Most precious friends are those whom you can trust. When Cami had to visit Munich on weekend, our friends Kerli and Maire from Estonia came to take care of the puppies; both of them have extensive experience of dogs. Ciara and her puppies were in a good hands. THANK YOU!

Valentine's Day is a perfect day to meet friends and make new frends. We had some visitors, who took these lovely pictures by mobile phone on sunday: thanks Mervi! By this photo we would like to send our Valentine's Greetings for all of our friends!  

Meanwhile Mika was skiing in Kitzbühel Alps where he took these video clips: Bärenbadkogel IIand Rettenstein 

Ciara gave birth to 2 handsome boys and 3 beatiful girls. Everything went smoothly and Ciara takes care of her first litter like a professional from the beginning. More Information: the Kennel pages

It has been very cold (-15 Celsius or more) in Southern Finland and snow about half meters. Actually now it is very typical weather of January. The good side of this cold weather is that there are ice over the sea, so one is able to walk over the ice quite safely (like Simba in the photo). Simba-corgi turned 9 years old on 3rd January, Ciara increases waistline (expecting lot of puppies) and Nala is leading the gang.

Under the tree the gifts enthrall,
But the nicest present of them all
Is filling our thoughts with those who care,
Wanting our Christmas joy to share.

To you, whom we're often thinking of,
We send our holiday joy and love.

By Joanna and Karl Fuchs www.poemsource.com

We continued the skiing season in the snow proof Dolomiti Ski area with more than 1200 slopes between altitudes 1500-3269 meters. This time we had company of our Finnish friends Mirja, Jukka, Pertti and Leena. We made excursion of the famous Sella Ronda (the ski circuit) for both directions. Last evening we found "The" Apres-Ski place called L'Murin near by our hotel.

Mika also loaded some videos by car of Passo Gardena: the west side and the east side.

We had a few days of downhill skiing fun in Hintertux and Kaprun glaciers in Austria, both about 2,5 hours from Munich by car.  Mika managed to fix an HD camera to a tip of a ski and a ski helmet, see the attached picture from a truly unique perspective and test video footages uploaded to Youtube: an HD video camera fixed to a tip of the ski (the video camera drops from the ski at 50 seconds)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRmtnTnRS0 and the HD video camera attached to a ski helmet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLwumiu6H6s

Kennel Aittakankaan (FIN) is expecting basenji puppies for our Ciara (MultiCh Liljeborg's Dan Galina Of Phoebus) and her boyfriend Ruben (MultiCh MultiWin Faraoland Xcuse Me Desmond). The puppies are ready for their new homes by Eastern holidays 2010. More information in the near future...

Ciara is posing in Castle Linderhof Garden (Bayern). We made a 15 km walk in order to stimulate Ciara's heat to begin: did not help! We enjoyed afterwards meal of duck and deer in a local restaurant in Ettal village. 

The weekend was sunny (+15 C) and we enjoyed training agility and relaxing afterwards in Finnish sauna in Oberammergau. Ciara loves more relaxing in the sauna than training agility. Is this a typical basenji behaviour? 

While Mika was spending a week quality time with Nala (photo hereby) in Finland, Cami & Ciara had visitors from Finland in Munich. The weather was equal bad for both visitors.

 Ciara's 1 meter high jump in the photo was caused by freerun after a couple of rainy days staying inhouse. First sunshine and over 15 C and we drove to Ahornboden, which can only be reached from south Bavaria. It is the biggest nature reserve of Austria and Tyrol (730 km²). There are over 500 years old maple trees, which colors are magnificient on Autumn.

Only 3 hours drive by a car (Cami & Ciara) and a motorcycle (Mika) we achieved the Italian Alps called Dolomites. The whole week was sunny and warm, so we spended plenty of time outdoors. Cami & Ciara enjoyed the most of Tiefenbrunner wineyards, while Mika loved the excitement of curves of Dolomites.

We made a hike to the Austrian Alps (Kitzbühel) where mornings were cloudy, but afternoons and evenings sunny. We walked downhill the second steepest ski racing course in the World called  Hahnenkamm Streif. We met a lot of friendly cows by ski slopes 

 We made our holiday trip to the west coast of USA. After two days in cold and foggy San Fransisco we headed to the warm and sunny Napa Valley and visited there Beringer and Neubaum&Coppola vineyards. From there the journey continued to Palo Alto and University of Standford. The tire of the rental car emptied during the night in hotel in Morrobay. Luckily the village were full of helpful people and we got in 1,5 hours a new tire. Last days were spent in Beverly Hills of Los Angeles and Hollywood (see picture hereby).

