Sunday, January 26, 2014

Golden Gake Kennel Club 2014 Dog Show


Yesterday, Frank and I made an impromptu trip to the GGKC Dog Show where I had the opportunity to meet several friends from the Tibetan Terrier facebook group and was introduced to their stunning "little people" companions. What magic must these show dogs have in their genes, or must their owners posses that keeps those TT coats so long and silky! The little darlings were adorable, scuttling around the ring.

Rosy, to the right, is pictured with the famous Jeanette Chaix. Delightful little pup, bouncing all over the place! She sure was entertaining.

After the TTs had their show around the ring, Frank and I [and my sprained ankle] limped all over the cow palace, looking for the Borzois. Frank wanted to get home, but I insisted! This was a benched show, so when not in the ring, all the breeds would hang out in these benched areas where their breeders, owners, and or handlers could display them and interact with the public. We wandered in and out of every possible place, stopping to say hi to the Irish Wolfhounds, the Pembroke Welsh Corgis, the Greyhounds, the St. Bernards... I was ignoring the pain in my ankle (why did I forget my crutches??) because my excitement to interact with a Borzoi again was overflowing. We got to the last room, winding up and down the isles, getting to the very end. "I dunno, Ash. They showed in the morning so they've probably gone home by now." Frank really wanted to go home-- I couldn't blame him. I was tired and in pain!

But there they were, big, long, elegant, and standing at the very end of the last isle of the last room. I gasped and despite my better judgement, I practically ran! 

We spoke with Bunny Kelly of Kelcorov Borzoi for quite a long time. She overheard us saying that we were looking for a Borzoi to bring home this summer, and the conversation went from there! All about her wonderful dogs, the people protesting breeders outside the show, the litter she named after Dr. Who, how we wouldn't just be adopting a puppy-- we'd be getting a relationship with her as a breeder too! She doesn't cut dew claws, she happily takes puppies back if they don't work out in their new homes, and basically said everything I could possibly want to hear from a breeder. I checked her pedigrees on theborzoifiles.net and all of the COI% are very low! She invited us over to her place, and once we're closer to being ready to bring a puppy home, I'm definitely going to give her a call.

We spoke with several other breeders in the greater bay area as well, all of whom were incredibly kind and also value low-0% COI -- health and temperament first, show quality 2nd. Thankfully, Borzoi conformation goes hand in hand with health in many cases, unlike some of the newer breeds (GSDs). And everyone very much advocated for Borzoi as psychiatric service dogs. It's that calm, intelligent, gentleness ♥♥♥

I'm so very excited to move forward with this!

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