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 :)

Yeah for the end of june

The heat has finally broken here in MD, at least temporarily. . I so enjoyed watching the Borzoi riproar around this morning, pouncing, trouncing, leaping, flying, bowing, playing, Reba & Gossip being silly together, old Lady Dei joining in on the fun, Gibbs & Ziva playing catch me if you can, the dirt stirring in the still morning air.

It has been so horrid, we've done as little as possible, racing was cancelled last weekend, it was 97 here on Monday, it's supposed to be almost 20 degrees cooler today. And it's been this way most of the month, ugh.

Did manage to finish First's & Reba's GRC, all the girls are workign their way out of their post season slump. :P

Ziva joined the ranks of the racing crowd this month. . .she's made me very proud, from being a dog only mom could catch or box(I'd box, then she'd race back down the track to me, first day she raced,s he probably ran 1000 yds!), to a dog anyone can box/catch. I don't usually race first, but used it this time to build her confidence. She is very soft like her mom, and so will be out selectively as long as I know the dogs who are running run COMPLETELY clean, meaning no crap after the finish line either!, which I have seen a lot of recently when running with others' dogs.

I won't put up with that crap, and in fact pulled a bitch at the last race meet who was doing that. We're taking care of her for a friend, and another friend is interested in a running dog. This bitch has a wav, ahs ran clean before, but for some reason this time, felt the need to roar at Reba as she came across the line. Thankfully Reba has become oblivious to that crap, but that doesn't mean a thing to me. I do not like it.

Some enjoyable time this month, was spent in the company of an old friend and making a wonderful new friend. Fourteen years ago, I met one of my favorite people in Borzoi: Nancy Hopkins. She came up to me at the San Antonio Cluster, very complimentary of my girl, one of the few people who was. She could teach a lot to people who can't see a dog beyond the breeder/pedigree. . .

She came 'back' into my life after I moved to NY, when I bought the littermate to her beautiful Blue Brindle Pele Daughter. My boy didn't turn out, but taught me a lot, as has my friendship with Nancy.

Nancy's friend (and also a friend of Bonnie's) came up to purchase one of the great grandson's of my Kyra out of a girl bred by Nancy. Nancy took a risk and a lot of flack for breeding to a 'half shefaro' boy. . why a risk? Because people were all lined up to buy a puppy from the 'famous' flyte until they found out who she bred her to. . .Mir's a very nice boy, accomplished, but again, refer to the paragraph to people who can't see a dog beyond the breeder/pedigree. . some people are so blind. She got a really nice litter out of Mir & Flyte, and I know she's proud of them all.

Bonnie's girl First is a pretty, very Kristull looking thing. . .and boy was she happy to see her 'grandma' when Nancy showed up.

When she heard I was going racing last weekend, Nancy brought up First's sister HayLuz to see how she stacked against both her sister & Gossip. And even tho we were up and on the road at five to go racing, Nancy was a great sport about it and heavensent, as we needed the extra hands and it helped in walking dogs out,IMMENSELY.

It was a blast, even if it did get warm and she got to see dogs run she'd wanted to see run(Gossip, First, Tipperary, Grins) and she helped me in training Ziva, who is now half way towards her title and getting better each and everytime. . .
Unfortunately, HayLuz decided to be grumpy, coming across the line roaring at poor Reba, and Nancy did the right thing and pulled her. .. wish other people who have dogs who did this would pull them, as it is intimidating to new dogs and can ruin a soft dog. . .Nancy was good nature about it, Hay Luz was about 4 wks post season, so it could've very well been PMS.

She got to see I wasn't joking on how hard it was to pull Grins off LOL. .

Sunday, even tho she didn't have a dog to run, she was up and with me to the field (We love you Nancy!).We got 17 races done in 3 hrs Sunday, and the track came down fast. And by the end of the day, Ziva was hard to pull off the bunny, so I was very happy over all!

The dogs all got in the van and became carpets. . .it was amazing to see LOL. Not a grumble.


