* NEWS 2009 *
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December 23
We thanks you all for lovely Holiday Greetings and wish you a sweet and Merry Christmas!

December 18
Snow chaos??? Here in Halland County on the West Coast is the right place to live! We have just some thin powder on the ground... We're back home from Munich and some lovely days! Pictures at photoalbum #Munich 2009. THANKS darling for a wonderful trip, as everything with you! Showing off the amazing 1 year of engagement roses! THANKS Ingrid & Inge and mother for taking care of the boys again!

December 17 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING!  WE LOVE YOU!!!

December 8
Wonderful news - Gibson has become a proud grandfather again! His daughter Cockerqueen's Tinkerbell gave birth to a lovely litter. Hugs & kisses to you, Tindra! We went to the forest again this saturday and guess what!? We met a hunting dog AGAIN! This time it was a wirehaired dachshund bitch, wet and very tired but with a bearing collar. So the owner knew just about where she was 1 kilometer away. In the meantime she was happy to rest inside my jacket until we heard him whistle :-) Now the one-time-grill was ready so then we had some sausages by the little lake, cosy! On friday we were at restaurant Majas By The Sea, having our yearly amazingly Christmas dinner with friends! And on saturday we're off to Munich!!! ;-)

November 29
Yesterday we did a good deed and had a cosy "Advent's Eve"! First we visited a small well done Christmas market. Afterwards we went to Kadde Högar for a long walk in the forest where we met a sweet hunting dog. It was a Drever bitch, very tired but happy to see us! Instinctively I called the mobile number on her collar and made the owner happy too! When she didn't return from her hunting for a hare he had left a sweatshirt on the spot where he let her loose so she would stay there when she finally wanted to end the hunt. He came after just 10 minutes and the dog got a nice bit of food in his car. In the woods we picked moss, spruce and lingonberry sprigs for Christmas arrangements. When I do the Advent candle holder it's the same procedure every year; I listen to an old cassette with Christmas music by Boney M and eat Santa Claus fruit flavour mallows! *grin* Have a Merry Advent!

November 22
Huge congratulations to Mr. Zougin that gained both BIS & BIS-Veteran this weekend! 12 years old you do show where good old veterans belong - at the top! Still going so strong, amazing! And we admire judges that appreciate the charisma of us veterans! Standing ovations from The Veteran Club, hat off from Mr. Gibson! On saturday we went to our first Christmas market of the year, at lovely Tjolöholm's Castle!

November 15
Here the ordinary days passes trough, the weather is typical for this season - boring! But we do practise some tracking or obedience before the dark afternoon comes along. In the evening it's nice with some cosy candles. On Saturdays you can go to the "dog yard" at 1 PM where we all get together for a walk around the big enclosed pasture. It's so fascinating to see 20 - 25 dogs run around loose like a pack á la Cesar Milan! Wonderful! 
 

World's greatest Gibson! As tradition it's hunting with THE big pheasant!!! Hunting pictures in photoalbum #84. 

Our beloved dear old friend Lena has left us and the loss is enormous!!! Warmest thoughts to her family!
This picture is very special, it says more then words...
The puppies are after my Gibson, but most of all it is LENA...
This sweet kind amusing LENA with a twinkle in her eye and rosy-cheeked...

October 29
Sunshine on a clear blue sky! It's a matter of course for a picnic this month! Lovely pictures in photoalbum #83. 

October 17
Time for a party again! This saturday it was my little sister Caroline's 30th birthday, congratulations sweetie! THANKS to Ingrid & Inge for taking care of the old boys again and to mother for taking Dallas under your wings! Congratulations to Gibson's grandchild Sota (Cocker Princess Tjorven) to a 4th place in utility class, what a clever lass! 

October 10
So beautiful! We have had the honour to whitness the wedding between Clas colleague Magnus and his Ulrika the 10th of October 2009. Among 100 guests we had a wonderful long celebration til early morning... THANKS to Ingrid & Inge for taking care of the old boys and to mother for taking Dallas under your wings!

