2015 NAMAA Nationals

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. We had our third annual NAMAA Specialty back in October (Halloween weekend), and it was a blast. I'm pretty sure 2015 saw the largest gathering of MAs in North America and it was a real treat to get all the dogs together and enjoy each other's company.

Our traditional group photo. From left: Luna, Dude, Gator, Patti, Gypsy, Jussi, Gil, Rietsu, Fecni, and Yumi

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Saturday was punctuated with a special Hungarian lunch prepared by Ruthye and the Yates'. We enjoyed home made goulash with a side of spaetzle and sour cream, and a hearty bean soup with warm dinner rolls for dipping. Delicious!

We had three hounds present for whom this was their very first time in the show ring, and all three did great. Young Jussi was the only puppy, but showed like a champ.

Jussi getting the go-over

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Our Saturday show was judged by Audrey Sutton, who selected Patti as her Best of Breed Winner, and Yumi as her Best of Opposite Sex Winner.

Patti, BOB under Judge Audrey Sutton

Photo by Iola Stetson

Yumi, BOS under Judge Audrey Sutton

Photo by Iola Stetson

Saturday was also noteworthy for it's warm and sunny weather, which made for good show conditions but less than ideal running conditions. The drought had left the field quite dry and hard, and after our preliminary lure coursing runs several of the dogs came off with minor injuries. So we decided to call the trial on prelim scores and cancelled the LGRA meet for the following day.

Luna burning rubber

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Gypsy running in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Dude running a close second in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

We had four dogs running in the Open Stake, and three dogs running in Singles. The scores were close on all counts, but Gil emerged victorious as the winner of the Open Stake and Rietsu as the winner of the Singles Stake.

 

Gil winning BOB and Rietsu winning 1st in Singles

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Our Sunday show was judged by Arlene Grimes, who selected Pi as her Best of Breed Winner, and Patti as her Best of Opposite Sex Winner. Although we had cancelled the LGRA meet, we were relieved to be met with steady rainfall throughout the day, which proved to be the beginning of the end of our drought.

Pi, BOB under Judge Arlene Grimes

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Fecni, winning Best Veteran under Judge Arlene Grimes

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Since this event, California has seen record amounts of rain and snowfall all across the state. The landscape is green again, giving us much to look forward to this coming spring. Hopefully, by October of this year we will have much better field conditions for our next NAMAA Nationals.

Gator running hard

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Long-Awaited Update

I am so sorry to my readers (if there are any, lol) for not keeping this blog up to date lately. A LOT of crazy things have happened since the last time I wrote, and as a result I lost the motivation (and time) to keep up. But, things have settled down somewhat now and I'm feeling the itch to blog again.

I don't want to leave anything out, but at the same time I don't want to write several posts for each individual event, so I think it's best if I just give one big brief summary of everything that's happened since last winter.

Racing: The two big announcements are that Pi finished his GRC in March, and Rietsu earned her first GRC points by going High Score at her first ever race meet! We can't wait to see how she does as she gets older and more experienced.

Photos by Nolan Cromwell

Lure Coursing: Unfortunately we don't get around to doing much lure coursing, but we did have two trial weekends back in March and May with the RACE AOK9 program. In March, Rietsu ran for her certification and passed with flying colors, allowing her to enter the trials in May. The first day of the May trials, we had three MAs and one Saluki running in a stake. The scores were very close in the prelim runs, but I don't like doing run-offs with my dogs so I forfeited. That left the final results for the day being Rietsu in 1st, Bukra in 2nd, Pi in 3rd, and Gil in 4th. Gil was a little lame after the first day so I scratched him from Sunday's trial. Sunday we had four MAs and one Saluki in the same stake. Again, the runs were very competitive and close. Final placements for the day were Bukra in 1st, Pi in 2nd, Rietsu in 3rd, Gator in 4th, and Patti was NBQ.

 Photos by Ruthye Cole

Conformation: At the end of March, Rietsu competed in a UKC show down in Fresno. With no other sighthound competition we weren't expecting much, but she thrilled us all with an awesome Best in Show win under Judge Gary Andersen! That gives her one competition win towards her UKC Conformation Championship.

