Summer Shows

What a great start to the summer shows:

At Birmingham National, "Team Elbereth" had a super day, first Elbereth Matkamies winning the dog CC, then Judi Cross and Ch Elbereth Marja won her 4th CC and took BOB.  If his was not enough, our new edition Tilkkuturkin Hallantuoma to Elbereth (Halla), only 6 months of age took Best Puppy in breed.

Halla then made a big impact at Bath, taking BOB & BP under Mr M Vines - his critique certainly shows what an impact this cocky little lady made on him:
Jackson’s Tilkkuturkin Hallantuoma to Elbereth, what a name, but very suitable for such an outstanding exhibit. Did it all for me, still a very minor puppy, a sable of eye filling quality. I was taken a little by surprise when she entered the ring, breathtaking would be an understatement. Fabulous feminine head so correct, eye, ears, very good stop, soft well padded muzzle, excellent dentition, tight lips. More reach of neck than you would expect, with just that hint of an arch. Well defined wither, into a topline so firm for one so young. Very good tailset. Coat texture soft at the moment as you would expect, but has the makings. Very good bone, all so feminine, forehand into very straight forelegs outstanding. Feet very tidy just the right amount of arch. Underline good, chest proportion roomy. Loved her rear assembly, long bones, wide thigh, short hocks which showed firmness standing & on the move. The handler moved her out at just the right, pace, this for me was the icing on the cake & the final decider for best smooth sound action in all areas. In presentation a confidence & attitude beyond her age. BP, BB & BOB (Judge Mike Vines)"  Her sire Matkamies had to settle for RBD and E Kia joins Bridus was reserve BB.>

Moving onto Southern Cos, where Mr Harri Lehkonen from Finland judged the breed, and from entry of 60 dogs he awarded a 12th CC to Elbereth Matkamies and BOB, with bitch CC to Elbereth Suvituuli, Matka's daughter out of E Penikka.  Elbereth Marja was RBB, and E Pelinainen won two classes, what a superb day.  This is the first time a father and daughter have done the double in the breed.

Crufts & WELKS shows

I have just been so busy that have neglected the blog, so time for a quick update....

First a look back to Crufts where I had the honour to judge Pyrenean Mtn Dogs - and found my BOB in the Swedish dog, Vi'skaly's Harlem Shake (Vi'skaly's Stage Diver x Vi'skaly's Poppy Pinot), who then went onto Group 2.  A stunning boy with such a lovely head and expression.

Sam Moore then handled Phillip's Multi Champion Elbereth Matkamies to DCC & BOB under Sue Dunger, and Emma Bird handled Multi Ch Elbereth Kia Joins Bridus to BCC.  There were also big wins for Matka's daughter's Elbereth Pelinainen and Elbereth Suvituuli.  Lovely to have these two super dogs appreciated by Sue who introduced the breed to the UK.

Crufts winners (photo Pia Reynolds)

At WELKs Championship show the breed did not have CCs, but Matkamies took BOB under Mrs Rose Marie Emery from Sweden, and he then went onto his first group placing in UK - G4 under Mrs Lynn Salt

photo Alan Walker

I haven't yet introduced the new edition to our family, Tilkkuturkin Hallantuoma to Elbereth - Matka's daughter to Fin Ch Tilkkuturkin Bunahilkka

photo Nina Lahin

Who with the rest of the Elbereth family had an amazing day at Birmingham National;  first Matka won his 11th CC under Rodney Oldham, then baby Halla won her first ever puppy class, Pelinainen won Junior and Post graduate to be followed by their older half sister, Suvitulli winning limit.  Onto open where Judi Cross won the BCC and BOB with Ch Elbereth Marja (Int & Fin Ch Lecibsin Hapmi x Elbereth Satu), an amazing day ending with 6 month old Halla winning BPIB.

Matka and Kia also popped back to Ireland to gain the final point for their Irish titles and a little trip after Birmingham to Germany to add more points towards their German titles :)

Fin Ch/Belg Ch Lumiturpa Pigga at Elbereth 29/8/1998 to 11/9/2014

I had always hoped Pigga would last forever, in fact often joked that as she was such a calm bitch who lived life at "Pigga pace", she was conserving her energy to live to a record age, but sadly she left as at the very ripe old age of sixteen years.  

