I wasn't fortunate to be able to attend BooFest in person this time around, but it looks as though there was still a touch of success for Gryffyn's Aeyrie - thanks to Tyler's progeny from his breeding to Cinder and Blondie, from Kandi's breeding to Dan. I was so excited when Joyce asked to use Tyler for a breeding, and to Duncan's sister too. Kandi's pups are also maturing soooo nicely that I am contemplating a repeat, although she has a finicky heat cycle. I am even more thrilled to hear news of their successes. Both specialties were judged by AKC judges as well - such great PR for the Silkens.
The first specialty show was judged by Diane Young McCormack, who chose Tyler's son Blaze (Talisman of Beaux-Arts) for Best in Specialty Show. Siblings Dresden (Talisman of Merovingian) and Ilsa (Talisman of Art Nouveau) were Winners Dog and an Award of Merit respectively. Kandi's daughter Blondie (WindNSatin Creme Brulee) was Winners Bitch/Best of Winners AND Best of Opposite (over specials) to her cousin. Dresden also took the Best Bred-By Exhibitor award. Mama Cinder was Best Brood Bitch.
The second show was judged by Betty Stites (who I have fond memories of her finishing Doodle's AKC championship). Ms. Stites also chose Blaze for SBIS honors! Ilsa and Dresden both received Awards of Merit and mother Cinder again Best Brood Bitch.
I so wish I could have come and visited and seen it all. Maybe next year!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
BooFest 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
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
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!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
From Hell to Heaven (or close to it!)
I managed to survive "Hell Week"! Hoorah! And all the work resulted in some nice wins in both Silken Windhounds and Borzoi - so much the better!
At the inaugural Southern Silken Specialties in Georgia, Gabe was Reserve Winners Dog and Best Bred-By Exhibitor on Saturday and his uncle Tyler was Best Opposite Sex. Luna was Reserve Winners Bitch. At the Saturday specialty (the ISWS qualifier), Gabe was Winners Dog and then went on to win Best in Specialty Show!! He was also once again Best Bred-By. Luna was again Reserve Winners Bitch. For his trouble, Gabe got a lovely biothane sighthound collar - even more exciting, it looks like the collar's designer/creator will be getting one of our puppies!
On Monday at the Rocky Mountain Borzoi Club specialty show, Nox went on to win Best in Sweepstakes and her brother Sasha (who lives in CO with Sylvia Sieverding) was Best Opposite in Sweeps! This was our second year in a row to win BISweeps - last fall it was Lars who took the honors. Faina won the Bred-By Exhibitor class and went on to Reserve Winners Bitch. Sasha won the 9-12 Puppy Dog class and then went Reserve Winners Dog. Solo won an Award of Merit. All in all a nice day!
We also got to meet with our friends and extended family at both events. The Lockards brought Kenny to visit and show, and the Turnell's brought Bailey (Arthur/Miss T) and his little girlie friend they got from Sara. She's a petite little thing and cute as a button! There's never enough time to visit it seems like!
It took a couple days to recover from the trip, with my back acting up as well as an episode of costochondritis from sleeping (likely twisted) on a hard bed at KOA. But I still had a great time!
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Post-Silkenfest Brief
Well....I guess it's what happens when a terrier man from another country judges sighthounds! C'est la vie! Or whatever "that's life" is in Spanish!
No "three-peat" for Tyler (aka "Wee-man") - actually he was completely shut out, without even an Award of Merit. But we still had fun seeing everyone again and meeting some new folk. The scenery was gorgeous (even if it did try to kill me - see future posts for that) to boot - both at the ranch and at the little cabin I had rented 20 miles away (pictures forthcoming).
Despite my dismay at some of the judging, some dogs I admired came away with honors - notably Dita (Talisman Maia Mudita Kumbaya). Tyler's pups from Cinder's breeding did well in their classes, with his daughter Ilsa earning Best Opp Puppy honors. Our color of the day seemed to be white (4th), with the exception of Luna, who earned 3rd in the Bred-by class, and Isaak and Trouble, who walked.
I also got to get an eyeful of prospective 'husbands' for some of the girls - always nice to see what else is out there that may complement our breeding goals.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
California and Bust
It was a loooooooooooong drive to Antioch, California in order to attend an ISWS Regional Specialty (BooFest!), which I've been to twice previously. It's been held every other year - but may soon become an annual event. The main purpose for going was for Tyler, because of an interpretation on the poorly written show rules regarding the attainment of an ISWS Grand Champion title....so I needed to go where the dogs were. I also had several others in attendance - Luna, Trouble, Gabe, Luna's daughter Missi, and Ginger (who was being dropped off for a friend to take home for a bit in order to be bred to one of her males).
Tyler came away empty-pawed, but I can't complain too badly. Gabe won the Bred-By Exhibitor Dog class, then went on to win Winners Dog/Best of Winners and Best Bred-By in Show! This gives him his ISWS-qualifying win towards his ISWS championship...which is fabulous! Although it does mean I will need to get him to some Rarities shows now in order to work on getting more points! Ember, who now lives with Alison of Tangaloor Silkens, won Winners Bitch from the Open class! Then Missi won Best Puppy in Show despite her very rotten behavior. She's certainly lovely - but she's also an electric-red, first class BRAT.
Tyler did get a little something while he was there - he had several trysts with his "intended", Cinder, who conveniently was in standing heat during our visit. So hopefully we will have news from Joyce that pups will be coming in late December. Cinder is our Duncan's sister and has that same, effortless, ground-covering stride. Her first litter has a great depth of quality and beautiful type, so I have high hopes since we will be getting a pup. Joyce was kind enough to put up me and the critters during our brief stay. The dogs enjoyed the romp through the landscaped and hilly yard, and Tyler....well....enjoyed his romp.
The drive itself was relatively uneventful, although in Mojave they had closed the freeway for a bit due to super-high winds which made it dangerous for high profile vehicles (and the Zoibus certainly qualifies for that!). On Friday night I decided to find a hotel to crash at, and came upon the Canyon Inn (somewhere between Flagstaff and Williams, AZ). It's fun to find a place to stay that's not the usual franchise and has its own "personality" - and this place sure fit the bill. The lady that checked me in was very friendly too. Good thing I chose a hotel, since it hit below freezing that night - and I was warm and cozy. It wasn't an expensive stay, they gave me a little goody bag and biscuits for the dog, and they even had free wireless internet. I must figure on staying there again.
On the way home, east of Henrietta, on a lonely (not to mention dark) 2-lane road, the Zoibus blew out its left rear tire. I didn't have good cell phone reception, but managed to get hold of AAA to ask for a truck to come out. It was getting chilly, I could hardly see, and I could hear coyotes. It too over 3 and a half hours to get a truck to me - thanks to a series of miscommunications - and I was a wreck by the time they got there thanks to the poor phone reception and wondering how long I would be stuck. Don't particularly remember the rest of the drive home since I was too tired. Thank goodness there wasn't any cars parked on the shoulder, since I tested the rumble strips on several occasions - those parts I do remember. Ended up taking a day off from work in order to sleep off the adrenalin hangover.
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