Making new friends at the end of the year

Elbereth has had a wonderful Jul. She has enjoyed lots and lots of powdery snow, having her people at home all day and making new friends.
The daughter of a neighbor came home for the holidays with a pack of dogs, mostly Border Collies. Elbereth played with them all, but loved most being with the two ten week old puppies.

We borrowed IQ (his given name) for a couple of hours

Then we borrowed Rubin for a walk

At the last day of the year Zazza came to visit - and yes, she is a lovely, young Picard!!!

Yesterday we received a phone call from Jan Erik in Drammen. He told us that he is the owner of a Picard, Zazza, who is five months old and born in Sweden. What a wonderful surprise! We had wanted to get in touch with other Picard owners, but didn't dream that there would be any that close. And today they have been visiting. Zazza is a beautiful little girl. Her coat is a mix of dark and light (brindle?). She is at that age where they have very long legs and very big ears. She and Elbereth got along very well. We are looking forward to seeing much more of her the coming year.

We are staying at home tonight, hoping that Elbereth will not be scared by the fireworks, but having contingency plans ready. :-) Our primary wish for the new year is that Elbereth knees will get well and stay well. She is now being medicated for her right hind knee which she hurt right some time the last week (it was her left hind knee she hurt in November).

We wish all Picards and Picard owners,
four- and two-legged friends and family
a Joyful and Happy New Year!

Happy Holidays to all!!!

Elbereth celebrated 9 months on X-mas eve. She got her perfect gift; lots and lots of new, fluffy, white snow to play in. Click here to see Elbereth play in the snow.

In the evening, our traditional Yuletide family feast kept her on her toes almost all night. As the evening wore on, she started nodding in our midst, but wasn't able to give in to sleep until around ten o'clock. After all the guest had left, we went for an after midnight stroll along almost empty roads while Elbereth jumped around our legs trying to catch our frozen breaths. This morning we woke up to even more snow and the sound of dogs on the road, it will be fun holidays for us all.

We wish all our friends happy holidays and a wonderful midwinter feast!!!

December brings better moods

The last Sunday in November, Elbereth's knee was finally up to longer walks again, and we went for a long walk in the woods along paths new to us. All the while thinking of our Picard-familiy in Germany who were attending their traditional Advent-spaziergang the same day.  We felt a little alone, but the trees were frosted and the woods seemed enchanted and bore tidings of better weather the coming month - that lifted our spirits.

That same evening, snow started to fall and the next morning the world was wintery again. After work I took Elbereth out for a walk, and decided I needed to try walking her along the roads. I have mostly avoided this  because of the way she has behaved towards passing cars since we got her. The first she did when we came out the door was to bark at her favorite neighbor - she absolutely adores him, but this time he was holding a dangerous snow shuffle and she obviously doesn't see well in the dark. After she realized who it was, she crawled over to him to be scratched under her chin.

We then proceeded down to the main road which had a lot of passing cars at this time of night. Up until this time I had not had one walk with Elbereth ignoring passing cars, but this walk was the turning point for me. She sniffed her way along the pavement only occasionally looking at a car, but no barking and no pulling. We were almost home again when she barked for the second time on this walk. It was a really scary stone, the size of a shoebox, with a hat of snow on top. :-) I was so relieved after this walk and it was another reminder to be patient and peristent and remember that Things Take Time.

November - that awful month

The second day of November Elbereth hurt her knee. We are not sure how, as we think it must have happened indoor while none of us were present, but we suspect a combination of a passing cat and a slippery hard wood floor has some of the blame. We were off to the vet's in a matter of minutes when we disovered she was walking on three legs. After drugging and examing her, the vet concluded with a hurt knee (some relief) and prescribed pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory drugs and rest. Walking only on leash for ten days. :-(

Already the next morning Elbereth starting putting her hurt leg on the floor again, but she favored the leg for at least a month. Our walks in the woods became short and rare. As the weather was typically for the month, cold - wet - dark - awful, it didn't matter much. And it gave us the push we needed to work on Elbereth's behavior towards passing cars and people. We took her to the city (if Drammen can be called such) and walked the most popular route.  Tom also started walking her more alone along the trafficated roads in our area. And he reported progress.

Elbereth is now on YouTube

2009-10-31 Elbereth on her Halloween-hike

Elbereth has recently started to perch on top of rocks in the forest. She is obviously aware that I like her doing that, because she jumps onto every suitable rock and stares expectantly at me. And of course I immediately give her a treat.

 

My new camera allows me to record film and I have started experimenting with it. The quality is not very good yet, I move to much and do other stupid stuff, but under are links to the best three from october.  

