I all but BFF with my blog at the moment. I have tons of things to write about, but absolutely no inspiration or lust to sit down and pour my thoughts into a something physical. I don’t feel like sharing my thoughts with anyone – or everyone. There’s so many things I want to do, and so many things I want to achieve, but I seem to be stuck at the moment. I seriously hope it’s a momentarily thing, or else I’m afraid I’ll go insane. I feel like I’m stuck in an enormous puddle of mud which is sucking me further and further down into the black nothingness.

Thankfully I have friends. Good friends. Friends I wouldn’t want to be without. And today Monica came over and brought Zita and her four puppies with her. Puppy therapy! I guess it’s meaningless to even mention, but I have a major crush on the single male of the litter, and it seems like it might be mutual. He’s completely and utterly adorable! Why is it that small, furry animals have such a therapeutic effect on people? Or at least on me? I’m forever grateful for today’s session of puppy cuddling, and it was so cool to watch Theo with the little ones. He was so sweet and gentle, trying to initiate play and running around checking up on them.

click for enlarged images

Aren’t they just adorable? One of the four puppies, the tricolor female, didn’t want to appear on any of my photos. I did however have a ton of the handsome little man, go figure. It’s almost impossible to get good photos of moving critters, but a few of them turned out good enough to share with the rest of the world. The first photo shows one of the white females in an awkward sleeping position – she was actually sleeping like that before we startled her by taking her picture – together with her mom, Zita. The second photo shows the other white female trying to hide inside their blanket, and doing a hell of a job! And the last photo shows Zita and her roaring little lion cub, while Theo is carefully sneaking up on them to be closer to the action.

Thank you, my dear Monica!

Photos © Øyvind H. ’10

Xina Cross Country
08/27/10

Photo © Shamini Thevarajah ’10

The past week we’ve had a little visitor here. His name is Lucas, and he’s spent some time here with Theo while his people were on vacation in Turkey. They arrived home today, so Lucas was picked up earlier and we’re all going to miss him. My heart is aching for poor little Theo! He’s been looking for Lucas ever since he left, running around, whining and howling. When Øyvind took him outside for a little walk he ran to the parking lot where their car had been parked, and started sniffing, standing on his hind legs, trying to spot his dear friend – but no Lucas anywhere. And now Theo is devastated. He’s clawing at our front door as we speak, wanting to go outside to look for him. I’m having a hard time, because I hate seeing him so sad without being able to explain to him that Lucas has gone home to his people – and that he’ll surely be back some other time.

Lucas came to stay with us when Zita had her puppies, and I was a little anxious to see how this would work out. Theo and Lucas had met once before, when Monica came to visit us with four Chihuahuas, but these two didn’t really interact that time. Theo was a bit younger, so he was just happy to see other dogs his own size. I don’t think there is any doubt that Lucas has been the boss of the two while he was here, but they have played, wrestled and kept each other company from morning till evening for more than a week now. They must have bonded quite well, because Theo has never acted anything near the way he’s acting now after having parted with another Chihuahua – or any other dog for that matter. I hope he’ll “forget” Lucas soon, because it breaks my heart to have to listen to him, but I also hope Lucas will be back to visit us again soon!

Thanks to Linn and Monica for trusting us enough to let us take care of him!

Photo © Øyvind H. ’10

Today we went to Leangen Travbane to participate in our very first dog show with Theo! I felt a tad bit ambitious when I entered us for a NKK show as our first – but you have to start somewhere, right? The weather turned out to be perfect, and even though we forgot the most important thing (which, according to Theo, is the chicken), we had a great time! Theo placed 1. kval, 3. konk. I have no idea what these rankings are called in English, but first he was awarded with a red ribbon (1st place quality) which took us to the next round, and there he was awarded a yellow ribbon and 3rd place in Junior which I think is the Norwegian equivalent to the American Novice.

Young dog with very nice outline. Needs time to mature but has good quality. Lovely dark eye. Skull needs to fill. Well placed ears. Very good bone and feet. Top line is good. Excellent coat for the age. Lovely profile gait. A little weak in front.

Judge: Mr. Stephen Seymore

We’re both really happy about his critiques, and proud of both him and ourselves, so now we’re planning to attend the next show in late August! It was so nice seeing Heidi again, and of course her gorgeous dogs – and meeting Vanja too. Now we’ll just have to keep training! I was a little worried that Theo would find the whole ordeal stressful and scary, but it didn’t take long before it looked like he’d done it a hundred times before. So confident and relaxed, just taking in all the new impressions. Such a sweetheart!

I’ve gotten so much nice feedback from people today, praising us and Theo, and I really appreciate it. Thank you all! Who would have thought I’d be bitten by the show bug.. again?

I had a terrific day yesterday! Monica came to visit us and brought Zita and Lizzi along as usual. There’s no doubt Theo enjoys their visits just as much as we do. He spent the whole day playing with Lizzi, poking her, teasing her and following her everywhere. He did everything he could possibly think of to make her play with him. Zita spent most of the time beside Øyvind in the sofa, just watching the two younger maniacs. Lizzi must have a ton of patience for keeping up with Theo and his constant nagging for attention. So cute! He kept nudging her with his nose and paw throughout the whole visit, and he was so disappointed when she decided she needed a little break. When Lizzi was acting as bait (or more like his prize, if you’d ask him) he even managed to jump up on the sofa all by himself, and he’s never done that before! This kind of interaction is so valuable for Theo. It’s stimulating and social, and it’s truly amazing to see all the ways he communicate with the two other dogs – or mostly Lizzi – ways we don’t see from the small encounters he has with other dogs on his walks.

Monica is taking him while we’re in Paris, and I’m very happy and grateful for knowing that he’s in very good hands while we are away. I think he’ll have the best time together with her family! We’re both going to miss him like crazy, but it helps a lot to know that he’s well taken care of. And I’m sure he’s going to learn lots of new stuff during these two weeks at “summer camp”.