Six of the eight California MAs went out to El Dorado Hills for Woofstock on Sunday Oct. 4th. We had a small booth set up for NAMAA with displays for the dogs' ribbons and a stack of flyers for curious passersby. Although it was a bit windy and chilly it was a beautiful day with a pretty decent sized crowd. We had quite a few people stop by and ask us questions about the dogs. Of course, there were many people who mistakenly thought we were Greyhound rescue but once the correction was made most of them seemed genuinly intrigued by our brood. At the end of the day our stack of flyers was completely gone so hopefully we've generated some new interest in the breed.
Dude had his first big American adventure and was all pooped out midway through the day
Luna, ever the beauty queen, was dressed in her very finest for all the onlookers to admire ...
Luna was also kind enough to let Fecni borrow some of her bling for the day so that she could have a day of glamour too
Gil and Fecni attended this year's IABCA Golden State Fall Sieger in Antioch on September 26th and 27th. This was Fecni's first time in the International show ring and Gil's first time in the open class (IABCA doesn't consider dogs to be adults until they reach 18 months of age).
For those who don't know, IABCA is a show-giving organization that conducts its events in the style of European FCI shows; all dogs recieve a written critique and a rating ("excellent", "good", "fair" etc). If a dog recieves the minimum number of excellent ratings they then become eligible for an IABCA International Championship title. Gil started his show career in the IABCA show ring and has done very well in the past, taking group, Res. BIS and BIS rarebreed awards.
Best of Breed awards were split evenly between Gil and Fecni over the entire weekend, but neither of them took higher awards at the group level (better luck next time). However, our Silken Windhound friends were also in attendance and one of them ended up consistently winning group 3 awards with a fairly large group entry. Congratulations Cyndi and Dusty!
Despite our lack of success in group, the judges made many favorable remarks about the dogs in their written critiques.
Among other things, the judges noted the following about Gil:
Overall Impression: "typey, balanced, well built" - Juliann Kowalsky
Head: "Typey, masculine" - Sherry Swanson
Movement: "covered ground with ease" - Jane Roppolo
Among other things, the judges noted the following about Fecni:
Overall Impression: "well balanced, sound" - Sherry Swanson
Movement: "clean coming and going" - Juliann Kowalsky
Overall Impression: "Nice profile, clean/smooth" - Jane Roppolo
The Stout-Hearted Greyhounds, Cali and Humer, were also entered in the veterans class for the last two shows of the weekend. Queen Cali reigned supreme and beat her stinky brother twice for Best of Breed honors. Humer says, "oh well, maybe next time" :-)
Fecni has been staying with the Stout-Hearted Hounds for the past couple of weeks getting ready for the International Dog Shows in Antioch. As usual it has been a pleasure to have her around and she seems to be enjoying her time with us (especially Gil) too :)
Hawthorn arrived in sunny California today and we couldn't be more excited. He had a very long trip but seems to have handled it well considering how young he is. He was a bit timid at first but once he took the plunge and came out of his crate he was all hugs and kisses with us. This baby is pure gold and he's got the coat to prove it :)
