At the Lake

The wild baby is glancing towards the sky... aahh, so cute. :)

Yesterday, we spent a couple of hours at one of the many lakes surrounding this area. The dogs had a blast, as always. At night we ended up going to another lake... Jay will never have enough of it, he is having the best time of his life every time we go. :) Even Alih has started swimming more, he used to think he was actually swimming after getting his tummy wet but now he really is swimming. hihi.. He's the cutest - he's always been front heavy so his butt sticks up over the water... he looks like a cute little baby bear swimming around. :)

Found out Jay's breeder is coming to the next Dog Show we are going to. Great news, really looking forward to that. Anyhow, time to make some dinner... Below are more pics from the lake...

Above: This pic should be a symbol for James. It really represents who he is and what he's all about. :)

Guess where we are going?

Denmark's largets tourist attraction and National Symbol -

The Little Mermaid

Yup, you got it. Denmark it is ..along with Malmö (the South of Sweden). We are going in a couple of weeks with A & H. Should be lots of fun!!! Have not been down south since I was a kid. I'm excited about getting to take the bridge (Öresundsbron) over to Denmark. I've only gone there by boat before. Will be fun, fun, fun!!! :)

Famous skyscraper in Malmö called Turning Torso, officially opened in Aug of 2005

Back for more

We returned to Little Hawaii today again. This time we brought company in form of A & H and their rottie Gonzo. Alih had to stay at home this time too. :( Here's some pics from our day at the beach.

Great Day in Ransäter

It went really well at the Dog Show. :) As all Swedes know, we’ve had a serious heat wave hitting the entire country which didn’t make it easy for all our 4-legged friends today, or for the 2-legged either for that matter. I swear, it was hot as an oven. But Jamie was for the most part covered up under a soaked towel. However, the heat did a number on him ‘cause he’s mostly been sleeping since we came home. :)

Since I for some reason never got a Show Catalog, I do not recall how many dogs were in the Junior class with James, but it was a whole bunch. This time Mr. Jay received a “1” score in the quality judging part, and we were on to the competition part. Yeahhhhaaaaaaa!!!!!! In the competition part the baby came 3rd and we could not have been more proud of the Baby Blue as the dogs he competed against were all very good-looking. As always, I am extremely grateful to the wonderful Marina who keeps showing James. She’s a true pro!

I had no camera today, so no pics were taken. Forgot to charge my freakn camera, and had no charger with me to the country.

The judge today was Cristian Vantu (from some East Block country :)). And the critic he gave James was:
Good proportions, Good front and ribcage, Medium angles, Excellent movements.

Results in Swedish: 1a Kv, 3a Kk.

A Mature Man

My beloved Boy who always has some dirt on his mouth. :) Pics taken last night.

..and the heat continues

We drove to the country yesterday where we are planning on staying for a few days. Last night I took James for a short bike-ride on the road, and he did great. It will be a perfect way to have him burn off some energy once he gets a little older.

Today, Mr. L, Jay and I returned to” Little Hawaii” (=the beach in the middle of nowhere). We ended up leaving Alih at home since we planned on staying for awhile, I was afraid it would get too much for the old man. Instead, he went to the nearby lake with my dad.

I have to say, it sure is a little paradise deep within the forrest, at least when having dogs. The beach is large, and only a few other people make the trip out there. Do I even have to say – Jay had a FABULOUS time. :) He even got to say hi to 2 staffs, one neutered male who was a year & a half old and a little 13-week old puppy. She was soooo cute! The owners were really impressed by James, they kept saying how beautiful he is. Hihihi… It’s always fun to hear… but let’s see what the judge has to say about James tomorrow at the Dog Show. Hopefully he will agree with the people we met at the beach…Cross your fingers, please!!

HOT

Got damn it's HOT at this joint!

Almost a Grown Man...

Happy 11-months, Jamie!!!

Only another month to go before the

baby turns 1!!!!!

Happy 11-months to the bros, too.

Below are some funny pics of the baby, taken a short while ago.

Jayness wearing a head scarf to protect his hair. hihihi

Here with a cap on, looking a whole lot cooler than when wearing a scarf. :)

He loves the water

We went to a lake tonight where James could burn off lots of energy and where Alih could cool off ... Coming back home we stopped at the park, where we strolled around with the dogs. At the same time, Hundstyrkan (the Dog Obedience Company) was having a class. Linn, the owner of the business, asked if we could help out by being a distraction for the other dogs. The dogs had to walk right by us, in a heel command, while Jay and I were playing tug-of-war. Jay was all game, and behaved perfectly. Actually it really got me motivated to get back in to the "game". Our intermediate obedience class will start August 21st, and now I am really looking forward to it. And Jay and I will have our private lesson with Linn on Tuesday next week. :)

Anyhow, below are a couple of clips of a Beach Boy (from tonight) who truly loves the water! Check 'em out.

