Shows, shows, shows, puppies and a virus.....

We have been busy and the blog has been neglected a bit too much, but I will try and make up for that now. To start with the boring thing we were attacked by a virus. Not only did it affect both our computers, it also took our homepage down and it was quite a work to get google to "clear" the page again and allow us back online. Thanks to all of you who took the time to contact us to let us know there was a problem. We are of course really sorry for any trouble it may have caused to any of you out there. Hopefully it should be gone now and should someone have tryed to contact us in the time where we had the virus and not heard back from us please contact us again!

Spring time has been puppy time and we have had some lovely puppies here at Lapinlumon. In April 2 lapphund litters were born few days apart; Our D litter a special one to us out of Orso-Farm Ötömöttinen and Orso-Farm Ämmi was first 2 boys and 1 girl, but sadly the two of them did not make it and in the end only Daniel was left. He is a special one and he knows it.......

Lapinlumon Daniel

Esther & Daniel

Lapinlumon Unelma whelped 6 nice puppies - our E-litter also sired by Orso-Farm Ötömöttinen. The boy Elmeri is staying here with us, the 5 others have all moved to their new homes and we wish the new owners all the luck in the world with them!

In June our first lagotto litter born on Swedish ground saw the ligth of the day; Lapinlumon Harmonia whelped a beautiful litter of 5 little lagottos our P litter. Sire of this litter is the interesting Budoar Monroe from Finland. We are extremely grateful to Harmonia´s owner Sini who let´s us have this litter!

Lapinlumon P-lagottos

Last litter for now was born 3rd of July also a lapphund litter out of Orso-Farm Ötömöttinen and Lapinlumon Tupsutassu. 6 lovely little wolfsabled puppies, 4 boys and 2 girls. Will be nice to follow them. And no - we don´t plan any more litters from ilo aka Ötömöttinen for now :-) but he is 11 and although fit and healthy as a youngster as we have been very selective in using him in the past we wanted some last litters from him now to preserve his lines.

Lapinlumon F-puppies 4 days old

Then to the shows.... We have had a truly amazing showyear here in Sweden. Each time we went to a show we were prepared for it to be the day where we did not win anything, but so far it did not happen. We have won EVERY SINGLE SHOW WE ENTERED. How crazy and amazing :-)

We already wrote earlier about the breed specialty in Mora in March where Ilolas won Best in show  and the allbreed show in Västerås where he won BOG3 - from then we did not really look back.....

Timrå

In May we headed for the breed specialty in Timrå judged by a Finnish judge wellknown to the breed, Tuula Pratt.

Once again Lapinlumon Elämänilo won best male and finished BOB and we were so proud when he repeated his stunt from the last specialty and once again won Best In Show at a breedspecialty in tough competition!!!!! But he was not the only one to do well. We had entered 8 dogs in total and out of the 8 the 6 of them won their class! That was pretty amazing. Besides from Ilolas winning the champion males juniorclass males was won by Lapinlumon Xensaatio, veteran males was won by Lapinlumon Noaidi, junior bitches was won by Lapinlumon Xaana, intermediate bitches was won by Lapinlumon Qumina and veteran bitches was won by Lapinlumon Miamaia. Lapinlumon Aslak was second in a big open class and Lapinlumon Yllätys was third in the champion class bitches. All 8 dogs we brought with us were graded excellent and received a CK!

When we reached the best male competition a good group of males entered the ring, but when we looked around at the final 4 the 3 of them were ours. Ilolas won best male, Lapinlumon Xensaatio was third best male and won the CAC and Lapinlumon Noaidi was 4th best male.

In the best bitch ring it was the same scenario. All 4 girls we brougth were in the ring for best bitch and 3. best bitch with res.CAC was Lapinlumon Xaana and 4th best bitch was Lapinlumon Qumina. Our breeders class was once again BOB and Noaidi won BOB-veteran with Miamaia as BOS-veteran. He later finished BIS2-veteran and our breeders class finished as BIS2 as well. It was a nice day and we met a lot of nice and helpful people!

