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Just a quick update from 2025
11 January 2026 | 
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The year 2025 started badly for us. After I had Brandir given a Librela injection on January 6th due to severe pain and lameness in his right front paw, there was no improvement but a deterioration. Within three weeks, his wrist had become enormously swollen and felt warm. On Thursday evening, January 30th, I walked a short distance with Brandir through our forest, and suddenly he was standing on three legs. He didn’t want to take another step and was clearly in terrible pain. Very slowly we walked home, and he lay down on his bed. He didn’t get up again until the following afternoon around 12:00 when he urgently needed to go outside. He didn’t even get up for his food, and that told me more than enough.
Our dear neighbors, who have always been crazy about the hounds, and especially Brandir, came by to say goodbye to him. They will miss him terribly as well.
Brandir was a super easygoing Deerhound, always a gentleman, he had a great sense of humor and could snuggle intensely but didn’t like the shows, and coursing wasn’t his thing either. He traveled a lot with us, visiting about 12 countries, from northern Finland to Italy.
He lives on in his daughter, granddaughter and grandson, and great-grandchildren.
Just after one o’clock, Victoire came to relieve Brandir of his pain.
Brandir was allowed to live 12 years, 8 months, and 2 weeks.
Nicky with Brandir and his great-granddaughter Cephyr.
The first puppies have now left the house, but it still took a while before they were all gone. Most of them went, either in pairs or, to somewhere where there’s another sighthound. One puppy is an only child, but he gets so much attention and has so many playmates, he lacks for nothing.
The last ones left on March 7th for Slovenia and Serbia. A very long journey, but luckily all three traveled together. On the way, Caelen James was dropped off in Slovenia and ended up with a young Borzoi, with whom he has now become best friends.
How quiet and peaceful it became here afterward!
Cephyr (on the right) and Chenea were fortunately still there for each other to play and run around with.
On March 9th, WRV ’t Haasje held its General Meeting followed by a coursing training. Here, Cephyr and Chenea took their first steps on an ‘official’ coursing field. Of course, we had already practiced a bit at home with them using the old hand-operated machine, and they were very interested in this new game. But here it was somewhat different, a different, unfamiliar environment with more distractions. However, the second time went much better.
On March 22, we had the first coursing of the year at Ronostrand. Once again, only Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were entered. Cranston was able to have a good time on Friday.
On Thursday, April 3, we departed for Alphen where the coursing of WRV ’t Haasje was held. On Friday, first the training where Cephyr and Chenea also got a chance to sniff the hare again. They both did fantastically!
This time, Augusto Frade had also entered his Deerhound female Teresa of Muma, so there would be 3 Deerhounds at the start. But unfortunately, Crumbaugh did not pass the veterinary check, so only the two girls, Teresa and Charlaigne, ran. In the second round, Charlaigne caused a mess again by cutting corners significantly. However, she ran out of position so badly that she could never catch up with the deficit.
Two weekends later, on April 19, we had the coursing in Lelystad. Here again, only Charlaigne and Teresa were at the start. They did not hold back from each other, and even though both know the terrain well, they ran almost the entire course without cutting too much. They ended with the same points, but because Charlaigne in the morning and Teresa in the afternoon, having 3 points more, Teressa became first again.
On May 29 & 30, it was Sighthound Weekend with the Championship Club Match on the 29th. Unfortunately, only 15 Deerhounds were entered, 1 absent.
BOB was Victor Prince Jr. Sense of Beauty by Ineke and Jasper de Vos, and Charlaigne became BOS.
For the Sighthound CAC Show, only 9 Deerhounds were entered. In the honor ring, Chenea was Best Puppy and Charlaigne was Best Working Dog.
On Saturday we organized a fun coursing event, and all in all we had about 50 sighthounds who wanted to let off some steam after the shows. Very impressive was a young Magyar Agar who entered the coursing field for the first time. But he quickly understood the game and showed his talents. There were also 9 Azawakhs, a unique number!
On June 4th, we set off for Tüttleben for one day of show and two days of coursing. The coursing was again organised by CC2000. For the show, only Cephyr, Chenea, and Charlaigne were entered, and for the coursing, unfortunately only Crumbaugh, Charlaigne, and Islay’s Scara Brae. The latter went home with the honor.
Chenea found the Red Kites, which constantly flew over the middle area of the racetrack and the coursing field, very interesting.
From Tüttleben we went to a campsite near Berlin, where we stayed for a few days before continuing on to Poland.
The campsite was by a lake, in an extensive forest of almost nothing but very tall pine trees so that you only looked up at the trunks.
The pitches were minimally marked and the ground was not exactly flat.
The road to get there was almost impassable, so with the caravan it took half an hour to cover one kilometer!
But still, it wasn’t a bad campsite.
In the evening, when the little beaches were empty, the hounds could really let loose, and you could go for good walks in the surrounding forests.
After the weekend, we headed to a campsite before Poznan. Here too, there was a small lake and a nice forest where the hounds could run and play.
When we arrived, we were the only ones there and thought we could enjoy the peace, but during the afternoon, a huge group of campers started to arrive, and shortly after, we were surrounded by a large group of caravans and campers who were going to celebrate a golden wedding in the evening!
Well, that was the end of the peace!!
On Friday, June 20, we packed up again and went to Gniezno, on the other side of Poznan, because Simon had to judge a two-day coursing event there. When we arrived there in the early afternoon, they were still busy harvesting the grass. Several huge machines were moving across the two enormous fields at record speed to make the grounds suitable for coursing.
Very impressive to see.
We were placed on top of a hill with our caravan, with no trees in the wide surroundings and, unfortunately, no other option but to walk the same sandy path up and down with the hounds all the time. It was scorching hot and therefore incredibly tough.
On Saturday, we still let the hounds run, as guide dogs for license runs, but Sunday it was really too hot, and we left as soon as possible after the awards ceremony. Back to the campsite just before Poznan.
The next morning we were just able to leave in time before a huge thunderstorm broke out; we were incredibly happy that we were no longer on the hill in Gniezno with the awning and everything!!
Since I got a new hip on July 3, we had a few weeks of rest and could enjoy our own little paradise.
On August 11, the caravan was packed again, and we set off for Hermannsburg to visit Sonja and Karl Heinz. It was too hot to do anything, so we just lazed around. The hounds had fun, though, because for the puppies it was a new environment which they really enjoyed.
Wednesday morning, we hit the road again because we had to go to Poland once more. This time Simon, with the help of Benny de Winter, had a field to prepare for the Polish Coursing Championship. Together with Benny and Ghilaine, we also stayed at a campsite where it was forbidden to put up a fence. So we set up the awning again to keep the hounds in check, but that didn’t go very well. They still wanted a bit more space and occasionally escaped.
On Thursday we were in Racot, near Poznan, where the championship took place. Fortunately, we could set everything up under large trees so we still had some shade because it was very hot. Especially on Friday, when Simon had to set up the course, it was scorching hot!
A beautiful sunset in Racot.
I hadn’t entered any hounds for the Championship. In hindsight, it’s a pity since there were actually four dogs from the Czech Republic competing, but fortunately Charlaigne, Crumbaugh, Cranston, Cephyr, and Chenea were still able to stretch their legs on Saturday afternoon.
Left Crumbaugh under red with Charlaigne. Under Cephyr.
Left Chenea, under Cranston.
On Monday morning we set off for Göhlsdorf where Simon was once again in charge of the coursing. We stayed together with Benny and Ghilaine on the large camping meadow and could freely use the fenced coursing field. On Thursday, the first participants began to trickle in, and by the end of Friday, the camping field was completely full. As usual, a fair number of Deerhounds were entered, a total of 9, including Crumbaugh and Charlaigne. Cephyr, Chenea, and Cranston got to try out the course on Friday.
On Sunday, there was the Landessieger Show for which only three Deerhounds were entered. Charlaigne was awarded BOB.
On Monday morning, we packed everything up again and headed towards Rijsbergen.
Crumbaugh under white.
Charlaigne under white.
On Saturday, August 30, CC2000 hosted the Barsoi Funcoursing in Baarle-Nassau. As usual, our hounds also ran the course. Cephyr was incredibly enthusiastic and stole the show with a spectacular kill.
Charlaigne walked with Crumbaugh, but she made such a mess of it that, as it unfortunately became clear much later, she had so badly gotten both her hind legs tangled up and injured herself so severely that I had to go straight to a veterinarian. Luckily, I was able to see the on-duty doctor in Hoogstraten, who, after examining it thoroughly, determined that it was only superficial. But serious enough that it had to be stitched under anesthesia.
He was stitching for over an hour, but unfortunately, the following Monday it turned out that some of them had not held. We put in a few more staples and rebandaged. Even though the wounds weren’t in a position that would be under tension when walking, the stitches didn’t hold, and by the end of the week most of everything was open again. That’s when we started blue light therapy, and it worked fantastically! Within four treatments, the wounds were closed without coarse scar tissue!
I was very happy that we have a very good type of thread that almost doesn’t cut. If, for example, it had been nylon, she would never have been able to walk again.
So if your hound ever has an injury that is slow to heal, think about blue light therapy!
Exactly one week later, on Saturday evening, September 6, Cephyr broke a toe and I drove to Hoogstraten again. It was not a complicated fracture, but the bone fragments were not neatly aligned. The only option was taping. After three weeks, we took an X-ray, but no bone growth was visible. At six weeks, there was a little, but minimal. Meanwhile, the doctors were talking about amputation, but I absolutely wasn’t willing to go for that. Finally, after 10 weeks, the bone fragments had grown together enough that Cephyr was allowed to run and play again.
Everyone was happy!!
Charlaigne with daughter Cephyr in the infirmary.
WRV ‘t Haasje held its Dommel Coursing on September 27 & 28 in Borkel & Schaft. A new and very nice location. You can go for a great walk with the hounds, and the campsite is spacious with good sanitation. Also very nice was that you could enjoy a BBQ with the whole group in the restaurant! The owner prepared the meat on a large BBQ, and along the wall there was a full buffet with various salads, sauces, and baguettes. Super tasty and well organized.
A pity that part of ‘the coursing field’ had just been sown and couldn’t be used, but Simon still managed to set up a nice course of sufficient length and with some challenges.
Since Chenea has developed the strange habit of sneaking up on the hare, we decided to let her run with another hound. This went well with sloughi Azra from Els Siebel. She had to start immediately, otherwise she wouldn’t get the chance to run. Hopefully she will continue to do well now.
Unfortunately, once again only Charlaigne and Crumbaugh had signed up. I found it nerve-wracking because Charlaigne, of course, kept cutting in, but luckily everything went fine and she came off the field safely.
On Thursday, October 2, we set off again with the caravan towards Welzheim, in the south of Germany, to participate in the Deerhound Annual Show. With one overnight stop on the way, we arrived there on Friday afternoon. At that time, it was still dry! Unfortunately, the weather gods were not on our side, and soon it turned into a big mud puddle.
So Saturday was the show. There were 34 Deerhounds entered, with 5 absentees, judged by Ali Morton from the Cotherstone kennel in Scotland. A judge after my own heart! She gave 3 Very Promising, 6 Excellent, 18 Very Good (still too many), and 2 a Good (there could have been more).
Chenea came second in the junior class and Cephyr fifth. Cytaugh was third out of the three veterans, and Charlaigne first out of the two working dogs. Then Charlaigne beat the open class and champion class bitches and became second best bitch behind the junior bitch Lady Ness of Scottish Arrows from Lidia Pitek from Poland.
Working Class.
Left: Lidia Pitek (left) and Ali Morton with Best Male Elton Pinehurst and Best Female and BOB Lady Ness of Scottish Arrows. Below: the same Deerhounds in a nice picture.
The coursing was held on Sunday, but unfortunately, of the 5 entered hounds, only 3 were present. Very disappointing. Alyesha Under Sharp Hill by Gabriele Klenk came first, Crumbaugh second, and Charlaigne third, but she still received the title “Schönheit und Leistung Jahresseigerin” because she had received an Excellent at the show, while Alyesha received a Very Good.
Charlaigne with her won challenge trophies for Best Working Dog, the Wanderpreis “Of the Scottish Highlands” from Ruth Oess (left) and the “Quodlibet Drambui Trophy” for Beauty and Performance Annual Winner from Gerd Zekert.
Of the 21 names attached to the “Of the Scottish Highlands” challenge trophy, 7 are O’Cockaigne hounds and my Terichline Thistle appears 3 times. Pretty nice!
Since everything was soaking wet, clammy, and muddy, we just drove straight home the next day.
October 25th was once again the time for a CC2000 event. Nearly 60 hounds had registered, and many stayed overnight at the campsite. Unfortunately, the weather gods did not cooperate again, and on Saturday afternoon it started raining so heavily that we couldn’t do a second round without damaging the entire area with the quad. But everyone still had a great time, and in the evening about 24 of us enjoyed a BBQ in the restaurant. Very cozy!
A few more fun little videos of what’s happening at CC2000.
Of course, this wasn’t entirely the intention!
Our last event of the year was the coursing in Ravels, Belgium on November 8. We still decided to go with the caravan because it’s the easiest way with all the hounds and it’s also a bit more enjoyable. After all, that’s what we do it for! All the hounds were able to stretch their legs and made it to the end of the coursing season without any additional injuries.
Just took the Christmas photo on December 8 and then everyone went into hibernation!
It was an eventful and busy year with many fun things but also intense sadness and a lot of worries. Hopefully this year will be a bit more even. In any case, there are plenty of fun things on the agenda again!
Posted in 2026, Abroad, Deerhound in general, Lure coursing, O'Cockaigne Estate, Show | 
Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Chenea O'Cockaigne, Chephyr O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | 
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Old life – new life.
Old life.
Our Brandir is still going strong. Of course he gets older every day, but it goes so slowly that it is almost unnoticeable. He still walks well, eats well, still gets up several times a day, still jumps in the car (sometimes it doesn’t go completely smoothly anymore) and is cheerful and happy. He still goes to hydrotherapy every week with Corinne Somers in Rucphen and once every 3 weeks he gets acupuncture and various Chinese herbal mixtures of Victoire Koperberg-Weijers (Acuvet).
Here he is lying in the late afternoon sun, the beautiful colors represent his colorful life.
But life goes on, so on August 6 we left for Hermannsburg where we spent a few nice, but warm days with Sonja. Sonja really didn’t expect to see Brandir again, and had already said goodbye to him in Tüttleben. So you see, the wonders are not out of the world yet!!
