Happy New Year 2013 to all our friends all over the world!!

Our puppies are growing up beautifully - they are 5 weeks today and we love them to bits <3

Crowning of the year - Helsinki shows

The end of the show season here in Finland has (I guess) always been the Helsinki show in December. This year it was Helsinki Winner show on Saturday and Finnish Winner show on Sunday.

We had absolutely fab time with all our friends and the results were at least pleasing as well:

Mr. Christian Leneuf from France was the judge on Sat and our super lovely junior boys Ruuti and Raisu were shown first. Raisu was, for some reason, a bit too chubby for the judge but gorgeous Ruuti did great and was 2nd with excellent and a cq out of 9 junior males! He was the best Finnish junior dog :)

In intermediate class we showed brothers Rocky and Tico as well. They both got excellents with cq, Rocky 1st and Tico 2nd.
In the best male competition Rocky was beautifully 2nd best with res-cacib and res-cc!!! This was great news.

In bitches we only showed Rocky's gorgeous moving sister Hertta. She did great job with Janne and was 3rd best bitch that day; both Rocky and Hertta were the best Finnish dog and bitch of the day and we are very very proud!!

Thanks to our dear puppy owners, we could show Hi-Lite breeders group for the 2nd time ever. There were 3 groups entered and 2 shown, our group won!! The feeling was also great to be able to show this group later on in the finals :)

This is the critique of our group:
"Harmonic group with homogenous head type, bodies, size and colour. Beautiful harmony in movement. All dogs shown represent excellent quality."

Photo: Anna-Maija Issakainen

Our huge and handsome Central Asian Owtcharka Faruk was also shown and the result was another title for him: he was best male with cacib and HEW-12 title :)

On Sunday the judge was mr. Hans Lehtinen, a world famous Finnish all rounder judge.
This time it was 10 junior males!! We are extremely proud of our youngsters; Raisu 2nd and Ruuti 3rd!! Again, they were the best Finnish bred dogs, how great is that!!

For Rocky, the result was the same as on Sat; 2nd best male with cc and res-cacib and was the best Finnish dog. Handsome brother Tico got res-cc!! Tico had faultless critiques both days <3 In bithces, Hertta upgraded her placement to BEST BITCH with cc and cacib and the title FIW-12!!! She truly is a beautiful mover and we are very happy about her <3 The breeders group competition was a copy from Saturday, and we are thrilled to publish this critique of our winning group: "Very even group of dogs that have beautiful outlines. Typical, healthy built specimen all over. Proud movement. Good toplines." So far we have been able to show our breeders group for 3 times resulting 3 x BOB!

We want to congratulate and thank our dear friends and owners of Tico, Ruuti, Rocky, Raisu and Hertta for being there for us and taking your lovely dogs to Helsinki shows. It means the world to us <3

Thanks also to Mama Bulldobas and Ari & Janne, and Helena just for... you know. You are the best!!

Puppies are here!!

Yesterday, Sunday evening, Maisa finally gave birth to her beautiful puppies! Actually, it was the expected day, 63.

We have now 1 handsome boy and 4 beautiful girls. It took only 1 hours 45 mins for Maisa to deliver them. They all were very even in size and are extremely strong and healthy! Maisa is being a lovely mother producing milk :)

Thank you all for you congratulations, we are very happy indeed!

Huge Jyväskylä Int Show on Father's Day

After a pause of two months from showing, we went to this big and traditional show in Jyväskylä.

This time we had with us only young kiddos, Rocky and sister Hertta, then the 10 month old brothers Raisu and Ruuti who were for the first time in official classes.

We were thrilled after junior males as Raisu won and Ruuti was 2nd, both with cq! The entry of junior males was 5, so this was a big thing for us.

Rocky was the winner in intermediate class, with a cq also and then there were all our boys in the best male competition. And they did great, as Raisu was awarded the 2nd best male prize with a cc and Rocky was 4th. This was more than we had hoped for :)

In the bitches we only had Hertta, who was beautifully by "Janne-the-hubby" this time. She is a gorgeous mover and this was also noticed by the judge as in the end she was 2nd best bitch with a cc!
(We also want to congratulate Ari for Siiri's win and her new title CIB!)

