We had a pretty dizzying three weekends of non-stop industrial-strength dog eventing recently , with a Rarities/NAKC set of 5 shows in the Los Angeles ( Encino really) roundabout area, followed by our Western Regional Specialty, two shows and a race day, followed by the Borzoi Rescue of Northern California hosted race weekend.
 Making the trek down to LA in the houndmobile with me was Ann Steele , Scirocco Hounds, with her handsome Djinn, and Linda Sinclair with her lovely goony pup Surfer. The resident haulalong hounds were Ronan, Dresden and Ilsa.
 We made the trip in about 5 hours, zooming down the stupifyingly dull stretch of tarmac called the I-5, to be greeted by 97 degrees and the endless set of strip malls and big chain whatevers that makes up most of the LA county area. A pile of Silken folks out of Az and Ca showed up, so it almost felt like a family picnic.
  Showing in 97 degrees with humidity and no shade at all in 5 shows in one day is *not* a refreshing experience. However , to make up for almost keeling over from heatstroke, we did incredibly well, with our loud and proud golden gal Ilsa finishing her Rarities/NAKC Championship out of the puppy classes by going Winners Bitch , Best of Winners, a bunch of times, and going Best Puppy in Show ! Dresden also managed a BPIS, and Ronan managed a couple of BoB awards, which was great, since we ran into trouble since Ilsa was doing so well, and we had to get Michelle Smith, owner of Cinder Grandson, Djinn Brother Dakar, to stunt show him a few times, and once, Melissa Coronado, who owns and shows the current top dog in Rarities/NAKC shows, a lovely Mi-Ki, took his lead, though I think he almost killed her cause he likes zooming around the ring so fast, and , like I said, it was freaking hot. Ronan LOOOOOVEESS Michelle, so that worked out great. I think actually, he looked better with her than he does with me.
 The next weekend was our Western Regional Specialty, which has been nicknamed "Boofest" like, forever, because it always takes place in October , the month of Halloween. This time round, we had two shows, one was a points show, one was an ISWS show. This really is a group effort, with everyone pitching in to make it a success, and I am glad to say, most folks wound up taking home something from the event, and despite everyone running around like loonies, I think everyone had a good time. We had close to 50 entries in each show, so it was a BIG show day for us.
 In his very first show outing, and the first show, judged by Sally Barron , Barron's Borzoi , Ronan's little blond pixie of a son Oz took RWD, and Dresden took BOS Puppy in Show.
 In the second show, the ISWS show, with AKC Borzoi, Greyhound, and Whippet judge Helen Brettell of Lost Creek Whippets and Borzoi, the Talisman gang , my kids and the ones that went to others, did reallly well, with Helios winning Am Bred, Blaze getting Best Puppy in Show Opp Sex, Loki winning Reserve Winners Dog, and  Dita, going Best of Breed out of the Ch class! And, my goofy doofy Ronan getting Bred By, Winners Dog, Best of Winners, and Best of Breed Opp Sex in Show to finally , after many flubs on my part, finish his ISWS Ch!
 My one regret of the show was that I couldn't show Ilsa, since she had carefully and cleverly punctured one of her toe pads the day before and was strategically lame for the event . She's fine now, but I really had wanted to see how she would do for the show...

 Western Regional Specialty 2008 " Boofest "
Best of Breed
BISS MBPIS ISWS Rarities/NAKC Int Ch Talisman Maia Mudita Kumbaya,
 and
Best of Breed Opposite Sex,Best of Winners, Best Bred By
MBIS, RBIS, Best of Breed Opp Sex in Specialty, ISWS , Rarities NAKC , IABCA Int Ch Talisman's Byzantine Empire.
The next day, our Helios was 2nd place against Djinn's 1st place in the races, with our Phoenix taking third place!
 The next weekend, at BRNC races, Helios got 2nd again and Talisman Hounds were 4 of the top 5 racers!
 So we finished three weekends of dog events with 2 new champions, majors towards a Ch on another dog, several WD, WB, RWD, BOW, BPIS or BPIS opp sex awards to dogs own or we bred, more points towards the top racing Silkens in the ISWS, and ALOT more mileage on the car!
 Whew!

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