NB! When the video page opens, you should hit pause immediately and wait for the whole movie to upload before pressing Play again. Then the whole thing will play more smoothely.

• Youtube-movie: 2009-10-11 Elbereth and the sand quarry
• YouTube-movie 2009-10-14 Elbereth and ice on the puddles
• YouTube-move: 2009-10-31 Elbereth on ice (not quite Bambi, but...)

Elbereth - the nose

Today Elebereth has been tracking in the woods for the first time.  She has of course followed scent trails on her own initiative many times before, but this time we practised with Kjersti from Klikkerglede.com.

Kjersti started the first trail by dragging one of Elbereth's toys behind her. She went out of sight for a little while and then reappeared from another direction. When she came back to us, she showed Elbereth her empty hands - no toy - and Tom put Elbereth on the trail. She needed no instructions, put her nose to the ground and went ahead - a little to fast and then suddenly she had lost the trail and had to sniff around a few seconds before she was on it again. Tom was instructed to make sure she couldn't go so fast. She then sniffed her way to the toy, barely nodded her head at it and continued to track Kjersti's trail back to the starting point. Then it was my turn making a trail. No problems this time, except that she again didn't stop at the point we defined as the end of the trail. The toy didn't interest her, and when I left a little heap of food, she didn't care for that either. She just went on following my trail back to the start and it seemed that she had great fun.

Kjersti was impressed with Elbereth - that she figured out right ahead what she was excpected to do - and told us to go right ahead with longer trails the next time. We will, maybe already this evening. :-)

Elbereth and Kjersti
after the third trail was successfully completed.

Coughing and training

Elbereth was coughing enough on Friday evening that we decided to take her to the wet on Saturday morning. She would cough and vomit water all over the house. The vet examined her - she seemed fine to us except for the coughing - and said it probably was a virus. No medicine - just let her take it a little bit easy and keep an eye out for worsening symptoms. So, we stopped using her collar when walking her, we put on her harness instead, and took only a short stroll in the woods yesterday and a slightly longer one today. She seems to be coughing much less already, and we are confident she will be fine.

We are taking three private lessons with a dog trainer with emphasis on clicker training and tracking. The clicker training is fun. The first week we worked on teaching Elbereth to bite and paw at a cardboard box. :-) Now we work on getting her to offer the same behavior several times in a row. Last Friday we also learned how to teach her to follow a manmade trail on a lawn. We will be having our last lesson next Saturday and learn how to lay out a trail in the woods. Looking forward to it - I'm sure tracking is an activity both Elbereth and we will enjoy.

Our hike today took us to a sand quarry.

Elbereth was intriged by the gravel rolling down the slope.

Frost 1 and 2

Frost I

Frost is Elbereth's sweetheart. He is a German Shepherd who is only two weeks younger than her. They usually meet every Thursday evening at the area's dog club where we go for socializing and training now that Elbereth has completed her second class in "dog school" (we will not talk about her "grades" yet, she was the youngest in her class and we continue to work).

Frost and Elbereth are obviously very happy to see each other. When allowed to get together, they will mostly wrestle on the ground without making a sound. Last Thursday we all went together to Frost's home after obedience training. Frost is very lucky. He lives on a farm, with large fields surrounding the house and the woods with elk and deer at the edge of the fields. Elbereth and Frost ran happily chasing each other over the fields in the dark.

It is not easy to get good pictures of these two as
they move constantly. These are from September 5th.

Frost II
Yesterday was a beautiful day, the clear blue autumn sky a magnificent backdrop to the wonderful colors in the woods. Elbereth and I took a long hike along some of our favorite paths. The first touch of frost had put a thin crust of ice on the puddles along our way, and Elbereth was at first carefully exploring this hard water. She seemed a little puzzled, then startled as the ice crackled at her touch. Then she got bolder and stepped on it, only to be sceptic to the moving air bubbles under the ice. She had to growl and bark a little at them. In the end, she lifted herself up on her hind legs, better to be able to smash her front paws into the puddle and scatter the ice. Joy and happiness. Now I'm looking forward to her first experience with snow.

Forgot my camera yesterday. This is from Steinarvannene, October 1th

Vacation

It's fall, the weather is nice, the woods are wonderful and there will be no school nor work for either of us the coming week. Elbereth will get her share of hiking and playing.

A day of sun and fun

Instead of hiking in the woods today, Elbereth, Tom and I rode in the car for 30-40 minutes to reach a "dog field" near Sem Gjestegård in Asker. It's a fairly large fenced field that borders on Semsvannet (Sem lake) where dogs are allowed to run loose.

