Litter Plans

Breeding was done on March 14th. Here's hoping Luna get's pregnant!

Tribute by Charles Alexander

I have reached a point now where I feel comfortable sharing these images. This photo series, taken by Charles Alexander, shows the last moments of Pesh's life while she, Pi, and Gil were coursing a jackrabbit at the 2014 Grand Course. It's been hard to look at them, but at the same time these are the moments I want to remember years from now; not the sad ones. My thanks and gratitude to the photographer not just for taking these photos but also for his generosity and understanding.

Farewell to a Good Girl

Ch Stouthearted Babes in Toyland RL1 CGC
3/14/2011 - 2/16/2014



On February 16th, 2014, I said goodbye to my girl Pesh. She was coursing a hare with her father and brother at this year's Grand Course when they all fell into a large irrigation ditch. While Pi and Gil emerged from the pit relatively unscathed, Pesh ultimately succumbed to internal injuries and passed away while en-route to the vet hospital. Even though it's been two days since her passing, I am still shocked that such a vibrant young dog is gone. I really don't know what else to say except that I'd like to tell her story, in hopes that by looking back at her life I can come to terms with her death.

As some of you may already know, Pesh and her siblings were my introduction to the joys and frustrations of raising a litter of puppies. The first two pups in the litter were stillborn, and just as I was beginning to think that I was going to lose all the puppies, little Pesh was born. She was small, but strong and healthy, and she was screaming like a little baby dinosaur. All through her infancy she was dwarfed by her brother and sister, but she never noticed.

Over the next several months, Pesh grew into a beautiful young girl, albeit she was extremely mischievous and stubborn. I could always count on her to make a mess out of the toilet paper and/or steal food off the counter, and she never did grow out of her bad habits.

Shortly after her first birthday, Pesh went to live with her owner, Jairi. While the two struggled to see eye to eye on more than one occasion, Pesh thrived in her care. During the short time they spent together, Pesh became a UKC bench champion and Canine Good Citizen, earned her first Rally obedience title, and spent many happy days racing, lure coursing, and open field coursing. She wasn't the fastest Agar in town, but she never gave any less than 200% of her effort on the track or field.

She had all the feist and fire of the bulldogs she shared her home with, and her prey drive was off the charts. But she was also loving and gentle, and enjoyed doting on young children, including Jairi's little boy, Rhett.

I am forever indebted to Jairi for giving Pesh the very best home I could ever hope for, and to Tom for being the rock I needed to lean on during the whole ordeal. I don't know what I would have done without you, Tom. It's still hard for me to believe that she's really gone. She was my little ray of hope when I thought I was going to lose everything. She was the first one to wag her tail and offer kisses, and she never stopped doing that for the rest of her life.

I love you baby girl, and I hope you knew that. You three pups are the best thing that ever happened in my life. You are always in my heart

New Coursing Champion and Courser of Merit!

Pi with his ribbons, completing his Coursing Championship and Courser of Merit titles

Over the weekend of January 11th and 12th, Pi became the first American-born, and second Magyar Agar ever to earn the NOFCA titles of Coursing Champion and Courser of Merit! For those who may not know, to earn a CC a hound must have earned 100 points with at least 10 coming from mixed hunts and 10 coming from breed hunts, have earned either one 1st placement or two 2nd placements in either mixed or breed stakes, and have either one unassisted take or two assisted takes. At the start of the weekend, Pi only needed one more 2nd placement and a few more breed points.

Gil looking for rabbits on a cold winter morning

On Saturday, I took Gil and Pi to the last rare breed hunt of the season, hoping Pi could pick up the placement and points he needed. We ended up having three separate stakes; one Ibizan Hound stake, one Silken Windhound stake, and one "leftover" stake as I like to call them (which consisted of Gil, Pi, three Afghan Hounds, and two Pharaoh Hounds).

Pi and Ruthye looking very matchy-matchy in the field

We started hunting in a portion of the field that had recently been burned down, so there was very little cover, but there had been a lot of hares hiding out there in weeks prior. Pi drew the first course with one of the Afghans and one of the Pharaohs. The hare broke rather far out, but Pi was sighted and took off after it. Unfortunately the Afghan went unsighted. There wasn't much of a course from what I could see, but Pi led the whole way so I had high hopes for him finishing his titles that day.

Gil drew the second course, again with one Afghan and one Pharaoh. The first run was on a hare that was way too far out. Gil was sighted, but was only able to run it to the edge of the brushline before it got away. The judge decided that we would rerun the course after the last course in this stake. The second hare that Gil got was much closer and cut in front of us going right. The Afghan got a good slip and led for awhile until Gil did a go-by. According to one spectator, Gil made a dive for the rabbit but just missed it (darn!).

