CRUFTS!!!
Well it is that time of year again, and the countdown has now begun to Crufts 2010!
Its hard to believe that this time last year I was eagerly awaiting Blinken's arrival to the UK, it certainly does not seem like a year ago, where does the time go!? So this year, after Qualifying, he will be shown on the famous green carpet.
Many will say that Crufts is 'just another dog show' and they would be right, but I think most would agree that the special atmosphere and sheer scale of the show makes it something that we look forward to each year, and get a bit excited about too.
As well as Blinken, this year we have Caldecacre Celsie von Schunikka (Celsie), Caldecacre Chanterelle avec Schunikka (Ella), Caldecacre Chuzzlespots (Chenoa), Takesti Moondancer (Charlie - a Beema baby), Natamols Ursa Major (Elwood -out of Caldecacre Snowflake) and Caldecacre Couronne under Charmindals (Charm - Qualified but not being shown as she is in whelp) all flying the Caldecacre flag, and it promises to be a great day socially at least :)
We also wish the Pjasdals offspring, out of Caldecacre Cwite Contrary at Pjasdals (Daisy) and all of our friends a great day too!
A little extra fun in the form of the new Crufts advert on More4, ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN7lCwkEVxk) where you can see Caldecacre Celsie von Schunikka (Celsie) and Caldecacre Chanterelle avec Schunikka (Ella) strutting their stuff competing in the CaniX race last year at Crufts, finishing 4th place in their class! They will be there again this year a day before Dalmatian day competing in the races again, here is a still from the advert :) .....
Such happy girls :)
Blinken Babies!
Exciting news from Cumbria ... Ch Lady of Light from Shulune (Rahn - pctured below) has been to the vet and he has confirmed that she will be having puppies in March!
Yiiiiipppppeeeee!
Blinken is looking forward to being a daddy! And we are looking forward to lots of puppy cuddles!
Welcome to the UK Selma, Perditas Another Chance for Caldecacre
Such a terrible start to 2010, both with Baby Blizzard and also with more personal, family news. Some things make you realise how precious life actually is, and that it should be lived to the full and for the moment. I would like to take this opportunity to say how much I love and appreciate my family, my dear friends and of course my spotties too.
On a lighter, happier note, we would like to announce the safe arrival of Selma (Perditas Another Chance for Caldecacre) to the UK. I was so pleased when Kari offered me the chance to have Selma, and am so honoured to have been entrusted with her future. With Blinken and Selma, I have been given the opportunity to share these fantastic combinations within their pedigrees, and will certainly try to continue to breed true to this type. Blinken and Selma will feature strongly in my breeding plans for the future, and we have some exciting combinations planned for 2010 and 2011!
Selma has settled in very well, and her best friend is Callum, as you can see from the picture below ...
Selma will be shown lightly here in the UK, she already has done very well in Norway and has 3 CCs over there, her strongest feature being her effortless, true movement. Callum will also compete in Agility and CaniX with her too :)
Baby Blizzard!!
As most of you will know, we had resigned ourselves to thinking that there would be no puppies for Blinken and Boo this time. The repeat scan had shown no babies and so when Boo started to get some milk and look more rounded we presumed that she was having a Phantom pregnancy.
I wanted there to be a puppy so much that I kept looking at her tummy and was certain that there was a puppy there. My scan man was in Russia, I was snowed in and so finally we got an appointment to have her scanned again, this time at the vets around the time she would have been due to have her puppies.
I could not believe my ears when Andy, my vet ,said that there was a strong heartbeat, at first I thought he was talking about Boo's heartbeat, but then we saw the picture on the screen, and I literally cried with joy!! There he was, my Blinken x Boo baby!!
He was such a big puppy that we had our doubts that she would manage to deliver him naturally and sure enough we needed to go back to the vets this morning to have a C Section. The wait in the waiting room seemed like forever, and then I heard him! Such a great set of lungs to make all that noise to announce his arrival!! At the moment we are calling him Baby Blizzard due to the weather when he was born!
Mum, Dad, and baby all doing well :)
And here he is with his beautiful mummy.......
** edited .... Sadly Baby Blizzard left us at only 4 days old, Mother Nature can be so cruel, but always knows best, we are heartbroken.
.... and so into 2010!
What a year 2009 has been!
Some fantastic times in and out of the show ring for the Crazy Caldecacres. The year started with Caldecacre Copacabana (Jack) being invited to compete in the Prestigious DOTY (Dalmatian Of The Year) competition, where Callum handled him so well and they both looked amazing and brought home a lovely medal.
Then, in March, Blinken (Perdita's Right as Rain at Caldecacre) travelled over from Norway, after what seemed like a lifetime of waiting he was finally here, and so worth the wait, such a wonderful boy in every way. He arrived the same day as Crufts! What a joy it was to see Callum handling Miss Hixie (Meillion Kiss Me Homey at Caldecacre) so well at Crufts - the first of many to come as he also did well in many Handling classes this year the most memorable being when he was Best Junior Handler in Show at Dalmatian Club of Scotland, handling Blinken.
