Nyara is 1 year and 2 months old in these
pictures!
And last but not least: "Hyvää Juhannusta" - "Happy
Midsummer"!!
21.6.
About a week ago (on Saturday the 12th of June) we
had our "Highlight of the Year" - the SA-FA National
Specialty! The judges for this year were Mrs. Pat Latimer from France/UK,
kennel Zharook, and since her entry got so high - 137 Afghans - we
also had another judge for the puppies, juniors and veterans. This was
Mrs. Saija Juutilainen, kennel Wallaby's salukis. Thus we of course
had two rings and it required quite some balancing to keep up with
both of the rings especially when showing so many as I did!
I began my day handling the young show machine
"Lauri Tähkäpää" (NordJW-09 Pices Golden Galant) in the
Intermediate Dogs' class of 12!! And how lovely, we ended up winning
the class in front of all the brothers, wow! Actually, all four
placements in this class went to the brothers, and I remember standing
in the line up when the judge came closer shaking her head and saying
"Man, these have got to be related!" How right she was! ;)
Unfortunately I still haven't received a photo of Lauri & me, but
I so hope I will!
In the Open Dogs' class I took Walter's
son Niilo (Neliapilan Wesihiisi) but for
some reason he was not feeling too happy with me today, not really
wanting to stand well. So we switched handlers to mom, especially as
my time in the second ring was coming closer, and mom did a superb job
with Niilo gaining 'Excellent' and
placing all the way to 3rd out of 23!!! Congratulations Anu! It was
absolutely the right choice to switch handlers, I think!
Niilo showing so perfectly with mom!
Mom also showed Walter's
other son Texas (LC Ch Neliapilan
Willilänsi) who unfortunately didn't like the weather and didn't feel
like showing as well as usually. The judge regreted this a lot to us
and had to settle with giving him 'Very Good' and the third placement
in the Working Dogs' class.
In Best Male Lauri kept on going and amazed us all
by taking home the magnificent 4th placement out of all the 59 males
and in front of many Champions! He even got his third CAC, but is
still too young to become a champion. Hip hip hurray!
Then it was time for bitches and also Nyara
got to be shown for the very first time ever! The Juniors (9 in
Bitches) were judged by Mrs. Juutilainen, who gave my darling a very
very positive and accurate critique, I might add. Her grade of today
was 'Very Good' and I was so pleased about that!! And especially
seeing her enjoy the showing so much, I could not have been happier!
:)
Nyara Darling - shown for the very first time
& enjoying it to the max!
Also our Miss Felicia was
entered and was most probably shown for the very last time, too. It is
so nice to end her show carreer with a show that she enjoyed! Her
result in the Working Bitches' class of 8 was "plain Excellent"
as she was not placed today either.
Felicia moving nicely at her last show...
There was still one more for me to show, and that
was Felicia's sister Luna (CIB Pices
Flaminia). She had recovered just in time from her false pregnancy and
was again showing so beautifully! Also the judge Mrs. Juutilainen saw
this and pointed her to the first placement in the Veterans class!
However, she was not placed later on in the Best Bitch competition
that Mrs. Latimer judged.
As the icing on the cake we still had the finals to
go. And they could not have gone much better for me... :) First young
Lauri was awarded as the BIS Intermediate - against his sister, and
then their mom Luna was crowned as the BIS Veteran!! Woohooo!!! Still
waiting to get some pictures of them, though...
In the morning we had 2 tents, in the evening we
had 0 to take home...
Waking up at 5 AM though it only took 20 min to
drive to the show ground, building up the show in rain, "enjoying"
the wind and 2 broken tents, running all day long with a slightly
broken & well wrapped foot (...) and whenever not running -
hanging on to the remaining tents, then packing everything down again....etc.
we still have only nice memories! And we even made it to the Judge's
Dinner the same evening, which I'm glad of, since I have to say it was
probably one of the most enjoyable Show Dinners I have attended (and I
have attended quite a few)!
Thanks everyone for the good laughs and also for
the nice day!
See you next year again! :)
Here's also a link to a gallery
with more photos of our own Afghans from the SA-FA Specialty 2010!
9.6.
My dear, dear Sir Walter is today celebrating his
13th Birthday, and he is still doing very well, I might add!! A
stubborn old gentleman who sticks to his daily routines, like the 1+
hour morning walks and regular meal times that must not be a minute
late from the usual schedule! The girls sure keep his mind busy with
their play, and late this spring - after some very helpful acupuncture
treatments to his back - he even felt so good that we witnessed him
trying to go play "catch me" with the girls! Of course, as
you might guess, his head is way faster than the feet, but just an
example that life is gooood for our Grand Old Gentleman! :)
Sir Walter, 13 years, pictured today on his
birthday!
