Fall's flying by

Geez, I keep getting behind on my blog. . .just no energy to do so. .

Fall is here, the temperatures are falling, the leaves are turning colours and the ground is littered with a multi coloured blanket. Mornings are crisp, frost starting to appear, and the dogs are full of piss & vinegar.

Events are starting to wind down up here. . .makes it easier for me to take it easy LOL. . knee is feeling better, but still protests now and then. . still trying to be good on it. . .so do not want to screw it up. .

Weekend before the LGRA/NOTRA nationals, I so needed a break, so I loaded up the car with Secret, Reba, Focus on Saturday, and Secret, Focus, Tipperary and my friend's boy Ryder on Sunday and headed out coursing. Forgot how much I hate early mornings. . .

Secret was there for socialization and to see if she had any interest in the plastic bunny. Been 4 1/5 years since I've seen her, can't remember if she showed interest, and friends wanted to meet her, so off we went.

We waited while Marie got ready with Focus' sister Kyrie, to see if she was interested in plastic, unfortunately, once it turned, Kyrie came back to her mom, but boy she sure looked good. Secret showed some interest, ears up, watching it, jumped a bit, but not anything extreme, but some. . .enough to excite me about putting up a practice in the front field.

Poor Reba's bad luck with idiot dogs moved from the race track onto the coursing field. .Prelims Saturday, she had a dog coursing her, she pulled away from him, but as they came in at the finish, he cut right in front of her, literally, causing her to fall when she clipped him, a hard roll, but thankfully she got up and kept running. . .poor little red head, she has the worst luck with dogs being bad against her. .. thankfully she no longer reacts to them, and keeps going. . second course was very uneventful(and he was removed from the field!), and she came out on top for two points. .making her halfway towards her FC. .. she ran out of steam for BOB runoff, I've gotta recondition her(And Ziva) for stamina/endurance. . .but we'll be hitting more coursing, so hopefully that'll help. As you can see, her roll was not very fun looking, but she took it in stride
I think I have these in the right order LOL

Trying to recover

Soooo nto happening

Trying not to roll over

Sliding with the flow

She is so unflapable anymore, she got up and kept going


Sunday was slightly warmer, but a beautiful day all day. Unfortunately, the same dog who was bad to Reba ran on Sunday, even tho I strongly suggested to his owner he should, and he was even naughtier with Ziva. .

You can kinda tell he's not on the bunny, but on her

Here he is, according to the judge, trying to bite her

Thankfully, Sunday's judge demanded the course ended just shortly into the run because he was trying to bite her. Ziva turned and started back to me, with the other dog in pursuit. The judge grabbed him by his blanket, and when Ziva saw that he couldn't get her, she ran back to shred all the bunnies off the line, pleasing me to no end.

Why? With a novice dog(This is her 2nd course), especially one of her age, you worry about bad things ruining them for running, she's very soft as I've mentioned before. I almost pulled her, but hoped that she'd be fast enough to pull away, and well, you have to find out sometime. They started the course from the beginning and she finished it gorgeously, even tho she ended up doing a somersault on her head trying to stop LOL. That was reminiscent of her daddy & uncle Obie.

Not bad for a baby learning to use her back and bodd

Ran Ryder for my good friend Robin and she was tickled beyodn belief when I called to say yeah, she needed to get him out. . .since he's a dog Bonnie's interested in, we were all pleased to see him run. Such a sweet goofy boy. . .He took a nose dive at the first turn, not expecting it to turn(as he's been doing mainly oval/straight racing), but got up and kept going.

Took Secret in hand and headed to the scoreboard, which was set up next to the starting line. . .which was a huge mistake, when the whippets took off, she tried to go with them, and almost ripped my arm off LOL

Ziva went on to win her stake, and again she petered out on the BOB run. . but she had an otherwise good day with good running dogs, so I was very pleased. .she also seems to've gotten thru that 2nd fear period, as very little bothered her. . .