The weather turned beatiful after the foggy morning and we enjoyed running and playing dogs for more than two hours. Elbereth was thrilled. She hardly ever paused, but once in a while the dog pack ran down to the lake to drink and then she went in for a quick swim before entering the race again.
Dogs and owners came and went while we stayed there, and there seemed to be a majority of young dogs Elbereth's age or a few months older. It was perfect - we humans enjoyed it as much as the dogs. We will go back soon - maybe even give up our traditional Sunday hike tomorrow to go there again.

It was a grey, foggy morning...

The woman and the young dog left the sleeping house quietly. After 20 metres they encountered the oldest cat, who didn't budge when the dog went up to him. The dog realized there would be no hunt and went willingly with the woman towards the road with all the exciting smells.

The couple proceeded towards the forest and managed to pass all the houses without meeting a single moving car. The woman sighed with relief as they entered the woods. The dog was let loose and they started the climb towards higher ground.

Suddenly the woman became aware of a small black and white head appearing over a rock ahead. She spun around and realized that the dog hadn't seen anything yet. The leash was put on again and they proceeded towards the strange cat who was not happy to see the dog. As the cat ran, the dog tried to follow, but soon behaved well again and heeded the woman's commands. The woman sent a friendly thought to her husband and their dog trainer who had been working hard the last couple of weeks trying to get better manners into the young dog.

The rest of the walk was uneventful. The light was growing, but they didn't rest at the highest point to admire the view as they usually did. The pile of horse manure was passed without trouble this morning, it had obviously become to old to be tasty and the dog preferred a snack from the woman's hand instead. Back on the road it was still too early for people to be moving around in their cars, so the woman and the dog trained sitting and staying and then walking heel for a few steps before going indoors to eat breakfast and wake the rest of the family.

Weekend hiking

Elbereth proved to us earlier this week that she can't be trusted to run free when we go for a hike in the woods. She ran off to meet some other dogs and didn't heed our calling at all. One might wonder what she uses her big ears for - she's got very selective hearing, that's for sure. We've learned our lesson and now she has to pull a long line in the woods.

We've had two wonderful hikes this weekend and made some unsuccessful attempts at making her follow a track. At other times she is more than happy to put her nose to the ground and follow the scent of another dog long passing, but when one of her humans go into hiding, she runs around with her head held high sniffing the air - and of course she find us anyway.

On Saturday we climbed over rocky ground and dead branches,
around wet marshes and through bracken. We rested on this hill top.

Today we managed to get Sebastian to come along and we went for a long walk to this lovely lake.

The September sun warmed the air today and Elbereth enjoyed
the water and chased the dragonflies that hunted over the lake.

Hot dogs were definitely not the right Sunday snack for Elbereth - although we humans
enjoyed them. Here she makes sure one of the pieces she was given is well buried.

Three eventful weeks

I discovered today that it's been three weeks since my last blog entry. It's also been three weeks since I started working after a wonderfully long vacation. Coincidence? I think not.

The weekdays are busy - Elbereth and I start the day at six o'clock with a 30-60 minutes walk in the woods. Since Sebastian started school again ten days ago, she has been alone four to six hours a day. That seems to go very well, no accidents, no refurnishing needed - she is just very happy when we come home. Sebastian takes her out in the yard to play when he comes home at two p.m. Then Tom and I take her for a walk or training session at night. Last week we started training class again, this time we go on Mondays. Then Thursdays we go to the local dog club where Elbereth has befriended Frost, a German Shepherd who is her junior by only two weeks. Those two can't really see why they should have to sit nicely and behave well around the other dogs when they could have played all night. :-)

Two weeks ago we had overnight visitors and Elbereth behaved well towards little Martha as long as she stayed put on the floor. When we all thought that this would work very well, Martha crawled over to the window to pound at it, and Elbereth started barking. This is one of our present challenges - Elbereth barks at people, cars and of course at scary objects like garbage cans, plastic bags etc.

9 days ago Elbereth went to the vet's to have her upper two baby canine teeth pulled out as the permanent ones didn't push them out. I really didn't appreciate that experience, but it went very well and her teeth are now in the places they should be. A day without food also helped us getting her feeding under control. We used to leave her food out for long periods as she never ate much. Now she cleans her bowl immediately and gets fed twice a day.

The only food challenge left is to find the one food that will keep her attention at all times and under all conditions when training. For a while I thought that sticky cat food with gravy was the answer, but last week proved me wrong - maybe I'll have to go to training with stinking tuna fish in my pockets?

Sebastian and Elbereth are still best friends and playmates.

A beautiful day at the coast

Yesterday we spent at the coast. It has been five weeks since Elbereth last went on the boat and it was considerably more difficult for Tom Ivar to carry her on board this time as she is both a lot heavier and larger.