All summer long -

studying, studying, studying...

Even I do get tired of it at times.

Picky Eater

The summer weather seems to be back. We just came in from a nice long walk with James, and before taking Jay for a walk we walked both him and Alih ... Alih cannot walk that fast, or that far for that matter, so we have to drop Alih off at home before taking James for the longer walk. Now, both dogs are happy - chillin’ on the lawn.

Jay is back to not eating, and it’s been like this for over a week. It sucks considering we have upcoming shows to go to. I’m just now boiling some chicken for him that I will mix with his food. I also went to the pet store today and bought what in Swedish is called “vom”. This nastiness comes from the cow’s stomach. Dogs seem to love that crap, including James ... Hmmm, dogs sure are nasty! :) But when Jay is in his I-won’t-eat-phase nothing is good enough for him. He ate some of his food after I sprinkled “vom” on it this morning, but still left a little. Hopefully some chicken will help... Damn Super Cute Baby. :)

No Luck at the Dog Show

We managed to beat the rain. :) Shortly after we were done the rain came, but at that time we were ready to pack up and leave. I guess that was about all the luck we had for the day. :(

Unfortunately, Jay did not do that well today, but I guess shit like that happens. He received a # 2 score (2:a kv) in the quality judging session, which meant the day was over for him. :( Scoring a "2" means "very good" but he needs "excellent" in order to go on to the competition part. It sort of came as a shocker considering how well he has done before. But everybody goes through set-backs, I guess. All judges have different tastes... so it’s not much one can do about that. We will have time to "lick our wounds” until next Sunday when it is time for a new Dog Show. It is in Ransäter, Värmland. A different judge and a new place. Let’s cross our fingers & toes things will go better this time!

The judge was Jovanovic Nemanja from Serbia, and the critic sounds like this:

Correct type, correct head, should have stronger under-jaw, head is a bit wide in the cheeks, a little big but correct position of the ears, enough long neck, excellent chest, enough strong topline, a bit narrow behind in movement, correct tail.

Jay’s dad was at the show too, and he did great. So Congratulations to the gorgeous Papa (Chief). :) And a big THANK YOU to Marina who keeps showing James for us. James looked perfect in the ring, ....he just didn't meet the judge’s "excellent" criteria, apparently.

My Jamie in the Show Ring

Gorgeous Daddy-O :)

Chief in the Show Ring

Half sister Tequila was at the show too (same Dad). She is so damn pretty, this young lady.

Tummy Ache

Miss Hazel Girl made us some fabulous food last night. We ate until we were ready to explode. :) ... Not too surprising the rest of the evening was spent having tummy ache, tummy ache... ouch!

I just saw the weather for tomorrow - RAIN!!! :( The freakn Dog Show is outside..how great is that going to be? Not very...

Oh smoke...

...it is Sex & the City on TV.. and it does not matter how many times I've already seen the episodes... it is still fabulously good. :)

ps. Did I mention it is time for the next Dog Show on Sunday? Very exciting...my gorgeous Baby Blue is so ready!

A Visit

Susanne and the kids came for a visit today. We walked up to the city where we strolled around for a bit. Had lunch at a restaurant and enjoyed the food on their outside patio...well until the rain came. However, we braved it under a huge patio umbrella ... but after a while we decided to go inside and continue the feast with some ice-cream instead. Yum! :) It was great getting to spend some time with you guys - we're very happy you came for a visit!

Mr. L with Juliette in his arms, Susanne with Emilia in front of her, and the beautiful castle in the background.

Juliette enjoying a cinnamon role (en bulle). :)

Big Girls Do Cry

I don’t write about my baby Carlos on the blog very often. But that’s because it’s still such a sensitive topic. It is quite amazing how you can survive losing someone that means so much to you. When it happens it is such a life altering experience that hurts so bad that you can’t help but wonder... Is this going to kill me?

No words can describe how much Carlos meant to me... He was my dog, my baby, my guardian, my best friend... he was my EVERYTHING! Carlos was the heart in our family! Not a day goes by without me thinking about him, and missing him like crazy.

When we came back home from the vet, having been given the devastating diagnosis, Carlos and I laid down on the bed just looking at each other... I had the TV on in the background and my favourite song at the time was playing .. Big Girls Don’t Cry with Fergie.

Every time I hear this song now, I think of Carlos..... it has become “our song”. Here it is...



We miss you losis ... love you - always!