Last weekend we had racing in the front field. Due to Bonnie working with Lou of Pickle Hill Borzoi to try and rehome the last of the dogs leaving his home after his lovely wife dying, I had no help, so took it easy. . .I felt I had to support MAIGC, as they are some of my favorite racing friends

So, Saturday Focus, Grins(who was feeling frisky and silly and BOUNCY), Reba, Tipperary and Ms Jenny ran. . .Jenny's pleasing me, her head's getting straight from teenage hormones, she's boxing well, and breaking well, and she placed a respectable 2nd behind ms Focus in the meet. Reba & Grins ended up tying, with poor Tipperary taking the turtle. Tipperary could not beat Grins for the life of her this weekend. It is truly interesting to see how season slumps affect bitches, some not so much, some a lot.

Ms Secret got to try the bunny, and the first try, was not so sure. . her Uncle John Jones had to give her a gentle nudge when the bunny started, and then she took off. Unfortunately, unlike her sister and papa, once it's done moving, she's done with it LOL We ran her with Reba for certification, and she ran clean, I was so pleased.

Sunday I had no help and with my bad knee, decided to run fewer dogs. . jenny won the meet, looking better and better each run, and Secret placed 2nd!!! She is not sure how to use her body as she's never coursed before, but everyone was tickled for me, no matter what box she came out of, she'd zip to the right rail LOL I don't expect much out of her, she is 6+, but it's nice to know she will run, and run clean(She passed Tipperary without a problem), for breeding purposes, if she had no desire to run, I wouldnt' breed her to anything but Grins nuts on the bunny. . .

My Tofu girl's(kani LOL) puppy Belle is STILL a nut on the bunny, she was standign on her hind legs watching the bunny come down the track, ears up, eyes wide, trembling in excitement tried to get between the slits of the box. Ran her through the open box and she looked soo good.

This weekend was a 'down' weekend. . there was racing within driving distance, but my get up and go get up and left. . .so I scheduled a practice for RAW(Racing at the WEdge) for Saturday

Again, we couldn't've been blessed with better weather: 60 degrees, the tank top and capris came out for the day. It was a nice, easy course, basically an odd shaped diamond, about 500 yds...We had 27+ dogs show up, Borzoi, Whippets, Afghans, a CHinese Crested, Border Terriers, a Podengo and a Dutch shepherd. All but one of the Borzoi ran(she ran, just back to mom as fast as she can LOL), and the CC, One BT, and the dutch shepherd all got nice runs in.

I was very pleased to see Jenny run a nice, clean run with Ms Focus, poor Focus, got put in the test dog position LOL Then Kari's little girl Brandy got a nice clean run first alone and then with Ms Focus, two new opens for us next spring! Weehee!!!! Tolian, Brandy's brother, came out to play and got a nice run in.

And then it was Secret's turn. . .now again, Secret hasnt' seen a bunny in 5 yrs. . .I whipped it beneath her nose from behind and she took off, made the first turn, got to the 2nd turn, stopped to smell. SOMETHING at that corner kept interrupting dgos to sniff, quickly I flipped the lure, ripped it back under her nose, she came tearing back towards me after it, I flipped it again and took her back around, she made the fourth pully and said I've had enough LOL Need to work on her recall some LOL But I was tickled to see her run.

Then I got a learning experience. I run the lure for all breeds at LGRA BUT NGA greyhounds, I don't feel comfy at this point in time in running it for them. . .but I have never ran it for coursing, which is a different horse, and never ran it for a whippet. Damn Linda Day's whiplet caught the bunny before the first pully LOL I learned to keep it further away, and had a great time.

All three of the Kani puppies got in AWESOME runs, even Aurora, who I wasn't sure was goign to run. Hopefully Nacht's European Owner will get her out, because she is hot for that bunny, we'll be getting ehr cert and get her to events before she goes home. .. cant' believe they're almost a year old.

