Mother love

Mother love has a lot of shapes …

Strength has many forms

The Everyday Enchantment Tarot by  Poppy Palin

KLM's Lost & Found team

KLM’s dedicated Lost & Found team at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is on a mission to reunite lost items as soon as possible with their legitimate owner. From a teddy bear found by the cabin crew to a laptop left in the lounge. Locating the owners can sometimes be a challenge, so special forces have been hired…

I call you Dog

I CALL YOU DOG

When God made the earth and sky, flowers and the trees, He then made all the animals, the birds and the bees.

When His work was finished, not one was quite the same.
He said, "I'll walk this earth of mine and give you all a name."

And so He travelled land and sea, and everywhere He went, a little creature followed him until its strength was spent.

When all were named upon the earth and in the sky and sea, the little creature said, "Dear Lord, there's not one left for me."

The Father smiled and softly said, "I've left you till the end, I'll turn my own name back to front, and call you 'dog,' my friend."

Author Unknown

Portugal in mourning

To the families and people of this little paradaise out heart and thoughts are with you

Animal day ;)

Exhibit for dogs

Dominic Wilcox is British designer and inventor that creates unique and innovated objects and ideas.

In one of his ideas he created on the South of London an exhibit for our 4 leg companions.

The works on the exhibit have the goal to provide interactive experiences to the dogs

Onde of the ideas is a car window simulator where a giant fan wafts a dog's favourite scents, like raw meat and old shoes.

Another one is a dog-friendly ball pool. For this installation, Wilcox created a giant dog bowl and filled it with brown balls designed to look like dog biscuits.

In another a TV simulates a frisbee bouncing around.

In the end the goal of the artist was to provide a playful interactive experience for the dog audience.

I am a Australian Shepherd

Dog vs Human thought

3 phrases that I really loved

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost. 

If I were to say, 'God, why me?' about the bad things, then I should have said, 'God, why me?' about the good things that happened in my life. 

From what we get, we can make a living; what we give, however, makes a life. 

Arthur Ashe

Dog Show of Vila Franca de Xira 2016

Fire Emblem of the GoldenAussie Spirit
(CHPT Angel for Angelus do Vale D'Huyo × Diamond of the GoldenAussie Spirit)
Breeder :Helena Calado
Prop: Helena Calado
Handler: Joana Gonçalves

Saturday: RCAC
Sunday: CAC and CACIB

Dimond of the GoldenAussie Spirit
(JPPT Angelusparks MasterPiece × Araci Cookie Paracortus)
Breeder :Helena Calado
Prop: Helena Calado
Handler: Joana Gonçalves

Saturday: CAC
Sunday: 2º EXE

I am very proud of Fire and Diamond that endured the challenge of the dog show and followed the handler guidance. Many thanks to the handler and my aussies for their work ;)

Fire, my Australian Shepherd in agility

Fire Emblem of the GoldenAussie Spirit
(CHPT Angel for Angelus do Vale D'Huyo × Diamond of the GoldenAussie Spirit)
Breeder :Helena Calado
Prop: Helena Calado

Fire Emblem of the GoldenAussie Spirit

Fire Emblem of the GoldenAussie Spirit
(CHPT Angel for Angelus do Vale D'Huyo × Diamond of the GoldenAussie Spirit)
Breeder :Helena Calado
Prop: Helena Calado
Handler: Joana Gonçalves

Flyball seminar

This weekend I had the chance to attend a Flyball Seminar organized by the Alldogs, a training center in Algarve.
It was a very fun experience and the simplicity and easiness of the dogs in learning such a fun sport quickly provided a very joyful experience.
The organization of this seminar was impeccable and this also allowed for us to focus all our attention in Joachim Müller teachings, so a huge congratulation to the Alldogs organization.

Angel, CHPT For Angelus do Vale D'Huyo, in a video made with love and care by Fátima Casais of Alldogs.

But what is Flyball ? 

Flyball consists of a relay race between two teams of four dogs.

Each dog must jump over four hurdles, retrieve a ball by triggering a flyball box pedal and then return over the hurdles to the start/finish line.
Flyball is a canine team sport and it is considered one of the most fun sport to the dogs and their owners.
The team can be composed by any dog; regardless of breed, size, shape or formal training

The Flyball field:

• A complete racing lane from start to flyball box measures 15.55 meters.
• The distance from the start to the first hurdle is 1.83 meters. Between two consecutive hurdles, the distance is 3.05 meters.
• The distance from the last hurdle to flyball box is 4.57 meters.
• The distance between the two lanes is 5 meters (with a max. deviation of 1 meter) from centre to centre of each lane.

The race:

• Each relay team consists of four dogs, with up to two reserve dogs that can be interchanged between heats.
• When the last light turns green the dogs are off and racing (crossing the start/finish line before the light is green results in a foul).
• Each dog must jump the four hurdles, retrieve the ball and jump back over the hurdles to complete their lap. Missed jumps and dropped balls require the dog to rerun the course after the rest of the team has finished.
• As soon as the first dog’s nose returns across the start/finish line the next dog is off!
• The first team to have all four of their racing dogs complete their run cleanly wins the heat..

A video that explains more about flyball:


Other dog sports:

• Dog Surf: http://casacalado-dogsport.blogspot.pt/2012/06/dog-surf.html


• Dog Frisbee: http://casacalado-dogsport.blogspot.pt/2010/01/dog-frisbee.html 


• Herding: http://casacalado-dogsport.blogspot.com/2009/10/herding.html


• Obedience Competition: http://casacalado-dogsport.blogspot.com/2009/08/obedience-competition-team-sport.html


• Dock Dogs: http://casacalado-dogsport.blogspot.com/2009/08/dock-dogs-water-sport.html


• Water trial for Portuguese Water Dog: http://casacalado-dogsport.blogspot.com/2009/08/water-trial-for-portuguese-water-dog.html

Australian Shepherd as Agility Champion of Class 2

The team Fernando Horta and Dilan of GoldenAussie Spirit, become champions of Agility Class 2.

A victory for this owner, for the club Cãogurus and for the Australian Shepherd, that shows that still can work as it should do as its breed characteristic.

Congratulations !

Australian Shepherd litter - puppies available

Australian Shepherd puppies - camp fighting

Australian Shepherd, Dilan of the GoldenAussie Spirit in agility

Australian Shepherd puppies and a goat - 1º contact

Australian Shepherd puppies - 1º trip outside with friends

My first flower

The principals and morals

I found this quote from a English philosopher of 1748 and I think we should take a minute to reflect about it.

“The day may come when the rest of animal creation may acquire those rights which never could have been withholden from them but by the hand of tyranny. The French have already discovered that the blackness of the skin is no reason why a human being should be abandoned without redress to the caprice of a tormentor. It may one day come to be recognized that the number of legs, the villosity of the skin, or the termination of the os sacrum are reasons equally insufficient for abandoning a sensitive being to the same fate. What else is it that should trace the insuperable line? Is it the faculty of reason, or perhaps the faculty of discourse? But a full-grown horse or dog is beyond comparison a more rational, as well as a more conversable animal, than an infant of a day or a week or even a month old. But suppose they were otherwise, what would it avail? The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”
― Jeremy Bentham, The Principles of Morals and Legislation

Australian Shepherd puppies - playing tag games

Teco and Jake - grandfather and great grandfather of my australian shepherd litter in herding