She enjoyed being on the boat and this time we went on shore on a small island and spent most of the day there, bathing and exploring. Elbereth was allowed to run free until a family with small children arrived. They were carrying huge, scary stuff - bathing toys - and Elbereth ran up to them and barked her displeasure. This resulted in her being on the leash for the rest of the day.

My camera is working again and I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

August and blueberries

What a wonderful day. The morning bore tidings of fall with its low temperatures, but the sky was clear and the sun soon warmed the air. It turned into a glorious summer day, much appreciated after all the rain the last weeks.

Tom, Elbereth and I went on a hike in the woods at eleven and it turned out to be Elbereth's longest walk so far. We were out for more than three hours. Most of the time she was allowed to run free without a leash. She enjoys running from the path into tall grasses and heather, but at the end she was obviously tired - more from lack of sleep than anything else.

The blueberries are ripe now and as Tom and I pick and eat, Elbereth shows an interest. She has been offered berries and has taken them, but I can't tell if she swallows or just looses them.

As my camera has stopped working, there will be no new pictures for a while, the picture below is from July 17th

Birthday girl

Elbereth is four months old today. We have celebrated with two long walks in the forest, one with me in the morning which included a swim and one with Tom and me in the evening when she was allowed to run free for about half an hour. Then she was served ground beef with yoghurt for her birthday dinner. She finished it all- which is unusual, she rarely cleans out her food bowl.

Elbereth enjoys to chew at dried muscles. They last her a long time, and when she is through chewing for some time she stores the muscle in one of the sofas or armchairs where she retrieves it later when she needs to chew some more.

She also tries to bury treasures she finds - like old, worn socks - in blankets or under pillows when indoors. Outdoors she digs holes for food she doesn't feel like eating at the moment. Watching her shuffling soil over fresh chicken bits is not very inspiring for the one trying to train her.

Growing, teething and swimming whenever possible

A couple of days ago I discovered the first "missing" tooth in Elbereth's mouth, but she must obviously have lost a few before that. And now it seems that there are new teeth every day. Yesterday we were worried that two of the new front teeth in her lower jaw seemed to emerge behind the old ones, but today Tom managed to pull the old ones out while playing with her.

She doesn't seem to be chewing or biting more than usual and I am happy to say that the scratches I now have on my body are not from her teeth, but from Xyzzy's claws.

Elbereth has now outgrown her first car cage. Here she is after her last trip in the old cage. Sunday we installed her new one - which presently is a bit on the roomy side.

The young dog and the sea

Yesterday Elbereth went to sea. We all, cats excepted, went down to Mågerø in Vestfold with Tom's mom to visit my parents who spend hot summer days at their boat there.

Elbereth settled easily on deck and slept most of the day at our feet. Occasionally she sat on Tom Ivar's lap and stared at the waves and passing boats. No barking! When we achored up at three-four meters deep to go swimming for the boats platform, Elbereth wanted to join us. She was obviously not aware that there would be no ground underneath when stepping into the water, and went totally under for the first time ever. Then she swam a few strokes before being hoisted on to the platform again and was very happy to be dried off.

Hot days, a new cat and new siblings

The last couple of weeks have been hot. Elbereth prefers to stay indoors and sleep most of the day, except for the occasional plunge into the garden pool where she drinks and wades at the same time. It is too shallow for her to swim and the water stays very cold, but on the hottest days she bends down to get her chest wet. And then she runs back to the house, attacks her towels and insists on getting rubbed dry.

A week ago we inhereted Xyzzy, a fourteen year old female cat, from a friend of Tom Ivar's who died recently. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she was operated on before Tom found out where she was and could tell the vet that she already was neutered - thirteen years ago. Now all we have to do is to get Xyzzy well, and then get the three cats and Elbereth used to each other.

Last saturday new half-siblings of Elbereth was born in Germany, four males and two females. Leon is the father and Smilla the mother. Congratulations!!! One the males will go to live with Leon's family.

Long legged with huge ears

Some parts of Elbereth seems to be growing faster than the rest. People now tend to comment on the big paws, long legs and of course the huge ears. To us she is growing more adorable for each day that passes.

Best friends

Click here to view more pictures of Elbereth from week 11 and 12 at Picasa.

Yesterday Sebastian turned 11 and we celebrated both him and four weeks with Elbereth as well. We had a small party. Elbereth now knows and appreciates those members of her extended family that live close by and is of course doted upon by all.