Lapinlumon Xaana in Timrå photo: Jonna Almenäs

Lapinlumon Aslak in Timrå photo: Jonna Almenäs

Ilolas in Timrå photo: Jonna Almenäs

Lapinlumon Xensaatio in Timrå photo: Jonna Almenäs

Lapinlumon Xensaatio in Timrå photo: Jonna Almenäs

Ilolas best male photo: Jonna Almenäs

Lapinlumon Yllätys in Timrå photo: Jonna Almenäs

Vallentuna

The week after Timrå end of May it was time for Vallentuna international allbreed show. Judged by Gunnel Holm from Finland we once again had a great day. We brought 4 dogs with us and spoiled as we started to get they all 4 won their classes with excellent and CK. Ilolas was once again BOB with CACIB and Lapinlumon Xensaatio won the juniorclass males and finished 4th best male. Extra fun was it of course that some nice males from Finland attended the show too. Lapinlumon Xaana won the juniorclass bitches and finished 3rd best bitch with res.CAC and Lapinlumon Yllätys won the championclass bitches and finished runner up best bitch with res.CACIB. Best bitch was the lovely Connie, puppy from Lapinlumon Elämänilo and Lapinlumon Davvebiegga. Once again our breeders class won BOB, we only had 4 dogs entered so that was a nice job too...

Lapinlumon Elämänilo BOB

Lapinlumon Xensaatio 4th best male

Lapinlumon Yllätys runner up best bitch

Norrköping

First weekend of June it was time for a double show in Norrköping. The first day it was the kennel clubs all breed show judged by Bo Skalin from Finland. And once again we had a super day.

Only brought 3 dogs the first day and once again Ilolas won best male and Best of breed. We were very happy and proud with all the nice words the judge had about our dogs. Little Lapinlumon Xaana went all the way from junior class and won best bitch and CAC and BOS. Lapinlumon Yllätys was 4th best bitch and once again our breeders class was BOB.

Lapinlumon Elämänilo BOB

Lapinlumon Yllätys & Lapinlumon Xaana

Lapinlumon Xaana CAC BOS

The second day in Norrköping was the breed specialty judged by breed specialist Jukka Kuusisto from Finland and we repeat ourselves but once again we had fabolous results. Ilolas did it third time in a row at a breed specialty and won BOB and BEST In SHOW! Waw.

Lapinlumon Addja attended his first show ever and won the junior class with excellent and CK. Lapinlumon Tahmatassu followed him in the intermediate class and won that also with excellent and CK. He later finised 4th best male and won the CAC as well! Lapinlumon Noaidi was 2. in the veteran class with excellent and CK. In the bitch ring Lapinlumon Xaana won the juniorclass bitches with excellent and CK. Lapinlumon Yllätys was third in the champion class bitches also with excellent and CK and old girl Lapinlumon Miamaia was the surprise of the day winning the veteran class with excellent and CK and finishing 3rd best bitch with the CAC from veteranclass giving her the Swedish champion title as well! Well done by the old fat girl who is having the time of her life back in the showring. To win best of breed, both CACs, BOB-veteran and BOB-breedersgroup (as we did again) could be considered great enough, but to finish the day not only did Ilolas once again as written win best in show, Mia also won Best In Show veteran and our breeders class won Best In Show as well! So proud to do this well under a breed specialits who really knows the breed.

Lapinlumon Yllätys

Lapinlumon Xaana

Lapinlumon Xaana

Lapinlumon Noaidi

Lapinlumon Addja at his first show

Lapinlumon Elämänilo BIS

Lapinlumon Tahmatassu first show in Sweden CAC 4th best male

Lapinlumon Tahmatassu photo: Monika Tunviken

Lapinlumon Miamaia (in the back) CAC 3rd best bitch BIS-veteran photo: Monika Tunviken

A great part of the day was Esther doing juniorhandling with Ilolas. She had been training a lot in the weekend and out of a big group of I think 12 kids she placed 3rd and was so proud that she won a trophe. The two kids placed better than her were both much older so she was really pleased.

Esther & Ilolas

Avesta

Mid june it was time for a busy show weekend. On the Saturday we went to Avesta all breed show and I guess the entire day can be summed up as rain, rain, storm, rain, thunder and some more rain. What a dreadful weather for a showday and not a place to get inside! For the first time in ages we left and went home even if we should have competed in the group as we were soaking wet and had a very dissatified wet baby with us too. Ilolas celebrated his 4 years birthday and we can not really say the weather was with him.

