Merry Christmas to all!!!

Best wishes, Hansu & Janne

The end of the show year 2013

We went to a 3 day trip to Helsinki, to attend to this massive show weekend.

On Friday the entry was over 30 and the judge was mrs. Outi Piisi-Putta. Our dream came true as for the first time a basenji bred by Hi-Lite won Best of Breed! And it was Ruuti, Hi-Lite Saturday Night Fever. The judge praised him and we agree with her. Ruuti got the title Helsinki Winner 2013 :) Rocky was excellent 4th with a cq in champion class. Congrats Tuija and Aki!
Sorry about the quality of this picture taken with my cell.... BOS was Behukai Elegant Pearl, congrats to her team once more!



Lilja (HL Wow Factor) continued her wonderful success winning the junior class of 7 girls and was finally 4th best bitch with her first ever title Helsinki Junior Winner 2013!!



Thank you Maarit Haavisto for this lovely picture of Lilja.


Saturday started great because Faruk won best of breed with the title Nordic Winner 2013 under judge mrs. Soile Bister!! There were 6 CAOs entered so we think highly of this win.




Later on there were about 60 basenjis entered to a judge mrs. Jadranka Mijatovic from Croatia. Ruuti was again the best Finnish dog and 3rd best male after all!! He is such a stunner. Rocky got excellent again, Lilja was among the best 7 basenji bitches out of a great entry, so a lovely result for her as well.

On Sunday the judge mrs. Magnus Hagsted gave excellents to both our boys Rocky and Ruuti, with cq to them. But the show was stolen by Lilja. This little girl won BEST OF BREED over almost 40 adult basenjis with a style!! She is such a piece of gold.... Lilja was also shortlisted in the final among the best 8. Congrats Mervi and JP!!

PUPPIES PUPPIES PUPPIES

Hertta gave birth to four beautiful tricolor puppies on Sunday evening, 8th December.
There are 2 boys and 2 girls, all just wonderful.

It all went smoothly and Hertta is a great mom. We are very happy, because we all got to be there to witness that amazing thing. Both two families, ours and the co-owners of Hertta of couse :)

All the puppies seem to be spoken for, thank you all for your interest!

Double success again at Jyväskylä International show

The whole entry to this show was gigantic, over 5000 dogs. Basenjis were judged by a lovely mrs. Viva Maria Soleckyj-Szpunar from Poland.

It was 5 Hi-Lite dogs entered, thank you all! First out was young master Seti with his owner Tiia, they did lovely job as first timers in an indoor show and Seti won the junior class with excellent critique and a cq. Well done!

Then it was Raisu's go in an intermediate class, he was exc-1 with a cq and so was brother Ruuti in open class. Janne beautifully handled Rocky again in champion class, excellent and a class win! So 4 of boys were shown, all winning their classes. After a very tough competition, the judge decided to give best male to Ruuti, followed by Rocky! Raisu was 4th best male with a res-cc.

Lilja was the only girl entered from Hi-Lite, but managed once again to win e.g. many champions and was the best bitch for the third time in a row in big international shows! She is truly amazing...

So the BOB competition was between Lilja and Ruuti and a very tough decicion for our judge. Ruuti, being more mature, won this time. Extremely happy!!

These 3 photos by Katja Lappalainen.





Ha ha, it is not always easy to stack a breeder's class... Still we managed to get a lovely critique.



In the finals, Hi-Lite group was chosen in the final 7 out of MANY wonderful groups by mr. Hans Lehtinen.
Our breed judge mrs. Soleckyj-Szpunar was also judging the group 5 and placed Ruuti as 2nd best in Group!! Thank you Salla Kuikka for this lovely photo.



Congrats once more to all our friends and the owners of our dogs, you are the best. Let's keep up the good work <3

Hertta is DEFINATELY pregnant!

Her co-owner Mari took her to ultrasound on Tuesday and yes, many puppies on the way! Yahoo!!!
I am sure the puppies will born exactly in one month ;)
Keep your fingers crossed for the rest of her preggy time!

This is how smooth she used to look, let's wait how she will look in 3 weeks or so ;)

Kennel Club's Dog of the year 2013-competition in Finland

Now this competition is over for year 2013 and the results gave us more than we could ever even expect!

