Keshwar

Friends of the dog world. We are suffering some extremely trying experiences in the current devastating bushfire ordeal with several Dogs NSW members losing "everything". We absolutely need to offer these friends our utmost support. I have tonight posted a preview Show Schedule for the Dogs NSW 2013 Bushfire Disaster Relief Virtual Championship Dog Show on the Facebook Group "Australian Dog Show Breed Entry Numbers" (Sorry cannot attach a file to an ordinary post like this). I hope that the full Schedule will be online with Ozentries.com sometime tomorrow. The organising Committee has seen fit to honour a most distinguished panel of judges who have contributed to the very fabric of the dog world in NSW as we know it. The very sad thing is that they are all deceased. Mrs Joan Fieldhouse (NSW) Toys A – K Mr Les Gray (NSW) Toys L – Z & Group Mr Ken Rowles (NSW) Veteran Sweepstakes 10 yrs & Over & Terriers A – K Mr Alan Moonie (NSW) 6‐12 Months Sweepstakes & Terriers L – Z & Group Mr Len DeGroen (NSW) Gundogs A – K Mr Bob Philp (NSW) Gundogs L –Z & Group Mr Roy Burnell (NSW) 3‐6 Months Sweepstakes & Hounds A‐ K Mr Alan Gammidge (NSW) Hounds L – Z & Group Mr Alf Seymour (NSW) Breeder’s Team & Working Dogs A – K Mr Danny Scott (NSW ) Working Dogs L – Z & Group Mr Dennis Glackin (NSW) Veteran Sweepstakes 7 yrs & Under & Utility A – K Mrs Margaret Spira (NSW) Utility L – Z & Group Mr Bill Spilstead (NSW) Non‐Sporting A – K Countess Marina (Dicky) Ouvaroff (NSW) Non‐Sporting L – Z & Group Dr Harry Spira (NSW) GENERAL SPECIALS Entries are at $10.00 each, Breeders Team $40.00 and full page colour advertisement in the official online catalogue, a humble $50.00 Online entries will be with OzEntries.com who have very generously waived their administration fee and naturally a mailing fee will not be required on this occasion. There will also be a physical Disaster Relief Championship Show on Sunday 29 December 2013 for which full details will be released as soon as they are finalised. My advice is please support, support, support. Many thanks to you all Tom Couchman President Dogs NSW

Remember that the check chain you are using in the ring is, or should be, really fine. These aren't designed for actually correcting your dog, they are to show your dog with minimal distraction. The idea is to train your dog to walk calmly on the show lead. If you are having trouble getting your dog to the ring, then I suggest that you have a normal collar and lead and your show lead both on the dog to walk to ringside, then remove the normal collar and lead before going in the ring. :) HTH

I wonder if Dogs NSW or similar do stalls, ill find out. I was thinking of a purebred breed feature or 2 to show off some good purebred dogs. How about approaching local/regional breed/group clubs?