However results were not to be complained about. Judge was this time Swedish and and once again Ilolas won BOB and CACIB. Lapinlumon Tahmatassu won 2. best male and CAC and res.CACIB. Lapinlumon Yllätys was BOS with CACIB as well and Lapinlumon Xaaga who is co-owned by us and Pia Juhlin won 2. best bitch with CAC. Our breeders class was again BOB. Needless to say we don´t really have any snapshots from this rainy day...

Mora

The day after Avesta it was again time for the specialty in Mora, this time judged by Harto Stockmari from Finland. And again we had a fantastic day.

We did not believe he could do it again, but he did Ilolas and won BOB at the 4th specialty he attended this year. Lapinlumon Xensaatio was second in the junior class males with excellent and CK and Orso-Farm ötömöttinen had been allowed into the showring, knowing how much he loves it; and he did well winning the veteran class with excellent and CK and finishing as 4th best male 11 years old!

The bitch ring was one big win for us. Lapinlumon Xaaga won the junior class bitches with Lapinlumon Xaana as second both with excellent and CK. Lapinlumon Qumina won a high quality open class with excellent and CK, Lapinlumon Yllätys won the champion class with excellent and CK and Lapinlumon Miamaia again won the veteran class also with excellent and CK. I handled Qumina for best bitch and when she and 3 others had been picked out to be placed I looked around and noticed all 4 of them were ours, Qumina, Xaaga, Yllätys and Miamaia. What a feeling! Qumina had a great day and won best bitch and CAC and BOS to Ilolas. Old girl Mia was 2. best bitch with res.CAC however she already finished her title the show before. Lapinlumon Yllätys was 3. bitch and Lapinlumon Xaaga was 4th best bitch. She was also BOB-junior as well as BIS-junior.

Lapinlumon Miamaia was BOB-veteran and beat her dad Ilo who was BOS. She finished as BIS2-veteran of the day. Ilolas had a progeny class which won BOB and later BIS as well. Our breeders class was once again BOB and finally BIS2. Ilolas having won best in show at the 3 other specialties this year this time had to "settle" with a BIS2 placement but we really could not be anything else than satisfied with that ;-)

Esther & Ilolas 2. place juniorhandling

Ilolas progeny class BIS

Lapinlumon Xaaga BIS-junior

Lapinlumon Breeders class BIS

Lapinlumon Elämänilo BOB Lapinlumon Qumina BOS

Lapinlumon Miamaia BIS2-veteran

Champion bitches Lapinlumon Yllätys (middle) winning the class and 3rd best bitch

Lapinlumon Xensaatio

Lapinlumon Xensaatio

Lapinlumon breeders class BIS´

Orso-Farm Ötömöttinen BOS-veteran 11 years old but still knows how to move...

Alfta

In July we went to Alfta all breed show judged by Marja Talvitie from Finland. Ilolas was again BOB and Lapinlumon Tahmatassu was second best male with CAC. Lapinlumon Kaunis Kamma did her first show ever in Sweden with style winning best bitch and BOS and CAC winning her the Swedish champion title. Lapinlumon Miamaia was BOB-veteran and 3rd best bitch. Our breeders class was once again BOB.

Lapinlumon Tahmatassu CAC 2. best male

Lapinlumon Kaunis Kamma CAC BOS new Swedish champion

As usual not just we but also a lot of our great puppy buyers out in the world have been doing well.

At the Copenhagen winner show in Denmark Lapinlumon Freesia won Best of Breed and Copenhagen winner 2012.

Lapinlumon Davvebiegga made a trip to her country of origin, Finland where she won the CAC so she is now a Finnish champion, well done Pia Söderlund!

And lagottos have been doing well in Norway. At the lagotto specialty Lapinlumon Hesperus won best male and BOS and lateron Lapinlumon Diamante now a veteran won BIS-veteran two days in a row, BOB and BOG2 the first day as well and BOS the second day. Congratulations Siv and Synnøve!

