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!

 
 The Nationals was interesting. Not quite Chinese curse interesting ( as in " may you live in interesting times ) but at points it hovered close enough to be within note passing distance of it. 

 Like most Nationals , it was fun, frustrating, silly, aggravating, exciting, and dull, and we're all going back again next year.

 For the first time the gang out West here was able to show up in force, and this meant that we got to have fun showing and racing our guys for the first time at the Nationals. We also got to have fun driving for 2 to 3 days to get there , and then repeat that again on the way back.

 The home grown gang at Talisman did pretty well at both the shows and races. Talisman dogs were 4 of the top five racers in the 38 dog race. Teddy, Helios, Sazi, and Loki. I am actually missing a win pic here too for Teddy.

 Pictures from Top left to right

 ISWS Rarities/NAKC Ch Maia Mudita Kumbaya " Dita" , owned by Kent Jones and Jay Cusker of Kumbaya Hounds, got Winners Bitch and Best of Winners out of Open Class, she did really well, considering she had had pups 5 months before the show and was in heat for the Nationals as well.

 MBPIS Talisman of Art Nouveau " Ilsa"  got Best Opp Sex puppy in Show showing out of Puppy Bitch 3 to 6 months

 ISWS Rarities IABCA Int Ch Talisman's Anasazi Sunrise CIC SRC " Sazi" not only got an Award of Merit in the show , she was also High Score Conformation Champion, Best Opp Sex, and  fourth place in the races!

 Talisman's Star of Taranis CGC  " Garibaldi"  Co owned between me and Alison Brendel DVM of Tangaloor , got Reserve Winners Dog showing out of Open Dog, this was a pretty big show debut for him too!

 Talisman of Merovingian  " Dresden" won his puppy boy 3 to 6 month class and was the runner up for Best Male pup in Show

 Rarities/NAKC IABCA Int Ch Talisman's Viking Kumbaya " Loki " was a narrow miss in the show, but came into his own, coming in 5th in the races, giving him a big boost towards his Racing Championship!

 Rarities/NAKC IABCA Int Ch Talisman's Light of Helios SRC won Am Bred Class, and finished his racing Championship at the Nationals, coming in 3rd!

 And last but not least by far of the home team, despite me not having a pic of him here , Rarities/NAKC Int Ch Talisman's Ursa Major SRCX " Teddy, co owned with Terri Campbell, went #2 at the races, and got his SRCX! This makes him the youngest SRC and SRCX in the breed, and we have high hopes he'll be the first one in the breed to get his SRCXII !

 Honorable Mention goes to Alisons young man, BPISS Tangaloor King Leonidas of Sparta , Leonidas, who, in his first show outing managed to win Best Puppy in Show ! He's out of Sazi, Ronan, and Loki's sister Sony, who is co owned by Alison and I and his sire is a cute little black and tan boy bred by Rlynn at Gryffyn's Aeyrie.
 
 Kent's brother Steve managed to get some video of the show, and caught me with Dresden and Ilsa, and with Ronan. From the vids of us, I learned two things, the kids and I need to be able to do a down and back trot in a straight line, and I need to take "eat less excercise more" more seriously.


 
 
 

 A long term goal for Ronan and I was finally  and unexpectedly realized when , on the last day of
our Breed Nationals , "Silkenfest" in Colorado, it decided to snow.

In June.

Thank God he has a black nose and eyes, or I would have never found him again.

.

 Helios almost died a couple of weeks ago, from a very sudden onset of a problem called Hemmoragic Gastroenteritis . OK, so nothing with the word Hemmoragic has been any part of good news, like, ever in the history of western languages .
 Apparently, there is no known cause for HGE , or prevention for this, and it can hit any dog at any time . Basically, the whole GI system goes nuts and gets inflamed. His X ray showed that his GI system went nuts from his stomach to his butt. None of my other hounds had a problem at all.
 The problem manifested in Helios by his becoming lethargic, upchucking bloody foam, and generally looking crappy. He woke up that morning not interested in playing with the pups, and he's ALWAYS playing with the pups. Since he's always so happy and on the go , it was an incredibly dramatic change . He eventually wound up having bloody diahrrea, and was in the vet clinic on IV fluids and IV antibiotics . Sadly, the vet techs wound up really butchering parts of his coat, so he's looking a bit lopsided from the rear at the moment ( just in time for the Nationals too.)
 I was running back and forth to two vet clinics for almost a week.
 He's better now, and gained the weight he lost, but he really could have died, HGE affected dogs generally die without aggressive immediate treatment like he got. I am so glad we were around to catch it. It would have been very hard to lose him, he's such a happy part of the family here. When he was gone, all the hounds were looking for him.

 I finally decided to neuter Gideon. It wasn't that hard of a decision, he has pups and grand pups who are doing very well in the show ring and on the field, and are making their impact.  I had no plans to breed him any more, and he can run quite well without his gonads. He remains the grand champion Reserve Winners Dog in Specialty Show winner in the breed, with I think 5 of those awards. I retired him from showing quite some time ago. He has lovely movement, and is quite attractive overall, but has a slightly overshot bite, which was the cause of the many , many RWD awards . His real accomplishments have been on the field, being the first racing champion, SRC, as well as the first SRCX in the breed.

 I have my Architecture and Mythos litter pups to focus on, from Tyler and Cinder, and Connor and Sheba , Dresden, Ilsa, and Helios,  and they have the speed , structure,  movement and temperament I love  to see in this breed.

 I've got Sazi, Ronan, and Sony down from Gideon to Sheba as well. They have his good traits, his "prettiness", movement, running ability, and focus as well.

