o'cockaigne

  The last month was a busy month, much on the road and a concern. The weekend crowning mountain, early August, was reasonably relaxed. It was for Chidish and Cytaugh the first great trip, staying in the caravan, meeting many, many other greyhounds and people, the first show experience and for the first time in ' public ' walking a piece of coursing. They did great, loved everything, showed up well above expectations and walked very enthusiastically behind the hare. Sonja also came to let Bernice take part in the coursing. She ran together with Lotte from Alex and Dini. They weren't splattered courses, both of them weren't really in a top condition. But they had fun and that's what it's all about. It turned out that in the reception they had a decent collision as Bernice could not stop on time, the proof delivered this picture of Annemiek. Luckily they didn't like it. But I have to say that I found it extremely childish of a number of people to whine about the fact that Sonja and I took pictures of Chidish and Cytaugh on the edge of the Coursingveld. There was no dog bother, we and the puppies did not make any noise and were also absolutely not in the careers of the coursing hounds, there is no one on or to look at. And yet people have to complain about it. These people have probably never been in layman's times, but it happened that the coursing hounds walked between the audience! A good hound has no trouble and if he does, he is not haasvast! Wednesday August 12th I went with the hounds to the Losloopbos in thirst. After half an hour I came across a small Scottish Collie. The animal looked badly neglected, the fur was full of tangles and there were crusts on the nose. After having hung around for 20 minutes on the ' site ', having listened or was not called and asked several passers-by to know if they knew this dog, I decided to take the poor animal with me. Given the size and yuling I was convinced that it was a bitch of around 10 years. I had also felt under the belly whether it was a male but couldn't find anything, just tangles. The Collie just walked with me towards the car but in it they didn't. After I lifted them up and put them in the car, they crawled in a corner and popped into each other. While driving, I saw that she was terrified! Such an old dog afraid of driving, very strange. I rode right along my vet to see if she was chipped and if so if it was registered. chipped but not registered. I went home to see the poor animal and I was terrified. This dog was not a bit in the burdock but was almost totally felt, including felt strands and huge tangles! My idea to put the scissors in there, I put straight out of my head, that was uninitiated work. I wrote a cry of distress to Annemiek and the next morning she stood by me on the pavement, armed with razors and a bottle of dog shampoo. We placed the kitchen table by the window, hung a running light for extra light, put a rubber mat on the table, put the Collie on it and started to work. As Annemiek progressed, the bewilderment was greater. How could people neglect an animal so terribly!!! Annemiek has peeled her like an orange! When the belly came to a turn, it suddenly turned out that it was a male! We didn't come up with laughter anymore! Yes, and then suddenly you can say no more to him, so after several names have passed, it became Remy. You know it, from ' only in the world '. In Total, Remy had four hours on the table before his jacket was out. In the pictures you can see that I mean that literally!!! After the shaving we washed him nicely but we had to dunk him twice before he didn't feel any more fat.  

And that's how he looked after his makeover. Deliciously Fresh!

In the course of the ensuing days, Remy went on to run better and at some point he even lifted his paw to urinate. Who knows how long he hasn't been able to do that because of all the tangles! By now I had decided that Remy would not go back to his old owners anyway, they were allowed to pop up. People who neglect their dog are not yet worthy of a toy dog! In the meantime, he had adapted perfectly, ate well and listened to his new name. We would find a good home for him but first he had to go to Germany where we would have Trautskirchen the Deerhound Jahresausstellung on Saturday 22nd August.

Before we left on Wednesday 19 August, an email from Annemiek came that Remy was missing but the fine didn't know. Later that week she had seen this on the site of Amivedi and after consultation Annemiek has passed our telephone number.

Packing and dropping, with the dog basket extra for Remy, we left towards Trautskirchen. After one night we arrived in Trautskirchen. It was pretty hot and we had to protect Remy from burning the sun, because yes, of course he didn't have a coat anymore, but still wanted to lie in the sun.

Friday night we were called by a woman who said that we had her dog. After she passed the chip number, we said that I would let it read out and call her back on Sunday. Sunday it was indeed her dog. At first she wanted to get Remy right, but I said that we would stand on Monday near Frankfurt and that it was better to get him there. And so came to pass; Monday afternoon they came to get Remy. Fortunately, Remy was happy to see his owners again and after a penetrating conversation with some advice (Remy was way too thick and drank too little from himself), we gave Remy with it. They promised that they would bring him to the groomer more often because they couldn't keep up, Remy wouldn't allow it! This dog had not learned from childhood that life was more than twice a day a round in always the same forest and every day the same chunks!

When I saw him again a few weeks later because I had his collar and she was mine, I was shocked by his sad expression on his snoot. He looked even older and was just as thick as when I found him. Poor animal. With pain in my heart I left, knowing that I could not do anything for him.

Anyway, back to Trautskirchen. For this Jahresausstellung, 77 hounds were reported for Bryan Doak of the Rosslyn kennel in Ireland. First, the veterans and then the puppies were approved. Chidish stood with one other male in his class and won. Cytaugh had two females in her class, but honestly these were not competition either. So Cytaugh had to fight her brother for best Baby and this she won. At the end of the day she was even Baby Best in Show! Brandir obtained a third place in the Championship class. It was a bit of an atmospheric show with little really nice Deerhounds, the quality in Germany clearly goes backwards. Best male and BOB eventually became land Lord von der Oelmühle of Florent Friedrich and best bitch was barns more Energy of Life by Viola and Wolfgang Müller.

Sunday was the coursing. The terrain was strongly inclined and by the sun and the wind, bone dry. This resulted in a large number of injuries, while some hounds were ontvelt. Bernice started out in the morning and walked a good course, but in the afternoon she threw her hat again (but at least she had no broken feet!) and finished in last place.

  Monday the mess packed up again and drove towards Camping Park Wispertal. (End of the afternoon Remy was picked up here.) We have been here for a number of days before we went to Bad Homburg on Friday, where Sonja would help to build the show and I tried to sell some ceramics, and Brandir, Cytaugh and Chidish had signed up for the show. Cytaugh became best Baby and Brandir BOB. Sunday 30 August once again packed up again and at the end of the afternoon we were back home, a dog poorer.