Lapinlumon Diamante BOG2 photo: Linda Acay

Great results again

So it was time for another show, this time in Västerås. Turned out to be closer to home than expected, according to all navigations we should have over 3 hours there, but only took a little more than two.
Judge for the day was Marja Talvitie from Finland and there were 22 lapinkoiras entered.
First up in the ring was junior boy Lapinlumon Xensaatio in a junior male class with 5 entered dogs. Tio´s last show in Mora he did not have time to collect himself after the drive, he got very carsick as a puppy and still does not enjoy driving and in Mora he went straigth from the car to the ring and so did not really want to show. This time however even if we were the first breed in the ring, he had had time to settle and walk around for quite a while as we were there in such good time. It paid off and he felt much better in the ring. We were really happy when he won the class with an excellent grading (the only excellent in the class) and was also awarded a CK quality ribbon. Next up was Ilolas, Lapinlumon Elämänilo, who won the champion class and the it was time for best male. Ilolas won and Tio was third and was also awarded the CAC not even one year old. Nice result! We were even more proud as only 3 males were awarded the CK ribbon qualifying for the best male competition and two of them were our boys.
Next up in junior bitches was Lapinlumon Xaana who repeated her brothers act and won the class with an excellent. She however was not graded a CK. Second in the class was her and Tio´s sister Lapinlumon Xaaga also with an excellent grading.
Last up from our four dogs entered was Lapinlumon Yllätys who did it with style as well, won the champion class, won best bitch, was awarded the Swedish CAC and thereby also finished her Swedish champion title!!!!!!!. Her and Ilolas met for best of breed competition were Ilolas was BOB and Totti (Yllätys) BOS. Waw what a result, winning both best male and best bitch and both CACs! Only 5 dogs in total were awarded a CK and 3 of them were ours. We brought 4 dogs and all 4 won their class. We also showed the four of them in our breeders class and won BOB breeders class with honory price.
However this was not all. At the end of the day we entered the group ring and were deligthed when Ilolas was picked out among 6 final dogs. Even more deligthed when he was placed as 3rd in the group!!!!! Only beaten by an American akita and a pharaohound, both excellent dogs and fair winners we felt very happy and proud. Esther was extremely happy with him winning some nice flowers and she did not let go of them untill we reached home. It helped a bit on her disapointment with her dog Xaana not getting a CK. She wanted to show her herself and I said no, but promised she could show her for best bitch if she was going to the ring again and she was really sad she wasn´t, but got to show Totti for BOB competition instead and the flowers made up for her disapointment. In the car on the way home she fell aslep, but still held on tigth to the flowers waking up every five minutes to check they were still there.

Ilolas winning BOG3, photo by Cattlin Marques

Mixed emotions

As a breeder life can sometimes be a rollercoster. Things go up and they go down. Last year we thought our special girl Ämmi had had her last litter, it was her third and she was soon 8 years old. She had been a showdog with numerous titles and wins to her credit and so had been a lot in the showring and not always had time for litters and so "only" had 3 special litters for us. We were sorry she did not have more, but happy with the puppies we had from her accepted that in Denmark you can not mate a bitch who has turned 8 years old. However after moving to Sweden I noticed several other breeders were mating older bitches and so I asked our vet who said that up here it is not the age of the bitch which count it is how many litters in total and most importantly that a vet makes a health certificate on the bitch stating she is fit for pregnancy. As Ämmi really is a special bitch both for us but also in our modest opinion for the breed we decided to go for it and mate her again. Vet checked proved her to be fit and healthy as a junior and we could go ahead. And who would be better fitted than our most special boy Ilo. He too an old star and very special dog it had always been in my heart to mate the two of them. I did not announce the mating anywhere as I am always so supersticious and felt sure something would go wrong if I told too much about the mating. I had a feeling Ämmi was pregnant, but not untill the last weeks did I feel completely sure, but she was not big so we did not expect it to be a big litter.

