Posts tagged ‘Phoenix’
River beds, Jazz names and Birmingham.
Mingus: pausing briefly before investigating another exciting dead thing (today's, rather randomly, was a mole).
First off, Mingus’ lovely mum, Anora (Starshot English Miss for Morehay) won another Championship Show Best of Breed at the National Dog Show in Birmingham last Sunday, against some very stiff competition from some very fine dogs.
The judges lovely critique read:
“At three years old she is mature and of excellent breed type. So well proportioned all thorough. Pleasing feminine head, excellent angulation both front and rear giving free sound movement where she excelled. It was a pleasure to watch her striding around the ring with reach and drive. Best Bitch. Best of Breed.”
Unfortunately we weren’t at the show, but if we had been we’d have been hopping up and down with excitement….which is pretty much what we did anyway on hearing the news. We’re absolutely thrilled for Anora, Jacqui & handler Emma.
Mingus stands to attention on hearing news of mum's latest big win.
Down here in Devon we’re in the midst of an almost-drought. Bits and bobs of rain have come to nothing, and the river has virtually disappeared altogether, exposing the slate river bed with just a small funnel of water off to one side.
Phoenix picks her way across what's left of our river.
Mingus continues to develop rapidly. He seems to have pretty much settled into his shape and proportions now and looks like an almost exact blend of each of his parents, which is just fine with us!
Mingus on point.
When we chose his name we (mistakenly, as it turns out!) thought that:
1) Charlie Mingus was pretty much a household name
and
2) That our favourite hippy chick musician Joni Mitchell‘s Jazz influenced 70’s album “Mingus” was almost as well known….
Instead out we find ourselves explaining anywhere between 1 and 100 times every day what our boy is called and why.
In the reeds.
Still, we’ve recently learned that we’re in good company. Danish supermodel Helena Christensen‘s son is also named Mingus, as are a select handful of other online dogs around the world, including a Vizsla. There’s even a highly successful Beagle and Foxhound breeder & show judge in Australia who’s kennel name is Mingus. On that basis we’re pretty sure that by this time next year everyone will want to be called Mingus….possibly.
Venturing forth with a captive stick.
Top Puppy 2009/2010!!
TARNDAIR PHOENIX OF BELATARR
HWVA TOP PUPPY BITCH 2009/10
HWVA TOP PUPPY 2009/10
Yesterday was the HWVA Annual Awards and Open Show. An awesome day, with 79 HWV’s present in glorious sunshine, and a day we’re never likely to forget.
In the crowning achievement of her show year Phoenix was awarded both Top Puppy Bitch of the year and (following in the paw-steps of both her grandfather Harris, Moricroft Methuen, who won the same award in 2001, and half-brother Leiborschy Ylai, who won it last year) overall Top Puppy of the year, receiving the Leiborschy Goblet and the Leiborschy Flask trophies respectively. We’ve never been more proud of our lovely girl!
Phoenix standing whilst Tim & judge Margaret Hathaway share a joke.
Being awarded the Leiborschy Goblet.
And then the Leiborschy Flask for Top Puppy.
Mingus was also in attendance and was very much admired, with a number of respected and prominent HWV folks casting many complimentary remarks in his direction. Our boy also had a mini family reunion as he met up with his mother, Anora – who was herself awarded 1st Limit Bitch at the show – and his sister Love for the first time since leaving the nest.
Mingus & Phoenix, covering all angles.
Viewing the action.
And...."Watch!"
All ears.
Mum Anora, on her way to winning 1st Limit Bitch.
Anora with the kids - Mingus and Love.
Family portrait, take 2.
Freedom!
Now that Mingus is getting on for 5 months old we are finally able to start taking him out for slightly longer walks, and this week – for pretty much the first time – we took Phoenix and Mingus for a few trips out together, resulting in much jollity and frolicking all round (a week of non stop sunshine certainly didn’t hurt either!)
Yippee!!
Huzzah!!
The pack also expanded this week with the arrival of Tim’s son Fred who was down for the Easter Hols., and who, as ever, was seamlessly integrated into the wolf/human hierarchy as we all hit the beaches and the moors.
Mingus, Phoenix & Fred in action - skimming stones at Lyme Bay, Dorset.
Mingus at Scorhill, Dartmoor.
Mingus, trying out the "stately whilst chewing an old bone" look.
With Adam at the Scorhill stone circle.
A big pile of snooze at the end of the day.
Home Show.
Rather belated this, but back on Saturday Feb 20th Tim and Phoenix went along to the Ilfracombe & District Canine Society Open Show in Exeter. This was significant because the Ilfracombe & District Canine Society is our own society, where we go for ringcraft, and where we’ve made many doggy friends (of the four and two-legged varieties).
The graduate class being judged - Phoenix is on the far left.
The show was also significant for a couple of other reasons – it was Tim & Phoenix’ one and only chance to “warm-up” for Crufts, and it was also the first time that the show had put on classes for HWV’s.
Phoenix being placed 1st, still on the far left.