 Gideon may, in his "veteran" years, be a good dog to run with youngsters in training, since he is very focused, and will correct nonsense on the go. We recently ran him with he and Cinders grandson , Scirocco's Dakar, who was being a bit unfocused in practice, and it seemed to have helped focus him .

 His bloodline is not rare, it's one of the most common in the breed, and still being bred more / inbred on , so it wasn't like his line is anything special in terms of diversity, almost the reverse, so it seemed un neccessary in terms of doing good for the gene pool of a rare breed to continue with breeding him more. Diversity is better served with few litters by more individuals than many litters by few individuals , and genetic bottlenecks in dog breeds are a great way to amplify health and temperament problems.

 So it was an easy decision to move on to dogs I have down from him who have many of his good traits, and fewer of his bad traits like his hotter-than-breed ideal temperament . I am concerned with preserving an ideal breed temperament because I did so much work with dogs with poor temperaments when I was at the shelter, and I really think genetic temperament is something we all have to make sure we keep an eye on and make an effort to direct. I think it's up to us as breeders to make sure this breed stays easygoing. So working to keep the good traits , and moving away from bad traits is paramount .

  As easy, and easy to handle as Gideon is with all people, and as funny and personable as he can be, the shortness of his temperament with dogs is something of a trial to live with, as my other dogs are such peace-niks by comparison. We'll see if the neutering has any impact.

  I don't expect it to make any dent on his noise production. Or his insatiable love of toys.
 His grandson Dakar, has much of Gideons speed, his love of toys, but none of the short temperament, however he did manage to inherit all the yak yak yakking. <G>

 
 
 

 I thought I would add an image of Ilsa and Dresden playing on the deck.
They spend most of their awake time, when they aren't cuddling or eating , with body parts of the other puppy in their mouths.

 
 It's been a long time since I had two pups growing out together, and I forgot how fun and goofy it was to watch two like-minded puppy-souls tumble and tussle and explore the world together.  They've recently discovered my front yard, and run around all over the hillside with big loopy dog grins on their faces. Ilsa took a dip in our fountain while Crystal Buckey, who has Willow and Apple, two lovely lady Silkens, in Mo, was out here visiting while she and her pal Megan were on vacation. We didn't catch the swim she took on film, but the image of her leaping out of the water, panicked happy grin on her face, and the spray of water droplets shining in the sunlight is etched in my memory.
 We've been calling the girl Ilsa, after that insanely schlocky 70's series of movies " Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS", since roughly 2 weeks after she was born, since she was twice the size of her brothers, blond, and prone to squashing her sibs. Keeping with the Germanic theme, we've been calling the boy Dresden, I've always loved the name.
  We're going to be working on socializing this week. They've met a big mess of people, since we've had visitors almost constantly, and three parties since they were born,  but they've only been over to someones house once, and they need some car ride experience too.
 

 Christie ,  writer, blogger, and  general cool chick , wrote this great editorial on the ridiculous AB1634 debate, which does a wonderful job of uniting thoughts and ideals, and encouraging the shared ultimate goal of both sides of lowering the number of abandoned animals in the shelter system.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2007/07/24/petscol.DTL

The Mythos litter has a brand new Rarities Champion! Talisman's Ursa Major, Teddy, co owned by Terri Campbell and I, got his Rarities Int Ch at under a year! He's gone multiple Best of Winners in some pretty nice competition. His brother Helios is saving a cookie for him , for when he gets to see him. Teddy's partner in crime, sister Phoenix, also has two five point majors towards her Championship. This litter was Sheba's last one, so I am thrilled this litter of pups are doing as well as her last litter in the show ring and in their homes.

You know, this litter really surprised me in alot of ways, they really weren't what we were expecting in terms of type, with the parent combo, we were expecting much more heavily built pups, but with just a couple of exceptions, it's actually quite a fine-boned litter. They managed to largely get their Mom Sheba's bat ears, save for the one Alison and I co own, Garibaldi, Talisman's Star of Taranis, who has these pretty rose ears. Helios, here at home tells me his ears are better for locating and hunting bugs.

They are all a year old next month! Boy that year went fast!

Also, AB1634 got thrown out on it's ear by the senate, not only citing it's inability to actually address the sources and causes of pet relinquishment to shelters, but also pointing out that the bill itself seemed rushed and poorly written. For example, it was pointed out that one passage called for " spaying and neutering low-income people". The senate chair pointed this out and asked Levine if this was in fact the intent of the bill, to which Levine answered no.

The hounds at home are all busy blowing their coats on the furniture. This has been encouraged by the higher ambient temperatures of the new digs. In San Francisco, it was usually 65 ish all summer, here it's around 90 ish. While this makes hanging out outside at night, when it cools off, MUCH nicer, mid day is toasty. The hounds agree , so we are existing in an intermittant wafting wave of hound hair. There are Pomeranian sized fur drifts in the corners of the house I plan on evicting today with the use of our happy go lucky Dyson vac, that has somehow managed to hold up under a seasonal workload that would make most vacume cleaners clatter and groan to a halt and beg to be shot.

I haven't been blogging for a bit. While the hoarde of hounds were at home with my pal Jeanie and her dog Sophie , who is BFF with Helios, We were at Comic Con International , to participating in the geek madness that is the largest convention in America. This started out as a Comic Book Convention, but rapidly evolved into a HUGE multimedia convention. Where anyone who has anything to do with any sort of geek anything shows up.

http://www.comic-con.org/cci/

We had fun, hung out with a ton of pals, and had a very exhausting weekend. I also got to meet Lucy Lawless! ( Xena ) Thanks to our pal, writer/producer/director Dave Mandel, who knows I worked on the comic book, and knew I was a fan, so , since he was walking around with her that day, took the opp to stick her right in front of me, so when I looked up from sketching, there be Xena! She was FUN!