6/10/2012 Today was Day 2 at Cooma with Veikko (Armahani Diamond Dansut (AI)), Mischa and Dolce entered. Arriving to mud pools we all huddled in the gazebo trying to keep ourselves and the dogs mostly dry. Dolce - Reserve Dog Challenge, Veikko - Minor of Breed and Mischa - Neuter of Breed. Really it was just an excuse to pick up Veikko as i had an important exchange to make.
Shell was on her way down from Sydney with very precious cargo onboard. Titan was finally free from quarantine. He met me in the driveway with a helicopter tail and lots of jumping and kisses.
He played for hours with Veikko and i'd like to thank Shell for helping exhaust him as he slept like a baby that night and i havent heard a peep from him any night since.

24/10/2012 - Summer (Lecibsin Sametti) touched down this morning in Sydney. Sometimes things just fall into place and we were very lucky Steph Betts was working that day at the QANTAS Airport and was able to take a photo and let us know she was ok. Mel Scriven arrives tonight and tomorrow we're off to Sydney to see my new girl.

25/10/2012 - My poor sweet girl is looking a little confused about being in quarantine. No doubt she misses her friends in the UK and wants a bit of peace and quiet away from the noisy pomeranian next door. She may also be a bit shy because of the celebrity dog 2 rows down. AJ is currently serving his time in quarantine. He was rescued from a dog fighting ring by Australian soldiers on a patrol in Afghanistan and with the help of the Australian public has made it to our shores. His owner was visiting at the time and it seems Summer liked him as she barked at him to get his attention. The first noise she'd made since we got there.
They'd also had the Bondi Vet in shooting something for his TV show. The fun never stops at Eastern Creek.
Summer finally got to try Devon. I looked for it in the UK but it wasnt to be found. She loved it and so i stuffed some in a Kong for her and she settled down for pats and a tasty treat.
I've enlisted the services of DogWalks to visit with Summer as i just cant get there enough to see her. Theyve assured me they'll take good care of her and better still, will post photos onto Facebook. She has more photos on Facebook than half the people i know. And why not? She's so photogenic

28/10/2012 -Shows Shows Shows!
We had a 3 day weekend for dog shows about an hour away at Tarago. We met with Shell and the lovely Veikko (half sister to Dolce). Mel had Quinn (another half sister of Dolce) up for the weekend.
I was showing Mischa and it was the young Titan's first shows. Each day we arrived with minutes to spare to get in the ring for Baby Puppy Sweepstakes. The first day Titan was delighted to see so many puppies and had a great time barking at them, trying to attract their attention.
As the judge approached for the exam i told them this was his first show so they'd take it easier on him but i needn't have worried. He stood there happily, wagging his tail and not bothered at all about having his teeth checked or the judge going over him. He even gaited in the ring in front of the other babies, like he'd been doing it forever. He didnt win anything but he's hardly at the cute and fluffy stage anymore. He's a very solid boy but right now he's a whole lot of legs with a wavy stripe down his back as his adult coat comes in. He was such a little star the whole weekend. Not a problem in the world. Happy to be in the trolley or in the ring and happily handled by others. I think Titan and I will be having a whole lot of fun together.
Quinn took out Best of Breed all 3 days and 2 Junior in Groups. Mischa surprised me by winning 2 Neuter in Groups. I hope she can do it again as she was a little surprised at having to go into the ring again and was a little flat. i think she needs more practice winning.

It's not often that Glen takes Mischa to a show but i'd entered a Friday show at Cooma to support our regional area and Glen agreed to take Mischa down as i had to work.

Mischa absolutely adores Glen so i was expecting it would be a good experience for her after a long spell from the show ring. The show didnt start until 4pm and we live about an hour from the grounds.
While i was at home waiting impatiently to hear the results, only expecting a ' she did well', i suddenly got a very simple message 'Neuter in Group'. I could hardly contain the smile as i quickly rang to get the details. 'We were up against the guy with the Corgi's who usually beats us' he tells me. I'd like to thank the judge Mrs R Henderson (QLD) for awarding our gorgeous girl her first Class in Group 'fringie'.
Mischa is the most precious little girl who stole my heart a long time ago and yet i continue to be awed by her quality and am so glad that she has this new opportunity to shine in the show ring and be seen by judges.
As it was a very long night waiting for General Specials, Glen told me he'd stop by McDonalds for dinner and 'get Mish some chicken nuggets'. I'm sure for her, this was the highlight of a very special 1 on 1day spent with her favourite person, Glen.

Finally Titan has landed. A long time in the planning, we are thrilled to announce that Pakkanen av Vintervidda (Imp Norway) today arrived in Sydney. He will spend the next 30 days in quarantine before coming home to us here at Caleebra. We couldnt be more excited to have him and thank his breeder Christian Lauluten of Vintervidda Kennels for entrusting us with this gorgeous son of Max (Int Ch. Dagolas Qultapoju), the top winning Finnish Lapphund in Norway for 2011 and 2012 and Tillie (Lumiturpa Tytön Tyllerö).
He has his own page here
We will have more photos of him soon.

4/5/2012
I'm so very excited to confirm that we have a new member of our Finnish Lapphund family. Very cute and adorable "Summer" comes from the well-known Lecibsin Kennels in Finland. She is out of one of my very favourite boys Lecibsin Kepponen and from a gorgeous cream dam Lecibsin Suvituuli. The process for importing a dog to Australia is quite strict and drawn out. In a nutshell Summer must be vaccinated against Rabies, have her blood tested for adequate rabies antibodies, and then a period of 180 days must elapse of which most of that can be out of Australia but a minimum of 30 days must be spent in Australian quarantine. This is the option we've elected. We chose to have Summer moved from Finland to be raised by our very dear friends in the UK. This will prolong her stay a little bit but we felt it would be better for Summer to be raised with a family environment in which they place similar values on socialisation and upbringing as we do. We are eternally grateful to Louise Wyatt and Simon Brown who under the Lumikoira prefix are home to 3 Finnish Lapphunds: Mylo (uncle to Summer), Kiva, and a bitch from the first litter under their prefix, Sassi.
Simon and Louise also operate 'Dogs to Stay', in-home dog boarding so socialisation is assured. This will not only ensure that Summer is well socialised but having Summer in the UK in the hands of a vet knowledgeable in the export/import processes will ensure that all the paperwork and customs/quarantine requirements should go  smoothly as theres no language barrier to contend with. Also means Summer will know English :) As an added bonus Simon and Louise have promised lots of photos, video and skype and have opened a Facebook Group for Summer as well as operating two webcams so we can check in on her all the time. We consider ourselves especially lucky to have Simon and Louise open their home to Summer and look forward to the future.
Summer will arrive in the UK on the 19th May and will hopefully grace Australias shores before Christmas 2012.
You can read more about Summer on her own page. There are also links to further pages with photos and information on her pedigree.