First AKC Win

Yesterday, my first AKC win!

We entered Catie in Open, in anticipation of Borzoi Nationals coming up in April, when she and Rowan will be in the same class and apparently next to each other in the class. In handling class, Catie is always waaaayyyy too interested in what Rowan is doing, especially if Rowan is ahead or behind her in the line up.

Since she'll be a few weeks over 18 months when Nationals happen in April, we thought this would be a good practice run to have both girls in the same class.

Much to my pleasant surprise, Catie took Best of Breed for at least 1 (possibly 2) AKC points! Our first AKC win, and Catie's first points toward her championship. She really is maturing nicely and we're both learning as we go, after may shows it feels great to know that we CAN do it:

Unlucky 13.......(And 1 Through 12, Too)

Today was the 13th AKC show that Catie and I have participated in, still no Championship points. Here's today's unlucky 13 showing on U-Tube, we are the second in the class, Catie is the black and white bitch.
Yes, I realize now that we could have moved a bit faster on the 'on around', but other than that....??????:
To view us on U-Tube, Click here.

Catie's Junior Coursing Title

It was our coldest day of the season at just 24 degrees at 6:00am. In a frosty white pre-dawn Northwest wonderland we loaded up the borzois and Honcho our silken windhound to go participate in the North West Coursing Club's annual two-day Turkey Run. Today's mission was to obtain for Catherine (Catie) the first leg of her Junior Courser title by taking part 1 of her lure coursing test. Rowan and Honcho came along today for moral support.

Lure coursing events are artificial simulations of coursing, they are designed to measure and develop the characteristics of the sighthound breeds. The hounds chase white plastic bags that are strung on 100# test line, along pulleys, around a course. The line is pulled with a machine with the speed and distance from the hounds manually operated to simulate live game, which sighthounds were developed to hunt. The purpose of the competitive lure coursing trial program is to preserve and develop the coursing skills inherent in sighthounds and to demonstrate that they can perform the functions of which they were originally bred.

The purpose of non-competitive lure coursing tests is to offer sighthound breed owners a standardized gauge to measure their hounds' coursing instinct. Catie has attended several practices with us chasing the lure in a straight line, as well as with her breeders in Canada, Greg and Lexy Hancock of Tovaritch Kennel, before coming to us last June. So, she knew what to do, Chase The Bags! Today was her first time on the lure when it changes directions, however.

We were pleasantly surprised to meet another borzoi and her family out for their JC test also. A lovely 2 year old goofy girl (yes, goofier than Catie, hard to believe but true). In our area, hardly no borzoi attend lure coursing events, so we are extremely happy to have finally met other borzoi people out to run their hounds.

After a wait that seemed like hours (oh yeah, because it WAS HOURS, plural, even though the JC Tests were ran before the trial!) in the cold, with frozen feet and ears, it was Catie's turn. Catie wasn't cold at all as she would try to launch her and us off the ground everytime the lure machine started up for the tests before us, then bark-bark-bark her pointy borzoi head off in excitement and try to pull us out onto the field.

As soon as she was released to follow the lure, she took off like a bat out of hell and only had a split second hesitation when the lure took approximately a 90 degree turn to the left about 75 yards down from the start line. She ran fabulously the entire course, and only lost the lure momentarily when it made an turn back up on itself at an extreme acute angle. If you've never seen a borzoi, or any sighthound for that matter, in a double suspended gallop at full speed, it's a sight to behold - poetry in motion.

Tomorrow morning we'll repeat today and should have her JC title by mid morning. We are so proud of our little Catie-bug!

AKC Show Success - Catherine takes RWB

A couple of years ago, when we purchased our first Silken Windhound Honcho, we were introduced to the wide world of dog showing. Silken Windhounds are a rare breed that are not yet recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC), and are not shown in AKC venues. These rare breed show venues are usually rather informal, relaxed and quite sociable events. There are also as many as six separate shows in a single weekend. We've known dogs in these venues to start their show career and finish as a Champion the same weekend, if not the same day. True story!

It's with this short history of relative dog show success that we forayed into the world of AKC dog shows this year when we began showing our two new Borzoi girls, Rowan and Catherine. What a world of difference! Showing dogs in AKC is the hardest thing I have ever attempted to do. Which, makes any success that we achieve just that much sweeter. As new handlers, we are learning as we go also.

Today, we drove over 150 miles one way to show in the AKC all breed show in Ridgefield, Washington. Although it was a practice day for Rowan, Catherine at 1 year + 4 days of age and her fifth AKC show, took Reserve Winners Bitch with five bitch entries. We are very proud of her as she calmed down significantly (no bouncing, skipping and kissing Mom in the show ring TODAY...) and she moved smoothly and effortlessly.

Although we didn't earn any points toward either of the borzoi's championships, we are thrilled with Catie's first AKC Reserve Winners Bitch (where there was more than one other entry) and are looking forward to the next show in November.