Memorial Day Weekend: NOTRA

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

The second day of RCRA's Memorial Day weekend race meets is dedicated to NOTRA. It's been a really long time since I've run my dogs on the oval, and every time I attend an oval meet I wonder why I've been keeping myself, and them, from this awesome sport!

After the LGRA meet the previous day, Gilly was pretty tired, and a little bit sore, so I decided to leave him home and just take the other two boys, plus Hattie Greyhound. Looking back now, it was a good idea to leave him behind, even if he had been feeling up to it, just because of the nature of oval races. Oval racing poses risks that sprint racing does not, because you have several dogs running as fast as they can and turning around a corner at high speed. Traffic is common on the first bend, and if a dog is not very experienced it can be difficult and dangerous for them to navigate around the other dogs, and if they are not accustomed to turning they often run wide. Since Pi and Yumi had never run NOTRA before, it was safer for me to keep the entry low, so as to reduce traffic and risk of injury until they got the hang of it.

Breaking from the boxes

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

Boxing the boys was easier this time around than it had been the day before, and Yumi was breaking a lot better, although still a bit late. Nevertheless, Yumi ran fantastically. Oval racing is very different from sprint racing in that a dog does not necessarily have to be the fastest in order to win. Many dogs who do not have a prayer of winning a sprint racing meet find themselves victorious on the oval if they have that special combination of speed and the unique and seemingly inborn talent to run the track strategically.

Yumi hits the rail from the outside box

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

The best oval dogs are the dogs that know how to move towards the inside rail and stay there for the duration of the race, even when they have the disadvantage of drawing an outside box. In my limited experience, this is not something that can be trained into the dog; they either do it or they don't.

Yumi, NOTRA meet winner

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

A good rail dog is a sight to behold, and Yumi certainly has that quality. Twice, he drew the outside box, and both times he hit that rail and ran with it. He won two out of the three programs, which means he won the meet and took home his first ORC point. The only race he lost was the last program, where he was either really tired or perhaps a little bit cocky, which allowed Pi to surge past him at the last moment on the backstretch.

Yumi says, "You won't beat me again young whippersnapper!"

Photo by Alicia Bienenfeld

Overall it was a great day, and I was super proud of all of my dogs. I promise to make a greater effort to attend more NOTRA meets from now on! To close, here's a video of the very last program where Pi managed to pull off a win:

Memorial Day Weekend: LGRA

My boys: Pi, Gil, and Yumi

Every year, RCRA hosts race meets over Memorial Day Weekend. I have not attended in several years, for various reasons, but this year we promised that we would go and support the club. I was getting a little worried as the date drew closer, because the weather reports were indicating it to be a hot weekend. In situations like this, I am always happy to pull my dogs out of competition if I think it's getting too warm. So, I packed up plenty of water, a small kiddie pool, and some sponges in case I needed to cool them down.

Thankfully, the venue we were running at had plenty of shade, and it was surprisingly cool if you weren't standing in direct sunlight. Combine that with a gentle breeze and the ambient temperature throughout the day wasn't too bad.

I decided to enter all three boys; Gil, Pi, and Yumi. Gilly had an unfortunate string of bad luck starting in October of last year, so he has been lame on his left front every now and again. I anticipated him coming up lame either right before the meet, or after the first program, but he surprised me and was sound all day.

One thing I like about running with RCRA is that they are one of the few clubs that have starting boxes big enough to accommodate the MAs. The only problem on this particular occasion was that only Gil has had any serious box training. Nevertheless, I figured if the other two were going to learn, it was now or never.

Below is a slow motion video of the beginning of one of their races:



Both boys put up a pretty good struggle when it came time to box them, but we muscled through it and they were noticeably better as the day went on. Pi's break got a lot better too, although not as good as Gil's. Yumi is either a slower learner, or he's just stubborn (I think probably the latter), so his breaking skills may take more time to come around. His slow exit from the boxes cost him a second place finish in the first program, but he got it together well enough by the end of the meet to finish second overall behind Pi. One more GRC point down, 7 more to go!

I'll report on the NOTRA meet in a separate post to come. Stay tuned ...

2015 LGRA Breed Rankings

LGRA has posted the 2015 year-end breed rankings. I always have a hard time keeping track of the beginning and end of the LGRA racing season, because in my head, racing "season" starts in the fall and ends in the spring, since the summer months are really too warm for any kind of running sport.

