My princesses

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Sava Sara Brakada, AKA Xsara was born on 06-27-2004. She was raised in Kennel Brakada spending the first two months of her life on beautiful countryside Gorenjska (Slovenia) with her siblings and parents. As soon as she came to Ljubljana we started a puppy class, followed by an obedience class. She passed her B-bh exam with 96 points (instructor Agility EO winner Polona Bonač). We now continue with Rally-Obedience under Polona's supervision. Our biggest passion however is Agility. We started our first Agility class in October 2005 (club Agility Ilirija, instructor Silvia Trkman, two times agility world champion). When Silvia stopped teaching agility classes, we switched to Daša Zakotnik. We regularly participate in Agility trials in Slovenia and sometimes abroad. Xsara also loves to learn new dog tricks, you can see some of them in our videos. Her other passions include long walks, big meals and playing with dogs, specially her pyr shep sister Tani, her crazy agility pals and her sister Sena.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Little Things Make A Big Difference

We didn't go to the trial, but we had a great weekend nevertheless - at least until Sunday afternoon when I had to go to work. On Saturday we went to the seaside. It was cloudy, but a little warmer than here. I really love the sea and luckily Slovenia is so small that it only takes you one hour to get from Ljubljana (in the center of Slovenia) to any border, including the coast.

While we were there, we also stopped in Italy to buy some pills against heartworm which cannot be bought in Slovenia (even though the mosquitoes on our side of the coast are just as much infected as the Italian ones). Unfortunately we didn't have the time to go to Miramare this time, but we will probably go there next week.

Miramare is a castle in Italy, just by the sea, and there is a wonderful park around the castle. They were both built by order of the Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg in 19th century. The park had no vegetation in the beginning so the Archduke filled it with exotic plants. Today it is a natural reserve and it is just incredibly beautiful.

Sunday was the day for charity. Before I had to go to work we attended a charity event for Repkov sklad (Little Tail's Fund), which helps to provide money for veterinary expenses for rescues, strays and animals with owners who simply cannot afford to pay for a lifesaving operation. They also provide food and temporary residence for these animals. They are doing an incredible job and Xsara and I donate them practically all of the food we win on competitions.

The event was a race, but not a competitive one so you could walk slowly if you wanted to. They also had a presentation of canine disciplines and one of the organizers asked me to demonstrate some tricks. We actually never performed tricks in public before - we do it for friends and as a warm-up routine before runs, but not like that. I was happy to do it but Xsara was still a little uneasy because there were so many unknown dogs. She did well, she only refused to do the handstand and she needed a little more encouragement, but the tricks that she did were very nice.

Events like this one always make me remember how lucky we are. Big thanks to those who are helping the less fortunate dogs and making their dreams of a happy home come true!

8 comments:

H.A. Turbofire, Sibertarian said...

I'm glad you had fun! Ha woo!

Amber-Mae said...

You mean you never perform tricks in public before? Wow, it must have felt good performing them in front of a crowd for the 1st time! I too sometimes refuse to perform a trick sometimes but that's okay. Your mom is very nice to donate all the food that you win during trials to the less unfortunate. My hoomans used to help in one of the dog shelters here in Malaysia especially training the dogs but nowadays, they don't seem to have the time anymore. can't blame them coz they have three of us now to take care, hee!

Love licks,
Solid Gold Dancer

William Tell said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! I had to drop by and see your right away.

Wow, Xsara, you are so talented. Then, of course, I hear Beagles are very smart dogs. I'm glad you stay on heartworm preventive, because we have it here, too. Pesky mosquitoes!

William Tell

Lorenza said...

Here the vets don't use to recommend heartworm pills. And here we have very bad mosquitoes! Only my "dogtor" has those pills and I take it every month. My mom doesn't want to take risks!
You are so nice donating for those who need!
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Urban Smoothie Read said...

u are such a generous pup, xsara...

i bet all the dogs in the shelter appreciate all the food u donated and help them to raise fund....

Riba said...

To pa ni res, da je do vsake meje samo ena ura ;o) Do Šentilja npr. ze ne, pa tam do Rogatca itd. Se do Ratec je dlje kot eno uro :o)

A Repkov tek je bil ta vikend? Fajn, da midve vse zamudiva .. :o|

i said...

You have a kind heart, Xsara! Love the last picture of you, so full of life!

FleasGang said...

What a great day you guys had! I'm very envious of how easy it is to visit other counties for the day in Europe. An hours drive here will barely get us out of the state! We would love to see some pictures of the castle and gardens when you visit next time. :-)

The FleasGang