News
April 2007
April 2007
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February 2007
March 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 29, 2007 - Had a call from George Evans on my drive home this evening - Ripley (Brooks
x Kira) finished 4th in the CWA meet today picking up another 4 ARX points today bringing his
total to 7, almost half of what he needs for an ARX title! In his first weekend of straight racing!
To say that I'm proud would be an understatement, but more importantly both Ripley and his
people are having lots of fun!
April 28, 2007 - I had a phone call from a friend this afternoon who had attended the CWA
race meet in PA today. It appears that Ripley (Brooks x Kira) picked up three ARX points in a
30 dog meet today!
April 27-29, 2007 - Almost a three day weekend! I covered 873 miles from Friday morning to
Sunday night, and jammed a lot into those three days. After attending a seminar (for work) in
College Park, MD all day Friday, I drove my van full of dogs (10 of them) up to Gettysburg, PA to
meet up with some friends attending the Greyhound gathering up there. I also got to see
Emma (Brooks x Kira) and her family which was an extra added plus! From there we drove
to Morgantown, PA and spent the night in a motel so we'd be close to the field for the lure
coursing on Saturday. This is a new field and the grass was taller than we're used to and it
sure told on us. Greyhound Ruby got unsighted in the preliminary run thereby scoring so low
that she could not possibly recover, and finished 2nd of two. In the finals Saluki Zuli got
unsighted, and then the other two dogs also got unsighted. These are VERY experienced
Salukis and it was a great surprise that they lost the lure like that. Aren also got unsighted in
the finals & finished out of the ribbons. The only one that didn't loose sight of the lure was
Kira, running in her first trial as a Veteran. Kira put in a very strong performance, and behaved
herself when the lure stopped and placed first in her stake. I was very pleased with her and
look forward to her next run next weekend.
I left the trial site & headed back down to the Eastern Shore to attend a performance of the
Baltimore Symphony with Mom & Carol and just barely made it in time! After the symphony
back to Carol's house for a bite of dinner & then I took Mom and we went back to Mom's
house. Spent the night there & Sunday morning headed off to Purcellville, VA to a health clinic
that I'd signed up for long before the coursing trials were scheduled for the same weekend!
Derby (Brooks x Kira) had his heart listened to again, and he does have a Grade 1-2 murmur
which the cardiologist described as "low frequency injection type murmur over the Tricuspid
Valve" and "Innocent" and doesn't think it's anything significant but recommended that we do
an echo cardiogram as a follow up. Kira had her hips X-rayed and the films will be submitted
directly to OFA and we'll have to wait until OFA has evaluated the X-rays to see what kind of a
rating they give her.
After a brief stop at my brother Marty's house for a family dinner celebrating Mom's 82nd
birthday, I was off to Middletown, DE to do a home check for a couple of rescue Italian
Greyhounds. That went well and the IGs were left there. Then I finally headed home. Good
thing that my weekends are usually much less filled with activities, this pace would kill me!
April 22, 2007 - Not quite as early a morning today, but I had to be in Easton, MD by 8:00 for a
tracking mini-seminar. This was the first one of these that I've attended and I didn't know what
to expect, but we each were told to lay a 'usual' track like whatever we'd been doing in our
training. So I laid a track for Kira about 75 yards long with one 45 degree turn, and I got to age
it for about a half hour. That's a little bit fresher than we have been doing, but that's how it
worked out. The seminar presenter followed us as we ran the track, and when we finished (it
was not too bad considering we hadn't tracked in two months) she offered some
suggestions as to improvement. I was very pleased that she didn't tell me I was doing
anything wrong, so that in and of itself was an accomplishment. Then after every one had
done their tracks, she showed me how to start training 'article indication' which is a very
important part of tracking. Kira seemed to catch on very quickly, so we'll see how well we do
at implementing what I learned.
Then we headed out from the seminar back down to Jamestown, VA to pick up Ruby. Turned
out that it was much farther than I expected going up across the bay bridge and south from
there. But we got to the trial site just as they were handing out ribbons, so I managed to miss
all of Ruby's runs. She did win the Top Dog prize, since she was the only Greyhound entered.
She managed to add a couple more people to her list of people who would steal her if they
thought they could get away with it.
