Proud
Can you believe it? I’m already 4 years old today. And this means……. GIFTS and yummy treats!!!!!!
Let’s start with the presents. I got 2 brand new toys: a Planet Dog kong and a “Recycle” ball.
The kong will be used for putting in treats and I’ll have to try taking them out.
The “Recylce” ball isn’t a ball for recycling, but it’s a toy made out of recycled products and should be very strong. But I’ll have to test it to see if that is true.
As for treats, I got a very “yummy” dinner from Katinka: a vegetable mix. How cruel can a person be?
Jessica on the other hand had gone to the shop and bought all kinds of snacks from Pedigree that I love and some chicken jerky. But Jessica things I won’t be able to eat all of those today. I want to prove her wrong by eating them all, but she won’t let me. I have to find a way to get in that cookie jar!
Today was the first time to see so much snow and I still can’t believe it.
Very early this morning I was ‘dog’napped by Katinka and Shunka. They put me in Katinka’s car and off we went. As we were driving, the outdoors become whiter and whiter and it started feeling colder. Not that the cold was bothering me, because I love the cold.
After two hours we finally arrived at destiny point. We were at the Sahara. Snow was laying there in mountains. I was so curious and started running around and sniffing everywhere.
I rolled over to get the sent of the snow on me so I could started hunting, but alas, there were no preys to be found. So I decided to jump around in the snow and running back and forward with the occasional photoshoot stop ^_^
After playing in the snow for a couple of hours, Katinka called me back to pat me on the back. She lifted my tail up and saw all ice building up at the curl of my tail. So now she had to defrost me every hour so it wouldn’t build up. Wouldn’t that be funny: a frozen keeshond popsticle?
When we arrived at the lake in the center of the Sahara, we saw that all the water was frozen. Shunka was brave enough to run over it, but I didn’t want to. When I was about 6 months old, I once fell through the ice in the woods where I life and I don’t want to relive that moment.
I was enjoining myself a whole lot, but after running around for about 8 hours, I was getting tired. It’s hard to run in snow. So we started walking back to the car. The drive to home was over before I know it because I was sleeping. I was so happy to see Jessica so I decided to jump on her lap and made her wet with snow and mud ^_^
But she wasn’t angry because she saw how tired I was, and decided to give me some cookies. And now I’m off to bed, because I just so tired and I can’t keep my eyes open.
I keep repeating myself, but I think I have to. I’m a hunting keeshond and I like it. Today I had my first little success and I hope I will have more of those.
I was taking a walk in the woods when suddenly I saw a little black rabbit. I didn’t hesitate and started running towards it. After hunting it for a while I succeeded: I had caught the rabbit.
As proud as I could be I walked to Katinka to show it and she congratulated me. I kept hopping around with the bunny in my mouth until Shunka saw me. She came to me and wanted to have the rabbit. I gently putted it down, but before she could grab it, the bunny ran away.
Yes, so know you know. I was walking in the woods with a rabbit in my mouth that was still breathing. You know, it was strange having it in my mouth, but I can’t wait to capture my next bunny ^_^
I was to excited to write about it yesterday evening, so I’m writing it today. I’m become more and more of a hunter.
Yesterday we (that’s Sammy, Shunka, Katinka, Jessica and me) went for a walk behind the airport. There’s farmer ground behind it and an excellent area for walking. There are a couple of fields with cows (who follow us everytime we walk by), but also fields for harvest.
When we arrived at the last field, Jessica spotted a rabbit and showed it to me. Shunka wasn’t there because she was already chasing another one we spotted earlier. So I started running towards it and when I was almost at his spot, the rabbit saw me and started running away. So I started chasing it, but with all the sharp corners he took, it was difficult. To release some of the tension in me, I started barking which made the rabbit more desperate.
Suddenly the rabbit took a wrong turn and came close to a ditch. So he decided to jump over it. When I arrived I kept running around that area, because I lost his trail. But suddenly I saw that he had miscalculated the distance and was in the water. I decided to step back a bit, so he could come out. And the fool did ^_^
I immediatly started chasing him again, and he escaped barely. He went in the direction of Sammy, Katinka and Jessica. They noticed the rabbit and blocked his way. So he had to make another sharp turn and started running riight across the field. I was barking like mad chasing him and we were getting further and further from everyone else.