Sebastian and Elbereth are great buddies. Elbereth considers Sebastian a sibling and he is the one that gets chewed on the most. We are trying to get him to understand that his rapid movements around her trigger this behavior from her, but being 11, it is difficult to move more slowly and calmly. Now they have one toy that will be used only by those two when they are together, in the hope that Elbereth will find this new game more fun than treating him as another puppy. The next few days will show if this idea works or not. In two days Tom goes back to work and Sebastian will have to take care of Elbereth alone a few hours each day for the next two weeks. We are confident that he will manage.

12 weeks, big, bold and beautiful!

Elbereth continues to grow, last Friday she was found to be 8,6 kgs. She is much loved by us and much admired by people she encounters. We have great fun telling them that: no, she is not a cute mix of breeds, she is a Picard, a rare breed from France. Then the height/weight/age phrases and rounding up with a short story about her parentage. :-)

Last week was a time for firsts. I've already told about her first muzzle-to-mule with horses. She also jumped into a lake for her first real swim, followed by a second swim by merely seconds. She obviously enjoyed it in spite of cold water and she slept soundly afterwards. Not so fun was her first encounter with one of the cats' claws. Just one cat and one claw, and it went very well after giving Tom and me a real fright.

She also went on her first train ride and into town for the first time. We need working on getting her used to cars and bikes, now she tries to attack them in passing if we don't pay attention.

Elbereth knows to whom she belongs

Yesterday in puppy school there were only four puppies present. First we played with different toys the trainer had brought. Elbereth loved a large piece of soft hide with a pulling string attached. We also worked on the come command - one of the owners would run dragging a toy while a helper held the puppy for a little while. Needless to say - when let go, all of the puppies ran as fast as their paws would allow them.

Then the last exercise was to switch puppies to give us "parents" an idea of how it is to work with other dogs. Tom and I were lucky and got Stitch, a 5-6 months old Welsh Springer Spaniel. He obviously loved the fresh chicken tidbits I had, and he was no problem at all. Walked in place, sat and kept contact with me at all times, very trusting. Stitch's parents, on the other hand, got Elbereth to deal with and she was not interested in doing anything except trying to get over to Tom and me. After a little while of steadiliy growing whining and crying, she was allowed to rejoin us. Happy, happy, happy! Then she slept the whole night through, must have been about eight hours. :-)

Weekly update

I've decided to update this blog in English from now on, as Elbereth has "relatives" in non-Scandinavian countries. More than one update a week seems to be unrealistic at the time being, as the days continue to rush past.

Elbereth continues to grow, it seems to me that I can see her getter bigger by the day. On monday in puppy school we trained walking nicely on leash in a trafficated area. From the start the youngest pupil in class took the lead and proceeded in perfect style, very impressive! After a while her performance dwindled as she started to tire and get full of chicken tidbits, but for a while there she was the star of the show.

Yesterday she went for the second time with us to the stable where Tom Ivar takes riding lessons. This time she was allowed into the stable and got to greet three separate horses snout to muzzle from the safe haven of Tom's arms. Afterward she seemed to want to play with them, but the horses were a bit scarier when she was on the ground and they towered over her. We also discovered that she loves to eat horses dung, dried or fresh makes no difference, she is absolutely crazy about the stuff.

Hvor forsvant siste uke?

Dagene går kjempefort. Tom Ivar har ferie og ser glassaktig ut i blikket hver kveld, men påstår at han er kjempefornøyd. Han har i hvertfall ikke tid til å tenke på jobb.

I pinsen ble det flere turer til skogsbadevannet for nedkjøling av varm Picard. Det er veldig fin sosialiseringstrening, for der er det på fine dager mange familier med småbarn og det er alltid noen som har lyst til å hilse på verdens søteste valp. Området er også populært for hundelufting, så det blir alltid anledning til å hilse på vennlige artsfrender.

På valpekurs i går var kursleder Anne mektig imponert over stjernens utvikling siden første kurskveld. Nå er hun langt mer utadvendt og mye mindre redd. Dessuten er hun så flink - når hun klarer å glemme de andre valpene. I går ble det trent mer kontakt, gå på plass, sitt og bli, samt innkalling. Alt gikk over all forventning, men så var hun også rimelig sliten da timen nærmet seg slutten. Deretter sov Elbereth for første gang hele natten igjennom. Nå er vi veldig spente på om det kommer til å fortsette.

I dag har hun begynt å vise interesse for yogapositurer, kanskje det blir neste kurs?

Første uke er overstått

Livet har vært annerledes den siste uken. Det føles som å ha spebarn i huset igjen. Det viktigste som forelder i den perioden er å sørge for å få nok søvn ved å sove når den lille sover, slik at man kan være tilstede og gi gode opplevelser i våkeperiodene.

