Latest News

15.7.2007 - From holidays to a new passion for training

So, holidays are history for us now and even Ekko had passed his time alone in Oulu very well - and I doubt he had anything to complain about as he got to swim as much as he wanted. Now we return straight back to training fields and forests with the goal of participating in a 'real' working dog trial in the fall. Hopefully also the weather will allow us to spend many more moments to come splashing the waters in the lakes of Espoo!

June 13th, 2007 - We passed the behaviour trial!

We passed the behaviour trial (BH) organized by the working dog club of Espoo, although for a while there it felt like it would never happen. I got Ekko really anxious with my nervousness, and as a result, Ekko barked through our entire performance but it seems that despite the barking, he did rather well as some parts of our performance were ranked as excellent. Now, tired but happy, we head for holidays for several weeks, Ekko to northern Finland to be taken care of while the rest of our family heads to the warmth of the French sun. =) We'll be back with more energy than ever to train for our future goal, the message delivery trial.

The results of the behaviour trial are available at least in the results site of the working dog club (unfortunately only in Finnish).

June 7th, 2007 - Hot hot hot!

So summer is really here and it's so hot. And time flies again...our spring went by super fast training away...=) We've trained really actively both obedience and 'message delivery'. However, the great progress we made in the winter and early spring went through a bit of a setback as Ekko saw his second birthday with a terribly negative stage in his behavior, and he'd defy me for almost two months. Luckily its finally getting better, and now that working together is fun again, it's great to notice that despite all the defiance, we have actually made progress, too. And so, we'll participate to our first obedience trial next week - it's the one that everyone needs to pass before they're allowed to participate in 'real' working dog trials - and I'm so nervous! We'll see how it goes...we also have the long term goal of participating in a message delivery trial in the fall, but time will show. =) In the mean while, we focus, in addition to training, on swimming lots and lots - Ekko still remembers how to splash that water!

March 5th, 2007 - New sparkle in training

Our winter has passed by super fast as we've found new excitement to our training despite the cold weather. Thanks to the help we've gotten in obedience, we've found new kind of determination in our training and have also had the chance to practice obedience around other dogs - which is, nevertheless, still something we need loads of practice in. We've also made great progress in fetching, which has been really hard for us, but as Ekko and I finally found a way to communicate, Ekko now loves fetching! One other great step of progress has been in 'message delivering' where we've not only made the distance that Ekko runs much greater, but also managed to teach him to control his energy and walk nicely beside me when going in and out of the woods. And Ekko's family, of course, is sooooo proud...=) =) =)

January 12th, 2007 - New year and new home

Ekko's Christmas just flew by, and we don't know whether it was the travelling up north or the continual hazzle that made him growl at Santa - but he did get a few super fun presents none the less. And he just loved tearing up all that wrapping paper! New Year's, then, was a little less fun, as after the trip to Oulu we had put the poor boy through moving to a new home in Espoo, and then watched him put up with all those fireworks...no wonder he's been keen on barking lately. Luckily now our life is back to normal and we're busy exploring the new areas around us for walks. And maybe the new neighborhood will bring along a few new dog friends into Ekko's life as well...

December 21st, 2006 - Three nights to Christmas...

Ekko has been enjoying the long, wet and muddy fall so much that he didn't even realize it's almost Christmas until his mommy started playing with the ever-so-fun wrapping papers - because no-one loves to help out wrapping presents like Ekko does! =) Now we're all getting anxious to go up north to Oulu for Christmas. The time after Ekko's surgery has gone by nice and smooth; at times it's been really boring for Ekko since everyone else has been working such long hours, but luckily the boredom has been balanced by quite a lot of training. Ekko still loves the message delivering and runs so that the mud just goes flying up in the air and branches break as he goes, and we've also had the chance to restart the Finnish search again. We've also gotten very enthousiastic about obedience training, and have finally made the decision to participate in the first required obedience trial towards the end of spring or the beginning of summer - but that we'll do only if our training starts to go as smoothly in group training as it does when we train alone at home. =)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

November 8th, 2006 - The second surgery was a success!