first day

Pigga joined us on 30th January 2003, I had seen her in Finland as a youngster and wanted to buy her - but she was not for sale, so I was very fortunate when on a trip in 2002 I managed to persuade Matti & Riitta to let me "borrow" her for a litter, to help increase the gene pool here in UK.  So it was planned and we mated her with Fin Ch Staalon Lapinjoiku and her flight was booked.  I can remember that evening like it was yesterday - as I left home to drive to meet her at Heathrow it started to snow, just a little covering of a couple of inches, but when I arrived at the cargo centre I was informed that the snow and more importantly the ice on the runways/standings meant her plane had not even landed yet - even though it had been expected some 1.5 hours before.  I waited and waited - as three hours passed it was suggested I went home, but I dare not because of the snow, not wanting to drive more than I had to.  Then it was announced that as the plane had been circling the Heathrow airspace for so long it was going to have to go to Gatwick to be refuelled, but it would not be unloaded there.  So I waited and waited, drinking a number of those vending machine hot chocolates to keep me warm in the drafty cargo office!  I was really stressing how Pigga would be coping in the confines of her flight crate in the hold of the plane for over 10 hours, and of course she was (we hoped)in early stages of pregnancy.  When midnight came and she was finally landed and was released from the box, I truly expected her to be very stressed and messy, from such a long flight.  But this was Pigga we were talking about, she was fine!  She jumped into my car - we drove home carefully, and then I let her into the house, she walked straight into living room, laid down and said  "yes this will do nicely"  not a peep was heard from her, and from the next day it was like she had always lived with us.

Her litter was born, six puppies, 5 boys and the one girl, and we realised that we could not bear to send her home, so negotiations started - and we were very lucky that Matti & Riitta agreed she could stay in UK.  She had a limited show career - adding her Belgian Title and Brussels 03 winner title to her Finnish crown, but she was notoriously lazy and really did not get the point of showing off she was much more suited to being a lady of leisure at home, taking advantage of all creature comforts.

Pigga was a very gentle girl, I can honestly say I never heard her growl, she was very friendly and loved humans, and was happy to get on with any dog she met.  Once you met her you just had to love her, and she was so happy to share her affection about, she would go and stay with anyone - and was adopted by a number of lonely campers over the years on holidays, from young Josh & Phillip to not so young Steve and Andy, the latter even had T-Shirts printed with the slogan "I've slept with the Pigga-la- la". She was well known for pawing at you as she sat by your side - thriving on human attention.

 A great brood bitch, she had three special litters here in UK, to add to the two she had in Finland, and from her kids in Finland she has had significant impact - and she is behind a number of our more recent UK imports - albeit a few generations back and those in other countries!  Her second UK litter in 2004 was 6 girls and 1 boy (redressing the balance a little, sired by Elbereth Runo in Bernavia, and her last litter was born in August 2005 - to the very handsome Hapmi, again six puppies.

If you met her you loved her - fact!

Run free - Pigga

World Winner Dog Show - Helsinki 2014

When it was announced that the WW14 would return to Helsinki I was quick to plan a return trip, (I first visited Finland for the 1998 WDS) to see the breed I love, of course being in the breed's country of origin we could expect an amazing entry, though who could have predicted how big an entry it would be!

As the schedule was issued, the Finnish KC decided that the Finnish native breeds would benefit from a free entry and I started to think about actually entering Matkamies to be part of this once in a lifetime opportunity, so as entries were FOC I sent off the entry and then sat back to see if I would actually go through with it! Then I realised that flying a dog from UK is very complicated and expensive, £600 each way plus handling costs, so other ideas were considered and a plan of action made, "simples" drive to Holland, and fly out with Matka as escorted baggage from Schipol.  As planes usually restrict cargo load to no more than three dogs I had to get my booking in quickly - so the flights were booked and space reserved.

In no time at all, entry numbers for Finnish Lapphunds had surpassed 250 dogs and by the time entries closed, there were 526 entries! This certainly gave the organisers a headache?  Whilst there had been three judges advertised for the breed, there was no way they could judge this number of dogs between them, and provide the individual dog grading and critiques as is the norm in finland.  What would they do?  Then it was announced - FIVE judges:

• Kirsi Honkanen - Finnish Lapphund (Puppies, veterans + *intermediate bitches)  - total of 87
• Saara Sampakoski - Finnish Lapphund (junior, intermediate, champion dogs, CC, CACIB competitions, BOB) - total of 116
• Elina Haapaniemi - Finnish Lapphund (open dogs) - total of 91
• Mari Lackman - Finnish Lapphund (junior, champion bitches, CC, CACIB competitions) - total of 114
• Tuula Savolainen - Finnish Lapphund (open bitches) - total of 118

So Matka was entered in Open Dog, a class of 91!  I debated long and hard about whether to go - but the booking had been made and it would just be amazing to be part of it, and the team of Nina, Jordie, Pia and Caron persuaded me to take him.  Of course his relaxed temperament is well known and I had no worries that the journey would be too much for him!