On Wednesday we went for a nice walk at the lakes where Brandir had so much fun as a young Deerhound together with his sister Bernice. I don’t know if he recognized it, but miraculously he even went into the water, something he never does!
From Sonja we went on to Göhlsdorf where we have to take care of the coursing for already many years. Unfortunately there was no show this year because it was the same date as Donaueschingen. Very strange because it is about 700 kilometers apart so they don’t have much competition from each other!! Just over 80 sighthounds had been entered for the coursing, 10 of which were Deerhounds. The course was not too long because of the warm weather but luckily there was a nice breeze so it was doable for the hounds. Charlaigne didn’t run well and finished eighth, Crumbaugh was sixth and miraculously Cranston Argyll was third!
It was again a very pleasant and sporty weekend.
Friday, August 23, for the first time in I think 13 or 14 years, we left for Leek. We had reserved “Landgoedcamping Nienoord” which is just around the corner from the coursing area. The problem is that you are no longer allowed to camp on the coursing grounds, not even the employees and the board, so you have to stand or park in the parking lot or drive back and forth to a campsite on the day. So we had chosen this nearby campsite which was also within a good walking distance through the forest, so that I could walk out the hounds well after the course, back to the campsite. Ideal!
The atmosphere and overall experience of Nienoord is no longer there. Everything has changed; the environment, the people, the terrain. In the past, there were always gigantic mud puddles on the coursing field, which resulted in the most spectacular images, but now the site was drained and there was not a puddle to be found. Very boring! But the hounds had a nice walk, there was a nice track and there was good turning.
The annoying thing was that Cranston and Crumbaugh were running together and at the end of the course they were at each other’s throats. Cranston has a problem with Crumbaugh while Crumbaugh has no harm in it, but when Cranston hurts him, he does react. So from now on, Cranston will only run training sessions and test runs to avoid a fight.
Crumbaugh was, as usual, first of the three.
New life?
Shortly after Leek Charlaigne went into heat, but the male I had initially selected was no longer available so I had to go to his father. Actually not so bad, because he is already 7 years old, has beautiful offspring and is doing well in terms of longevity. He is also good in the field of Factor VII, Hart and DEPOH.
After some back and forth writing, progesterone tests, I left on Wednesday morning, September 11, for Horley in England where we had the ‘date’ with Hyndsight Endlessflight in the course of the afternoon.
After a long day I ended up back at “The Black Horse Inn” near Maidstone around seven o’clock. What a lovely, cozy pub this is! Dogs are very welcome and they are really taken into account. This time I had left Charlaigne in the room before it would get really ‘cozy’!
In principle, I would go back again on Thursday and I had planned a nice route along the ‘Hever Castle’ where coincidentally a ‘Handcraft Fair’ was also held. You could walk beautifully around the lake and in the beautiful gardens and there were very beautiful and nice objects to admire at the many stalls of craftsmen. But on the way to the castle I got a call from Hector Heathcote that he was stranded on the Isle of Wight and that it could be very late tonight before he got home. If I could tomorrow. No, that wasn’t possible because my train was booked and I had to be back home by Friday evening. So now let’s hope that everything went well and that a nice litter will be born.
A bit difficult to carry but these larger than life hares, made of chicken wire!, were a lot of fun. In the end, the right hare made of sheet metal was allowed to go home.
We spent more than 3 hours in the gardens and between the stalls at the Hever Castle, a really nice location to spend an afternoon.
The house next to The Black Horse Inn is called Turnham Friars and is largely still in its original state. Most of the windows are still stained glass and even with all kinds of images. These windows are a gem!!
On the return journey, this beautiful old-timer was parked next to me at the French customs of the Eurotunnel.
On October 5, OWRV ‘t Haasje held its club championships. Cranston ran the training and Crumbaugh and Charlaigne the competition. As usual, Crumbaugh won and was captured on camera by Alisha Frijters.
And then it was October 9, a day with two extremes.
First thing in the morning I went with Charlaigne to the clinic for an ultrasound. Soon the puppies came into view. After counting several times, the doctor came up with 9 embryos, 1 of which had a heartbeat but looked a bit strange. So we’ll have to wait and see if that turns out to be something. But at least Charlaigne is pregnant and now let’s hope that everything goes well.
I had an appointment with Victoire for the afternoon. She has been treating Brandir for years with acupuncture and since his diagnosis of cancer in his liver on June 21 (16 weeks ago!!) also with Chinese herbs.
Together with the hydrotherapy that he has also been doing with Corinne for 2 years, these therapies have kept him going. But….. Now his body is really spent. Brandir is a bit short of breath and in pain, he is occasionally nauseous and does not feel well. Victoire was also very worried and we agreed that we will give Brandir his rest in the very near future. When is not yet known, but it is a matter of days.
At the end of the afternoon we had a bottle of bubbly, on Simon’s birthday, the puppies and on Brandir.
Posted in 2024, Abroad, Lure coursing, O'Cockaigne Estate, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
The past six months.
After the last update in January, we have experienced quite a few things. To start with, Charlaigne had received an invitation for the Dog of the Year Show, so on February 24th we packed pur showbag and went to Dordrecht to run around the ring and then quickly go home again. No success.
On the 8th of March, Charlaigne and I left for Birmingham.
Since I didn’t want to drive back and forth in too much of a hurry, we had booked an Inn in Whitney, Bird in Hand. After settling in, we first went for a nice walk and then dived into the extremely atmospheric pub for a delicious pint of Bitter and a delicious meal.
The next morning, during the morning walk, when we came around the bend, we were surprised by a fallow deer. At first, the deer and Charlaigne looked at each other in amazement and then reacted; The deer ran in front of us but stopped every time to look back. This only made Charlaigne crazier and I could barely keep her. Hence the bad picture! The rest of the hike wasn’t exactly relaxed.
After breakfast we left at our leisure. Along the way we took a nice walk in a very baggy off-leash area and a nature garden and then we drove to Birmingham via a beautiful shortcut.
Sunday Crufts day. Our judge was Bryan Doak of the Rosslyn Deerhounds. He was clearly looking for the heavier type of Deerhound but still thought Charlaigne was good enough for a fifth place out of the 11 bitches present in the Open Class. Not too bad.
We left early Monday morning for home but all in all we were on the road for more than 10 hours before we got home. The next trip we will do it differently.
On March 28, Sonja came to us for a few days and then we went to the Deerhound Jahresausstellung in Cologne. As judge we had Brit Schöne-Brodwall from Norway. A total of 51 Deerhounds were entered of which only 15 were males! I had entered Cytaugh in the veteran class and out of 5 old ladies she came third. Charlaigne was in the working dog class and was placed behind a dog that I wouldn’t want to have myself. To say the least, it was a very strange judging.
On the 18th of April Charlaigne and I left for England for the annual Breed Show which was held in Broughton. The Forest Pines Hotel is a beautiful with a gigantic golf course where you can take beautiful walks. The only problem is that it is full of squirrels which were used to people so just stay put when you approach them. There was also a large hare hopping around, which was of course quite a challenge!
On the Friday prior to the actual Breed Show, the first Deerhound Championship Show was organized. There were 58 Deerhounds entered for judge Miss Mary Ann Stuart of the Ollandsheart kennel. Charlaigne finished fifth in Open Bitch. Best male and BIS was Björn Fritz and Klaus Krüger’s Fritzens the Muthaiga Club, presented by Hector Heathcote, and best female was Vanessa Lucas’s Packway Smackfarthing.
On Saturday we had Clare Drew as judge. She grew up among the Lealla Deerhounds of her parents Tony and Mary Churchill. A total of 77 Deerhounds were entered, of which 24 were males and 53 females. Charlaigne finished third in her class. Best Male and BIS was Sam Taylor’s Ormanstar Dark Shadow and Best Female was again Packway Smackfarthing.
After the Champion Parade, which unfortunately no longer has what used to make it so beautiful, a real bagpiper, Sue Spring-Arnold judged the various Special Classes on Sunday. Charlaigne was entered in Special Coursing/Lure Chasing and finished third here, in the Special Bred By Exhibitor she was not placed.
My thanks to Mark Cannon for the beautiful photos!
After a nice and pleasant weekend we left for Folkestone on Monday. But this time we had booked a room in “The Black Horse” near Maidstone. It looked like a small holiday resort and the apartments were spread over the sloping terrain. A lovely spacious room with all the trimmings and nice and clean. The pub was very cozy and when I got there, completely packed. After a lovely walk in the beautiful surroundings, I went back and fortunately it was a bit quieter so that I could enjoy a very nice dinner with Charlaigne. Highly recommended this Inn.
This year we were again asked to take care of the coursing in Tüttleben. Since the Saluki Jahresausstellung was also held, many sighthounds were entered and the coursing was spread over two days. We left on the 15th of May to arrive in Tüttleben on the 16th with one overnight stay so that the men had the whole Friday to lay out a nice course.
On July 29, 2012 Sonja and I picked up Nimloth Brandir and his sister Bernice from Jill and Toby Smith in England and a few days later we set off again towards East Germany. It was Brandir’s first trip to Tüttleben! Now he celebrated his 12th birthday here on Friday!!
Nimloth Brandir, as a puppy with sister Bernice, and 12 years old!
Cranston, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne had never been to Tüttleben before and found it very interesting when the men were working at the coursingfield across the street.
On Saturday we had the CAC show where Charlaigne got the CAC but wasn’t good enough for BOB because she was a bit stiff. On Sunday, the youngsters were finally allowed to run. Charlaigne was assigned with Alyesha Under Sharp Hill from Gabriela Klenk. Somehow, she made a misstep that caused her to take quite a tumble. She recovered fairly quickly and gave chase again.
Crumbaugh was placed with Islay’s Quarterback Jim. When, after a few hundred meters, the hare came to a standstill due to technical failure, and Crumbaugh (under white) came second to the hare, Jim did not think long before plunging at Crumbaugh, resulting in a fierce brawl.
On the link below you can clearly see Crumbaugh’s surprised reaction, but he doesn’t let himself be upset and goes on the counterattack. Hopefully, this won’t have any nasty consequences for Crumbaugh.
Cranston ran alone, but the technique didn’t run smoothly either and he had a disturbed course that cost him a lot of energy.
But of course, because of Jim and Crumbaugh’s brawl, we didn’t let them run together anymore and they were taken out of the coursing, with Cranston finishing first!!
Around May 24, 1984, Meta Melser and her daughter Jaqueline brought two Deerhound puppies; Argyll Bryan from the Market Garden and Aragorn from the Market Garden. These were our first Deerhounds after we got our first Irish Wolfhound in 1979.
So we’ve had Deerhounds for 40 years now and they’ve gotten us everywhere we are today. They have enriched our lives with the show and coursing world in which we quickly became active then and still are today.
What delightful creatures they are, those Deerhounds, and it really is; once a Deerhound – always a Deerhound!!
On the 26th of May we had a show in Wieze (Belgium) where Charlaigne got her last needed CAC for the Belgian Championship under judge Doris Getzinger and became Best Working Dog under Johan Wulteputte.
Two weeks later at the outdoor show in Geldrop she became BOB again and second in the group thanks to André van den Broek.
And then there’s bad news and good news.
On June 21, Brandir had an ultrasound to see why he didn’t want to eat anymore and felt nauseous. It turned out that there are metastases in his liver of most likely a Hemangiosarcoma. His spleen is also enlarged.
So far everything is going fine, he eats well and still walks with us every walk but we only have a few weeks left to enjoy him and keep it as pleasant as possible for him.
The good news is that we are hoping for a litter from Charlaigne. If all goes well, we expect the puppies around mid-November (hopefully not another footballteam). Fingers crossed!!
Posted in 2024, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
Top or not?
In the past year, Charlaigne O’Cockaigne has been to 7 Dutch and 5 foreign shows, with the number of participating Deerhounds varying from 2 to 38.
At every Dutch show (7) Charlaigne became Best of Breed and only at two Danish shows she became 2nd and 3rd best female. She was also Best in Show at two foreign sighthound shows and 2nd in the group at the Winner and the Christmas show.
So she did a very good job. If we now look at the top lists of respectively the Board of Directors, the WOW competition, and on the site of Windhondeninfo.nl, maintained by Ron Moerkerken, we see that they both have a different scoring system.
As top sighthound on Windhondeninfo.nl, Charlaigne is at the top with 197 points and second is the Italian Greyhound Fiefoerniek’s Falderie of Sandra and Lucien with 182 points out of 10 shows.
But if we look at the WOW competition, we see that Falderie is at the top with 240 points and Charlaigne in a nice second place with 225 points.
Isn’t it funny, two ‘top’ lists!
And what does Charlaigne think of it????
It will be her wowrst!!
(In other words, she doesn’t give a damn!)
Just update.
After my last update in August, my laptop crashed and after missing it for weeks I got it back but it didn’t work then! It also turned out that there was almost nothing on the backup made!! All gone! Taken away again and after a month we were told that unfortunately it could no longer be repaired. All in all, it took several months before I got a new one and then it turned out that I couldn’t log in to my website anymore!!
This week I finally succeeded and now I could continue where I left off. Poop, poo!! But because of all the updates of my website, I have the biggest problems filling a page and it takes ages before it is to my liking. And it’s still not to my liking, but yes, I have to!
Let’s just start at the beginning of last year.
The first coursing of the year 2023 was on March 18 at the RONOstrand in Een. Since Cranston had been badly injured and Cytaugh was not in good shape at all, I only let Crumbaugh and Charlaigne run. Was actually so relaxed because you already have your hands full with this couple!
Charlaigne with her fast ears.
The following weekend, March 25th, we had our CC2000 coursing day. The weather forecast was fantastic but unfortunately they turned out not to be quite right on the day itself. The rain regularly poured down from the sky and in such quantities that everything became one big swamp. At the end of the day, when everything was cleaned up, the car, which was loaded with all coursing equipment, had to be pulled out of the mud by a tractor. He had sunk to his axles! But the people who had signed up were almost all present and had a nice day despite the weather. Hopefully they dare to come again next time!
On the 13th of April I left for Cumbernauld in Scotland to enjoy the Deerhound Breed Show. This is always a wonderful weekend with nice people and lots of Deerhounds, really enjoy!