27.5.
We're back...! :) And I finally have a new computer,
yippie!!
It seems like there are quite a lot of Nyara-news
updated on this page, but she just tends to be the one doing a lot of things! However,
I promise there will be a Sir Walter update soon, too. And to those
who may wonder; Yes, He is still doing very well, thank you!!
23.5.
While Nyara & I spent a lovely weekend at my
friend's in Tampere - hiking in the lovely Finnish Spring nature -
Felicia had a "working day". She took part in the Veteran
Lure Coursing Championships in Hyvinkää! Unfortunately the weather
was not very favourable and apparently 3 lure machines broke down,
which was very exceptional, due to the heavy rain(!!). Thus the time
schedule was so behind that the judges decided to leave the final
rounds out of the question. Felicia's placement was 4th out of 7
Veteran Afghan Hounds, with the exactly 200 points. In the evening we
noticed that she was limping a little, so it is possible she streched
her leg a little during the run (no wonder if it was slippery from all
the rain!). However, luckily it is probably nothing serious!
Thank you for the lovely photos to photographer
Irene Vinha!!
15.-16.5.
We spent a very interesting weekend since the Afghan
Hound Club of Finland's character profile team (including myself)
organized the very first official character test in the Club's history!
On Saturday we tested 10 Afghans and on Sunday 9 (+ 1 Finnish Lapphund,
due to a late cancellation). The weather was most favourable to us the
whole weekend and we got to enjoy the inspiring weekend in a beautiful
sunshine that even resulted in my first visible sun tanning for this
year! :)
Among with the Afghans tested were 3 of Walter's
kids, who all showed their personalities very well during the
different tasks. For example son Niilo's
stubborness was not left unnoticed by the judges - if he didn't feel
like doing something, he didn't, and it had nothing to do with being
afraid of it or so. ;) His sister Liana
was to me the biggest surprise, as she basically didn't react to any
of the "threats". The judges said that being a dog in a
family with small children has probably risen her limit-to-react
to the extreme, and she just didn't take the threats as anything
serious. But she sure did defend her "mom" and herself when
attacked. Their brother Texas' test was
unfortunately affected by the fact that somebody had thrown fireworks
next to him as he was peeing in his garden, and he had become very
sensitive to loud noise... The judges said that it was evident that he had
excellent nerves and could recover rather fast from the stressful
situations, but his fear of noises took down his pointscore pretty
much. Poor Texas,
I really hope he gets over that in time!
Altogether the weekend turned out a positive "surprise"
for me who had never attended such a test before. And despite of the
reputation of being a "working dog test" I could seriously
consider taking Nyara into the test once she
grows up! I'm quite sure she would take it pretty well with a confident
waging tail!
27.4.
The Lit'l Miss Nyara is celebrating her 1st Birthday
today!!! CONGRATULATIONS Nyara Darling - I can hardly believe it's
been a year!! Many kisses to all her brothers and sisters at Del
Ghyryo and a special one to mom Cayra for going through the hard job!
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The choice was easy -
baby Nyara 6,5 weeks
in my arms for the first time...
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...and Lit'l Miss Nyara
pictured here nearly 1 year old! |
25.4.
Sighthound specialist Mrs. Outi Piisi-Putta from
Finland was judging the Afghans in Lahti Int. and also I was able to
attend this last indoor show for us. I showed my usual duo; Felicia's
sister Luna (CIB Pices Flaminia) and her son Lauri (NordJW-09 Pices
Golden Galant). Lauri showed like a pro and it was truly a pleasure to
show him once again! The judge also saw "it" and awarded him
with the Intermediate class win and later also with the Best Male 3rd
placement with CAC!! This was his second CAC in a row and both at two
big international shows! Mom Luna was very badly false pregnant and
would have posed like a statue for the whole day but didn't enjoy
moving, so she ended up second in the Veterans. Also the judge
regreted this to me, so maybe we will make a comeback once she is in
full flight again!
I showing Lauri, NordJW-09 Pices Golden Galant,
to 3rd Best Male and his second CAC in Lahti Int.
In the evening it was time for something I had been
dreaming of for a looooong time - Nyara began
her agility lessons at our own "Capital City Area Afghan Hound
Agility Team"! Of course we had already began practicing at home
a little ;) but this was the official beginning! I am glad to say she
enjoyed it very much and behaved like a very clever little girl
willing to do whatever and not being afraid of anything! And she even
kept her focus on me beautifully even though the course was full of
her best friends! Yippie, this was a nice start!!
