I lost my Shrinky very suddenly this morning, and he took an enormous part of my heart with him. It's impossible to describe how much this darling boy meant to my life. Every moment we spent together was gold.
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I got the exciting news today that I achieved my goal for Dean this year, and he was the #1 Ibizan Hound in both LGRA and NOTRA, which makes him the #1 Racing Ibizan overall this year. What's more is that he is the #9 All-Breed LGRA dog, which is really exciting. I didn't even think of all-breed rankings when I decided to attend more racing in 2020. Dean finished the year almost undefeated in LGRA, with the exception of one race where he got intimidated by something and hung back. I'm proud of Aiden for hanging in there as well, as almost a veteran and still running strong. We will continue to attend as many racing events as we can in 2021.
NOTRA:
Fleura also ended the year #1 in LGRA for Afghans. We had another great weekend with a split of LGRA and NOTRA. Good friends and nice, slightly too warm weather, and the usual excitement of racing. Dean picked up some more points toward his SGRC by winning the LGRA meet, and Aiden squeaked into third for another half point. He's chipping away at that title. Fleura ran with her sister, Frielle, and won the LGRA meet. Frielle won the NOTRA meet.
In NOTRA, Dean won his first two races, but backed off suddenly in the final high point race for some unknown reason. He seemed reluctant to pass the two wild girls ahead of him. Evie ended up winning second in the high point race -- she was majorly supercharged and fresh from not running LGRA the day before. Unfortunately, she was just out of the points, but I was proud of her. We had a wonderful time in Limestone, TN, as usual. We all coordinated on entries and ended up with 22 entries in regular competition one of the days. Counting Singles, we had more Ibizans than there were Whippets! Everyone was enjoying themselves, and lending a hand as needed. We really have a wonderful group of local people and dogs. Overall, my dogs did well, but I could definitely tell that three days was probably too much for them at this time.
On Saturday, Niko was 4th in Specials, which is impressive at 7 years old (technically a veteran) and running with mostly a group of younger dogs. Aiden tied for 4th place in Open, but I forfeited him since there were no points available and I wanted to save him up for Monday. On Sunday, Fleura was second in Specials for three LCX points. Monday was the big day for me. Evie was second in Specials for three LCX points. The big winner was Aiden. He surprised us all and wound up first place in Open for a five point major! That gives him both his majors and leaves him needing only three singles. Due to Aiden's illness, he missed three years of coursing, and with so many young, green dogs, I thought that he would have to wait until he was in Veterans to try and finish his Field Champion, so it was a wonderful surprise for him to pull off a win like this. To say that I'm proud of him is an understatement. This past weekend we had a mixed LGRA and NOTRA meet. Dean had a bad incident in the box on Saturday where there was a long delay and he turned himself around. He couldn't figure out how to get out the box at first and finished last in his first race. He still managed to pull off second place in the meet. Sunday was the NOTRA day and he won the meet. Aiden finished third for more points as well in both LGRA & NOTRA! Fleura made her debut racing with competition and won both meets for her first points. Aiden had his first show since he was a puppy, earning WD for more points and RWD. Niko was also BOS and Select for more GCH points and a major, and has all his CH defeated toward his GCH now.
The hounds had a big weekend in Conyers, GA during the IHCUS Supported Memorial Day weekend trials. We had four days of all breed trials and two days of Specialties taking place in the evenings of two trial days. The trial had to be swapped from Fairburn to Conyers, GA pretty last minute due to rain and a wedding at the previous venue making the roads impassable. Everyone rolled with the change well, and the show went on. Unfortunately, the field was pretty brutal on feet and much of the Ibizan entry ended up with blown pads. However, it was still a successful weekend for the hounds! Evie debuted in Singles on Friday and finally realized what all the coursing excitement was about. She ran well, and got more sure of her body with each run. I ended up certifying her with Jason the next day and entering her in the ASFA All Breed trial, where she picked up her first 18 points. Unfortunately, she blew a pad during the Prelim run of the Specialty later in the day and it was bad enough she had to be scratched from the rest of the weekend. It was a bummer, but still overall a successful start for her. Dean was a star this weekend, picking up 36 ASFA points over three days and two AKC majors and a total of 8 AKC points, putting him at needing only a single point to finish his AKC Field Championship in just two weekends. He also finished his Senior Courser title and won the AKC Breeder Stake with his cousin, Sol, for Kamar Ibizans. Aiden ran in his usual solid manner throughout the entire trial, and picked up some more ASFA points. He is now at 71 points, so 3/4 finished with his title. Unfortunately, Aiden was recently quite sick and he vomited at one point during the final day and I scratched him. He seemed to be feeling fine at the time, and is still seemingly fine but I would rather be safe. However, Aiden and Dean did compete in every part of the event and won an "Iron Beezer" prize. Jason amazed me throughout the entire event. He won Veterans the first day for a number of points toward his V-FCh. During the ASFA Specialty, I had entered him in Field Champions to help boost points, and did not expect him to be competitive, but he surprised me by taking second place! He earned more points toward his LCM, which I had not really expected him to do. He also won the ASFA Kennel Stake with Niko. He took a day off on Sunday but came back strong on Monday to win Veterans both AKC trials for a total of 9 points, and he represented in the BOB when Niko was unable to run due to blown pads. He had a very nice run, especially for a Veteran! I'm so proud of how well he did. He won the High Scoring Veteran award, which was a very sweet prize in honor of a friend's dog who recently passed away. Niko brought home the big prizes. He had a reasonable start the first day, bringing in some ASFA points, and then blew a pad the second day. Despite this, he continued to be sound and ran heavily wrapped for the rest of the day and the ASFA Specialty. He ended up finishing his ASFA Field Championship and also won the ASFA Performance Stake and the ASFA Kennel Stake with Jason. He took Sunday off to heal and rest and came back out for the AKC Specialty. He continued to be sound, so he ran heavily wrapped and ended up winning Open for his last major, to finish his AKC Field Championship and Dual Champion title. Unfortunately, during his final run he whacked his hurt toe pad and split it open just enough to hurt. He was mildly lame when I walked him before BOB and I ended up pulling him from the run off. He also won the AKC Performance Stake again and was the Best Ibizan Male in the overall event! I'm so proud of him for hanging in there. He's come a very long way from the dog who had no interest in coursing for a whole year! Aiden debuted at his first weekend racing and ended the weekend with two points. He took to the box the very first time he realized what was on the other side, and never even noticed the muzzle. He's found another passion!
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