Thursday, December 5, 2013

dogsitting a friends collie

Last week we had two dogs for a while, as I agreed to babysit a friends dog for a day and night. Dogs name is Riva, she is a collie/bordercollie mix and already 13 years old. I think Erk was very pleased to have some company, although she was too old to play and run all the time. Nevertheless, we had great time:
watching Simpsons in the morning

lurking under the table, both dogs were soooooo hungry all the time :P

resting and pampering each other after a long walk
Helen

Friday, November 29, 2013

product development :)

Erk has destroyed some 3-4-5 of his toys, that we used in agility. Basicly he's just got too sharp teeth :) But the squeeky things inside those toys still worked, so I decided to make a toy that would last a bit longer. And voila! Here it is:
Handmade of leather, small enough to fit to the pocket, leftovers from other toys recycled :P And as the beta-version proved, perfect in agility.

Helen

Sunday, November 24, 2013

endurance dog Erk, 20 km - piece of cake!

This Saturday we went to a running event, that took place in Elva. The weather was lousy, rainy and dark. The plan was to walk 20 km track or as much as Erk could bear. I am happy to announce that he lasted all the way and even in the end he still had energy to chase the ball. 
It is unbelievable that he is only 6 months old, still a puppy! But what a strong and wonderful puppy :)
before the start

Helen

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

a rainy day...no, THE rainy day!

What do you think about rainy days? Hate them, love them? I know, Estonians have a saying "koerailm", so what's that supposed to mean?! Only dogs go out? Yeah, right... well, I am not that dog! 
Anyway, Monday was one of the first days this fall with a quite bad weather. In the morning, when I went out to pee, it just hit me to the face on the door. I didn't want to go out at all and frankly, I only did it for Helen, because she was already out there and calling me. Luckily we have some benches in our garden, so I crawled under one and peed there! Clever, aren't I? :)

Erk
PS. Sorry, no photos this time. My owners were busy holding umbrellas and hoods and jackets.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Kena nädalavahetus Tallinnas

Sai jälle käidud Tallinnas ja laupäeval käisime koos Ergiga ka rannas. Kuigi oli väga kõva tuul ja korralikud lained, siis paistis vähemalt päike ja ilm oli sügiseselt ilus. Rannas ei olnud palju inimesi ja koera sai lahtiselt jooksma lasta. Muidu ei ole koeraga nn plaažil viibimine lubatud, aga kuna pole rannahooaeg, siis vilistasime sellele.Koer oli igaljuhul väga õnnelik vabaduse üle, lasime tal joosta edasi-tagasi, nuuskida, palliga mängida. Üritasime teda ka natuke vette meelitada, aga algul ta seda väga ei tahtnud. Millegipärast oli tal tekkinud tõrge vee suhtes, isegi vihmavee lompidest käis kaarega mööda. Seega üritasin teda natuke ärgitada ja jalgupidi vette minema, see õnnestus ühe pisikese kraavi juures väga hästi, mis merre suubub. Küll ta taidles seal edasi tagasi ja üritas algul üle kraavi hüpata, aga ei õnnestunud. No siis ei jäänudki muud üle, kui plätserdada vees. Eriti põnevaks läks Ergil siis, kui tulid suuremad lained, mis kraaviveega segunedes tekitasid mulle ja no neid pidi ju kohe kätte saama ja ära sööma. Lõbu oli laialt ja ei mingit veekartust enam. Kindlasti oli kohustuslik ka kaevandamine ja oi kui põnev see on. Liiva lendas igasse kaarde.
Rannast lahkudes oli Erk omadega täiesti toss ning koju jõudes vajus lösakile ning üritas vaevaliselt oma silmi lahti hoida. Meie väsitustöö läks igati korda.

If somebody wants a translation, then just let us know.

Marko

Monday, September 30, 2013

a trip to the beach

On the weekend we visited Tallinn and made several trips to the beach. After some heavy duty digging and ball chasing, we finished the day with bird-watching :)

Helen



Monday, September 16, 2013

outing on Sunday

On Sunday we enjoyed the warm weather near Otepää, where Erk and I supported some MTB racers and afterwards visited some friends. It was a great opportunity for Erk to run around without a leash and collect some souvenirs :P

Helen

Friday, August 23, 2013

Erk at the age of three months

All photos by Rando Kall from Fotovabrik. They are great at photographing animals!
We had another triathlon race at that site
August 18 2013


Tuesday, August 6, 2013

first indications of being a triathlon dog

We had a loooong weekend. On Friday we drove to the biggest triathlon race in the Baltics - TriSmile Triathlon at Pühajärve. Marko had planned to be a referee on two days, I was a referee on Saturday and raced 111 km on Sunday. We were worried about having to leave Erk by himself for the time we were busy, but it turned out just great. He was the favourite of a all the volunteers and fellow racers, so the time I spent racing and Marko spent working, there were always some people wanting to play with Erk. And when he got tired, no problem what so ever to sleep while the fuss was all around him.
On spot, bicycles and race gear were so interesting for Erk, they probably smell of rubber and oil and sweat and stuff. Erk proved he has a good spirit of sports - he showed polite interest and support towards competitors and their equipment, and was bringing smiles to peoples faces.
So, all in all, he has shown that he will be a good dog to take to the races, behaves well and gets along with people.
back to work - finally some peace and quiet :)

Helen

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

First visit to Maarika Mikk - a dog trainer

We went to see Maarika today. She was very pleased with Erk, praising his temper and behaviour. One of her comments, that I particularly liked, was: he is good material, really good material :P

Helen

The beginning of all things :)

Erk was born on May 21st, 2013. His mother is Clara (Clara Dynamic Quest) and his father is Tip (Mawlch Tip).
There were 6 puppies altogether, 3 males and 3 females. His brothers and sisters all got an owner quite fast, but not Erk. He was kind of a leftover :) Clara's owner Elin had thought she would keep him, but also said she would be happy to give him to us. As she was convinced we would be right for Erk. We were not so sure that we would live up to her expectations, so it took some days before Marko said his final 'yes'.
One thing that turned me, was to see Erk swim. He was the only one of his litter who started swimming quite young and was not afraid of the water. As we are both very athletic, we definitely wanted a dog that would share our love for outdoor sports - running, swimming, hiking, skiing... So I thought about Erk: that dog will turn out just fine, he will endure and be happy with our long hours of sporting.

Helen

With brand new collar. Photo by Ulvi