Elbereth har opplevd mye den første uken og har nok vært mer urolig enn normalt. En del skyldes uerfarne valpeforeldre som ikke skjønte at valpen godt kan lokkes til å sove mer selv om den åpner øynene og rusler rundt litt. Vi er litt mindre lærenemmen en prinsessen, men i går føltes det for første gang som en rolig dag. Det begynte med en god natts søvn med bare én tur ut i løpet av den perioden mor definerer som natt. Så var antagelig kombinasjonen av ormekur og varm dag med på å gjøre den lille trett. Hun sov godt ute i nesten fire timer midt på dagen, og hadde relativt korte aktive perioder før hun på nytt tok en lur.

Da vi var hos veterinæren på fredag for å kjøpe ormekur og avtale vaksinasjon, ble hun veid til 6,6 kg. Elbereth fikk leke på venterommet med veterinærenes vennlige hunder og veterinærene selv syntes det var spennende å møte en Picard - som de ikke kjente til fra tidligere.

Elbereth elsker plenen, men pinseaften var det varmt i solen.

Picardisk vannhund

Vi visste fra Århus at Elbereth setter pris på å leke med vann og i dag fikk hun gå med far til hagedammen. Det er et gammelt, grunt hagebasseng med en liten tilhørende bekk som renner ned til et mindre basseng i «skogen» vår. Masse vann var stas. Først ble det plasket litt med én pote, deretter ble begge poter løftet opp og slått ned, om igjen og om igjen, før hun hoppet uti med hele seg. Det hele ble avsluttet med frottering inne, litt mat og pladask ned i dyp søvn.

Siden mor tilbringer dagen på jobben med valpeabstinens, mens far og Elbereth koser seg hjemme, er det ingen bilder av vannaktivitetene ennå. Ettermiddagens graving i sandkassen ble derimot foreviget.

To måneder og norsk!

Avskjedslek med mamma Ucine fredag 22. mai. Så gikk turen i bil til Frederikshavn. Det gikk overraskende bra. Hun pep de første fem minuttene i bilen, så satt hun rolig på fanget til vi tok en liten pause på en rasteplass med gress. Det satte hun pris på og sørget straks for å vanne gresset. Hun gikk også veldig fint i bånd for første gang. Deretter sov hun resten av turen til hotellet. På båten hjem i går sov hun størsteparten av tiden.

I dag er hun to måneder gammel. Denne første hele dagen i nytt hjem har Elbereth brukt til å venne seg til sine nye omgivelser. Hun har lagt sin elsk på den gamle hundebingen, der vil hun aller helst være. Innendørs er hun i ferd med å lære å løpe - og stoppe - på glatte parkettgulv. Det har blitt noen møbelkollisjoner, men hun har allerede blitt mye flinkere til å sette på bremsene i tide. Pjusken ser hun ut til å være interessert i å hilse på, men Sirius knurrer og bjeffer hun til. Det skal vi forsøke å jobbe mot ved hjelp av godbiter i morgen. I morgen kveld blir det også første gang på valpekurs.

Hentedag, valpekurs og kommentarinnstillinger

I kveld drar vi med Stena Line fra Oslo. I morgen ankommer vi Frederikshavn og setter kursen for Århus for å redde hagen til Susanne og Jens-Erik fra gravende hundevalper. (Lurer på om jeg burde lage en bildeserie i dag med tittelen "Hagen før Elbereth") På fredag ettermiddag har vi altså ansvaret for vår egen lille Picard. Det blir spennende, og like spennende blir det å se om vi fortsatt har to katter på søndag eller om de flytter i protest når vi kommer hjem med nytt familiemedlem - det har vi opplevd tidligere, men da i protest mot en ny katt.

I går var vi på valpekurs for første gang. Heldigvis var det teorikveld, så det var ingen andre som hadde med hundene sine heller. Elbereth blir nok den yngste på kurset, men det skal gå bra. Vi synes det virker litt tidlig å skulle ta henne med på kurs allerede kommende mandag kveld, men vi får se henne an og sørge for at det er familieflokken som står i fokus i begynnelsen.

Malin og Erik har tipset meg om at det ikke går an å legge inn kommentarer i bloggen til tross for lenken som oppfordrer til det - og det skjønner jeg jo etter å ha sett over innstillingene. Nå har jeg endret kommentarinnstillingene slik at jeg tror det går an for alle å kommentere - kjempefint hvis noen prøver.

Nå skal vi pakke og glede oss. Tror de neste 24 timene kommer til å gå laaaangsomt. Og deretter blir det antagelig full fart i flere år fremover. :-)

8 uker i dag!

