Theme meetings and activities

The podeng loves to work with its nose, so on this theme meeting we learned how to prepare small tracks. Susanne Pärson from Krullets kennel showed us how to do this, in this case with the dog's favorite toy at the end of the track. It was really fun to see how good the dogs were, and how fun the activity was for both podengos and owners. Tracking we will definitely have as a theme again on some meeting in the future.

For this theme meeting, one of the aims were that the participants should get some nice photos of their podengos, and therefore we engaged Katja Koho who is a good dog photographer. For a few hours out at the beautiful Häringe castle, the dogs were photographed in both running and standing. Katja, who also gave some tips on photographing dogs, took a lot of photos of each dog. A few days later each participant was given a serie of nice photos on their little podengo.

Visit at Hundstallet (a dog shelter) in Stockholm. How does it work on the dog shelter? Where do the dogs come from? Can you become a volunteer at Hundstallet, or become an weekend home? This day we had booked a visit at the Hundstallet, exclusively for Podengo Friends Sweden. Petter, who is a dog psycholog / problem dog investigator and one of the responsible persons for the shelter, took care of us an afternoon and told us about Hundstallet. In addition to all the information we received during a nice coffee time, we were also shown around at the area. The best part was of course to pet some of the dogs in the shelter. A really interesting visit that ended with that we donated some money to the dog shelter, and that most of us also became members / donors.

This Saturday morning, Krullets kennel sponsored us with a really fun activity day in Haninge Hundhall. There Susanne Pärson showed us the basics of agility and rally obaying. There was a lot of laughter at some moments, such as when a owner crept far into the tunnel to meet his somewhat doubtful podengo that Susanne so softly and patiently led into the other end of the tunnel. It was also fun to see both the dogs and the owners' pride and joy when they succeeded in the steps that their dog first thought was a bit scary. The fact that it was a much appreciated day of activity was shown by the large number of participants who came this day. We thank Krullets kennel so much for given us a great Saturday!

The dog course in Norrtälje is built in a beautiful forest environment. It is a track with different stations that require focus, sometimes balance and courage, from the dog. The idea is to strengthen the dog's self-confidence and to give the dog owner some exercises to take home for everyday life. A sunny Saturday, the course was booked a few hours for Podengo Friends Sweden and it became a lovely day. It was both exciting and fun to see the dogs get through the stations, sometimes with some hesitation but with the support of the owner. At some stations we helped and supported eachother's dogs to dare to take the step. It was not without us getting really proud of all small 4-footed friends on the track. A great activity day! Our podengo friend Kristín Kristvinsdóttir was the one who suggested and booked Hunderbanan.

A sunny summer day in June 2019, Podengo Friends once again booked the Hunderbanan. Happy dogs and their owners had a fun day on the track, so great to see how the dogs with the help of the humans took the challenges on the track.

For those who were a little curious and inexperienced with dog shows, we arranged a meeting with this theme. We gathered at the big Gubbängsfältetin Stockholm and started with a ring training where Pekka Nykopp and Katja Koho taught us the basics, i.e how do you walk with the dog, how to show the dog, what happens up on the table, what does the judge do and so on. After some training, we ended up having our own little dog show where Pekka acted as judge while he and Katja described the different moments. A very educational and enjoyable day!

In 2018, in cooperation with The Swedish Podengo Portuguese Club, a number of BPH places were exclusively booked for us with podengos around the country. Annika Björkman, Björkbygdens kennel was helpful and also generous to offer a place on a course she had booked. And in Halland Maria Cronqvist reserved a number of places for us on Hallands kennel clubs course. Really fun BPH days where most of us probably were pleasantly surprised by our podengos on the BPH course. There was laughter when some of the dogs, among others wonderful Poppy, did their podengorace on the track, you know the crazy run so quickly so no one can grab them. Fine price rosettes also for everyone.