26th September 2010 - The following is an email received from Felicity Broome in Australia. " Hi Ian and Jill, we are rapt with Solo, so far so good. She has the most endearing temperament, a real tribute to Geilo. Her mother has a great temperament as well but I almost call her too pushy. Solo, just is a polite gentle pup who just won't leave my side when she is off lead.. she is just gorgeous. I saw Freya on your site, she looks really nice". (Felicity Broome, Bernation, Australia). Solo is the result of our first attempt with frozen semen, she is from Geilo's litter 7.

 

 

25th September 2010 - After all the dogs had been out for their walks we took Freya out with her father Geilo, she did not walk far as she still has limited walking (one minute per age in weeks daily). Behind our house we have a cycle path, we waited for a cycle to pass to see Freya's reaction, when one came by she was not upset by this strange looking thing with a man sat on it in a funny bright orange coat. We heard the sound of several dogs in the distance, when they appeared there were six Labradors and three Springer's, we know these dogs. They came rushing up to see our new bundle of fur, for a minute Freya did not know what to make of all these dogs - still her father was there to protect her, he was not bothered so she decided all must be ok with all these dogs. The three owners of the dogs fussed Freya and the other dogs came to investigate, this was another important part of a puppy growing up where we live.

 

24th September 2010 - Today working on Freya's socialisation I took her to Jill's office where all the staff wanted to see her, we stayed for ten minutes, this was all new to Freya, lots of people of all sizes to meet. She was very happy and loved all the attention they gave her, some even gave her small treats and played with her.

 

23rd September 2010 - Now twelve weeks old and being with us for one week Freya started her puppy socialisation classes this evening, in the training room there were about twenty puppies of various breeds, ages and sizes. We had no concern to how Freya behaved she enjoyed the thirty minute class and was not upset by any of the tasks we had to do with her, she is very sociable to people and the other puppies. After the class she was very tired and when we came home she had a good sleep. 

 

22nd September 2010 - This afternoon Freya made her first appearance at school, after all the children had left she spent fifteen minutes in the class room with the teacher and staff, they all think she is gorgeous. The idea is to get Freya accustomed to the room and all the equipment so when she is older and hopefully a Therapy dog she will have no problem with the environment of the school.

 

21st September 2010 - It is never too early to start socialising your puppy, today I took Freya who is just over eleven weeks old to the Ecology Centre where I am a volunteer working with Special Needs Children. When I arrived Freya met the warden Maxine, she had five minutes outside then we took Freya inside to the classroom while we had a cup of tea. This was to get her used to the room, chairs etc, before the children arrived Freya went back in the van for a rest. When the group of children who are about seven years arrived I let them see Freya in the van. They were allowed to stroke her and give her a few very small treats, Freya was very calm and happy with the children, after about ten minutes Freya was allowed to rest. Her first encounter with small children and a strange environment was very good, I am sure in time she will make an excellent Therapy dog.

 

 

19th September 2010 - Today Freya met her first visitors to our house when our friends Geoff and Marilyn came to see us, they had Madi's litter sister Gypsy. When they arrived Freya was very good and friendly, she loved all the attention they gave her, nothing appears to bother her. This afternoon we decided we would give her a first bath in our house, again this was not upsetting in anyway for her, we will be starting puppy training classes with her later this week.

 

18th September 2010 - After a very good first night with us Freya has settled in very well, last night she was snuggled up to Steffi, they are starting to be great friends, all the dogs accepted Freya with no problems. It is us who have to be carefull, it is three years since we had a puppy in the house, then it was Elkie, we cannot believe that that she was like Freya. This afternoon we have taken Freya on the garden to take some pictures of her, at tea time I (Ian) took her to my mothers to see her, when I walked in the living room carrying Freya her first words were 'what is that'. She thought Freya was gorgeous, all ready at 11 weeks old Freya started to weave her magic, my mother has had a stroke that effected her speech, with Freya there her speech showed a great improvement. So it looks like Freya will also becoming another of our Therapy dogs when she is older, she has the temperement of both her father and mother and is 100% sound.

 

16th and 17th September 2010 - We left home to drive to Scotland to board a ferry to take us to Northern Ireland where we were visiting Sally Murphy and her family to collect our new puppy Frya. She is a daughter of their beautiful female Star and our male Geilo, Jill had not seen the puppies at all, she had only seen the pictures I had taken when I flew over to see the litter at 6 weeks old. We are both very pleased with Frya (Kinelarty Nordic Frya). When we travelled home she was no problem at all in the van or on board the ferry, when we arrived back in Scotland we stopped at some services to let the dogs stretch their legs, this was Frya's first venture outside on a lead. She was very good, a lady who worked in the Travel Lodge came over to see her, Fraya was very calm and friendly, she even did a 'Geilo Roll'. Her first night went very well, Jill woke up at 6.00am and let Fraya outside to go to the toilet, she happily went outside, did what she had to do and came in again to go back to sleep. We would like to thank Sally, Phillip, Andrew and Michelle for looking after Frya a few extra weeks for us and for letting us have a beautiful girl from their girl Star.