» They are all so beautiful, and the Bestman is so handsome!!! 
Start counting... ;-)

September 27
We've had a visit from Occis kennel the other day. Volvo Station in our town is considered the best on the coast, so in the meantime you're invited for a coffee at our house. Thanks for the blueberry pie, Britta! Then I've done both a game tracking and a human tracking with the old boys. Clear rounds! So fascinating each time that the oldies are still going strong! But oh no, Dallas had to stay home alone with a bone... I don't want to mix in the tracking now as it's hunting season for him :-) 

September 24
First of all - huge thanks for the congratulations! It's so kind of you all! It feels so good to really have a TRUE dual purpose dog, that actually is qualified in several areas! And speak of working, we have a new little friend in Molly! She is a working cocker nearly 1 year old and our rabbit dummy became her favorite! If you turn to the other side of purpose I have been at our Cocker Club Show the whole weekend. I'm in the Show committée so I took care of the more practical arrangements. We had two lovely judges in Mrs. Sally Leeding (Floroyal) and Mrs. Jean Gilmour (Chavez) and they did an excellent work! So nice to meet you! By the way, Dallas half brother gained 4th Best Dog, way to go!

September 13
The Cocker Spaniel Club arranged an Apptitude Test in Field Trial. The place was Dimbo outside Tidaholm where Gibson has been before at real field trials long ago. The gathering was at 10 AM with dear old judge Mr. Gunnar Petterson and a world champion as shooter! We joked a bit about how boring for him to just shoot in the empty air today? *giggle* We were 10 participants incl. 2 springer spaniels och 2 clumber spaniels, most of them well known. My little scrimp unfortunately got the last starting number... It's mostly difficult to start as first or last, as first you may not have the motivation on top and as last it drains your strength 'cause we all have to go together and follow each dog. Well, the weather was nicely windy with the sun behind the clouds. It was interesting to watch the dogs working and one even made us laugh :-) In the afternoon about 1 PM it was finally time for the last participant to enter the fields... Note in the minutes: Field work - Side with dog-rose bushes and spruce stand. Acceptable working inclination and accompany. Loses some energy searching in dense ground. Good retrieve of both dummies and pheasant. I agree with the judge that it wasn't 100% energy as Dallas had to go passive for over 2 hours but in the final comment he made a good impressive! So Darling Dallas is APPROVED IN APTITUTE TEST AT FIELD TRIAL!!! YES!!! Thanks for all your best wishes and crossed fingers, they helped! 

Our old boys had been sleeping tight in the car so when we came back we had some coffee first and took them for a walk in the surroundings as we waited for the results of The Cocker Spaniel Club's Field Trial Championship 2009! Since I had my green "hunting clothes" Gibson already understood in the morning what was happening today and could smell the birds now, so I took him for a little search in the near ground where he found his dummy! And it was cute when he trotted in at the courtyard towards the box with birds and just snatched a pheasant! -Look what I found, mummy! Then you're the happiest Mr. Gibson! But what about the results? Oh, I'm proud to have my Darling Dallas as 4th place at The Cocker Spaniel Club's Field Trial Championship 2009! And once again I have the world's greatest honey that interrested comes along on our adventures, taking care of me and our boys, LOVE YOU! 

Thanks to judge Mr. Gunnar Pettersson (and his Spike) for huge experience
and Mrs. Maine Sterner for generous fields!

September 10
They say that babies are so adorable but what do I know? PUPPIES are outstanding!!! Have seen Cockerblues first born "live" thrue her webcamera and it was so cool, thanks Marie! Yesterday I was training a bit out in the fields for the Apptitude Test on sunday! And poor little Dallas went stucked in the muddy ditch on the way home... I called and whissled but no Dallas came? So there I found him unable to climb up! He looked like a hippopotamus, all grey! Luckily there were running water at the end of the ditch so they could splashing about in the water, and they got a fresh bath when we got home. Please, keep your fingers crossed on sunday! :-)

September 5
Oh, it was so fun to see you all at Shakima's kennel! They're living out in the country and that complete silence in the evening is absolutely amazing! On saturday we did some preparations for the 25 years kennel anniversary and luckily for sweet Clas there was V75 at Mantorp trotting raseway! So the boys went there and missed our "lunch" at the Ice cream restaurant, yummy! In the evening we had a bar-b-q and on sunday it was time for the big anniversary. Nearly 50 cockers with owners gathered and it was fun to meet so many Shakima's! We had several activities such as sausage search, quiz walk, fastest cocker and several displays such as agility, obedience and yes - Dallas showed a display of retrieving both a dummy and a dove :-) Don't miss pictures at Shakima's here and some in photo album #82. Thanks for a jolly good weekend! Oh, by the way, Clas and I won the quiz *grin*!

