We have a New International Champion*!!!
*Pending FCI confirmation

Int Fin Norw & Est Ch Nabila's Eyez On Me

Joose finnished his International Champion* title by winning Best of Breed & Cacib at Tartu Int Show in Estonia on 5 November. He got also CAC and became thus also Estonian Champion. The judge was sighthound specialist Ms Zafra Sirik from Israel. And to make the day perfect, our travel companion Gloria went BOS with her 3rd Cacib. Unfortunately we didn't have a possibility to stay for the Group competition as we had to catch the ferry to get back home and to work on Monday morning.

Tartu Int 5 November: BOB Ch Nabila's Eyez On Me, BOS Ch Nabila's Morning Glory
photo: Vilma Jürgens

Yesterday we went to our very first official agility competition. Joose had a blast and so had the audience, I think... The first three  obstacles: a tire jump and two bar jumps went great. But then he got a bit too much speed, missed the A-frame and got this "afghan euphoria" and started running crazily around the course area doing some very outstanding jumps and speedy tunnels. And being a well-mannered young man, he did not forget to say hello to the ring steward, either... Unfortunately, the course he performed wasn't quite the same the judge had planned, so he was disqualified.
Well, at least the audience got something to laugh at and what else could I do than look at his exhilaration and wait until he would be ready to listen to me again. Then, when Joose had calmed down, the judge told us to do the "final straight" so we did a tunnel, weave poles and bar jump and got a BIG applause :)
Next time we have a clear target: 4 successful obstacles before getting carried away!

Getting ready before the start...	...is this Joose a) doing a slow "Down", b) streching for the warm-up or c) showing a sign of prospective activity on the track?

This news comes a bit late, but better late than never...  Anyway, Joose didn't have very much time for a birthday party on Friday 22 September. In the afternoon it was time for a bath to get ready for a boat trip to dog show in Eckerö, Åland on 23 September.
But on Saturday it was time for celebration when Joose won Best of Breed with CACIB!! The judge we can thank for the success was Ms Edwina Thomas, a breed specialist from South Africa. BOS was our dog park friend, Sherry's "little sister" Samba (Hashirin's Egyptian Silver Moon) while Joose's travelling companion Gloria (Ch Nabila's Morning Glory) went 2nd Best Bitch. Not a bad day at all! :)
I would like to thank Pia and Gloria for a nice trip, Nina and Untu for entertaining company during the day, all ring side supporters for your beautiful comments on Joose and everybody else who has expressed their congratulations. Thank you all! :)

Eckerö Int 23 September 2006: BOB Ch Nabila's Eyez On Me, BOS Hashirin's Egyptian Silver Moon

Then we have some fresh news as well: Joose's daughter Wilma ended her coursing season today with 5th place at HVK 45 years coursing competition with CAC-quality. This competition was also the Helsinki Kennel District Coursing Championships and it that category Wilma's placement was 2nd!

Oh, how time flies! Lillie's 'puppies' are 5 years old today. Happy Birthday to each and everyone!

We would like to congratulate Joose's son "Windy" who last Saturday received 1st prize at an obedience trial with 181/200 points and honor prize in the novice class! Well done!!

Congratulations to Joose's daughter Sherry & her owner Nina for another win on the racing tracks! Sherry won the "HVK Cup" invitation competition arranged by the Helsinki Sighthound Club on 23 August. Her time was 38,78 sec that again gave her a racing CAC!

A male's life isn't always so easy... For the last week or so poor Joose has been heartbreakingly howling and crying after Lillie, who started her season almost three weeks ago.
Last weekend he (and we all..) got a relaxing break from those worries when Joose went to a dog show in Askersund, Sweden with Mirja. As travelling companion they had Joose's daughter Wilma and her owner Marika - thank you both for a very nice weekend!!
Joose really enjoyed the trip, but was unfortunately sooo tired after all the fussing at home that he never got his "show gear" on in the ring, and his performance wasn't quite what he is capable of on a good day... However, he got a very nice critique, the only "complaint" being that he could have had a bit more carriage while moving. He was placed 2nd in open class and finally 4th in the Best Male competition under breeder-judge Stephen Wheeler (Jacosta). Wilma was 4th in open class.
Here's Joose's critique as a whole: "Very elegant brindle male with beautiful outline standing. Very elegant head - yet masculine. Good length of neck flowing into clean shoulder. He has a well developed front, excellent boning & good feet. Excellent topline, good hipbones, good tailset. Excellent bend of stifle. Well developed body. Very sound mover from all directions. I'd like to see him with a bit more carriage, but he clearly has style."