Last year, in mid-October, Brandir started hydrotherapy. We drive weekly to Rucphen where Corinne Somers has her practice. Since there was a clear improvement in stability, and if we skipped a week a decline, we do this every week as much as possible. He now knows exactly what the order of treatments are; First massage and possibly some manipulation and then into the bath to then “swim” for 4 x 5 minutes. But… you can ask a lot of an old Deerhound as long as there is something in return, all this is not possible without pieces of cheese!
On the 10th of May we left for Sweden where I had to judge the thirteenth in Hässleholm. Then we went back to Denmark where on the 19th was the sighthound show in Vejen and on the 21st the Euro Dog Show in Herning. Charlaigne showed well, became 2nd and 3rd best bitch but didn’t get any further.
Meanwhile, Brandir celebrated his 11th birthday on May 17 at the Flyvesandet campsite in Denmark. We had hoped that we would be able to walk on the mudflats again, but because of the storm that raged exactly the days we were there, the water was too high. Very unfortunate.
I did take some pictures and a video of Brandir but unfortunately my phone was stolen in a fancy restaurant and I lost everything.
At the end of June it went back to Sweden, this time for the World Championship Coursing in Kristianstad. On Thursday, June 29, it was the turn of the CSS class, Kirjojax Harris, Cranston and Crumbaugh were entered for this. Crumbaugh emerged as the winner. He can now call himself CSS World Winner.
On Sunday, Charlaigne was allowed to run. She wasn’t in great shape after her heat and wasted too much energy beforehand so she made a mess of it and finished in 14th place out of 22.
From Kristianstad we left via Gothenburg by ferry to Frederikshaven in Denmark where we had to prepare a field for the International Coursing in Nørresundby the weekend after the World Cup. On Saturday, July 8, the sighthound show was held where Charlaigne became Danish Champion and later in the day BIS. Judge was Agneta Doverholt.
On Sunday the coursing for which only Cytaugh, Cranston, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were registered. After the first round, Charlaigne was in first place but again she messed up the second round and ended up third! I had withdrawn Cytaugh after the first round because of the heat.
On the 18th of August we left for Arnhem where the Deerhound Clubmatch and the Sighthound Show would be held that weekend. On Saturday the clubshow with 23 Deerhounds present for judge Carina Ekwall from Sweden. Charlaigne became BOB again and also on Sunday with only 8 Deerhounds present she became BOB under judge Kay Sneath from Australia. Cytaugh became Best Working Dog both days and on Sunday she also got the Reserve CAC!
Charlaigne was both days BOB.
From Arnhem we went to Göhlsdorf, east Germany, where on Saturday a National Leistungcoursing was held (provided by CC2000) and on Sunday the Jahresausstellung of the Deerhounds.
There were 2 males and 12 females entered for coursing. For the second round there were 11 left and Charlaigne was tied for 2nd and Crumbaugh for 3rd place. But Crumbaugh made a mess of it and finished in 6th place and Charlaigne was 3rd.
For the Jahresaustellung 25 Deerhounds were entered. The judge was Pascal Thiery from France. Cytaugh got the reserve CAC from the Working Dog class and Charlaigne became BOB and later in the day BIS!
But just like her mother in 2018, she also won the ‘Quodlibet Drambui Trophy’ for the combination of beauty and performance!
At the beginning of last year, there was a call from an American writer for a photo of an old Deerhound. Well, I have plenty of those!! After editing a Christmas photo with a.o. Amy and sending it to the author, Sky Blaine, she was very enthusiastic.
At the beginning of September, Simon flew to America for work and came back with the three books! Amy’s old face is featured on the cover of the third and final book of the series.
It’s a fantastic story and you can’t stop reading, highly recommended!
At the end of September we left for Brittany where Henriëtte has a cozy, small gite. We were able to park the caravan right on the property with her and the hounds had plenty of space to run and play on the large field. It is a beautiful area and there are many nice places to walk and cozy villages to visit. Mont Saint Michel is also around the corner and is of course very nice to go to.
Just have a look at her website: www.lepetitcoincosy.com
After doing some chores at Henriëtte’s we left after a few days to Gesves in Belgium for the coursing where Simon had to judge and the hounds could course.
On the 14th of October the German Deerhound Club organized its Open Club Show in Wickrath. The judge was Natalie Heathcote and there were 38 !! Deerhounds signed up for her. Charlaigne became BOB again.
The following weekend we were back at RONOstrand. It was Cytaugh’s last official coursing. Since Cranston has not been feeling well for a long time and is therefore not allowed to do coursing, only Charlaigne, Cytaugh and Crumbaugh were entered. And what was to be expected, happened, Cytaugh had to ran alone in the second round, really didn’t like that so didn’t run. She ended her coursing career with a dismissed!!!
Charlaigne won and received the CACNL with which she is now Dutch Champion for Beauty and Performance. She is the third O’Cockaigne Deerhound (and they are the only three) to carry this beautiful title.
On Friday 24 and Sunday 26 November, the Fryslân Cup and the Winner took place in Leeuwarden. We had rented a house in Appelscha for a long weekend so that I wouldn’t have to drive up and down that long way twice. Friday we had Rob Douma as judge and he had 5 Deerhounds to judge. Charlaigne became BOB and was selected in the group but did not advance.
Sunday we had the judge Jose Miguel Doval Sanchez from Spain and he had 7 Deerhounds to judge. He also did the final judging. Charlaigne was BOB again and in the ring of honour she was finally placed 2nd!
And then the last event of the year; the Christmas show in Gorinchem. André van den Broek judged the 4 entered Deerhounds and made Charlaigne BOB and in the mainring he placed her second!!
I was so proud of my little girl! The hard work on her confidence in the show ring has paid off. She now likes to go to the show which makes it so much fun. For next year there are already a few exciting, big things on the program such as Crufts, the Breed Show in England and the World Championship Coursing in Poland and a lot of fun smaller events. We won’t get bored!
Posted in 2024, Abroad, Deerhound in general, Lure coursing, O'Cockaigne Estate, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
Göhlsdorf, Heteren and Oude Pekela
August 24 the caravan was clean and tidy again and we left for Göhlsdorf, near Berlin. CC2000 was asked to run the coursing on Saturday and so almost the entire team was present. On Thursday and Friday we still walked around in the shining sun in a T-shirt, but very bad weather was predicted for Saturday and we had to remove the rain gear out of the mothballs. Fortunately it was not that bad in the morning and also in the afternoon when the Deerhounds ran for the second time, it was still dry. Only later in the day it erupted and everyone was soaked in no time. There were 8 Deerhounds entered including my 4. It was quite a challenge to get Cranston and Crumbaugh to the start because it was at least 100 meters from the entrance of the site, walking neatly is not in their genes! After the first round, Charlaigne was first and Cytaugh last. Crumbaugh in a tie for the fourth place and Cranston was sixth. In the afternoon Charlaigne ran with Islay’s Rhiann from Silke Eichhorn a
nd this was a very nice course, the ladies were well matched but Charlaigne had lost too much energy before starting and lost a few points. She finished second, Crumbaugh fourth, Cranston sixth and Cytaugh last.
Sunday was the CAC show for which I only entered Charlaigne. Only three Deerhounds were entered; 1 male in the youth class, 1 female in the youth class and Charlaigne in the intermediate class. She did a good job and showed herself well. She became BOB and at the end of the afternoon she was selected among the three best in the group, despite not really wanting to show herself! With these two results of the coursing and the show, she obtained the title Schönheit und Leistung! She’s doing well, my little girl.
The following weekend we were at a campsite near Arnhem because Saturday was Swift’s coursing and Sunday was the Young Dogs/Veterans Day of the Stichting Rasgroep Windhonden (the Dutch Sighthound Foundation) in Heteren. Swift’s coursing went like a train and Maarten had laid out a nice course on which the Deerhounds could also run well. My complete foursome appeared at the start again and this time Crumbaugh took the credit.
Charlaigne and Brandir were entered for Sunday. I just really enjoyed showing such an old, fit male one more time, but I had promised him that this would really be his last show. There were 5 Deerhounds entered for the brand new Borsoi-judge Sybiel Schroeder but unfortunately only 3 were present. The young male, John Falstaff from Jan Scheer and Joke Groeneveld, Charlaigne and Brandir. Charlaigne became Best Young Dog and Brandir was logically Best Veteran. At the beginning of the afternoon all judgements were ready and we had to show up for the group. To my surprise Sybiel chose Charlaigne as Best Young Dog of the Day and when Brandir had to compete for Best Veteran, he won too!! Leon Scholten judged this group and he thought Brandir was so good for his age. And he is! I was so proud of him!!!
And then …… on September 17 there was finally, after 26 years, a Dutch Championship Coursing for the Deerhounds!!!!!
On October 26, 1996, the first NKC in Een, also the first competition that the current WvCNL, was organized on RONOstrand. We had 6 Deerhounds together so that the title could be forgiven. At that time, it was still customary for the participants to make the dividing themselves so that you could see beautiful equivalent courses. We had expected that this would also be possible with the Dutch National Championships, but unfortunately the committee decided that they would make the dividing and we did not agree with this because the males of Dick and Wil Bults and Jacqueline de Kok showed such aggressive behavior at the finish, that the Hawkins family and we were forced to withdraw our hounds. We absolutely did not want our hounds to become the bobbin of a fight! So we withdrew our Deerhounds with the result that no title could be awarded. Well, then the dolls were dancing!!!!
Dick, Wil and Jacqueline thought differently about aggression at the finish, they thought that was normal, so the two aggressive dogs ran their rounds that day and they made sure that about eight men were ready to catch their dogs after the course. What a display, I would be ashamed of myself!!!
Anyway, luckily the regulations both National and International have finally changed for the better, so that such antisocial, unacceptable behavior results in a fat disqualification. We hardly see any aggressive behavior at the finish nowadays, with any breed. Happy!
This year, on September 17th, 61 sighthounds were entered and 8 judges had to show up for the Dutch Championship Coursing in Oude Pekela. Each hound is judged by 6 different judges and it is always a puzzle to have the right judges judged at the right time, as they often have dogs at the start themselves. A few years ago, the Dutch regulations regarding the numbers that must appear at the start for a Championship were adjusted. It was realized that there would never be a National Championship for a number of breeds in the old way. So instead of 6, only 4 have to appear at the start and that worked for the first time this year with the Deerhounds!!
They were all four my hounds but I can’t help that and the battle was no less. The three youngsters are all very fanatic, so that results in beautiful courses. The enormous power with which Cranston thunders across the field, the interplay of Crumbaugh and Charlaigne and the displayed intelligence of Cytaugh (she was completely back after her heat) make it a real party. In the first round Cytaugh ran with Crumbaugh, not such a good combination. Cytaugh cuts the corners and only thinks while Crumbaugh goes after the hare diligently. Cranston and Charlaigne is also not a good match because Cranston also cuts a lot but also shows enormous strength and agility. After the first round, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne both had 257 points, Cytaugh 252 and Cranston 248.
In the afternoon Cytaugh and Cranston first ran, a nice combination for the lure operator! The one cuts even more than the other and it is very difficult to stay ahead with the lure. Crumbaugh and Charlaigne, on the other hand, show the interplay, beautiful to see! But Charlaigne had to lose out to her brother, with two points less she came off the field. And with this, Crumbaugh became the first Dutch Deerhound with the title Dutch Coursing Champion!!
Posted in 2022, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
Tour of Sweden and Denmark
On July 23 we left for the north again. The first night was at the campsite between Bremen and Hamburg, always nice to wake up with a herd of fallow deer in the front yard. From here we continued to a campsite in Sweden where we would stay for two nights. But on arrival we were amazed, it looked like a dump of old caravans with sagging and broken awnings. The people who walked around didn’t look much like campers either. At the beginning of the evening a number of cats appeared and boldly sat a short distance to watch the hounds and a couple of large hedgehogs waddled past on the other side of the path. This was of course very exciting for the hounds but very difficult for us and in the end we decided to go into the caravan together. Partly because of this we left the next day to the next campsite where we would be three days. This was a very spacious campsite with a beautiful large forest next to it where you could walk for hours but it was also infested with ticks. Despite the hounds being treated against it, I picked dozens of ticks off them every day! On the last evening we were treated to ‘golden trees’, a very spectacular spectacle.
On July 28 we left for Västerås where on Friday and Saturday the Skokloster Summer Show and on Sunday the Swedish Deerhound Club Show took place. The campground we ended up on was a 20 minute drive from the showground and had a decent outlet area. Unfortunately, quite a lot of hares ran around here, which again required the necessary attention! Before Friday I only entered Charlaigne in the Intermediate class for judge Vlastislav Vojtek from Slovenia, she was the only one in this class, got an excellent and had to come back for Best Bitch. To my great surprise she became second Best Bitch out of a total of 14 bitches! Best bitch was Galerita’s Fiona van Mikael Nordström (husband of the breeder Cecilia Nordström and showed by Ylva, their daughter). I have always admired the Galeritas and this bitch was also lovely! So sound and well-balanced, while maintaining a beautiful topline during a very nice movement. Best of Breed was Grayrory’s Irresistible from Maria & Åke Käck.
For Best Intermediate Charlaigne had to compete with Ray Lindholm’s Necesse’s Faust Fortunatus. A beautiful male but he still needs some time; is still a bit loose in its movement. Charlaigne also won this battle. I was so proud of her!! the more so because she behaved well and allowed herself to be touched.
Saturday we had a rest day and that was a good thing, it was very hot, especially on the showground and that would have been unbearable for old Brandir. We had to break everything up again at the end of the day because we had to check out early on Sunday morning. So as late as possible, when the sun had already set behind other caravans and the temperature had dropped, the tent and awning dismantled again, packed and everything prepared for departure.
Sunday the Club Show. I entered everything except Cranston. The judge was Barbara Heidenreich from Canada and I really enjoyed it to show my hounds to her. A total of 21 males and 26 females were entered, of which 19 males and 24 females were present.
My 122 month old Brandir was the first to go into the ring, he did well but clearly showed that showing is still not his thing!
Second, Crumbaugh entered the ring along with 7 other males between the ages of 15 and 24 months. Despite the fact that he has never been shown he showed himself quite well and ran nicely. He found everything very interesting and wanted to greet everyone who sat at the ring. Barbara had a hard time with this class but in the end she made my Crumbaugh best!