August 20
Finally some time for my own updates! It's crayfish time in august and we've had some crayfish parties, they're so good! And then we've had some picnic's out in the country, look here » Tomorrow we're off to Shakima's kennel and her 25 years kennel anniversary and puppy meeting. It's gonna be so fun to see you all again! *longing*

"He sure is a good boy that little Dallas" = the rabbit retriever! We have been at the yearly hunting course among 11 participants with more or less experience and 1 with a lot more, guess which we were? The course was just like the last year even if there were promises of more advanced parts, so it was a pity that it just became like a training for me and Dallas and not a course... And I even had to practice by myself! Shore, it's always good with training... but we do that for free at home... Nevertheless, me and Dallas had a good partnership and at one exercise Dallas was one of few that really fetched the rabbit! Heavens, it was almost as big as himself and I got a bit stuck-up *grin* Pics of my clever boy can be seen at photo album #81. 

August 7
Oh, what a joy to have some free days in the sun! On thursday, after a warm walk with the old boys, Dallas came along in the bicycle carriage to the island outside our town where we visited Cockerblues caravan. It was really hot so we took the dogs to the beach, see photo album #80. Tonight we're having a bar-b-q again and some red wine, gosh so tasty it is! Tomorrow morning it's time for our yearly hunting course weekend with Mr. Bengt! It's gonna be so fun!!!

August 3
Jesus, discovered that we haven't been at a show for the whole year! Well, I have been there but working as a ring secretary. So now I had to dust both Dallas and his show leash. He's such a joy to groom for a show as he turned from a duck to a swan! He's really LIGHT blue! The show was at our county South West Cocker Club for judge Mr. Morgan Granander. A nice acquaintance who will soon be an autorized Cocker judge. He only thought it was sad he had not been invited to our bar-b-q's as Dallas surely had been there :-) "Short compact 4 years old male with a wellshaped head that could be a more masculine, correct bite with lowerjaw, excellent forechest, well layed shoulders, long upper arm, strong body, well made ribcage, short strong back, nice angulations, nice coat, moved well, would prefer a more tighter condition". Yes, it was to much porkchops on this guy so he became 4th in open class *grin*. It went better for master Clas, he won a lot of nice prices at the lottery! We also had lovely company in DeAnn and Ella (Clawstone's Shawnee) who came 5th in the bitches open class. But unfortunately she missed the Prize of Honour that would give her the Best Tan Trouphy that daddy Gibson won last year... Such a pity as she is so good in her markings! Anyway, thanks all for a jolly good day! 

July 21
Today it's almost storm here... and I have to bicycle 10 km to work... But we had a really nice weekend among the old automobiles and a big birthday party with good food and dancing! Ingrid's & Inge's Pontiac Bonneville took us home in the night, to the nice sound of a V8's engine! Next arrangement will be a little garden party together with our neighbours, nice :-)

July 16
Crown Princess' birthday was spent out in the green fields with my friend Marika, cool cider and Yatzy. This weekend our little town will be invaded by all the old beautiful cars from the 60's and 70's as it's time for Wheels & Wings. And on Saturday we're going to a big birthday party!  

July 9
Time for 2 days show at Tvååker! But I'm going to work as ring secretary so no results for me, but I wish you good luck!

June 25
Great news! Gibson offspring eyetested and hip scored clear: Clawstone's Shawnee! Ella sends some beachy pics here! 

Yesterday Dallas and the camera came along to the beach. I went first for a walk with the oldies and realized it was to hot for them to go with us. So Dallas had a ride in the bicycle carriage and really enjoyed the wind blowing in his hears. I have to admit it's easy to just have one dog when it's a lot of others at the beach. And Dallas is perfectly happy to be by himself with mummy! Well behaving he can stroll around and doesn't care for other dogs. I took of course some wet pics, see photo album #78.