We attended to lure coursing competitions on 4th (Ciara) and 5th (Nala) of July in an Estonian village named Hüüru (30 minutes from Tallinn). Ciara attended to an international lure coursing competition, where were basenjis from Finland, Estonia and Russia. Nala attended to the Veteran Lure Coursing Winner 2009 competition. Our dear friend basenji Flash (Faraoland Thunderflash to Ribessita) became EST LC VM-09. Congratulations! This was for these veterans the last running competition before their retirement.

 Ciara in blue, photo by Jyrki Nikula

Nala attended to her final track racing competition on Sunday in Tampere. The Veteran Racing Winner 2009 title went to Nala's & Ciara's halfbrother Bobi. Congratulations!

Photo by Laura Valkama

Liljeborgs Dan Galina of Phoebus alias 'Ciara' can add her 5th beaty champion title before her name and be called Swiss beaty champion (CH CH) as well. Faraoland Xcuse Me Desmond alias 'Ruben' was the most successful basenji in the Swiss dog show history: he became Best in Show. The dog show was held 16. and 17. May in St.Gallen. Congratulations!

Photos by Urpu Schlumpf

Mika leaded his gang (Cami & basenjis) as a guide through sightseeings in sunny Prague. Cami was amazed how beatiful the city was. Basenjis were pleased that they were served very well in the hotel of Savoy in Prague. On sunday basenjis attended to a track racing competition in Mlada Boleslav (55 km north from Prague). Picture left: Nala is standing in front of the Charles Bridge in Prague.

 Cami's parents came for visit from Finland. The whole week was sunny with average +20 Celsius temperature, so they saw the best side of Bayern. On Sunday they saw the Dachau concentration camp, then we made the city tour in Munich and visited BMW museum and Nymphenburg palace. On Monday they saw the first Ludvig II castle named Herrenchiemsee and in the evening we ate out by beer hall Hofbräuhaus. From Tuesday to Thursday they made a trip of their own by rental car to visit the environment of Salzburg Austria. On Friday we visited Olympia shopping center and Deutsches museum. On Saturday they saw the rest of Ludvig II castles: Linderhof and Neuschwanstein. We drove there by famous Oberammergau village (see picture hereby).

 Ciara (red) and Nala (blue) attended to an official track racing competition in Chatillon la Palud (near Lyon) in France. There Ciara achieved the certificate to become France Racing Champion (FR RC CH). Both girls got beatiful prizes. The day started with zero degrees, but on finals it was already +15 C warm. Merci beaucoup!

Nala & Ciara running free in a beach near Pisa, Toscany, Italy on January 2, 2009

It's Christmas again - that time when you eat and drink so much...
you don't see your toes until March!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ciara run from a titel to another. With her second try she became an international show champion (INT CH) from Austrian dog show.

I got a nice photo from past (summer 2007), where Ciara (blue) run with Masha (red) in Estonian Lure Coursing competition. Photo by Maialiisa.

Basenji judges and breeders have asked me to use Ciara for breeding. The best males (MultiCh) from Sweden and Finland has already been offered as daddy candidates,
which to choose from the one who bring the most wanted qualities: health, temperament, utility and beauty. Because I'm not interested to become a breeder, only one litter will be made. Feel free to ask more

Last week on October we drove through Switzerland to Italy and back through Austria. We visited hotels in Zürich, Lake Como (Bellagio), Lake Garda (Riva) and South Tirol Wineyards (Tiefenbrunner.com).

 We made a wandering trip to North-East Italian Alps, also known as  the Dolomites. Ciara and Nala enjoyed hunting deers and just running free. Alta Badia area was empty of tourists, so we liked the last sun shinings in peace.

 With almoust 20 C warm temperature it was time to make a trip about 50 km south from Munich by Lake Starnberg. There is a natural park, where basenjis found deers to hunt. Ciara made an excellent hunting exercise with a deer. We enjoyed "Apfelstrudel" with vanilla ice-cream by looking at the lake view from a restaurant terrace.

  Summer is over, so the girls (Cami, Nala & Ciara) came back to Munich. We started with walking in English Garden, where all the friendly dogs are running free. All the stress from Finland was forgotten in a day and the dogs are back to normal (that is in good mood and condition).