We came home via a slightly different route which included the James River Ferry near
Jamestown, and what a nice peaceful part of the trip that was. I hope to go that way again next
time I'm down that way.
April 21, 2007 - The first Saturday of the rest of my year. I got up in the middle of the night and
headed off to Jamestown, VA for the SHOT ASFA trial. At 4:00 am, I met my friend Kris Quillen
who went with me to the trial along with her Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Lilly as they were
going to enter the "Wanna Be" trial held after the regular trial. We had a good day. It was
Marseille's first trial and she ended up in a tie for 4th place (with an entry of 9) I let her run off
for it, and she won the tie for her first points. Aren ended up in a 4 way tie for 1st place (with
an entry of 15) against some of the top dogs in the country, and ended up in 4th place. Saluki
Zuli beat her competition for Best of Breed, and Greyhound Ruby was the only Greyhound
entered, so earned a Best of Breed ribbon as well. Avery got to run as test dog and Kira got to
do a practice run after the trial also. Lilly finished in a tie for 2nd place in the large dog stake
of the Wanna Be trial, so they all slept well all the way home. Ruby stayed at SHOT so that
she could run on Sunday as well and compete for the Top Dog Greyhound trophy offered for
this weekend.
April 17, 2007 - The end of another long tax season. No more 12 hour work days for the rest
of 2007. I survived, but it's going to take me a while to rest up.
April 14-15, 2007 - A weekend much better suited to staying in bed with a good book & a
couple of dogs to keep you warm. While I worked on Saturday, my friend and co-owner Pat
Taylor, drove Greyhound Ruby up to a show in Harrisburg, PA, a distance of about 200 miles
each way. Pat handed her off to a handler I'd hired for the weekend, and watched Ruby finish
in last place. Makes your heart warm that you went to all that trouble..... Sunday, in the middle
of one of the worst rain storms in 100 years, I drove up to Harrisburg to pick Ruby up. Since I
didn't bother to check the ring time until I was already on the road, I ended up getting there
AFTER the Greyhounds were finished showing, and Ruby placed last again. Made for a long
drive home. I was plenty discouraged and ready to completely resign from the sport of
conformation dog shows. Could fatigue and the impending end of tax season have anything
to do with my attitude?
April 9, 2007 - I heard today that Tracey Betzler had to let Jetta go to the Rainbow Bridge
yesterday, just a few weeks past her 10th birthday. Jetta was the first dog that I ever let go to
another home, and letting her go was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. In
spite of that, letting her go to Tracey was the right thing for Jetta as the two of them were a
perfect match and she was much happier with Tracey than she was with me.
April 8, 2007 - Boy was it ever cold outside today - Easter Sunday and it's supposed to be
spring. Temps were in the 40s, but the wind was blowing right through everyone. Thankfully
there was enough sun to keep the van nice and warm for all the dogs. I had Kira and Aren
entered in oval track racing today, and Kira started out with a bang & won her first race, so the
rest of her races she was paired up with dogs that were considerably faster than her and she
came in last place in each of those races. She still managed to finish 11th out of 21 dogs so
that's pretty good. She even managed to get a trophy for being the high scoring Field
Champion outside the top 10. Aren ran well against some tough competition & finished 7th in
the meet, also pretty good considering the level of competition. Everyone was WAY too cold to
do any practice after the meet even though we finished up early since the entry was so small.
April 2, 2007 - Heard today that Mia got her ASFA certification on Saturday, but got attacked on
the field afterwards. Doesn't sound like the attack put her off running, but time will tell. The
whole story is on Mia's page.
April 1, 2007 - April fools day - a cool day with heavy overcast, but the rain held off and we got
the Weight Graded race meet in. It was perfect weather for the dogs to run as they cooled off
easily after each program. Kira weighed in at 25 pounds and ran in the light weight class,
where she ended up with the Turtle Prize for finishing last in each and every one of her races.
Aren weighed in at 33 pounds and ran in the middle weight class where he finished 3rd in his
class. Not a bad result. After the meet we had time for one schooling race for Marseille, just
three dogs - Kira, Aren & Marseille. Marseille managed to get herself turned around in the
starting box and came out backwards, but then ran beautifully, so we have a little more
training in the plans for her before she'll be entering her first meet.
