The 2009 Running Season Begins With a Bang

J/T with the day's judge, Tom Golcher, Zoiboyz
On September 19th the running season got back into swing here in Texas and we attended the local RR trial. J/T needed three singles to finish his AKC field championship, so when he won Best of Breed for 2 points, we decided to let him run for Best in Field since there was 3 points available. We thought....what the heck, it would give him what he needed if he pulled it off. I was quite dismayed when he drew a track greyhound bitch that I've seen run and win BIF before. I figured we didn't have a prayer at that point.

OMG - he put in the best run I've ever seen him do, staying close to her while
maintaining nice follow - except for the big cheat straightaway they both did at the start, where I was pleasantly surprised she didn't leave him yards and yards behind. Towards the end of the course it dipped a bit out of site, I was so happy to see J/T appear just before the grey-girl (and on course) - he was really working it!

I was thrilled that he was awarded BEST IN FIELD (a Whippet and Rhodesian Ridgeback were also running), and won his third major, becoming BIF DC Gryffyn's Aeyrie Bringin' Sexy Back, SC!

This makes the third homebred AKC Dual Champion for me (and 4th for Victor) and the 7th for us to have had the pleasure to have in our lives here. I think this makes him the next youngest Borzoi to achieve this...the youngest being our Kalipso from Nadine at Rising Star.

Hopefully we will have more on the way, as Nawti, Sparkk, Ray, Shayde (Tim's girl) and Ozzy (all Duri's pups from her breeding to Achilles) have had some promising practice runs.

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!

Some Recent Successes

The past couple show weekends have been good to us. At the Fort Bend Shows in mid-January J/T was Winners Dog both days (with a Best of Winners on Sunday) and Solo was BOB both days. The joy was dampened a bit by the overworked Astro van's fuel pump dying about a mile from the show site on Sunday. Since my would-be rescuer (my dad) was with me...I was feeling pretty darned stuck! Thanks to a fellow Borzoi-fancier, Krista Hunt, we got back to Dad's house after the van was picked up by AAA. Krista was so kind (thank you thank you THANK YOU!) to drive us across town to northwest Houston from Richmond (south west of Houston).

J/T is Best of Winners at Fort Bend KC's Sunday show; Judge Clyde Morris
At the AAWC AKC lure trials the following weekend, J/T was 2nd on Saturday for 1 point and on Sunday won the Open stake and BOB for a 3 point major. We tried running Buster again - but he is still afraid of the other dogs after the collision he experienced the last time out. I guess the boy is going to need some time. At least his brother Wulfie is showing some promise.

At the San Marcos shows just this past weekend, J/T was Winners Dog both days and again Best of Winners on the second day. Solo was Best of Breed both days and also took a Group 2 on Saturday! The girls (Faina and Bugg) didn't fare so well - I had really hoped to get that last 2 singles on Bugg.

I also received word from Sylvia that Sasha (Gryffyn's Aeyrie Sonorus, Solo ex. Duri) was Winners Dog at the Friday RMBC trophy supported entry in Denver. Sasha also won Best Opposite Puppy in Sweepstakes at the RMBC Specialty Show the next day (same as the last RMBC Specialty Sweeps, when he was defeated by sister Nox) and also was Reserve Winners on Monday (to the father of Sassi's litter, Glaze).

Nice Start for the Year

We had a nice start to the year this weekend - guess the black-eyed peas consumed during our New Year's dinner helped!

We took four dogs to the CERF clinic at the Nolan River KC shows this past Saturday - two Borzoi (Solo and Bugg) and two Silkens (Gabe and his sister Siren) and after a two hour wait (UGH) they all passed with flying colors.

As to the showing...Faina and Nox didn't embarrass us (hoorah!), and traded placements in the Bred-by class between the two days (they were the only two bitches entered in that particular class), and J/T (Sassi's son) was reserve to the major the first day and on Sunday won Winners Dog for his first points, and then got the crossover major (WD on the first day finished his championship, so the dog major broke on Sunday as he had moved up to Specials) by going Best of Winners. So we are quite pleased with our weekend (even though Solo had taken the weekend off)!!

I Did It Myself!

This past weekend Jill went to Mexico for her son Phillip's christening. David wasn't headed to the Houston shows either and we had 2 Borzoi breed judges - a rare occurrence! Even rarer - there was also a third on the panel who had not originally been assigned to judge Borzoi, but was when Saturday's judge couldn't make it.

I went ahead and entered Solo and showed him myself. Well....on Saturday we won Best of Breed (the judge was Ron Spritzer who had bred Borzoi years ago. I opted to take a picture so that I had actual photographic proof that I could get my own special out of the breed.