June 17
Timmy really liked the birthday attention and especially the pancakes! He knows the clock 'cause at 7 AM and 5 PM it's dinner time! And between he sleeps like a baby most of the day. He still enjoys the long walks and having fun out in the fields!

June 11
On tuesday evening we went with Devine Dogs to Kungsbacka Working Dog Club for some obedience training. At first it was a scooting session so Dallas practised on his stability with retrieving dummy, good boy! And then we had a regular training session and finished with a cup of coffee when the rain started. Thanks for a fun evening! When I came home our new kitchen cupboard and leather sofa had arrived, nice!  

June 8
Clas has been at Sweden Rock for four days, enjoying all the rock bands! It's not my kind of liqueur so I amused myself here at home with the boys. The Swedish National Day we celebrated by taking the bicycle carriage to Mother Nature's green fields, as we often do, and had a relaxing picnic under the blue sky. My friend Marika called and after some road description she found our spot and we had a lovely day. The day after the boys found a ditch beside a meadow that we had to cross over. The ditch looked dryed out but oh no, it was like a mud-bath! But they say that a wrapping in this is good for your skin, hey? Look here!

May 27
The World's largest trotting race at Solvalla Race Track. Every last Sunday in May since 1952 it's time for the famous Elitloppet. One of my favourites, the georgeous Commander Crowe, tried to enter but got a 5th place in the semi final. Our favourite stable "Palema" (owner of georgeus Gidde Palema) qualified with Torwald Palema! This year it's 15 years since I visited Elitloppet! The year was 1994 and I were there to cheer for Ina Scot (she won Prix d'Amerique 1995). She was the horse from my, at that time, home trotting course Mantorp during the '90s. Elitloppet 1994 is ranked as the best ever - the duell between Pine Chip and Copiad - with Copiad as the winner! There were no t-shirts left with Copiad on after that race... But I do have one with Ina Scot... still saved in the closet :-) Who won this year then? Oh yes, a tear eyed Mr. Åke Svanstedt with Torwald Palema!

May 25
Several evenings are spent by the coast fishing. As far as this no fish in the pan yet but it's such a nice relaxing moment enjoying the sunset. We've got a sweet greeting from Dallas favorite girl, see here! On saturday we took a small trip to The West Coast Cocker Club's open show to return Gibson's last years prize as Best Veteran. In the evening I made a sandwish cake for sunday, as I'm 1 year older :-) 

May 17
This weekend it was The Swedish Spaniel & Retriever Club's annual meeting 2009 at Nova Park Hotel in Stockholm. So I have been a "grass widow" but tonight master is back home! Yesterday Sanna & Ville came for a visit and we practised game tracking. It went well for my boys, thanks for a fun day! But today poor Gibson got a thorn on his ego... On the long walk we went in to an enclosed pasture for some water in a horse's bucket. Gibson dropped his dummy on the ground while he was drinking. Then the owner came with her horse and sad he was a very kind horse so she let him loose. He smelled at the dummy and "poor" Gibson showed all of his teeth, trying to keep the horse away from his beloved dummy! Unfortunately he didn't make an impression by a 500 kilo big horse, so he had to wait for the horse to loose interest in the dummy and admit he was defeated... Ugh, that hurts Gibson, doesn't it?! *smile*

May
Wow wow wow! Yesterday we were at the amazing consert with the guru of electronical music - Jean-Michel Jarre! Did you know for example that he wrote "Oxygene" in 1977 - still going strong!

May 11
Lovely relaxing at Lahall on Saturday! We had some "water playing" with the boys, see photo album #77. And yesterday we all went with master Clas to his office in Gothenburg. He has a lot of work to do this time of year among the income-tax returns. But he says it's like Christmas - he really loves it! Well, not a job for me thow... I went shopping ;-) While the boys chewed on a bone at the office we had a nice lunch with my little sister and her family and finished at IKEA. 

May 8
Dallas went along for a really long walk and advertised doggy treat, see photo album #76. And gosh, the lily of the valley is already coming!

April 30
Gosh, a small idea can be a success! They have built a log raft at my work (Fun City). Today it was finished and it has even small lanterns hanging from the roof. Our boss invited us for lunch - at the raft! It was really nice! Every day one of our boys comes along to my work and today it was Timmy's turn. He really enjoyed the little trip on the lake, sunbathing on the raft! In the evening we had a lovely Walpurgis and my darling had bought an orchid as Walpurgis present, thanks sweetie!

