I Can Feel A Breeze

The fabled coat blow of the Samoyed has begun and my house is looking like a winter wonderland, if only it where as cool!
I am begining to wonder if maybe buying a better vaccum would be the way to go seeing as though my old one just isn't doing the job anymore.

Poor Mist is feeling somewhat sorry for himself however.
He is itchy from losing the hair and has to have warm baths more often then he would like and the constant grooming is starting to tell on us both!
But I guess this is what I must put up with when I own this breed, believe me is is a small price to pay for such an amusing companion.

With all the hair loss Mist actually looks like he has become much, much smaller!
I always knew there was a dog under all that hair!

Another Show

Another show come and gone and wow I am exhausted!
Two day shows are all good and well but by the end of the second day everyone is dead tired.
Lestat came along too, he loves his shows and has been dubbed camp white fluff's offical cheerleader.
He did a good job as usual.
I was amazed at how tired Mist was, he even refussed to play with his new tug toy, a very strange occurance for him as he is toy obsessed!

We didn't do nearly as well at this show, in fact the first day we utterly bombed! It was disheatening after such a wonderful first show, but Mist was an angel, doing everything I asked of him and the only complaint I had was him wriggling again for the judge, she wasn't too happy about that at all.
The second day was better, Mist took puppy in class so no points but another shiny blue ribbon. I know the points are the part we should be working for but I am new to this and like getting my ribbons, Mists breeder seems to find it amusing but i guess when you have been at it for so long things and you get so many ribbons you begin to get sick of it. We did get to see Mistrals lovely Uncle Neo, a very hansom boy, along with his grandmother, a charming bitch named Mishka (she is the one pictured on the left) and Mistral couldn't get enough of her. She is such a lovely dog, so sweet and cuddly, a really lovely example of the breed, its nice to know Mist has such lovely dogs in his breeding.

His brother and sister where there again as well. Mist and Star just had to be together again and it would seem that they don't like being seperated. At one stage I was all the way on the other side of the show ground and we could hear Star barking (for those who have never herd a Samoyed bark its definatly very easy to hear) and Mist barked one and she was quiet. It was really very strange. Barney is a much quieter dog, he definatly dosn't male as much noise as the other two but is definatly just as sweet. Here he is pictured giving my OH a nice big Samoyed kiss.
The number of Samoyeds entered was pretty amazing. They are not an overly common breed in this country, I believe many are turned off by the coat and the belief that they can't handle the heat which couldn't be further from the truth and I it was really nice to see so many of them out and showing off the breed, daunting for a newbi like myself but nice. But with all the fun I think Mist had the best time at the end of the weekend when we where packing the car to go home. It was hot and like most arctic breeds Mist likes to dig himself a little hollow when it it hot to keep himself cool. He found a wonderful place under the car and settled in the red dirt, making sure to roll around and get nice and filthy. thankfully this was at the end of the weekend and he didn't have to stay spotless after that, but how could I have stopped him when he was having such a good time!


With any luck the next show will be better and we can continue our quest for 100 points!
S.

First Place

Like we didn't have enough to do this weekend Mistral had his obediance trail on too.
I was worried that the show would proove too much for him and he wouldn't be able to perform to his usual high standard.

I was pleasently surprised.
He wasn't the most focused he has ever been but we came away with first place and another blue ribbon to put on his ribbon wall.

Not bad for a little dog who treats everything as a chance to play and every time we see another dog he loses what is left of his mind.

I will admit I was stunned, I was sure I had herd it wrong when they called out our names. His breeder will be very impressed as he is very interesed in his dogs not only being physically beautiful but prooving that they are not just pretty faces, as the samoyed is a working breed and its surprising how many people seem to think them very difficult to train.

But we are now of school holidays, no more obediance again until Feb, thankfully, I will admit I really need a break!
Mist will miss playing with his friends but I am sure he will get over it when he finds something better to do, like picking on Lestat.

S.

My First Show

S. here.
Mistral and I had a huge day today, neither of us can keep our eyes open without a huge amount of effort put in.

We got up very early, around 4.30, neither Mistral or myself liked that at all, we are both accustomed to rising at a grand hour of 10.30 and this really threw us both.
Being the first show both my OH and I where running around like mad things packing the car and trying to remember what we needed and what we might need and offcause forgetting a few important items we only realised where missing by the time we arrived at our destination.

With the dogs piled in the car and passing out again almost right away, we went off to Cooma.

Thankfully the trip was pretty non eventfull, we where very curious about all the rain clouds, gathering darkly on the mountains we where heading too.
There was a small amount of concern with having a pure white dog and the possibilty of mud but we would just have to deal with it as it happened.

The showgrounds where very nice and green, a change from our place where everything is often crunching and brown.
Mistral went off his head again, barking and being a pain in the butt, refusing to do as I said and having heaps more fun saying hello to every dog he could see. The other dogs where not nearly as interested in him and he was in them thankfully. Lestat, as usual, was perfectly well behaved, making a mockery of all the training I have done with Mistral and the lack of training Lestat has needed.

We where meeting up with Mistrals breeder and Mist's brother Barney and sister Star.
All pups where thrilled to see each other but Star and Mist seemed to have an almost instant bond, both being loud and rather full on dogs.
I don't think Mist really enjoyed the pre show grooming. He is always well behaved when on his grooming table but this had been going on for two days now and I think he was pretty sick of it all and I wasn't really doing a fantsastic job but it seemed to do the trick.
He took home puppy class, dog challenge and best of breed!
After the disaster we had with him impersonating a worm in the sweepstakes I was over the moon, I could not stop smiling. I was so proud of my little man.