Nala and Ciara visited Dog-SPA in Hyvinkää. They both learned the right swimming technique.

 Cami, Mika & Jyrki took a holiday trip trough Austrian Grossglockner Alpine road (picture right - the eternal ice of Kaiser-Franz-Josefs-Höhe) to Italy over the Dolomites until the Mediterranean Sea (picture left: picknick by Portofino's Lighthouse). The trip turned almoust an Interrail, because the car broke down. Luckily the italians managed to fix the turbo motor in order to get back home to Munich.

 Ciara became Finnish Racing Chamipion with following results:

19.08.2007 Helsinki 350 meters 30,22 seconds placing 1st with CERT

04.06.2008 Helsinki 350 meters 30,34 seconds placing 1st with CERT

20.06.2008 Mikkeli 280 meters 24,69 seconds placing 2nd with CERT

Photo by                  21.06.2008 Mikkeli 280 meters 24,59 seconds placing 2nd with CERT

Matti Back               02.07.2008 Helsinki 350 meters 30,31 seconds placing 1st with CERT and FIN RC CH

Video clip from the competition by Hanna Kaukola Ciara in blue

 

Mika came to visit in Finland in order to take Nala in "Tähtisprintteri 2008" track racing competition. Nala was not fast, but she certainly had fun with her dear friends!

Nala got five years to her tachometer on June 2, 2008

 Camilla & Ciara made a trip to Estonia with their dear friends Tiina & Soni & Juno.Ciara attended to a dog show weekend in Estonia. Estonian Winner 2008 won almoust a family member Iti (Faraoland Viking Idun) and next day it was Ciara's turn to win BOS with EST CH title. Soni had won the same title previous day as RunnerUp Best Male. The weather was wonderful: 30 C warm!

Six Basenjis start a 350m race in Helsinki on May 20, 2008.

Cami, Mika, Nala and Ciara were enjoying surprisingly warm spring day in Linlo island close to Helsinki on May 4, 2008. The weather was sunny and exceptionally warm (+22'C) as an early May day in Southern Finland.

Please check a video of basenjis in action by the sea: http://blip.tv/file/886496

Ciara was the best Basenji bitch in Hollola dog show on May 1st, 2008. This was her first CAC in Finland after age 2, so she got the Fin CH title on first try. She has now 4 CAC from Finland, 2 CAC from Austria and 2 CAC from Switzerland.

See videos of Ciara in the show: own class, best bitch, best of breed

 While snow storm passed over the rest of Europe, we spend our holidays in sunny Italy. We made a 150 km round trip of Lake Garda and stayed in a nice hotel by the lake enjoying the magnificent views.

Mika took a round trip in California visiting famous tourist attractions like Golden Gate and wineyards like Kendal Jackson.

Meanwhile Cami took the basenjis for agility and dogshows: Nala is now a beaty champion of Switzerland (the 5th beaty title for her).

Cami and Mika had a short holiday in Malta. The weather offered great sunshine for first three days (which were dedicated to diving), but the last day got cloudy and rainy.

In a +12 C warm January weekend decided we to visit a Zoo. Our dogs loved the company of donkeys, sheep, beavers etc. How often can a hunter (basenji) stay so near of the catch (deers)?

Cami opned the skiing season with her friend Sonja in Kitzbühel Alps in Austria. The skiing conditions were excellent like the photo shows.

The three wise men arrived to visit the child lying in the manger. One of the wise men was exceptionally tall, and bumped his head on the low doorway as he entered the stable. "Jesus Christ!" he shouted.
Joseph said, "Write that down, Mary; it's better than Clyde!"

 Our trip to Austria (1.-2.12.2007) were successful: first Ciara was chosen Best of Breed (BOB) with certificate and cacib and then second of Best In Group (BIG) finals of 32 entries. Here is a videoclip from the show http://www.blip.tv/file/545401

Nala got recommendation of an diet.

 Cami's new MB 200 CDI Avantgarde arrived today. Audi A6 was changed due to the reason that there was not enough space in our garage. Luckily the Audi found a new home in Finland.

Nala and Ciara were enjoying first 50 cm of fresh snow in Oberammergau, southern Germany. The dogs enjoyed sunshine and had a nice agily weekend in Hundsporthotel Wolf.

 The first snow of the season arrived in 15 th November 2007. Average temperature is +/- 0 Celsius warm on daytime.

