Wow, what a year

It's been so long since I've sat down and written a blog.

What a year it's been. . .Duckie was put up after the wonderful weekend in Ohio for a few months. PVBC's specialty brought him out again. Alas, his other mother and handler Kari was down in TX for the Samoyed national, so I had to hope I could do him justice. . Didn't expect much, he was barely 12 months old and yep,.he acted like a dork in sweeps, left me scratching my head as to why he hadn't done better, but by regular class time, he had his dancing shoes on.

Now, I had my knee wrapped tightly, I hadn't shown in oh, 15 months, and was making all sorts of prayers to whichever gods may be listening that I could do this. . .that boy did me proud, didn't step a food down wrong, won his competitive 12-18 month class. Took a deep breath outside the ring as we waited for Bred by and Open to go in, then back in for Winners dog. Boy can Duckie move out, and he moved away with the 5 point major with me at the end of the leash. Talk about exhilerating.

The bitches went in, my knee was feeling good, so crossed my fingers, time for Best of Breed, and darnit, I wanted Best of Winners.

Bonnie D. commented she had never seen me move a dog out so much, and boy did we, I refused to lose. Judge moved us and moved us, and the last go around, my knee gave out... when she pointed to us for BOW, I had tears of pain and joy on my face.  We did it!!!! To add to the joy, Kari went Best of Breed at the Samoyed national :) Not my dog, but she is part of this ride with Duckie!

Granted, the rest of the day was miserable as my knee gave me all sorts of whatsfor for doing this! But I was so pleased with my gawky boy!

A few more single point shows for him where he was a goofy gawky dork, but he ended the year with 8 points one major.

OTOH, Bounce finished the year as a brand spanking new champion! A wonderful xmas present! The only Borzoi to finish her ring title (12 points) and be #1 LGRA Borzoi in the same year! Also the first Borzoi Champion bitch to be #1.

Duckie and Jenny went to NY in January, my boy picking up two BOBs, two singles and playing in the groups, Jenny adding yet another point. We've played too much on the coursing/racing field, and it was high time for her to actually enter the ring at almost 5 and we were preparing her for April, where Kari packed the two up and headed to the 2014 BCOA Nationals in  NM with a van full of dogs, and I flew out, as I can't drive that far, and went to Las Vegas to visit family afterwards.

But just before we left, I entered Jenny in a rally show. .we'd been working, but I haven't done Rally since losing Gossip, I needed to prove I could do it again, without my best girl at my side. Also to prepare myself for the Nationals LOl Jenny was being a pill over her downs at that time, but we still walked away with a qualifying leg, if she'd done her down, we'd''ve tied for 3rd out of a huge class. She finished her SGRCIV that weekend! Only the third borzoi to do so!

Jenny was post season, so didn't have high hopes for her, but she tickled me pink with a 3rd out of a nice entry of Borzoi in LGRA, even better, Duckie tied with her :) He has never ran hand slipped, so was confused the first race, came in 2nd, but the next two he won with style. It was only his second race meet, so it pleased me immensely, and he came home with his first two LGRA points.

I had screwed up her coursing entry, so we took the next two days easy, then on to obedience/rally. . .sad to walk out of the OB ring and be told if she'd recalled, we'd've gone high in trial LOL but that's exactly what the judge told us. Oh well, it was a pleasure to do it, to prove I could do it. .alas in rally, Mom's ineptitude, caused us 20 points, but we did pick up our 2nd rally leg.

Duckie then went on to place in his nice Futurity class, as did his cousin Coal from the Dark litter.  But the highlight came regular class days. Duckie had to go in open as he was 18 months 5 days old, and even as the youngest dog in his rather decent sized class, he made it down to the last 6, which is more than I expected the judge to do with him, didnt' think he was curvy enough amongst other things, but the judge found something he liked. Jenny, OTOH, in one of the biggest classes of the week, AND IMHO, the most competitive class in bitches, despite being Ambred, pulled out a 2nd place.  Shocked me, and Kari turned to me and said we REALLY need to show this bitch.

I had a wonderful vacation with family I haven't seen in 6.5 yrs, wasn't long enough, but it was great. And then home and back to work. The week went fast and it was pack the car up and go to oval, where Duckie & Teela showed promising practices. I certed the two, or tried to: when her brother jumped over her to get to the inside, Teela decided to duck under the tape, so back to go with her, he on the other hand had a beautiful cert run. He nor his brother Traveler can compete with sisters Bounce & Shimmer for speed due to a 30-35 lb weight different, but they ran true and hard. Bounce won Sunday for 2 points, and finished her JOR. . fingers crossed she continues to run well to be my next ORC since Jenny nor Ziva seem to want to stay on the track :SIGH:

And then(yes, it was a very busy spring LOL) we headed to the show circuit in NJ where Kent Delaney gave Duckie his second major, a 4 pointer, leaving him one point to finish. The next day, he finished in style at BCDV's specialty, WD/BOW for another 4 pointer! I believe he's my youngest champion at 19 months, with quite limited showing.