April 28
It's so nice with the Spring sun so you hardly sit with the computer... Wood anemone, coltsfoot and even dandelion wants to show you that the Spring is here! We've done some gardening and now it looks nice! Thanks for all the greetings to a successful tracking, it's fun to finally compete official. Dallas is such a merry dog to work with! 
  

April 12
Yeah, now we've spent the evening with the Arvingarna! They played at Björkgårdens Nöjeskrog here outside Varberg at Easter Day. Clas and I dusted our talent as bartender and waiter, it was fun! 

April 9
Thanks for all the Easter greetings! We have been very busy with all the planing at SSRK West's dog show and I don't mean in a dogs way... Nope, working with this and that as a functionar. The premiere went very well! 
 

April 1
Lovely practise day! Together with our golden retriever friend Funny we practised at Fun City with so talent Mr. Bengt-Göran Landin. His 4-double champion "Keeper" and "Beneagle" showed exactly how to do everything, impressive! Funny got a "halleluja-moment" when she finally learned how to swim! And then she retrieved as the retriever she is! Dallas "the spaniel" was really good too, retrieving everything in his way! Thanks a million for a splendid day and sweet hugs to my boss/friend Maria who organize this kind of activities!

March 25
This evening I finished my course in show handling for SSRK West and the nice participants are off to their first show next weekend, good luck! On tuesdays it's free obedience practise at our local Working Dog Club. First they have a lay-still in 4 minutes with 4 shots and Dallas manage it perfectly. This time we had our golden retriever friend Funny from Fun City with us and boy - she is good! On sundays it's hunting course with Marita at Fraganza and Dallas is showing off *brag*. 

March 23
We had some lovely days in Stockholm last week and really enjoyed IL DIVO!!! THANKS to Ingrid at Bergkällans and Marika with "luxury dog hotel" for our boys! This weekend was really bisy! I've been working for Fun City Varberg at the TUR - Trade Fair 2009. TUR is the Meeting Place of the World, an annual event that attracts the representatives of some 100 countries to Gothenburg. It's a lot of work but it was fun!

Februari 27
What a FABULOUS boy he is! During the week DeAnn sent so nice greetings about Gibson, he charmed everybody! Inclusive the vet as they took a sperm test, bearing in mind that he's over 11 years old... And the little fellows looks correct and swims good! *proud* His condition is not the best for activities such as this, it's true, but who has that as a pensioner? Oh, we've missed him so much!!! Well, perhaps the two other boys doesn't agree about that... They thought the pundit should stay at his luxury vacation! But there's no place like home! Best regards to DeAnn and her girls for taking such good care of our Precious! Fingers crossed for puppies 1st of May!!! 

FEBRUARI 21
Today we were looking forward to a nice visit from DeAnn at Clawstone's kennel, as her Lady finally is in heat! But destiny wanted something else... In the morning we discovered an empy box and almost 100 grams of master Clas' 72% dark chocolate was missing... And that is NOT good for a dog! Strong suspicions on thief Dallas... Urgent drive to Hallands animal hospital with an emergency poisoning of chocolate!!! Timmy went along, as safety measure? Calm down now... First the vet made an usual medical examination and heart control, everything looked fine. Dallas then got a nice jar of soft food, yummy, this was good! The vet left us alone for further activities and Dallas didn't notice the shot of 0,2 ml Apumorphine in his neck before 5 minutes... Then you suddinally get very sick and throws up! Darn, I couldn't keep that nice paté of food! Uups, vomiting again with brown colour? This was NOT fun, mummy! I'm feeling sick! Upps, two portions of chocolate sauce... Puh, now I feel weak... but I think I'm done now? So after a control by the vet again we could go home. Daddy just had to pay almost 1.500 sek for an expensive chocolate cookie!

What about Gibson? Oh yes, he's in Eden with his Lady!

Februari 20
Well well well, do they ever stop? To makeover 400 pictures from Madeira takes time so to speak... Some work in Photo Shop and then put them in an album, where you have to keep order where to put them? But I must say a lot of them are really nice! Hang on... they're ready soon! 