Below are two photos from Nyara's first agility lesson,
taken by Juha Hämäläinen - Thank you very much!
24.4.
Allrighty, time for some updates!! I have suffered
from computer problems since my laptop hard drive got full(!) and
I found out that my back-up system was not as reliable as I had
thought, so I've had to burn a dozen of DVD's to be able to work with
my photos again! Always the dilemma what would be the best way to
store all these thousands of pictures...
Anyway, even though I'm still a bit behind from all
the photo galleries that I'd LIKE to publish, I'm sure many of you
will be glad to find out that my web gallery has been updated with
some shots of the event of 20+ Afghans enjoying a big dog park and a good company
on Valentine's day! More details on update mark 14.2.
22.3.
Walter's grandkids have an
ad
on AfghansOnline, please have a look!
If you're interested, please contact Marina Van Mol at kennel Fyrverkeri,
Belgium.
20.3.
| Nyara got a new
wonderful collar made
by DesignDog
(which I recommend, by the way, so functional but SOFT you can
not believe...) and she posed so pretty for the camera that I just had to post the photo
here, too!
There have not been many new posing photos of her in here
so at least you can see if she's grown at all... ;-)
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6.3.
Nyara & I jumped in
Marjo-Riitta & Teija's (knl Pices)
car to spend the day in Kaarina Specialty near Turku. The judge of the
day was Mr. Christian Magre from France. My handling duties were
funnily divided into the first and last class of the day. :) In the
morning I showed once again "Lauri Tähkäpää" (Pices
Golden Galant) who got Excellent and placed third in his class. Then I
had a lot of time to entertain our tourists Nyara
& Lauri's sister Zena, who both thought shows are just all about
wrestling together - needless to say they had sooo much fun! And
finally it was time for the show ring again, to handle Felicia's
sister Luna (CIB Pices Flaminia). Luna showed beautifully and won the
veterans with Exc/1, and then even got the nice placement of Best
Bitch 4th! Luna also took the BOB-Veteran rosette, so we got to stay
for the late afternoon's finals as well.
Eventually, Luna's first time in Veteran classes could not have
ended any better: she won Best In Show Veteran in a very competitive
lineup!!
Felicia's sister Luna - CIB Pices Flaminia
winning BIS Veteran at the Kaarina Specialty!
Thanks to Keijo Vesilahti for the beautiful photo of Luna & me
(and congrats back to Bono's BIS-2)!
28.2.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR FELICIA
- already 8 years old and now officially a veteran, wow! The funny
thing is that I don't think she has ever been more fit and happy than
now, so clearly enjoying life to the max! Pictured below after having
some fun with Nini and in the new colour
"white masked black & tan", ha ha!:)
Felicia's winter humour... You can click the
picture to view
a larger version to see her face (and the eyes!) even better!
Felicia also sends her greetings to all her
siblings:
Congratulations Luna, Sarah, Theba, Rico, Fabi, Luka & Ferris!
Below is one silly snapshot from Felicia's birthday
"party":
Best Friends Forever Zena & Nyara:
"Whatt?? Nooo, of course we were not playing with
Felicia's
birthday present (the grey rabbit in their paws)...!"
27.2.
If someone asked Felicia what she would want as
a present for her birthday, she would say "BUNNY HUNTING".
So that's exactly what she got! A day as "The Sole Princess" at a
Lure Coursing competition was not difficult to arrange, as the
traditional Talvimaastot ("Winter Coursing") was held only a
day before her 8th birthday! I stayed home with my own two, Sir Waltie
& Nyara that is, so mom and grandma could keep their 100% focus on
the birthday girl and treat her like the princess she wanted to.
Felicia's personal trainer
(Nyara) had done an excellent job during the
winter and
Felicia was probably more fit than ever, not even showing her long
tongue after the first run! Her points even qualified her to the
finals, where she did another beautiful and clean run - finally ending
up as 6th best bitch with cac-quality points, out of 16 bitches in
total! In addition, she even got the best points of all the veteran
Afghans, though there was no special category for veterans in
this competition. Her points were 222 + 217 = 439
with cac-quality! Way to go, Felicia!
20.2.
Just a picture of me & Nyara from one of our cold weekend walks in
the Finnish landscape full of snow (the big bush next to me threw it's
snow on us just as mom was taking a "pretty picture")!
14.2.