The WDS14 weekend was slap bang in middle of our family fortnight in Builth Wells, so my mad venture to Finland would actually be via Wales!  So on wednesday 6/8/14 Caron and I left Wales for Surrey, a stop over back home, then Thursday a quick visit to the vet for Pet Passport paperwork to be updated for entry to Finland/tied to cover return to UK as necessary too.  Then the drive to Folkestone and through Chunnel and onwards to Holland, and Jordie's hospitality.  Then an early start on Friday 8/8/14 for the flight to Helsinki.  As we sat on the plane, the Captain apologised for the delay in loading - but it appeared the plane was carrying an unprecedented TWELVE dogs on board, and at that point we could see the cargo team, loading the dogs via conveyer belt into the body of the plane.  

Matka on far right awaiting loading

At Helsinki we were reunited with Matka, and we headed out to meet up with Nina, who was kind enough to share her home with 4 mad lapphund lovers and a lapphund!  Pia had flown direct to Helsinki to join up with us.  Nina's kind friend Harri also provided the canine transportation for Matka as the hire car would not allow dogs!  
Another early start was planned for Saturday morning of the show, as with huge numbers expected at the show and Matka due in ring at 9.00am, we couldn't be late!  We were so fortunate to have Nina and Harri to get us to the car park, and navigate the short walk into the venue and our outside ring, arriving stress free and with time to groom up Matka, though like many of the dogs present he was rather in summer clothes!

photo by Melanie Holbaek

Because of the large number of dogs in the class the judge Elina Haapaniemi asked for 25 dogs at a time to come into the ring, after a look at the batch of 25 and moving them in two sub groups, we then left the ring as each dog was assessed in turn - Matka being dog 17 to be seen (not counting absentees). My dream, was to receive the excellent grade, and so was chuffed to hear this announced to the crowd by the ring steward after his judging and so we could rest until the class finale later in the day.  Once all the exhibits had been judged/graded, the dogs receiving the grade excellent were invited back in the ring - again in numerical order and the judge started the process of reducing the number down from approx 20 to the four final placings.  It was nerve wracking as we were moved around the ring, and then asked to present the dogs, and out of the corner of my eye I could see the judge shaking the hands of the exhibitors who were not making the cut.

The tension mounted and then I realised there was only 7 dogs left in the ring, again we all moved up and down, and three were unlucky, so I realised we had made the final 4 and would be placed at the WDS!  We were still standing in alpha order and I was at the front of the group, and then the judge moved another dog up behind me and asked us to move again.  Under FCI rules its quite common for judges to place the dogs in reverse order, so as we ran around the ring and the crowd did the usual excitement building, slow hand clap, as the judge pointed to me - I was sure I was fourth, so it was amazing when she pointed to the No1 place board, a truly emotional moment.

The day did not end there - after all rings had completed judging - the stewards called the dogs who were eligible for the CAC into the main breed ring, to be judged by Saara Sampakoski, this was awarded to the Junior winner Turnukan Nalle, and I was delighted to win the RCAC.  A super result amongst cracking dogs from around the world, see the full results.

Whilst at the show the Finnish press caught up with us, for an interview - really to find out why this mad lady had come from UK to Finland for the WDS!

Matka's critique "Five year old with pale cream markings, very typey male, not in full coat, strong well shaped head, excellent expression, good bone, healthy structure, good mover"

The return trip was planned for Sunday, but a decision had to be made - whether to leave Matka behind in Nina's care for another National Championship show the following weekend.  It was obvious Matka was very relaxed at Nina's and I just felt it would be the one chance to gain his Finnish title.  So we headed home, without Matka, doing the mad trip in reverse, flight to Schipol, and overnight stay with Jordie, to wish her a Happy 30th Birthday and a celebratory meal at Cafe de Hamer .  Then another early start for the long drive back to Wales, which was certainly made easier by the euphoria of what Matka had achieved.

photo by Harri Kivimäki

So Nina had the tough job of taking Matka to the show the following weekend, I was judging at WKC, so was unable to take her call/messages till lunch time.  When I finished judging I turned on my phone and saw a message, did I dare read it?  It was amazing Matka won Open dog, the CAC, and then best dog beating the champion dog winner and finally BOB over the bitches, BOS was the lovely  Lapinpeikon Namupala, the judge was Erja Nummi.  

Matka's critique "Excellent type, correct proportions, excellent head, attractive expression.

Good topline, good ears, excellent broad body and bone substance. Well balanced angulations. Moves freely. Beautiful coat. Entirely stylish" 

This win gives Matka his Finnish Sh Ch title.


Now to wait a few weeks till we can organise Matka's return trip.