (2006) and Asta is more beautiful than ever!


This is my lovely bull terrier, my most precious treasure and life companion... She is my everything!