I got challenged...

..by Anna. So I guess I better step-up to it. I answered in both Swedish and English.

Swedish first –
Reglerna: Svara på alla frågor. Välj ut 6 personer som du vill ska svara och utmana dem i deras bloggar. Be dem läsa din! Låt personen som utmanade dig veta när du svarat på utmaningen.

Fem saker som finns på din att-göra-lista idag?
*Gå med hundarna
*Arbeta på denna veckas ”assignment” – alltså PLUGGA
*Städa
*Ringa Susanne
*Blogga

Vad gjorde du för 10 år sedan?
Pluggade på Santa Monica College i Los Angeles

Ställen du bott på?
Grythyttan (Hammarn), Los Angeles, London, Örebro

Fem saker du skulle göra om du var biljonär?
*Köpa flera hem runtom i världen
*Resa jorden runt, om och om igen
*Skaffa mig ett superteam av de absolut bästa ekonomiska rådgivarna (så man aldrig blir fattig igen:))
Sen måste man faktiskt göra något givande också, annars blir man inte lycklig oavsett mängden pengar man sitter på. Så därför skulle jag –
*Starta flera ideella organisationer med fokus på utsatta, vanvårdade, misshandlade djur runtom i världen samt skänka massvis med pengar till hjälporganisationer för alla fattiga barn som finns i Afrika och Asien (& övriga världen).
*Skänka massvis med pengar till cancer forskning (och forskning inom andra sjukdomar) varje år.

And in English –
The rules:
Answer all the questions. Choose 6 people who you would want to answer, and challenge them in their blogs. Ask them to read your blog. Let the person who challenged you know when you have answered the challenge!

Five things that’s on your to-do-list today?
*Walk the dogs
*Work on this week’s assignment – in other words STUDY!
*Clean
*Call Susanne
*Blogging

What did you do 10 years ago?
I was a student at Santa Monica College in LA California

Places you’ve lived in?
Grythyttan (Sweden), LA (USA), London (UK), Örebro (Sweden)

Five things you would do if you became a multi-billionaire?
*Buy several homes around the world
*Travel around the world, over and over again
*Gather the best team of financial advisors (so I never have to be poor again:))
But in order to live a happy and full-filled life, one must perform some good deeds too. Therefore, I would –
*Start several non-profit organizations with focus on fighting all animal cruelty around the world and with focus on helping poor children in Africa and Asia (& in other parts of the world too).
*Give away lots of money to various cancer research (and other diseases) each year

The Puppy Boy

Here are some recent pics of the puppy! The first 3 pics are actually from this morning, and the last pic is from the other day at the lake.

Gorgeous Puppy

You think he can jump?

My little cutie.. I just wanna kiss him, kiss him, kiss him. :)

Hmmm, what happened? :)

Typical Sunday

It is Sunday, and like all other Sundays this summer, it has been spent working on the weekly HRM assignment ... The deadline is Sunday before midnight... but I am done, sent it in a while ago. This is so typical of me though, I always wait until the last minute ..:(

Just came in from the late night “pee & poo” walk with the dogs, and we ran in to a hedgehog (igelkott) ... there are lots of them, and Mr. Old Man Alih does not care for them at all... lol. Damn, he’s a freak! He got all worked up for a poor little hedgehog... lol. He's getting more and more crazy with age, I tell ya!

LA Shopping & Dog Trainers

I miss LA and all the shopping like CRAZY today. :(
And it does not help watching a bunch of TV shows, which all seem to be from LA....Reminders, reminders, reminders.... :(

In a little while I am about to watch a show called Show Dog Moms and Dads. It’s about five devoted (and some a bit crazy) dog families in the US. One I believe is a Dog Trainer, and I really liked her class structures. Her clients are people wanting to compete with their dogs in obedience trials. I wish I had known of her when my boys – Alih & Carlos – were young and I kept dragging them around to different classes...Quite a few of the classes we went to, I didn't like due to the trainers having philosophies that did not match my dog philosophy... or they were just plain old idiots who probably woke up one day and decided to start calling themselves Dog Trainers. Even though he’s not a dog trainer (i.e. he rehabilitates dogs and train humans) I truly am a follower of Cesar Millan. I cannot understand all these dumb asses who have something negative to say about him. To me their yapping sound like: "blablablabla, crap, crap, crap.... " In other words, it sounds like BULLSHIT to my ears! :)

What to do without music?

I love going to musicals and concerts...some of my most fabulous nights have been spent at some concert or musical.

One fabulous moment was when Anna and I went to a Tina Turner concert in LA at the Greek Theatre. The year was 1997 :) It was so damn AWESOME!