We spent the rest of May, June & July running, with Duckie finishing his GRC quite quickly considering the entries in our area anymore, with a meet win over Shimmer & Jenny!  He also got his QC and his first SC leg, he has to learn to maneuver that 93 lb body around the field, but I as very happy with the boy. Teela also got her cert, and will start running this fall.

But to top it off, Bounce finished her FC to become my first personal DC, finishing in four trials, with 3 5 point wins, AND then the next day a 5 point BIF win!

Jenny then went to camp, and acted like a twit, heeling for Kari in the ring due to our Obedience training, despite herself she picked up a 3 point  major.

August brought cooler weathers and a desire to take a vacation again. Kari looked at the show schedule and we both decided let's go to WI!! Three breeder judges, including one that had specifically hunted me down at the Nationals last year to compliment me on 7 month old Duckie, and it was her last big judging assignment, so I wanted to show her what he had matured to!

Friday was way too early.Kari's Samoyed special was on at like 8:30, borzoi at 9, so it was a whirlwind day. Eli the Sammy won bred, then it as hurry up and groom the zoi, and head ring side. Glancing at the bitches, I turned to the owner of one particularly nice open bitch and told her breeder/owner "If I have to lose today, it better be your girl". She informed me she was pretty sure she was going o lose to Jenny. That alone made my day, as this is a breeder I have always respected in the breed. I was right, but Jenny did go RWB, so I was happy as I'd had no idea what to expect of this breeder judge. I hadn't shown to her in over a decade!

Kari handed me my girl and took Duckie in. At 22 months old, he was younger by a margin than every other special in the ring, so I didn't expect much, and when the judge pulled a rather nice specials bitch out and sent her to the front of the line, I was ok with it. All I'd hoped for for the weekend was an AOM at the specialty. The shock came when the judge came back to Kari and told her to go in front. OMG!! Yes, YES YES!! Duckie went BOB over a nice entry of specials for a 5 point major win! OMG!!

The day wasn't done. In a ring full of heavy hitters, Duckie put on his cleated dance shoes and moved out like a pro, to come away with a Group 3 under the first judge's husband!! Who the next day, in a special entry of 12 males, gave Duckie Select dog for his second 5 point major AFTER rewarding Jenny who was moving like a dream, her second major ALSO a 5 point major! WAHOOO!!!

Duckie ended the 2nd day with an AOM at the specialty. The lovely judge was so pleased to hear this was the puppy she'd fallen in love with at our Nationals, and thanked me for bringing him to her.  I got a lot of compliments on both my kids that weekend, and it made the long trip and resulting week long illness for both Kari & I worth it. We're both still recovering from what we're referring to as Wisconsin cheesehead, but three majors, 15 points, and an AOM made it all worth it ;)

Jenny now needs 5 singles to be my next DC, Duckie has 10 points and 2 majors towards his Grandchampion, couldn't ask for a much better weekend!

Ch Mielikki HiNote Secret Agent Man GRC at 22 months old, photo by Veni Harlan

weekened of dreams

After last month, I decided I needed to have fun, a weekend of laughter, joy, fun with friends, etc. . .with that in mind, I made vacation plans, verified them with Kari, a good friend and the handler I use, and waited impatiently for them to come about.

This last weekend we took off , our plans almost ruined by a bad reaction on my part to a bug bite. . .after a go ahead from my dr after an xray to rule out a broken foot, we hopped in her big white van and went to Ohio's Madison OH cluster with three Borzoi :)

My mini pony, err, 9 month old moose Borzoi puppy Duckie (Mielikki HiNote Secret Agent Man) was RWD at the hound specialty, RWD to a major, took his third point and was again RWD, with lots of compliments :) He's such a sweet petunia plucking, dandelion destroying, clover chewing puppy. He also placed in the rather large (10+) puppy group both days we showed(We called it quits due tot he heat Sunday), with a 2nd on Friday in a pretty big group & a 4th on Saturday :) He's now got 3 points and is being put up to mature and grow into the legs he suddenly grew LOL