Grins got to be test dog for another dog who's been 'iffy', unfortunately the other dog fought his muzzle and thus we weren't able to tell for sure if he'd run clean, he got hormonal at the finish, strutting up to Grins, ears up, head high, tail up. Grins was Grins, oblivious to that sh*t, because there were two bunnies to destroy and damnit, he was going to kill them!!! LOL

All and all, we ahd a very successful first practice for RAW. . as they left, I was asked when the next one was LOL .. dang I hadn't recovered from the first one yet LOL but I scheduled a new one for next month already, and can't wait to do it again.

This was the first time I've done it all myself. .usually I set up the field, and someone else runs the lure, but it was a very educational day for me, and I can't wait to do it again!

I will be working on recall with Ms Secret so she can try again. . walking her down in that front field did NOT do my poor knee any good. . .thankfully she wasn't the only snot, one of the afghans did the same lOL

May go up to an ASFA event and learn FTS work, we'll see what the energy is like this weekend :)

the lgra/notra nationals

The LGRA/NOTRA nationals are over. . .

It was a very bittersweet nationals for me, and for two of my friends. . .T lost her promising basenji at the 2007 Nationals, he slipped his collar and was hit by a car :( Deb lost her Iggy last year, he got away from her and also was hit by a car. . .so lots of tears were shed for great friends gone too soon.

I took seven dogs with me. . .Ava flew out, which was a nightmare in and of itself. . .friend was supposed to ship her Saturday, didn't get there early enough saturday, so had to go back to my friend's that night, stay with her, get up, ship her out Sunday, which was a total nightmare. . .especially when i got lost in Newark. . .but Ava got to portland, is in her mama's hands, and promptly came into season LOL

Secret was along for the ride because she's stuck to me like rice, and some of Gossip's friends wanted to see her. . .other than forcing herself up front, between the captain chairs anyway she could, and when she couldn't, curling up on the nylon crate behind the chairs, she was a pretty good girl.

I had Focus for Bonnie, didn't expect anything really from her, she was in season end of july, so is just getting out of her slump, but since she was the only dog that was able to touch Gossip when she was 100%(and even then, it was only an occasional race she beat Gossip at), we entered her. Robin sent Ryder up for me to run, poor boy was out of shape due to the horridly hot summer they've had, John entered Wiard in Notra, we entered Reba in Notra, and I had my Ziva entered. DIdn't expect much from her, she is a baby still, the youngest by a year, but I was proud of her.

The weather was SOOO much better than last year's freezing rain, only thing i got this year vs a nasty cold last year, was wind chapped face/

Poor Ziva, she started the day in high point, but she tried her hardest, and came in 3rd behind much older and experienced dogs Bart(1) & Kyrie (2). She ran well for being the baby and still coming into her own, tieing for 5th and coming in 6th overall. Very pleased with her runs.

Ryder couldn't get his butt out of the box for 1st High Point and came in 4th, and that screwed him up for the rest of the day. . he placed 2nd behind the eventual BOS FTE winner Doro, and won his last race, to come in 5th(tied with Ziva)

Focus, as Gossip's pitch hitter, ran better than I'd hoped, and won all three races, to win the Nationals. . .I wish Gossip had been around, that was the only way the High Point races could've been better. . a huge ribbon and a trophy came home to Bonnie's delight.

What was extremely pleasing was 7 of the 8 top Borzoi went back to DC Silkenswift Blaze of CHaos(and more titles i cant' remember this am). . nice especially when I got wind of a nasty rumour that silkenswift dogs have horrid fronts and thus makes them slow LOL. .. 15 dogs running. . not bad at all. . .

Didn't get to enjoy the awards banquet due to having to go back to Newark, which was a shame, as I know it was a lot of fun.

We'll ignore the nightmare of getting Ava on the plane, and judge right onto NOTRA nationals. . .I had 5 of the 10 dogs entered. . think I may've lost my mind when I offered to run dogs for people LOL.