Sweet and gorgeous Ruuti, Hi-Lite Saturday Night Fever, has had a marvellous year so far. He has 11 ccs and he was 7 times BOB so far! From this 7 times he was in the Group finals, he was placed 6 times!!
So his final placement was 67th of ALL BREEDS here in Finland - amazing! He is still not 2 years old....so we will see what the next year will bring to him :) Congrats Ruuti, Tuija & Aki!





Even more surprisingly our breeders class was placed as 27th of the year ALL BREEDS! Our group every time filled with young dogs only was shortlisted in the big ring in Jyväskylä, Lahti and Tampere before placed in our home town show Kuopio, winning BIS-1 breeder out of 6 at the Finnish Specialty and then hitting the jackpot at Iisalmi International!!

Thank you all our friends for making this possible, it wouldn't be possible without you <3

Faruk's health tests

Now our CAO boy Turkmen Stam Faruk has been officially health tested by his hips and elbows; results we the best possible A/A and 0/0!
We are naturally so very happy and pleased, not that we expected any less ;)

Lahti International

The day was perfect! 31 basenjis were entered for Slovenian judge mrs. Tatjana Urek.
Raisu, HL Smooth Operator, got a lovely critique and was in intermediate class exc2 with a cq. Ruuti (HL Saturday Night Fever) won the open class with a cq. Rocky (HL Hot Rod) managed to win the ch class of 7 males and was finally best male 1 with a cacib of course!! Ruuti was 4th best male! Just wonderful, but that wasn't it all..

Miss Lilja, 11 months, won the bitches! She was BOS to Rocky with another cc and also BOB-junior. In the big ring with I'd say along almost 100 other juniors, she was shortlisted by mrs. Leni Finne. BOB-BOS pic by Ami.




In the Group final breeder judge Leila Kärkäs gave the BIG-4 rosette to Rocky!! That was so wonderful! Pic by Pasada.



Congrats Laura, Mervi and Tuija, and thank you for everything - once again <3

Hi-Lite Saturday Night Fever

This gorgeous pic is by Pasada, thank you!

The king and the princess of Seinäjoki International show :)

Hi-Lite showed only two dogs for the judge mrs. Anne Indergaard from Norway. The entry 13 was of high quality, that's why we are extremely happy of the results as follows...

Ruuti "Hi-Lite Saturday Night Fever" Best of Breed with a cc and a cacib PLUS Group-2. The entry of the whole show was almost 4000 and the group winning pomeranian was finally Best In Show, so we didn't definately lose to a bad dog ;)

Lilja "Hi-Lite Bulldobas Wow Factor" Best of Opposite Sex with a cc, too young to receive her cacib!









Thank you JP for these photos. Congrats to Tuija and Mervi, thank you <3

Finally a picture of Ruuti winning Group-1 in Mikkeli!

Thank you Paula Heikkinen-Lehkonen for this gorgeous pic. The judge is mr. Esa Ruotsalainen.

Puppies expected on 9th December 2013!!

Yesterday Finny mated Hertta, and of the behaviour of them both we can say the timing was definately right. Hertta was being.. well.. a bitchy bitch and Finny was a true gentleman through out the whole ceremony :))

So happy everything went well, in couple of weeks we will know if the tummy starts to get bigger. Will let everyone know!



Thank you so much Ari, Janne, Tiina and Mari for your help so far!

The heat is on.... :))

Yei! Hertta finally started her season last Tuesday! We are soooo excited, guess we will have to test her progesterone levels for the first time this week, then we will know more. Keep your fingers crossed. We just love this beautiful girl.





Maybe there will be one or two of these in the litter later on...?

Lilja wins her first cc at Porvoo show!

Our super, super sweet girl Lilja went to Porvoo show with her owner Mervi. There had been a change of the judge and the new judge was mrs. Hassi Assenmacher from Germany. First the beauty went on winning the junior class of 3 and then was placed as 3rd best bitch just after two champions getting a cc!

Very very happy and pleased - congrats Mervi!!