Camilla, Nala and Ciara came back to Munich on October 7, 2007

 The summer is over and we are getting ready for autumn and the travel back to Germany. Nala has been practising agility but due to various circumstances we didn't take part into official competitions in agility. 

 

Ciara has been quite successful this summer

Estonian Winner 2007 and Estonian Junior Winner 2007
3 * CC, 2 * ResCC, 1 * CACIB in Finland

2 * CC from Lure Coursing in Estonia
2 * CC from Lure Coursing in Finland

1* CC from Track Racing in Finland

Ciara won 350 meters track racing competition in Helsinki with 30,22 seconds. She is now the 8th fastest basenji in 350 meters and the 2nd fastest basenji bitch in Finland.

Nala's record from 350 meters track is 30,83 seconds from year 2005. Nowadays she concentrates on coaching Ciara.

Photo by Jarno Ahlström

Ciara was judged BOB by Marja Talvitie, who gave all the other basenjis worse than certificate quality.

"Excellent type, very beatiful lined, good head, beatiful wrinkles, good ears, good neck and throat arc. Enough front angulation and good rear angulations and buttocks. Good quality of coat and skin. Moves ok. Good behaviour." 

Please check our summer holiday videos from Youtube:
* Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse by car
* Pink Panther theme by a big band in a beach hotel in Croatia
* Cami wondering around Piazza San Marco in Venice (already too much Italy?)
* Highlights from Verdi's Aida in Verona with unique pyrotechnics

 

We had a holiday trip to Austria, Crotia, Italy and Switzerland without the dogs who had a dogsitter in Finland. Our program included a bath in Mediterranean sea, Venice by night, Aida at Verona opera festival and back to Munich via St Moritz. The weather was pretty hot +37'C with practically unlimited sun. 

 Ciara attended on 1.July 2007 the International dogshow in Karjaa (Finland), where the judge, Phyllis Poduschka-Aigner (Austria), is known as a basenji breeder. Ciara was BOB (Best of Breed).

Nala is now a mature adult bitch who knows the meaning of life: ENJOY! Nala sends congratulations to her littermates Chika, Colin, Ihram, Iliki and Bobby. 

Ciara won a CC in lure cursing from a "Snellun maastot" competition in Hyvinkää, Finland on May 12th as well as "Basenji Club Lure Coursing" competition in Valkeakoski, Finland on 27th May. Now she has four CC from lure coursing, from her four competition.

Ciara won her second CC in lure coursing in Saue, Harjumaa, Estonia today with an excellent result 518. There were five basenjis in the competition. This was her second competition ever and it already brought the second CC in line. It appears that Ciara is becoming our lure coursing master and Nala will focus on track racing in this year.  (Old picture from a practise competition in October 2006)

 We were enjoying yet another sunny, warm winter day in Englischer Garden in the middle of Munich. The garden was established in 1789 and it is now one of the largest city parks in the Europe (5 km x 1,5 km). Nala and Ciara really appreciate the fact that dogs are allowed to run free in the park. There are hundreds of dogs every day.

The weather was increadible +16'C and sun was shining mainly without clouds. Just amazing, in the middle of January!

We moved to Munich (München), which is the capital of Bavaria (Bayer) and the third biggest city in Germany by population. The photo is taken from the Town Hall at the Marienplatz, which is the most famous tourist attraction in Munich.

Do you know why Christmas feels like a day at the office?

You do all the work and the fat guy in the suit gets all the credit.

However, we wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

We had a one week holiday in Germany-Austria-Italy. The final destination was Sirmione in the southern part of lake Garda in Italy, but first we stopped by old friends in Erlangen, had couple of sightseeing days in Munich and drove to Val Gardena in Italian Alps to see the beatiful Dolomites (see the picture).

Nala and Ciara were enjoying a clear sunny November day (+14'C), running free and trying to find rabbits from vineyards of Wachenheim, Pfalz, Germany.

Nala got her third show certificate and BOB from a national dog show in Haapsalu, Estonia. The certificate makes her a show champion in Estonia, Finland and Sweden.

Nala and Ciara were having great summer time in Åland, Finland. The sun was shining, but water on the shores of the Baltic Sea was extremely cold because of direct South-West wind from the sea (+9'C).

Ciara participated to annual puppy meeting and picknick of Finnish Basenji Club. Ciara and about 20 other basenji puppies rolled free inside of an old country house in Espoo, Finland. Unfortunately Ciara was the only one who was allowed to run free outside of the building...

