Hounds of the Highlands - March 2016

Well, it's been a long time since the last blog and a lot has happened in Maja's little life since then.  She had her first season at 14 months and which started 22 days before we were due to head for Crufts to do Discover Dogs and we made it!  She did two stints on Discover Dogs and was so good.  She was typical Ridgeback, spoke to those she chose to and slept and ignored the rest!  First day there she stuck close to me on the lead and although not phased by the enormity of the event and the number of dogs you could tell she was happy to have the reassurance close by.  On the second day she marched in with an air of 'been here done this', and she knew exactly how to work the stalls for free food.  We stayed nearby Crufts for 3 nights and she took the new sleeping arrangements (in my bed) and the evening visits to the local pub for a meal and well earned drink, in her stride.  She was a real pleasure to be with and lots of people were amazed that she was so well behaved and unfazed at such a young age.  Our first night away was quite funny - she settled down on her bed on the floor but within an hour she was up on the bed beside me.  I had predicted this so the bed was well protected. She settled down but then about every half hour I was wakened up with the thump of her wagging tail and lots of licks as she realised that I was next to her.  Luckily the next two nights were better otherwise I might have suffered a sense of humour failure!! Below is a fun, official photo taken at Crufts by Ian Dakin - photographer.

Maja doing her bit at Discover Dogs

and asleep in the pub in the evening - it's hard work being good all the time!

 The winning RR bitch and Best of Breed at Crufts.

 and reserve RR bitch

Maja at home doing what she loves the best - walking/running in the woods

Hamish showing off on the log piles

Kobe in hunting pose!! Kobe sees no point in exerting any effort if a female, i.e. Maja wil do the running for him and he can wait and see 

Easter Monday and a days outing to Ullapool.  The weather was sunny with showers and the dogs were not amused that we tried to take some photo when it was raining - timing was not good!

Boy can Ridgebacks look miserable when they want to!

Hounds of the Highlands - Febuary 2016

  Maja continues to amuse us all and is doing well.  Her temperament is so sound and there is not anywhere I wouldn't be happy to take her. Her Gold Good Citizen Award training is coming along quite well - I am especially proud of her 'emergency stops' and also how she has taken a new location, new dogs and new people all in her stride. Our main challenge is that previously she was allowed to do 'down stays' on a mat, so no way is she now going to grace a hard floor!   That said, we have  managed to progress from a soft blanket to a folded yoga mat. The next step, hopefully, is a single layer of the mat which will then be cut smaller and smaller until she hits that hard floor. Fingers crossed.

 She does, however, have some very odd sleeping positions!

Thankfully she seems to have stopped ripping the wallpaper off the walls so we are now hoping to decorate the kitchen in the not too distant future.

Today, Sunday, we woke up to snow.  Maja and I were supposed to be going to a small show about an hours drive away, but I decided it wasn't worth chancing the roads, never mind getting up the drive, to have 5 minutes in the ring before being thrown out.  Such faith! So we went for a lovely walk instead which I am sure she enjoyed better.  I did!

Apologies for the photography, it was early morning  and little natural light, as I had got up early in preparation for the show

Maja and Hamish had great fun playing in the snow

The face of wisdom!

and not!

Now for some snaps taken on the phone

and finally, I think I mentioned that we sometimes put a GPS tracker on Maja when on walks to see how far she travels compared to us humans.  Below is an example of our walk (in blue) and Maja's (in red.)  It's interesting, partly because a lot of the time although we can't see her  she is not far away and also to note how often she does 'check in' just to let us know she is still about.

Hounds of the Highlands -9th Jan 2016

Happy New Year to all blog readers!  Maja took a busy house throughout Christmas and New year in her stride and didn't even pinch anything off the Christmas tree or any of the presents.  She still loves to run upstairs and pinch something, usually an article of clothing.  She then charges downstairs and  through the house in a triumphant run, head held high so we always know when she has got something.  She has even been known, when we have deliberately ignored her, to run back through to make sure we have seen her wicked ways!  No fun otherwise!

Today we had a very hard frost so had a lovely winter walk.  We have been very lucky and have missed the worse of the heavy rain and flooding that the N E of Scotland has experienced.  

We have had one very big storm, just before New Year and lots of trees were blown down.  We ourselves lost several in the woods.  Today we couldn't get through on our normal route so had to go through where the Highland ponies are kept.  Maja wasn't at all sure about them as they crowded around us obviously thinking we were there to feed them.  Hamish grumped at them not that it did much good and Kobe had a quick sniff of noses, decided they weren't worth bothering about and was totally non-plussed about them following us. Photo below shows some of the trees that were blown down.

and the ponies

Maja is very agile, and thinks nothing of jumping this fence!

 Some of you may notice that Maja is wearing a GPS tracker.  She gave it to me as a Christmas present!  It's great fun and lets me see where she has been when she diverts off the path. When I get home I can download the file onto Google Earth and track her movements.  Today we walked just over 4 miles - Maja did between 7 and 8 miles, with top speed of 23mph!  No wonder we still can't get much weight on her - she is solid muscle with definately no fat!

Hamish in the frost

Kobe, nose in air, sniffing the scent of a deer perhaps?

Waiting patiently for Maja who is in the forest nearby, we hope!