 Photo by Jairi Rai

Dock Diving: Pi has competed in a few dock diving events this year, but hasn't really done anything noteworthy, lol. Still, he enjoys it and when temperatures get really high it's one of the few dog sports we can partake in.

Well, I think that's mostly it (except for one other thing which I will make a separate post for). I promise to make a concerted effort to keep the blog up to date, especially as we head into the fall and winter months when sighthound sports really get going.

NAMAA Nationals 2014: ASFA Trial

Immediately following the conformation show in the morning, we moved on to the fun stuff: RUNNING SPORTS.

 Pi, running in Singles

Photo by Gary Claggett

The footing at Kirigin Cellars is always exceptionally good, but the drizzle we had had during the show in the morning made some parts of the field a little slippery, which caused more than one dog to take a nasty spill. Our total entry for the field trial was 4 in the Limited stake (Gil, Gator, Luna, and Patti) and 2 in the Singles stake (Dude, and Pi), making this the largest entry of Magyar Agars at an American lure coursing trial to date.

 Gil on the lure

Photo by Gary Claggett

Our judge was Tom Golcher who traveled all the way from Colorado. In prelims it was boys versus girls with Gil and Gator running in course one and Luna and Patti running in course two. Gil and Gator were pretty evenly matched on the run up until the first turn where there was a particularly slippery patch of grass. Gil attempted to turn right and fell, HARD, on his shoulder and tumbled a couple of times over. He was disoriented when he got up, but re-sighted on the lure and kept on running. My heart was in my mouth for the rest of the course, and upon completion I gave him a good look-over. He did not present with any lameness at all, to my relief, so I figured he was good to go for the finals.

 Patti, Photo by Gary Claggett

As luck would have it, Patti had also drawn the yellow blanket and took a tumble in the exact same spot on the first turn of the course. She did not fall nearly as hard as Gil did, and also recovered well, but could not make up the ground necessary to win her course.

Dude in Singles, Photo by Gary Claggett

Next up were the singles. Dude ran first and had a marvelous run; his very first time running in an official trial. It must have been just my bad luck that day, because Pi also fell during his run at the very same first corner. Nevertheless, he managed to earn the highest score of all dogs running in the prelim round, but I decided to scratch him from finals anyway to make sure he would be good to run in the LGRA meet the following day.

 Patti and Gil in slips

Photo by Ann-Marie Holmes

In finals it was one family versus the other, with Gil and Patti drawing the first course together and Luna and Gator drawing the second course with each other. With the course plan reversed for finals there were no more spills to be had (thank goodness!), and both runs were very evenly matched.

Luna and Gator in finals

Photo by Gary Claggett

Patti and Luna ended up tying for 3rd and 4th overall, but not wanting to take my chances on another fall I decided to forfeit the win to Luna. So, the final placements for the Limited Stake were (1/BOB) Gator, (2) Gil, (3) Luna, and (4) Patti. And, of course, Dude was the high scoring hound in the Singles Stake.

 Gator, Best of Breed, with Judge Tom Golcher

Photo by Gary Claggett

Even Rietsu got a chance to do a practice run, which she thoroughly enjoyed! She seemed to like the plastic baggies much more than the furry lures she's seen before. Perhaps she learned that from Hattie ...

Rietsu on the lure

Photo by Gary Claggett

NAMAA Nationals: Lure Coursing

Photo by Gary Claggett

So as I said in the previous post, the specialty consists of two days; each day has a morning conformation show and a performance event in the afternoon.

View of the field in the afternoon

The performance event scheduled for Saturday was an ASFA specialty lure coursing trial. We only had four dogs entered in the trial; Gil, Gator, Luna, and Peshamba. Unfortunately, Patti had sustained a toe injury at our last race meet, so she was unable to participate. I could have run Pi in the Singles stake since he isn't certified to run in the regular stakes yet, but I decided not to do that so he would be totally fresh for the sprint racing meet the following day.

