Lure Coursing

Since I do a fair amount of performance sports I am hesitant to lure course and risk the injuries to the dogs. It can take time off training to rehab injuries but the dogs do love to run. I had a free weekend and thought I would take both Echo and Breeze down to a 2 day lure course and let them run. Both ran for a JC leg. The first day we were there we met another greyhound Hattie Peach owned by Audrey Hsia who was present to certify for ASFA.

 Breeze ran her first JC leg-her first time chasing the lure around the entire course, Echo ran for her 2nd JC leg and Hattie certified for ASFA.
Echo's run:


Hattie's run:


The next day Goose and Emma-Breeze's littermates came out to run for their JC as well. At 15 months they also had only run the lure once before. All dogs had a grand time running, no injuries and lots of tired dogs!

Breeze's run


Goose's run


Emma's run


None of the puppies will be coursed until they have grown up quite a bit and take things more seriously. All fell asleep as soon as the car started home, proving the old saying "a good dog is a tired dog".

Happy Halloween

Happy Belated Halloween!

Greyhound Club of Northern California Fall Specialty

The Greyhound Club of Northern California has a fall specialty every year in conjunction with Del Valle Kennel Club shows. Although a smaller entry than the Eastern or Western Specialty it still has   a fairly large entry of greyhounds. This year we had 27 entered in the classes, sweeps and obedience.

Best of Breed was won by "Echo"  GCH Aragon Black Ice VCD1 RE AX AXJ.

High In Trial was won by "Darby" BISS GCH Aragon Aroi Silver Lining from the Open A class with a 188.5
Winners Dog was"Bruce" Aragon Helios Blue Spruce from the puppy class. This finished his Breed Championship.
Reserve Winners Dog was "Riser" Aragon Full Moon Rising.
Winners Bitch and Best of Winners was "Breeze" Aragon Northern Lights from the Bred By class.
Reserve Winners Bitch was"Emma" Aragon Emerald Hills.

 Way to go Whisper puppies!! and Lyric puppies!!
Show photos aren't available yet.

The following day Breeze again went Winners Bitch, Best of Winners and Best of Breed to finish her Breed Championship.

Meanwhile over in agility Whisper and I Qed in Jumpers all three days but did not Q in Standard. We need 4 more QQ for her MACH2. So it was fun running but we don't need the points.







A fun but exhausting weekend.

During the Day

I spend a lot of time in the evening training the dogs and weekend competing or trialing. The dogs have a busy life but what do they do during the day when I am at work. Most days they go to work with me and sleep the day away.

As I have my own clinic it is easy to bring the dogs into work. They get exposed to a lot of new situations early on in their life. New dogs, new smells ,new people and at times lots of chaos.I think they learn to deal with new situations quite easily. I hear people talk about how difficult it is to travel with their greyhound(s), they stop eating, pant, pace etc. I have rarely experienced any problems traveling with my dogs and I think it is because of their early upbringing.

It can be a long day for puppies so I try to break up the day with play times. Lyric and Whisper grew up with a best friend Joey the Boston Terrier. During lunch, slow times in the clinic or just before going home the dogs would play.

To this day Lyric and Whisper love Boston Terriers. Unfortunately Joey  moved away before Echo and Breeze  arrived and needed a playmate.

Breeze took matters into her own paws by meeting a new friend. Since Pedro was behind the desk she jumped on the counter to meet him, Breeze is a true agility dog in the making.

When the day gets too long, asking for a little pat on the head passes the time.

Butterflies

In addition to dog shows, dog training and dog sports I also love to garden. To me nothing is more peaceful than walking out in my garden and watching the birds flying around the plants. Recently I have also noticed my garden is attracting butterflies as well.

A Monarch on a Tithonia plant

A Skipper on a Zinnia

A Painted Lady on a Zinnia again.

I have also notice Cabbage Whites and Hare Streaks flying around the flower garden but have been unable to capture them in a photo.

Next post will be back to dogs!!