On my way home from the meet I got a call from George Evans, and after box breaking Ripley
yesterday he went over to David and Jennifer's house today and got new photographs of
Sunny's puppies.
x Kira) finished 4th in the CWA meet today picking up another 4 ARX points today bringing his
total to 7, almost half of what he needs for an ARX title! In his first weekend of straight racing!
To say that I'm proud would be an understatement, but more importantly both Ripley and his
people are having lots of fun!
April 28, 2007 - I had a phone call from a friend this afternoon who had attended the CWA
race meet in PA today. It appears that Ripley (Brooks x Kira) picked up three ARX points in a
30 dog meet today!
April 27-29, 2007 - Almost a three day weekend! I covered 873 miles from Friday morning to
Sunday night, and jammed a lot into those three days. After attending a seminar (for work) in
College Park, MD all day Friday, I drove my van full of dogs (10 of them) up to Gettysburg, PA to
meet up with some friends attending the Greyhound gathering up there. I also got to see
Emma (Brooks x Kira) and her family which was an extra added plus! From there we drove
to Morgantown, PA and spent the night in a motel so we'd be close to the field for the lure
coursing on Saturday. This is a new field and the grass was taller than we're used to and it
sure told on us. Greyhound Ruby got unsighted in the preliminary run thereby scoring so low
that she could not possibly recover, and finished 2nd of two. In the finals Saluki Zuli got
unsighted, and then the other two dogs also got unsighted. These are VERY experienced
Salukis and it was a great surprise that they lost the lure like that. Aren also got unsighted in
the finals & finished out of the ribbons. The only one that didn't loose sight of the lure was
Kira, running in her first trial as a Veteran. Kira put in a very strong performance, and behaved
herself when the lure stopped and placed first in her stake. I was very pleased with her and
look forward to her next run next weekend.
I left the trial site & headed back down to the Eastern Shore to attend a performance of the
Baltimore Symphony with Mom & Carol and just barely made it in time! After the symphony
back to Carol's house for a bite of dinner & then I took Mom and we went back to Mom's
house. Spent the night there & Sunday morning headed off to Purcellville, VA to a health clinic
that I'd signed up for long before the coursing trials were scheduled for the same weekend!
Derby (Brooks x Kira) had his heart listened to again, and he does have a Grade 1-2 murmur
which the cardiologist described as "low frequency injection type murmur over the Tricuspid
Valve" and "Innocent" and doesn't think it's anything significant but recommended that we do
an echo cardiogram as a follow up. Kira had her hips X-rayed and the films will be submitted
directly to OFA and we'll have to wait until OFA has evaluated the X-rays to see what kind of a
rating they give her.
After a brief stop at my brother Marty's house for a family dinner celebrating Mom's 82nd
birthday, I was off to Middletown, DE to do a home check for a couple of rescue Italian
Greyhounds. That went well and the IGs were left there. Then I finally headed home. Good
thing that my weekends are usually much less filled with activities, this pace would kill me!
April 22, 2007 - Not quite as early a morning today, but I had to be in Easton, MD by 8:00 for a
tracking mini-seminar. This was the first one of these that I've attended and I didn't know what
to expect, but we each were told to lay a 'usual' track like whatever we'd been doing in our
training. So I laid a track for Kira about 75 yards long with one 45 degree turn, and I got to age
it for about a half hour. That's a little bit fresher than we have been doing, but that's how it
worked out. The seminar presenter followed us as we ran the track, and when we finished (it
was not too bad considering we hadn't tracked in two months) she offered some
suggestions as to improvement. I was very pleased that she didn't tell me I was doing
anything wrong, so that in and of itself was an accomplishment. Then after every one had
done their tracks, she showed me how to start training 'article indication' which is a very
important part of tracking. Kira seemed to catch on very quickly, so we'll see how well we do
at implementing what I learned.
Then we headed out from the seminar back down to Jamestown, VA to pick up Ruby. Turned
out that it was much farther than I expected going up across the bay bridge and south from
there. But we got to the trial site just as they were handing out ribbons, so I managed to miss
all of Ruby's runs. She did win the Top Dog prize, since she was the only Greyhound entered.
She managed to add a couple more people to her list of people who would steal her if they
thought they could get away with it.
We came home via a slightly different route which included the James River Ferry near
Jamestown, and what a nice peaceful part of the trip that was. I hope to go that way again next
time I'm down that way.