If weather stays as mild as it's supposed to be for Saturday, Ziva will attempt her ASFA Cert. My luck, she'll get it and then come into season LOL. That's exactly what her sister did with her LGRA cert run. .

friends & family

Cuz it's been too nasty to do anything and I've been feeling under the weather, just some random photos of our walks. We've got numerous friends that come over, and Gossip & her cousin Surya get to run and play with them.
Surya is a finished Dual Champion dog who is hysterical. . he loves his toys, to the point he gets upset if someone else has them.

I love this photo. Wish I'd remembered to put the flash on

With one of our many friends. Misty May is a rescued Siberian, a cutie, even if she drove the Borzoi nuts by being a little too dominant.

Surya has to take a toy out for a walk. He's a dork.

Gossip, Surya, and their buddy Quincy. I love when Borzoi coil themselves up like Gossip's doing :)

These aren't friends, these are land rats, and we are infested with them. The dogs went bonkers when they saw them in the next field

Another friend. Pavo, sired by Grins' brother Stardust.

Pavo, racing away from Gossip LOL

A muddy Gossip, getting ready to go pounce on Pavo yet again.

More landrats :)

what a weekend

What a wonderful, albeit busy weekend.

Saturday we got up early and headed to Vanessa's to see the River X Nina babies, such cute little fuzzballs. . there's one little boy if I had my way, I'd be taking home, he is absolutely positively SCRUMPTIOUS!! Oh my. Even Bonnie had a problem not taking a puppy home. . especially Wesley who decided Bonnie was the cat's meow and kept following her around LOL Such cute little buggers. . but i don't need no more stinking boys, two is enough! But boy was it tempting for Bonnie & I. . .maybe John's dad would be interested in one of them, they are lovely puppies, and my favorite is a dominant black boy, lots of chrome, and it's funny, because the blacks are NOT my favorite colour at all, but he's one nice darn little guy.

Was so nice to see Pat & Robin, sucks Pat is so far away now, but she's looking good. . .and had a nice visit with Vanessa. So nice for Grins' daughter to end up #1 AKC Borzoi, she's ranked in LGRA, and in the top 5 in ASFA. . so a nice year for Novel.

Then headed home, played with a certain speckled white dog, then loaded her up the car and headed into town. . this part of the day sucked. . ringtime was 4. .we are in Rally-A, so we are the last class in the ring, there were 70 total entries, and we didnt' enter the ring til close to 7. . blech. Gossip was definitely BORED by then, and didn't do her normal flip return to heel, had to give her three commands, still did rather nicely, better score than last time, and placing 4th in our class. Judge complimented her, said you don't see many Borzoi in the ring, and it's true. Was nice to see the only two sighthounds place in the class(IW won the class, tied the Dobie, but won on virtue of faster time). Fell in love with a little herding dog while I was there, and now researching this cute small breed. Since there's no AKC small sighthoudn I really like(whippets are too terrier like, Basenjis not my cup of tea temperament wise, and Iggies i'm afraid Pippens would eat LOL), if I want a small breed, I'll have to go out of group, oh well, not bad, when there's a few cute littler breeds. Want something that's bed snuggle size, but is a big dog too, if that makes sense LOL

I am so tickled with Gossip, she keeps getting better and better. We'll start another OB class next month in hopes of being able to try for our RA next summer. Already got the OK to split the class between two of the Zoi, as they do not have the attention span for an hour of training. .so might as well rotate them. So nice to have an instructor who understands that.

Got an early Xmas present:A Garmin! Weehee!! Now to learn how to use it :)

Misc stuff

What a wonderful nice weekend. Weather didn't cooperate Saturday with pouring rain, but it was pretty darn nice for Sunday with a nice breeze off the ocean.

Was a small meet, most of the Borzoi went to the II, but hearing what the conditions were, I was so right in saying screw that.

The ass kissers will deny it, but I've heard from a reliable source who has no problem stating it the way it is and will not bend to peer pressure just to be 'liked', that it was too damn hot on saturday, and crap assed lure operation on Sunday. I am tickled a couple of Northeasterns did well, with my buddy Wizard finishing with a BOB win at the II, he has only been in three ASFA trials, lol, wonder if John is even able to keep his head on work today LOL He didn't find out until today, since he was flying home from China yesterday. Wiz is Dei's intended :) I hope her pups get his intensity. Then Ariel's handsome boy Lemans and Wiz's brother also placed. But i'm still glad I didn't go.