The 14th of April she delivered 3 lovely puppies, one girl and two boys and naturally we were really really happy with this for us special litter. Everything went by the book however when the second puppy was delivered Ämmi was very fast to bite the cord and the placenta did not come out. I expected it to come out with the next puppy which it didn´t. Ämmi did not seem done after puppy number 3 and for a while I wondered if there was a 4th puppy, but after taking her out and feeling her through I concluded I thought there wasn´t and imagined it was the placenta acting up. She really was restless, scratching and moving around all the time and could not find rest neither for her of the puppies. I contacted the vet to get an injection, but he advised to wait a few days as they normally come out by themselves. In Denmark my vet has always been very quick to give an injection to make sure everything was out and we have always used this, but I thought to myself maybe it was hysterical and thrue enough after two days the placenta came out by itself. However those two days Ämmi did not find rest at all :-(
The result of her scratching around, moving, jumping in and out of the box was that the puppies started to be stressed too, they were getting colder as they did not have their mothers body heat and they did not eat enough as she kept moving. I am a firm believer of not interfearing too much and letting nature go it´s way, but on day 3 my gut feeling was this was going wrong. One boy was completely normal, big and fat and warm, but the other boy and the girl were getting weaker, did not eat enough and seemed colder than I wanted them to be. By that time the placenta had passed and Ämmi seemed to settle down and rested in the whelping box with them, but by then it seemed like the two of them had become more passive and cold, did not eat enough simply kind of like they got used to not being full so now they did not care to really eat. This resulted in Ämmi stressing again as she did not know what to do with them - an evil circle! Even if I rarely do this I decided to step in and help and so the search in Sweden for formula began!

We went to the pet shop in Rättvik who did not have any formula for puppies, they did have for kittens however and told me I could just feed them that! I really did not feel like that and told them and let´s just say there was a discussion and I think we won´t be shopping a lot there again. We then went to the vet in Rättvik who is not a vet we have otherwise used more than once, but she was extremely helpful and checked out the kitten formula situation for us and spent her time (and no - she did not find it a good idea either......). They were sold out on formula though so we had to drive to Mora to the pet shop there. Stressing! Finally home after 4 hours driving around the two pups were even more cold and seemed a bit dehrydated so they spent some time on my stomach to get warmed up and then got some formula. Shortly after the boy died. Really sad, but it seemed like his body had just closed down some how. The girl however got warm and was eating and putting on weight. She was a real figther and the two of us started a struggle for life. Every second hour day and night I was feeding her and at the end she seemed more attached to me than Ämmi. First I had placed Ämmi in the kitchen in my mum´s house so she could have peace, but when we stepped in to help we moved her to outside our bedrooms where it was warm and we could keep an eye on what was going on all the time. The reason she was not there from the beginning was because Mia and Killi are always there and I thought they would stress her, but I was proven wrong. Feeding the little girl became our mutual project and soon she did not only have one mum, she had 4, me, Ämmi, Killi and Mia. The three girls were sitting in a half circle around me both in day and nigthtime when feeding her with their heads tilted to one side looking how she was doing and each time she was done eating they all three gave her a good licking and made sure she was okay. Her brother was still managing just perfectly on his own and the last two days she started eating by herself with ämmi too and she was putting on weigth so my hopes were up. After a week of hard work I was starting to be worn out as this was hard work, specially as I am also blessed with a human baby who thinks he can not sleep without his mummy so to have him on one side and then wake up every second hour with the puppy on the other was hard, but when I felt her little body cuddle in to me and rest when she could smell me I felt it was worth it. This morning I got up as usual after having been up with her in the night. Checked her and Ämmi on my way down to the kitchen and made her bottle. I could then hear ämmi bark upstairs and when I went up to see what was wrong I found the little girl dead. She was lying just as if she was sleeping next to her brother. People who say animals have no feelings are so wrong, Ämmi was devastated and no doubt she knew what had happened. Puppy was still warm and soft and was alive few minutes earlier when I checked on them, but Ämmi clearly knew things were wrong. She was so sad and whining and trying to push her to live again. I sat down to hold the puppy and could not help to cry and Ämmi and Killi and Mia all came to sit around me and looked so sad too. When I carried her out they all three jumped and wanted to lick her and they all pushed their noses on her just as if they were saying goodbye. Ämmi was clearly moarning and if a dog could cry that is what she did. I took a deep breath and went for a walk in the forrest with the dogs hoping she would be alive again when I came back knowing very well that of course she would not.