Reba ran her little heart off, but was in line to get the turtle after an OC, DNF happened, and then it happened, she couldn't get thru the dogs in front of her, and she went OC :( A disappointment for her little junior handler Georgia, who had(with adult help), dressed & muzzled her, she then walked her to the box with very little help, Mr John helped her box her, and with help she caught her, where she walked her back and undressed her lOL. . SHe proved that a 5 yr old could run Reba. . only one time was Reba not polite, otherwise she was the perfect, calm, sweet angel.

Ziva suddenly stopped fighting me at the box, stopped sitting in the box, now if she could only learn to stick to the turns(I know, give her time!) She finished 6th and picked up her first ORC points(0.5), I was more pleased with her progress in getting over the scare she got last month from a rough handler than anything.

Focus ran nicely, but started running out of steam. . .she ended up placing a respectable 4th, the 2nd high scoring non ORC, she's still not doing turns like she will in a few more meets.

Wizard, wizard shocked the crap out of many people by almost beating Bartlby, who is almost unbeatable, the last race. . he was ahead of Bart, and at the last moment slowed down enough Bart caught up with him and he tied. . Hopefully John'll listen to me and excercise that boy. . .he ended up placing 2nd due to that last race, finishing the day as the high scoring non titled oval racing boy.

I was very pleased with the kids. .. had a wonderful day, wish I'd video'd that last race it was so freaking amazing to watch as the siblings duked it out, first Valkyrie, than Bart, and then Wizard. .the top 4 dogs of the meet were all littermates: Bart, Wizard, Valkyrie, Focus

It wasn't as horrid as I feared it would be. . yes, I did miss my girl, but I had fun due to great friends. . .

The EAST COAST ROCKED THE NATS!!!!

oh, Piccies!

I forgot to post these wonderful pics that my friend Susan Amicucci took our last time out


That's Gossip's nose you see coming out of the box before it barely opens LOL

That's Gossip digging in to show her competitoin her fuzzy little ass.


Dei racing her little heart out


Dei's adorable little face watching the bunny, I hate to see she's starting to gray.


The three girls(Reba, Gossip, Dei) taking off

And then some lovely photos of them walking to the line.

Cerf'd

I'm pleased to announce 6 dogs I bred andcurrently own and one more that I co own had their eyes checked yesterday and were Cerf'd clear, YIPPEE!! :) I'm not sure if Reba was done, Scirocco was missed because she was in the kennel, but they'll be done next time.

This gives Touchet everything she needs to get her Chic# :) I am so darn tickled :)

T.H.I.F

Yeah, it's the weekend, the end of the week from hell
Work suxs, it's boring, I'm overworked and underpaid. never thought I'd miss ACS, but I miss their pay schedule. Nothing like getting paid what you put into something. If you slacked off and dicked around, you got paid accordingly, if you busted your ass, you got paid accordingly. It used to infuriate me to know thatp eople right off the street made what I was making due to inflation, as well as the fact that those who didn't do their job did, when I left, I was averaging $3 more than the average for the office. .

It was also nice to be able to work from home, wish they'd allowed me to continue doing so when I moved.

Anyway, the season has started!!! Gossip can go and schmoooooooooooooooooze. . she wont' be able to run til this time next month, 8 wks post op, but next weekend at least she can start playing in the small puppy yard.

Now just waiting to see if the surgery screwed with her season. It did with one of Bonnie's dogs, took Esme 3 months to come into season. .

So, this week all weekend Racing, next weekend is ASFA, friend John is so excited, he's got Wizard and is chomping on the bit to get him out running. Wizard's a nice boy, and reminds me of cousin Grins in someways, and his owner is a trip LOL I remember being so excited about my 1st running dog, granted, John's got a much better one lOL

Then off one weekend, and then back for AKC. Need to get Reba going on her titles and work on Eros' LCM/LCX. John's offered to help get them out LOL, I think he'll do better with Reba, Eros is too much dog lOl