The second surgery was a success in searching for Ekko's missing undescended testicle, and the operation went altogether very well. Although the beginning of Ekko's second recovery was painfull, he is now full of energy again and has been bouncing all over the place at home for about a week now...luckily the wound is healing well and little by little we get to spend more time outside, enjoying the first snow of the winter. None of us three can wait to get to go training but we try and hold on for a couple more days to make sure Ekko is in perfect condition before unleashing all that energy... =)

October 12th, 2006 - We've got a missing testicle

We took Ekko to the vet for his surgery to remove his undescended testicle, and although it seemed that the operation would be really simple, it turned out to be rather complicated as the missing testicle insisted on remaining to be lost. So, after a 30-minute-search for it, the vet decided to play it safe and abort the anesthesia. Despite the vigurous searching, Ekko's wound is small and he is recovering quickly - but unfortunately only to get back on that operating table. We're planning on giving the surgery a second try in a couple of weeks.

October 8th, 2006 - Oulu was lots of mud and tons of fun!

Ekko took a one-week-trip home, travelling to Oulu via Vaasa as we stopped to visit Ekko's breeders Ulla and Reijo to catch up with everything and to show how Ekko has grown up - and they found him such a pretty boy! =) We spent the rest of the week in Oulu, then, visiting family, friends, and dog friends (meaning lots of running and playing in the woods). Despite the wet weather we all had lots of fun and the reunions with Ekko's 'human grand parents' as well as with Emma, Niki and Hertta were filled with joy. There are a few pictures from the trip in the Photos and Group Photos pages.

September 16th, 2006 - Ekko got his own domain

Ekko's homepages are now under a more appropriate URL, as "kuraparta" stands for a mud face. But of course, Ekko himself doesn't understand much about the whole internet craze but happily enjoys the cooled-down weather and cow joint bones that have lately become his favourite again. The surgery has been postponed till mid-October, as we'll be going to Oulu not sooner than for the first week of October. So, there's a lot of fun to look forward to!

August 10th, 2006 - Ekko met his new vet

Ekko's surgery to remove his undescended testicle is getting closer and closer, and so we went and met our new vet right behind the corner. Ekko liked this new guy like we did, but he just found it incredibly boring to listen to that discussion about the petty little details of the surgery as it just went on and on...=) Anyhow, because of the hot weather and the trip to Oulu planned for September, we'll probably postpone the surgery until the beginning of October.
Other than that, Ekko's summer has been great, and although the heat has lowered his energy levels a bit, we've trained eagerly both search and message delivering and done pretty good progress. The boys have also gotten into biking, and done short biking trips to train Ekko quite often. We've also made a couple of trips to the summer cottage and Oulu; there are a couple of new swimming photos from the cottage on the Photos page.

June 25th, 2006 - Midsummer taught Ekko how to swim

We celebrated the Finnish Midsummer festival in our nice peace and quiet at Keijo's parents' summer cottage, where Ekko finally learned how to swim after practicing all spring long, and he just loves it! At some point he learned that if he splashes the water with his paws, it's super fun trying to catch the drops in the air, as you can see on the photos below. He'd go around and around in the lake for over a half an hour without coming to the shore to rest! There's more pictures from midsummer on the Photos-page.

June 15th, 2006 - Barf rocks!

Ekko's tummy problems are now hopefully history as we have left processed food behind and started to feed Ekko barf (biologically appropriate raw food). So, now on Ekko's menu there is raw meat, bones and veggie pures. He loves it and his tummy is happy, too! There is more stuff on barf on our Diet-page.

May 26th,2006 - Ekko moved to Helsinki

Our little family of three moved to Viikki, Helsinki. Ekko's life will soon be different also when it comes to his daily routines, as we start working and he'll have to stay alone "during office hours". =) Luckily lonely days mean undivided attention at evenings, and the Helsinki region offers even more opportunities for finding new hobbies than we'd find up north: we'll start training search!

May 8th, 2006 - Ekko celebrated his first birthday!

Ekko celebrated his first birthday enjoying his new toy that was specially made just for him to tear it apart, and he just loved it! After an especially delicious meal with ground beef and cheese, the day was just perfect for him.