REALLY IRISH WOLFHOUNDS

On Saturday Petr and I were up early for our trip to Mr. Hradil, and soon after lunch we were once more in the midst of his pack of great wolfhounds: Geeny, Medy, Vincent and little Roxi. They welcomed us warmly, each of them wanting to be first to be patted and stroked. It was just as well that Petr was with me so that we had four hands between us :-) We were taking Vincent home with us for the week, and all too soon it was time to get him into the car and say goodbye to Mr. Hradil and the others.

A Wolfhound Holiday

The next day we were up early again, because we were going to visit Eliska, the only girl in the 'Really Irish' litter, who lives about three hours from us. When we reached her house, she was in the garden and I thought, 'There is a young Ibella.' She is exactly like her mother. She was delighted to have visitors and to meet dogs the same size as her that she could play with. We spent a lovely day with her family (and had a very good lunch) and all I could think of was how beautiful she was (she moved well and had a wonderful expression) and what a great family she had found to live with.

That evening we had a nice walk, but we realised that walking Vincent wasn't going to be easy as he had become a great hunter. Ibella knows that she can't catch birds and doesn't even try. But Vincent? He found about twenty pheasants and it took us a very long time to explain to him that he had to go with us and couldn't stay behind to admire them.

Vincent and the pheasants!

'They're in here somewhere, I'm sure!'

'I nearly got one, Edita!'

On Monday Vincent was up early (again!) and by 6am we were out walking. Fortunately, the sun was up too and the walk was very pleasant. We discovered that Vincent is quite happy in the city and in heavy traffic, but he has a problem (well, not Vincent, but the person on the end of lead) with bikers. He loves them, but - surprise, surprise! - they're not keen on his training program!

That afternoon we took the dogs to a lake about 15 km away, where usually there's no one around to object to the dogs running free. Ibella and Vincent enjoyed themselves swimming and playing in a water, but the camera battery was flat, so no pictures - sorry!

On Wednesday we visited one of the biggest lakes in the region, called Musov. There are two big lakes and one small one, one of which is perfect for dog walking, and we spent three lovely hours there.

Vincent and Ibella
enjoy Muzov Lake.

All day Thursday I looked forward to the evening, because we were to meet our boys - Garf and Edie. I last saw Garf in September 2003 and hadn't seen Edie since he was five months old, so you can imagine how excited I was. Garf has a friendly temperament, and in looks he's a combination of Ailin and Medy - his body like Ailin's and his head like Medy's - very handsome!

But when I saw Edie, I had to laugh. His owner takes good care of him and he is in good condition and very happy, but I don't think he had ever been brushed in his life. He had dreadlocks all over his head and body and looked like a hippie. His owner and friends loved the way he looked, and I tried to respect their wishes, but I was too much the exhibitor and breeder and had to ask if I could groom him a just little. I soon found that under that coat was a very nice wolfhound, but after all that work Edie's owner asked whether his coat would ever grow back again! I assured him that if he didn't brush him for a few months he would soon look like a hippie again :-)

On Friday we were busy preparing for the main event of the week - the trip to Bad Homburg, for the German Irish Wolfhound Club Show. We were going with our friend Petra from Slovakia and her beautiful young bitch, Casey. It rained during the entire journey to Germany, and in Homburg nothing changed. The show was in a very nice, grassy park, but by afternoon there was nothing but mud with just a few blades of grass. The dogs were wet, the people were wet and everybody and everything was muddy . . . but otherwise the show was perfect!

The venue was excellent for wolfhounds, and the organization very good. I would like to say a big THANK YOU to the organisers, because although I sent our entry forms on time they didn't receive them, but with just two days to go, they processed our entries and we were able to take part. The four best dogs in each class received a gift, the ring stewards were fantastic and the judge, Mr. Chris Amoo, did an excellent job. He smiled throughout the day, was as nice to the last dog and handler as he was to the first, and I could recognise my dogs in his critiques.

Vincent was entered in the junior class with twelve other dogs, and behaved very well in the ring. Nearly all the dogs in his class got an excellent mark, and you can imagine how happy I was when Mr. Amoo placed us in his final four. I was amazed and whispered to Vincent: 'Vini, you are fourth. I am so proud of you!' But in fact, Mr. Amoo placed us SECOND!!! Second amongst twelve dogs, at a German Club Show, under an English judge!!! I was near to tears . . . and very, very proud of Vincent, who had done so well.

Our friend, Rainer Sticht from Germany, was also second in the junior class with his very nice bitch, Xena of Tir Na Nog, and Petra and Crazy Casey Roan Inish was third in the open class, out of 25 bitches! The last class, in which Ibella was entered, was for champion bitches, but she wasn't feeling well and really wasn't happy in the ring. She didn't want to move and even though I would have liked her to place, I had to agree with Mr. Amoo when he left her out of his final four.

When darkness fell and we could no longer look at the dogs and take photos, we sat down to listen to stories about Edie and Garf. We learnt that Edie is a cat nurse: he loves cats and lives in harmony with them. His owner had a kitten who couldn't move his back legs due to an accident, and thought he would have to let the kitten go, but Edie took care of the little one. He stayed beside him, slept with him, and one day the kitten was able to move again!

The stories about Garf were not so touching, but more typical! Garf likes to help himself to food, for example, a whole frozen chicken together with all the meat that was to be prepared for a family party; and all the vacuum packed smoked meats and cheeses intended for a biking trip! The hungry friends on the trip couldn't believe he had eaten all their food and the plastic wrappings, but over the next two days they saw what he produced and were in no doubt as to what had happened to their food!

After the judging I introduced Vincent to Mr. Amoo, as he owns his father. He seemed satisfied with Vincent but felt that he needed more 'body'. I hope that in two years' time when he's fully grown Mr. Amoo will be able to judge him again, and by then he'll see that Vincent has enough body and will be as proud of him as I am.

We were very pleased with Roxi, who is growing up very well. She is now five-and-a-half months old, and is 73-74 cm tall and weighs more than 45 kg. She has many qualities, but in my view the best is her character: she is full of energy, always happy, always friendly, always lovely.

We had a great week with Ibella, Vincent, Eliska, Edie, Garf, Medy, Geeny, Roxi and Casey, all the more enjoyable because we heard of Merlin and Tara's big show successes. Then, to finish the week on a high note, Lenka wrote to tell us that Ailin had put his coursing skills to use and caught a wild hamster!!

What a wonderful holiday!

On Sunday we took Vincent back to his family, although it was hard to part with him after such a wonderful week together. It's easy to love such a gentle and loving dog as Vincent. We spent the afternoon with Mr. Hradil's pack of seven lovely dogs.