News from Abroad: Emlek Goes Coursing!

Emlek, her bracemate, and the hare they caught

Source, Rita Korpas

I've been meaning to write a post about this for some time, but never got around to it until now. With legal coursing becoming more and more of a rarity in Europe, it is refreshing and exciting to see Magyar Agars doing what they were bred to do in their country of origin. 

Thousand yard stare

Source, János Farkas

Emlek is a relative to Gil, Pi, Patti and Pesh (she is Gil's niece and first cousin to the Operetta puppies), so when I found out that she started coursing I was thrilled! Coursing in Hungary is very strictly regulated by the Hungarian government, but is allowed for Magyar Agars exclusively because they are considered a national treasure. These coursing tests are overseen by the Magyar Agár Tenyésztők Országos Egyesülete (MATOE), which is an independent registry not affiliated with the FCI. In order to be granted permission to course, each dog must be registered with the MATOE. Unlike FCI registration, each dog must go through an individual evaluation process to determine whether they meet certain conformational criteria as set forth by the MATOE. One of the stricter requirements is that the dog be solid colored with full pigmentation on the toenails. Apparently the wisdom is that dogs lacking sufficient pigment are more likely to sustain foot injuries due to the more brittle nature of their toenails. As such, poor Gil and Pi would not be allowed to course in Hungary, but thankfully they can enjoy that privilege here in America. 

Emlek is the lighter colored dog

Source, Zsuzsanna Barabás

The coursing tests are always done by the walk-up method, meaning that the dogs walking with the gallery in a line to flush the hares. Once a hare gets up, the dogs are slipped in braces and evaluated for their coursing abilities. Unfortunately, I was not able to get more information on the judging criteria.

Emlek straining in slips

Source, Rita Korpas

Emlek and her bracemate

Source, Rita Korpas 

Watching for hares

Source, Rita Korpas

Source, Rita Korpas

 Emlek and her owner, Rita, on the far left

Source, Imre Kovács

Source, Imre Kovács

Group Photo

Source, János Farkas

Patti's Promising Show Career

Although Patti has spent some time in the show ring, she hasn't exactly been a standout show dog. I had been so focused on showing Pi and Pesh that I had sort of put Patti's show career on the back burner. Add to that the fact that she had little to no show training, she just couldn't keep up with her siblings. Pi and Pesh finished their UKC conformation Championships in pretty short order, and both of them made big placements at our national specialty. Patti was the only one in her litter without any real show wins to brag about. Well, it looks like that's about to change.

The Norcal All Breed Club hosted three days of UKC events over March 21st through 23rd. Even though I had not had much time to prepare her for the shows, I wanted to give her some ring experience without over doing it, so I decided to enter her in both shows on Saturday.

Unfortunately there wasn't a large amount of competition in the sighthound group (at least not as much as there has been), but there were still enough dogs to make the competition somewhat challenging, and to give Patti an opportunity to get a competition win or two in group.

I'm accustomed to showing my dogs with a fair amount of handling on my part. I always hand stack them, and I occasionally use bait as well. Since I've started seriously working with Patti as a show dog I've had to resist my urge to hand stack her, because she doesn't like it, and without her cooperation she doesn't end up looking very nice. Some dogs are just that way when it comes to showing -- they prefer to free stack and gait on a loose lead. So, before we arrived at the show grounds I stopped by Burger King and picked up a sausage patty to use as bait, and hoped that it would encourage her to stand pretty for the judges.

Well, it ended up paying off quite well. In the first show she presented herself beautifully and won the group against two other dogs (a Thai Ridgeback and a Silken Windhound)! The judge told me that she showed very well, and that I should stop worrying about her and focus on how I can make the most of my opportunity to exhibit her.

She put on another good showing in the second show, but placed second to the Thai Ridgeback, thereby cutting her out of a potential competition win since the Silken had already gone home. It was late in the day by the time she was called to the ring, so she was lacking a bit in the enthusiasm she had earlier, but it was still a very good experience, and overall she made a lot of progress. I'm looking forward to showing her more in the future, and hopefully finishing her bench title soon.

She cleans up pretty good!

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!