I spent the day yesterday at the Silken Windhound Western Regional Specialty, and had a wonderful time. I'm more impressed every day with the firm commitment in the Silken community to medical, genetic, and scientific research about their dogs and their breeding program.
I got into an interesting discussion with one of their guest speakers, a canine genetic researcher from UC Davis. In fact, we stood in the parking lot for a couple of hours after the show, talking. I'm hoping to sit down with him again for an interview and tour of his lab. He had some ideas that really changed the way I think about what breed clubs can do to support research into their areas of concern.
I was saddened, though, on getting home to hear of the terrible fires down in San Diego. I'll be blogging about that, with information about the animals involved, over on Pet Connection in a few minutes. It reminded me of another dog show weekend, in October of 1991 -- almost exactly two years after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake -- when a terrible firestorm ravaged the East Bay Hills.
Both weekends, I was on my way home from a dog show when I heard news of the fire. It was eerie. And yesterday was incredibly windy, just like that long-ago weekend was.
My heart goes out to all my colleagues, friends, and everyone else evacuated or in danger in San Diego.
Did they do any racing? In the midwest the Silkens love to race. We shot their racemeet at the National Silkenfest last Spring at Purina Farms. I agree, they're going about it the right way as opposed to, say, the "long haired whippets" we saw in New York last month.
Re: the San Diego fires.. we parked the motorhome overnight last Thanksgiving weekend at Mary Ann's place. Just a beautiful area.. I hope it survives. Glad she got her animals safely out.
Posted by: Dan Gauss | 22 October 2007 at 06:56 PM
They didn't race at this event, but they did let their dogs off leash to free-run. I was amazed at how well everyone got along, and also noticed that some of the dogs had true double-suspension gallops and some didn't. There were a couple who looked to me like powerful and beautiful racers, but I'd need to really see them in the field to be sure.
The local club seems very dedicated to racing and coursing. I definitely look forward to getting into the field with some Silkens and seeing how they do.
I heard from Mary Ann and they're safe, but out of their home for now. What a complete disaster these fires are!
Posted by: Christie | 23 October 2007 at 12:27 AM
I think the importance of vigor and variation in genetics is penetrating a lot of communities--if only because of the benefits seen in reproduction and life span. Not before time. I hope the more progressive breed groups help get the message out.
Posted by: emily | 23 October 2007 at 08:00 AM
Thanks so much for coming out Christie! It was great to see you again and you made a wonderful steward volunteer and I'm glad you enjoyed Mark's talk, he's done a lot for us as a breed and we are so grateful to the support UCD has given us!
The fires sure put a damper on the weekend and I'm avidly watching the lists for people that I know hoping they are safe. What a scary scary place to be.
Alison
Posted by: Alison Brendel | 25 October 2007 at 12:01 PM
Boy, you were a FANTASTIC and very fun ring steward Christie!
Just so you can relive that windy wacky day, we have pics of the winners up on our club website here:
http://casilkenwindhound.com/07boofest.html
Joyce
Posted by: Joyce Chin | 27 October 2007 at 10:51 PM
Dan, just to answer your question about racing , Sazi, the BISS girl at the event, is one of the top winning racers out here in California, where we can have 30 dog meets.
Her sire is the first Silken Windhound to achieve the breed clubs racing championship ( an SRC, equivalent to the GRC) , and also the first to get the second leg of his championship. ( SRCX, equivalent to the SGRC ) .
The Best Opp Puppy in Show has two SRC parents!
Joyce
Posted by: Joyce Chin | 27 October 2007 at 10:57 PM