I know its not all about winning, its more about having a great time with my dog and doing something be both enjoy so much. I was amazed at how he took to the show ring. Each time he went in he became more in tune with what I wanted, more focused and lord did he start to prance!
He is such a show off!
The more people watching apparently the better. This dosn't do anything for my nerves, I was terrified I would stuff up but everything went so smoothly and without a hitch.
Thankfully.

So we have started the show career on a very good foot.
I can't help but wonder if this will continue or if it was just really good luck.
S.

Mistrals stunning brother and sister, Barney (top) and Star. Both lovely little dogs.

Intro

Well I have finally gotten around to starting a show blog for Mistral my lovely little Samoyed and offcause the adventures of my always stunning Labrador Retreiver, Lestat.

So this is Mistral, 9 months old and a charming little devil, and he definatly seems to think so and is always happy to try to convince everyong that they are madly in love with him, even when it is very clear that they are not.
This very much includes the cats we live with, Seti, the eldest is an avid dog lover, Lulu is an anti social cow who feels the world is nothing more then her litter tray and treats it as such, Nightwish, knows as Mistral's cat (he takes his pet ownership very seriously and often grooms his kitty and loves to hug him, much to the cats horrer) and Ahti, the devil cat who hates Mistral as much as Mistral loves him.


Then there is Lestat.
He had been in my family for close to four years now. A very calm and pleasent dog to live with Lestat never causes waves or tries to get all the attention for himself all the time. He is addicted to sleeping on the bed, curled up on my pillow, an impressive feat for a 30 kilo Lab.
He has got to be the easiest dog I have ever had and there will never be another like him.

Mistral came to me from a breeder about an hour away and my life hasn't been the same since!
We where looking for a new dog when our beautiful American Pittbull Terrier, Armand passed away very suddenly and Lestat was devistated with the loss of a friend he had know for so long.
After trying some months for Lestat to be an only dog and failing we started looking at getting another canine family member.
It was a huge debate between my partner and myself.
We both have very different ideas in what makes the perfect dog. He is a fan of the mastiff breeds, in his mind the bigger the better and I am a fan of the regal Spitz dogs.
After ages of thinking it over and trying to work out what would be best for Lestat (he is a somewhat temder soul and anything too dominant would proove too much for him) we settled on the stunning Samoyed breed.
I had been enchanted by the large white dogs years before while showing a family members Newf and was thrilled at the idea of meeting and getting to know this amazing breed.
We set up a meeting with this breeder and went to see the dogs.

Who could not have fallen in love with the tiny little fluff balls, tiny curled tails and dying to cuddles.
But what really sold us was during the meeting of Mistrals parents, namely his father, Storm.
A huge dog, came tearing over and crash tackled me with hugs, I know that the Samoyed would be my breed from then on.
We put our name down for a pet puppy and a few weeks later went back to pick our pup and take him home.
This tiny little grey boy (he had gotten very dirty exploring in the garden), an attention seeker and desprate for us to cuddle him came home with us and has been one of the most important aspects of my life from then on.

Since then he has had a number of adventures. Both boys had a sister for a little while, a beautiful Alaskan Malamute named Satu, rescued from death row at the pound was unfortunatly very ill. There was nothing we could do but make her last few days as comfortable as possible.
Satu was a handful, a large mal with no training, she was definatly an experiance and did pick on the boys at times but Mistral was convinved she would fall in love with him one day.
I have always adored the breed but since having one, even for such a short time I am desprate for the time that I can have another. Satu made such an impression on me and the boys are now constantly trying to say hello to any Mal they meet, clearly remembering her.
It breaks my heart some days to see it, she was a true sweetheart.

So far one of Mistrals favourite days has been during a trip to sydney where I was meeting up with a number of friends who show their own dogs.
Mistral went insane seeing all the other dogs around and for a moment I was thinking I had made a very bad decision beinging my little psycho dog to a place filled with such well behaved animals.
Eventually he calmed down and we where able to continue the day in reletive peace.
Mistral and Lestat met up with a number of different dogs, different breeds and ages. I would have to say that Mist developed a huge crush on a lovely little Finnish Lapphund and make best friends with a Mal.
He couldn't get enough of the other dogs, my little energiser bunny.
This was also the show that I met a lady who has been envolved in the Samoyed breed for a long time. She was very interested in Mistral and spent a long time going over him and asking questions about his pedigree and was eventually surprised when i informed her that he was in fact not a show pup.
After a long chat she asked me to speak with Mistral's breeder about getting him in the ring and she wasnt wrong.

This was also the day that Mist first went to the beach.
Lestat is a huge fan, running and chasing seagulls, drinking too much sea water (a very bad habit we are yet to break) and splashing around in the water.
Mistral soon found his own passions at the beach and was very intent on catching the waves, he was very dissapointed when it didn't work so well.....



After getting nice and wet playing in the waves, he found something even more wonderful, sand!
I was brushing the beach out of his coat for a good two weeks after this little adventure!

Lestat, did his usual thing, drinking more sea water.
Well thats about it from us for this intro.
Mistral will be attending shows in the future and with any luck we will manage to get his Australia Champ easily.
A hard task for a dog with no show training at all and still young, so he isnt nearly as good looking as adults much older and more experianced but we, his breeder and many friends are very hopefull for this amazing little man.

S.