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!

Snow Dogs

UKC Top Ten 2009

All the California MAs did a lot of showing over the past year and for awhile it was no telling who was going to make it to the number one spot in UKC's Top Ten lineup. In the end Gil edged out Luna by a few points but it was a very tight race.

01. UWP CH Aranyagi Utonallo Fenseg	Audrey Hsia or Thomas Koler	26
02. GRCH Betcha-katcha Ojeda	Rita Yates or Tom Koler	20
03. CH Betcha-katcha Nubia	Lori Koler or Tom Koler	13
04. CH Betcha-katcha Nellie Belle	Thomas E Koler and Lori Koler	6
05. CH Vakvagta Fecni	Sally Barron or Tom Koler	3

Gold Country Hounds & Hunters Thanksgiving Dog Show Extravaganza

And now for the long-awaited update. Gold Country Hounds & Hunters held the largest UKC event to hit the California coast over Thanksgiving weekend. Six UKC shows combined with an NKC American Bulldog specialty, UKC weight pulling trial and Rally obedience fun match rounded out a spectacular weekend of good fun and competition. Five of the nine California MAs were entered into the UKC shows and one, Gil, was entered in both the shows and the weight pull.

The first day of showing saw what was quite possibly the largest sighthound entry ever in California UKC competition. Other hounds representing the sighthound and pariah group besides the MAs were the Afghan, the Pharaoh Hound, the Whippet, and the Portuguese Podengo Pequeno. Luna took Best of Breed in both shows and also took home a Group 1 and a Group 3.



Luna's little bro also did well his first time showing and took home a Reserve BIS Puppy. Way to go little guy!



The next day was the first day of weight pull and Gil was going for a second try at a Total Dog Award. The conditions of the pulling chute were far from ideal so I was worried he wouldn't be able to pull a qualifying load. After a heavy rain/hail storm the previous night, pulling day was a cold and windy one. Despite the less-than-perfect conditions Gil put in 200% and made a qualifying pull. Now all he had to do was earn a first placement in the show ring. The first show of the day he took Reserve Best of Breed to Luna's third BOB win of the weekend; not enough to qualify for a Total Dog. He still had another chance in show 2 and after a long and thorough competition Gil pulled off a Best of Breed win and took home his first Total Dog Award! Gil continued his winning streak by taking a group first the same day.



Day three Luna moved up to the Grand Champion class and earned one more BOB. Willow took home the second BOB honors as well as a Group 1. Luna came very close to winning her first BIS or RBIS but was edged out at the last minute. Oh well; one of these days she'll get her chance in the spotlight, we just have to keep on trying.

Overall it was a great weekend and definitely one for the record books.

Happy New Year! - Updates Coming Soon

Happy New Year to all! For those who are faithful readers of this blog I'm very sorry for the delay in getting new stories posted. There's a lot to report so please stay tuned for updates and news about the California MAs.

Gypsy and Bukky

Gypsy and her uncle Bukky have been having a blast with all the new snow that just came their way. Here they are taking a break together:

BFF

Gil and Beryl are BFF (Best Friends Forever)