http://www.thedogpress.com/Columns/Jade/06_Backyard.Breeder.Fallacy.Rights_05.htm I own purebred dogs. Once a year or so I breed a litter from DNA profiled champion stock. For that, I will never apologize as I truly have the best interest of my chosen breed foremost in my mind. Am I an elitist? You betcha! Would I cringe if you went so far as to call me a dog Nazi? No. Serious breeders mate dogs of known background in order to reduce the chances of congenital defects and predict with greater accuracy the positive outcome of a planned litter of puppies. Therefore I probably seem like an unlikely advocate for the guy advertising puppies in the local newspaper. However, I am also a civil libertarian. And I won't apologize for that either. Proposed, pending and contested legislation around the United States and abroad that is aimed at restricting our property rights by targeting animal reproduction has become rampant at every level of government. Forced spay and neuter, cost prohibitive licenses for unaltered dogs and breeding permits, micro chipping of our animals with their information (and ours) in government data bases, warrant-less inspection of our property, arbitrary limits on the number of animals we can responsibly care for and mandatory husbandry practices are some of the ways in which dog owners are being relieved of their civil rights. While our agrarian forefathers did not specifically guarantee us the right to own and breed animals, they did guarantee us the right to be treated equally under the law, the right to own property, the right to be free from warrant-less search and seizure of that property, the right to due process and the right to commerce. With no respect for our Constitution, animal rights supporters are working hard to relieve us of these rights by packaging restrictive legislation in a way that is not only palatable to dog owners, even some breeders, but misleadingly leaves them with the impression that they have supported something beneficial. Far too many animal owners and welfare advocates are buying into it in one area or another. Divide and conquer. By creating stereotypes and labels, like “puppy mill” and “backyard breeder” and attaching a stigma to those labels, the animal rights movement is trying to disgrace the act of breeding animals. And they're doing a great job. The media has been flooded with images of dogs being raised in cages, in filth, in neglect. Sad faces of shelter animals behind prison bars on “death row”. Images intended to produce an emotional response instead of an intellectual one. And don't forget the staggering statistics. It's not a secret that animal rights mean no more domestic animals. It's in their mission statements. HSUS president Wayne Pacelle brags that “We have no ethical obligation to preserve the different breeds of livestock produced through selective breeding. One generation and out. We have no problem with the extinction of domestic animals. They are the creations of human selective breeding”. Allow me to translate, no animal breeding means no more animals. Period. And while the general public cannot be sold on such a radical concept, it's been surprisingly easy to sell them on the concept of ever tightening restrictions. Although united in our love of domestic dogs, slick marketing by the enemy has created infighting. Breeders both private and commercial, rescuers, shelter staff, animal control, dog show exhibitors and pet owners are cleverly being turned against one another to forward the animal rights agenda. Each believing that their point of view is the only valid one and everyone else's civil rights no longer matter. Yes, I too personally find those images disturbing. They are the product of gross human negligence and irresponsibility. I love animals, I have been a shelter volunteer, and I believe in animal welfare but I am also a realist. Things are rarely what they appear on the surface. In order to end the animal surplus and related suffering, I want to get to the actual cause, to prevent the illness instead of treating the symptoms, so to speak. The demand for a product (puppies, for example) is driven by the consumer. It's a simple case of supply and demand in a free market economy. Don't blame the seller for being an opportunist. It's only human nature flourishing in what is still a mostly democratic society. An uneducated consumer has every right to purchase an inferior product and suffer the consequences. Just as the seller has every right to promote the benefits their product, in order to influence the decisions of the consumer. If breed purists and elitists like me are outraged at breeders who turn a profit by selling what we consider to be an inferior product, then we must only blame ourselves for failing to educate the buyers. Ignore the propaganda; dog breeding is not the cause of shelter overpopulation. Animals end up in shelters for a myriad of reasons. Behavior problems that result from a lack of training and proper socialization along with normal breed characteristics that the owner finds unacceptable top the list. Owner death, job transfer/move, landlord/rental restrictions, insurance discrimination, financial trouble and the inability to comply with escalating pet ownership restrictions also contribute to the problem. The system is designed to perpetuate it. We live in a disposable society. As long as domestic animals are viewed as a short term convenience, instead of a serious long term commitment then change is unlikely. The problem is one of perspective, information and education. Pointing fingers at each other is cowardly and counterproductive. According to a 2005 article in the HSUS magazine All Animals, 75% of the shelter population is comprised of mongrels. Now I'm no math wizard, but I can extrapolate that only 25% must therefore be purebred animals. If this is true, then random bred dogs are the real cause of shelter overpopulation, not “puppy mills”, breed enthusiasts or “backyard breeders” of purebred dogs. Yet this same HSUS article praises the mongrel as superior because of its' larger gene pool. One that may very well be polluted with unknown genetic defects. They even go so far as to market them as a “designer” product. Sort of a haute couture, one of a kind canine fashion accessory. Now, it occurs to me that if you truly want to reduce the animal shelter population in a meaningful and dramatic way, than you should advocate for the elimination of the mongrel, through mandatory spay and neuter of random bred dogs with unknown ancestry. (See, I am a dog Nazi!) Most dog breeders know that you must have a firm grasp of the genetic past, in order to improve the genetic future of your line. Many of the minority purebred animals that end up in the local shelter may not have a known origin either, and are therefore not an ethical choice for perpetuation of their breed. The same “hybrid vigor” so highly touted in the mongrel is just as easily achieved by crossing healthy purebreds of known ancestry to create new breeds. Man has done so since the beginning of domesticated dog breeding and whatever we fancy, that breed was created by this process. The beauty of purebred dogs is that there is something to appeal to almost anyone. I don't have to agree with your choice but I must respect your right to make it. I'm not going to advise that consumers rush out and purchase a Puggle, Labradoodle, or Cockapoo, anymore than I would suggest that everyone should select my preferred breed. (Not everyone deserves one!) Whether these designer hybrids stand the test of time or fade out with other trends is not for me to say. Freedom of choice means the freedom to make the wrong choice, and the freedom to make better choices in the future. Am I a “backyard breeder”? Well, by technical definition I guess I am. I have also been a front yard breeder, a living room breeder and a cab of my motor home on the way to the dog show breeder. If that makes me a villain, then the animal rights lunatics and the terrorists who support their ideology win. But if you become an independent thinker, then freedom wins. We all win. Ms. Jade

We already have a core group of people who meet over the cooler months to do lure coursing. When we look at offially starting a club we will look at way's of encouraging membership.

