TEAM SHELTIE
It all started with a kitten walking through the gate in Østergade - Black Rosa. When she left, we had to have another - Red Vilfred. Soon after Black Rosa came home again.
When moving from Østergade, we left the cats behind - living with a neighbor. We moved to the Antoinette-area and we had obviously to get a pet - a dog.
We had our first dog in May 2000. It was a Bernese Mountain Dog - Lövhults Bella Rosa - called Ronja.
We chose obviously the race because the appearance and the racial description - a calm dog, family friendly and! no demands of motion.
We did not think of the weight - it was a great dog compared to our 7-year-old daughter.
We picked up Ronja in Sweden - Göteborg, no puppies were awailabel in Denmark.
Ronja was sweet and a lovely dog. Unfortunately, she was too big for our daughter, and sometimes Ronja showed unstable draft - especially when we had many guests.
Ronja lived with us unto August 2005, when we had to have her put down because of a ruptured spleen.
Before that, we were started looking for a smaller dog for Maria.
The choise, after much deliberation, Shetland Sheepdog. A small dog, but also a real dog, workaholic, docile and very family friendly, as many herding dogs are.
Now we just had to find one. It turned out, it was not easy.
At last we found a kennel, who might sell us a puppy. We did not know at the time that we had contacted one of the (if not the) leading kennels in Denmark compared to Sheltie-breeder - Kennel Poulsgaard in Trige near Aarhus.
Our first telephone contact with Tove and Mogens, actually took place on the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Kennel Poulsgaard so inherently, it was a quick conversation, Tove had to attend to the many guests.
We were invited to visit, and was received with kindness - and with a monitoring glance. We were definitely under observation with a view to possible approval, as buyers of Poulsgaard puppy.
And !!!! We saw our puppy, and fell deably in love.
The final test was coming out in the yard, where Tove nicely asked if we wanted to see more of her dogs. Of course we wanted to se her dogs, she opened a door and shelties sprayed out faster than we could count them.
A great experience to sit in the gravel surrounded by jumping, barking, licking dogs.
We got the approvement.
And Leif was at least one experience richer - Do not wear black pants when you visit a kennel.
We bought Poulsgaards Sensible Touch (called Thea) in August 2003.
Tove and Mogens were to visit some friends a Zeeland, we agreed to pick up our puppy there.
We showed up, revisited our puppy, greeted Tove and Mogens again, and was presented to Lotte and Kurt, who had a small sheltie kennel, Elverlamshuset.
It would prove that this practical act had more benefits than saving transportation. Lotte and Kurt have become good friends and good contacts in the dog work, and we learned a lot from them and from Tove and Mogens.
Thea returned to Bornholm with us. Ronja went sulking around in about a week, she was obviously hoping, if she just ignored the puppy, it would disappear again.
It did not, she had to accepted
The adventure starts.
One is never enough.
Now we had two dogs.
We joined puppy training and show training, and gradually found a common family hobby.
Then we discovered a problem.
A that time we should have considered receive a treatment against sheltiemani. But we had no idea at the time, and we don't care.
• Leif and Ronja.
• Maria and Thea.
• Ulla and ?????
It did not fit.
We had to have another dog, and of course - not a dog - a sheltie.
We had now expanded activities with agility. Maria and Thea was running agility. Leif and Ronja was walking agility. A new wonderful dog activity was switched on.
Ulla wanted a blue merle bitch, we contacted Poulsgaard and Elverlamshuset.
It would prove to be very difficult to find a blue merle Sheltie.
We were contacted in June 2004 by Lotte.
She told us, she didn¨t have a blue merle, but she had a lovely sabel puppy, she just wanted to show us the puppy.
One each.
Deep down we knew, we were behaving a little dumb, who will say no, once you've had the puppy in your hands.
We bought Elverlamshusets Cilla - Emma.
A glorious sable bitch with a lovely temperament.
At home the show started again. Would the puppy disappear if you ignore it? It did not! Next step was learning to love her. The next 2 weeks, Emma was walking around followed by two sniffing dogs at her heels all the time.
We started over again, puppy training and obedience, agility and show training. We became deeper and deeper involved in the dog world.
We now had three dogs - one for each, perfect!
We thought.
Summer 2005
The summer was to bring both joy and sorrow.
In connection with the Club's summer exhibition, Lotte was staying at our place with her Elverlamsdogs. 4 lovely animals, along with our thre.
We experienced a lot of lovelig things - among other things, Thea and Maria fetched a certificate at the exhibition.
Ronja had been very reluctant during the visit, and prefered to be at her own.
Her behavior continued when Lotte left.
We thought, that she had been in heat, and therefore had false pregnancy.
Unfortunately, it continued, and one day she would not go for a walk - she just wanted to go home.
Later in the evening we went to the vet.
Ronja happily jumped into the car. Even more happy she jumped out, it's always nice to vicit the vet - but no - it was not nice this time. We had to put her away.
But?
Once we had one dog - then we had one each!
And now we will not have one each?
Sheltie no. 3
We started to search - there was no doubt, we har to have one dog each - there was no doubt, it had to be a Sheltie.
We would, however, still like to have a blue merle. We sent out our search. We had a happy surprice - Tove and Mogens from Poulsgaard contacted us and said: You can have the next blue bitch.
We followed the gestation intense.
We followed the actual birth via mail -a blue male, a blue male again, another blue mail - and now the show is over.
No !! Wait - another mail. Another puppy is comming - it's blue and???? Yes - a bitch. '
Poulsgaards Be My Hawaian Blue - Josefine - moved to our place.
Again we had a dog each, so everyone was happy.
Sheltie no. 4
We met her on our trip home from Kennel Poulsgaard. We stopped at Lotte and Kurt from Elverlamshuset, and they had the most lovely blue merle bitch.
It started off as a joke - "you can get her on the installment plan" and "one more ore less". It ended as a fact, we could not forget her, - Elverlamshusets Grace - Laura - moved to Bornholm, as the fourth sheltie in the house.
