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!

A Few Web Updates

This morning while walking down the driveway to try to spot a fat cottontail that Victor had seen when he went out to feed the horses, I came upon a sparkling, dewey spiderweb. Feeling the moment, I went and retrieved my Rebel from the kitchen counter where I had left it after taking new pictures of the "Boogie Babies" that remain here. I then promptly learned that it is a pain to attempt to take a picture of an arachnid's homey creation because the camera will not focus on its delicate filaments - but instead (in this case) the crape myrtle behind it. After a few failed attempts, I resorted to placing my hand in front of it and swiftly removing it as I snapped the shot - hoping autofocus wouldn't adjust again. I managed a few neat-o shots. I do have an album of non-dog-related shots on the Gryffyn's Aeyrie website that you can view here.


We also managed to update pictures of some of the dogs on our web site. Fawn (formerly known as "Pockets") was at the house visiting for a few days, so we took some nice new pictures. Also updated ones for Peepers, Zander as well as shots sent to us of Axl and Tripp. There is a list of updates with direct links here.

A Few Tidbits

Uploaded many many new pictures and some other updates to the Gryffyn's Aeyrie web site. A list of updates with direct links can be found here. Included in the new pictures is this fun picture of Missi, Isaak and Junior having a three-way tug-o-war.

As for this past weekend - our efforts in both Houston and Omaha were for naught. C'est la vie! At least the company and social events in Omaha were very enjoyable. Solo performed well for Jill in Houston...but I pretty much got what I expected from the judging panel (that would be....nothing) since the Reliant shows (and the majority of their judging panel) have just gotten to be nowhere near worth the effort to attend anymore. Although I certainly miss seeing some of the good people that attend as they live in the area.

I've received some fabulous updates from a few of our extended family members! Sharon wrote:

Just wanted to let you know that Layla passed her skills class to become a therapet. She has her temperment test to pass now. Not worried about that, though. Winni and Andy just passed thier CGC and now move on to thier skills class. They are doing so great! The instructors tell me that they will all be great therapets.

Layla and Andy are sired by Tyler. Their mother is Winni. Sharon's doing great work with them!

Pam, who has Tripp from our Bruce/Luna breeding sent me the following update:

The UKC club I belong to had shows last weekend and we threw together an impromptu puppy- match. We opened it to all breeds and had 13 entries. Mr. Tripp went Best Puppy in Show!!

I've been babysitting an italian greyhound for two weeks and Saturday night, Tripp apparently claimed him as his own. He walked up to him and lifted his leg on the poor iggy's head!

Apparently he's also quite the hunter and is a menace to wandering and inattentive birds. Could really use him for the grackles around here! Although Demi's been working on that for us! Sounds like he can be a little jealous of other puppies too - poor Iggy!

New Picture of Copper

Nice surprise in my email box today - Pam sent me a photo of Copper (ok....now known as Tripp...but I just can't shake the puppy name we christened him with!) from his debut at a fun match. Copper/Tripp is a Silken Windhound puppy from our December litter out of our sweet Luna. I am going to email her and see how he was received by the AKC folks there.

He's growing up wonderfully!!