At Valentine's Day my darling booked The Lenin Bath here in our town at Hotel Gästis, we were there at noon and had actually the SPA by our own ;-) It was so romantic!

Februari 12 Gosh, so cold we have here! I came home with a light tan to -5 degrees and snow at Landvetter Airport... brrr! My loving family welcomed me home with kisses, dog noses and a lovely cake! Oh, I've missed you so much! Lucky we have cell phones :-) My suitcase was extra interesting to explore with a lot of gifts. We have had a wonderful holiday and now I'm going through my camera with hundreds of pictures coming up soon, here is one exsample » Thanks for the sweet greeting from Nikki-boy, what a peach!

February 2
On Saturday we helped my sister in law with her family to move to a new apartment, it's 4 rooms at the top on 8th floor with a fabolous view! Yes, they had an elevator! The day after we had a long walk at the beach of Lahall, see photo album #74. This weekend the temperature has been low, 7 degrees below zero, perhaps not so cold for some of you but it bites the cheeks when the wind blows here at the West Coast... Tomorrow at 7:00 AM the aeroplane leaves for Madeira! Of course I will miss my boys at home, but it's gonna be so nice with 15 degrees of warmth! In the meantime, while I'm having a cosy time, you can enjoy the last trip to Madeira here! Or my beautiful Orchids!

January 30
The other day when we were practising we met some men coming from the fields so I got a great idea asking if they needed a spaniel? Yes, that would be great, they only had hound dogs. So we changed phone numbers and guess what? Yesterday evening Mr. Arne phoned and asked if I would like to join them in the morning? Yeah, time to bring out the hunting clothes! We started in a copse but Dallas didn't find anything in there. We continued out on the arable land and after a while my gundog flushed a hare! The little rascal thought it was really fun and followed it for 50 meters but dropped and went straight back to me. A minute after we heard a shot from one of the marksmen at the fence so we went back for a possible retrieve. But he had missed the hare so no work there. On another field Dallas found a long gone Canada Goose and retrieved a wing spontaneously. He was tired now but carried his trophy back to the car, the little sweetie! The hunters liked my blue boy despite the lack of experience, he was calm during the breaks and effective in the thickets. We were welcome again, thanks guys!

January 29
This week we've been celebrating, training and cleaning. First it was my father in law's 75th birthday, congratulations! Then we had some practise again with Sanna. What practise? Look what the boys did instead at photo album #73. Yesterday I was at my dear friend Anneli at Cockerqueen's and gave a helping hand with her moving-cleaning. She's leaving us here at the West Coast for the High Coast up in the North... like hundredfiftyeleventhousand kilometers away... miss you! 

January 25
In this grey foggy chilly Sweden a lot of you will get envious... My sister and I are going to celebrate our mothers upcoming 65th birthday and what better is than to take her to her favorite place - Madeira! Yeah! We're leaving in February for one week in the sun! And the fun thing is that mother has no idea where we're going, surprise! ;-)

SUPER!!! Gibson's daughter Clara (SLCH SVCH SAGCH SAg(hopp)CH Tullebyns Two For The Show) is #1 AGILITY COCKER OF THE YEAR 2008! Proud owner is Mrs. Anita Pettersson. Huge congratulations!!! 

January 19
Thank you Anna Johansson who took the BIS-picture of my Precious Gibson at Club Show 2008, see here! This Saturday we went for a birthday party at my sister's. They have a big water barrel in the garden that you heat up with wood in the winter. It was -5 degrees Celcius outside and the water was 40 degrees above zero. It was jolly good taking a bath with good friends, a cold beer, softly snowfall and torches around the barrel = cosy!

January 7
Puh! Now I've been at My Dog Show for four whole days! Intensive but effective! It's very interesting to meet a lot of breeds and charming judges, thank you for your kindness! Sorry that I missed the cockers completely... but that's life when you work as a ring secretery (pupil/assistent) for other breeds. Gibson's daughter Noella (Bergkällans Yamaha Virago) and granddaughter Alma (Bellasikos Red Rubin) got both plain 1st prise but with nice critics. I do know that a lovely veteran gained one BOB, huge congratulations Zougin! 

Thank you so much for your congratulations to our engagement!