 

Nala (red jacket) is the winner of Estonian lure coursing derby competitions in 2006. Result was a fair 412. Flash (blue jacket) got a certificate. The weather was exceptionally good, +24'C and the sun was shining all the day without clouds.

 

Camilla and the dogs enjoyed beaches of Tallinn, Estonia during the sunny day and great sunset. The objective of the visit was to allow Nala to participate to an Estonian derby lure coursing competition on Sunday, but we arrived a day earlier to enjoy the town.

 

 Nala started her track running season at Windhund-Rennverein Kurpfalz in Oberhausen, Germany. The track was in a very good condition and the club used an automatic timing system for trials. Nala's result was 25,81 seconds on a 280 meters track, which was not good compared to her results from summer 2005. However, Nala loved to run and this was her first real run after a month full of problems with a left back paw.

 

Nala and Ciara were hunting for easter bunnies and posing for photos in Deidesheim, Germany. Jyrki from Switzerland was enjoying the local vineyards and taking pictures with us. The weather was decent +19'C and half cloudy, good for a sudden lure coursing run with a real bunny as a lure (Nala's highligt of the day)

 Here are recent standing and front facing pictures of Ciara the basenji. Age is three months.

Camilla and Mika had a short winter holiday in Arosa, Switzerland. The weather was versatile: partly perfect (clear sky), partly decent (lots of powder snow and some clouds) and partly horrible (snowstorm). Anyway, we liked our first days without the basenjis for several months... Camilla's friend Kerli took care of the dogs in Mannheim.

We had a quick weekend trip to rainy Luxembourg, which is about 250 km from Mannheim. Camilla and Nala went to "International Dog Show Luxembourg" and got a CACL.

Spring had already began in Southern Germany in mid-February, but then it happened: 30 centimeters of snow appeared in a day. Traffic was blocked and roads full of accidents.

 Nala and Ciara loved wandering around wine region of Pfalz on a sunny Sunday after the snowfall. The photo is take in Bürklin-Wolf vineyards, which is one of the most decent wineries in Germany (25 km from Mannheim).

Camilla picked up our new baby basenji 'Ciara' from kennel Liljeborgs of Mjölby, Sweden. Here is a photo of Nala's first contact with Ciara in Hockenheim airport. Everything worked well and Nala liked the baby after a few hours.

Ciara (Liljeborg´s Dan Galina of Phoebus) is a half sister of Nala (Yulara Inula). They are both born in Sweden and have the same fast father from Finland (Bulldobas Phoebus aka Manu).

 Nala and Camilla participated to two days dog show in Fribourg, Switzerland. Nala was a best of breed on both days and received two CACIBs.

Nala participated to a lure coursing competition in Marienbad, Czech Republic. The weather was very cold (-14'C) and the lure was returned by a snow mobile.

Nala participated to a winter lure coursing competition in Mariánských Lázních (Marienbad) in Czech Republic. The city is a beatiful, old spa town in the middle of hills close to German border. Unfortunately the winter weather was very cold (-14'C) and Nala did not enjoy running. She got to the second round, but was the 6th in final results. Anyway, it was nice to see that there were many active basenji owners in Czech also.

 

This year we celebrated the new year in Vienna, Austria for three days. The weather was cloudy and something between water and snow was falling from the sky, but the city was as beatiful as it can be in a dark winter. Mika enjoyed the original Sacher tarte (although the original one is always slightly dry).

Camilla and Nala were in an agility training on a sunny Saturday in Neulussheim, Germany. Nala's new agility club (www.luhu.de) is just 10 minutes from our door steps.

We visited Christmas market in Strassbourg, France (130 km from Hockenheim). The French are real outdoor people and the evening market was very crowded.

Yet another home removals operation done. Our goods arrived to the new house, which is in the middle of a small city of Hockenheim (www.hockenheim.de), in Baden-Württenberg, Germany.

You may recognize Hockenheim from Formula 1 race track, which is just 2,5 kilometers from the house (www.hockenheimring.de). Now you know where to come on next July when the competition is here...

The race track was not the reason for us to land here. The reason is that SAP offices in Walldorf are just 7 kilometers from Hockenheim and there are good road and rail connections.

Today was our last day this fall in Tallinn, Estonia. And what a beatiful October day it was: +16'C, lots of sunshine. We will be back next year.