I wonder if you changed the status of these pages so people can "like" them. you could also then put up photos to get more attention. People love photos. If the pages can be liked I'll like them on behalf of our little club, the Yarra Valley Whippet Social Racing Club. Our facebook page here.My link You'd be amazed how many people have found out about us since we created a facebook page and started posting photos. Apart from being a member I have nothing to do with the running of the QLD club page. The Sighthound Lure coursing page was started to try to get like minded people discussing getting Lure Coursing recognised by the ANKC. It is not really about forming clubs etc. It also isn't aimed at the general public, but more at sighthound enthusiasts. :) When we look at lure coursing starting a club in NSW we will then create a club page with photos and video.

This link isn't working Try now - it was a Secret group, I've changed it to open.

If you are on FB check out https://www.facebook.com/groups/218177498309440/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/409922935745891/ These are both groups working on getting lure coursing for Sighthounds recognised by the ANKC.

FB page https://www.facebook.com/WDS2013 Results page http://www.wds2013.hu/hu/eredmenyek/2013-05-16 If you work out how to read the results let me know. :)

I have been asked, more than once, where Irish Wolfhounds and/or Afghan Hounds come from. I have also been asked "what do they (Irish Wolfhounds) do?" "ummm hunt wolves in Ireland." :) I have also answered the "how do you walk that?" question with "On a lead", it just slips out before you think - usually on day three of a show weekend. :)

Found this in an earlier topic. :)

That appears to be the case in NSW. In Vic its random. biker girl if your dog has an issue you can always swap on the day with the other exhibitors . You may want to check with the Steward and/or Judge before you try this.

One of the things I have found useful is watching other people handle my dogs. Having 2 breeds in the same group means I sometimes need to find a handler for one of the dogs. Watching how they behave/perform for other people has helped me realise that some, if not all, of my issues are with me and not the dogs. LOL. But seeing my guys go well in the ring with others has helped me realise that I do have good dogs and this has helped ease my nerves prior to going in the ring.

This is great except when you have a young Male Afghan! LOL. Sometimes it pays not to watch the first couple of dogs in the ring as some Judges use them to work out what works for the ring. I had this happen a few times. Go in with the Afghan and the Judge gets me to do one thing, go in later with the Wolfie and it is different. Fortunately I do keep an eye on what they are doing in-between. This might be a Hound ring thing, due to the difference in sizes of the breeds, some Judges will do different things for different size dogs - Large circle for the big dogs and straight to the table for little dogs etc. If you're not sure always ask the Steward, they usually know what the Judge requires. This is one I need to work on. I have a habit of letting some handlers and or dogs get to me.

Thank you but :laugh: All videos are kept private and are only viewed by the vict.... Um Errr person being videoed.

No problem, as long as we don't clash.

Watching video of yourself is invaluable. I have just started doing this again. The trick is not to get all embarrassed watching yourself, but to watch what you and your dog are doing objectively. HW I will have the video camera with me on Saturday. ;)

I used to be thoroughly intimidated by people in my breed. A lot of very professional type handlers with loads of attitude. I would turn up at a show and see who was there and be beaten then. One day sitting ringside watching these people I had what I call an epiphany. I was as good a handler as these people and my dog was as good as theirs. Since then I try to go into the ring with a positive attitude about myself and my dog. It has helped me immensely. Not saying I have it all sorted, I definitely have issues that I am constantly working on. But that initial step was the important one.

The issue I see with doing Agility with a Wolfie is the jumping involved, particularly for puppies and young dogs. Basic obedience isn't a problem but like others have said I wouldn't be expecting immediate obedience. They will do what you ask if they feel like it. As far as recall goes, my boy Zac will recall fairly reliably but he will sometimes show me the middle claw if he feels so inclined. LOL. Something to consider with a Wolfhound over a Borzoi is the Drool. Wolfhounds drool, Borzoi, in my observations, don't. So if you are not a fan of puddles of water on your floors then the Borzoi is a better option. And they will chase - A video of Zac Lure Coursing - HTH Bear.

Simple answer, Yup! :)

It was mentioned in another topic that Vic has the Best Stewards, now I disagree with this, cos I think the Canberra region has the best Stewards - but that could be because I'm one of them. So what makes a good or even a great Steward? Please keep this light and even humorous.

For an Afghan Exhibitor there is no one must have item! For a start there are the 6 Brushes! The one must have item for the Wolfhound - A saddle. So when I get asked "have you got a saddle for that?" I can say yes and point it out!

Late Monday evening we were informed that M. Laurent Pichard had fallen suddenly and seriously ill and is not able to come to judge for us. This is very disappointing for all concerned, exhibitors and organisers alike. In the very short time available Miss Beth Warman (NZ) has kindly agreed to stand in and judge M. Pichard's assignment. We apologise for any inconvenience to exhibitors. He was to do Hounds & Working Dogs

Afghan Hound Database. http://www.ahpedigrees.com/modules/animal/ Can trace my guys back to the original english imports. :)

I'm guessing if he flies out on tuesday it is a bit late to organise.