Number two was Necesse’s Faust Fortunatus by Ray Lindholm, the male from which Charlaigne had won on Friday!
After judging all the male classes, Crumbaugh and the old Brandir had to come back for Best Male. Brandir of course stood for bacon and beans in the ring and was clearly disappointed but Crumbaugh loved it and showed himself to FIRST PLACE!! Best Male, who would have expected that???!!! 
After this it was Charlaigne’s turn, she misbehaved again but still ended up in second place behind another beautiful Galerita.
Finally, Cytaugh was alone in the class of 7 to 9 year old bitches. Not that hard to get first.
Best bitch eventually became Lawton’s Eqvizzical Exuviance from Stefan Hagstedt.
Several males and females entered the ring for the battle for Best of Breed. I don’t understand the Swedish judging system and certainly a Club Show has its own rules, all very complicated. Anyway, after a lot of deliberation, Lawton’s Eqvizzical Exuviance took Best of Breed and Crumbaugh came in second. A very nice achievement for such a young male!
After this judgement, Crumbaugh still had to come back for Best Intermediate, which he lost against …. a beautiful Galerita bitch, Galerita’s Athelas, who had won from Charlaigne. Charlaigne had to go back for Best Head but she wouldn’t show her head, she was constantly looking the other way. Brandir was Best Veteran and Cytaugh Best Senior and Best Working Dog. The Paar class with Charlaigne and Crumbaugh was also for O’Cockaigne! Unfortunately they had canceled the battle for Best Movement due to lack of time, which is a shame because Crumbaugh won every time also because of his movement.
We went home with a mountain of rosettes and four well-filled Goody Bags with very original gifts, it’s great how they do that there! All in all it was a very successful Club Show and it was very nice to talk to Barbara again.
After the show we had to drive another 200 kilometers to the south, to Olerum (who hasn’t heard about it?) where the coursing, for which Simon was invited to judge, would take place. We arrived around eight and quickly rebuilt everything.
Since my hounds were not allowed to participate because Simon had to stand there for two whole days in the field, Crumbaugh, Charlaigne and Cranston would do a test run. Cytaugh would run as a companion dog with the three officially entered Deerhounds. Before we walked to the coursing field on Monday morning with the three youngsters, Simon prepared Cranston’s slipline and put it on him. Unfortunately not quite according to the rules with the result that when I started him he ran off with me after him – the line didn’t slip! I made a huge thud to the ground and was dragged along. From now on it is forbidden for Simon to ever prepare a slip line again!!
Anyway, the hounds were restarted and again showed a beautiful spectacle, nothing more beautiful than three Deerhounds in ‘full speed’ over the field.
Cytaugh ran with a bitch later that morning but after a few hundred yards she stepped on a pulley and was done with it right away. Well, she was two weeks after her heat so it was understandable.
The next day the three monkey-heads did a test run twice, they had made up for the lack of free movement!
It were very nice days and we sat together under the party tent until the late hours, luckily the Swedes speak good English because you don’t understand anything about that Swedish!
Wednesday morning we packed up again and drove to Gothenburg. We stayed here until Friday morning and then took the ferry to Frederikshaven to cross. From there a short drive to Nørresundby where Simon again judged the coursing for two days. Here the hounds were officially allowed to participate and I had entered all four of them. Let’s hope Cytaugh would do a good job too!
We stood with the caravan close to a wild area where a herd of cows, Scottish Highlanders, Lakenvelders and their crosses, were walking around. The crosses were very special and resembled wire-haired Lakenvelders. One of the yearlings was very interested in Crumbaugh and he in her. She was also very beautiful and they stood looking at each other for minutes, there was clearly a Scottish click!
The hounds ran on Sunday and Hanne from the Eikica Sighthounds would help to start. Cranston and Cytaugh were the first to run and…. Cytaugh did run! She anticipated a lot and should have had the highest number of points for intelligence, but unfortunately this part has been deleted. In the second Deerhound course Crumbaugh and Charlaigne started and that was a really fantastic course! They followed the hare with devotion and Crumbaugh ran just a little better than Charlaigne but she did not show herself off and took 4 points more than Crumbaugh and 
took first place with the Certificate! Cranston was third and Cytaugh fourth. They had had a great run again and had come off the field without injury. It was again a super well organized coursing that ran like a train.
Monday August 8 we went to Camping Ringkøbing. We had been to this campsite twice before and it was great. Partly because of the large forest right next to the campsite where the hounds can run free, it is an ideal place to stand for a few days. And … we were lucky with the temperatures, not above 30°C!
On Thursday we went to the ‘Sandskulpturfestival’ in Søndervig. The impressive sand wall of 200 meters long and 7 meters high was decorated with the theme of the Middle Ages. Real works of art made by different people from many countries. i.a. a few Dutch, English, a Russian, Ukrainian, Belgians and Swedes had a great time in this huge sandbox with a beautiful result!
And yes, the sky really was that blue!
After a wonderfully relaxed week we returned home on Saturday 13 August. But not for long because at the end of August we had to be back in Göhlsdorf where Simon had to take care of the coursing together with Maarten and Willem. To be continued.
Posted in 2022, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
On the road again!
On Wednesday, August 25, we left for Göhlsdorf near Berlin, where Simon would take care of the International coursing for the sighthound racing club Phoenix. It was the first time for Crumbaugh and Charlaigne to make such a long trip with the caravan, but they adapted well and found it very exciting to arrive and walk in a different, unknown location each time.
After we had set up everything on Thursday and had a nice walk with the hounds, we found a beer stand opposite us when we returned. They were still working on some things but as soon as they were done we could come and get a beer. Well don’t let that tell you twice! On Friday Simon built up the course and Cytaugh, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were able to stretch their legs. The three of them thundered across the field, beautiful to watch. Cytaugh is still the fastest but Crumbaugh was nearly as fast as his mother!
A total of about 100 sighthounds were entered for the coursing on Saturday, but because it didn’t go very smooth in the morning, it was around six o’clock before all courses were run! I hadn’t entered Cytaugh for the official coursing, but luckily she was allowed to do a round of coursing with Crumbaugh and Charlaigne afterwards. They enjoyed it again! Crumbaugh in particular was so fanatical and wanted to get on the field every time so badly that he couldn’t get past the field during normal walks, very difficult!
On Sunday was the CAC show and I had entered Charlaigne for this. It had been nice weather every day before, on Sunday the rain came pouring down from the sky. There was 1 veteran bitch, 3 youth bitches (of which Charlaigne was the youngest) and 1 open class bitch entered by judge Hanna Wozna-Gil from Poland. The moment I entered the ring it was dry and Charlaigne showed exemplary. She walked along nicely without acting crazy and also stood still reasonably well, amazing! She finished first!! But when she had to come back to compete for BOB, it came crashing down again and she wanted nothing more than to go back to the caravan! Initially we were supposed to leave again on Monday, but as the weather forecast did not predict better weather, we decided to pack up and leave during an hour when it was dry.
No sooner said than done, but against expectations it was very busy on the road and we did not arrive at our overnight place until late in the afternoon. Monday afternoon we were back home.
The following weekend, Simon should have judged a coursing in France, but it was canceled due to a too low number of entered hounds. Too bad, it would be nice to do some coursing in France again. Then again next year. But this canceled weekend gave us some more air to prepare for the trip to England.
To be continued!
Posted in 2021, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne | Comments Closed
Crufts
On Friday 8 March, Sonja, Vision, Chidish and I left early in the morning for Birmingham, Crufts. The journey went well to the French border, then the misery began. The French had turned off road sections and this caused long traffic jams with similar waiting times. Extremely annoying! Fortunately we had left very early and had a significant margin. Luckily the check of the hounds at the Eurotunnel was super fast and we arrived just in time for our check. But the French were consistently bullying and every car had to open at passport control. This of course took forever and people who went through the check after us missed their train. Fortunately 
we were just in time and had the planned crossing. When we arrived in England we could only continue for a short while, then we ended up in one big traffic jam towards Birmingham. All roadworks made sure that we arrived an hour later than planned in the pouring rain at our hotel in Leamington. After walking with the hounds and bringing the stuff upstairs, we first started drinking a well-deserved beer. Delicious, such an English bitter!
Saturday morning we got up early again, I walked quite a bit with Chidish and Vision and Sonja lubricated the sandwiches. After breakfast we left and with half an hour we were at the NEC. First, 57 Pharaohounds were tested before it was the turn of the 98 reported Deerhounds. This gave the opportunity to greet acquaintances, to talk a little here and there and to be amazed about a non-Scottish who walked around in Scottish clothing and also showed his Deerhound in this clothing. Something that really cannot go wrong and many people were disgraced.
Our judge was Mr. Ken Aird, the judge that made Chidish BOB two years ago during the Jahresausstellung in Volkmarsen. So it was quite a bit exciting. But it soon became apparent that the inspections were very different from those in Germany; the placements were surprising to say the least. There was no line in terms of type or movement; everything was placed together. Chidish was fourth in his class (8) and Vision surprisingly second of the 12 reported bitches.
In the end, in our eyes, it was definitely not the best male and female and the veteran male, who was showing his age, won Best of Breed. That was Crufts, for the time being we are not going to go again, especially after it took us over an hour to get out of the parking lot. Fortunately the return trip on Sunday went very well and we were back at the beginning of the evening.
Posted in 2019, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Donaueschingen
Since last week I got some nice pictures of Vision’s victory in Donaueschingen, now a slightly more elaborate report of this biggest sighthound show of Europe. Over the weekend of 4th & 5th August, more than 1600 hounds from 25 countries travelled to Donaueschingen. It was this year for the 25th time this show was organized and perhaps it was the last time. In recent years, Olaf Knauber had organised it, but because of all sorts of causes fewer people were left to help, and almost everything ended up on Olaf’s shoulders. Also, the opposition from higher regions has made Olaf decide to stop with it. Whoever is going to take over and whether it will continue next year, is not yet known. 
Anyway, we had some nice successes during this edition of Donaueschingen.
On Saturday, Chidish and Cytaugh won the couple class, of which about 17 were entered, under the Italian Judge Mr. Vitto
rio Passerino.
And at the competition for Dual Champion, Vision won! She showed herself exemplary and showed a super movement. As you can see, Sonja was very happy with this. 
In the evening, during the ‘The Eukanuba Super Best in Show Challenge’ Vision performed optimally and was finally second behind Kilbourne O Sweet Lorraine to Oelmühle. Two Deerhounds in the final battle, that has never happened before! Sunday Cytaugh was best of the working dogs under Judge Mr. Vittorio Passerino and Chidish and Cytaugh became BIS2 in the couple class. All in all we haven’t done it badly! 
Posted in 2018, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
July & August
July was a quiet month, only during the weekend of 21 and 22 July we had the Beauty and Performance weekend of OWRV ‘t Haasje in Axel. Since I had the honour of judging the hounds on Saturday, Chidish and Cytaugh could not participate in the ‘title’. However, Sunday they had a wonderful coursing. August on the other hand was busy again; The first weekend we were in Donaueschingen. I took my ceramics with me because that sells very well over there, and we had two days of showing. It was actually was way too hot to do anything. On Saturday we had Frederic Maison as a judge and on Sunday Espen Engh. He made the unforgettable mistake by mentioning in Chidish’s judge report “Head is a little bit plain, needs more stop”. Hasn’t he had the time or didn’t he want to take the effort to go through the breed standard the evening before??? But… it can be even crazier. During the Benelux Winner Show in Amsterdam, the following Thursday
, Sonja was told by a Russian judge that Vision has a Barsoi gait! We then looked at the judging of the Barsois for three days, whether we saw one with the same gait as Vision. Unfortunately, not found, so Vision is the only one with the correct Barsoi gait! André van den Broek judged the World Exhibition on Saturday, August 11th and was happy to appreciate Vision, she got the Res.CACIB. Best male was Kilbourne Kaine at Oelmühle and best bitch Kilbourne Oh Sweet Lorraine to Oelmühle, both of Jürgen Rösner. (see the exhibition results)
The following Sunday, the hounds were able to stretch the legs during the coursing of Lelystad. They found it a bit more fun than showing and they enjoyed it!
On August 26th I had the show in Mechelen where Chidish became Belgian champion and 9 September we had instead of a show and coursing in Berlin that did not pass, a coursing in Gesves, Belgium. Cytaugh obtained her last CACBL for the Belgian Coursing Championship and Chidish received the reserve.
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Brief overview of June
The month of June was an extremely busy month. It started with the show in Paris on Saturday the 2nd where we had entered Chidish and Vision. Sonja had arrived Thursday afternoon so we could drive to Paris on Friday. On Thursday-evening, Silva suddenly got a fever and had to cough a little later. After having given a few antibiotic tablets, she was quiet and against two o’clock and Sonja went to bed. But not for long… At half past three, Sonja woke me up with the sad announcement that Silva had died. Silva woke up and stand up, probably to turn around, and ended up on the ground. Before Sonja was out of her bed, Silva was already over the Rainbow Bridge. A very nice death but very sudden. We took Silva out of the camper and put her in my car to be able to bring her to the crematorium in the morning. We have not slept anymore.
After having handled everything and having packed the camper we left for Paris. Luckily the judging on Saturday didn’t start too early, because we were still a little confused by all the commotion. Both Chidish and Vision obtained the reserve CAC, which meant that we could go home again. Fine!
The weekend after we were in Le Touquet at the French R.A.L.I.E. Club show. Here 57 Deerhounds were entered. Judge was Joan Wragg. Chidish got the reserve CAC again behind the Finnish male Direwolf Mac Custennin of Tapio Hellman. Vision stood in a large open class of 14 bitches and got an unplaced U. Cytaugh, who now also participated, won the Working Class (3) and became Best Working Dog. Unfortunately, we had to leave after the judging, because Sonja had to return home again on Monday because she had to leave on Thursday towards Denmark where we would first go to the show in Vejen and then drive to Nørresundby for the EKC.
So on Thursday, June 14th, fully packed, we left for Denmark. We stayed at a small campsite in northern Germany and the next day we drove to a campsite in Ringkøbing where we found Sonja again. On Saturday we went to the beach to let the hounds stretch their legs and let the wind blow through their coat. 
From here we drove to the show in Vejen on Sunday. Chidish became best male, BOB and also with this Danish CAC, Danish champion. Vision Unfortunately only got an Excellent.