Anyway, congratulations to all the finalists, especially our #1 dog who is also our rookie of the year at age 7 years! We're all looking forward to more racing in northern California, starting in March.

#1: Yumi

Acélváros Yumi

#2: Pirate

CH Stouthearted Chocolate Soldier CC CM GRC JD

#3: Rietsu

Sárréti-Portyázó Boróka

#4: Luna
GRCH Betcha-Katcha Ojeda GRC

September Racing was HOT (Literally)

Gil in red, Luna in white, Pi in green, and Gator in blue

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Every year I look forward to the fall, because it's supposed to be the beginning of cooler weather and fun holidays. But all too often in California, September is just an extension of summer, and the weather this past weekend was no exception. Saturday's temperatures reached into the 90's, and on Sunday we only saw a bit of relief with temps in the mid 80's.

Dude, showing some gray hairs but still loves to run

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

It was so hot on Saturday that we decided to scratch all our hounds after the first program of racing. In all we had 4 running in the LGRA meet, and 2 running in Singles. The finish for the one and only MA LGRA race was Pi, Gator, Gil, and Luna. The older hounds are definitely showing their age, but they still try hard. In Singles, Dude ran a time of 14.469 seconds, and Yumi ran 12.904 which was actually faster than Pi's run (but only by a fraction of a second).

Yumi puttin' on the speed

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

I was so proud of Yumi, this being his first time behind a lure (that I know of). He was so excited watching the other dogs run and when it was finally his turn to go, he had the fastest time of the day. As keen as he was while running, he didn't pound on the lure once it stopped, so I was a little concerned about how focused he would be if he ran with other dogs. So I made the decision to keep him in Singles for the rest of the weekend.

Walking the lure back

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

On Sunday, Rietsu joined us in lieu of Gator, Luna, and Dude. She has really found her fifth gear now that she's matured, but unfortunately she thought it would be more fun to play with Pi during the race than to actually chase the lure. So, it looks like she will be joining Yumi and Dude in Singles until she learns how to behave herself. Yumi ran 2 singles runs and improved his times from Saturday. His first run was 12.310 and his second run was 12.211! If I can get him qualified for LGRA there should be some very interesting races.

Rietsu eye-balling her boyfriend, Pi

Photo by Nolan Cromwell

Although there were no actual injuries from racing, Gilly's old back injury was hurting him on Sunday so I scratched him after Program 1. Pi was a little foot sore for a couple of days after the meet, but he is back to normal now. Hopefully by the time Nationals rolls around we will have gotten more rain and the ground will be softer.

They are so cute together!

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.

2014 LGRA Breed Standings

LGRA has posted breed and all breed rankings for the year 2014, and here are the final Magyar Agar breed standings:

#1: Pirate

CH Stouthearted Chocolate Soldier CC CM JD

#2: Gil

GRCH Aranyagi Utonallo Fenseg CC CM GRC JOR

#3: Gator

Betcha-Katcha Omlin GRC

#4: Luna

GRCH Betcha-Katcha Ojeda GRC 

NAMAA Nationals 2014: LGRA Racing

 Pi with his rosette, Photo by Iola Stetson

I am so behind on making posts to this blog, so I will make this last installment of my 2014 Nationals coverage as brief as possible.

 Patti, Photo by Gary Claggett

The LGRA specialty is always held the second day of the specialty, and this year we had a total entry of four. After taking a pretty bad fall at the previous day's ASFA trial, Gilly was a little bit gimpy the next day so I decided not to run him in the race meet.

 Luna and Gator, Photo by Gary Claggett

The convenient part about having such a small entry of just four dogs is that we only have one race per program, which we can get done quickly so we can spend the rest of our time helping the Silken folks run their dogs.

 Pi on his way to a race meet victory

Photo by Gary Claggett

At the end of the day, Pi was the High Score Hound, however I'm almost certain that had Gator not been tired from running in the ASFA trial he would have handed Pi his ass. I scratched Pi from the ASFA trial after prelims so he would be fresher for the race meet, and it certainly paid off.

Luna, Gator, and Pi

Photo by Gary Claggett

In between the race programs, we did a couple of practice runs with Rietsu and her kennel-mate Saluki, Bukra. In the past, Rietsu has shown only a little bit of interest in a squawker, so we hoped that running with another experienced dog would help encourage her to run, and it did! We look forward to continuing her training, and hopefully she'll be ready to race by springtime.