After more than 10 minutes chasing him in bushes, I heard Jessica and Katinka calling my name and that I had to come back. Relunctly I gave the chase up and went back to them. They both congratulated me for doing such a great chase and promised something very yummy when we got home. And I did! I got lot’s of cookies when we got home!!!
I have shown this night what a strong and courageous keeshond I can be.
Katinka had taken me on a nightly Friday walk of 100km together with Shunka. The first 30km were no problem, but then Katinka was getting tired because she had woken up early that morning. When we walked 40km, Katinka was getting dizzy and decided to go to the infirmary.
When we got there, Katinka was feeling worse and she fainted. While she was laying down, the medics wanted to help her, but they didn’t count on Shunka and me. Shunka started growling besides Katinka and I stepped over Katinka so that she was laying between me front and back paws and also started growling. Nobody was allowed to touch her!!!
Then suddenly Katinka woke up and started calming us down so that the medics could help her.
After a while Katinka was getting a bit more color and she called her boyfriend to pick her up. So sadly our walk was disrupted and we only walked for 40km, but this was a time when I showed that I’m a protector for everyone I like ^_^
Today I went with Sammy and Shunka to the Sahara. This always means lot’s of forest, with in the middle sand and a pool of water. It’s actually a combination of everything I love the walk in ^_^
But today I’ve shown my true keeshond skills.
First of all, I swam in the water. And I really swam. In my earlier entries, you might have read that I go in the water, but only until a certain point, which is ‘as long as my feet touch the ground, I’m save and go forward’. But now, due to the swimming lessons every 2 weeks on Friday evening, I’m getting courageous enough to swim in water outside.
The second thing I’ve done is starting a hunt on my own. While walking we saw a little deer when Shunka was chasing a rabbit. Since she wasn’t in the surroundings, I decided to do the chase in her place. But before I could start, the deer had run away. So I started searching for the trail. I went from left to right very quickly following the trail of the deer. My tail wasn’t on my back, but hanging half down while I was doing that. But suddenly I lost the track of the deer. I didn’t like that and about 10 minutes I found the trail again and started following it again. Sadly enough, my skills aren’t that trained yet like Shunka and I’ve lost the trail again to never been found again.
But no worries, I’ll try again the next time we go and in the meantime I’ll train myself during the walks I make with Jessica and Katinka.
Can you believe it? This is already my 100th entry in my diary. As a special, I’m not doing a normal written entry. Since Jessica just bought a new camera, it’s a picture entry. Enjoy! ^_^
During a walk in the woods with Shunka, we suddenly saw something that wasn’t there before.
Shunka was immediately in search mode. When we came closer we saw that it was a tree with a face. That was so weird, so we decided to search for more clues.
Suddenly we found a trail. We started following it and came at a little new pond. Shuna started climbing the obstecal, but suddenly froze when she noticed a gate.
We ran to the gate. Shunka started looking around, but I couldn’t wait anymore.
And suddenly I started barking because I found something.
So I was like, hurry up and come look.
After a while Shunka finally decided to come look at what I found.
When Shunka, saw what I found, she was just dumbfound.
I couldn’t wait anymore on Shunka and Jessica, so I went looking further. And then I was juming of joy.
Shunka was curious about I was so excited about, so decided to cross the weird path.
When she saw what I saw, she was also very excited. We ran towards it and jumped on it.
Oh, the fun.
And look, there’s something here too.
Waaaaahhhhhh! I’m a dragon. A dangerous dragon who will attack you if you come closer.
And I’m a dragon too.
I guess many of you are now thinking ‘huh?’. But it’s like I’ve written in the title. I went hydro for the first time today ^_^
With hydro I actually mean hydrotherapy. Hydrotherapy is used for relaxing the muscles and building strength, but for me it is actually for learning to swim in the first place. As you may know, I love water but I don’t go in to deep. I always have to feel the ground beneath me.
It wasn’t the first time I went there. I’ve known the instructors from previous visits with Katinka, Sammy and Shunka. It happened that I was with them for a walk and afterwards they had an appointment.
I can tell you I was very excited. I always get delicious cookies for doing nothing, but this time it wasn’t that easy.