A very successful and enjoyable day was had, Phoenix showed really well, and was awarded 1st Graduate and Reserve Best of Breed. Several seasoned observers commented that it was the best they had ever seen her show and singled out her movement as being particularly good, which it certainly was….ironically though it was her poor movement that was to let us down a few weeks later at Crufts, so much for warming up!
These pictures were taken by and are used with the kind permission of Denise Stanton from the Society. Many thanks Denise!
Stacked for the judges critique.
Crufts + Puppy Progress.
Time for another long overdue update…
First up, last weekend saw our very first trip to Crufts! We’ve never previously attended as spectators, let alone exhibitors, so it was with much excitement and some trepidation that we ventured with Phoenix to the show-of-shows to take our place in the big ring alongside 74 other HWV’s.
Phoenix stacked for judging at Crufts.
In the end Crufts proved to be pretty much like any other Champ Show (albeit with adjoining vast arenas stuffed full of every conceivable canine related product and thronging with punters.) The actual dog show element of Crufts seemed to pass by most of the general public, which resulted in lots of space and a remarkably relaxed atmosphere.
Phoenix was in Special Junior Bitch class and despite our concerns about her slightly jumpy, hormonal, post-season demeanour (which has seen her pull away from the last few judges who examined her rear end) she stood beautifully. Sadly her movement was not so hot (blame operator error…) and we were awarded 2nd Place, which does mean, though, that she’s automatically qualified for Crufts 2011.
Unfortunately our in-house photographer failed to produce much that was usable to document the day.
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Mingus - 16 weeks Head Shot.
Meanwhile, back at HQ, young Mingus has come on in leaps and bounds – often quite literally so. Advice from Tracey at Puppy Gurus saw us relocating his cage to be right beside Phoenix overnight and an immediate good-nights-sleep for all was the result. In fact he’s never failed to sleep right through the night ever since – yippee!
At the grand-old-age of 16 weeks Mingus has now perfected all his Puppy Gurus obedience training moves and will be tested this coming week. He’s also picked up all the basics of ringcraft incredibly well and just loves being taken along for training where he struts his stuff with the big dogs – leading one very experienced Champ show judge to comment this week that Mingus was: “Just amazingly good!” He has proven to be vastly easier and quicker to train than Phoenix, although a large part of that must surely be down to us knowing roughly what we’re doing this time around!
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Mingus - Called to attention on the common.
Mingus’ utterly delightful, affectionate, calm and polite nature never fails to charm everyone who he meets. Today on a socialisation trip around Torrington Common he hooked up with a wide assortment of walkers and their dogs, from Labs to Cockapoos to Spaniels to Scotties, all with great waggy success.
As was the case with Phoenix’ puppyhood we’re also now back in the land of “he’s got big paws – he’s going to be a big dog,” together with the usual (sometimes rather surreal) attempts at playing Guess The Breed – today’s examples being:
1) Labrador
2) That Dog With The Ridgeback (that would a Ridgeback Madam)
3) Newfoundland (see below)??!!
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err....Mingus? (apparently!)
So that’s where the last month has gone…
Shockingly it’s been over a month since our last update…slapped wrists all round…we blame pressure of work and puppy juggling… so we’ll now attempt a potted history of the last month-in-the-lives-of Mingus & Phoenix.
Twin engine.
Firstly, like Phoenix before him, Mingus has been busy at his Puppy Guru’s training classes, the third of which is coming up in a few days. His initial foray into the class was undertaken with some trepidation (but then he was only 11 weeks old at the time and hadn’t yet started getting out and about to meet and greet) but since then he’s really got into the swing of things and is incredibly quick to learn and easy to train. We’ve mastered come, watch, sit, up, down, (plus the infamous sit-up-down sandwich) heel and wait. This week should be “stay”.
Mingus at large.
Meantime Tim took our little lad along to his first ringcraft class last week, mainly to introduce him to the cut-and-thrust of the training environment. Luckily he loved the whole experience and, of course, received LOTS of attention from humans and canines alike as well as some extremely favourable comments from several of the Champ show gundog judges who were present. He also did several pretty presentable laps of the hall in fine style,so, all in all, a very pleasing start.
Having an explore on the Common.
Back at base Tim is slowly attempting to shape Mingus’ stacking technique using the same positive training methods that (eventually!) worked for Phoenix. This time round at least one of the two parties knows roughly what they’re doing, so hopefully by the time he’s 6 months Mingus should have a pretty decent stack to show the world.
Watching the action at the Wadebridge show.
We all went to visit a dog show at Wadebridge in Cornwall last weekend in order to give Mingus more full-on socialization opportunities. Despite the cavernous venue and the many, many dogs of all shapes and sizes, he took it all firmly in his stride and trotted round with great enthusiasm and curiosity – again, receiving much attention and many oohs, aahs and coos along the way.
Ready to roll at Rough Tor.
Soggy-bearded Phoenix en route to the top of Rough Tor.
At only 12 weeks old Mingus is limited to walks of 10 to 15 minutes at the moment (so as to protect his developing joints) so he still gets to be carried once his allotted walk time is up…we did manage a quick trip to the beautiful moorland of Rough Tor on the way back from Wadebridge though, and this allowed Mingus the opportunity to splash around in the shallow river and see some horses close up. Phoenix and Tim then went for a great romp up to the top of the tor itself whilst Mingus and Adam want for a snooze in the sun back at the car….
