Would like to stop the time now! My favourite time of a year! So grateful to be able to watch the life reawaken after winter hibernation again!
This is a busy time for me. I am trying to get all the veggies growing in the garden and in the greenhouse that was rebuilt after the storm that made a huge tree fall down and smash the old one.
May 2nd in the countryside
It has been cold and dry beginning of May, we have had many nights with temperatures below 0° C and the plants are a bit late but I still hope they will recover now. Yesterday we had 26° C and today the longed for rain arrived at last.
We opened the swimming season yesterday as well. Prima, Ruda and myself jumped in our lake without hesitation but Basqa stayed on the shore and cried. I tried to persuade her to jump in but she would not. In the end I just took her on leash and then she followed in without struggle. She is a good swimmer.
Last weekend we were in the coutryside at my sisters cottage and Basqa run in the sea without problems. But swimming is a different thing. Hopefully she understands now how nice it can be when days are hot.
Otherwise we train obedience quite often nowadays as I do not have to go to work so often. I still have to fight against pain in my back though so I am not able to do as much as I would like to…
But, of course we are making progress and the dogs are clever. Even Basqa, though I need to find a way to improve her speed.
I have to start training for competition now with all 3 dogs. I have to stop rewarding them all the time. This is my biggest challenge as a trainer, I am a reward-addict! As long as the dogs are in lower classes where the programme is short there is no problem. But in higher classes they have to be prepared for longer work without rewards, otherwise they will feel frustrated. They will quickly understand that competitions mean lack of rewards and their motivation will drop.
I intend to spend the whole summer working on it as well as details. Every day!
The other day I was playing with my camera trying to take so called studio photos of my dogs. Here is result of it.
My sisters Dandie was here as well. She lost her eye recently due to glaucoma but she seems to be happy anyway. I like her photo most.
Basqas ears are enormous! I am not so disturb of them in real, as her head is big too but on the pics I see nothing but ears! It will be so interesting to get to know what judges think of her. I have entered her to 3 Belgian Specialty shows, a double on 30/31st of May and a on June 15th in Holland.
I am planning to attend the annual Laeken Fun Day in the Netherlands this year and meet all the fans of the breed and old friends I have made during the years of sharing the same passion. I really look forward to meeting them all and will enjoy seeing so many Laekenois gathered at the same place!