Yatzie will be mated this summer with the Italian stud Piero della Francesca called Chico. See how sweet he looks! Those deep brown eyes, just like Yatzie's! Chico has a cheerful, affectionate and lively character and he is a great swimmer. He is 60 cm tall and 4 years old. He is already the proud father of six puppies born in September 2010 in Canada. Both Yatzie and I are so excited and can not wait to meet Chico! He lives in La Spezia on the Italian riviera.

> Read more about Chico here

When Yatzie gets thirsty she gets thirsty! In nature any water will do... We had been walking the dogs on our way to the picturesque Restaurant Belle in Oud Zuilen. What we did not know was that there were fields nearby filled with big rabbits and reikel birds - Yatzie saw them first and oops, off she goes... We saw glimpses of her as she was flying back and forth over the field. After 5 minutes she was back totally exhausted and extremely thirsty! The first puddle served her perfectly to quench the thirst... The water in the green canal beside it cooled her down. Luckily the weather was splendid and we could eat our dinner outside - nobody knew that the black fur of the sweet dog beside my chair was recently emerged in mud!

This weekend we spent in Friesland, north Holland, watching Bas and his best friend Tom's last football tournament for the season. Between the heavy rains we were able to enjoy a few sunny moments with nice cold beers and dogs in the lap! Bo, our friends' energetic one-year old mixed breed, kept both adults and dogs busy but after she almost caught the neighbour's rabbit (pieces of hair in her mouth!) she had to be tied up on a long leash. Our lawyer Bart seriously read the law to her, after which she collapsed on the sofa!

Suddenly Yatzie was no where to be found. We had just returned home from grocery shopping and were unloading the car. Both dogs were around. Then she was gone. We searched in the house, around the house, all of us started walking around the area, the neighbours helped. Yatzie had never dissapeared like this before. I thought that maybe a rabbit turned up by the house and she was out on the hunt of her life. I took off on a bike shouting her name, asking the whole neighbourhood if they had seen a black, curly dog. No. No. Again no. Returned home after half an hour, no one had found her. I called her name again. Then I heard something! A paw scratching a door... THE SHED!!!! There she was my little sweet heart. I then recalled having stored some bags there and Yatzie had apparently followed me without me noticing. We keep the dog food in that shed so it is always interesting for her to come inside. Yatzie was so happy to get out of the darkness and the rest of the family to be all united again! Celebrated with a cosy moment in bed with Margot and Bas!

One of the best parts of Yatzie's life in Holland is the beach! Long, sandy, full of dogs to check out and play with and most of all - the water dummy that flies far out in the water! With a good reward in my pocket she brings it right back to me. When the reward is over she prefers to run off with it and hide it somewhere in the sand... not good. Well, well, a good trainer comes prepared with meatballs to these training cum joy sessions! Multi-tasked Marianne, the white labrador Luna's mum, did a great job throwing both balls and dummies while I was behind the lens. And Saartje, she always astonishes all of us tirelessly swimming to get her beloved ball despite her arthrosis and her 12 years. When we were just about to leave we saw that two balls were left far out in the water. Bart got ready to walk out and get them but Yatzie played the hero and found both of them! Well done Yatzie!

The evening sun reflecting in Yatzie's wet curly fur. She is my star! In a few days the chosen stud for the upcoming mating this summer will be announced - keep an eye!

On the beach by the beautiful bridge connecting Sweden and Denmark, Yatzie helped Anna and Melise to pick fry (fiskyngel). The sun was setting and the seagulls were sitting on small islands of pebbles admiring the beauty, that magic moment when the sun's rays give nature a golden glow.

The southern province of Sweden, Skåne, is famous for its beautiful Beech forest (Bokskog). High tree crowns with light green leaves. When Yatzie and I visit my sister Karin and her family, who lives in Malmö, we often go to the Beech forest and let Yatzie run free. This time we combined it with a nice picknick. Yatzie performed her tricks to get her part of the packed lunch! And then mum got a big kiss right on the mouth! The lawn of the picknich area was mowed by a horse dragging an old fashion lawn mower. No noise - just a nice sight!

This is what a real happy water dog should look like - right?