The draw for prelims had two braces: first course was Gator and Peshamba, second course was Gil and Luna. The course plan was approximately 700 yards, and shaped kind of like an hour glass. Being a short course in a relatively small space, I wasn't sure which dogs it would favor. Gator and Luna tend to be sprinters while Gil and Peshamba tend to fair better over longer distances, so it was exciting to have one of each in both courses.

Photo by Gary Claggett

In the first prelim, Gator led the run-up (as I expected), but continued to hold onto the lead position
throughout most of the course. With Peshamba not being in top form it's hard to say if the outcome would have been different, but in the end Gator got the nod from both judges.

Photo by Gary Claggett

In the second prelim, Gil had quite a bit of a late slip, but he still managed to pass Luna and lead the run-up as well as most of the rest of the course. He stumbled a bit about halfway through, but didn't slow down at all. Even though he ended up with a prelim score only two points below Gator, I decided to scratch him from the finals so that he would have some energy left for racing the next day.

Photo by Gary Claggett

That left three dogs for the one finals course of the day. All three dogs got a pretty even slip, and to my surprise Peshamba managed to stay pretty close behind Gator, and at some times was also ahead of Luna. Both Gator and Luna got slowed down about halfway through the course when they overshot one of the turns, giving Pesh a chance to catch up and takeover for a few seconds before Gator caught back up to her. She tried hard to stay in the lead for the final leg of the course, but Gator pulled ahead at the last minute. Even so, she finished well and I was eager to see the final scores.

Photo by Gary Claggett

To be perfectly honest, I was surprised that Peshamba didn't score higher in the finals, but to be fair my vantage point was completely different than that of the judges. Gator took Best of Breed honors by a landslide, with Luna in second and Pesh in third.

Score Sheet

All in all it was a nice trial even with only four entries. The footing was great, the weather was cool, and all of the dogs came back sound!

From left, Judge Mary Crume, Tom and Gator, and Judge Al Crume

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!

WWWA Versatility Weekend: Part 4

By Tom Koler

Lure-coursing was the fourth event to be held over the versatility weekend. Up to this point, Gator had squeaked ahead of his sister to win the sprints and oval, and Fecni took the conformation win. Luna’s forte, however, is the lure-course. In true form she was giving her brother another tough competitive run, when suddenly she came up lame by the end of the first course. Regretfully, we had to scratch her from the final run of the weekend. With his last run of the day, Gator won the ribbons for most versatile in breed by his wins the best of breed in LGRA and ASFA and high score in breed for NOTRA. All in all, it was a successful long weekend despite having to scratch Fecni from the racing and Luna having a bum foot.



The Western Washington Whippet Association has a very well run and efficient three day event over Memorial Day weekend. Our hats are off in thanks to Beth Levine who ran the show for the ASFA lure-coursing; and thanks again to Keri Swepton for her leadership in running the LGRA sprints, NOTRA oval, and the fun conformation match. During our stay, I was able to renew some old friendships from our days as members of WWWA in the 1980s. It was nice to see that our old organization is very much alive and thriving. We will definitely be sending Magyar Agárs to future WWWA Versatility Weekends!

By two in the afternoon we were packed and ready to make an early exit from the polo grounds. We had a twelve hour ride ahead of us, and getting off as early as possible was a necessity. Early in our trip we were to discover that Luna had started her heat. Poor Gator, worn out in competitive running for a total distance of just a little over a mile, was to endure twelve hours in a confined space with two very attractive girls. To say the least, his restlessness was a good source for staying awake during our trip. The trip itself was uneventful with the Great White Whale sailing down Interstate-5 breezing through western Washington and Oregon. At the California border, Audrey took over for a first trial run of the behemoth van. Eleven o’clock at night is a good time to try to drive a vehicle that drives like a helium-filled über balloon. Audrey drove like a pro and by 1:30 AM she pulled onto her driveway in Davis.

