Shelamo BeDazzle - A New Forever Home

At the end of November this year, we placed the last of our sable breeding lines in a far away country - Spain!  It wasn't without a lot of paperwork through the vets & CFIA, airline planning, and overall timing to get her there, but we did it.

On November 28th, I flew with Dazzle from Ottawa, to Toronto; Toronto to Frankfurt, then on to Madrid.  From there the new owner picked me up and we had more than a 4 hour drive north to a small town, Salas, in the Province of Asturias.  I think Dazzle had more room to stretch out, and time to sleep than I did.  She arrived bright and alert and more than ready for her new adventure.

I traveled with only a carry on - went through 3 security checks - almost like disrobing each time, with the 3rd one in Frankfurt being patted down and having my hair gel taken away :(  Anyone that knows me, this was like having my arm cut off :)!  A lot of walking, especially through the Frankfurt airport.  Man that is a big place! 

 Frankfurt tunnel moving walk-way - and I'm only about 1/2 way through it!

 MBBPIG Shelamo BeDazzle

(pictured at not quite a year old)

We arrived on the Saturday afternoon, and on the Monday traveled about 2.5 hours to a dog show.  Here in Canada we'd call this a CKC Sanction Match (no points, a training ground for all)

 

line up for one of the groups - in Spain there are some differences, and in this group the Boxers are shown in breed by their colours

 this breed is called the Spanish Alano

 

 Pastoral Group placements

Ana with her male sheltie, Pt JrCh PPW14 I’m Small Diamond Lohrien, came 2nd

the White German Shepherd was 3rd, a colour not approved in Canada

 

 the Czech Wolf Dog, not seen here in Canada

and if it wasn't enough that Dazzle traveled all this way, she was also entered in the show!
Here she is at the end of the day, competing with Ana's boy in Brace competition.  Neither of them had ever been trained as a brace team ... and look at them showing together!  Dazzle never missed a beat.

On the Monday, Ana and her mother took me to Cudillaro, a quaint town on the Bay of Biscay, where I was bound and determined to touch the water!

Altho we had a high of 15C, it was overcast, drizzling at times, and certainly foggy in many areas of higher elevation during my stay.

 scenic town of Cudillero

 near Cudillero

the northern landscape reminded me of our Gatineau hills area, and the Madrid landscape very similar to our open field areas where there might be cow pastures, or corn/hay fields.

 view of the Playa De San Lorenzo

 this is what the beach would look like in the summer time!  I've seen pictures with even more people.

 Gijon  - all made of wine bottles by the Playa De San Lorenzo

old part of Gijon - cobble stone like roads and all the lower windows had security bars on them

in Gijon by the port, a view of what would have been their fortress (best I can find dating back to the 15th century), it so reminded me of our Old Fort Henry in Kingston

Eligio del Horizonte--Praise of the Horizon--located at Cerro de Santa Catalina, sculpted by Eduardo Chillida from concrete in 1990.

Home from our tour on the Monday, I was 'screeched in', only in the Spanish way!  It's an apple wine, poured from the bottle into a wide glass at a distance, and you drink it in one go.  It was SO tasty, I asked for a second glass.

Ana's mom enjoyed the Ice Wine I brought.  We enjoyed the tastes that are special to each of us.

Tuesday, saw us traveling back to Madrid as I was leaving early on the Wednesday morning, traveling the same route back home.

It was certainly a fast trip, and bitter sweet.

 Ana Busto (Astur Shelties), Dazzle & I the morning I left to head back to Madrid

We are hoping for the pitter patter of little paws come the new year ... Dazzle just did everything right, including coming into season while I was there!

We wish Ana the best of luck with Dazzle in not only producing pups that she can carry on with, but also as an agility star once (hopefully) motherhood is over with.