Monday we cleared our camp again and left for Nørresundby, near Aalborg, where during the weekend of 22-24 June the European Championship coursing took place. The wide fields were adjacent to Lindholm Høje. This is the largest historical Danish cemetery from the Iron and Viking era, located on a hill opposite Aalborg. From 1952 the area was examined and at excavations 682 graves were found from the period 500 to 1100 as well as remnants of construction. All participants in the EKC got a ticket for the museum, a very nice gesture. Also on Saturday the solstice was celebrated, called Sankt Hans Aften. The feast dates from the time of the Vikings and until
1770 it was an official holiday. As a result of this, a Viking market and village was also created and the opening of the EKC was graced with a performance of fighting Vikings.
Because we, as CC2000, had given a coursing demonstration at the beginning of this century in Bjerringbro, Denmark, we still had contact with Karin Janz, who organized that at the time. Later we also met her regularly at EKC’s and when we were invited several years ago; as a judge for the show and Simon as a jury for the coursing, to come to Nørresundby, we grabbed this with both hands. Once there we were very impressed with the gigantic fields and we told Karin that it was a wonderful location to organize a EKC. And so the ball went rolling. We, CC2000, were asked to organize one field and take care of everything around it. After two years of preparation, we had a team of 20 people; 6 German and 14 Dutch coursing-lovers who, as a team in nice T-shirts sponsored by the Dutch Kennel Club, have been busy for three days to complete about 60 courses per day. 
From the beginning; the paddock with chip control, until the end; supervising the terrain so that no one could walk in the rope, there were constantly about 10 men working. It was fantastic and afterwards we were told that we were the most friendly and fastest field with the most beautiful trail. What else do you want!
A German team was asked to do another field and Denmark took field 3 for her account and everything that comes to mind. There was a lot of foreign assistance among other things; in the secretariat, at the entrance to give the people their papers and to point the way and when retrieving the results.
The Deerhounds ran on Saturday, 10 Deerhound males were entered and 9 were present, 25 bitches of which 21 appeared at the start. The Dutch participation consisted of the male Fiddich Forever in my Heart Caoinlan from Ingrid Weiss and Erik den Ouden and the bitches Vision and Cytaugh. Chidish was not allowed to participate yet and I was really happy, because of this I had no stress concerning the classification because Nelungaloo Untouchable also participated. And sure enough, at the end of the first run it was fighting again. 
Just like last year in Switzerland and on RONOstrand Untouchable from Esther Bühler jumped without hesitation on his partner Pitlochry’s Othello. Yes, and see two fighting Deerhounds get hold of. 
Fortunately, there was a Czech man who had experience with such animals and just popped up on top of it. Life-threatening because these muzzles really do not stop everything! Both Esther and her husband seem to find it normal because when we were recommending them to no longer do coursing with Untouchable with other dogs they became extremely angry. How is it possible for people to like fighting Deerhounds and to find it good that other hounds do not run anymore or become aggressive too. It is really time that this behaviour is radically punished. Through all the commotion Vision did not want to start with another hound and was given a Dismission For The Day. My Cytaugh was classified in the first course with
the probably winner; Islay’s Luck Penny from Ira Johannsen. They ran a dazzling course and Cytaugh was not much inferior for Luck Penny. Unfortunately, the afternoon break showed that Cytaugh had a slight shoulder injury and therefore no longer participated in the second run. Very unfortunate because she was reasonably well classified.
The only remaining D
utch participant, Fiddich, was very good classified after the first course, at least one hound who kept the Dutch honour high.
In the afternoon, the Deerhounds had to run on a small, reasonably narrow terrain, where there was also a not so nice trail. All males were participating again but the number of bitches started was reduced to 16. One of these was cripple at the start but was happily so wise not to run, another bitch didn’t feel like it and didn’t start. And again, there was a fight again between Untouchable and his partner Islay’s Little John and again he was not disqualified. Outrageous! Fiddich ran a formidable course and appeared to be in the first place at the award ceremony! Fantastic! Finally, after 9 years, the Netherlands again has a European coursing champion at the Deerhounds. Next year is the EKC in Estonia, we are curious!
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing, O'Cockaigne Estate, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Deerhound Jahresausstellung and Pinkstercoursing to Tüttleben.
On May 19, Jl. The German Deerhound Jahresausstellung was held to Tüttleben. Since Simon has been providing the coursings in Tüttleben for years, this club has become our ' Home association '. For us so extra nice that the jacket was held here. As usual, the show was opened with the inmarch of the 80 reported Deerhounds. Our judge was Uli Prober, an Irish Wolfhounds breeder, born in Germany, who now lives in Ireland. 
Uli approved a very strict, something I did. Of the 80 reported Deerhounds there were 3 absent, 1 withdrawn (our Brandir there he limped), 33 got a U, 21 a ZG, 4 a G, the veterans were placed without qualification and the youngest were on one after a lot of promising. It was remarkable that the males were rated much lower than the bitches. Chidish and Brandir stood with 7 other males in the Championship class but we pulled Brandir back because he didn't run well. Only the first three got a U, also Chidish who became third. 
Cytaugh stood in the Use dog class (5 reported, 1 absent) and won this. Vision stood in the open classroom and unfortunately got a ZG.
Best Male and BOB was Kilbourne Kaine to Oelmühle of Jürgen Rösner and best bitch Garamante or Bestmara of M. K from France. A bunch of beautiful hounds. 
The day after was the Pinkstercoursing. There were 25 Deerhounds reported and 24 present. Vision was classified in the sixth course, but did not know. Cytaugh walked in Course 9 with Islay's Hollyhock but it was injured halfway. After the first circulation, Cytaugh was on a shared seventh place with 172 points. In The Second Circuit she walked with Islay's Hyra. Hyra got 175 points and Cytaugh 184. With this, Cytaugh finally cam
e in fifth place. And at the awards ceremony, which is always a feast in Tüttleben, it appeared that Cytaugh had won the prize for beauty and performance!!! What was I proud of her! After a year with a lot of fear and care for her foot, it turns out that all this effort was not for nothing. For the eighth time I took the "of the Scottish Highlands" Wanderpreis for the best Gebruikshound home and the since last year, for the Deerhound with the highest points number for Schönheit und Leistung, made available Quodlibet Drambui Trophy. 
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Breed Show at Sutton Scotney
On Thursday 19 April, Sonja and I left with Vision, Chidish and Cytaugh in the direction of the Breed Show in England. When we arrived at ‘The Tunnel’, it turned out that our ticket was on a wrong date! That meant a new ticket for a lot of money! Fortunately we were able to take the same train and we had no delay. From Thursday on Friday we spent the night at Tanner Park Campsite, a delightfully quiet campsite with huge hiking opportunities south of London, a place to go more often. Friday morning we packed up everything again and left for Sutton Scotney where the wide Show was held this year. Arriving at the hotel and having parked the camper and having walked with the hounds, I went to the reading of Emily Dutton concerning the front rings in the field of heart research. A number of interesting announcements but also some exciting issues. Later I talked to Emily about this and I hope she will contact Andrea Vollmar in the near future, because of course it has a lot of information. I have promised to send some pedigrees and medical data from the hounds that I have had with heart problems. 
Saturday’s wide Show, Judge Tim Finney. It was exceptionally good weather, plenty of sunshine and it would be thick in the 20 degrees. So we looked for a nice spot under a large tree so that we were in the shade all day long. The Ringmaster, Chris Arthur, came to tell us that we had to move in there, he wanted to have the ‘ collecting ring ‘ there. After some talking back and forth and what to have been shoved we could happily stay there anyway.
Chidish was in the Open Class (11 reported – 2 absent) and was placed fifth. First became the beautiful French male infidel-et-Ram du Triple Bois by Madam Vinen. Which to my knowledge for the first time on a wide show in England is with her Deerhounds. A very surprise! Vision and Cytaugh were both in the very strong Open class (12 reported) and when the judge went to select he also chose Cytaugh. Normally 5 are placed but he had selected 6 and Cytaugh was placed sixth! Despite her geëzel. Hilarity everywhere. 
Eventually, Infidel became best male and Hyndsight In your dreams of Hector Heathcote and Sue Finnett from the Limit class best bitch and BOB. For Sunday we had also registered our hounds in different classes. The judge was Mrs. Marie Bryce-Smith. To start all three in the ‘ Special coursing/Lure chasing dog or ‘ class (13 reported). Now, of course, we needed a third handler and we found the Council in Marjan. Cytaugh is not really the easiest but she was allowed to bring herself neatly by Marjan and was placed
fifth. A whole surprise! Vision was even placed third! Then had to Cytaugh and Chidish in the torque class (14 reported). Here I was expecting nothing from the Judge Chidish in the previous class, but expected to be second! This because of their similar gait work. We also reported Vision and Chidish in the ‘ Special not bred by Exhibitor ‘ class, but both were able to leave the ring undone. 
Afterwards everything is packed again and left towards ‘ the Tunnel ‘. It turned out that this booking was not entirely correct, rather than for a motorhome there was a ‘ hígh vehicle ‘ booked. That meant paying back and because we were too late, we had to wait one and a half hours for our train. All in all, we were against Nines, tired but met, back home.
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
World Exhibition in Leipzig
A week of Leipzig.
During the week from 8 to 12 November, three shows took place in and around Leipzig. Since Sonja and I had already decided well in advance to make a nice week out of it, I left on Monday 6 November towards Camping Lübschützerteichen in Machern and Sonja had left from Hermannsburg (D) with her camper. Machern is a small hamlet about 10 miles east of Leipzig. This is such a typical East German camping site, of course in a pretty dilapidated state but quiet and in the middle of the woods so that you can walk with the hounds perfectly. When we got out of the camper on Tuesday morning to go hiking, we noticed that the lettuce of the table had disappeared and all the dog toys were also gone. After a walk around we found the broken packaging of the lettuce and a number of broken toys. From the moose we only found a paw, the rest was, we made it later, adopted. It turned out to be raccoons that had done this. But… when we drove to the show on Wednesday morning, the battery light was lit. Fortunately we were ready after the inspection because we had not made anything and we could look up a garage against threes. Here we were spoken by a very unfriendly man; They couldn't help us, too busy, we were referred to another garage. First we got a call or we could do it and after a charm we managed to do so. After arriving at this garage we were allervriendelijkst received with coffee. By now it was thick about celebrating and it started to become dark slowly. After 10 minutes someone came to tell you that there was a cable by GEKNAAGD! Since raccoons do not do that (according to Google) it would have been a marten, which is therefore known. On 
returning to the campsite, we demolished our gate and put in parts on beer bottles under the engine so that the marters could no longer come. What a hassle! But it worked, we didn't have any trouble for the rest of the week. Anyway, on Wednesday we were in the large, spacious and bright halls of the exhibition hall where the German Winner Show was held with as Judge Tatjana Urek from Slovenia. From the 18 Deerhounds (1-absent) she chose the male Chic choix Dhulert Arathorn by Susanna Gerkman-Hamada & Harri Hiltunen uit Finland als BOB en de BOS kwam vanuit de jeugdklas; Blixen One In A Million by Marja-Leena Arhima-Oinone & Kyösti Oinonen likewise from Finland. On Thursday a CAC show had in cramped, old, dark and noisy halls where only 8 Deerhounds were present. Here was Cockaigne Chidish of the Meirse Meadows BOB and Pyefleet Vision BOS. Friday we went after a nice piece with the hounds, stepped on the train and we visited Leipzig. A beautiful city that still has a busy work. Saturday we had ' rest day ' some content; Walking and taking pictures, playing with the ball, even more hiking and then combing the hounds again because Sunday was the world exhibition.
The world exhibition was held again in the beautiful, spacious and bright halls of the exhibition centre. As a judge, we had Mr El Babatunde from Morocco, who first approved the 45 Azawakh's and after that he would approve the 28 (1 absent) notified Deerhounds. A very disappointing number. Of these 28, only 10 came from Germany, 3 from the Czech Republic, 3 from the Netherlands, 1 from Poland and the other 11 from Finland. At the Azawakh's it was good to see that he went for the typical, correct gait but at the Deerhounds he apparently kept more of the spectacular, loose gait. He also preferred the hounds with flat rugbelijning and sheared neck-, onderbelijning above the typical. No, many people could not appreciate his inspection. Too bad, but that's to be expected if you don't have a rasspecialist as a judge. His BOB was the very strongly shaved bitch Vaikonniemen Över the Red Carpet by Sari & Mervi Oinonen from Finland and BOS was once again Chic choix Dhulert Arathorn of Susanna Gerkman-Hamada & Harri Hamada. All in all a disappointing world exhibition for our race because something we do not want to see is a shaved neck and onderbelijning and a very loose, too gripping gait. After another pleasant evening, the Monday morning was time to travel towards Rijsbergen.
Posted in 2017, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
September/October
They were a few busy months. In September we repainted the floor of our house, we had a fun-coursing-day with the Barsoi Club, found the NKC place in Oude Brina, Chidish had to be checked on his heart for a cover with Fortheringhay's Farrah Cailean of Cristina Wüger (DE) What took place a few days later and we had the show in Maastricht. For the latter, Sonja came a few days about what always results in more work as we invariably go to the garden centre and always find something we like to have. So days later I'm still sitting in the earth plants with my hands.
Just before the show in Maastricht I got an email from Marijn that Bibelot had become loops but that he renounced a litter because he didn't have time for his work. After a little thought I decided that I had the time and that it would be a sin to pass this opportunity. We had already talked about this in the spring to use the frozen sperm that I still have from Argyll in Utrecht, at Bibelot. So he quickly called Marijn and it has just settled that Bibelot was able to check her heart on Tuesday. So Tuesday afternoon just up and down to Eersel. For Wednesday I had made an appointment in Utrecht and after research it appeared that she could be inseminated right! Thursday back for the second insemination and then wait and see. Wednesday 1st of November we will go back to Utrecht to see if there are any puppies.
The weekend after that, Sonja and I threw each other on a mini-camping on Friday 6 October. From here we drove to the show in Zwolle the next day. Since we were only later in the morning we had all the time to chat with everyone. Nice to see Gary Boyce again with Moka or Muma, an even very young, beautiful male with a fine character who is well developed. The inspections were, to say the least, "surprising" but it had its advantage; We were able to get back to the camper in time to travel to Ostercappeln where Vision and Chidish would run a coursing the next day. Of the four reported Deerhounds there were three present. In the first circulation, Vision ran alone and got the highest number of points. Chidish ran with Fiddich Forever In My Heart Caoinlan by Ingrid Wagstaff & Erik den Ouden. Chidish cut off quite a bit but got a little more points than Fiddich. In the second turn, Fiddich ran alone and got the most points and ended up in the first place, Vision became second and Chidish third. Since Simon left early on Monday morning abroad I had to return home after the coursing.