Active weekend

On Saturday we went to very hot Mäntyharju show. The judge was lovely mrs. Maija Mäkinen. Our boys did fantastic; Rocky won best male, Ruuti 2nd with a cc after a very tight competition and Raisu 4th best male.

Miss Lilja was out in the junior class for the first time at the age of 9 months and 6 days and got a res-cc and 4th best bitch placement! Our cupcake <3

Rocky was finally BOS and BOB was our dear friends' Siiri - congrats!

Our breeder's group was BOB with a lovely critique once again. Thank you Ari, Janne, Mervi and Tuija for spending the day with us there, we had so much fun!

Ruuti stacked in his class:




This is how beautiful Lilja looks:



Pics above by JP Savilaakso :)

At the same time Lilja's handsome brother went to a group show in Rovaniemi to be judged by mrs. Marjatta Pylvänäinen-Suorsa. And boy did he do well winning BOB with a cc right away!!! He was also shortlisted in the finals by mrs. Riitta Lahtovaara. This is the best news ever! Congrats Tiia and family!

Here Seti pictured by Rami Niva



On Sunday our momma to be, Hertta, went to a lure coursing competition and she did great job and was 2nd with a cq! Congrats Marsa, now tell Hertta to start her season soon... ;)

Rainy show in Kouvola

During the breed judging the weather was still fine. The Estonian judge mrs. Astrid Lundava gave first an excellent to our Raisu, and an excellent with a cq to Rocky, but Ruuti won the best male!
In the bitches our sweet and beautiful momma to be, Hertta, was 2nd best bitch!! Ruuti was finally awarded Best of Breed, his 5th in 6 last shows...
"Very beautiful young male. Good size and proportions. Beautiful, expressive head. Beautiful, breedlike wrinkle. Very beautiful ears. Well set and long neck. Very beautiful topline and underline. Well set and carried tail. Beautiful movement."



Our breeders class got a critique saying: "Very beautiful, even group. Good luck to the big ring!"



Pic by Johanna Sundholm.

By the time of the finals, it was raining cats and dogs. NOT good for a basenji.... Ruuti still managed to show his best to the judge mrs. Tuula Savolainen and was placed Group-2!



Photo by Pasada.

Needless to say we are very very proud of Ruuti as well as all of the other dogs as well. Super thanks for Tuija, Ari and Janne for this wonderful, rainy day <3 Now just lets wait for Hertta to start her season!

Double International show in Joensuu

For our part it was time for the last Int shows of the summer season. On Saturday's show we had a change of judge; the new judge was mr. Rainer Vuorinen, a world known all rounder.

When Lilja entered the ring, she had a lovely critique and the judge even said "10 000 dollar puppy!"
"Very beautiful and proud, petite and stylish puppy. Excellent head and wrinkle. Beautiful eyes and ears. Stunning set neck. Correct set tail. Fine angulations and stylish movement." So BOB-puppy she was.



And when mr. Ruuti flew into the ring, he said "Oh my god.." In a positive way ;)
His critique was "Very beautiful, male with ideal proportions. Beautiful, pear shaped head. Fine wrinkle. Stunning ears. Lovely crested neck. Short and good topline and coupling. Tail well set high. Excellent angulations. Lovely pliant skin. Excellent mover. A beautiful dog!"

So the best male with him with a cc and his very first cacib! Mr. Vuorinen also loved Hertta and her stunning movement! Finally Ruuti was BOB and Hertta BOS!



In the finals Ruuti was shortlisted among the best 8!

On Sunday the results were exactly the same under an Irish judge mr. John R Walsh. He also was the judge in the final, and we were so happy when he placed Ruuti as Group-4!!



Pic by Pasada.

I also want to share this beautiful photo of our princess Hertta, who gained her cacib number 11 this weekend. She is having her well earned rest.



We are so thankful for this wonderful weekend, once again and want to send our warmest congrats to Tuija, Mervi and Marsa <3

Hi-Lite Breeder's Group wins BEST In SHOW!

