7 Things You Didn't Know About the Humane Society

Yup - the truth is getting out there. The following link is from a blog on the CattleGrower.com web site.

http://www.cattlegrower.com/CheyenneOutlaw/blog/176/

Three's a Charm (SilkenFest 2009)

We had an unbelievable Silken Windhound Nationals experience this year - I am completely floored! In addition to our show ring experiences, we got to meet up with several folks who have dogs from us (both Silken and Borzoi) and see how our pups have grown - and some were being shown as well. Nice to see our dogs in the ring with someone else handling them!

Nan brought out Andres (Solo/Duri; borzoi) - he has forgotten he is a dog as he is the only one and doesn't see much in the way of dogs (except the occasional "ankle biter") out his way. But he is a stunning adolescent male with coat so shiny it's almost blinding. Deb and her daughter also brought Mukki (Bruce/Luna; silken) along for a visit - he grew into such a lovely boy with luscious coat and a grin for everyone. Also got to see Voodoo (now with the Peffers) and her mother Jett (VooDoo's mother, with Ahryn); Kandi's 2 daughters (Blondie and Oreo) from her leased breeding; Tim and Vicki Frey had Sylvi (Bruce/Luna) and Enzo (Isaak/Serena) along to show and their sibling Ajax was also there with Lynn Wall; and Tripp with Pam all the way from CT (and boy was that WORTH it!) - I did not have near enough time to visit with everyone as much as I wanted to - not even Pat Shaw who was so kind as to put us and our crew up at her home for the weekend!

On Saturday we took care of some health testing on several dogs and then began visiting with folks. Victor was at the SLASH LGRA meet with Nox since we decided to take advantage of it being at the same location. It paid off as she won the meet and earned 2 GRC/NRC points! We also had the huge shrimp boil (and pig out) - tables lined up with brown paper and the menfolk dumping fresh from the pot corn, potatoes, shrimp and sausage among the various trays of fresh fruit available for desert and strategically placed bottles of cocktail sauce and squeezy butter. We opened up the sangria that Nan had brought and shared amongst several folks in our vicinity.

Sunday was the day of the showing festivities and started off with Puppy Sweepstakes. Shadow won his class (9-12) with brother Enzo taking third. Goth and Pryss both won their classes and Fanci and Darkun both took 4th in their classes. Kandi's daughter Blondie also won her class. Pryss then went on to win Best in Sweepstakes and Goth took Best Opposite in Sweeps!!

The Regular classes had some nice surprises for us as well. In the 9-12 month puppy dog class, the three brothers, Shadow, Ajax and Enzo took 2nd through 4th places respectively. Gabe won the Bred-By Exhibitor dog class and Tripp won the Open dog class, with his almost 9 year old great-grandpa Ivanhoe taking 2nd to him. Tripp then went on to take Winners Dog and Gabe got Reserve. Fanci was 4th in the 9-12 puppy bitch class and Blondie was 3rd (I was so thrilled to see how she and her sister Oreo have turned out, although poor Oreo managed to cut her pad and was slightly off - but they are stunning youngsters). Pryss won the 12-18 Month class and Maverick's daughter Storm (bred by Lori at Elessar) was 3rd. A naughty Missi was 3rd in the Novice class and still got compliments despite her bratty behavior. Radar shown by a friend for her new owner, Mary) was 2nd in the class and I overheard the judge comment that she was a beautiful bitch, but a lunatic (I 100% agree - she has always been a hard one to work with!!). In the Bred By bitch class Luna was 2nd and Kandi 3rd. Our most amazing class performance was Trouble winning the largest class there - Open Bitch (11 entries). I don't think anyone recognized her since she was behaving so well! Siren, on the other hand, declined to participate and Victor couldn't even get her out from under the tent - she sat her hiney down and outright refused. Sylvi and VooDoo were also there but unfortunately didn't get placements. In the end, Trouble won Reserve Winners Bitch!

By the time Best of Breed came around, I thought I was going to fall over from all the dogs we had shown. Tyler was on "autopilot" though - and I just let out his lead and held on to the very end as he zipped around the ring like a Brittany and pretty much showed himself while I huffed and puffed behind him. I am still on cloud nine - as Tyler earned his third national specialty win! He has now won the two highest entries of Silkenfest (2009 and 2007) in addition to the 2006 show. This also finished his ISWS Grand Champion title!

A nice finish for this year's Silkenfest was Ivanhoe winning the inaugural Stud Dog class, represented by Tyler, Kandi and VooDoo. He sure gave the youngsters a run for it in the classes as well. He just needs a qualifying specialty win to complete his ISWS title - but we figure it will be hard as he lost some teeth when he broke his lower jaw a few years ago.

Needless to say - we floated home!