Rietsu following Bukra down the track

Photo by Iola Stetson

And so concludes my reporting of the second annual NAMAA National Specialty. It was an exhausting two days, but we can't wait for next year! Unfortunately, Jairi and Rietsu had to go home before we took our customary group shot, but we'll make sure she's in it next year!

Tom with Gator, Me with Pi and Gil, Olivia with Patti, Kyle with Luna and Dude, and Rita with Holly the Ridgeback

Photo by Iola Stetson

Racing in Tehachapi

The Tehachapi mountains overlooking the field

Finding Greyhound competition at amateur race meets is pretty tough out here in California, particularly the northern end where we live. So, when our friends, Ellen and Mike Cobleigh, said that they were interested in running their Greyhounds at the LGRA meet down in Tehachapi we packed up all the dogs and headed down there to meet them.

Tehachapi is a small city in Kern county just west of Mojave. Although small and out-of-the-way, it's got some beautiful landscapes, and a nice little sports field that is perfect for racing. It's a good five hour drive from where we live, so we decided to drive down the night before and stayed at a motel in Mojave.

Check-in for the meet started bright and early at 7:30am. Temperatures can get pretty high in that area, especially in the summertime, so we wanted to do our best to beat the heat. It was a small meet, but with everyone's help we got through pretty efficiently, and finished around 1:00 in the afternoon.

As it turned out, Hattie was pretty un-enthused about racing that day (for whatever reason, lol). She finished all three programs, but just barely. I don't know if it was the heat, or the elevation, or what, but her lackluster performance was definitely the polar opposite of the Agars.

Final scores

Pi, Patti, and Gil ran three very exciting races, with Pi ending up the victor of the meet. He and Gil are always an interesting match for one another. I think if Gil were younger he would probably edge out his son in the speed department, but as it stands now, Pi manages to beat his dad just barely. It would be interesting to see how they would finish on a longer track. Gil always seems to be gaining on Pi more and more towards the end of the race.

Anyway, it was a really nice little meet, and as always there was a lot of good company. We may not be able to make it down to all the southern California race meets, but we will try to return again soon.

Gil's Birthday Race Party

Photo by Sam Scherf

On June 14th 2014, Gil turned 7 years old. It's kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that he's 7 years old, but he's alive and well, and doesn't look a day over 4! 

I originally thought that I would take all the dogs to the beach as a way of celebrating Gil's big day, but I got recruited to help secretary a LGRA meet that day, so I figured Gil would be just as happy (if not more so) chasing the bunny for his birthday. The only thing that had me a little worried was his toe, which he had broken about a month prior to the meet. It had healed such that he was no longer lame, and he had regained some range of motion in the joint, but it was still never going to be the same as it was before. I figured I'd wrap the foot as well as I could and hope for the best, and as it turned out he managed just fine :)

Patti takes off

Photo by Sam Scherf

This was also Patti's first time back on the track since last year when she came up with two fat toes at our spring race meet. Her feet had healed quite well, the old injuries were barely noticeable, but I wrapped her feet good and tight too just to be safe.

Pi finished first in all three programs, followed by Gil and then Patti. Even at seven years old Gil still has quite a lot of speed on him. Pi never manages to be more than a half length ahead of his dad, even on a good day, and sometimes they finish almost in a deadheat. 

All in all, it was a fun day spent with friends and good competition, and I know Gil had a blast. Here's hoping to at least seven more years with him!

Photo by Sam Scherf

Pi's First Meet Win!

Photo by Steve Tradewell

Every spring, our little racing club (Racing and Coursing Enthusiasts "RACE") hosts a weekend of all breed sprint racing. This year's spring meet was actually the first time since the Grand Course that Pi and Gil would be competing in any kind of running event. Although Pi came out of the accident unscathed, Gil's right arm had taken a bit of beating, particularly his wrist joint. Over the preceding weeks the inflammation had gone down, along with his lameness, but the joint was left with some permanent and noticeable calcification. I considered leaving him out of the race meet, but considering his age (he's going to be 7 years old in June) and the fact that his most competitive years are pretty much over, and his total lack of pain or tenderness in the joint, I could not justify keeping him from doing what he loves most. I decided that if he came up lame again the worst that could happen would be scratching him from the rest of the meet, and if he stayed sound I would continue to let him run and he would be a very happy puppy.