Pi and Gil wait their turn to run in finals

The judge decided only to bring up the course winners from each run, which left us with one finals course: Gil, Pi, and an Afghan. I decided to double slip my boys, just to see if I could do it. By this time we had reached the main part of the field where there was plenty of brush and tall grass. We had not walked far before a rabbit jumped just to our left under the feet of a gallery member. I got a good, even slip on both boys and they took off, running right alongside each other stride for stride. Both of them tried to take the lead, which resulted in a little bumping around before the hare turned for the first time. I thought that they were going to take it at that point, but it slipped away and made another turn to the right. All I remember at that point was seeing Pi slightly ahead of Gil before they disappeared into the higher cover. Gil must have retaken the lead at some point, because he ended up winning the course, with Pi running second.

At the end of the day, Gil took 1st place in the leftover stake and Pi took 2nd, giving him the last placement and points he needed to finish his CC! After doing some quick math in my head I determined that he still needed a handful of breed points to finish his CM. He would have the opportunity to get those last few points the following day at the NOFCA mixed hunt.

Pesh on the line looking for a hare

The next morning we met up with Peshamba and Bukra the Saluki for the mixed hunt. We had a full stake, so I planned to be out in the field all day. As it turned out, we were very lucky and finished on finals by 11:30am!

Pesh getting ready to run

While both Pi and Pesh were thoroughly "whippeted" they still had a great time, and Pi finished his CM with 5 High Score Breed points for being the highest scoring Magyar Agar of the day.

Sister, brother

With that comes the end of the regular coursing season, with the exception of the Grand Course to be held later this month. Stay tuned for a report on that in the weeks following.

A gratuitous butt shot to mark the end of the season ;)

Peshamba's Family Hunt

Pesh and Bukra eagerly anticipate a day in the field

Photo by Jairi Rai

On Saturday, January 4th, I headed down with Hattie greyhound to attend a NOFCA mixed hunt. Hattie only needed a handful of points to qualify for the Grand Course, and Peshamba was already entered, so I looked forward to spending a day in the field with two of my girls.

Our field had 12 hounds, so that made for 4 prelim courses. Hattie drew the second course and Peshamba drew the third course, along with her kennel mate, Bukra the Saluki. We were also joined by another one of Pesh's kennel mates, Zealand the APBT (he decided he didn't like staying home alone, lol). It's not often that Peshamba gets to run in a mixed hunt, let alone with two of her housemates :-)

A family portrait: Bukra, Pesh, and Zealand. 

We were only able to run two rabbits in the field we started in. The first course got a nice hare, but unfortunately it ended up being mostly a tail-chase from what we could see. We walked for at least another hour before we got the second course off. The hare broke very close, off to the right, giving Hattie an advantage since she drew the blue blanket. She was off like a rocket, and quickly put a hard turn on the rabbit. She attempted to pick it up, but the rabbit ducked into a small gully, narrowly missing her jaws. After that, it was basically a tail chase with the other two dogs eventually passing Hattie as she ran out of gas.

We put the next course up on the line, I was slipping Pesh and Jairi was slipping Bukra. We walked, and walked, and walked, until we got word from the other field that they were close to finishing on finals. It was only about 12:00, so we decided to hunt back to the cars and head over to the other field.

On our way to another field, and hopefully more rabbits!

Photo by Jairi Rai

As soon as we arrived, we got started quickly so as not to waste any more daylight. We only walked for about ten or fifteen minutes before we got the next rabbit up. Unfortunately it broke quite far ahead of us, so only one dog was sighted coming out of slips. Bukra ran straight after the hare, while the other dog ran in the opposite direction. Not being sighted herself, she had a choice between following her kennel mate or following a dog she didn't know. She made the right call and shot off after Bukra. She eventually caught up to him, but by that time they both went out of our sight. We were certain that it would end up being a no-course, but the judge had her binoculars up and the dogs did not return to the gallery right away. According to the judge, Bukra put one turn on the hare, but Pesh was never able to overtake him -- though she tried very hard. It was disappointing for all of us, but we had to move on if we wanted to finish on time.

The last prelim did not fare much better. We walked a short distance from where we had gotten the last course off, when we saw a small little brown thing sprinting with all it's might across a wide open section of the field. At first I thought it was a cottontail because it was quite small, and it had it's ears down. When it finally raised it's ears for a split second I knew it was a jackrabbit and the huntmaster called a tally-ho. The three dogs ran after it, but were never able to really get close enough to work it. With that, we finished prelims and moved on to finals.

Pesh and her bro, Zealand

Photo by Jairi Rai

The first finals course was a trio of Salukis. The rabbit broke in front of them, not too far out and all three dogs took off after it. Bukra was leading until one of the other dogs collided with him, throwing him off course a bit, but he recovered quickly. The dogs were soon out of our sight, and came back a short time later. It was looking like most of the courses that day were going to end up being tail-chases, as we put up the last final of the day.

The second finals course was a "speed course" with two whippets and Hattie greyhound. The rabbit broke right under Zealand and ran parallel to the gallery. Hattie was not sighted at the time, but I slipped her anyway, hoping that she would follow the other two dogs and eventually get sighted. She was looking at the other dogs as she ran out of slips when the rabbit suddenly cut right in front of her into the wide open. As soon as she saw it she really put on the speed and led the rest of the way out. Just as the hare was about to reach the safety of a patch of cover, she put a good turn on it, ran up alongside it and picked it up!