When we arrived Jessica took of my collar and was put under a stream of water to get wet. After that I was put on a swimming jacket. The instructor, Christophe, lifted me up and placed my in a spa. I had to keep sitting in it for 5 minutes, but it was getting hotter and hotter and in the end I started howling. But it was no help. I had to keep sitting in it until they said I could go out.
And then was the moment… I had to go in the pool. I was first put on a board and then had to swim my first round. I wasn’t so sure about it and was splashing all around. I even succeeded in making Jessica dripping wet and she wasn’t even in the pool ^_^
But after that round I was calmed down and noticed that I wouldn’t be drowning and started swimming calmly. The one thing I didn’t do was playing with toys in the water. I don’t want to get water in me while swimming. Who knows what will happen!
After all the swimming I was pretty tired, but it wasn’t over yet. I had to go in the spa again to cool down. Figures, for cooling down you’re put back in the same spa that was used to warm up with the hot water. People are strange beings.
But I have to say I enjoyed it a lot and can’t wait for the next appointment ^_^
This weekend I have done something that not many has done before. I participated in the first dog tracking in Belgium with Katinka and Shunka! This means that I did a walk of 75km (that’s about 47miles) in 3 days! And I can tell you it wasn’t easy and that had many reasons.
The most important reason is Shunka. She was in heat and then she is even more interesting for me than on other days. During these last few days I was very alert and didn’t want any other male dogs around her. So this meant that I had to protect her and keep a close watch on her and if necesary I had to stand tall and show to the other dogs that Shunka is mine and mine alone. But I can tell you that it has taking it’s toll. I’m very tired now and can’t wait to go to sleep.
The other reason that made us walk even more that the 75km is loss of direction. We were giving a map and a compass and we had to find our way to several check points. When entering the event, you had to choose what you wanted to do. And Katinka had choosen for the group walk of 75 km. But she forgot one important thing that she had to check before starting: is there someone in the group that can read a map!?!?!? And the answer is: NO!
On the first day there was a dropping in the evening and my group got lost very quickly and it resulted in the people of the organisation searching for us ^_^
But I have to say that I did a couple of things for the first time during this walk. Ofcourse, the event itself, walking 75km was something I’ve never done before. But there were also a couple of other things, some good and some bad.
This weekend was the first time that I had to sleep in a tent. I’ve always slept indoors and this was the first time that I had to sleep more outside. The second night it was a lot colder so Katinka decided to sleep in the car together with me and Shunka and I must say: it’s not comfortable.
And that was the good things, the bad news is that I hurt myself. On the last day during the walk some dog was coming closer to Shunka and I decided to distract that dog by playing with him. But during my excitement, I bit on my own tongue. It started bleeding very heavily and it took some time to stop. Luckely there was a vet with us and she took a look. I had a cut that was almost 2cm deep on the side just next to my left fang. It didn’t hurt that very long and it didn’t take long before I was acting like always. Jumping around and walking besides Shunka.
Sadly enough there aren’t any pictures because Katinka was to busy with checking if no dogs were ready to go close to Shunka.
But that’s all that I wanted to tell. I’m off to bed because I’m very tired now and want to go to sleep.
After Jessica got back from work, she was very busy with everything. But I didn’t know that we would be going away… to a training for showing.
Jessica put on a collar I’ve never worn before and we were both trying to get used to it. It makes a chain collar that shouldn’t harm my hair in any way. After getting used to it a bit, Jessica prepared some treats for me and then we went for a little walk. Then we immediatly got in the car and went direction Oostkamp (a town in Belgium, near Brugge).
After searching for a while we found the place were other people with their dogs were gathering. I was all like ‘Cool, new dogs to play with!’. But it wasn’t like that at all.
When we went inside I had to wait a while and started looking around. I saw an interesting shetland sheepdog and tried to pursuid her to play with me. But neither Jessica or the owner of the sheltie let us T_T
It was first the turn for the little dogs to get their training. So Jessica decided to sit with people to ask some more things about shows. But because it was getting later and later, Jessica asked if it was OK to train with the large puppies since this was our first time doing this training and we had to have some more time than with the adult large breeds.
We were shown the basics of how to show a dog and I didn’t like it one bit. My paws had to stand a certain way, I had to look at one direction, while walking I wasn’t allowed to jump or hop-skip,… I just can say that I had to act some way I didn’t like. It had all this different kinds of rules.