Gil making a strong finish,

Photo by Steve Tradewell

As it turned out, Gil ran soundly the entire weekend and doesn't seem to have slowed down at all despite being the oldest dog still competing. While his wrist did swell up a tiny bit (barely noticeable), he did not present with any lameness at all so I allowed him to finish both meets on both days. I wrapped his foot and wrist with elastikon tape just to give it a little bit of support, and to cut down on any swelling. I don't know how effective it actually was, but it didn't hurt.

Gil in white, Pi in red, and Gator in blue

Photo by Steve Tradewell

The first day's meet was a match between the three big boys, Gator, Gil, and Baby Pi; and Dude was entered in singles. With Luna possibly in whelp we decided it was best for her to sit this one out (much to her distress). Pi finished second in the first two programs, then went on to finish first in the final program. This secured his spot at the top and earned him his very first High Score in Meet award!

Pi in blue, Gator in white

Photo by Steve Tradwell

Pi pulling ahead for the win!

Photo by Steve Tradewell

Gator came in a close second in the meet, and Gil a close third. Dude ran some very fast singles races, with a best time of 12.58 and an average of 12.78. His times were only bested by the whippets, which is great considering that whippets were made for sprint racing!

Gator, photo by Steve Tradewell

The next day was just Gil and Pi running in the regular stakes, and Dude running in singles. Either Pi was having an off day or Gil had decided that he wasn't going to let his only son beat him a second time, because Gil won the meet with a perfect score and a significant lead in every program. I was extremely pleased, not only that he won against a far younger dog, but that he finished so strongly all weekend despite his recent injury. Dude also had a better day running in the singles stake with a best time of 11.4, only a tenth of a second slower than Hattie's slowest run (and Hattie is one fast Greyhound)!

Gil coming into the finish, and coming down hard on that right wrist with no issue,

Photo by Steve Tradewell

Overall it was a great weekend, and a great start to the 2014 racing season. We look forward to more weekends of racing and lure coursing before we take a break for the summer.

Gil in red, Gator in white

Photo by Steve Tradewell

Meanwhile at the races ...

The same day that Gil, Pi, and Pesh went coursing, my sister was busy running our club's sprint races. This year, we were approached by members of the American Basenji Club (ABC) about having a conformation fun match alongside the race meet. The ABC is an up-and-coming UKC club and they needed to host a fun show in order to become fully licensed by UKC. We gladly agreed to let them host the event with our races, and, not surprisingly, the sighthound group had the largest entry of all.

Luna in the ring

Photo by ABC photographer

Both Luna and Dude were entered in the show as well as the race meet; Luna ran some match races with Sophie the lurcher and Dude ran in the singles stake (more on that later).

Dude the speed demon!

Photo by Dave Mills

Dude has not been entered in a show since he was a puppy due to an odd phobia he developed. Since this show was being held for fun, Kyle and Rita decided to enter him to see how he would handle it. They kept everything very casual and low-stress, and he did very well considering how bad his phobia has been in the past. Hopefully with more careful exposure and positive reinforcement we can get him to improve even more. Luna ended up winning Best of Breed despite losing her head over having the race track so close by. Unfortunately she didn't place in group, but there was quite a bit of competition and with her not being on her best show behavior, we weren't surprised.

Dude running in the singles stake, 4/6/13

Photo by Gary Claggett

As mentioned previously, Dude ran in the singles racing division, which is something our club started this year for dogs who are either disqualified from regular competition, or who want to run schooling races with some level of informal competition. Dogs running in singles run alone, but they get timed with a stopwatch, which is what determines the final placements of the day. Unfortunately, Dude likes to play with his race-mates when he runs in regular competition, so the singles stake has been perfect for him. He has competed in the singles stake since it's inception, and he is usually one of the fastest dogs entered. On this particular day he had the fastest time out of at least a half dozen dogs -- 200 yards in 11.63 seconds!

Dude, fastest singles racer at 11.63 seconds!

Photo by Kyle Yates

On Sunday, Gil, Pi, and Pesh returned for some racing so Luna didn't have to be all alone. After such a disappointing coursing meet the day before, they were very excited to get to chase the fake bunny! Pi was so excited he just couldn't wait his turn, and managed to break out of his expen TWICE to get to the lure *que the face-palm.*

In the first program, Luna came in a strong first place, followed by Gil, Pi, and Pesh. In the second program, Pi came in first, followed by Gil, Luna, and then Pesh. Then in the third program, Gil came in first, followed by Pi, Luna, and Pesh. After all those mixed results, Gil ended up with the highest score, but only one point ahead of Pi. Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures from Sunday :(