2009 also saw a lovely litter of puppies by Caldecacre Catch a Kracker (Dexter) x Caldecacre Chyna Doll (Chyna) , a super litter, one of which, Caldecacre Carpe Somnium (Elvis) is now residing in Sweden, and was Best of Breed Puppy at his first ever show.
Other fantastic show results meaning most of the Caldecacres will be flying the team flag at Crufts 2010, one of the best results this year being Caldecacre Couronne under Charmindals (Charm) gaining her first RCC and Stud Book Number!
Out of the show ring we have all had some wonderful get togethers, in fact there has barely been a weekend this year that we have stayed at home - thanks to the new van! One of the best times has to be camping in Wales in the summer where there were over 20 Caldecacres and their families for a weekend with fun, wine, and BBQ and lots of spotty cuddles!
All the good times of 2009 cannot be mentioned without the devastating news about poor Ivory (Caldecacre Cerisierre), taken so suddenly and far too young. I think about you every day dear girl and am certain that you will be playing at the Rainbow Bridge with your Great Grandma Sally.
We are now almost into 2010 ... and who knows what the year will have in store for us. We have exciting puppy plans, and hope to get some Blinken babies, we will also have our very first litter of Hamiltonstovare puppies too, exciting times ahead, but for now at least we want to wish all of our friends and family, here and all over the World a Very Happy New Year!!
A Weekend Away with the Crazy Caldecacres
WOW! What a fantastic weekend we have had!
We gathered all the Crazy Caldecacres together, loaded the van and traveled down to Somerset on Friday for the start of a fantastic weekend!
It was wonderful to spend time with Sara and Tim, Jen and Tom and of course the lovely Luca (Caldecacre Cordeiro Tajada)
Friday night we went into the village for the 'Victorian Night', where so many locals wore full Victorian attire, and the atmosphere and celebrations well and truely put us in the Christmas Spirit!
We were spoilt by Sara and Tim and had wonderful food, wine and company it was hard to leave! The Crazy Caldecares had a lovely time and a great walk in beautiful Countryside with Luca! Thanks so much guys!!
Then we traveled back up the M6 to Birmingham, after picking Jack up (Caldecacre Copacabana), had a lush night in a nice hotel and on Sunday were ready for LKA Champ show!
And what a great day we had ....
Blinken was 2nd Yearling Dog! Charlie was 2nd Limit Dog, and Charm was 2nd Limit Bitch!!
A great weekend, and great time catching up with friends before Christmas!
Carriage Driving with Blinken!
We were up early on a cold winters day last week to go and visit Julie, Daisy (Caldecacre Cwite Contrary) and the Pjasdals for a day Carriage Driving.
We had a wonderful time, it was so much fun!!
Blinken thoroughly enjoyed himself too, pic below;
We hope to go most weeks from January onwards in order to train some of the Crazy Caldecacres for the Carriage Dog Trials next year :)
Thanks Julie for a great day, and a fantastic Pub Lunch afterwards to warm the cockles!
Caldecacre Cerisierre - Ivory - 28/01/2007 - 13/11/2009
It has been a long time since I have updated my Blog.
Some devastating news that left us stunned and heartbroken. I am not often short of words, but simply cannot find words enough to even touch on the loss we and everyone that knew Ivory are feeling. Our thoughts and hearts are with Tracy at this very sad time.
Such a wonderful girl in every way. We will all miss you.
If tears could build a stairway,
And memories a lane,
I’d walk right up to heaven
And bring you home again.
We will meet you again sometime Ivory, go play at the Rainbow Bridge until then sweet girl.
The Crazy Caldecacres visit the Showstorming Schunikkas!
Sadly we had to cancel our previous visit to Josi and John (Schunikka Dalmatians) because all the girls came into season. So when the timing was more appropriate we decided to travel down to Daventry to see them.
After really long walks, we gathered all the Caldecacres together in the van, and made our way down the M6.
What a great time we had, playing with the spotties, talking spotties, looking through pictures of spotties, in fact all things spotty! Of course we also had great food and wine and excellent company :)
Josi and John are going to South Africa to get married next week, so one of the reasons for the visit was to take them the lovely Wedding present that everyone in 'Team Caldecacre' had clubbed together and got for them. So on behalf of us all including; Myself, Callum and all the Caldecacres, Nicky, Paul and Elwood, Mat, Julie and Charm, Jess and Dexter, Trina and Chenoa, Tracy and Ivory, Julie and Daisy et al, Amy and Phoebe and anyone I may have missed -
CONGRATULATIONS! Josi and John, have a wonderful time and a wonderful life together ;-)
Thanks for looking after us so well too - I am sure that after the weekend the pic below was accompanied by a rather large sigh of relief :)
British Dalmatian Club Show
The 1st of November already, and some great news from The British Dalmatian Club Autumn show.
Dexter (Caldecacre Catch a Kracker) was placed 3rd Limit Dog (pic of Dexter below), Celsie (Caldecacre Celsie von Schunikka) was 2nd Graduate Bitch and Charm (Caldecacre Couronne under Charmindals) was Reserve Limit Bitch. Well Done all, I was a little disappointed I couldn't make the show, but so lovely to hear about it later :)
Also we are happy to announce that we have Blinken x Boo puppies expected 3rd January 2010 - yippeee :)