We were mostly excited to show our breeder's group for the first time ever. The result could not have been better as we were given the first prize and loads of praises from the judge, mr. Eddie Patterson from Ireland. Thank you judge!

In the finals our group of youg boys plus a girly-girl Hertta managed to make a cut to the best 6 groups of the show!!!!! We naturally still need to practise a bit more with them but overall we are over the moon! This is something nice to continue with.

Our thank yous go to the owners of Raisu, Rocky, Ruuti and Hertta, you love your dogs and keep them in the perfect shape. This was also noticed by the judge as in every dogs' critique it said: "shown in excellent condition" :)

Thank you also to dear Ari and Bulldobas-Tipi, for everything ever, not to mention for your help showing our group. Love you guys!

Here a photo of our cc-winner girl Hertta, taken in October. She is a very beautiful mover!

Photo by Mira Wagner.

Puppies, puppies, puppies on the way!

Many weeks since the latest update, but as you know, the fall with basenjis in season is verrrry busy!

First I have to share the happy news that our beautiful Maisa (ch Bulldobas Crown Jewel) has been mated to gorgeous Duke (ch Kimwitu's Duke E) :))
The next litter of Hi-Lite puppies is expected on 25th November!

Then our own precious Timon had also a girlfriend visiting him, "Tiltu" (Fi Ch DW-11 SuBaMM-10 Hanishan Reveal The Mystery). Timon fell in love with his bride right away and puppies are expected to kennel Hanishan on 10th Nov.

Here is the newly wed couple Timon x Tiltu:

Also our young mister Rocky got a girlfriend, all the way from Sweden! Lovely Märang (ch Touch of Razz Märang) had a successful visit and puppies are expected on the late November. We wish you lovely puppies Carina @ Touch of Razz!

Rocky will also have another date later on this fall with ch. Sternhimmels Laterna Magica. Inquiries of this to kennel Sternhimmels :)

A perfect, perfect weekend in Norway!

During the summer we made a decision to go to Norway for a dog show in the fall with Mari, the owner of Hertta.

So on Friday we started the journey with Hertta and her brother Tico. We drove almost all night, had just a couple of hours of sleep around 3 AM, and then in the morning we finally reached the northern city of Tromssa.

On Saturday it was time for a Tromssa Hundeklubb's national all breed show and the judge was mr. Pekka Teini from Finland. The entry was nice 6.
There were 3 dogs in intermediate class and Tico was the best male! He was behaving very nicely.

Hertta was also looking lovely and was bb-2 with a cc. The winner of the bitches was a pretty sister of our black Norwegian import Alli. Her name was Kingwanas Glory Of Spotlight.

Tico was chose as BOB and the judge told that both of the dogs were lovely representatives of the breed :)
But this just wasn't all. Mr. Teini was also judging the group-5 and Tico was the winner of it!!! I was on cloud 9 and almost ready to go to our hotel. I just couldn't believe when mr. Leif Ragnar Hjort from Norway chose Tico as BEST in SHOW!!! The happiness is almost indiscribable! Have to say though, that I absolutely think Tico was well worth it all as he is a very sound and good looking dog and he moved like a dream :)

Here he is winning the group 5 under judge mr. Teini:

Here is a photo of him on the First podium, judge mr. Hjort, BIS-1:

On Sunday the same 6 dogs gathered to the showground, and Tico won the males again, with a cc and a cacib!! Then it was very exciting to handle his beauuuuutiful sister Hertta and she managed to win it all too!! I was so happy :))) The judge mrs. Marianne Holmli gave BOB to Tico and gorgeous critiques to both of our dogs.

Tico's critique: "WOW! Fantastic balance. Elegant, super topline, well angulated. Super tail. Super mover."

Hertta's critique: "Super elegant. Feminine. Well balanced. Nice body and bone. A little bit unfinished in front. Super movement. Nice temperament."

Here are the 2 dogs that we are very proud of, Hi-Lite Honky Tonk and Hi-Lite Hula Hoops together with the breed judge mrs. Holmli:

Unfortunately we couldn't stay for the finals, as Mari and I had to go to work on Monday morning and we had to drive another 1100 kms... But we got more than we dreamed of and the whole trip was soooo much worth it!!

Thank you all judges, Ida for you company and your photos, Niina for loving Tico and Mari for being my friend and giving Hertta the best home ever! Not to mention the thanks of the whole journey we had, with so much laughter :)
Thank you also Momma Tipi @ Bulldobas for always being there when needed <3

Rocky BIG-3

Travelled alone with 3 very dear dogs to Tervakoski International show.
There was again a change of the judge, so the new judge was mrs. Maija Mäkinen.

This was the last show, in puppy class for Raisu and he was looking lovely as always, placement was 2nd with honour prize.
I am soooo proud of our Smooth Operator, as he was shown 9 times in puppy class and was placed in each and every of them (including Basenji Specialty and Sighthound Specialty) with a hp every time! I guess that shows his class and that he is the most promising young dog - just waiting for him to grow up!

Then it was Rocky's turn. He won his class and then best male with a cc and a cacib!

In bitches there was Hertta, our very sweet dark faced girl. She presented herself beautifully and got the res-cc! The whole entry was 22 adults + 5 puppies.

I was thrilled when mrs. Mäkinen gave the BOB prize to Rocky. So very proud of our youngster! This photo is taken by our dear friend Helena, who has our Tuuli son Karma (Bulldobas Catch The Wind), placed bm-2 in Tervakoski:

I couldn't believe it when Rocky was also chosen as 3rd Best in Group by mr. Lazslo Erdös! The photo by Kaija Eerola:

It was very late when I finally got home, but the happy feeling got me safe home :)
Thank you Laura for loving Rocky and Raisu, and the same for Mari-my-dear-friend for loving Hertta <3

Beauty and brains = Hertta

Our "wild at heart girl" Hertta, Hula Hoops, entered her first ever LC-competition last Saturday with her great owner, Mari.

We were extremely excited about it, but it all went superbly. Hertta did 2 great runs and won the competition with her first LC cc!!
We were so happy and overwhelmed, may the success continue in the fields for her :)

Thank you Mari & co for giving the perfect home for Hertta!

This lovely photo of her was taken by Hanna Kaukola, thank you.

Here is the father of Hertta, our very own Timon. I can see the similarity in these 2, can you??

Kouvola/Heinola show weekend

Last weekend we did 2 shows with lovely results.
On Saturday it was time for Kouvola show, that we had never visited before. I was not supposed to enter Maisa to any shows this year, but as the judge was so interesting, we decided to enter her anyway.
It was ms. Sofie Lönn of Enigma Basenjis that did the judging for the first time, so we did show 3 dogs.

In puppy class Raisu kept on receiving honour prizes, this time he was 2nd :)

In males Rocky did well, once again, winning a cc with BM-3 placement.

Then Maisa, in champion class. She took it all winning BOB to her handsome brother Rene, so it is really STILL running in the family (of Bulldobas)!
I was very proud of our little girl's performance. And the day was lovely and sunny!

Here a pic of the best dogs, taken by Satu Seppälä-Ikonen:

On Sunday we continued to Heinola, where the judge was one of the most toughest in Finland, mrs. Elina Haapaniemi. I do respect her judging a lot, because she hands out also other prizes than excellents.
Raisu won BOB-puppy and we are very happy about it :))
Rocky was 2nd best male with a cc again!!
And Maisa, BOB again :) followed by Rene also this time.

Maisa was also shortlisted in the final in the afternoon. This was her last show this year, as now we can really start waiting for her season to come... Hopefully there will be supersweet Maisa x Duke puppies on the way later on this year!!

Thank you so much for your company during the weekend Tipi and Iinis and thank you dear Laura for having me overnight at your home with the gorgeous boys of yours, Rocky and Raisu <3

Kuopio triple international show

Every second year we are lucky to have a triple int shows in our hometown. We had a very busy, but lovely and also successful weekend!

Our big giant, CAO Faruk, won BOB with cacib every day! He got nothing but flattering critiques, to be proud of :) Thank you judges Sinko, Beare and Willberg.

Here Faruk is shown to judge mr. Stefan Sinko:

Here is also the best bitch in the photo:

On Friday basenjis were judged by mr. Zsolt Lokodi from Romania. There were 6 puppies and we were thrilled of the BOB title of our first timer Ruuti (Hi-Lite Saturday Night Fever)! He is such a handsome young boy with a bright future:

Brother Raisu was 3rd with hp!
In adults our boy from the north, Tico (Hi-Lite Honky Tonk) was nothing less than BOB and his sister Hertta (HL Hula Hoops) was BOS. Both were awarded with a cc and cacib!
Granny Tuuli was BOS-veteran and 2nd best bitch.

Saturday the judge was mrs. Saija Juutilainen. She liked our Raisu a lot this time, followed by his brother Ruuti. Both had honour prize and Raisu won BOS-puppy to his lovely half sister Penni!

Our girls did marvellous job again, Hertta best bitch with a cacib and Tuuli BOS-veteran and 2nd best bitch! Hertta stacked on the table:

Sunday was a great day again!
We had Rocky (HL Hot Rod) entered only for this day and he was 2nd best male with a cc and res-cacib (to be confirmed after his uncle Rene!!!)
The judge mr. Kurt Nilsson seemed to love him, at least the critique was nothing but excellent :)
Hertta and Tuuli repeated the same placements as before, but this time Tuuli was also BOB-veteran!

Here is Hertta with her BOB uncle ch Bulldobas Cream And Sugar:

The weekend was perfect; thank you all for making it so lovely and thank you for everyone taking such great care of our babies <3

News from Mikkeli International show

We showed 4 of our dogs to mrs. Pirjo Aaltonen from Finland.

In males Rocky was 2nd best with cc number 9 :)

Maisa won the bitches with cacib and was finally BOS and her mother Tuuli was BOB-veteran and BB-4. So very nice results and all our dogs got very flattering critiques.

But most proud we are of our 7 month + few days old Raisu (Hi-Lite Smooth Operator), who was BOB-puppy out of 4 and he was behaving sooo nicely.

Our beautiful baby boy Raisu here in the pics taken by Pauliina Y. Thank you so much Laura for taking good care of the "little boys"! :DDD

Aske in Sweden

Have to share the news of Hi-Lite Hillbilly "Aske" who lives in Sweden with his magnificent young master Magnus.

We were very upset last fall when Aske, who was exported to Sweden, had to look for a new home BUT luckily he managed to find the best new owner and we are soooo grateful to him! So thank you Magnus for taking such great care of our little one.

Aske has been able to attend a few shows as well. By now he has been to 4 shows gaining excellent every time and last weekend we feel he hit the jackpot by winning best male on Saturday with a cc and on Sunday he repeated the same result PLUS a cacib!!!
So proud of the boys!

Here he is pictured with the BOB bitch Faraoland Flower By Kenzo. Photo by Bruno K:

Finnish Sighthound Specialty 2012

It was a loooovely day in sunshine at Helsinki Sighthound course for us all sighthound people. Basenjis were judged by mr. Martin Sanders (GBR). There were 11 puppies and 29 adults.

Our super sweet bayboy Raisu entered the ring first and won his class with hp and a nice critique. We are sooo proud of him!

Then Rocky was shown, and he won his class and in the end was chosen as the best male! Soooo very proud of him <3

In bitches both Maisa and Tuuli were exc-3 in their classes.
Rocky was finally BOS and we want to thank Laura for owning and loving our precious puppies!

All the photos above are taken by Katja Lappalainen, thank you!

Success for Tico!

Hi-Lite Honky Tonk "Tico" attended Kokkola International show, and the weather there was really hot and sunny.
The judge was mr. Markku Kipinä and he gave our youngster BOB with a cc and the first cacib! It was Tico's first time to compete in intermediate class so a first change to receive a cacib and he took it!
Tico also got a nice placement in the group finals, he was 4th under judge mr. Pekka Teini.

Tico was shown 4 times in puppy class and was 3 x BOB-puppy and 1 x BOS-puppy. This was his 5th time in official classes and his 2nd Group placement! We cannot wait to see what the future will bring to him....
Thank you judges Kipinä and Teini!

Tico was perfectly handled by her owner Niina and we are so thankful that she and Petri gave such a great home to our "baby" and that they sometimes will take him to shows - our sincere thank you!!

Traditional Aptus International Show in Helsinki

Another wonderful show in the steaming hot sunshine.
Right away when we heard that the judge was going to be mr. Glenway Dymock, we decided to enter this show. The entry was numerous, 30. And here is how it went:

Rocky was the winner of intermediate class and finally 3rd best male with a res-cc, a lovely result for our handsome boy!