Det er helt utrolig at Elbereth bare er åtte uker. Det føles som om vi har fulgt henne og ventet på henne i en evighet. Jeg kan ikke huske hvordan det var å ikke ha en liten pelsdott å følge med på.

Nå er det så kort tid til henting at vi kan begynne å telle timer. Kjenner at det er noen små sommerfugler i magen når jeg tenker på at det nå snart er opp til oss å gi henne en god oppdragelse og et godt liv. Blir vi en god flokk for en liten Picard-jente?

Bare én uke igjen!

Om nøyaktig en uke fra skrivende stund vil vi være i gang med å forlate lugaren på fergen for å gå i land i Danmark. Jeg tenker kjøreturen Frederikhavn - Århus kommer til å føles kjempelang denne gangen.

Tenk at jeg glemte valpenes syvukersdag på tirsdag. Her er i hvertfall Elbereth 6 uker og 6 dager i gang med halsbåndtrening og vanlig omgivelsesutforsking. Ørene står slett ikke rett opp hele tiden ennå. Denne ørevarianten synes jeg er meget sjarmerende.

Hvem har ører som står rett til værs?

Det er selvsagt lille Elbereth som får sitt første tydelige Picard-trekk. Jeg var slett ikke forberedt på at ørene ville reise seg så tidlig, og føler meg snytt for at jeg ikke fikk det med meg. Det vil bli rart å se henne igjen - om bare 11 dager! I dag kom innførsestillatelsen i posten også.

Étoile blir Elbereth

Etter lange navnelister og langvarige diskusjoner, har avgjørelsen blitt tatt. Lille Étoile (stjerne) vil bli kalt Elbereth (stjernedronning) av oss. Det er ikke så lett å se at det nye navnet passer nå mens hun er så liten, derfor var det andre alternativet i sluttforhandlingene å beholde Étoile. Det avgjørende argumentet var at når hun blir like stor og staselig som sin mor, vil Elbereth være treffende navn. Bare se på flotte Ucine i bildet under (tatt av Susanne da vi var i Århus) - ser hun kanskje ikke ut som en dronning?

Tone med Elbereth, valpemamma Ucine,
Sebastian med Edison eller Einstein,
og Tom Ivar med Ecine som sovnet
på ryggen under mavekiling.

19 dager å vente

Så har vi vært i Århus. Det var en riktig hyggelig opplevelse å treffe Susanne, Ucine og Jens-Erik. Det var også veldig kjekt å få snakke om hvordan det er å ha Picard, og få gode råd om behandling av valp. De fire valpene var en opplevelse, og lille Étoile var naturligvis den skjønneste i flokken :-) Jeg tok mange bilder, men valper er stort sett i bevegelse når de er våkne, så det var ikke lett å få gode portretter. Når jeg ser gjennom dem her hjemme, er det dessuten vanskelig å se hvem som er hvem - det var det også mens vi var på besøk, men etter hvert begynte vi å kunne kjenne igjen vesla vår.



Så nå skal vi bare sørge for å bli ferdig med vårens oppussingsprosjekt (det har vært langvarig) og feire 17.mai før vi gjør oss klar for neste Danmarkstur. Det var godt vi tok en liten "prøvetur" på forhånd, for det dukket opp mange "det må vi huske på neste gang" og "det må vi undersøke". Hotellrom med hundeadgang og kort avstand til gressplen er booket og det samme er hundelugar på fergen. Så nå begynner ventetiden for alvor - det er godt vi har litt å gjøre de neste ukene.

Ad astra

I morgen kveld tar vi båten fra Oslo til Frederikshavn og lørdag er vi i Århus på besøk hos vår lille stjerne, Étoile. Den franske uttalen vår er nok ikke god nok til å benytte dette navnet til daglig, så vi leter gjennom andre navn som også betyr stjerne. Der er noen aktuelle kandidater i Tolkiens persongalleri, men vi tre tobente har ikke kommet til noen enighet ennå. Tror nok vi må møte den lille først.

Vi gleder oss veldig til å møte Susanne med familie, Ucine og de tre andre valpene også. Det blir en deilig helg.

Her ser man at Étoile allerede har begynt å trene
på å kunne hjelpe mor med å vanne i hagen.

Slipp valpene løs, det er vår!

Ikke vet jeg hvordan hun har fått det til, men da jeg så dette bildet som Susanne sendte i dag, måtte jeg le. Er de ikke skjønne? Jeg lurer på om noen av dem klarte å klatre over, og hvem som i såfall var først.

Nå har vi også fått tilsendt ID-nummer og passnummer, så alt er klart til å sende inn søknad om innførselstillatelse. Siden mai har noen ekstra fridager, er det betryggende å kunne sende søknaden inn med litt god margin.

