The Dink is home!

Woo hoo! The Dink is back home after her trip up to Scotland and it's great to have her back. I got a lovely wiggly and squeeky welcome from her when I picked her up from Jennifer's on Wednesday morning!! I think she was pleased to see me! Didn't hear a peep out of her all the way home and she slept all afternoon and much of the evening. Think all the excitement of having so many of her fur-family to play with over the last few days had tired her out!! I think she is missing them quite a bit too...will be nice when we have a second lappy sometime to give her a playmate!!

Too quiet!

This weekend Inko is going to her first 'foreign' show! She is going to Scotland with her breeder Jennifer! On Wednesday afternoon Adam drove the Dink to a service station somewhere near Bristol for a carpark handover with Jennifer as it was roughly half way between us in Surrey and her in Devon! I will then be picking her up on Wednesday next week. A whole week of no Inky Dink!! :(

It is sooo weird here without the Dink!! It feels very odd not having her pottering around. I'm sure the neighbours are appreciating the lack of early morning and late night barking in the garden but we're finding it very strange!! Sounds like Inko is having a great time with her fur-mum, fur-dad and sister though, so I'm sure she's not missing us at all!!

Sorry for no posts for ages - and some more pics

To congratulate Inko on her qualification for crufts at Builth Wells, Jennifer (her breeder) sent her a present in the post (addressed to 'T. I. Dink'....for 'The Inky Dink'!!) - she got a great squeaky toy and some very smelly tripe sticks! Inko thought the squeaky toy was fab and spent the whole night squeaking it! Unfortunately for our ears, Inko is not one of those dogs who manages to 'kill' a squeaky within a matter of minutes - she's actually quite gentle with cuddly toys so squeaks last ages. Managed to get a video of her squeaking...multiply this by about 2 hours and that was how our evening went :)

Inko's congratulations card from Neka (mum), Keskiyo (dad) and Maija (sister)

Can't believe Inko turned 9 months old a few days ago - she is growing up so quickly!! Thought I'd put a few other pics on to show how big our little girl is getting!

Inko age 8 weeks on her first day at home...can't believe how quickly they grow!

Inko quite likes bamboo canes!

Inko doing her best 'parrot' impression on my shoulder

Sorry for no posts for ages - Showing update

Sorry, I haven't posted for ages, but with shows and decorating time just seems to be flying.

Inko went to her first championship show at Builth Wells in April. We had a ridiculously early start, having to leave home at 5.30am so that we could get to mid Wales for 9.00am! It turned out that this was very much worth it, as Inko managed to get first place in the Junior Finnish Lapphund Class and then got Best Puppy in Breed. She didn't place in the puppy group, but just getting to take part in the puppy group was an excellent experience...even if it meant we had to be at the show ground all day, till gone 5pm! At shows, in a bid to get Inko used to all the sights, smells and sounds of the show, I like to keep her out of her crate as much as possible. At Builth, she decided that she was going to steal Adam's chair and watch the world go by in comfort! I decided at this show to keep her bark collar on the whole time while she wasn't in the ring to try and prevent her getting into the habit of barking and it seemed to work really well. Although I had to remove it when we went into the ring, she behaved really well and her usual vocal approach to showing was absent...much to my relief as I could then concentrate on the business of getting her to walk nicely without having to fight against her barking! It obviously worked for us to get the result we did - this means she qualified for crufts at her first attempt! Her brother Tarkka also qualified for crufts, getting 2nd in junior, and reserve best dog!!

Inko and her rosettes

Inko - sat in Adam's chair watching the world go by

Why sit like a dog, when you can try and sit like a person!!

Starting to feel rather pooped towards the end of the day

Because Builth is so far, we really didn't want to do the return journey in the same day so booked into a local campsite and stayed with fellow lappy owners Steve & Shelley (with Apina and Kippis) and Jo (with Tarkka). They were staying in a caravan and we were in a tent alongside - Inko was very good in the tent - this is where having a happily crate trained dog is really helpful! We had a lovely evening in the lovely Wales countryside next to a very pretty river having a yummy take away and natter in the caravan!

Beautiful scene by our campsite

A very sleepy Inko when we finally got back home....didn't hear a peep out of her for ages!!

We have also recently been to the WELKS (West of England Ladies Kennel Society) championship show where Inko got to catch up with a brother (Rauhan) she hasn't seen for a very long time (since they were about 3 months old), her half brother (Taito) who she may have met once I think, but doesn't see often, plus her mum and dad (and her breeders Jennifer and Jay). The weather was stunning and it was our first outdoor show...I even got a bit sunburnt, which was rather a surprise for April! I was a little concerned about how Inko might behave when being shown on grass as she just wanted to run and play like she is normally allowed to do on grass. She was definitely more distracted here than at Builth, and ended up coming second of 2 in the puppy class against her brother.