Hattie with her catch

 

In the end, Hattie placed 1st in the hunt and Bukra placed 3rd/4th. Poor Pesh didn't get a chance to run a second time, but she had a fun day and was thoroughly pooped. Hopefully she will have better luck next time! 

WCG Mixed Hunt 12.01.13

West Coast Greyhounds had a two-day hunt weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday; the first day was a Greyhound breed hunt and the second day was a mixed. I had entered Hattie in the breed hunt, and brought Pi down for the mixed.

Pi drew the second to last course of the day, a brace, in a day that had 7 prelim courses! With such a large entry I worried that he might not get a chance to run at all should we run out of daylight before finding 7 hares. We arrived at the field shortly after sunrise and walked for about two hours, only managing to get one course off. We decided it would be wisest to move to another field, so we quickly made our way back to the cars and headed out.

The second field proved to be much more productive, but with all the time we had spent working the other field and driving over to the next field, we were running out of time. I had felt a cold coming on a couple of days before, and by this time it was in full bloom -- sinus pressure, sneezing, a headache, the works! After what seemed like forever, it was finally Pi's turn to run. He drew a brace with a handsome, and very amiable Saluki named Tut.

It didn't take long for us to get our rabbit up, which broke to the right from behind a small piece of scrub. Without even thinking, I slipped Pi, ... and then I heard the huntmaster yell "Tally Ho!" I was extremely embarrassed, but in all honesty I'm not sure that a more even slip would have made much of a difference in the outcome of the course. Most of the courses that day were relatively short, because the rabbits had lots of cover to hide in, and the ground undulates quite a bit making it easy for the dogs to go unsighted. As such, most of the courses that day favored the faster breeds. Only the first course in the first field we worked resulted in a long Saluki run. Even so, from what I could see standing in the gallery it didn't look like Pi ever really worked the rabbit, but according to the judge the rabbit turned several times and Pi stayed on it. So even though he lost a point for the pre-slip, the judge was impressed enough by his ability to stay sighted for as long as he did to give him a pretty decent score.

Pi with his 5th Place award medallion

We managed to finish prelims, and with only about an hour and a half of daylight left we decided to call it quits. Once all the scores were entered and ranked, Pi ended up in a three-way tie for fifth place, for a grand total of 1.666666 mixed points. Ha! ;-)

500 Points and Counting!

Ed and Rio the Wolfhound

On Sunday, November 24th, I took Gil down south for NCIWC's annual NOFCA mixed hunt. I've entered this event for the past three years; it's run by friendly folks and always has some good competition. This year it was especially memorable because Gil ended up taking 3rd place overall, giving him enough points to finish his NOFCA 500 Point Award!

 Gil and Pesh taking a short rest in between courses

We got to the field at sunrise and quickly checked for sheep before making our way in. Gil was lucky enough to draw the second course of the day, so he didn't have to wait long before his turn was up. Gil tends to get a little impatient, so it's nice if he can get his excess enthusiasm out early.

Linda with Layla and Chudak

Running with Gil was Maverick the Saluki, and Chudak the Borzoi. We were working along the edge of a canal road where lots of heavy tumbleweed cover tends to gather (rabbits like hiding in tumbleweed piles), when the rabbit sprang up from the clumps and started making a mad dash to the road. I couldn't see the rabbit, but Gil was pulling me like he was sighted so I slipped him, hoping he actually was sighted. Maverick had the advantage being on the far left near where the rabbit came up, while Gil and Chudak sort of collided, which slowed both of them down considerably. We were sure that it was going to be a no course given that two of the dogs had collided and the Saluki wasn't close enough to be able to get right up on the rabbit, but once Gil got up on the road where he could overlook the field below he was able to get re-sighted and took off after it with Maverick and Chudak following behind. Gil dominated the portion of the course that was visible from the gallery, and apparently he did enough to win the course.

Guimaraes and Habbi, Afghan Hounds

In his finals run, Gil drew Barossa the Whippet (a very fast Whippet, BTW), and LeeLee the Saluki who also happened to have the highest score coming out of prelims. We didn't have to walk far before we got a rabbit up at 3 o'clock cutting right across us. All three dogs got an even slip, but the timing was such that Gil and LeeLee collided, with LeeLee taking the brunt of it. Gil probably outweighs her by at least 30 lbs, so while he was slowed down a bit by the hit, LeeLee was turned ass over teakettle and stopped in her tracks. Barossa led the rest of the course, but Gil stayed pretty close behind her, which impressed me given how fast she is.

Taking a quick water break

Thankfully, LeeLee did not suffer any lasting damage, but I felt bad about the collision just the same. We were so busy checking up on her that I had not noticed that one of Gil's front feet was very swollen when he finally returned from his final's run. I was petrified that he had torn the ligaments in his toes, or worse, suffered a dislocation, but upon closer inspection I found that he had a small puncture wound on the bottom of his foot, inside the webbing between the toes. The puncture was deep enough that some air had gotten under the skin, which was what caused the excessive swelling. He has since made a full recovery :)