Instead, I went to MAIGC's LGRA, and had a blast. Wonderful people, wonderful dogs, no nastiness, nothing, problems were dealt with politely. . and it was a great weekend, even if Gossip proceeded to break my last halemar muzzle. I've got a quick order in for replacements before this weekend, but boy she did a job on it, splitting the rigid plastic right in half, almost jabbing herself in the eye, and getting her jaws smashed over the end of the muzzle, caught over the p3's on her offshow side. .brat. She's a face pounder extraordinaire that's for sure.

Wham wham wham, as a friend said, i'm surprised they've lasted as long as they have(7 yrs) with the intensity of my dogs LOL. But, OTOH, considering what she did to herself this weekend, she's ready to go with Wiz & John to the next LGRA event while I sit home on pins & needles and wait to hear how they do LOL. She hogtied herself, covered herself with mud, slammed on those brakes, and came up sound and raring for more. Her fans said they'd help him out as needed.

And it'll just show how much further she has to go to get back into shape. Wiz, Novel, Indigo, Basa, all younger than she is, and darn fast, she's beat 'em before, but that was BEFORE the injury, so we shall see (Fingers crossed) I will worry, but alas, must work and help Bonnie set up for the PVBC meeting on Sunday. Thought of not going racing Sunday and letting JOhn take her, but with the new news that the proceeds benefit Karen Lorenzo with Mike's dr bills, i want to go so I can take extra dogs to support this.

Dei picked up 2 more points, sitting herself at 10 of 12 points needed to finish her GRC. Not at all bad for a 7.5+ yr old girlie, who didn't start running till last fall, tho she did tell me two full weekends was enough mom. . she's definitely tuckered out, but she's not used to this either. . .but she's made me proud, close quarters, being interfered with, she keeps going. . She's going to be the bed mouse for the summer til it's cooler for her to run, she was definitely not enjoying herself this weekend.

GSSA Notra

I took Grins & Bonnie's lovely Blaze daughter Brightness to the event today, to make sure a friend's boy had competition, to get out of the house, and to see if Brightness was still up for running with the youngens since she's lacking only 3.5 points for her ORC. She showed she sure was despite being a 'veteran'. (She doesn't look or act it). We ended up having a NICE entry of 9 Borzoi, and had 3 programs of nice clean runs, even tho the sky opened up and dumped on us BADLy!!!

I don't have race by race results, just tickled that Brightness won one and placed 3rd in high point.

1. Grins (Surprised me since he was 3-4 yrs older than some of his competition, and is almost 6! Where doe sthe time go?!?!) 3 NORC
2. Wizard-Lheureux(may've mutilated John's last name) 1.5 NORC-3ORC
3. Lemans-Duncan & Sage -Darling(tied) split .5 NORC points and 2 ORC points
5. Brightness-Dalzell
6. Elrond-Darling

-beyond this the brain gets muddy, other entries were Monti(pulled), Selenium(looking nice despite her age and got teh turtle), & Padua (Got a JOR leg, but not sure how she and monti finished out ranking wise)

the world will be the lessor for it

Cancer sucks.

Human or beloved animal, cancer sucks.

January I was told that a person I highly respect had a brain tumour, and tho he's fought a good 5+ months, today I read that he's taken a turn for the worse.

Mike Lorenzo & his wife Karen could be highly controversial. A lot of AKC breeders hated them, trashed them, put them down, all because they chose to work with NGA stock instead of the over angulated, huge, Glass unicorns that prance around the show ring. It's one of the reasons I liked them. I fell in love with Greyhounds by meeting little powerboxes of muscle and mass, and that's what they bred.

I remember getting nice emails from them, complimenting me on both Obie & his brother Wings, and their running. And when I met them, they both were just as nice in person as in email.

They were one of the few show people supportive of my importing of Jezebel, known to them as Peanut. Karen in fact hunted me down at Ballston spa shortly after Ms Evil stepped on US soil, in hopes of meeting the 'new dog on the block'. Sadly, i'd left the little brat home lOL Jezebel wasn't as fast as a track dog, but was keen, and when she started having her 'fits', they tried to help me figure it out, and eventually we did, she had an electrolyte imbalance whenever she ran. It eventually caused me to retire her, but I'll be grateful for their help for her career.