So I was REALLY a wreck when it came to showing in the Group. At least I had the same judge, who had said I had done a fine job of handling when we were taking that picture and I had joked about my abilities (or the lack of them). The group was packed with some heavy-hitter handlers too - so I wasn't feeling overly optimistic about my chances at ALL! At least I was standing next to a friend with her Irish Wolfhound who had originally not wanted to bother with the groups - hers had been the only entry there. I had told her...if I can show mine, you can show yours!

OMG - Solo got a Group 2!! Can't wait for the picture of that one - I did it all by myself .

Nox was reserve both days, defeating older bitches too. She was a bit fazed by the first day's "enthusiastic" exam and backed off a bit on Sunday, but settled in once Sunday's judge saw she was a bit apprehensive and went over her very gently and slowly, saving checking her mouth for last.

To top it off, Victor took what we thought were completely hopeless boys to the lure coursing that weekend...and came back with 3 newly minted Junior Coursers. There's hope!! They had such short attention spans in various practice sessions previously - he said they all did nicely! J/T, Buster and Wulfie are now AKC JCs. J/T also ran in the trial on Sunday and did well, although he's still trying to figure out where all his legs are.

All in all, quite a nice weekend!

LSBC's First Specialty Show

Ten years ago tomorrow, the organizational meeting of the Lone Star Borzoi Club took place. The past ten years has seen LOTS of hard work, including fun matches, A-matches (for licensing requirements), a handling seminar, ASFA lure trials, the hosting of several BCOA trophy supported entries, an auction to raise funds for a rescue or 22 Borzoi near Houston, TX, and assisting in the hosting of the 2005 BCOA National Specialty Show (in Mesquite). In February of this year, LSBC received licensed status from AKC and this past Saturday was the club's first Specialty Show. It was held in conjunction with the all-breed cluster hosted by the Travis County Kennel Club.

Our dogs managed to earn us some nice bling - trophies created by Redbird Adams, Royale Russian Hounds, including original artworks. Royal Russian is part of the foundation behind our friend Sara's Chataqua kennels, which is part of the foundation behind Gryffyn's Aeyrie. Here's a brief rundown of how our guys did...

Sassi - Best of Opposite Sex
Solo - Award of Merit
J/T - Best Bred-by Exhibitor
Burni - Best Veteran in Sweepstakes
J/T - Best of Opposite Sex in Puppy Sweepstakes

Nox won her 12-18 month class; Faina was 3rd in a large Bred-by Class and won her Sweeps class; Burni made the cut in Best of Breed, then became invisible, but showed fabulously for an approaching 8-year old. For the life of me I cannot remember how Nox and Pumpkin did in their Sweepstakes classes! We were so busy juggling dogs and trying to keep up!

Can't wait for the pictures!

New Hope for the Field

Last weekend Victor went down to Hutto for the Alamo Area Whippet Club's coursing trials - they held both ASFA and AKC events each day. Peepers had already gotten a JC leg earlier this year and she finished up her Junior Courser title on Sunday, so she's now WindnSatin Peek-a-Boo, JC! I'm so happy she's decided she will make turns - she used to blow off a course after the first or second turn!

On Saturday, Nox started off gangbusters...but Victor said the lure op was getting the lure too far out and he finally dumped her at a sharp turn about 2/3 of the way through the course. She didn't get passed. On Sunday she did get her first leg...so hopefully she will wrap that up next time.

Pumpkin declined - she's all about the LGRA lure and did well at the NOTRA practices we had...but she didn't want to play this time around. Shugah hit the first turn and then her ADD kicked in - hopefully the light bulb will turn on, although she is amazingly empty-headed, especially for a girl! I expect it of the boys - but not the girls!

Speaking of the boys, we are going to need to start practicing some of them and see where their heads are at in relation to field events. So J/T, Wulfie, Buster and Lars may be heading to some local practices here soon!

Some New Pix and a Brief Update

Posted some new pictures we took this past weekend of the Spells pups that remain here (Nox, Azchyl and Pumpkin - 8 months), 2 of Sassi's, J/T and Shugah (7 months) as well as Peepers.

Peepers
At the lure coursing in Cleburne this past weekend, Peepers turned it on for her JC run and surprised us by earning her first JC (Junior Courser) leg. Why surprise? In practice she rarely turned more than once! So it was great to see the switch go off and watch her put some effort into it! She looked pretty darned fast too - and got some nice compliments from bystanders there. Unfortunately, the brilliance only lasted halfway through the course the next day - so no JC title yet.

You can see in the picture of Peepers above that we had some pretty scenery at the coursing site. So we took advantage of it by bringing the Spells-girls with us the next day and snapping some photos. We also took advantage of the leafy tree in our front yard for pictures of J/T and Shugah.

Nox
I've uploaded the new pictures into the online albums at Gryffyn's Aeyrie and there are links to the individual albums on the Updates page.

I received some pictures from the Selmans of Lance and Tasha, and from Deb of Mukki. Need to get those downloaded, edited and uploaded as well!