Gil's Trip to Georgia

Gil accompanied his kennelmate, Hattie, on her return trip to Georgia for the annual ASFA National Greyhound Specialty. Whenever the specialty is hosted by the Southeastern Greyhound Club the second day is designated for the all breed lure coursing trial dubbed the Fullerton Cup trial, in honor of the great Waterloo Cup winner, Fullerton. Since the inception of the National Lure Coursing Club, the Fullerton Cup has been run under NLCC rules, and since the NLCC recognizes the Magyar Agar breed I thought it would be fun to make breed history by being the first Magyar Agar to run under the new rules.

Since there were no other MAs entered (of course), Gil was drawn into a brace with the lone lurcher entry of the day, Strider. Strider is half Greyhound and half Labrador Retriever; an interesting mix to say the least, but a very good runner and good match for Gil.

Both dogs put in two good preliminary runs, and although they were not officially being judged against one another Gil raised the flag in both courses as the winner.

For Best in Field the entries were an Ibizan Hound, a Greyhound, Strider and Gil. Gil drew the Ibizan and ran the 900+ yard course for a third time that day. He was not lacking for energy or enthusiasm, and at the end of the day both judges agreed that Gil should go home with the Fullerton Cup Trophy and BIF honors!

All in all it was a great weekend of sport, put on by a great group of hardworking sportsmen. Thanks SEGC, we hope to return again soon!

LGRA & NOTRA Nationals 2011

We were lucky to have the LGRA/NOTRA Nationals hosted so close to home this year, so of course we had to go.

We had three Agars running in the LGRA portion on Saturday (Gator, Luna and Fecni) and three running in the NOTRA portion on Sunday (Gator, Gil and Luna).

Gator ended up being both the LGRA and NOTRA National Champion, putting in some brilliant runs both days.

Photo credit Dave Mills

Luna placed second on Saturday and Gil placed second on Sunday. All the MAs ran really well, and even Pi and Patti got a chance to run a practice or two.

Photo credit Dave Mills

Photo credit Dave Mills

Puppies' First Show

After the puppies were born, most of our time (and home) got eaten up, but once the summer rolled around the pups became old enough to start having adventures outside the house.

They all attended their very first show in July of 2011 along with the rest of the MA crew. It was great having all the Agars together again in one place, and almost everyone went home with a nice prize.

The puppies competed in the novice puppy class. Patti ended up being the favorite all weekend, taking BOB novice puppy in most of the shows. Pirate took the remainder and both took home a Reserve BIS Novice Puppy award against quite a large entry of other novice puppies! Pesh took one Best Female Novice Puppy and did great for her first time out!

Not to be outdone by the youngsters, the adult MAs also had a very nice showing. On Friday, Gil took Best of Breed in both shows and also took a Group 1. Saturday he again won BOB in both shows and also took a Group 2. On Sunday he took one BOB, a Group 1 and then went on to win Best in Show! I believe this is Gil's fifth UKC Best in Show and I could not have been prouder.

Luna also got to take home some bling, winning a Reserve BIS on Sunday in show 2!

All in all it was a long, but enjoyable, weekend.

Puppy Update

The puppies are already a year old, it seems like it was just yesterday that they were born! Here's a little update on where they are and what they are up to:

Pesh (formerly Babe), is living with Jairi at Ice Road Kennels in Lake County. Pesh is a headstrong young dog that prefers to have things her way. If she's not happy about something she's very quick to let you know about it!

Photo credit to Jairi Rai

Pirate, or just Pi for short, lives with his dad at Stout-Hearted Kennels. Like his sister, he is very demanding and vocal, but he's also very sweet and loving to those he knows best.

Patti lives with her mom and the rest of the Tuzvihar Hounds up near Placerville. Patti loves to sing a long to the ukulele whenever Tom and Lori are practicing for their upcoming clown gigs ;)

Photo credit to Joyce Chin

The whole family reunited