My Bounce, (Silkenswift Bounce Into First Dawn SGRC) who's had an awesome last 9 months with winning the LGRA Nationals meet, as well as our breed nationals LGRA meet, placed 1st in FLight B ASFA trial at our nationals, and RWB at our supported entry, was WB at the hound specialty and then again on Friday, for 7 points(giving her three majors), and then RWB on Saturday, Sunday's judge didn't like her, but that's ok, we were happy to share the wealth and got the two majors that were available :)

Then our Special Briar, (CH Zharkov Teine briar SC) who was AOM at our Nationals this year with almost 100 specials, was BOB at the hound specialty and SD for 9 points and two of his majors :)

Yeah, we pretty much flew home :)

No, it didn't make up for the loss last month, but it's given me a lot of reasons to smile this week :)

Beautiful at Any speed

Almost 2 yrs ago, Bonnie gifted me with Bounce. This girl reminds me of her great grandmother Kyra, and is just an amazing little creature. . .whether at a gallop, or at a trot, she is IMHO breathtaking.

But this is one of the best show photos if not ever of my dogs. She went WB two out of three shows last month, RWB to a major the third. Not bad considering she hasn't shown since last May where she went Best Op in Sweeps at the MAHA hound specialty. First shows as an adult.Got fingers crossed she can get that second major out of the way next weekend!

Working the dogs

So, last week was the first week in a while wehre I actually got off at a normal time and when I had extra energy, I worked a bunch of the youngsters.

I used to love working Gossip, but when I lost her, I lost interest, it just isn't fun for me unless the dog wants to work with you. I liked having a happy heeling dog. My instructor told me more than once she'd never seen a Borzoi so happy to work. . I've tried working dogs who weren't as eager to work, and they're just not as much fun. . .dogs who like to learn are just better for me LOL

I am going to LOVE Working with Frankie, who is so happy to work, and in fact, heels like a BC, looking up at me, wagging his tail the entire time. We worked on simple heeling position and sits, with a few swings thrown in. This boy reminds me of his Great Uncle Obie with how much he wants to do whatever I ask.

Grabbed Jenny, and she wagged her tail the entire time, heeling almost as nicely as Frankie, she's not as quick to catch on as Frankie, but I can tell she's goign to be a blast to work with also.

Grabbed Gibbs next and had to do a lot of leash work, as he's a lot like his father, he wants to please, but you have to catch his attention and keep it, he's very ADHD LOL Him we simply worked on walking nicely and sitting at heel.

Ziva. . .Ziva shows be careful what you name your dog, instead of paying attention to me, she paid attention to everything else. .an Israili Mussaud officer never keeps her eyes off the surrounding scenary in case an assassin is waiting to take you out. The cows across the street, the trees looking for bunnies and tree rats, anything but me. . .will have to find some sort of food that is more interesting than anything else going on LOL

Bounce. . I had to debounce bounce first, up and down the Aframe, which she's already doing after only two session and doing it right, hitting her contacts every time. Only after I did was she calm enough to work with LOL . .

Felt good to get working with them again. . .need to get back into Rally class. Rules have changed since I worked Gossip. . .but i think I'm going to have fun with these 5. . maybe I'll have a triathlon dog ready for next year's nationals!

GVFRRC

Dragged my sorry butt out of bed at a way too early hour saturday, loaded up the car and headed up to NJ for coursing. . .in the last 10 yrs, the number of AKC trials in the area have dried up, with most of them being 3+ hrs a way. Hoping PVBC will become AKC approved in the next year and that we can find a field to hold AKC events at, as it gets expensive going to NJ, especially with price of gas, but the hotels are expensive also.

Got there, only to realise something: all my blankets were in the dryer. . .something I had thought of as I was packing the car, but it had slipped my mind. . they were all clean, but they were all 3 hrs away LOL. Thank heavens for two very sweet Borzoi people: Charles Greene & Karin Johnson who lent me blankets for Jenny. Another friend offered, but I could've fit Jenny & Bounce in the IW blanket they gave me LOL

Unlike recent AKC events, we had a nice solid major in Open with Ralph & Ariel's Jag and a friend of their's showed up with two more. Usually a dog had to go BOB to get a major, so it was really nice to see that many opens.