While driving back to Stockholm harbour, we stopped for a photo shooting session - quite successfully, I would say...

Joose

Joose

Wilma

And a closer look at Wilma

We spent some days at our summer cottage during this week and Lillie had a ball, she really enjoyed running free around the yard, forest and on-shore!

Lillie the Dumbo in a Finnish jungle :)

Having fun...

... and then a bit more ladylike

Lots of sunny summer greetings
to Lillie's children, grandchildren, other relatives and all friends!

While Lillie was running like crazy around the yard, we received some great news from Helsinki: her granddaughter Sherry did it again! She  won her fourth track racing competition, "Kartanon Kannu", with time 38.55 sec and got another racing CAC. Congratulations to Sherry and her owner Nina!! Daddy and Grandma are pretty proud! :)

Joose for his part tried his luck in the show ring for a change. This was only his second show this year and he got another Best Male -placement, when Henrik Johansson from Sweden placed him as 3rd Best Male.

Samba, Joose & Felicia

I guess we have some historic news to tell: Last Sunday we took part in "Agirotu" - a relay competition in agility for four dogs of same breed. This was the first time ever Afghans had their own team - and not just one team but two! Joose was in a team called "Taitavat talebanit" ('the Talented Talebans'), the other team was called "Kabulin kauhut" ('the Horrors of Kabul'). We had a great time, and both the team members and the audience got many good laughs when afghans showed some of their tricks on the track!

Joose in full speed doing the spread jump.
Thank you Tuuli for this lovely picture!

Joose had a very good day - he was carefully listening to my instructions and didn't make any extra spurts! I guess we should send special greetings to Joose's dear friends , daughter-Sherry and Samba & their owner Nina who were kind enough to meet us in a dog park early in the morning to let the extra energy out before we left to the competition! Thank you, that was really useful! ;-)

There was also a costume parade and the best ideas were awarded. This time we were not placed in the top five - neither in the agility competition (LOL!) nor in the costumes category - but I think this was a red-letter day for all involved and will make us smile over and over again - and again...

Team "Taitavat Talebanit" - Joose & Mirja, Aurora & Hannele, Qita & Anne, Rosha & Kirsi

We've just created a photo gallery for the pictures Kari took during the day. If you want to get an idea of the athmosphere of the event, you shouldn't miss those photos! The gallery is still under construction, but the pics are there... Enjoy and have fun!! :)

But before you leave, take a look at the enclosed photos Tuuli Koivumäki took of Joose. Thank you Tuuli! You can see them and many more great pics at Tuuli's photo gallery. Absolutely worth visiting, too! :)

Joose at the top of A-frame

and making sure to put his feet in the red contact zone

And then some jumps...

... (and some more obstacles not shown here) ...and Joose crosses the finish line!

Last but not least, a huge THANK YOU to our coaches Kirsi Nousiainen and Untu Jantunen for making all this possible! These news wouldn't be here without you! :)

Super-Sherry news again!
The Finnish Derby, a racing competition for 3-year-old dogs, was run today in Tuomarinkartano, Helsinki. This was Sherry's third racing competition and she took her third win and got again a new title: DVR-06! Her time was 39.26 s that gives her racing CAC.

Daddy Joose (who by the way has got his page a bit updated) is of course very proud and sends lots of kisses and congratulations!!!

Joose's daughter Sherry, CVM-06 TS-06 DVR-06 Nabila's Jet Set Queen
Photo by Kari

While our own dogs are still "on holiday" from official events, Joose's daughter Sherry keeps us busy updating these pages... :)

"Tähtisprintteri-06" - 280 meters Racing Championships, Tampere 17 June:
Sherry wins both the preliminary round (22.88 sec) and the finals (23.02 sec) and
gets a new title: TS-06. Congratulations!!!
 

Joose is extremely proud to tell the great news that his daughter
Wilma is the #1 Coursing Afghan of the Year 2005 in Finland!!!

Helmi and Sherry weren't much worse; they were placed as 3rd and 4th!

   Well done, girls!  

 

Btw: hihih, to our big surprise we found out that Joose was 10th on the Active Afghan of the Year -list.

Hooray!!!
We heard some great news from this year's first coursing competition,
Winter Coursing that was run in Ohkola last Saturday:

Joose's daughter Helmi won the competition and
got her 5th and final CAC for her Finnish Coursing Champion -title!  

And to make the day even more perfect, Joose's sister/Lillie's daughter
 Goldie was 3rd and got CAC!
Congratulations to Helmi's owner Taru and Goldie's owner Pena!!!

Hopefully some pictures coming later on...