Tuesday I had an appointment with Dr. Orange for control of Cytaugh's foot. It was half a year after surgery and he was very amazed and satisfied with the good healing. Cytaugh may run loose again and the sport in! I will always let them walk with a stocking and possibly tape around her toes, even on our own terrain.
Friday afternoon Sonja and I were back in Dortmund on the camper-parking lot in the Wischlingenpark. Saturday we had the Bundessieger and Sunday the international Show. Vision was both days forest and Chidish BOB.
On Monday I went back home after taking some of the station plates, and then packing the caravan to go to RONO-Beach for the coursing there on Thursday. During the NKC, Alfred Nada had asked Simon if he wanted to take care of a field on RONO beach with CC2000 and to do it with a closed fair, it was agreed that CC2000 can take a quad to the EKC next year in Denmark. A great deal! Since there were quite a few employees who had cancelled their cooperation, Sonja and I were asked to jump in. So we had our hands full of walking with the whole group, walking from Vision and Chidish on Saturday and the veterinary control on Saturday evening and Sunday. I also helped some of the paddocks on Sunday. As mentioned, the Deerhounds ran on Saturday. Of the 14 reported hounds there were 4 males. 1 male and 1 bitch were absent. After the first turn there was 1 bitch injured and Nelungaloo untouchable was disqualified due to attacks from his partner just before and at the shelter. He had already done this during the EKC, but the jury did not do anything with it. Now there was finally a jury panel that dared to disqualify such a dog but after the owner made the announcement of the disc. Had gotten the jury for everything that was ugly and told them that they expected this in the morning. Yes, if you know that you have an aggressive dog on the line, you can wait for it to fly out! Hopefully she sees that she is really wrong by letting that beast run. The owner of Islay's Little John was just too cancerous. After the first turn on the trail that did not virtue and after the second turn she made it completely fur! Little John walked together with Chidish and they were well-matched. They both met at the same time at the reception and went together on the hare. The owner of Little John immediately pulled this road from the Hare. In the meantime, Chidish had the hare by grabbing the muzzle and did not loose any more. I was busy getting the hare out of his mouth when Miss Little John started to rant that she didn't think her dog was allowed to be at the hare! Since I was working with Chidish I ignored her but after we got off the Coursingterrein she started again! I told her she had pulled her dog from the hare herself, but she was not susceptible to reason. What a lamb bitch! It shouldn't be crazier! I now also know why many of those dogs are aggressive in the shelter; Their owners are extremely tense and this is about their dog. That told Miss Little John me right before the course and yes, it may well be true, if you know that your dog is not friendly I would be too tense! No, coursing is not fun and we were glad we had our own CC2000 party the weekend. Such a small 30 hounds enjoyed a nice long trail, without stress, without muzzle and dumb Rendek, just wonderfully relaxed with perfect coursingweer. Vision could walk again with Chidish and she walked the stars of heaven. She always runs with Chidish much better than with another, I think it is a matter of self-confidence, she is also so young.
Anyway, the caravan is clean and empty again and can hibernate. We are still facing a busy period; Tomorrow to Utrecht with Bibelot and next week to the world exhibition in Leipzig. And then……. Who knows.
Posted in 2017, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Jahresausstellung to Volkmarsen
A little later than planned, still a report of the Deerhound-JAS in Volkmarsen on 8 April and the international coursing on 9 April 2017.
Deerhound Jahresausstellung to Volkmarsen.
On 8 April, the Deerhound Jahresausstellung was Volkmarsen. The judge was Ken Aird, a breed of real shot that used to be a lot of coursing, behind the living Hare. His kennel name was Shenval, Brocade was one of his famous Deerhounds. In Total, there were 103 Deerhounds reported of which 102 were present.
After the veterans, babies, puppies, youth and Intermediate class, the Champion class came with 8 reports. Also Brandir stood in this class. We were the last and Brandir did not make much sense. When we were in turn, Brandir did not show himself from his best side, and at the time when I expected me
to walk with him, I was sent back to my place. Only advantageous because Brandir thinks that the loop is too much trouble. I was expecting absolutely nothing at all and was considering just walking out the ring, which of course can't, when Mr. Aird suddenly pointed to us and sent us to the first place! I was stunned and didn't know so well what I had to think of. But yes, of course it was nice and Mr. Aird clearly saw Brandir's qualities (he really did).
After that there were two dogs in the dog class and then a large open class, 12 pieces, where Chidish was in. Chidish showed himself well and was put to my delight first!
It turned out that Mr. Aird clearly preferred a certain, a.o. The heavier type Deerhound had. Dogs with a gooseneck, extremely long legs, far too steep, no lendewelving, huge high heels and high worn curling tails were immediately punished with a ZG. This concerned the two dogs from the use dog class but also the entire intermediate class got a ZG. As a result, Chidish automatically became eligible for the CAC and had to compete against his father for the title Jahressieger. This was Chidish! Last year still Jahres Jugendsieger, now the ' adult ' title.
After that he had to take up the best of the youth class and the best veteran for best male and he also won!
Then the girls were the turn. Sonja had quite twisted her knee and could not walk. Because of this she asked Connie if he wanted to show the Vision in the youth class, 10 pieces. Unfortunately this was not such a success, Co
nnie had to fight a little with vision and vision did not want to show himself. No placement, but an excellent one. Cytaugh stood in the Open class with 17 other bitches. She too could leave the ring with an excellent but no placement.
After the bitches, Chidish had to compete against Kilbourne Oh Sweet Lorraine, who had become the best bitch, and Mr. Aird was so impressed by Chidish that he designated it as the best of the breed! I never expected this as Lorraine is a very nice bitch.
At the end of the day, Chidish was also Best in Show under Judge Guido Schäfer. What a day! Of course we allowed ourselves to taste the cult well afterwards!
The next day was the coursing. I had reported both Chidish and Cytaugh and hoped that after all these months of rest, Cytaugh's toe would remain quite. I had taped both feet as support but unfortunately, after the first circulation, it was not enough and it appeared that the toe was shot from the bowl. No second circulation more for Cytaugh. Later I saw that after the first turn she was on a shared third place! It was also seen that she had gotten less points for condition. This was explained – she had walked halfway her toe from the bowl and this was also seen, she walked the second half of the trail clearly less than the first half.
Chidish ran in the first circulation with a similarly two year old male from the Czech Republic, Elvin Tiger Irater of Eva Vobornikova. Beforehand, we made them acquainted with each other and that went well. Also the course was fine, they were well-matched though Chidish already anticipates and cuts off what he obviously costs a lot of points. When receiving no problems, as it should.
But unfortunately that was different in the second circulation. Not with Chidish but Elvin, he was classified with a not so friendly dog. Before the courses, this dog already attacked another male in the path we were waiting for, which did not promise much good. Chidish walked with a roommate of this dog and since I was not one hundred percent sure how it would behave, I asked if Sonja wanted to walk along to the shelter. Fortunately, this proved to be an unnecessary action as everything went well. Elvin was immediately after Chidish's turn and not only Sonja walked again to help in the shelter but also a fourth person. So it was already clear what was going to happen. And sure enough, without a second doubt popped up the aforementioned dog atop Elvin. The people who would ' catch ' got no chance to avoid it and also the owner of the culprit had no chance. A fierce slugfest party was the result. And unfortunately, the Keur masters were at such a distance that they probably could not have seen who started or they were not well aware of the new relenting because there was no disqualification.
When I later appealed to the owner of her dog's misconduct, she denied that it was aggression, compared it to the behaviour that Afghans sometimes exhibit and, last, she said that it is normal for males!!! This says everything about the knowledge of the breed, the breed standard and how a Deerhound should behave. She clearly does not realize that by letting her dog run with others, not only destroys other hounds and the sport is damaged but also, because her dog runs under the name Deerhound, this breed provides a very bad name.
I had a déjà vécu. The stress we had then, years ago, about aggressive males on the Coursingveld is up to date again. Fortunately, it is now true that an aggressive dog, even after the hare standstill, has to be disqualified. And I hope that the Keur Masters will actually do this.
Chidish landed in sixth place of the six males present but with the reserve CACC and JAS Schönheit & Leistung!
It was a weekend with highs and lows and with very mixed feelings; I drove joy, sadness and anger back home on Monday.
Wide Show in Crewe (UK)
England, watch out, here we come again!
On Friday morning, March 31, Sonja and I had to ask the feathers. Simon had already left, he went on a coursing in Sweden judging and so Sonja Silva and Bernice had left home and had only come to Vision. After having left the hounds and leaving the remaining luggage in the camper, Brandir, Chidish, Cytaugh and Vision could go there and we left for Calais. We arrived neatly on time and after the Pet Control we were able to drive almost the same train on. Arrived in England, it was still a good drive to Crewe, north-west of Birmingham, where the Deerhound wide Show was held. 
Of course we had weather files and thus arrived quite late in the beautiful old hotel. After having checked in, the hounds have taken care of and brought my stuff to my room, it was time for dinner. As always, many familiar faces but we also missed a few, such as Gill and Toby, the breeders of Brandir.
Saturday morning at nine o'clock started the inspections, judge was Mr. J.G. Phinizy. Chidish was in Open Dog but of the 12 reported males only 7 were present. To our great pleasure, Chidish was placed second! Not bad for such a young guy. Best male was Kilbourne Tyne, a daughter of Nimloth Brooke, sister of Brandir.
Vision was in Junior bitch with 8 others bitches including her sister Vita of Mary Girling. Mr. Phinizy was apparently impressed by Vision's 's work and placed her first! Second was Vita.
Cytaugh was in a huge Open bitch where of the 16 females, only one was absent. The beautiful Foxcliffe Classic Liberty Freedom at Beardswood by Sarah helps won convincingly and Cytaugh was not placed.
Vision had to come back for Best Bitch what she obviously didn't win but she was definitely not the worst. Best bitch was the Foxcliffe bitch of Sarah.
Sunday we had a busy day. The judge was Mrs. Eve Hamilton. I had reported Chidish and Cytaugh in the Special coursing/Lure chasing Dog or Bitch and Sonja would show Cytaugh. Of the 11 reported hounds there were 1.JPG "Chidish, first with the Pentlands coursing Trophy. Photo by Jan Scheer")
0 present. Above my expectation, Chidish won this strong class and became Cytaugh fourth!!! Chidish got the Pentlands coursing Trophy, which his father, Brandir, had also won in 2014!
Right after this class, Chidish and Cytaugh had to be in the Brace or torque class. For this there were 13 reported but I have no idea how many were there, at least 5 because Chidish and Cytaugh were fourth.
The last class for which we had reported hounds was the Special Not Bred By Exhibitor. Of the 22 reported hounds, 14 were present, including Chidish and Vision. Chidish was second behind Rubeus Hagrid to Kilbourne and Vision became fifth! Not bad!
When we picked up Vision in England last year, they were still three. Now they were all three present and of course a series of pictures had to be made. Vision, which was then much smaller than her sister, doesn't look like it anymore.
Then some more pictures taken in the ' Kasteeltuin'. He shot Marjan the board. Marjan still thanks!
After a few more meals we travelled south. We had agreed with Gill and Toby that we would come along with them before we would travel back again. Due to Toby's illness, they could not be present at the wide Show which was experienced for many as a tremendous loss. We had to do the greetings from many acquaintances. We had a very pleasant evening and after the next morning to have had breakfast we left again towards Folkestone. Coming here we were just 10 minutes late for our train but because of the huge chaos because of a malfunction we have to wait for at least 3 hours before we leave. We were well fed up and took us to go to England this year!
Posted in 2017, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
March, a busy month.
After long dubbing I finally decided not to sign up for, and to travel to the show in Groningen. Afterwards well gambled there Simon on that Saturday had a jury meeting. For Sonja I had a Vision in there that needed a few more youth points. She had of course hoped that she could ride home after the inspection but, unfortunately, Vision was the only ' adult ' Deerhound and was also given a U'tje, so that she could stay and two times a round through the honour ring was allowed to run without result. But Vision has her second childhood and that's what it was about.
Tuesday afternoon 7 March, Sonja was back with us to leave for Birmingham on Wednesday morning. Simon had found a good accommodation at a half hour drive from Birmingham where we had a great time; A large park nearby, a pub and a eatery, what else do you need? We had Vision, Chidish and Cytaugh reported for Crufts and of course hoped for a nice competition. But unfortunately that was not the same; Of the three reported Deerhounds in Yearling Dog There were only two, even with the bitches there were absents in the classes of Cytaugh and Vision. Of the total of 81 reported Deerhounds, only 70 were present. Also the atmosphere was not nearly as cosy as 5 years ago. There were quite few people around the ring and we missed many familiar faces.
It's always a problem to take pictures when you show up and have several hounds with you but luckily Marjan was there and she was nine to take pictures so we still have something. Marjan Thanks again!
Chidish stood with one other male in Yearling Dog. This could just be right, at the end of March he should be in Open Dog during the wide Show, a bit screwy with his two years but then he has more competition! He won his class, not so difficult but did nothing in the inspection for best male, a pity. He had shown himself in any case, and that is also worth a lot.
Vision came out in Junior bitch against four more females, two were absent. Despite being really skinny, the judge, Joan Wragg, was able to appreciate her and placed her second. Not bad. Next, Cytaugh came into Yearling Bitch, five joined-four. Cytaugh was placed third.
After the inspections we still have some walked around and with the Barsoi's Wim, Jeanne and André congratulations on Riband Wave who had become the best veteran and later picked up the reserve CC. After this we had no more puff to walk around, it was incredibly crowded everywhere and the hounds only let us do it. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Friday morning everything packed again and after an extremely long journey, a.o. By three hours of delay at the tunnel, we arrived at whacked around seven o'clock in the evening.
The weekend next was the show in Hazerswoude-Dorp. I had only Chidish reported because Cytaugh does not like the Showen so much and she needs to develop a little further. Five Deerhounds were reported including two puppies. Chidish became BOB but did nothing in the final inspection.