Valentine's Day in Finland is celebrated more as a
"Day of Friends" instead of lovers only. So what a better
way to spend the day than in a big, snowy dog park with over 20 other
Afghans - plus their owners of course. I took only Nyara
with me because I thought it was better for her not to only be playing
with Felicia. And Walter
would probably have been just worried the kids will knock him off his
feet when passing by (which actually did happen to poor Granny Mulan,
as you can see from the gallery)...
The weather was so lovely as well as the company so
that there was not much to do but to ENJOY - and yes, to take photos! My
web gallery has now been updated with a bunch of photos from today,
so have a look!
Nyara being chased by her friend Gayson
After the outdoors fun we were invited to come and see
Walter's grandkids at kennel Neliapilan, where they had a puppy
meeting! The A-litter is out of Walter's daughter
Helmi (CIB
Neliapilan Wedenneito) and sired by Alf (Neliapilan Bengalintiikeri,
himself the son of CIB Trouble du Menuel Galopin & CIB Neliapilan
Jukebox).
Thanks Maija for all the hospitality, we had a nice afternoon with all
of you!
Neliapilan A-puppies playing in the snowy
backyard
"Don't you stand on my chest, yo brotha!"
says feisty Celine
"RUN, RUN - mom's coming!!"
Taking part in the kids' play was of course mom
Helmi
and in such a beautiful condition, as always...
13.2.
My Nyara is now officially
a "Finnish citizen" as well as "Flamish Afghan
immigrant". :)
Her registration at the Finnish Kennel Club is
finally ready and Nyara now has two
registration numbers: the Belgian LOSH1058337 and the Finnish
FI13132/10. And hence she now also has her own page at the Finnish
Kennel Club's database, visit: Ishnyara
del Ghyryo.
What also delights me very much is the fact that
through Nyara's registration, also her mom Cayra
is now in the database - and shown as Walter's
daughter, of course! Therefore both his litters are now officially
recognized in the database, even though Cayra's
siblings may not be there. Jippie!
5.2.
We received another wonderful picture of a Walter
kid recently, and I see it's not been published here yet for some
reason! Here is Chivas' sister and Nyara's
aunt Cyra (Ch Cyra del Ghyryo) having a
mouthful of January snow at home in Germany! With greetings to the
Moser family, kennel d'Avicenna!
Walter's daughter Ch Cyra del Ghyryo
sent us winter greetings from Germany
1.2.
Sir Walter can once again burst of pride due to a
kid with a new Champion title! His Belgian son Chivas
(CIB Chivas del
Ghyryo) went to Castrop Rauxel yesterday, gained the last CAC and is
now also a German Champion!! And like father like son, the judge to
award him with this new title was Paula Heikkinen-Lehkonen from
Finland - who gave daddy Walter the last CACIB & CAC to his Int
& Nordic Ch in Norway 2002! However, we also heard that Nyara's brother
Indy (Indigo del Ghyryo) was the real star of the day, winning BOB
over his best friend Chivas! Congratulations, Liliane, for the super
day with your boys!!
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The new German Champion,
Chivas, in snowy Belgium, January 2010
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27.1.
I received new photos of Walter's
youngest grandchildren - the litter of Cora
(Corazon del Ghyryo). There are still two very promising, outgoing
puppy boys with lovely carriage looking for a home of their own (pictured
below)! If you want to hear more about them, please contact Marina
van Mol, kennel Fyrverkeri, Belgium!
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"Purple" boy |
"Purple" boy |
"White toe" boy |
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24.1.
As the cold weather just continues and it's been
-20 oC this weekend as well, I wanted
to add another funny new gallery
for Nyara: "Just
some frosty fun". (he he hee...)
19.1.
What could be more funny than a silly puppy playing
in the snow?
Well, how about two silly puppies playing?
Nyara's friend Thelma (Xaga's
Romilda Vane) has been visiting us every now and then at Mumu's
backyard and this time I had my camera with me. The result you
can see from this Nyara's new gallery:
"Playing in the snow
with friend Thelma". Enjoy!
17.1.
I finally found time to update the remaining news
from last year! Have a look via this link: What
was new 2009.
More updates can be expected during the following
days, especially some new photo galleries... ;o) While waiting, please
move your pointer over this picture of the silly everyday Nyara:
5.1.
I received some lovely photos of Walter's youngest grandchildren,
only 4 weeks old!
They are out of Walter's daughter Corazon
del Ghyryo and sired by OnlyOneWayMyWay.
There are still few cute males available, so please contact Marina
Van Mol if you are interested! To learn more, visit the website of kennel
Fyrverkeri in Belgium.
More photos and stories of the daddy "Shakka" are available at kennel
El-Tayranil's website (Netherlands).
1.1.
Happy New Year everyone!!