 

14th September 2010 - See holiday pictures added under Switzerland 2010. I must apologise for the lack of pictures at the show.  There was very little shade ringside. There are some of other dogs and when we can work out which dogs they are I will add them to the Switzerland 2010 album.

 

12th September 2010 - The CAC - Klubschau of the KBS Club (Schweizerischer Klub for Berner Sennenhunde Club Switzerland) was held at the Kaserne Reppischtal in Birmensdorf near Zurich, the judgese were: Frau Christal Senn (Switzerland) - Frau Regula Burgi (Switzerland)  - Jens Ramsing (Denmark) and Steve Green (England). The show attracted an entry of around 220, there were also classes for the following: Couple, Breeders Group, Veteran Group etc. We had entered Geilo, Elkie and Steffi, we decided not to show Steffi as she had left all her coat behind in the mountains and our hotel in Grindelwald and she certainly did not look her best. We had entered Geilo in the Open male class and Elkie in the Open female class, we arrived at the show ground early so we could find the show rings we were in and find a good spot ringside for watching the dogs being judged. As there were four rings in use we could only watch the two rings Geilo and Elkie were in. We like the system for judging at the Club Show in Switzerland, it is very different to the UK, we prefer the Swiss system, all the exhibits in each class are judged on the morning and grades Excellent - Sehr Gut - Gut. Every exhibit is given a judges critique, so if you are in a class of 24, each dog receives a full judges critique. The judge then selects four dogs in the class from all those graded excellent, if there are not four excellents the best of the Sehr Gut's make up the four. After the lunch break  all the top four dogs in each class go forward to the Ring of Honour where the judge makes his/her final placings, we think this is very good as you see the top four dogs in each class being judged. The judge then gives a verbal description of each dog to the spectators before making the final placings. None of the exhibitors or judges know what classes the judges are allocated before the show.

 

The Open female class was judged by Jans Ramsing from Denmark, there were 35 in the class with few absentee's. When Elkie was judged she unfortunatley limped a little as she was turning left, the judge asked me to move her again and she did the same. When the judge was speaking to me he said due to this he could not grade her today, but he gave her a great critique which you can read on our results pages.

 

The Open male class was judged by Steve Green from England, there were 29 in the class again with few absentee's, Geilo was graded Excellent,  you can read his critique on our results pages.  

 

When we arrived at the show we entered Geilo and his daughter Elkie in the 'Couple Class', this was judged by Frau Christal Senn (Switzerland), this was a strong class. After the judge gave her verbal description of all the Couple's to the spectators she spoke to me and awarded Geilo and Elkie 'First Place', we were delighted at this and received a beautiful Engraved Glass Trophy to take home. This was the end of a perfect holiday and another enjoyable Show in Switzerland.

 

10th September 2010 - Another beautiful day in the Bernese Oberland.  We haven't done much today, just walked upto the Church at the top of the village with the dogs. Then we came back to the hotel and groomed and trimmed Geilo and Elkie in preparation for the show on Sunday.  Leave Grindelwald tomorrow and stay in Zurich tomorrow night. 

 

9th September 2010   -  Today we took the train to Kleine Sceidegg with the dogs.  It was a beautiful sunny day, not to hot just right for the dogs.  If we had charged 5 Swiss francs for every picture that was taken of them, especially Geilo, we would probably have paid for our holiday!! 

 

8th September 2010 -  Today we went to Lake Brienz where we met up with Bob & Jackie Minns and her brother Chris, Bob & Jackie had a puppy Scheidegg, out of Madi's 2nd litter. After morning coffee we all took Geilo, Elkie and Steffi for a walk alongside the lake.  Unfortunately it rained and we all got soaked!!  At our hotel in Grindelwald an English couple, Wendy and John were married, they fell in love with Geilo the minute they saw him and had lots of  wedding pictures taken with him and Elkie. Watch this space for pictures.

 

7th September 2010 - Today it was quite warm and sunny and we decided to go to Trummellbach.  There is a lovely walk alongside the river and then through a meadow, where you can let the dogs off for a run.  We took lots of pictures and Steffi decided to jump up onto a water trough.  As I had Geilo and Elkie on the lead I was unable to take the picture properly, so i tied them to a road sign just next to the trough. As I was taking the picture there was suddenly a crash and I turned around to Geilo and Elkie pulling it down the road!!

 

6th September 2010 - Today is Geilo's birthday, he is  six years old today, he will be celebrating it in the mountains of Switzerland. We will be looking out over the North Face of the Eiger, the picture of Geilo opposite and our homepage banner is of Geilo and the Eiger. He and Elkie like nothing better than a ride on the mountain railway, post bus or one of the cable car rides up the mountain where they are always a hit with the holiday makers wanting to take their pictures.  There are some nice walks with beautiful mountain lakes with crystal clear water and rivers so clean for the dogs to walk in and swim if they want to. This year we will have Steffi with us for her first holiday to the Bernese Oberland, we are sure she too will have a great time. 

 

3rd September 2010 - Geilo, Elkie and Steffi have enjoyed a bath today in preparation for our annual holiday to the Bernese Oberland where we stay at Grindelwald in Switzerland.  We have added the latest pictures of Geilo's daughter "Solo" in Australia to his litters page, Litter 7.