HSUS' "Whiney Wayne" Spreads More Manure

An interesting article was posted to one of the pet law lists I am on, and I got pretty disgusted at Wayne Pacelle spreading more crap defending the false conception of HSUS (whose true goal is eliminating animal breeding and ownership entirely).

The HSUS said Kunzleman's comments are an unfair representation of the work done by the HSUS. The organization uses its money to contribute to animal shelters in ways that are not represented in specific dollar amounts awarded to shelters, said HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle.

"We offer continuing education for shelter directors, and we offer a number of education opportunities and help shelters improve, and none of those efforts are represented in direct donations to shelters," Pacelle said.

O.....K.....

What Pacelle has failed to include in his statement (lie by omission?) is that shelter directors PAY for "continuing education." It is not donated. "Education opportunities" to help shelters improve - those are paid for as well, not donated. Under the guise of "consulting fees" such as the thousands charged to the Lied shelter in Nevada some years ago. They charged almost $23K for a review of San Luis Obispo County (CA) Animal Services in 2008. NOT DONATED. With the millions upon millions of dollars taken in with various "pity this and that" campaigns, you would think they could spare donating that consulting fee so as not to cause more financial hardship on already strapped shelters.

They even offer a 108-page report for purchase on their website (see it here). What is advocated inside it? How-to's on getting restrictive legislation passed against dog fanciers such as mandatory spay/neuter; and mandatory breeder permits/licensing and other breeding restrictions.

I guess I could give Whiney Wayne credit for telling a smidgen of truth when he says "none of those efforts are represented in direct donations to shelters." Exactly. They are not donations to shelters - they are payments from shelters to HSUS. That is what HSUS LOVES more than anything else - money.

The article can be found at http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20090405/NEWS01/904050313

I am certainly not a fan of pet store puppies - but I also realize that serious dog fanciers/hobbyists can not fill the desires of everyone who wants to bring a puppy into their home - there are just too many JQP's that want tiny toy dogs or the more popular breeds.

Unfortunately some folks are also not willing to undergo the scrutiny of responsible hobby breeders who want to make sure that the pups from their home go to a "forever home" where they will be well cared for their entire (and hopefully long) lives. Or they are not patient enough and want instant gratification - something a pet store seems to have in constant supply.

As a footnote...what do HSUS consultants advise when faced with a newborn litter of pups from a pit bull? Kill them. What did they advise the Lied shelter to do when animals at the overcrowded shelter may have been exposed to disease? Kill them (instead of donating some of their millions to help them). Oh...and they also disallowed purebred rescue groups to pull dogs and thereby relieve some of the burden on the shelter. What did they advise when faced with the seized Vick dogs and experienced pit bull rescues were volunteering their services?

Kill them.

Please don't send these shysters any more $ and see them for what they truly are. A menace.

Our Catalog Ad for SilkenFest

Pretty happy with today's work, considering I feel like I am suffering from a creative block - likely from the sinus block I am experiencing, as it seems I caught the creepin' crud during the flight back from D.C.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Lola and Beta

Lola (Duncan/Josi) left for CT on the 12th to become a part of the McCormick clan along with Beta (Isaak/Serena). I've gotten lots of Beta updates from Martha, so it was easy to send Lola up there after she had inquired about her - and I thought she and Beta would be great together.

Lola was her brother Sunni's favorite chew toy - but she wasn't cut out for it, being a very submissive girl. Hearing about Beta and his play style with the Bernese Mountain Dogs he shares the home with, and seeing a little video of it, I hoped his sunny outlook would help bring out Lola's personality.

Martha sent along a little video that shows that Beta and Lola are quite the cute couple and my hopes are coming to fruition - Beta is a great playmate, and Lola is interacting great with him.

Beta also had a little photo and modeling session for the In the Company of Dogs catalog and is currently featured in the image rotation on their web site's front page!


Lola also attended some shows the weekend after her arrival and did very well walking amongst the crowd and receiving attention from folks she didn't know. I look forward to more stories and pictures of her and Beta's adventures!

Well That Was Quick!

Well...it seems like we had barely gotten started...and now he's FINISHED!!

J/T won Best of Winners both days for two 4-point majors at the Wichita Falls shows this past weekend and completed his AKC conformation championship! His first points (and major) were earned the 2nd day of the Nolan River shows the first weekend of January; then WD both days at Fort Bend (BOW on Sunday) and WD both days in San Marcos a couple weekends ago (BOW on Sunday)...and now this! His only other shows (if memory serves) were the 2 specialties he attended as a super-gangly youngster (RMBC on Labor Day and LSBC the weekend before Halloween).

To say he has blossomed in the last couple months is an understatement!

You can see his page on our website at http://www.gryffynsaeyrie.com/jt.htm

Can't wait to see his pictures from the last two show weekends.

I guess the rest of the year will be spent working towards his various performance titles since he is pointed in AKC lure coursing, ASFA, LGRA and NOTRA!