Micke

Say hello to our newest family member Micke! Micke, officially Yhazin Freelancer, was born on the 25th of May, 2009 in the south of Sweden, in Liza Lopez's kennel Yhazin. He has 7 brothers and 3 sisters. All brothers are in different shades of golden and red with black masks and the sisters are golden with black mask, silver with black mask and black and tan. Micke was the fifth male to be born. Dam of the litter is Multi Ch Yhazin Drums of Africa and the sire Tuohi-Tikan Teikkari.

I went to Sweden together with Tuohi-Tikan Teikkari's owner Merja Haapoja and her friend Laura Pennanen to look at the puppies and pick up our puppy and the one going to Merja. It was a really not easy to choose the puppy, all the males were so similar to each other in their bodies, with only minor differences. I had a hard time choosing between the white male (male number three) and male number five, and in the end it was the nature of the puppy that became the decisive factor. Micke, male number five, is a very active young man, with a lovely attitude that made you see him all the time, even in that big puppy pack. He is very keen on the lure, and seems to learn new things quite fast. He was often part in puppy wrestling, but he was as keen on jumping up in people's laps, from where he prefered to climb to the shoulder in order to get a better view. A mountain Afghan Hound indeed!

The trip home was long and wearing, but the puppies managed the over six hour long drive from the south of Sweden to Stockholm very well, and didn't mind at all being in the ship to Turku. They both showed how curious and brave puppies they are by being interested in all new sounds and smells, and not really being afraid of anything. In Turku waited my husband to take us home to Espoo, and Merja and Laura continued their trip to Tampere.

At home waited Ludde and the children, Ludde not knowing what was in front of him, and the children counting minutes. Ludde got extremely happy meeting the puppy, and would have liked to start playing with him at once. I think Micke arrived at just the right time, since Ludde behaves like being in heaven, watching over Micke and playing with him all the time. I had the first days problems getting Ludde with me on walks since he wouldn't have liked to leave the puppy, and when the puppy went outside without him he watched from the windows, and got very restless when he didn't see Micke. He has a soft spot for Micke, and let him take over sofas and sleeping spots, Micke even stole some food from his bowl, and he didn't mind at all. Let's see how long that will last :)

Right now Micke is just eating, sleeping, playing and running around, and charming people he meets. We are eagerly waiting to see what kind of dog personality he will grow up to be, and which activities that in the future will suit him. But right now we are just enjoying having him around. Thank you Liza for this lovely boy!

Update on Micke: The boy has reached the age ten months, and man has the time flown by fast! Micke is right now just over 70 cm high and weights almost 29 kg. He loves to run, and has developed really big muscles both front and behind. He is much faster than Ludde, and has a lovely running style. He is very keen on the lure, and I look very much forward to see how he will do this incoming summer in race practices. There will be no time for competitions this year, Micke hasn't the age for that, but I hope we will managed to try for the license in the autumn. Then if the winter goes well he will be ready for competions in 2011.

Micke has been to four puppy shows during the winter, and went three times Best Male-2. He wont be shown in the official classes until the end of May, and then he will take part in some more shows during the summer. We will also take part in a puppy agility class starting in the end of April. Micke did already last autumn test some agility obstacles, so it will be fun to see what he thinks of it all now when he can be allowed to do some more.