Our trip north would not have been successful without our friends in the Olympia area. Charlotte and Claire Lattimore were very gracious hosts, and hopefully future MA owners. Claire and the MAs were a little team of energy every morning before the events, and in the evening she captained the hounds into playful games. There’s nothing more full of energy than a five-year-old and three MAs!

WWWA Versatility Weekend: Part 3

By Tom Koler and Audrey Hsia


The Tacoma Polo Grounds are well-hidden northeast from Olympia. With a little effort we were able to find the grounds and navigate the Great White Whale to a parking area. We got there just before check-in time, and found out that Fecni was in heat. That was the reason for Gator not having a very quiet road trip on Thursday and Friday. This left us with just Luna and Gator, although Fecni had several chances to meet new people and hounds.


The first day of the Western Washington Whippet Association’s Versatility Weekend is the LGRA 200 yard sprint. As usual the brother and sister team were nose to nose at the finish line but Gator in the end squeaked out the win. Several people expressed an interest in the MAs and we had a chance to visit with Ann Chamberlain, who has expressed a lot of interest in our breed. Everyone had kind words for Gator and Luna and both of them brought home plenty of loot for the trophy room.

After a long hot bath and some dinner with Charlotte and Claire we were ready to turn in for the night. Everyone slept soundly and woke up bright and early the next morning for the NOTRA race meet.

The two pups have only had limited experience running the oval but they both ran it like pros. The first race of the day drew loud applause from the onlookers as the two sped by in perfect unison for an even tie, which was confirmed by the club's video camera that they had set up at the finish line. Thankfully for the finish line judges the last two races were much easier to judge, although the two siblings were still running neck and neck for the most part. In the end Gator proved the victor yet again for another point towards his ORC.



To top things off, even Leeroy the longhaired dachshund got to do a fun run. We weren't sure if he was going to make it the entire 300 yards but to everyone’s surprise and delight he finished with a flurry across the finish line! He's now got a whole new fan club up in the PNW :-)

After the oval meet we stuck around for the fun match. This was Gator's debut appearance in the show ring and he did fantastic! For a dog that's had no show training he handled himself beautifully and was given lots of praise by the judge.



Since there's no restrictions on showing bitches in season, Fecni finally got her chance to step out of the van and into the spotlight. To our great delight she ended up winning best female and best of breed! The judge lauded her effortless movement and gave her serious consideration for best in match, but ultimately that award went to the whippet. Nevertheless it was great to have Fecni do so well since she couldn't participate in the running events.

Thanks to Kerie Swepton for helping us getting signed-up and checked-in. Kerie had a heck of a job with a very large entry of whippets along with the large gazehounds.

WWWA Versatility Weekend: Part 2

By Tom Koler


We spent a quiet night in Ashland and hit the road first thing on Friday morning. Ashland is nestled in the Klamath Mountains which straddle the Oregon and California border. The Klamath geology is very complicated and geologists and miners are always attracted to this area. This is because over geologic time several Japan-size island archipelagoes have become “accreted” to the North American Plate. There are at least three of these volcanic arcs squished together, and all are sources for gold. The southern Oregon gold rush started in the early 1850s, shortly after the Californian Forty-Niners arrived in the Sierran foothills east of Sacramento.

This part of Oregon is very much like northern California, or as native Oregonians (like me) like to think, the northern fringes of California and southern Oregon are the great “state” of Jackson. At one point in history, Jackson almost became a state. The climate and vegetation are similar and this part of the US was settled by like-minded, independent thinkers as settlers entered this part of Oregon in the 1840s on the Applegate Trail (a part of the Oregon Trail).


Our trip in the Great White Whale (as we have named the white van) from Ashland to the Portland area was pleasant and relatively free of traffic. The MAs slept quietly with the exception of Gator who slept in starts and fits. We couldn’t quite figure out why he was such a worry-wart until Saturday morning (see Part 3). We made a mid-day stop to visit my folks who had never seen MAs before. They live just west of Portland and after lunch we then headed up I-5 towards Olympia.