And while I lived in London I stayed quite busy going to musicals and concerts – for instance I saw...

* The musical FAME with my friend Tasha... It was Superb!

* The musical DANCING IN THE STREETS with my good friend Gaby... AMAZING!

* I was so darn lucky I managed to win 2 tickets to the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park ..My cousin Karro was coming for a visit so she and I went. It was great! And the performance that probably excited and shocked me the most was Robbie Williams. I have never really been a big fan of him, but he was AWESOME live. He had such charisma... Karro and I were both totally sold!. Hihihi...

And, when in NYC I love going to Café Wha in the Village. Amazing singers and performers... I could sit there for hours listening to them.

What the heck would we do without music????!!!!!!!!!!!!

Check out Robbie at Live 8... Karro and I are in the audience somewhere mesmerized by him... LOL.



Below is a live performance at Cafe Wha by one of my favourite guys - Amadou. Give the clip a little time for him to get started. He has an amazing voice. Not sure what the guy who's filming is up to though... he's all over with the camera. :) The guy next to Amadou is another favorite... his name is Bryan. The last time I was at Cafe Wha I was dragged up by one of the band members.. and had to dance with him in front of all the freakn people at the club. That was not embarrassing at all... NOPE! :)

Kolmården

James did great at the Day-Care. Can you believe he has been out walking with 6 other dogs at once – handled by one person at one time??? :) Yup, that would be my boy!

He spent 3 hours at the Day-Care on Wednesday, mostly to see if it would work and to give him a chance to get used to the new environment. And yesterday, Thursday, he was there the whole day as Mr. L and I went to Kolmården. Alih spent the first part of the day at home sleeping and the afternoon at work with my dad. His office is busy with people running in and out of the there the whole time, so Mr. Alih was busy greeting all the visitors. Hihihi... Since we came home kind of late, my dad had to pick James up at the Day-Care. And he was told Jay had been a very well-behaved baby this day as well. Ahhhh, THANK GOD! :)

When my dad called to let me know he had picked Jay up, he started the conversation by saying: “well, the damages Janne has caused came to an amount of ... “. LOL

PS. Did you notice the name, Janne? Janne is my dad's nickname for James. LOL...A Swedish name and maybe not the most beautiful name in the world. :)

But back to our day at Kolmården which is, I believe, the biggest Zoo in Sweden. However, having been to both the Wild Animal Park & the San Diego Zoo (in San Diego, California) we were both a bit disappointed to tell the truth. We went there because it would be a fun day trip, but also because a friend of ours was there with her kids. Our friend, Susanne, is a friend from LA and she’s in Sweden for 5 weeks with her kids, visiting her parents in Linköping. Susanne also had some fabulous “treats” for me. Hihihi.. You see, I asked her before leaving LA to buy some items for me that I can’t get here or items that are too pricey in Sweden. In my Goody-Bag were make-up from Dior and Channel, some stuff from Victoria Secrets and some other fabulous items. :)

Here are pics of some of our new friends at Kolmården:






We finished the day off by going on an aerial cableway ride over-looking the park.

Day-Care Training...

James is going to Day-Care tomorrow.... hihihi... it’s just for a few hours for acclimatization ..But if that works, he will spend the whole day there on Thursday as we are going on a little trip.

My dad said he would have both dogs with him at work, but Good Luck trying to get any work done with James around. :) If for some reason the Day-Care feels James is too wild for them, I will take him to the country to my mom Wednesday night. Knowing James, he will have a fabulous ass time at the Day-Care tomorrow. The question is - will they? :)

Also, booked a private training lesson at the end of July with James. We need to get back in to shape before the fall is here and it's back to "school" for James. On the agenda this fall are: Obedience Class 2 (Grundkurs 2) and Competition Obedience Class 1 (Tävlingslydnad 1). I would love to get James started with Weight Pulling but it all depends on if we have the time...

The World Dog Show!

We had a great time at the World Dog Show. We went to the "Amstaff Ring" almost immediately upon arriving, and there we met James brother Atlas. Atlas and his “mommy” were waiting on their turn to enter the ring, and we got a chance to chat with them for a little bit. Atlas received a "Very Good" rating on the quality judging part but was kicked out in the competition part, which I believe they are still happy with considering the fierce competition. When the Male Juniors were done, we headed to the obedience ring and the World Championship in Obedience. It was great fun to see. We only watched a few countries though as we wanted to head back to the Amstaff Ring and watch the Male Amstaff Champions compete. Wow, talk about beautiful dogs. The winning dog was actually an American bred dog, but now owned by a kennel in Denmark, and the dog that came second is owned by a well-established Swedish kennel. All the Champions were sooooo beautiful but I believe the judge got it right in the end. At first it almost seemed impossible to pick one out of all these beautiful dogs. But I really fell for the winner and the runner up, and I told Mr. L. when the judge had narrowed it down to five: “You watch. Those 2 dogs will come first and second”... and they sure did. It was something out of the ordinary with them; they had personalities that shine through.