April 21, 2007 - The first Saturday of the rest of my year. I got up in the middle of the night and
headed off to Jamestown, VA for the SHOT ASFA trial. At 4:00 am, I met my friend Kris Quillen
who went with me to the trial along with her Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Lilly as they were
going to enter the "Wanna Be" trial held after the regular trial. We had a good day. It was
Marseille's first trial and she ended up in a tie for 4th place (with an entry of 9) I let her run off
for it, and she won the tie for her first points. Aren ended up in a 4 way tie for 1st place (with
an entry of 15) against some of the top dogs in the country, and ended up in 4th place. Saluki
Zuli beat her competition for Best of Breed, and Greyhound Ruby was the only Greyhound
entered, so earned a Best of Breed ribbon as well. Avery got to run as test dog and Kira got to
do a practice run after the trial also. Lilly finished in a tie for 2nd place in the large dog stake
of the Wanna Be trial, so they all slept well all the way home. Ruby stayed at SHOT so that
she could run on Sunday as well and compete for the Top Dog Greyhound trophy offered for
this weekend.
April 17, 2007 - The end of another long tax season. No more 12 hour work days for the rest
of 2007. I survived, but it's going to take me a while to rest up.
April 14-15, 2007 - A weekend much better suited to staying in bed with a good book & a
couple of dogs to keep you warm. While I worked on Saturday, my friend and co-owner Pat
Taylor, drove Greyhound Ruby up to a show in Harrisburg, PA, a distance of about 200 miles
each way. Pat handed her off to a handler I'd hired for the weekend, and watched Ruby finish
in last place. Makes your heart warm that you went to all that trouble..... Sunday, in the middle
of one of the worst rain storms in 100 years, I drove up to Harrisburg to pick Ruby up. Since I
didn't bother to check the ring time until I was already on the road, I ended up getting there
AFTER the Greyhounds were finished showing, and Ruby placed last again. Made for a long
drive home. I was plenty discouraged and ready to completely resign from the sport of
conformation dog shows. Could fatigue and the impending end of tax season have anything
to do with my attitude?
April 9, 2007 - I heard today that Tracey Betzler had to let Jetta go to the Rainbow Bridge
yesterday, just a few weeks past her 10th birthday. Jetta was the first dog that I ever let go to
another home, and letting her go was probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. In
spite of that, letting her go to Tracey was the right thing for Jetta as the two of them were a
perfect match and she was much happier with Tracey than she was with me.
April 8, 2007 - Boy was it ever cold outside today - Easter Sunday and it's supposed to be
spring. Temps were in the 40s, but the wind was blowing right through everyone. Thankfully
there was enough sun to keep the van nice and warm for all the dogs. I had Kira and Aren
entered in oval track racing today, and Kira started out with a bang & won her first race, so the
rest of her races she was paired up with dogs that were considerably faster than her and she
came in last place in each of those races. She still managed to finish 11th out of 21 dogs so
that's pretty good. She even managed to get a trophy for being the high scoring Field
Champion outside the top 10. Aren ran well against some tough competition & finished 7th in
the meet, also pretty good considering the level of competition. Everyone was WAY too cold to
do any practice after the meet even though we finished up early since the entry was so small.
April 2, 2007 - Heard today that Mia got her ASFA certification on Saturday, but got attacked on
the field afterwards. Doesn't sound like the attack put her off running, but time will tell. The
whole story is on Mia's page.
April 1, 2007 - April fools day - a cool day with heavy overcast, but the rain held off and we got
the Weight Graded race meet in. It was perfect weather for the dogs to run as they cooled off
easily after each program. Kira weighed in at 25 pounds and ran in the light weight class,
where she ended up with the Turtle Prize for finishing last in each and every one of her races.
Aren weighed in at 33 pounds and ran in the middle weight class where he finished 3rd in his
class. Not a bad result. After the meet we had time for one schooling race for Marseille, just
three dogs - Kira, Aren & Marseille. Marseille managed to get herself turned around in the
starting box and came out backwards, but then ran beautifully, so we have a little more
training in the plans for her before she'll be entering her first meet.
On my way home from the meet I got a call from George Evans, and after box breaking Ripley
yesterday he went over to David and Jennifer's house today and got new photographs of
Sunny's puppies.
| Mia & Don after a hard day in the field |
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