2008 - Sep. to July 2008

September 22, 2008
Today Ula and myself have been to our last important health check: the big eye examination, and we both are clear of any eye diseases. Here is the eye examination certificate of Ula and here is my eye examination certificate.
Therewith, we fulfill the Austrian prerequisites for breeding and are admitted full breeding confirmation in Austria. Mum was very happy and of course is mighty proud of us.

September 21, 2008
Late in the evening Mum came back home with Ula and Courage from their show weekend in Slovenia - with real great success.
It had been cold but this time it had not rained. As I can hear, it shall have been a weekend which was great with nice people and lots of fun and chats. It is talked about that something like this shall be repeated as soon as possible. I am curious who of us will then join the trip. A special thank you is sent out by Mum to her friend Gabi, with whom she drove to the show, for the fact that this time she did not have to drive herself and for the lots of fun during the weekend as well has having got to know new people. Of course there are also photos in the Photo Gallery in the album Shows -> Shows Ula.

Now here are the results of our successful girls:

09/20/2008 - international show Maribor:
Ula (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC CACIB BOB BOG Group 9 placed 3rd
Courage (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC Res. CACIB

09/21/2008 - international show Pohorje:
Ula (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC Res. CACIB
Courage (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC CACIB BOB

We all congratulate of course to these great results!

September 15, 2008
Past weekend there was 2 days show in Croatia. Ula and our Briard friend Courage were there, we other ones stayed at home. With great results the three came back home yesterday night:

09/13/2008 - national show Vukovar:
Ula (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC BOB

14.09.2008 - international show Osijek:
Ula (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC CACIB
Courage (Champion class) - Exc. 2 Res. CAC

Even though the weather was not great (pouring rain, wind and coolness all Saturday, Sunday luckily dry - both shows were outside), the trip was worth it. Mum has got to know news breeders and told us that this is in any way an enrichment for us and the kennel. With hindsight we can be happy, that we did not all drive: There was no vacant room for Mum and the two show girls, so they had to spend the night in the car. It would have been a bit narrow with all of us.

The camera was also on tour, but there was no chance to take photos. Well, maybe at the next show. It's about time that our slide shows get an update.

This is all for the moment. Maybe there are news again next week. Anyway, we celebrate the success of both the show girls.

September 7, 2008
Yesterday we have all been at the Slovakian National Specialty in Vel'ké Ripnany and as at every show, we have met lots of our friends. It was totally comfortable and great. Our resutls:

Ula (Champion class) - Exc. 1 CAC
Naomi (Intermediate class) - Exc. 4
Fidji (Junior class) - Exc. 2
Jaris (Puppy class) - very promising
myself (Champion class) - Exc. 2 Res. CAC

A very special success was Ula's CAC, because now she is Slovakian Grand Champion. Mum was totally thrilled - she had tears in her eyes when she came out of the show ring. Now our dear Ula got it finally. SUPER! I am missing one more CAC for this title, let's see if I can also make it.

Fidji has passed her Slovakian breeding confirmation, and Mum and Ivana have been very happy about this. The Turbo Mouse is now fully admitted for breeding.

In contrary to the weekend in Bratislava, where our Jaris was not too good, she has been running in the ring greatly and was not nervous. Mum was thrilled, as in Bratislava Jaris had had real bad stress and did not make one single step in the show ring, and therewith did not get a good result. Now this time it worked and we hope that the little mouse will continue this way.

And then there was a great surprise: The awards for the best of our breed were given and ...... Ula and myself are each third best Chinese Crested Slovakia 2007 (Club). Never at all we had expected something like that, and each of us has received a cup.

Naomi's father went Club Winner. With this result at the Specialty he is now also Slovakian Grand Champion and in addition even also Club Champion. CONGRATULATION!

Lots of news form only one day of this weekend. And soon there will hopefully be more things to report about, namely when Ula and Mum return back home from Croatia after the next weekend.

September 5, 2008
Some photos of the CACIB show in Bratislava are online. You can get to each single slide show via the photo gallery (Shows -> Shows Ula, Shows Naomi, Shows Fidji and Shows Jaris).

August 17, 2008
Mum has been with our girls at the two days show in Bratislava. I preferred to spend the time at home with the others. The results of the shows are found in the sites Ula Shows and Naomi Shows. Lubo has taken pictures on both days. When we receive them, they will of course be added to the corresponding slide shows.

Our next trip to Slovakia will certainly be in three weeks - when we all travel to the Slovakian National Specialty. If something new turns up in the meantime, we will of course report earlier.

July 28, 2008
Today is a real big day for us in respect of health and breeding:
On June 16, we all have been for blood sample taking in our favorite veterinary clinic in Bratislava. Wow, this was a big excitement - for us, because we were not too happy that some of our important elixir of life was drawn, and for Mum because she had taken lots of paper work with her where several things had to be filled out, needed checking and had to be signed by Mum and the vet. The blood samples were then - as we got to know - sent to France, where our blood was pre-analyzed, and these analyzations were then sent to the United States.
Insider will foresee already, for all others an explanation: it was for the purpose of a very, very important DNA eye examination - prcd-PRA (= progressive rod-cone degeneration of Progressive Retinal Atrophy). There are the results normal (homozygot normal/clear), carrier (heterozygot/carrier of the gen) and affected (homozygot mutant/very high risk of disease).
The ones who are interested in the details about this gen defect respectively about the affected breeds: with the search word prcd-PRA via Google plenty of information. It is very important that our breed is examined concerning this disease (some other breeds also have this gen defect), because with knowing the results, the untimely blindness can be prevented through breeding.
In any case, the official analyzis for our breed is only made at OptiGen® (only two companies in Europe - France and Netherlands - are allowed to make the pre-analyzis), and that is why there was such a big effort concerning the paper work and the world trip of our blood.

And today we have received the results: We five here are all prcd-PRA normal/clear! Therewith, WE never can pass on this gen defect to our children. HOORAY!!!
Of course Mum has scanned the results immediately and they can be looked at in our Breeding page, so that everyone can see that our statements are of correctness and official.

July 27, 2008
Some new photos have been added to the Photo Gallery to the album Jaris' Childhood.

July 19, 2008
For our Fidji there was another big day today: Not only that she got her birthday present from her breeder Ivana, but also had an important examination for breeding: Fidji is Patella clear. GREAT!!!

At first we all went to our vet where we got our yearly vaccination against kennel cough and our Yorkie friends Amaretto and Absinth their yearly shot, and there was bought stocks of food for all of us. Then we shortly visited our breeders where we also met Ivana.

Unfortunately we had to leave after only one hour, namely to the veterinary clinic where Fidji had her Patella check. And from there we went back home, so that we could enjoy this nice summer day in the garden.

Probably we are going to Slovakia again in two weeks, and so we hope that the visits at our breeders will last longer and that we can toll around with all our friends there.

July 14, 2008
Today we celebrate birthday: our Fidji, the "turbo mouse", is one year old. A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, dear Fidji. This is a very special day, the first birthday, as now you are nearly grown up. And let us tell you: we all here are very, very happy that you are joining us. We don't want to miss any day with you. From the beginning on you kept us all on our toes. Even though we grown up ones were sometimes at the end of our tether ...... THAT IS how it shall be. Continue this way, dear Fidji, because by this way you bring life, happiness and luck to this house.
Mum and Dad once again want to thank this way your breeder Ivana for the trust to give you, a treasure and a godsend, into their hands.

By the way, we have also celebrated another birthday the day before yesterday: our big Briard friend Courage turned to be two years old. Contrary to last year, this time she spent this day together with all of us at home.