My name is Veronica Olsen and I am 43 years old. I am from Porsgrunn City in Telemark county, Norway. Lives now in a small place called Herre. As long as I can remember, I have had a great passion for animals. The reason is probably that everyone in my family has always had animals of various kinds; fishes, birds, rats, cats, rabbits, ferrets, goats, and dogs - mostly hunting dogs (Flat Coats, Dachshunds, Buhund) and shepherd dogs (Border Collie, German Shepherd and Belgian Shepherd Tervueren and Malinois). I also went on walks with the neighborhood dogs as often as I could. They included various breeds from a Dwarf Poodle named King to a big, older Labrador female. I'm glad I got to chance to experience and learn from so many different breeds, it has given me a lot. My passion for Belgian Shepherd started immediately when my parents came home with a Tervueren male in 1987 from Kennel Zagal. His call name was Arak. I absolutely loved that dog (so much that even wrote essays at school about Belgian Shepherds). He was the world's most affectionate dog. My little sister and I took turns to use him as a pillow on the floor when we watched television in the evenings. He was a quick learner, alert and very easy to "fire up". He was easy to motivate with food but his favorite was to play with toys. He was very fast, in speed and in training - for example if we asked him to lie down while walking, which my mother still talks about; "it was like someone shot him" * laughs *. All of this was packed into a beautiful red coat. All of this was packed into a beautiful red coat. In the mid-90s my uncle got a Malinois - Zagal's Zakk. That was the time when I really became aware of dog training and at the same time I got to know one more variant of this wonderful breed! He was, like most Mali, a strong boy with a lot of guts and power, but he was also the world's finest family dog. I got to see them train together and with all the stories he told me he made me breathless. My uncle, Knut Karlsen was my idol, together with his belgian, Zakken. He was the first in Norway with a Belgian in IPO1, IPO3 and the first participant in the World Championship. I hope I can show Groenendaels at the same level one day. That I ended up with Groenendael was really completely random. I dreamed about Tervueren for many years and followed some breeders, but never found the right breeder who I felt had the dog I was looking for (the Internet was not the same as now either). I came across kennel Nanduhria through an ad. I ended up taking a dog from Kristine explained based on the goals for her litters. Just over two months later I got my very first Groenendael and since then there has only been that variant for me. Some years later we got 3 more Nanduhria dogs in our house. I've also been so fortunate to have the opportunity to cooperate with Kristine and she has help me so much and I have learned a lot from her, which I value highly. I have been training and competing in forest search and obedience with my Groenendaels. I've traveled a lot for trainings, classes and competitions, as there have been few training groups nearby. Idream that I will be doing IPO with my next dog, and I hope he will be in my life next year. As a dog trainer I am positive and all my training is reward based, so it will be fun for the dog and me, regardless if we're on a learning stage or not. I feel that they give a little extra when they know something is waiting at the other end. I have seen some Belgians with poor temperaments through the years- neurotic, unpredictable and aggressive dogs. That's why I emphasize stable mentality, good health, and strong structure. It is important to me that my dogs conform to the breed standard, but appearance is secondary to me. I take all my dogs to mental tests and I am also an approved assistant for character test (k-test) Mental Description (MH) and Functional Analysis (FA). My dogs are also X-rayed for hip dysplasia (HD), Elbow Dysplasia (ED) and eyes checked for hereditary eye diseases before I use them for breeding, as the Norwegian Belgian Club recommends. Please contact me at veronica (a) high-limits.com if you have questions about me, my dogs or my breeding