After that it was time to do a little shopping. Hihi.. I got a new leather leash for James and a new show leash as well. Oh, he will be so pretty. :) I got a few other small things but that was about it. I was actually a bit disappointed with the shopping; it was not as much as I had expected and the prices were not that good either. Anyhow, we ended up going back to the obedience ring where we more or less stayed until it was time to head home.

Right now I am waiting on both my babies to come home!! :) I have missed them like crazy this weekend, so I can barley wait.

Atlas waiting to enter the Show Ring

A Day To Be Proud - Happy 4th of July!

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!

I may have been born in another country (i.e. Sweden) but no other country feels like home the same way the US does. I officially became an American after taking the Oath of Allegiance but I became an American by heart several years before that.

I am proud to be an American every day of the year, but especially today!

Happy Independence Day!

United We Stand!


The National Anthem Below:

For the Love of ...Tire

Started the day with play-time in the backyard. Alih has always loved playing with tires and has actively been training James to enjoy it too. I think he can give himself a pat on the back by now, saying: “mission completed”. :)

After this, the dogs were really hot as the heat is back, so we jumped in the car and went to a lake. They managed to destroy both dummies today, damn crapper ...I just bought the second one. But oh well, I’m sure there will be lots of shopping opportunities at the World Dog Show. :)

A Beach Boy

A Wild Child

My parents are coming home tonight, and I am heading home to the city... all by my little self. The dogs will stay in the country as we are heading to Stockholm on Saturday. It will suck leaving without a dog, but I have lots of studying to do tomorrow and we are are leaving early, early on Saturday...so I should survive. :)

Ya' all have a fabulous day today -

Ciao!

Yet Another Relaxing Day

So what’s been on the agenda today? Not a whole lot. Started the day by taking both dogs for a walk, came back home and dropped Alih off, continued on for a long walk with James. After that it was time to study. Boring, boring but a must.

Did some obedience training with James in the afternoon. My Gosh, since the training has been resting since Mid-May so much has been lost. Hmmmm, we have a long way back. :(

Tonight, I had dinner with my friend A – we both "pigged" out on salads. Yes, I know - I'm pretending to be a healthy eater. Hihihi…

I just came back in from having been out with the dogs again. They are passed out on the lawn right now … check them out (took the pic through a closed window). Do you think they think they are cool or what??? Guarding the yard, trying to chase off every dog that passes out on the road. Damn freaks, that's what they are. :)

Bike Training

I thought today was a perfect day to start practicing having James run next to a bike. I jumped on my mom's bike and had James run next to me as I was riding on the backyard. It was no problem, which didn't come as a surprise, considering how used he is with all the bikes in the city. Since it went great, I went and got a leash and had him run next to the bike leashed. It went great too. That is so cool, once he's a year old and I've had his hips and elbows X-rayed there will be lots of biking going on. Believe you me!

We already have a springer from our "labrador time" that I will have my dad hook up to the bike, and Jay and I should be set to go. I bought a springer in the US too for Alih and Carlos but it was only used a few times. Alih never wanted to run next to the bike as he was scared being that close to it, and Carlos just did not have the energy. hihihi... My Big Baby Boy. My Carlosis was like Ferdinand. He'd prefer to smell the flowers instead of running around acting all silly. :)

Excursion

The view from the top

Every now-and-then it's lovely being by yourself. Alih, James and I started the day by going on a little excursion. I decided to go to a nearby “mountain” where we could enjoy the view. After a somewhat short car ride, and a fairly short hike, we were there. It was great, except for a bunch of flies that annoyed the crap out of all three of us. :( But we stayed put for a little while before heading back to the car. Since the day started with sunshine it had become really hot, so next up on the itinerary was a visit to a close by lake. There the dogs could cool off and James could burn off some more energy, since the short hike was far from enough for him.

Right now both babies are lying down next to me, snorting their butts away. :)

Hot puppies after the hike.

The puppy jumped up on a table, looking like his normal crazy self. :)

Old Man Tiger doing some research on his own...mmmm.

...and when done, this is how he looked like.

My crazy water dog - managed to have him sit still for a few seconds before he was back in the water, doing what he does best. Swimming like crazy!

The old man is proving he can retrieve a dummy too.

The beautiful, crazy puppy...