January 29th, 2010: Denmark
Last weekend I had the opportunity to go back to Denmark for a 3-day training clinic. Now that was fun. I stayed with Lone Hansen and her family; Lone hosting the clinic. Lone was a terrific hostess and her family adorable. The facility was terrific. A lovely big training field and an indoor area for eating and warming up. We needed that! It was cold. While the air temperature was not too bad, the wind chill was something else. It wasn't so bad for me because I was moving all the time but for those waiting their turn, it was freezing! Luckily I took my super warm 'Canadian' coat (OK, it was made in the UK) and when I wasn't wearing it, someone else was. I got this coat as a bribe to 'encourage' me to move back from the temperate climate of Vancouver Island (British Columbia,Canada) to the cold winters of Alberta. It was a condition of the move! The price of the coat is gobsmacking but worth every penny. It was nice to be able to share it with my Danish friends but believe me, it did not come off me for the 2nd and 3rd days of the clinic!

The clinic went well, I think. It was nice to see familiar faces from my trip in late November. It was THRILLING to see the progress of the dogs from November to now. Nothing warms your heart more than to see how proud people were to demonstrate the improvements in their dogs. And improvements there were! Many of the handlers are competing in Class 1 and aspiring to run Class 2. I hope they are all rethinking this now as many are not far away from running Class 3 (Open trials) and after summer training, there should be at least a couple who could step up to Class 3 quite easily. Their dogs will be ready but what the handlers need is a dose of self-belief and some courage to make the move!

One cannot go to Denmark and not report back on the food. Oh my, was I fed well! Pastries with chocolate on the top for breakfast, along with my trademark hot cocoa made with milk. What a treat. Fresh bread and superb cheese for lunch and/or hot soup, and at dinner time, a feast. I am in love with a Danish dish served at Christmas - small, boiled potatoes 'caramalized' by placing them in a frypan full of sugar and a little bit of butter. OMG, these are to die for. Yes, I love sweet things and what better than to have caramelized potatoes!!!! Yum, yum, yum. I discovered Skum Bananers as well. These are banana flavoured candies (like a slightly hardened foam) covered in dark chocolate and shaped like a banana (obviously). I was given 2 packets to take home to Kelvin. Yeah right! Three made it home...! I am BAD! We ate everything from roast pork, roast beef (which the Danes call cow- imagine going into a restuarant in Alberta and asking for Alberta Cow please- hee hee hee), salmon, shrimps, lovely salads, gravy with jam in it (now I loved that!), and desserts which I won't tell you about because you'll start drooling.On my last night in Denmark, Christina, Rene and I went to Christina's parents place for dinner. Christina's mum is an incredible cook. I would get so fat living there! We had a very pleasant evening capped off with a Baileys (or two). Lovely.

While I was off playing with dogs, Kelvin was at home tending all the dogs AND agonizing over an impending school inspection, which is now finished. School inspections in the UK are nerve racking...and for months and months teachers and head teachers are under enormous stress. Tonight they will celebrate...the end of their living hell, and a very good inspection result. Kelvin obviously spent the weekend working and eating at his desk. The place was a bombshell with empty microwave dinner plates all over the place and not a clean cup, plate or piece of cutlery to be seen. MEN! He did take 9 dogs with him for a run in the forest. How brave. He even took Steffi and Cian on their first runs in the forest and they even behaved! My little ones are growing up.

Of course Kelvin also had time for the pups, and he has now picked his favourites. There are going to be some negotiations in the future. I have my eye on two for a prospective brace team but at 6 weeks of age, who can tell! One pup, Wynn, is just like little Sioux at the same age. Yesterday I put them all outside in, what I thought, was a secure pen. Once they were all safely in there, I got the older dogs out for a wee bit. In the 30 seconds I turned my back to let the dogs out of their kennels, I turned back to see Wynn climbing the fence and he was almost over the top when I caught him. Temporary fencing is not going to keep him contained. George wasn't far behind. Oh, George is just a nickname at the moment until we think of a better name for him. He is NOT a George. Far too perky and naughty for that. Any ideas?

Yesterday Roy went away to his new home and new owner. Now that was hard. Roy has done well for me and he is a total sweetheart of a dog. I've had him since he was 13 months of age and he was one of the first dogs I trained. Last year he only got to trial in May and after the Welsh National, and this year he was looking like running even fewer trials as Meg, Jamie and Sioux will be my 3 main dogs this year, and Bee is looking like she will come on stream too either in Open over the summer, or nurseries in the winter. I did not want Roy to be sitting in his kennel while we all went off trialling so I made the decision to find him the right home where he will be loved, well cared for, exercised, and run in trials...these things will keep Roy happy. It took a while but when I got a call from Jill, who competes in the Northumberland league, I had a good feeling about her and the fit for Roy. Roy liked Jill instantly and she liked him too. Roy immediately started working for Jill so I wish them both the very best of luck in trials. Roy will take Jill to Open this year so that is very exciting. It will take some time to adjust to not having Roy here and just thinking about him brings a big lump to my throat but it was nice of Jill to call when she got home last night to tell me Roy was settling in and deciding whether he wanted to sleep on a beanbag or not. We are still waiting to hear if the beanbag made it through the night or Roy destroyed it, as he well might! I hate selling dogs!

Well, that's the news from our wee Welsh patch of paradise. Next week we have Akihiro arriving from Japan. He will be staying with us for a month so we'll no doubt be out with dogs almost every day and he'll have a few trips to meet Kevin (Evans), Nigel (Watkins), Bobby (Dalziel) and no doubt a few othersas well. Hopefully we can take him to our Association dinner on the 5th as well and introduce him to everyone. Akihiro is a sheepdog enthusiast! We are really looking forward to hosting him and showing him around.

Till next week, Ciao!