This was hard even if she was so small because I put so much time in her and she was special to me. I have been in this game for years, but I will never become tough I guess.......Now she is burried with her brother and Namu under the birch trees we can see from our kitchen window. It is 3 months since Namu died, but I had not been able to burry her before now. We had her cremated and brought her home as it was too cold and frozen to burry her when she died. The last many weeks I was thinking that now we should do it, but I just couldn´t, I felt somehow she was still here if I didn´t. But now it was time and her and the two puppies could keep eachother company and I dedicated the day to saying goodbye to some special ones.
This is the really hard part of being a breeder. I normally don´t interfear much in either matings, whelpings or caring of puppies and am lucky to have healthy natural bitches who take care of everything themselves and it is very rare we lose a puppy. However nature is cruel and it is survival of the fittest and in my heart I know that even if it is difficult. I don´t know if we were just unlucky with the different circumstances or if something was wrong and we can´t know. But sad it was and a rollercoster week, first so happy to get three beautiful puppies out of this special combination and then to lose the two. But I have collected myself and find joy in looking at the boy who is left, fit and healthy and hope he stays that way + Säde delivered 6 big and healthy puppies two days after Ämmi and all of those luckily (knock on wood!) look big and fat and doing well. Teir father too is Ilo and apropriately they were born on his birthday which also happened to be the birthday of my old Uuriel as well as the Danish queen so it has been a week of ups and down here for us. We have to find joy in the living instead of thinking what if and what could have been done differently about the past. But specially the girl will have a place in my heart and the love I saw from Killi, Ämmi and Mia will have a very special place for me. The way the three of them cooperated and really felt for this puppy and eachother was touching to see. The fat boy left does not have one mum now but three as either Killi or Mia jumps in to lie with him when ämmi is out to pee and after losing the girl they seem very nervous to make sure all goes well with him.

Life goes on even if it did not feel like it for a short moment this morning and so on a less dramatic note the spitz club had a club show in Denmark yesterday with good results for Lapinlumon dogs. Lapinlumon Bohjanpoika won best male puppy, Lapinlumon Zulo won best male out of a big entry and BOS, Lapinlumon Merirosvo won the open class males and Lapinlumon Quunloiste won the open class bitches. Lapinlumon Lapintähti won the res. CAC. Great results and we are happy with our great puppy buyers doing a good job there.

Another exciting thing is the planning of a very special lagotto litter which has also become possible with the help from another great puppy buyer. Mating was done yesterday which made me happy in the middle of all this sorrow and we hope there would be a result in nine weeks time, but let´s wait and see.

So the morale of today will be that life goes on even if it is sometimes difficult and that big joy can be turned into sorrow fast, but that is life and I decided after saying my goodbyes to look at all the joys and positive things in our lives with the beautiful puppies around me who are still here, all the adult dogs and then I spent a nice day with my two lovely children and my great husband.

What a day!!!!!!!

What a weekend we had! Started out a bit rocky as our Mia turned ill. She was rushed to the hospital with a strange looking tongue and what we believed to be a uterus infection. Such things always happen on bad days. Esther had a play date with a friend from school so was not home yet and we had a visitor coming from Norway so someone had to be home when he and Esther arrived. So I shipped Jesper off to the vet and stayed home myself waiting to hear the news. Turned out she was simply missing a piece of her tongue. Best bet was she licked something frozen and got stuck and pulled :-( Not so very nice. The good news was the uterus infection looked less bad than first expected and she was put on penicillin and her and Jesper could return home in decent time. I can happily report that she is much better already! Her tongue has healed and althought she strugled getting used to eating and drinking the first couple of days she seems to be fine now even if there is only 2/3 of her tongue left.....

We had a pleasant visit from Norway all Saturday and on Sunday we were then ready to head off for the Swedish lapphund club specialty in Mora. 134 lapphunds were entered of the 3 Lappish breeds with the Finnish lapphund being clearly the biggest with an entry of 97 dogs including puppies. Naturally we were excited to see the Swedish dogs and also to see how our own would do. We had a humble attitude towards it all, being new in the country and everything......

