Little Kiki, now known as Aino, has moved to Vaasa to live with Anna and Kira-Poodle. We all miss the cutest little grey mouse!

A couple of weeks ago we got a new family member from Lohja as Murmeli arrived (as my birthday present)! Murmeli is a Burmilla male and comes from Hämynhäivän cattery.

Berylline PS I Love You, "Tira" posing at 3 months:

... and here is Kiki, Berylline Polka Dot posing at 3 months:

Irishboy has now returned back home to Margret and all the other IGs in Belgium. He's a real special boy and we miss him so much! Good thing I had some company on the return flight, Topaasin Bling Bling, "Bling" is back in Finland and will be staying here with us for some time. She's such a sweet girl, little Blingeling!

Bling, Casper and Margret

Kumma's and Ira's puppies are doing great in their new homes!

Berylline Pancakes For Breakfast, "Nuppu" in her new home

Berylline Piano Man, "Luka" in his first photoshoot

At Tromsö Int, northern Norway Karkki, Dark Legend's Blowin' in the Wind, was BOB and BIG-4 for the Norwegian judge Björg Foss.

See photos of Ira's adorable puppies at kennel Topaasin in the gallery. The copy of the daddy, Topaasin American Beauty aka Hertta, will be co-owned by us and Karita Masalin. We wish all the puppies and their owners good luck for the future!

Ira's job here in Finland has now been done, he's gained some decent results in the ring but furthermore he's become a daddy to 2 litters, alltogether 5 girls and 3 boys! 4 of these are puppies of our own but the other litter is after a bitch Fin Ch Abolla Eleonora Vertragus, she gave birth to 2 males and 2 females on 17th August 2009. The puppies are residing in Tampere, southern Finland and further inquiries may be directed to Sirpa Niskanen sirpa.niskanen@pp2.inet.fi or Karita Masalin karitamasalin@hotmail.com. For more info, visit kennel Topaasin website.

Dark male

Blue female

From sunny and warm Portugal we welcome baby girl Victoria do Castelo de Alfaia to Finland! Thank you Miguel for trusting us this little cutie!

It was time for Karkki's debute in show ring on both days as we had 2 international shows in Oulu. On Saturday she was 4th best bitch for the Austrian Günther Ehrenreich. On Sunday we had a special treat as IGs were to be judged by the French Jean-Louis Grünheid (du Manoir des Ombreuses Italian Greyhounds). I had all three entered and Ira ended up 4th best male, Kinttu 3rd best bitch and Karkki charmed the judge with her - according to the judge - youthful presence finishing being best bitch with CAC and CACIB.

Tuomas Kulha's photos from Saturday & Sunday

Karkki

Kinttu

BOB Soltar's King Of My Castle, BOS Karkki

Ira was in ring on both days in Piteå Int and Kokkola Int. On Saturday in Piteå, Tanya Ahlman-Stockmari thought that Ira's front action was way too high and incorrect and therefore no CQ. On Sunday in Kokkola, Anette Edlander however found his front action typical for the breed. Life is!

I want to congratulate Anna-Kaisa with her Khalils Qadaan Wa Qadaran for finishing his Finnish and Swedish championships at Piteå Int!

Ira BOB at Kokkola Int, BOS Tarumetsän Hopeatiuku

Heikki Niva's photos from Kokkola Int

This is a rare treat for us: the dogs being able to enjoy the summer weather outside!

Every boy needs a pillow of his own (or even two):

Ira is a new Finnish Champion! He finished the championship at Rovaniemi Int by being 2nd best male for Gerard Cox, Ireland. Heikki Niva took some photos of the dogs, go check them out.

The new layout for the site is now ready and as some of you might notice, the Finnish part no longer exists. If there's need for news in Finnish, I'll do that but all in all updating is slow when there're two sites to update. The old address, http:///www.italiaano.net/eng/ is still working, but you'll be directed to http://www.italiaano.net/ so that's the address to be used from now on. Sorry to those who don't understand English but maybe it's about time you start learning!

We've enjoyed a summer weather in Oulu photographing the youngest ones!

More photos in Ira's and Karkki's own galleries.

Starring Berylline Insomnia, Roihu 15 months and Viima-Whippet:

Karkki and Ira were health checked by the vet Kaisa Wickström at the Akuutti veterinary station. Both were found healthy.

Ira was judged by Mr. Hans Lehtinen in Piteå being BOB and becoming a new Swedish Champion. This is what the judge thought of him: "A beautiful dog while standing. Excellent lines. First-class body. Beautiful head. Very correct."

Also Kinttu was as groupie cheering for Ira:

Let me out, let me out!!

For the past week I've been visiting Margret (kennel Caeles) in Belgium. I had a lovely time there, getting to know the Belgian way of living. Thanks to Margret and Nick, I now know what Belgian beer tastes like, what prepare is (though don't know how to write it) and how the genuine Belgian French fries taste like.

We visited a town called Brugges. Since I had seen the movie, I insisted that we'd take a look at it. A lovely town but at the time way too many tourists for me. (of course we didn't count as tourists)

Nox, me and Stella in Brugges

On Friday we went to a dog show in Dortmund. It was the annual VDH Europasieger -show with some 20 IGs entered. I will try to put the photos online during this week. BOB was an Italian bitch Vertragus Zeme if I remember correctly. How nice it was to meet some old friends as well as some new ones! Karina had Karkki's sister Bliss with her - oh what a sweet little package she is! I hear she has the same hobbies as Karkki, but I refuse to believe it...

Europasiegerin 2009 Vertragus Zeme

Below's Margret's new Frenchman or Lill-Korven (Tiny Sausage in English) as I named him. He's simply the cutest, chubbiest little hot dog! I seriously would've taken him with me if Margret'd said yes... ;o)

Margret with "Lill-Korven"

Luckily I didn't have to go home all by myself, since I got a sparkling blue package with me and the package is called Ira or more officially AM CH Alfheim's All Things Considered. I can't thank Margret enough for letting him come to us! He's such a well behaved gentleman (the opposite to what ours are....). I also want to thank his breeders Stephanie and Avery back in the US, Ira's simply loveable!

Ira at the Düsseldorf airport

We have moved! Our new address is Kauppaporvarintie 17 F 27, 90570 Oulu, FINLAND.

Kumma and Rommi were health checked at Akuutti veterinary station. The vet was Kaisa Wickström. Kumma's eyes and heart were ok. Rommi's heart ok but he was diagnosed with grade 2 PHTVL in his right eye.

Kumma's puppy Berylline Insomnia, "Roihu", celebrates his 1st birthday today!!

Karkki has grown so suddenly and soon she's already 10 months old! Our little pyromaniac...

I've been somewhat criticized for not updating the site for a long time! I've been meaning to, but the realization can sometimes be a bit more complicated. Not that there's really much to tell... We have plenty of plans for the coming year, probably all the way to annoyance, but enough about that, nothing's as sure as unsure.

In the beginning of January the Finnish Italian Greyhound discussion forum got a new look, so if there's somebody that yet isn't familiar with the forum, take a look at it here. Yes, it's in Finnish...

Photo to the right: Kumma's puppy Roihu 11 months showing how challenging young IG's sometimes can be during the photo shoot... Photo Hille Lappalainen.