Kennel Dirlian's family reunion 9.-10.6.2007
Saturday
Niina, Kirsti-lady, Teuvo and me arrived at the hut on Friday night to do some preparations and get ready for the first arrivers. We did some evening exercises on friday night when we carried all dishwater to kitchen and filled and warmed up the cauldron in sauna. The water pump was broken and we had to do two-woman water carrier chain from the well to the sauna. The well is located in a dell on the other side of the river and there's water over ankles in the ditch I had to wear only gumboots that fit me (a number too small ones, the other ones were size 56 or so...). I thought the weather was so nice that I didn't need boots. I stood in the ditch bringing the water from the well and carried it on the top edge of the dell and Niina took the buckets to the kitchen and sauna. We are positive thinkers and thought this was just a good evening exercise and we were happy that there were enough water in the well and luckily the gumboots were waterproof...
Saturday was warm and sunny although I had dreamt of traditional Finnish weekend with thunderstorms and teeming rain. In the morning while we waited for our guests we had time to scythe most of the nettles and hay from the grill area. Luckily our friend Arja had visited the hut past week and mowed some lawn before we arrived. Thanks to Arja, we got chance to set up small agility course from stuff we found from cellar and and other places. Little by little everybody arrived. All in all we had 10 dogs there: Kirsti, Teuvo, Topi, Kassu, Nanouh, Riku, Rhodri, Viivi, Senni and Taku + 16 people, youngest only six months old plus Niina who was responsible for the kitchen and also a breeder.
At first we had a trimming show when we trimmed Viivi. Miss Viisi was supposed to represent Welsh springer spaniels at Koria wilderness fair (from what i hear she was very representative there :) ). Well she had a dog show next weekend also. When we were finished with Viivi most of the guests had arrived and it was time to welcome everybody with a coffee. It was good time to go through the field test and what the dogs should know there. Before we went to practice the field test, everybody had to build their own quarry sticks. To make the day shorter we separated into two groups. Niina was leading the tracking group and rest of the group were with me and Jarno doing retrieval training with shotgun. It was very interesting to see how the dogs reacted differently to gunshots. Not one was scared of the bangs but the heat was curbing the dogs a little and cutting their excitement down.
After retrieval and tracking training we had a lunch break before going to train some swimming in Sorlammi. Although Kassu saw fit to cool off halfway and went swimming on 1x1m swamp puddle. On the lake we practiced swimming and retrieval of quarry stick like in field test, one at a time. Some know pretty well how to retrieve, but some still have some practicing to do. Once everybody had tried retrieving we let the dogs to go for a swim. Kirsti was so eager to get in the water and she ran there instantly after I loosened my grip from the collar. The spectacle of the day was Teuvo-grandpa (10 yrs) who went swimming for a first time in nine years. Well, we helped him a little…
After we got back from the swimming trip most of the guests went home and the original gang from Friday was only left. After the sauna we grilled some sausages on a camp fire (anybody want some?) with two tired veteran dogs sleeping next to us. On the second night we all slept tightly until it was time to wake up to our actual 10 year anniversary day.
Operation Viivi |
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In dandelion field |
Speeding up |
Rhodri has the most |
Topi and Anne |
Kassu and Olavi, |
Riku is |
Riku and Taku |
This summer's hottest |
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Lunch break |
Portrait |
Viivi and Jarno |
Rhodri and |
Anu, Pirjo, |
There it is... |
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Style sample from |
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Teuvo went swimming! |
At camp fire |
Kuvat © Petra Linnamaa & Dirlian
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