Ellers nytes våren. Jeg våkner tidlig og går tur i skogen hver morgen rundt klokken seks - den skal tidlig krøkes som god hundelufter skal bli. I dag da jeg kom ut på trappen, så jeg at gårsdagens varme hadde ført til løvsprett, bjørken har fått "museører". I skogen viser hvitveisen tydelig at det ikke er lenge før de også springer ut. Det er en deilig tid!

Planlegging

Det nærmer seg, det nærmer seg. Om 11 dager er vi i Århus og får treffe vår lille Picard-pike. Da det var 14 dager igjen og jeg nevnte det for Sebastian, ville han straks vite hvor lenge det er til vi får henne hjem og han ble meget skuffet da han skjønte at det ville ta ytterligere tre uker etter besøket. Godt er det, sier nå jeg, for der er mangt og meget som må være i orden før man får ta med seg en liten firbent pelsdott over landegrensen. Innførselstillatelse skal man ha søkt om noen uker i forveien for at den skal rekke å bli saksbehandlet i tide, og før man kan søke må valpen ha fått både ID-nummer og pass.

Vi har i hvertfall etter mye leting etter passende valpekurs fått meldt oss på et i nærområdet. Det var en stund vi trodde vi ville måtte ta til takke med et intensivt weekend-kurs i slutten av juni - vi ønsket ikke å vente til høsten - men så starter det heldigvis et kurs i slutten av mai som vil gå 2 ganger i uken i 5 uker.

Susanne er snill og sender ofte bilder. Her er valpene blant Tusenfryd på sin første to-minutters tur i haven. De ble litt engstelige.

Hage og valp/hund?

Går det an å ha begge dele? Jeg satt for noen minutter siden ute i hagen i det deilige solskinnet og beundret resultatene av høstens store innsats. Da ble det anlagt ny plen med gangstier og blomsterbed (noen nye, noen bare utvidet) med kantstener. Det ble gravd ned en masse blomsterløk og i ettermiddagsvarmen kunne jeg glede meg over alle krokusene som er i fullt flor allerede. Jeg fikk også gleden av å trekke opp en del løvetannspirer og få jord under neglene. Deilig!

Som jeg satt der og nøt det hele, så jeg for meg en liten Picard-frøken løpe rundt på plenen - og så innbilte jeg meg henne i blomsterbedet med halen til vers og snuten halvveis til Kina. Hmmm... Jeg har foreløpig tro på at det går an å oppdra hunder til å la hagen være i fred. Skulle jeg ta feil, skal jeg til høsten komme med oppdatering om hvordan hund og eier i samarbeid omgjorde hagen til hundesandkasse.

Tre-ukers-bursdag

De fire små er tre uker i dag. Det er ikke lenger ferie, så jeg har nesten klart å la være å tenke på valp. Det er bare to kolleger, pluss et kollegabarnebarn, som har måttet høre på valpeprat i dag.

Teori og praksis

Teori bør kobles med praksis for at læringsutbyttet skal bli optimalt. Så hvordan omsette teori om trening av valp til praksis når man ennå ikke har fått valpen? Vel, man har da katter...

Yngstekatten Sirius er så glad i påleggsskinke at det å åpne kjøleskapsdøren uten å lukke kjøkkendøren alltid resulterer i lyden av katt som hopper ned på gulvet ett eller annet sted i huset og løper mot kjøkkenet. I løpet av et sekund står han der på stolen nærmest kjøleskapet og strekker fem klør ut etter skapåpneren mens han gir høylydt beskjed om å få opp farten. Han har altså en sterk indre motivasjon for å få tak i skinke. :-) Alt skulle dermed ligge godt til rette for litt adferdsmodifikasjon.

I løpet av et par dager hadde Sirius lært hva "Sitt" betyr. Nå ser det ut som at han også aksepterer at han må vente med å forsyne seg til det blir sagt "Vær så god". Han ser ikke spesielt fornøyd ut med å måtte forholde seg til nye regler, men det er blitt tryggere for oss tobente å åpne kjøleskapet. Dette er moro, så jeg har tenkt å fortsette. Det jeg lurer på i øyeblikket er hvor kontekstavhengig (les: skinkeavhengig)denne lydigheten er, så det må utforskes de nærmeste dagene.

Valpene nærmer seg nå tre uker og vi får høre at gjengen begynner å bli livlig. Skulle ønske at vi hadde bodd nærmere så vi kunne deltatt oftere i den tidlige sosialiseringsfasen, nå får vi nøye oss med ett besøk - og det er nå bare 19 dager til!