When Grins ran his back off after the II, Mike was one of those who supported me in my complaints, who agreed with what I had witnessed, one of the few of the high 'muckamucks' of ASFA who did not get angry or irate that I DARED point out problems with the way the 2004 II had ran. He told me he had witnessed other questionable things that II, in fact, he had been on the field when they were screaming for Grins to get back on the field after he had JUST did a runoff. It was nice to have a 'good guy' and our regional director, on my side. He was there to witness Grins' comeback run, and in fact, ran the lure for him.

When I had to pick judges and help set the course for CCNY's Reg 8 Invitational, it was Mike who helped guide me, suggested judges, helped with the field plan. I felt overwhelm, I've never done this before, but he was a wonderful shoulder to lean on and helped make it as painless as possible. I truly think it was his help that helped make it go so smoothly.

Hell, he was heaven sent more than once when our lure operators didn't or couldn't show up, gladly stepping in without any complaints (at least too our faces lOL) to help CCNY out. He let me get into the 'director's booth', and explained how to run the lure for everything from the Basenjis to the Greyhounds. I've not gotten brave enough to actually put the knowledge he gave me to use, until recently when I ran the lure for Basenji & RR at LGRA. He put up with (what I thought were) my stupid questions, answering each of them calmly and thoroughly. And I never, ever, heard a complaint about his lure operating, and know I always appreciated seeing his name on the premium list as the Lure op.

I will always remember the look on his face when i walked Grins to the line, and Grins did a drive by snag of the 'baby bunnies', walked up, and handed it to him. Mike gave me this look and said "what's this for?". With a huge grin, I told him Grins was letting him know he was going to NEED that plastic bag after Grins got done with his run, and he laughed. I was right, Grins shredded those bags good.

He & Karen were always a classy pair, the love in their eyes for each other was seeable. A welcoming smile on both their faces, it sucks to even think I'll never see the twinkle in his eye as he teases her. Here I sit on the anniversary of losing my little man, thinking of losing one of the best people in coursing and hurting for what poor Karen is now going thru.

the sport won't be the same without him, and the world is a better place because of him.

Thank you Mike, for everything.

Breeding

I thought breeding was supposed to be EASY.

or at least, those who breed a gazillion litters seem to make it seem so.

Touchet definitely doesn't go by the textbook and has taught me a valuable lesson: Dates, dates dates. I will be marking down dates a bitch stands from now on. Day 17 and we got another breeding, in the pouring damn COLD rain, soaked to the skin, guess she just wanted a REAL man not a boy. .poor Wizard, screamed his head off the entire time. told him he'll get his chance next year, he was originally Dei's intended anyway

Off to spruce up da Goose, get on some dry clothes, and head to work.

Nice damn weekend

Whahoo.

Unfortunately I let my cell die last night LOL (I was busy introducing Mr Wiz to his lady to be) Otherwise I know Ms Nancy would’ve called me with this WONDERFUL news

Sammy, a Kyra grandpuppy, my pick puppy out of Nancy’s B litter in fact, picked up a BIF win this weekend. I know his owner is flying on cloud 9. She’s wanted a great running dog since Wings retired, and she’s got one. I am so glad I was able to connect those two(nancy & Robin) when I couldn’t take Mr Sammy-man

I told his future wife to be(Kani), she didn’t care LOL. She’s in that young(2.5) teenager brain stage, what EVER LOL

Mr River went coursing and picked up some more points towards his FCH. I can’t wait to see what his puppies are like, if they have his silly goofy temperament, I know the breeder will be ecstatic! And she was able to see the LIE that was spread about him running dirty was just that, and since she’s been doing this quite a long time, I think she knows what the hell she’s talking about.

And Ms Gossip continues to heal. She actually PLAYED with Mr Wizard last night, or at least, tried to get him to play LOL HE was exhausted after his first full weekend of coursing. She spent most of the weekend in the big yards playing, came up a little lame, but seems to be fine this morning. Every boy seems to be interested in her butt, I wish she’d come into season damnit!! My luck, she’ll wait til the middle of the spring racing.

