Southern Finnish Lapphund Society Open Meeting and Fun Day on 1st July 2007
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July 1st was a big success. The intention was to state what the society was to be about, review the rules, vote on officers and committee, and then have some fun! I think we achieved all of these and I hope you and your dogs enjoyed yourselves! In essence, we get our dogs to share our lives with. They are our companions, our friends. They trigger and fulfill something very deep in our souls that wants to nurture. I hope this is reflected upon throughout the society’s future. Long live the SFLS!! Daniel Chairman of the Southern Finnish Lapphund Society
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| Meeting The first meeting of the Society was a great success with 29 members present. Daniel did an admirable job in his first chairing role, quickly getting to grips with running a working democracy. In keeping with the philosophy of the Society, the mood of the meeting was light-hearted and friendly with lots of input from members. The Committee was appointed without delay and the Society rules were agreed following a bit of lively debate. In spite of having almost nothing on the agenda we managed to make it last a whole 90 minutes. Perhaps we should be apologising for that! | ||
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| Committee The Committee was appointed unchallenged and we even voted on a member who wasn’t in attendance, proving that it doesn’t do to miss these meetings! Serving on the Committee won’t be a life sentence for those concerned and other intrepid individuals who would like to join the ranks will be most welcome in the future. The founding Committee is confirmed as Daniel Spencer (Chairman), Jennifer Simmons (Secretary), Pia Reynolds (Treasurer), Goff Banks, Andrie de Vries, Toni Jackson, Andy Lee, Sam Moore (absent) and Carol Webb. | ||
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| In the afternoon the members were kept very busy with activities and games, plus a humongous raffle. | ||
| Fancy Dress Many of our Lapphunds seemed too shy to appear ‘dressed’ but we had two delightful entrants, winner was Beth & Quila, Runner up: Thomas & Jalo | ||
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Fancy dress winner: Beth & Quila |
 Runner up: Thomas & Jalo
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| Photo comp How to spot your committee as babies/small children, and their dogs when pups! Only Emma Lee successfully guessed all the committee and their dogs, not an easy task, but very good fun (Toni’s son did not recognise her– guess that’s not surprising as the photo was taken some 33 years before he was born!) | ||
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 Emma – the Winner
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| Pin the tail – on the lapphund Members visiting the SFLS Open Meeting and Fun Day on July 1st were shocked to see a very large white FL without a tail! Of course on second glance it turned out to be that age old game ‘Pin the tail on the FL’! After a lot of research on 2D Finnish Lapphunds Carol had pre decided where according to ‘KC breed standards’ the tail should be placed. Many enthusaiastic members had a go, after being blindfolded, to put the tail into the correct position. W have to report that even Toni risked her reputation and was probably one of the worst cases, showing great misjudgement when placing the tail in a very peculiar place! Steve was lucky (although he may protest otherwise) and Thomas educated, so both were declared the winners of a very tight competition. | ||
 Carol’s artwork
 Susy’s handiwork
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The Joint Winners |
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| Best Trick As we know our breed are very clever and trainable and they delight in doing amusing tricks – those demonstrated were truly diverse, and it was super to see the young pups and children demonstrating a trick or two. Karen and Taivas were the winners taking home the trophy – with a display of a range of tricks, pressing the “that was easy button”, playing dead and bowing to name a few. Beth and Quila demonstrated the send away a hard exercise to master and Thomas and puppy Jalo did great hand shakes, baby Timo is only 6 months old so lovely to see him working both paws and taking a biscuit from Keith’s mouth. Challenge is now on to work on your tricks of next time. | ||
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 The Winner – Karen & Taivas
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| Sausage Catching What an amazing range of ways to catch a sausage there are – and what a sight 25 Lapphund lined up to take advantage of freely available frankfurters! First a simple catch from only a few feet away – easy for many! Then the throws got tougher, we had the leaping style of Apina – and the relaxed super cool style of Kisa – who just sat and moved his head to the side to let sausage just fall into his mouth. The dogs were very skilled and it required a long throw and a full test of my throwing arm to really sort the dogs from the pups! In the end the sensible and steady style of Beth’s Quila proved to be most accurate followed by Pilkku, 3: Susi, 4: Apina, 5: Kisa | ||
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Ready for sausages
Thrower and catchers |
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| Sack race Crumbs – how competitive do grown men get when in a sack race! Some runners, Carol and Ian, were severely handicapped by their dogs Kesa and Jalo – Jalo trying to pull the sack off his dad!!! After several hard fought heats the final was fiercely contended and some of the ‘jumpers’ could barely walk the next day following injuries sustained in the event.Heat winners: Heat 1: Andrie & Norppa, Heat 2: Steve & Apina, Heat 3: Ian & Jalo, Heat 4: Emma & Kaiju; overall winner: Andrie & Norppa | ||
| Heat 1:
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| Heat 2:
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| Heat 3:
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| Heat 4:
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 Special prize awarded for Most Spectacular Fall
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| Final:
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Well, as you can see from the photos, lots of smiles and tail wagging! I hope we have many more fun days in the future. Also, we will have training days – because a trained dog is more fun than a tear-away, and the occasional ringcraft and agility day. And don’t forget the lapphund walks!
All the best to you all, from us all. Daniel, Jennifer, Pia, Toni, Andy, Goff, Carol, Andrie and Sam! |
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A few extra photos from the day below. Thanks to Ian and Karen for providing all the ‘photographic evidence’!!
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