Posted in 2017, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
October
On Thursday 29 September I left with Brandir, Chidish and Cytaugh to Tüttleben. I had C & C signed up for the show and had promised Sonja to come and help build tents and fit on the hounds as they and Angelika had to ' work '. It was a very nice weekend because the Italians were kept Jahresausstellung and therefore everything was dressed up
extra. Sandra and Lucien were also there with some Italians but were not BOB this time. The only registered Deerhounds were mine and Sonja. Chidish and Cytaugh got their first CAC, Cytaugh became BOB and Vision was at the end of the day Jüngsten BIS!
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On Friday 14 October was the international show in Dortmund. Since Dagmar K.C.-Pordham approved, I had registered. There were 10 Deerhounds reported and one youth was absent. She found Chidish quite nice during the wide Show in April JL. Even now she liked him and made him BOB. Unfortunately, Cytaugh got 2h behind something that should never have been won. Vision first stood in the Jugendklas and won this convincingly and also became Jugend BOB.
Saturday we had a rest day. Delicious! A little walking, lazing and taking pictures of Vision, more we have not done.
Sunday end of the morning we had to be back in the halls for the Bundessieger. Björn Fritz was the judge this time and we were curious what he would do. Fourteen Deerhounds were reported there and the same childhood was absent again. Chidish was again BOB with the Bundessieger title and Cytaugh now got 1h. Vision once again received the JCAC and the title Bundes Jugendsieger. It was a very successful weekend!
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The weekend after that was the international coursing on RONO Beach but unfortunately Cytaugh and Chidish couldn't get involved because of their thick toes. Very sorry. Also Sonja had come with the intention to let Vision run a bit but also this kneusde her toe while playing and thus could not run. Bernice did enjoy and walked the stars of heaven! I heard from Sebastiaan Vink that in Roosendaal she treats Visdonk thick toes with laser in the animal clinic. So I had to go back to that. After having come home on Monday I called for that laser and we were able to go on Tuesday. After examination, all three were lasered and the next morning you saw all the results! After this, several times the toes were lasered and eventually they were almost as thin as they should be. So it works really well!
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The last weekend of October we were again with CC2000 in low ants. A nice number of people and Hounds had signed up and it was again wonderful to enjoy blissful weather and a huge long trail. Very strange and spectacular was the sheer amount of ladybugs. Really millions flew around and when you stood still there were dozens of you. Also in the cars and caravans swarmed of these animals and many people have taken ladybugs out of their car for days!
This was the last time Gert-Jan and Jacqueline attended a CC2000 event, we now continue with Maarten and Monique Cameron. In the spring We hope to organise a nice coursing for our group of lovers.
Posted in 2016, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
September
The first weekend of September we go to the coursing, or actually the Lievelde. Simon would explain the trail and turn in the morning, Maarten Cameron would run in the afternoon. There were about 66 hounds logged in. Chidish and Cytaugh could do a test run on Friday-afternoon and Saturday-afternoon, and they did so diligently! You can always enjoy walking in the surroundings; Sand, water and forest what else do you want?! The team that organizes this coursing is extremely pleasant and always does its stinkenden best. This year they also had very nice prizes; Wind lights with a candle in it.
The grass was somewhat on the high side and of course there was a lot of commentary on it. It's preferable to let people walk their hounds on billiard sheets where there is no blade to be wrong. The whole course is being helped by this mentality because the organizing associations always adapt to the people's whining. The fields are getting flatter, obstacles are out of the wicker and ditches all the way, a nice long trail is always too long and if a hook is less than 70 degrees (while 60 is allowed) the bend is too sharp and dangerous. Apparently, the whiners have never experienced a real hare-coursing, because they are turning hares 360 degrees in full speed!
When I remember the French Championships in Guignicourt, sometime in the last century, the hounds had to jump over a flowing stream of about three metres wide and covered with pebbles and pebbles. Many hounds jumped into the creek or against the shore but there was no one who complained about it. Coursing is imitating the real hare Hunt and that happened here! And so it should be everywhere but the problem is that people do not train their hounds. With hours running on the leash, they do not learn to use their eyes and to cope with their bodies and they really need it with coursing! I hope that the coursing in France is still a bit of what it was then because with my two youngsters I am eager to go "real" coursing.
Anyway, during the coursing in Lichtenvoorde a Barsoi and Whippet was injured, the Barsoi broke her front leg and the Whippet a metatarsal, both after they ended up in a ditch. At the Whippet it was stupid bad luck because she did not see the ditch but the Barsoi could have seen it but did not look good and did not jump well. Yes, and not looking good and not jumping well is disastrous at this sport. The nasty is just that the screwdriver always gets the blame and usually this is not right!
Sunday 11 September I left early in the morning towards Luxembourg. At the last moment I had decided to register as Brandir still needs a CACIB and Chidish and Cytaugh could still be just in the youth class. On the statistics I had seen that another male was enrolled in the Open class, so whether Brandir would get this IB was just the question. There, the male became Fritzen Gunpowder. A still quite young male who I had given a ZG during my inspection in Bremen mainly because of the too short and not dancing gait work. Well Brandir's is not at the moment that what I like to see so I found it very exciting anyway. Whether it was right that he won, I don't know, you can't judge from the ring, but I was very happy with it. Brandir got the CACIB and becomes international champion. He is also now Luxemburg's champion and it turned out that the Benelux winner card was also forgiven, so also the title Benelux winner Luxemburg he had. With the Dutch and Belgian Benelux Winner title, Brandir is now the first Dutch Deerhound to be the Benelux champion! He is now ready and may stay at home, only a little club matches maybe.
Chidish eventually became best male and BOB with the Luxembourg youth Kampioen's title and Benelux Youth winner ' 16 and also Cytaugh was Luxembourg's youth champion and Benelux Youth winner ' 16. In the honour ring, Chidish came out against a thick 60 other juvenile dogs and was selected until the last 6. After that he had to return to the honour ring with group 10 and he was third! All in all I went home with 8 titles! Not bad!
The weekend was the Dutch coursing championship in Axel. A relaxed weekend with delicious weather, nice walks and Chidish and Cytaugh have walked a test run.
Friday the 23rd we left for Amermont, Belgium. Here Cytaugh and Chidish would run their first game. Finally we were able to join again and we felt like it! It was like old; Camping on a field where the cows are from and everything is on his thaw. It was perfect coursingweer although the terrain was pretty hard by the preceding dry period. The Deerhounds walked on Saturday and to my great surprise there were six Deerhounds reported and also present, 4 bitches and 2 males. This meant that the CACIL could be forgiven. Cytaugh and Chidish walked very convincingly and especially Cytaugh followed the hare nicely. But after the first turn, Chidish was at the top with 265 points followed by Cytaugh with 263 points. Kilbourne Norma Jean received a disq. Because they did not ran, Laïs Palantiri had 218 points, Limelight Palantiri 256 and Livingston Palantiri 261. That became even more exciting because could Chidish and Cytaugh continue to retain these places? In the second round they were thus grouped together and walked Cytaugh again neatly behind the hare while Chidish anticipated and cut off here and there. Chidish showed more passion and strength. He was therefore first at the shelter and made a nice flying kill, as far as that can with a 
muzzle on it. At the beginning of the evening was the award ceremony and then it appeared that Cytaugh had received the highest number of points for the second circulation, 259. In total, therefore, 522 points and with this she became first with the CACBL and CACIL. Chidish had very astonishingly gotten the least number of points, 252, and thus became third with 517 points. Livingston was second (261 + 257) with the reserve CACBL and reserve CACIL, Limelight was fourth (256 + 257) and Laïs became fifth with altogether 473 points.
Unfortunately, a day later, both Chidish and Cytaugh both had a thick toe. That means at least 6 weeks of rest and that's good bales!
Posted in 2016, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
August
Deerhound Jahresausstellung
On Friday 5 August I left with Brandir, Chidish and Cytaugh towards Gelsenkirchen where on Saturday the Deerhound Jahresausstellung took place. Sonja came from the other side and we would make it a weekend of fun. Our judge was Mrs Ingela Kyrklund from Sweden. A total of 84 Deerhounds were reported including 29 males and 55 bitches. 1 male and 5 bitches were absent. The veterans and the babies started, then the Jüngstenklasse in which Vision had to take on 4 other young girls. She did it exemplary and showed her super-gang work optimally. The judge couldn't get around her and placed her first. After that she had to compete against the 
best puppy male, Fortheringhay's Gwrtheryrn or Cuna by Cristina Wüger, a beautiful male with very dark eyes and a very nice expression. But Vision stole the show with her gait work and became best Jüngsten!
Next, the inspection continued with the Jugendklasse in which Chidish had to take it against 1 other male. This won Chidish and he became with it Jahres Jugendsieger ' 16.
Brandir had I reported in the champion class. Since he hasn't made much sense in the last few days, Sonja would bring him, maybe he would do better. And sure enough, it worked. He walked enthusiastically and showed himself well. He was above expectations in third of the 7 champions!
Best male was finally once again land Lord von der Oelmühle of Florent Friedrich.
Then it was Cytaugh's turn. And of course, the moment I had to present Cytaugh had to be a big temper. Cytaugh did not want to show himself any more, but because it was such a large class (12-1 absent), we could just dry up before being placed and fortunately it was dry before the final decision. The judge made it very exciting by walking several times along the 11 drawn, which were still very neat. 
Once again, I was very surprised when she finally Cytaugh first place. It was a very important course of work. Fortunately, finally a judge who watches there!!!
For best bitch, Cytaugh had to record against the beautiful Fritzs Celeste. This girl also has such a cool gait. I had the honour of being allowed to approve her in Denmark (2014) and then made her 2nd BIS. Of course, Celeste won and she was also very rightly BOB.
I was very sorry that Mrs Kyrklund was not stricter, of the 63 hounds who were able to get a qualification, only 8 got a good one and the rest an excellent one, while in my opinion there were several at most a good deserved. By giving so many hounds a U, the value of this is enormous. And partly because of the always high qualifying of the Deerhounds you will see the average quality go back hard. With breeding there is no more on the Rasspecifieke properties because most of the Keur Masters find this no longer so important and no longer punish a hound on missing these properties. This will result in more ' dogs ' instead of Deerhounds. Sin.
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The week we were at the show in Mechelen. By circumstances Hennie and Clement Bosman Chidish and Cytaugh showed. This went perfectly and both are now called Belgian Junior champion. Chidish became BOB and third in the Youth BIS inspection and Cytaugh BOS. Hennie and Clement Thank you again!
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On August 21, the Young Dog Veterans Day took place. Sonja arrived from Germany the day before and I also was there Saturday afternoon. There were 10 Deerhounds reported but unfortunately 2 absent. Judge was Gerda half-from above. Vision showed himself again fantastic and frankly she had the best work of all Deerhounds, Chidish was best male and Cytaugh second in her class behind Uliana vom Blausteinsee, a beautiful and correct female of a completely different type. Best bitch was Pitlochry's Octavia but by her sloppy gait Chidish won her and became BOB. Despite the bad weather, which kept it inside, it was a pleasant day. After having made the motorhome back in order and having cleared all the stuff and fences, we headed towards Rijsbergen. 
Sonja would stay with us for the rest of the week to show on the 26th of August Vision at the Euro Sighthound show in Brussels. Simon was invited to judging a coursing in Poland on 27 and 28 August and could not fit on Brandir, Bernice and Silva. That's why we had to take all the hounds and since No 6 Deerhounds can sleep in the camper I went with my car so that Brandir, Chidish and Cytaugh could stay in it. Thursday 25 August we travelled to Brussels in the afternoon. It was bloody hot and at the big parking place there was no shadow spot on hand. I had already asked if there was power but unfortunately this was not the case, so we could not use the fans we had with it. The man who shared this thought it was also more than scandalous that there was no electricity for that money which we had to pay per night. Luckily we had enough sheets and other things taken to create a shadow spot. It soon became clear that no water caste and toilets were present! This is very annoying if you only stay in your van and you have assumed that there are at least water and toilets. This gave for different people so real problems. Friday was the Euro Sighthound Show. We had Chidish, Cytaugh and Vision reported for Judge Jean Jacques Dupas from France. There were 5 males and 6 bitches reported. Chidish became best male and best youth dog,
Cytaugh Forest youth Dog and both so Euro Sighthound Junior Winner. Vision was the only puppy and thus became automatically best puppy. In the afternoon Vision was the first to appear in the honour ring with about 5 other puppies. She showed herself great! What a cool gait has that thing. The judge Mrs. Andreja Novak was also clearly impressed and made her puppy BIS! Next, Chidish was allowed to compete for BIS Jeugdhound against about 15 jeugdhounds and was placed third by Mr. Rafael de Santiago! Also not wrong.
The next day was the European and for this I had only Chidish and Cytaugh reported. They were after the Irish Wolfhounds's turn. During the inspection of the Irish I already got one to feel, the judge did very strange things and the worst Irish were brought forward. When I was with Chidish, it was really obvious that he should win. The other male in his class had a very bad front and could not get out of the feet. Ludicova Salamon, our judge, let us walk again and then be the other male as the winner. My pants dropped off and I didn't go into the ring with Cytaugh. I did not want to let my Cytaugh with her beautiful gait be made by a judge who obviously has no sense of things and/or very politically approved. We have also gone right away, I did not even wait for the final inspection of the Deerhounds, the best would not win, and so it was. What a horrible disappointing inspection! The only advantage was that we could go home early and we did so too!
Posted in 2016, Abroad, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Short overview of the last half year.
On Friday 15 April, Sonja and I left with Chidish and Cytaugh towards Stratford upon Avon where the wide Show of the English Deerhound Club was held. We went with the camper of Sonja because we would take a puppy with you on the way back and then the motorhome was so comfortable. I had booked a room in the hotel at the beginning of the year because we did not know that a puppy would travel back.