Here is Rocky's beautiful movement and him stacked on the ground:





Rocky's half brother Robbe, the son of our Timon, was excellent 2 :)

Then Maisa won the ch class with a cq. Tuuli was shown in veterans for the first time and won her class with a cq, as well! There were 14 bitches and our lovely veteran was handled by her co-owner Tiina as "5th best bitch" and daughter Maisa won best bitch! Tuuli was also the BOB-veteran, photo here:




Maisa was looking really beautiful and was given the BOB-prize :) We are extremely happy and proud!

Here are photos of Maisa stacked and BOB-photo. BOS-dog is Kanibaru Jalo Vitari.







Also Maisa's brothers did great; I handled Karma in ch class and he won that big class finishing as 2nd best male. Bro Rene was 3rd with a cq in champion class, so a great day we all had!! Thank you judge mr. Dymock!

Here a lovely photo of handsome Rocky with Granny-Tuuli, such beautiful heads!! Thanks Laura for your help!



Maisa gaiting in the group final:





Congrats Tiina @ Bulldobas, also for other success this weekend. Our Timon son Bulldobas Blockbuster won the Czech Specialty under judge mrs. Anneli Pukkila of Sternhimmels Basenjis!! Great job Marcel and congratulations also for Liina's BOS-title.
Mr. Rene was also shown in Kotka the next day, and he was nothing less than BIG-2 <3

All these photos taken by Katja Lappalainen or Pauliina Ylitörmä, thank you!

Finnish Specialty show - amazing weekend!

Again, we went to the Specialty show of Basenjis here in Finland. The judge this year was mr. Christian Jouanchicot from France, the breeder of Out of Africa basenjis.

The whole weekend was great! First in the ring we had little boy Raisu, Hi-Lite Smooth Operator. It was his first time! There were 13 male puppies in his class and Raisu was being the very cute himself that he is and he was placed 2nd!!! We were very proud of this happy and lovely guy and can't wait for the future of this boy... :)



He is still very much developing, a tall boy that he is, but we are certain he will look fab when adult. Photo by Rami Niva:



So Raisu is a son of our and Tiina Taavitsainen's Kimwitu's Duke E. Also other 3 kiddos of him , bred by Bulldobas/Safeguard, were shown great, all with great critique and Penni being nothing less than BIS-puppy out of 26 pups!!! We are so proud and very happy for Tiina, Marita and Rami :)

We showed our handsome Rocky, Hi-Lite Hot Rod, in the intermediate class and he was exc-1 with a cq and a winner of Aatu Trophy. In the best male competition he did marvellous job and was 4th best male with a res-cc out of 39 males!! We were thrilled of this achievement.

Here Rocky being examined on the table:



And here is Rocky's beautiful side gait:



On Sunday it was time to judge the bitches. Rocky's beautiful sister Hertta, Hi-Lite Hula Hoops, was also the winner of a tough class of intermediate bitches with excellent and a cq. This is how she looked on the table:



Maisa-the-momma, Bulldobas Crown Jewel, looked stunning and was "5th" with a cq in a ch class of 16. Maisa stacked:



In the best bitch competition Hertta repeated her brother's placement being 4th best bitch with a res-cc out of 44 bitches!! We are still on cloud 9 :)



So a great weekend it was and sooooo much fun with all our dear friends, we are already waiting for the next year's Specialty! Thank you Laura for taking such good care of our little boys Rocky and Raisu and special thanks to Mari for driving Hertta to the show. It was so lovely to have a class of bubbling with you all <3

Timon and thyroids

Timon is now 6,5 years and has been tested for thyroids 4 times if I remember correct. The results have always been good or excellent and tested him couple of weeks back again. The resulsta were:

Test Result Refer: Min Max
-------- ----- ------- ------
S-T4 23,8 nmol/l (*--) 17 53
S-TSH 0,1 ng/ml (*--) 0 0,5
S-T4/ TSH 238 >30

Testi Result Min Max
-------- ----- ------- ------ ------
S-T4A 11 % 0 20
S-T3A 4 % 0 10
S-TGA 6 % 0 35


So very good values once again. Now we are happily waiting for the fall the come and for his girlfriend Tiltu, ch Hanishan Reveal The Mystery :))

Here is a lovely shot of our darling guy, taken by Katja L.