ARGH.

Finishing a thought**

Raced out to dinner last night, and didn't finish my thought. This is a continuation of a post two posts down.

The reason I SHOULD'VE gone to the cobreeder is when I finally did go to her, she DENIED that she was ever told about a puppy back agreement.

Taught me some valuable lessons
1)contracts, contracts, contracts
2) you can't trust most people.
3) never pick a baby puppy out. I've had crap luck picking any puppy I did not breed.

No good deed goes unpunished

yeah, yeah, I know that's not the way it's supposed to go.

6+ yrs ago, someone new to the breed contacted me, told me she had been screwed by Kyra's breeder. She made me feel sorry for her, all she wanted was a performance dog, and she got two pets. And I don't mean show dogs sold as pets, i mean pets, horrid quality bitches. I had an abundance of boys in my most recent litter, one of which had had a show/performance home, until he had came up missing a number of teeth. He was keen as hell, but I had two brothers who were better put together IMHO, and better dentition, as well as better movement(he moved narrow in the rear). She told me all she wanted was a performance pet, that she had no desire to show.

So I sent her said dog. After people raved over him at a field trial, she asked if I would change it to full registration. If I truly thought this dog was a pet, I wouldn't've. The agreement was in exchange for my GIVING her this dog, and changing over his papers, that I would get a puppy, free of charge from a litter sired by him.

He finished a number of titles,and she bred him. I fell in love with a little girl who looked JUST like her Uncle Obie, my heart & joy dog, and fell hard. It was only after they were a certain age, after I was fully and totally in love with her, that she told me I had to pay for her

WTF?!?! When I pointed out our agreement, she insisted the cobreeder said I had to pay for this puppy due to all her vet bills. Right then and there, I should've contacted the cobreeder and asked her about this, but nope, stupid me, I believed her.**

Got said puppy. She was gorgeous, she was sweet as can be, temperamentally sound. She grew up like her father had, in a huge pasture, playing with my Greyhound and her uncle Obie who was great with puppies.

She matured beautifully bodywise, except for a cathedral front. Nothing to worry about, it's her age, I'll let her grow up some more, practiced her LGRA, tried to get her JC, but she didn't have the interest on plastic. Let her mature mentally some more, wasn't able to get her to practice due to lack of practices or trials ending so damn late I had to head home.

But she did run LGRA, unfortunately, other than CCNY, the nearest LGRA was 4.5 hrs away, and I was more into coursing, as there was more of that a lot closer, so she ran here and there.

Then the 'friend' started riding my ass to get her out, to show her, told her she was small and immature and was doing funny things with her front movement. She & I got into a huge fight over it. I was showing in one of the most competitive parts of the country, and if a dog wasn't a 'white dog', it had to be mature and ready to show.

Finally had a person I highly respect, who has put multile BIS/SBIS wins on various dogs, as well as handled a bitch to #1 Borzoi, someone who KNOWS what a show quality Borzoi is, and she agreed with me, little girl did not have proper Borzoi movement, decent reach, but too much lift.

That started off another argument, but I adored little girl, she was Obie's mini me, and so I kept her, even tho her movement wasn't perfect, she had a lot of good points about her, and with the proper boy, I could fix that movement.

Than my life went to hell. . .and her breeder suddenly became nice, offered to buy her back, told her I was thinking of sending her back, as I didn't know where I was going, let alone my dogs, she offered to pay me twice what I paid for her, I said no, I didn't pay that, she said you need it, take it.

So I did.

Really, if you think about it, she finally paid me for the father. .

And like I said, she offered and insisted I take it. . .needing the money due to what the idiot did, I did, returned lil girl, in good shape, happy healthy and silly, even tho it killed me. . .but it was best for her.

And now I hear from three different sources she's telling people I DEMANDED she pay me the money. One source I trust, one source who's a shit stirrer, and one who people I respect trust. Bullshit.

So much for friends, hunh?

teaches me to be nice to people, second time I felt sorry for someone, and second time I got burned. . .

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