After we entered the hotel, we went up with our stuff. It was a very traipsing with dog beds, clothes bags and bags to our room there which was of course on the second floor and at the end of a very complicated and long corridor. First we had to go with the elevator, then a walk through, then stairs up and back stairs, all sorts of nooks and again a long corridor descend. After a lot of sighs and gepuf we came to our room. The first thing I did was pull the curtain aside and open the window, it's always too hot in such a room. Then we had to give the dog beds a place, the room was redecorated and when we finally looked at the bed it turned out to be a French queen! Well, we're not going to be there for a couple! So Sonja back down, to the reception and ask if there was no other room. That was there, on the other side of the hotel on the ground floor! So we load everything on the trolley and finally I closed the window and wanted to close the curtain again. After a small mahbub the whole curtain came down! This started all right! Limp of laughter we came down and after having reported it (it turned out to occur more often) we could go through to our new room; Corner, stairs and 10 meters in the corridor. It turned out to be a room for disabled people, s
o nice spacious. Sonja warned me that I didn't have to attract anything, especially those red cords that were everywhere! For the show on Saturday I had Chidish in Junior Dog reported. He stood with 7 others in the ring. The judge, Mrs. Dagmar K.C.-Pordham was charmed by Chidish and placed him first! Best Dog was Pyefleet Tarka and Reserve became Hyndsight Desperado. Cytaugh stood with 6 other in the Junior class as well. She was third behind two Neroche sisters. Best bitch was Killoeter sai Tallavarjula and Reserve was Kilbourne Pandora to Talorpechie. For Sunday I had Chidish and Cytaugh reported in the ' Special not bred by Exhibitor ' class. A very strong class with 19 entries. Sonja showed Cytaugh. Here they made nothing under Judge Wendy Cross.
After this inspection we packed our gear and headed for Brightlingsea where we would pick up a puppy for Sonja. Mary Girling was still cleaning up the wide Show in Stratford and so we had the time to walk with the hounds, behold the puppies and prepare the food. I had dropped my eye on the smallest of the two bitches and hoped it would be for Sonja.
This proved to be the case and after all the paper Rompslomp to have completed and signed we left the next day again towards the Netherlands. The small Vision did just fine on the way, no beeping or whining, a prodigy and once arrived in Rijsbergen it soon turned out that she was a natural talent for shows! 
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A week later, Simon and I sat with the hounds in France at the club show of the RALIE, the French Irish Wolfhounds and Deerhound Club. I liked to Betina Adams, she approved the Deerhounds, my two ' youngsters ' show mainly because Chidish seems so awfully much like Cscarf. Brandir got 1h in the Championship class, Chidish also got 1h and became best youth Deerhound. Best Male became Jesus-Maria-Joseph du triple Bois and reserve became infidel-et-Ram du triple Bois both of Mari-Eugenie Vinen. At the youth bitches, Cytaugh also got 1h, although Betina would have preferred to put two others on her, but these two didn't want to show up, yes and then you're out of luck! Best Bitch and BOB eventually became Garbo or Muma of Gilles Barreda.
At the end of April we were in Göhlsdorf near Berlin. Gert Jan had made a turning machine for ' Windhunden-Rennclub Phoenix ' and Simon would turn the coursing with it. But first on Saturday the show. Only Chidish and Cytaugh were reported in the youth class. Chidish got from judge Mrs. Ella Yaschenko from Moldova 1h and became BOB over Cytaugh who also got 1h. In the Jügend BIS inspection, Chidish was placed fourth by Olaf Knauber. The next day was the coursing, this was the first time that Vision saw such a thing and she found it twisted interesting!
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Thursday, May 5 was the Deerhound club match. Judge was Willem outside camp. Brandir became fifth of the five, Chidish first of the two and Cytaugh third of the three. Not such a success. The pictures can be found on http://www.deerhoundcllub.nl I had in consultation with the Board and the University of Nottingham, organized that we would decrease DNA for the surveys that are currently running in England. I was very happy with our foreign participants because these were all willing to let DNA be taken from their hounds. This is in contrast to the ' big ' Dutch breeders. One for me (and many others) incomprehensible setting.
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On Saturday 7 May I was with Cytaugh and Chidish in Dortmund. Here Mr. Dux approved the 17 reported Deerhounds. Chidish got 1h and became best youth Deerhound and Cytaugh got 2h behind something that should never have been won. It was very strangely approved and many could not find themselves in the results. Next time, again to someone coming out of the greyhounds.
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Wednesday May 11th we left for Tüttleben. This year the Saluki Jahresausstellung took place. The center of the racecourse was nicely decorated with a camel, Sheikh and Saluki's. For the show on Saturday, 5 Deerhounds were reported. Chidish was the only male, he got 1h (with this he became German Youth champion) and became BOB, Cytaugh got 1h in the youth class and eventually became forest. Because there were so few couples logged in, I also reported Chidish and Cytaugh. They walked beautifully next to each other but of course it is not a real couple, they do not resemble each other. But the judge thought differently and made them first. Next, Chidish had to appear in the ring for best young dog. He also won this and a little later he became a further BIS! I found this very embarrassing. The BOB Saluki was also not exactly bad and just had to be BIS. For his victory Chidish got a beautiful bed but I found it more appropriate for Saluki's so the BOB Saluki got it.
Vision had already grown considerably and thought it was wonderful to see her comrades again. They had fun for ten so with his threes. In Tüttleben We always have a nice piece of garden so that they can rauzen a lot but they found it very nice on Tuesday to also take a course on the Middenterrein. Simon had a spectacular trail over a ditch and back long the trees. You saw that the hounds enjoyed this, it was something else than in such a smooth, uncluttered field. Of course Vision could also be a piece and she did it full of surrender!
Two weeks later we were in Nörten-Hardenberg. Simon was in the front of the coursing and so I was staying with Sonja in the camper. This all went fine. From Thursday to Sunday it was the ' European Irish Wolfhound Congress ' with the Jahresausstellung of the Irish on Saturday. 250 Irish Wolfhounds were reported there for the three electoral masters; Gretchen Bernardi (USA), Chris Amoo (UK) and Jan Pain (UK). The results can be found at http://www.dwzrv.de
Sunday was the CAC show for all the greyhounds and Mr. Peter Friedrich approved the 15 Deerhounds. All Deerhounds got an excellent so that says enough again. Chidish was first in his class and became best male. Cytaugh also got 1h and is now also a German junior champion. BOB became the Finnish bitch Brokenwheel Mc Blodeuwedd.
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Saturday, June 4, Chidish and Cytaugh were in Tilburg on the show of KC de barony. Here Ricky Lochs-Novels accepted the 5 Deerhounds present. Chidish got 1h and the reserve CAC and Cytaugh also had 1h in the youth class. With this U'tjes they have become both Dutch junior champion.
Above you can see one of the Coursingvelden of the EKC in Slovakia. This was held from 17 to 19 June. We planned to leave Sunday morning 12 June but when I drove home on Saturday afternoon of my Greyhound inspection in Lelystad, I got a breakdown. It was such a serious that the roads waited it could not fix it and honor a garage that could be it of course Monday! Only on Monday-evening we were able to leave and drove the first piece until just before Frankfurt in record tempo. Wednesday evening we joined the group at the racecourse at Vienna and Thursday afternoon we were in Vel'ké Pole, Slovakia. We had no hounds in the fight but Simon was once again chef D'équipe. It was all not such a success; The organization left a lot to be desired, variable prices for eating and drinking were requested and no good agreements were made with the associations that provided the coursings. This resulted in a single field that started off with a very small round of racecourse instead of a coursing and where, after this was changed, it turned out that two people manned this terrain for three whole days. This resulted in errors of the Turner, tensions with the participants and organisation and finally the removal of the greyhounds on Sunday a
fternoon to prevent injuries caused by spinal errors. Another field on Sunday turned another team and it had no spare material. So when the turntable started at the beginning of the second turn, the German team gave a different field, their the spare, but the driver did not want to turn. Anyway, the German Turner that he took over, turned much better than the first one and this gave the hounds quite different points than the hounds who had already walked. This caused a huge shift in the rankings. Don't like them all. For Brandir, Chidish and Cytaugh It wasn't really nice either; You couldn't walk well, during the day it was sometimes very hot and I was looking much at the far-away fields or with my ceramics. In order to make up for it we had planned a few days of holiday at the back, but at the camp site where we initially landed, we were geattaqueerded in such a way by Hornets and other very large flying rigs that we will be right the next day Have left. After that we went to a campsite in the Czech Republic and that was better. We could take a very large piece of ' garden ' and walk very well in the surroundings. After three days we went home again and the hounds were happy again that they could uitrazen on their own terrain.
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2 and 3 July I was allowed to Hyvinkää the windhondenspecialty in Finland. On Saturday I had the Barsoi's and on Sunday the Deerhounds. The quality struck me from both breeds and because I am strict with the Barsoi's (49 present) I forgive 10 excellents and at the Deerhounds (39) 4. Especially the Bovenbelijningen were very flat in both races and the corridor works really bad. Something that is very important for a Barsoi and Deerhound! Best Barsoi was Yegorov Morning Haze of Virva Sundberg & Seija Piippo Kokkola and best Deerhound the beautiful bitch Kerslake Doreen by Carina Engman.
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On Thursday 21 July we went to Crown Mountain near the Here was on Saturday the exterior inspection for which we had signed Vision. And as I wrote before, she is a natural language. She showed herself as an accomplished lady at the Judge Willem Outer camp.
Cytaugh and Chidish have walked together for their ' haasvast ' in the afternoon. This went fine! The next day, Cytaugh walked with Bernice in the morning and Chidish with Bernice in the afternoon. And both times, Bernice happily joined so now the two ' puppies ' have their ' haasvast ' and they can officially join in from 22 September.
And of course Vision could also walk a bit on Saturdays! Again she did it full of surrender. And after hard work it's good to make junk!
Posted in 2016, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Bernice, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
And that was 2015.
Already the last day of the year. How quickly it has gone by again! This time last year, we were in France in the snow, escaping the fireworks. Now that’s not necessary; Brandir doesn’t like it but isn’t really upset. Chidish and Cytaugh haven’t reacted to it so far and seem not to be bothered by it. Hopefully, that continues! Just now, we went for a long walk with the hounds in the Pannehoef. Normally, they can run off-leash in certain areas, but due to the beautiful weather, it was so busy that they mostly had to stay on the lead. A bit of a shame, but well, then they get to run a bit here too; on five thousand square meters, you can also have fun.
For this year, I had signed up again for the Winner. Luckily, Sonja offered to come along and go with me; I had entered all three of them, so I could use some good help, and it’s not Simon’s hobby! So, on Sunday the thirteenth, we set off early in the morning, packed and ready, heading for Amsterdam. Chidish and Cytaugh behaved exemplary, truly Deerhound worthy. 
Chidish also showed nicely, but Cytaugh messed it up; she really needs to be ‘warmed up’ beforehand. They both received a Very Promising from Willem Buitenkamp. Brandir showed no interest at all; it’s clear he’s not enjoying it anymore, and well, in that case, you’d be better off going into the ring with a bag of potatoes, that’s still more manageable. He received the reserve CAC and reserve CACIB. After showing, it’s always good to rest, especially if you can lie safely with your dad.
After Chidish defeated his sister in the Best Puppy contest, he had to appear in the afternoon in the ring of honor. This was a good experience for him: big ring, lots of people, loud music, and many other dogs. He was a bit impressed at first but showed himself fairly well. In the meantime, Cytaugh had had enough and just wanted to go home. So as soon as I came out of the ring, where Chidish of course hadn’t been selected, we packed up our things again and headed towards the exit. Cytaugh, who hadn’t peed all day despite several requests, could no longer hold it and right before the exit, in the middle of the hall, peed a big puddle on the clean, shiny, marble floor! Then they should make sure the outdoor potty areas are just as clean, she must have thought. And she was right!
The following weekend I was allowed to judge in Cuijk. I was very disappointed with the quality of the hounds, something that has become increasingly noticeable to me and many other sighthound judges over the past few years. Many faults include: too little or too much spring of rib (Italian Greyhounds!), much less nobility in the heads due to high foreheads and non-parallel lines, insufficient archover the loin, short tails, too steep pasterns, and of course poor movement. And if you then give a Very Good because the hound in question has a really disturbing fault or so many faults that a Good simply isn’t possible, you get looked at angrily as a judge. People should read the qualification regulations and the standard of their breed a bit more; then they would understand. But judging isn’t enjoyable when you wait for the moment your winner steps into the ring, and that doesn’t happen! Anyway, hopefully the quality will improve again over the coming years.
Just a few more hours and we’ll slide into the new year again. What will it bring us?
I wish that people will be a bit more considerate of each other, react a bit less aggressively, and just be a little more social and kind to one another. That already makes life a lot nicer!
Happy NEW Year!!!
Posted in 2015, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
October
October has been in the sign of RONO Beach for many years. We've been there almost every year, mostly with coursing hounds but in recent years only with hounds running on Friday. Sonja has also consistently been present in recent years. This year, during the training, Brandir started halfway through the trail after Bernice had walked the first piece. Brandir started full surrender and walked a good second half together with Bernice. The puppies also walked a quarter of the course with great enthusiasm. The days after were pure relaxation, a little walking and courses watching. Monday the 19th everything is packed again and home. 
Thursday 22nd of October I left for Hermannsburg. I would stay a long weekend with Sonja and walk the show in Hanove
r on the Saturday. In order not to make it Stressig we had the Friday load. For the puppies it was the first time they came to Sonja but they found everything fine and beautiful. Only the stairs running to sleep above with me, gave some problems. After two nights we decided that they would have to stay downstairs. And that went fine! Saturday to the show. Brandir still needs one CACIB and I had hoped to address him here. Unfortunately, this kite did not get up, he got the reserve. Chidish and Cytaugh behaved exemplary and this time became Chidish best Jüngsten. So We were able to go home in time to make another big walk. 
The next day it was fine again to take pictures and.. They have succeeded
! 
It took some time but the result is also there! 
On these photos are Cytaugh and Chidish 7 months young and Brandir nearly 3.5 years.
And on Monday another nice piece walked. It was again beautiful weather and the trees were brilliantly discoloring! The hounds were very run loose and had fun for ten!
Tuesday morning my mess packed up again and home. Quickly cleared the car and cleared the caravan because Thursday we left again for a weekend CC2000. Again we had beautiful weather! Simon and Gert Jan had a nice trail with an obstacle in it. In Total there were such a thick 60 hounds, but the most beautiful courses were those with 7 Afghans and 4 Saluki's, always a joy to watch. Brandir and Bernice have walked together with a Barsoi and also Chidish and Cytaugh were allowed to have a piece. It was again a wonderful weekend!
Brandir about the obstacle!
Posted in 2015, Deerhound in general, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Bernice, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed