Photo Tag

I was tagged by Never Say Never Greyhounds to post the sixth picture in my sixth folder of my photo folders, explain the photo, and then tag six other people to do the same. My picture is of Telluride "Telly". Telly is no longer with us, we lost him on December 21st, 2006. He was 19 1/2 years old and a truly wonderful boy. This is not the best picture of him, he's kind of in a funny position, but it wast taken about 6 months before died from cancer and kidney failure. Actually, we lost our 21 1/2 year old girl Ashley (see picture below Telly) three days later on the 24 making for a really crappy Christmas that year. Both of them passed peacefully with us at home which was really nice. If you'd like to read more about them check out Ashley and Telly.

Telly

Ashley and Telly getting warm in front of the wood burning stove. She was wearing her beads so they must have been on a date. ;)

We still have three other kitties and I've been meaning to introduce them so hopefully that will happen now. They are not happy that it has taken so long. We got Zephyr a few months after Ashley and Telly left us. I had wanted a greyhound for at least 15 years. But, as I went through college, got married, got a job, etc. Ashley and Telly were getting older and I didn't think it would be fair to bring a dog into their lives then.

I will Tag these blogs:

White Family Blog
Learning About Life With Greys
Sirius Sighthounds
Jen & The Greyhounds
Plus Est En Vous
Rockin Richins

Best In Field!

Here are the pictures from Zephyr's Best in Field trial with the Basenji Fanciers of Greater Phoenix on November 9. There are lots of pictures but I had to post them all because he's my only dog and of course I think he is stunning in all of them. By the way, my arm and shoulder hurt for two days after the trial from Zephyr dragging me to the start! I loved it all! It was all such a surprise. I had just planned on having him run alone in the breed trial, he was the only greyhound, to gain confidence. In his previous trial he was bumped by another dog in both runs on the first day and this made him a nervous. They weren't bad bumps but it was basically his first time running with other dogs so I think everything combined together to make him nervous. He was looking over at the other dogs and even moving over to let them pass. He ran two great runs by himself, most of the pictures are from those runs. Luckily after those runs a few people encouraged me to watch the breed run offs before I decided against entering him in the BIF run. So, I watched and thought he would have a good chance and decided to enter him. Then it turned out that everyone except for the whippet owner decided against entering their dogs in the BIF run. Zephyr is really great at following the lure! He doesn't cut across corners and is able to make nice tight turns. It is so fun to watch him. His instincts turn on and he knows exactly what to do. He barks his head off when ever he sees the lure, even if it's not moving! And of course pulls me up to the start. He is so happy when he gets to run, I have to say I just love it all.

Here he is in the first run. I love these pictures of him all tucked under. He looks like he's floating.

Isn't he a hotty flexing his muscles in his muscle shirt!

Kangaroo boy in his second run. I like this one because he's really stretching forward with his back legs and pushing back with the front.

Here he's turning. He looks so balanced and strong, kind of like he's telemark skiing.

Yes, I know this shot looks familiar now but I couldn't help it, he looks too happy.

Here's the BIF run. At the beginning of the course there was a left turn that the whippet, Ricky, missed and then he cut across and was in front of Zephyr. Poor Ricky then wiped out, he was okay though. Zephyr was able to overtake him.

He stayed on the lure and followed it all the way in to his first Best in Field!

Here we are with the very nice judge Jennie Behles! Zephyr immediately loved his new big red bed! You can't see it in this photo but he also won a ceramic rabbit-bank to save all his allowance for more trial entries! And then he decided it was time to Go Coursing Again! Actually, we are headed down to Gilbert again for a trial this Sunday. This time there will be some other greyhounds running. Yeah! It gets a little lonely being the only greyhound at the events here in Arizona. I hope he runs well with the other greyhounds and doesn't get nervous again. I just want him to have fun when runs. Caron

BIF!

Last Sunday Zephyr and I went to Gilbert, Arizona for a lure coursing trial at Nichols Park. Originally I had planned on just bringing him to practice and gain some confidence, he was the only greyhound so he would run alone. Well, to make a long story short I ended up entering him in the Best in Field run and the little beasty boy won!!! I was, and am, so excited! And, of course he loved it all! I don't have the pictures from the trial yet, have to order them from the photographer, but I will post them up as soon as I get them. Zephyr won a ceramic rabbit piggy bank and a big red dog bed, plus a 5 point major! I just wanted to share the good news, will post pictures soon.

Caron

Off Leash Canyon

"Off Leash Canyon" is Zephyr's favorite place to go hiking because, as the name suggests, he gets to run off leash.


I don't really know what the real name of the canyon is but it leads in to Kelly Canyon. Off Leash is about a 5 minute drive from our house, which is also nice.


It is a beautiful little canyon that is green and full of flowers in the summer, has nice canyon walls that make it unattractive for deer and that Zephyr won't run out of, and is almost always devoid of humans. I would say that we see people there maybe 20% of the time and they have always been very nice.


So, Zephyr gets to run free and fast in the canyon.


And, believe it or not, Zephyr is great off leash (unless he sees a dog, human, or deer, which is why we hike here). He generally doesn't like us to be out of his sight too long and will wait or come check in, and he responds to a recall by turning and running up to me.



The only bummer is we can't hike here during the winter because of snow. We're taking advantage of the nice fall weather a lot lately.

What a cute butt!

Caron

Lure Coursing Fun

The last two weekends we have gone lure coursing! Zephyr loves it! Last weekend we went to Black Canyon City at the Krazy Horse Ranch. Zephyr finished his JC on Saturday and went on to two great runs on Sunday. YAAA!


This is a video of his second run. He looks like a small dot but I think you can see that he is really following the lure well.

This weekend we went to New Mexico for a trial outside of Albuquerque, in Stanley. Unfortunately things didn't go as well. On his first run a dog came up from behind and got a bit grumpy at Zephyr. Zephyr was startled and turned around and gave the other dog the business. He did continue to run the course though. The other dog was excused for the day. Then on his second run a dog came from behind again and bumped him. Not on purpose or aggressively but it startled him again. After this he was concerned about the other dogs and was looking over at the other dogs and even moving out to let them pass. Needless to say I feel really bad because I want this to be fun for him. He still loves to run and had a great practice run. So, I think we will take a break from coursing for a few weeks. Maybe we'll do a practice in early November and then a trial in late November. The rule for everything we do is "it has to be fun".

Caron

CGC Test Pictures

I just got some pictures of our Canine Good Citizen (CGC) test from a friend.

This is me returning after walking away. Look at that focus! And I might say, what a handsome boy.Don't I look just fine and happy? Who cares if my mom is gone?

Okay, that's enough. You can come back now. Now! Now!

On another topic. This morning we had an agility lesson with Monica, we won the lesson from the raffle at the Performance Day along with a set of tunnel snuggers. It was great! Zephyr was a little distracted and goofy at first. But then he seemed to calm down and get into it. He was able to do the tire no problem, something he hadn't had much practice with. Then sequence in a straight line jump, tire, jump. He did so well we progressed to learning the pinwheel and "out". He did run off some but it was generally easy to get him and refocus. YEAH!

Caron

Kachina Trail

Zephyr is crashed out , so I have to tell everyone about our hike on the Kachina trail today. The weather was perfect, warm with a light breeze. The aspen are just barely starting to turn, I found a few red and yellow leaves.
There's a nice spot about halfway along the trail that we always stop at. It's got good rocks or logs to sit on for the people and nice grass for the hound. It also has nice views.
Zephyr definitely takes after his mom and dad and loves the outdoors. Hopefully we will get to go on lots of hikes this fall.

Caron

P.S. Look for post on our felines to come soon.

Cactus

Just so you know, there are cactus in Buffalo Park. I found out the hard way last weekend. Me, Mom, and Marlies went for a walk there last weekend. I was on leash and stepped off the trail only a few feet and went into cactus. I didn't know what it was, so naturally I bit it to try and get it off my leg. Mom saw that happened and came right over. She was too late. I had cactus thorns all in my mouth, especially on the back of the roof of my mouth. I was VERY Scared! So was Mom. She was good though. Marlies held me and Mom reached in my mouth to get it out. At first there was too much saliva (and blood) and her hands just slipped off. So, she covered her hand with a sweatshirt and that worked. We got all but two out at the park, and those we got out back at home. Then they had to get them out of my legs and feet. For some strange reason Marlies brought a brush in her pack. That really made getting the big ones out easy, and they got the rest out with fingers. I was exhausted when we got home and my mouth didn't feel good, see below. But, I was up and running in the next day or so.

I Speak Elk

This summer we had lots of elk visit us, and it turns out that I naturally speak elk. Elk don't speak with many words so I use mostly body language like the play bow, waggy butt, and generally bouncing around and running back and forth along the fence. It turns out they understand and do similar things. I became close friends with this elk. We ran along the fence, touched noses, and he even licked my nose.




Sometimes we just hung out together. We haven't seen the elk in awhile now. I miss them and hope they are doing well and are safe.

My First Lure Coursing Test

I am Zephyr and am 19 months old. I get to start our new family blog because everyone else is too shy. Anyone who has met me knows that I am not shy. This summer I got to go to my first lure coursing test. I loved it! The picture above shows me right when the Hunt Master called "Tally Ho" and mom dropped the lead. I was ready to go. The trial was in Santa Maria, California. Mom and I had gone to Lompoc, Ca for a dog show too. I like lure coursing a lot more than showing.
When I came around this corner I thought I had those little white things.


But, they kept going. I was having so much fun I didn't care. This was my first off leash run in 3 days!

Actually, even after the white things stopped I just kept running. Mom tried to "play dead" but I knew she was foolin and kept playing. People have said that I need to "work on my recall" but I don't get it because I can recall lots of things, especially mom. Lots of people said that I had a great run, I was right on the lure the whole time. In October I am going to get to finish my JC title and maybe run with the other greyhounds.

We have been doing lots of hiking lately, I'll try to post pictures of them soon. I went on my longest hike, 10 miles, a week or so ago to Doyle Saddle, which is in the San Fransisco Peaks, AZ. It was great, I loved it when we got to spots with big views. I would just look all around and take it in.

Last weekend Mom and I tried the CGC test and did pretty good. When Mom walked away for the recall at first I thought I should go too. But, she explained again and I got it. I really, really don't like the 3 minute separation though, and let everyone within earshot know this. Actually, I think it is pointless because my mom is not allowed to be away from me when we are in public. I've made this clear to her many times, but she doesn't get it and says we "need to practice". I think she is the one that needs to practice.

Greetings

I am just learning how to do all this. Hopefully we'll get more up soon.