On Sunday we went to Iisalmi International Show. The weather was more than hot, it was boiling. But the atmosphere was great for our team right from the beginning :)

The judge for Basenjis was mrs. Elina Haapaniemi. She is always very pleasant when judging. Janne took Lilja (Wow Factor) to the ring first and her result was, once again, BOB-puppy with a pleasing critique! It can be found from Lilja's own show results' page. She is one true little princess <3


Then it was Raisu's (Smooth Operator) go to enter the ring and he won the intermediate class with a cq.
Both our dogs got an excellent in champion class, Rocky (Hot Rod) first and Tico (Honky Tonk) second. In the best male Rocky was placed as first with a cacib and Raisu was second with a cc!


Then we got really excited about the bitches, as it was Hertta's turn and she was lacking her last cacib needed for her C.I.B.-title....
And she DID it with best bitch and a cacib! Hooray!! She is just a bit over 2,5 years and got her first cacib 3.August 2012 and now this last one 4.August 2013 :D So quite nice right?


In the finals we had success too! Group 5 was judged by mr. Michael Leonard from Ireland. He placed Rocky as Group-3!





Then it was the breeder's groups and the judge was mrs. Ligita Zake. Our dream came true when the first prize was handed to us...





(Both photos by Marko Salmela - thank you!)
We want to congratulate specially Mari and Timo for keeping Hertta is tip top shape always and loving her so much!!
Also super thanks Niina for your help <3 Thank you thank you also Mervi and Laura!! We couldn't do this without you... Want to add also this photo of Faruk taken past week at our local match show. He was having so much fun with "papa-Janne", we will see if we will enter him to a couple of shows later this year again, once he gets his coat back :D Photo by Sinttu Ruuskanen.

A great show weekend!!

July has been a very busy month for us, show wise ;)
On Saturday we went all the way to Helsinki to the Annual show of the Finnish Sight Hound Specialty. The judge was mr Jarmo Vuorinen.
First it was Lilja's turn and she ended up being BOB puppy out of 8 puppies. Very very happy about that!



Raisu looked fabulous again, and got an excellent:




Rocky, being the wonderful dog he is, won Best of Breed! Have I ever told you that I love him to bits? This was his 3rd time in a row to win best male at this Specialty show. Year 2011 he was only 9 months old to win best male and BOS, last year he was in intermediate class and BOS and now this..



In the finals there was no success for Rocky, but sweet Lilja went all the way as Best In Show puppy under Estonian judge mrs. Kristin Kemer!!



The pics above by Katja Lappalainen, the one here by Kerttu Haaslahti.




On Sunday we were still thrilled but the good news continued even if we weren't in a show ourselves! Our super puppy owners and friends were kind enough to take Lilja, Tico and Hertta to the International show of Ylivieska. The judge was mr. Markku Kipinä.
Lilja was BOB puppy again, and the one week old new CIB Tico BOB with another cacib!!! Hertta was 2nd best bitch!

Here Tico is pictured by Rami Niva one week ago at Oulu Int show, I can't believe how lovely all this H-litter is??



Also Aske, Hi-Lite Hillbilly, went to a show in Sweden and got and excellent with a lovely critique! Well done Magnus!

Thank you so much everyone involved, love you guys!

The black beauty is gone....

Our super sweet girl Alli, Kingwanas Greatest Story Of All, is dead. And the sadest thing is that we don't know why....
I am so sorry Alli, you deserved so much more <3 I hope you can forgive me black princess.....

The first CIB bred by Hi-Lite is true!

Went to the double Int show in Oulu this weekend. We had only one adult entered plus two puppies :)

On Saturday Seti (Hi-Lite Bulldobas Wise Guy) won BOB puppy over his sister Lilja. They both got loads of praises from the judge mr. Erdös!
We are very proud of course, specially of Seti's owner Tiia, they have trained very hard and this is the result:



On Sunday, it was the other way round, Lilja winning BOB-puppy! The judge was mr. Vitor Veiga.




In adults we had high hopes on Tico (Hi-Lite Honky Tonk), wishing him to finish his International Ch title... and it happened right away on his first try out!
On Saturday he won BOB and on Sunday BOS with cacibs!! So very proud of him and his owner Niina..









All pics by Rami Niva, congrats to Rami and Marita for beautiful Penni's success as well! It was greeeeaaat to see you!