It's all go on the dog-sofa.
Phoenix & Mingus are still very much besotted with one another, but (again, with joints and hip-scores in our minds) we’re now very wary of allowing them to play together for more than a few minutes. We currently running an alternating-dog schedule of play, walks, training and confinement which, although very time consuming, seems to be working fairly well, but can’t wait for the time that they can both hit the moors and beaches together.
Throwing a semi-point on Torrington Common.
Mingus’ big-boy cage arrived last week, so he’s now upgraded to a full-on adult-sized den, which he clearly loves, and voluntarily hops into when he wants some quiet time. He’s been completely toilet trained for a few weeks now, but still wakes up a couple of times each night, so the 3AM toilet run has yet to fade into memory (unfortunately…) That’s pretty much the only area that needs work though, in all other respects he’s a total delight to live with, incredibly affectionate and responsive and such a cutie!!
Mingus Touchdown.
Home!
So yesterday we journeyed far (well, to Southampton) to collect our new little lad. We packed the car for every eventuality, fully expecting howling, vomiting and other bodily expulsions en route home. In the event though Mingus took it all completely in his stride and slept silently for most of the journey, with occasional moments of rousing to check out the passing scenery – a stark contrast to Phoenix who howled and screamed like she was having root canal work for the entire of her 7 hour trip home!
With Adam.
As soon as he touched down in the kitchen Mingus burst to life, brimming with excitement and joy at all the new things to explore. After wolfing down his first home meal, wagging furiously throughout, he raced around like an energizer bunny on overload…so wonderfully confident despite his all-new environment and leaving his siblings behind, a really great testament to how well raised and socialised he has been. Eventually he crashed and burned and snuggled straight into his new cage for a good long snooze – perfect!
Favourite new toy....
....definitely.
Phoenix was beside herself with excitement, but was just too boisterous to play with her new brother just yet. Mingus seems perfectly happy to sleep on his own and settles down without fuss, so the first night went pretty well, punctuated with various trips out to the toilet, but with no screaming, howling or signs of any distress…all quite remarkable!
"Yes?"
So now, after about 24 hours at Wolf Valley, Mingus definitely knows his name, and comes scampering every time you call him. He’s also mastered “sit” pretty quickly, thanks to trusty clicker and reward system. He starts his formal Puppy Gurus obedience training in just over 2 weeks, so we’ve practised a few “down” commands to get the ball rolling. Luckily Mingus seems to have an insatiable appetite, which certainly makes training much easier. He was also weaned straight onto on raw food by Mum Jacqui, which fits perfectly with Phoenix’ all raw diet too.
Sofa snuggle.
Phoenix has become less hyper around Mingus as the day has gone on, which has allowed them to interact properly, albeit under strict supervision, and even enjoy a 3-way-snoozy-snuggle together with Tim on the “dog” sofa this afternoon…
Sofasnooze
"You displease me Human..."
"Sit!"
Antarctica.
Last night, or so we’re reliably informed, was the equal coldest night ever recorded in the UK, with temps dipping to minus 22C or thereabouts, the same as at the South Pole. Here in “balmy” Devon we dropped to minus 14C, easily cold enough to have potentially devastating consequences for some of the rare trees, shrubs and bamboos that inhabit our garden….we won’t know what damage has occurred until Spring, but in the meantime our bore-hole fed water supply has frozen and pipes burst, flooding the kitchen. The river has also frozen over (for only the third time in the last 25 years), we’ve had no post delivery for days and none of our cars can make it out of our entrance drive….so clearly the only thing left to do right now is go and play in the snow:
Our Valley.
Gotta Have A Stick.
Then Have a Stick Wrestle.
At the bottom of the garden.
Snow hoover.
Helping Adam to make a Snow bunny.
Finished!
1 flattened Giant Bamboo (foreground) & 12 snowy Redwoods (background)
Hock-deep in the snow.
Belatarr is born.
…and now the concluding part:
The exciting news that we *mysteriously* alluded to in our last post can now be revealed!
Having heard stories that applications for a Kennel Name can take many months and that applicants often need to submit 10 or more name options before one is accepted, it was with considerable surprise and delight that we received news that our 1st choice of Affix had been granted just 4 days after we applied!
So, Team Phoenix now becomes Team Belatarr…and as to why that name, well, Béla Tarr is one of our favourite film directors, his awesome Werckmeister Harmonies is certainly our favourite film, and, most importantly, like the Wirehaired Vizsla, he’s Hungarian. Phoenix came from Jane & David’s Tarndair kennel, and it also felt like we were paying homage to them with the echoed “Tar(r)”…all in all it always felt like the right name and we’re so very pleased that it was accepted.
Phoenix’ kennel name now becomes Tarndair Phoenix of Belatarr and her future little sisters, younglings and various scions will be little Belatarrs too.
So, to sum up… 🙂
Belatarr Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla. 