The day was gorgeous, clear sky, nice breeze. A little warm for Borzoi, but with the running water on the field, was able to hose Jenny off after her runs. The runs were gorgeous, especially been Karin's Jolie & Jenny.I haven't seen Jolie run before, but she is gorgeous standing or at a gallop. Very sweet girl too. The judging could've gone either way, but my little girl impressed the judge just a tad bit more to eek out the win. In fact, the judge came over to ask who she was, saying that when she came tearing down the field she just KNEW she had to be Bonnie's breeding. I corrected her that she was my breeding, but 3/4 Bonnie's bloodlines, and she nodded after being told the pedigree, saying she definitely ran like her pedigree said she should. She had an equally amazing BOB run, and ended up finishing her FC in four trails with four majors & Four BOBS. With the entries we've had around here, that's an amazing accomplishment

The BIF run unfortunatly was a fubar, when a SD was walked up to the line with us and was told by the owner that the dog 'better not do something stupid' . . .the dog interfered with Jenny :( Why people run dogs like that I have no clue.

Then it was time to QC the nutter, AKA Bounce. .I asked Charles' Junior handler for help, as I thought if she could handle Dillon, Bounce's bigger, keen as heck cousin(their grandfather's are the same: Mir), she could handle Bounce. . umm, she almost couldn't LOL Bounce lowers herself to the ground like a RR LOL My baby girl had an AMAZING QC run, not running like a puppy at all(she's 15.5 months) and the judge told me I was goign to have a lot of fun with her, just before she tried to rip my arm off to go after the bunny going thru the machine LOL I love my little nutter.

After hearing that there were only two borzoi entered for Sunday, I cancelled my hotel room to come home. Sunday was spent catching up on my sleep, then grooming, bathing dogs, and playing with Grins' youngest: Roo & Kanga (they're not mine, so not my names LOL). After almost 6 wks of 12 hrs day, sunday was a nice relaxing day LOL

DNA testing

My dogs have been participating in various research groups for years now. . Obie donated blood to bone cancer research, touchet & Eros donated DNA to research on dental health, almost everyone I currently own is DM Clear by test or parentage(Still need to do Bounce, and debating whether to bother with Touchet). I am so proud of my puppy buyers who've gone on to DM test their dogs for the furthering of the breed health database, even if the dogs may never be bred or are past breeding age or retired.

But recently my dogs, well one currently, has stepped into another research field. Bounce donated blood to Vetgen for DNA Colour gene analysis

What colour is this borzoi?
Bounce (Shown above at just under a year) at birth, looked all the world to be a blue brindle, but as she matured, we wondered. ..at 15 months old, she looks like a chinchilla, except that she has dark dark dark dark dark grey pigment. Unlike our other blue, she has dark eyes. People argued with me she wasn't a brindle, and she couldnt' be a blue, so when I heard that research was being done into the 'chinchilla' gene, so we decided to do Bounce

I just got the results of first of the three tests they do, and yep, I'm right, she is brindle (kbrkbr will contribute brindle, cannot contribute fawn) is the results so far. . it'll be interesting to see if she's a chinchilla or actually a blue. .I don't care, I love her for so much more than just her beautiful colour :) I'm just tickled she can donate to further research.

Next on my list is to do Bella, who's an odd colour herself!

and the band moves on

Trying to keep myself busy so I don't dwell over Dei's illness. . .I've been enjoying running her daughter Jenny. .Jenny floats over the field, her movement is effortless as she glides. . it is truly beautiful to watch, even more so the way they had the Best in Event laid out for the Regional. . .the long straight away cut right in front of you and they were close enough you felt like you could touch them as they went by, and Jenny just coasted by like a ghost. I'm so glad Bonnie told me not to sell her. She is the more confident runner of the two girls, Ziva is soft and has a bullseye on her butt for a**hole boys, Jenny doesn't care. . and exudes confidence on the field and off the field.

She has also brought excitement back to the race track. . .since Gossip died, there have really not been close racing, but now she and her cousin Focus are reminiscent of Gossip & Focus's fueding. . it's a guess who comes across the line first, especially since with muzzles on, you have no clue which black face is which as they come barreling down the track at you. We've been joking Jenny's only been winning cuz her head is slightly longer, cuz it sometimes is Jenny literally by a 'nose'. . .those two are usually shoulder to shoulder, like an 8 legged canine version of Odin's Sleipnir, with Focus occasionally eeking out a race win, but not the meet win.

Bella's been coming out, now that she's learned to use her legs. I look forward to getting her out coursing next year. Unfortunately, she's inherited her mother's short seasons, but we'll squeeze as many events as we can in the 5.5 months she's not in season.

We tried GIbbs, unfortunately trying to find the right combo for a test dog scenario is hard. .either the dogs got a better break then him and he didn't get close enough to see, or he got the break and took off. .. we tried him, but he bounced off of Secret and i'm not sure if it was purposeful or not, so pulled him til I can figure out a way to set him up. . .