As usual we left home later than planned. It just always takes longer than planned to get two children ready and into the car. I think Christian was the only ready one at set time leaving the Brandes family with the blame for the delay ;-) So when arriving at the show there was only 25 minutes till judging started and Tio was first up in the ring. Took time to get in too as there was a bit to walk and I can reveal that it is not that easy balancing two kids, 4 dogs, crates, tables, chairs, bags and all the other stuff on sloping hills covered in ice! Dogs pulling, kids running away, stuff being heavy. SIGH! So when finally arriving at the ring chaos was the word coming to my mind and there was just few minutes till judging started and I could see Tio was not feeling his best. He used to get very sick when driving and always needed a couple of hours to settle down before he was himself again. Luckily this time he did not throw up, but he was clearly not feeling good either and would not really lift his tail. Jesper and I had a fast chat debating if we should show him or not, but agreed it was good training for him so decided to go ahead. He would not really lift his tail so was only graded a Very good which was fair enough - he will be back ;-) I took it as nice training for him. Below is a photo of him in the ring

photo R. Ylen

Next up in the ring was Ilolas. It was a big open class males and we had no idea how it would go so we were very proud, happy and surprised when Ilolas won the class! While the 8 champion males were being judged we were waiting and then entered the ring again for best male together with all the others who had had a CQ grating. The judge was very keen on movement so we were running and running and running for what seemed like forever. He slowly narrowed down the field and finally we were just 4 dogs left. When looking around I could see the top winning male in Sweden last year as well as another from the top 3 in the ring with us so I was so happy when the judge Hans-Åke Sperne chose Ilolas as the winner. Even Jesper was so happy that he entered the ring which is a rare sigth :-) Ilolas was awarded the CAC which made him a Swedish champion as well. Below a photo of Ilolas in the ring.

Photo P. Magnusson

Then it was time for the bitches. First up junior class in which our two girls Lapinlumon Xaaga and Lapinlumon Xaana entered the ring in a big class of 15 junior girls. Needles to say we were pretty proud again when winner of the class was Xaaga and runner up was Xaana and those two were the only of the junior girls to be awarded a CQ. We had a short break in the intermediate class with no dogs entered there and then entered the ring again with Totti aka Lapinlumon Yllätys in the open class bitches. Again a big class with 14 bitches and I am repeating myself I know, but were we proud when Totti won the class!!!!!! Yes we were.....

 To bring so few dogs and still win so much was amazing. Totti has not been shown for several years in Denmark and entered the ring again at the Nordic winner show in December in Stockholm were she won too so she has really proved that she wants to show some more. For best bitch both Xaana and Totti had to enter the ring so we thank Christian for the help with showing Xaana. The two of them did a very good job and were in the run for a long time. Funny for me was to watch Xaana from a distance as she just 9 months old really has both her mum and dad´s attitude and desire to show off. However at last the judge was down to five dogs and for a long time had Totti as his number one. How sureal if we had won both best male and best bitch with so many dogs entered! However sadly Totti pulled her lead and stopped her airsupply and started coughing and due to that the judge asked her to leave the ring. Fair enough and we can not say we were disapointed knowing how well everything went in general! Of course it was a pity knowing she would likely have won had she not been coughing, but it did not really have anything to do with her health or her looks so we took that with a smile. Below is a photo of Totti moving in the ring

Photo P. Magnusson

It was now time for Best of breed and the judge did not think long before chosing Ilolas as his best of breed. Ilolas along with his 4 kids there also won BOB progeny group. They were also BIS progeny group and we were then ready for Best in show. Ilolas entered the ring with the BOB Swedish lapphund and laponian herder and made the day perfect by winning the ultimate price BEST IN SHOW!!!!!!  We were so proud, we had so few dogs there and still they all placed so well and then the final result of Ilolas taking it all home at our first specialty in our new country. A long weekend and we were tired, but so so happy. Ilolas too seemed to enjoy and thought the idea of a crown of victory was great :-) Finally somebody saw him as the king he always believed himself to be.

Photo: P. Magnusson

I have been lazy with updates and it is not just us who have been doing well. Also last weekend out in the world Lapinlumons were out and about strutting their stuff.

In Holland last weekend Lapinlumon Tähtisilmä won CAC and best bitch and finished her Dutch junior champion title at the international show in Gronningen. A photo of her below, congratulations Thea and Lianne.

At the same show Lapinlumon Guovsahassat won the res. CAC and res. CACIB so congratulations to Cisca as well. Photo below

The same day at the spitz specialty show in Denmark with 25 Finnish lapphunds entered Lapinlumon Kuuraparta won best male and CAC as well. Pictured left on the photo below by L. Sørensen

All in all we can only say our dogs do us proud and we as breeders feel honoured and happy that the work we do gets apreciated by judges and other enthusiasts around the world.