Paula Ruotsalainen, my friend who lives in Finland, sent me an email recently. I asked if I could post it on my blog with a photo of her dogs. I have edited it slightly.

I love her dogs. Maybe one day I will be able to bring one of her puppies over here. Her dogs are active, healthy, and part of her family.

Left to right above: Kelmi, Stella, Minttu, and Roni. (See below for more information on Paula's dogs.) Photo is by Paula Ruotsalainen with permission. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it.

I'm so very happy to tell you that Minttu, the daughter of the wonderful Stella and my Kelmi, today earned a “zero” (no failures on the track and under the ideal time). Minttu is now raised to the highest class in agility, the 3rd class.

During the spring and summer of 2009, Stella went even faster than Minttu from the 1st class (the beginners' class) to the highest class. Minttu is running faster than Stella or Kelmi do, so it took longer, because I had to learn to lead Minttu differently from her parents.

During the last few months I have competed only with Minttu, but of course trained all the time with also Stella and Kelmi. Now because all my ISDs are in the highest class, it is easier logistically, as usually the competitions are separated into different days on a week-end. The classes 1 and 2 are competing one day, and the 3 class on the other day. Now also Stella and Kelmi will return to the competitions. I'm thrilled to run with 3 ISDs in the same competition.

With happy greetings, Paula & Stella, Minttu, Kelmi and Roni

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Minttu is such a beautiful sweetheart, and I'm just thrilled with her ability to concentrate and learn new things very quickly. And yes, I do have a wonderful life with my 4 ISDs, my 7 Sacred Birman cats, my 2 Bengal cats, my husband, and my two daughters, who have both already "flown out of the nest".

Unfortunately due to all that frequent training and competing (and also instructing others) in agility, I don't have any fresh photos of Minttu, Stella, Kelmi and Roni. Perhaps this attached one would do? It was taken nearly exactly one year ago. Each of my dogs has a set of photos on my Flickr pages: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59026638@N08/sets/
 (You might have to copy and past that address in order to see Paula’s photos!)

Now all of my ISDs are in the highest class of agility, in medi3 class. In obedience, Minttu competes in the Novice class, Stella in the Open class and Kelmi in the Winner class.

TK1 is a title a dog gets when passing the Novice class' obedience test 3 times with a result of at least 160 points of the maximum 200 points. TK2 is likewise the obedience title, when a dog gets at least 160 points (of 200 points) 3 times in the Open class. BH is the title a dog gets when passing the maturity test of service dogs.

The call names, official names, listed with the titles, of my ISDs – in the same order as the photo - are: -

Kelmi  (Astvinur Eldur)  =  C.I.B., FI & EE & LT & LV Ch; EE & LV Junior Ch, BH, TK1, TK2
Stella (Runestone Mocha Latte) = FI Ch, BH, TK1
Minttu (Vongoivan Druna) = Junior Winner 2011
Roni (Tunturiketun Roni) = C.I.B; FI & S & EE & LT & LV Ch, Winner 2005