MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Ben and I wish you a merry Christmas and happy holidays!

And especially a merry Christmas to a very special someone, who is no loger a part of our life, but Ben and I miss you so very much!

Ben's Tricks Part 4

Click on the link below, Ben's Tricks Part 4 (not really the best video, but Ben looks so cute!! :))


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g48M2_hltGg

Snoooooow(board)!

OK, this doesn't have a lot to do with Ben precisely, but I just have to share this. Since I am not a very rich person :) and I really don't like to spend money on expensive equipment, I went to have a look around on a skiing fair - second hand skiing/snowboarding equipment. And I got everything! Second hand winter clothes as good as new for 60e and second hand snowboard as good as new for 60e :) I learnt how to snowboard 2 years ago and those were one of the best days of my life which I will never forget. So this year, me and some friends (guess who - Simona and Maja again :)) decided to go on holidays, have some fun in the morning on the ski-slopes in the morning and some more fun walking with our dogs in the afternoon. So of course, Ben is coming too, can't wait!! :) He loves snow! And mountains! :)

Other than that, my small poodle with border collie turns is finally getting the idea of tight turns :D Or at least it seemed so this morning. It looks much better, still a lot of work on it, bars still on the ground, but hey, we have the whole winter to train (the only good part about not having snow in the coast region of Slovenia)!

As regards to turns after the dogwalk - well, they look perfect, what else did you expect from Ben on a dogwalk :) ? And again, we still have a lot of work on it, but I don't worry about it at all, I just know, those turns will look pretty in the end :) The only problem is that when there is a jump ahead of him and one on the left, he totally ignores my commands "left left" and runs crazily to the jump ahead, but we're working on it :) It's so funny, when he's on that dogwalk, he seems deaf :D

Tricks video is almost ready!! It only needs a finishing touch, will be out next week, hopefully.

Running contacts

Thank you Maja for these wonderful photos of Ben on a dogwalk!

OK, this is what I mean when I keep saying how much he loves that dogwalk. He's crazy about it, he could spend hours running over it, his eyes start to glitter and his feet turn into wings :)

Little Bens

Today I finally went to see "little Bens" as I call them :) How full of life they are, full of energy and so sweet! I am even more convinced now there is no better mommy than Dance, the puppies all have amazing characters! But I simply fell in love with Diesel. He couldn't rest for a second and didn't want to part from people at all, every time we put him in a crate, he immediately started crying, eventhough he was exhausted, he refused to go to sleep, when all the others were dead tired asleep, he was still jumping around, tugging with the polecat toy that I brought, and the way he fought for that toy, wow, a future winner for sure! :)

However, Big Ben was not that enthusiastic as I was, nor was his mom Dance enthusiastic about him, she didn't allow him to come near to the puppies at all, poor Big Ben, she totally didn't care Big Ben is her son too and growled all the time at him :) I guess he was a little relieved when we went home and when he realized I am not taking those "little annoying monsters with us" :D

No progress

The last photo was again taken by Maja Rokavec, thank you!

Lately, I've been trying to find a reason for a problem that we've had since the first competition on. In 90% of our agility runs at home, he runs full speed, but in 90% of our agility runs on competitions he doesn't run full speed. At first I thought this was because of new agility equipment, (and I still believe this to be one of the reasons), then I thought it was because of so many scary dogs around on competitions, then I thought of many other reasons and I think they are all partly true, but the process of overcoming this problem will take much longer than I thought, since our progress is very very slow. I tried to take him to every competition possible only to overcome these fears of his, but I'm not sure whether it helped much. Sometimes I just had to go home with a tear in my eye, it is really not a good feeling to drive a long way and spend your last savings only to see all your efforts fail.

Our second project lately has been to improve cik&cap. Again, no progress here, so I started the whole thing all over again, without bars, around the trees and jump wings. I never thought this could be so hard to teach, but I just have to find a way to make him love tight turns.