The Mt. St. Helens’ Volcano Monument is about half way between Portland and Olympia. This was a good place for stretching our legs and the visit inside is worth the stop. On clear days you can see Mt. St. Helens from the viewing deck. Unfortunately the mountain was clouded in rain clouds and it was unlikely to clear while we were there. Mt. St. Helens is a special place for me because I started my geology career within the shadow of the mountain when it was erupting in the early 1980s.

The final leg of our trip ended in Olympia, the capital of Washington State. Lori and I lived here for thirteen years before our travels took us to Idaho and California. Fortunately Lori and I still have friends in the Olympia area, and we were warmly taken in by Charlotte and Claire Lattimore and their dog, Daisy. Claire and the pups took to each other right away :-)

News from Abroad: New Coursing Champion!

Aranyagi Utonallo Fenyves is now the first pup from the AU "F" Litter to earn a European coursing championship. She is also the first to complete both her European coursing championship and her European conformation championship. So far that makes two dual champions in the family (performance and conformation), and hopefully she'll be adding her third championship for racing very soon.

Congratulations to her owner Waltraud Sporer and her breeder Andrea Lugosi!

Split Weekend: LGRA and ASFA

Since there were two events being held on the same weekend we decided to split it 50-50 with LGRA racing on Saturday and ASFA lure coursing on Sunday.

Gator, Luna, Fecni and Belle were entered for the sprint races. Unfortunately Fecni pulled up lame in the last program (she's much better now) and Belle had to be scratched for interfering with her competitors. Looks like Belle is in for some re-training in the near future. Hopefully we can correct her naughty behavior and get her back in good racing form.

With two of the four scratched that left the two siblings to battle it out for the points. In the end Gator won the meet, taking home one more point for his GRC (just a few more to go!) with Luna taking best opposite for half a point towards her GRC.

On Sunday Gator, Luna and Belle headed out to Sloughhouse for SSIH's ASFA lure coursing trial. Gator and Luna ran together in the Open Limited Stake while Belle ran solo in the Singles Stake. The course plan was very challenging and quite a few dogs had trouble with it but the brother-sister duo managed quite well. In their prelim run Gator edged out his sister by one point, but by the end of finals Gator was the clear victor, taking home 8 points towards his Field Championship. Luna took the other 6 points. With these two staying neck and neck with each other it will be interesting to see who finished their ASFA title first.

Miss Belle had a difficult time maneuvering the course and did not place in singles but she had a jolly good time just the same.

Unfortunately there's no photos this time, but here's a video of Gator and Luna's finals run:

Lure Coursing: Pup Debut

Luna and Gator attended their first two ASFA lure coursing trials this year and there's no doubt that these two siblings will be tough to beat!

Their first trial was actually a fun run put on by the Silken Windhounds of California as part of their process for becoming an official ASFA affiliate club. The silken community has worked very hard to gain recognition and acceptance for their breed and have been very supportive of our small MA contingent. So, even though the event was unofficial it was a great opportunity to support our silken friends and get the two youngsters started in lure coursing at the same time.



The SWC fun run was held in beautiful Hollister near Monterey Bay. Auntie Belle came along as well and ran in the ever popular singles stake. The course plan was nice and simple, which was a plus for our newbies. Gator and Luna are pretty well-matched but in the end Gator beat out his sister by a few points and went home with first place.



Belle had a great time and put in some good runs as well. Out of at least a dozen other dogs that were running in singles Belle ended up tying for first place. Good job Belle!



About a month later the pups got a chance to run in their first official ASFA trial with the Northern California Irish Wolfhound Club down in Oakley. Cousin Fecni came along to fill in the trio but had a hard time keeping up with the two hot rod siblings.



As usual Gator and Luna were pretty well matched against each other but this time Luna ended up edging out her brother for the first place position, earning her first 12 points towards her ASFA Field Championship. Gator took a close second for 9 points towards his Field Championship with Fecni taking third place. Judge Kathy Kelly of Wirtu Hounds gave high praise to Luna for her amazing agility and speed. I think Luna may have found her niche in sighthound sports ;-)





Well done kids! Many thanks to Jackie Phillips for the wonderful photos!