Frankie got to run, and he's going to be a ball. Such a sweet goober boy, he got away and was pouncing on the pieces of bunny that had fallen off on the track, pieces of plastic about a quarter wide, he then turned and saw me and the OH MOM!! Lightbulb came on. Ran him thru the box, and he wasn't bothered by it at all. We'll work on the box some more this weekend, and he'll go for his QC next month if luck is with me. . in no hurry, he's a year old, I've got 2.5 and almost 2 yr olds to run, but you definitely can tell who he's linebred on.

And then Ms Bounce. . who is a trip, and is constantly making me laugh. Put her in the box, before we got the door down, she was coming out from between her back legs. .. shut the door, she was facing forward, opened the front door, she was backwards LOL But she turned and was off like a bullet tearing off down the field. She is such a sweet easy going baby girl. She and Frankie remind me a lot of grins, so will have to take it easy with both of them

Otherwise trying to acclimate to the sudden drops in temperature. .we froze at the REgional first weekend in October, it was snowing on the way home. .. following weekend it's warm enough for shorts. . yep, fall is here in the mid atlantic region

Bounce! Bounce!

Soooo, as I mentioned, I have a new puppy. . she's a blue brindle, dark eyes, dark grey pigment. She is the granddaughter of Mir: DC Mielikki A Kind of Magic SC, LCM, SGRC, SORCII http://www.rosehillwindhounds.com/Current/Mir/Mir.html, as well as Grins' brother Stardust.
She is as you can tell from the photos NUTS for the lure, keenest one in the litter. . .but tonite, she proved just how crazy she is lOL

Went out to double check her microchip for her AKC papers and took the lure toy out, 4 of the 6 are interested, with her being the keenest. . the chinchilla girls kept trying to chase, but she wouldn't let them play, so I grabbed hold of her to let them play with it a bit. She wasn't happy to have me have a handful of her hair, but she was a good dog.

I let her go, she tore off after the bunny, and I turned my back on her, swishing the bunny away. I wish I'd had a camera as I pulled teh bunny over my head and told them enough

Suddenly, this 6 month old puppy jumps UP into the air, slamming me on my shoulders, launching herself over my head to grab the bunny

Yep, she's NUTS. I was laughing so hard, I have puppy paw prints on my shoulders, and she was proud of herself.

I think I'm in trouble, I have a feeling she's goign to be like Grins.. .LOL

A new face

was given a wonderful gift recently. . a new puppy.

Yeah, I know, i need a new puppy like I need a hole in my head :) but this puppy will fill a hole in my life right now.

I have 6 dogs. . .none of them have any inkling of wanting to be an Obedience/rally/agility dog. .Touchet is too old at 12.5, Dei I will only allow low level agility equipment, but no jumps, because she's 10.5, Grins has a nano second brain and has never learned how to do jumps, he barrels thru them, Secret. .Secret is a princess, she gives orders, she doesn't take them LOL. Ziva is currently a spaz and Bella is a Princess in training. . .I've tried all the younger dogs on the agility equipment, and none of them seemed keen on it, so I was holding out in hopes that a Secret puppy would have the 'zest' and desire to work for me, especially agility.

My friend commented they kept finding one of her puppies on top of a dog house, an adult Borzoi sized dog house, since she was 3 months old. .told her if she was interested in the bunny, I wanted her. I took the lure toy out and put food down, and the pups all mobbed the food bowls, started shaking the bunny, and bam, here comes Ms Goat herself(with her lovely brindle brother on her heels). Yep, she was keen, she wanted the bunny more than she wanted her dinner!

Took her out of the yard, and put her on the dog walk, bounce bounce bounce, happily trotting across the dog walk at 5.5 months old. . yep, I was really thinking of takign this puppy

Bounce working the real dog walk

Took her out with me this weekend to a racemeet, and to my surprise, there was agility equipment set up.. now Dei always got stressed and wouldn't work out for me in strange places, so before we ran I took her over, boing boing boing, over the dog walk, not once, not twice, but three times by the end of the day.

Walk on the way up the teeter

Took her to the teeter. . this she wasn't as sure of, but by the end of the day, I got her to do it, with me holding her harness, twice! I was so pleased. I then took her over to stand at the box, and although she jumped when it opened, she wanted to take off with the salukis, not much bothered by the LVCC's box at all. And everyone loved her. . .a few wanted to steal her :) So, introducing my agility hopeful: Bounce!Have no clue how to start a puppy, but we're goign to have fun!

Tired bounce after the end of a long day

So, introducing my agility hopeful: Bounce!Have no clue how to start a puppy, but we're goign to have fun!
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