The only improvement on agility are turns after dogwalk. I've started with a jump straight after the dogwalk and then removing it further and further back to the left or right. It's looking quite chaotic, he only runs according to my body language, doesn't care about left and right at all, all he wants is to run and run and run over that dogwalk, but with a lot of tries, he learned to turn tight to the left or right after it. Of course, never missing a contact, oh my God, does he love that dogwalk, so funny :D

So I am not really satisfied with our agility lately (except for the dogwalk), but no, I am not giving up, I just know someday we will overcome this!

Other than that, we are busy with frisbee, new tricks (it's getting boring, he now learns a new trick with just two repetitions!, oh my, he is turning out to be too smart for me), hiking and fooling around with our friends. This weekend we had a visit from Simona, Bennetton&Nike and it was really funny to watch Ben&Nike playing togeher, tugging (Ben NEVER tugs with any other dog), and all three playing piano, doing tricks and running in the fields. They are a true dream team: crazy wrestler Nike, funky weirdo Ben and good old uncle Bennetton :) Since my camera is still dead and I have to buy a new one, I haven't been able to make any new tricks/agility/frisbee videos yet, and I have to thank Simona for all the photos. I have many videos in plan, but it might take some time...

puppies

Aren't they the cutest puppies in the world??? General truth about poodles: once you have one, you never wish to change the breed :) so true!

Photos from the Netherlands

The last five photos were taken by Maja Rokavec, thank you Majchy! :*
The Netherlands is such a beautiful country, lots of water, beautiful towns and arhitecture, and happy friendly people. I so wish to return some day for a little longer than 2,5 days!

Ben in a Slovene dog magazine (Moj Pes)

We are back from the Netherlands and Germany, we saw some of the world's cutest dogs in Germany and some great frisbee dogs in the Netherlands (congrats to the Slovene team, Maja&Phoebe, Jean&BammBamm&Lyra&Oli and Roman&Boss, who all did a great job on dogfrisbee EC!!!), more about the trip when I get the photos (unfortunately my camera died in the Netherlands :(( )

For now, just a picture of my cute, smart and always funny (and hairy!) Ben in a Slovene dog magazine Moj Pes, thank you Simona for including Ben's photo, we will pay you back, I promise ;)

Some photos taken on a beautiful Sunday

Litter B

I am really good with updates this week :) But this one is very important! Ben's mommy delivered 5 beautiful puppies on September 11. 3 males, 2 females, all very cute and healthy. I have to say a few words about the breeder here, Anita. Anita has had poodles since she was a child, she loves the breed and really gives her best to give the puppies everything they need, she is the best breeder you can imagine. If you are interested, send me an email on nina.causevic@gmail.com.

children's bazaar

On Saturday we were invited by Simona (you can find her blog among links at the very bottom of the page) to join her and her dogs on a children's bazaar on Sunday and show some tricks. So Ben was a little star on Sunday, we had two tricks sessions and Ben remembered all of his tricks, even those we haven't trained for a year but also some "brand-new" ones :) Simona's dogs, Bennetton and Nike were stars too. But Nike attracted most of the attention, she just melted everyone's heart with her cute looks :) She just looks so innocent (to those that don't know her, haha) and sweet :D In the afternoon we were joined by our friends from Prekmurje and their three parsons, who also took some photos (thank you!!) - (and you can also find their web page among my links). A very cute company it was: 4 parson russel girls (Nike, Kira, Amy and Ais) and two outsiders: Big Ben Mix and Little Ben Poodle. We had a great time, and Ben was happy tired in the evening :)

Agility Škofja Loka

You just have to see this! Look at him go!! Definitely our best runs so far. SOOOOOO PROUD!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYa9898_P_M

Photos

soooo gooooood!

What, do you always brush your hair in the morning??!

... at the seaside ...


Ben learned to drive this summer, but he also joind police...

Here is Ben pushing the police car...

Otherwise nothing special going on... Ben and I are both waiting for these 14 days to pass... Nevermind how much we love summer, we don't have this much time for summer fun this year, so we're hoping for more walks and hikes in autumn...