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

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

perfect shoes for dog agility :)

of course, agility can mean many things... :)

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

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

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