End of the year... almost

Well, we are getting close - it's almost the end of the year and the dogs did more than we imagined this year and we found some wonderful new homes for our puppies and made a lot of new friends with these wonderful people!

As for AKC lure coursing...
...we finished several Field Champions. Our first this year was Viva (FC Appaws Vivid ImagiNation SC, CRX, OTRM) who is co-owned with Kiesha Crawmer - she was also an AKC National Lure Coursing Championship Breed Finalist. GiGi (FC Appaws ImagiNation Of Shannon Down SC, CR, OTRM) soon followed her and finished her Field Championship (she also finished her ASFA Field Championship this year!). Our third this year was Bosley (Multi. NOTRA Meet Winning FC Shannon Down Full Throttle V Kismet SC, FCh, CRX-4, ORC) who completed his Field Championship after surgery to repair a toe he dislocated when he hit a pulley while lure coursing. Our fourth to finish would be Cuda (FC Windyglen's I'm Outta Here SC, FCh, CRX, OTRM) and then Winnie (Multi NOTRA Meet Winning, Best In Field Winning FC Windyglen Winning Colors SC, FCh, CRX-3, ORC) who is also co-owned with Kiesha. Our final Field Champion this year, who also became a Dual Champion is our Rupert (DC SDW Lifelong About Face! MC, FCh, CRX, OTRM). Rupert became our first Dual Champion and we couldn't be more proud with how all the dogs ran this year. AND - though we do not own him, we feel he is part of our family here at Shannon Down and we ran him - Murphy (NOTRA Meet Winning, FC CuRas A Clcockwork Orange SC, FCh, SR, CRX-3, ORC) also finished his Field Championship a week after he turned 8 years old! He is owned and loved by Kiesha.

As for AKC Lure Coursing rankings,
Rupert is currently the #2 Whippet, #2 Sighthound & #1 Dual Champion!
GiGi is currently #3 Whippet
Viva is currently #10 Whippet
and a few others in the Top 25!

The Brooks x Kira kids...
...one of the dogs we are most proud of is Ripley (Chesara Jaytea Ptarmigan SC, FCh, ARX) for finishing his ARX title!!!! He collected points at EVERY CWA meet he attended!!! He is not bred by Shannon Down, but is bred by Joanne Ronning & Pat Taylor. They bred their wonderful girl Kira (Chesara's Mariki's Nerys SC, FCh, CR, OTRM-2, CGC, RN) to our boy Brooks (SBOS Ch. Shannon Down Blazing Saddles SC, CRX-3, OTRM-2) to produce some wonderfully talented kids. Ripley is owned and loved by George & Michelle Evans. He is also pointed towards his AKC Field Championship. As for the others in that litter, they are also doing excellent! Brother Derby (Chesara Jaytea Curlew SC, CGC), owned by Joanne, just needs one major to complete his AKC Field Championship and earned his CGC this year. Sister Avery (Cheasara Jaytea Sandpiper SC, CGC), owned by Joanne, has 7 points towards her AKC Field Championship and also earned her CGC this year! Sister Mia (Chesara Jaytea Rock Dove JC), owned by Chrissy Libber, earned her JC this year and last but not least sister Emma (Chesara Jaytea Royal Tern CGC), owned by Connie & Gene Falzinski, earned her CGC (in 2006, but still proud)! Sunny (Chesara Jaytea Chimney Swift JC) earned her JC and 3 legs towards her SC and had a lovely litter or 3 puppies that will hopefully test out the coursing field this coming year! There are several others in the litter that should do us really proud next year!

The Brooks x Molly kids...
...Choo Choo (Willowood Chattanooga Choo Choo) gained a few more points towards his show Championship and we look forward to him finishing, hopefully this coming year! Sister Amy (SDW Willowood April In Paris) also earned her first point towards her show Championship! These guys were bred & are owned by Mike & Sue Conner out of their Shannon Down girl Molly (Shannon Down Blaithin)! Brother Josh (SDW Willowood Tuxedo Junction CR, OTR), owned by us, earned his CR and OTR this year too!

On the racing front...
...Tigger (Multi. NOTRA Meet Winning, WRA Meet Winning Windyglen Tiggers Have Springs SC, WRCh, ORC) should end the year as the #3 NOTRA dog with most of his running having been the beginning of the year! He should also end the year as a Top 20 WRA dog as well! He won several NOTRA meets this year as well as a WRA meet and completed his WRCh this year! He is also AKC Field Championship major pointed.
GiGi & Viva should both end the year as a Top 10 OTR point earner and both split an ORC point as well!
Bosley pointed towards his WRCh and is over a 1/3 of the way there!
Cuda also finishes the year as a Top 10 OTR point earner and completed his OTRM-2 and pointed towards his ORC!
And last but not least - Torin finished his OTRM-2 title!

On the show scene...
...Anna (Shannon Down In Your Eyes SC, FCh) is now singled out and just looking for her majors in the show ring and she pointed towards her AKC Field Championship.
Leo (SDW Annadar Kiss Of Fire JC) is also singled out in the show ring and just looking for his majors. He also has all his placements towards his ASFA Field Championship and just recently earned a 5 point major towards his AKC Field Championship! Both Leo and Anna are owned by Glenda Konopka.
Isaac (SDW Lifelong Blazing Hot SC, FCh, CRX, OTR) owned by Alan Johnson just needs ONE major towards his show Championship and 3 singles towards his AKC Field Championship!
Frenchie (Shannon Down DaVinci's Pucker Up!), owned by us and Gabriel Valdez, needs one more leg towards his JC and handled by her good friend Glenda she was awarded her first show point by taking Best of Breed over a special!
Marseille (Shannon Down French Kiss JC), handled by her owner Joanne was awarded her first show point as well!
Trick (Shannon Down Pick A Card), owned by George & Michelle, was also awarded his first point this year and has 1 leg towards his JC title!

Some non-Whippet brags...
...my Chinese Crested girl Quizzie (Exquisite N'Co) has had an awesome show career only being shown on a limited basis and taking Winners Bitch ALL four days at the September Atlanta, GA shows (the first day was a Toy Specialty) - she only needs one little single to complete her Championship now!
And my Basenji girl Belle (Ch. UnderCover Bella The Ball) should end up as the TOP Producing Basenji Bitch for 2007!!!! Once I get a breakdown of her kids titles I will post them in a seperate blog :)

Our litters this year...
...we had 3 litters planned for various reasons.
Our first litter was Raku's (Wheatland Raku OTRM - ORC almost completed) who was on lease from Kim Otero - we were so excited to have Raku puppies - Raku took a while to settle in but once she settled in and her personality came out she was hard not to fall in love with. She was bred to Bosley and produced 7 beautiful puppies.
Our second litter - we had Fiona (NSBOS Ch. Summit Beautiful Stranger) on lease from Sue Vernon for over a year, she had not caught when we first leased her and waited a whole year for her to come back in season. So she had to be bred on that season or she would go home without having any babies :( So we bred her to our Rupert (AI'd) for his first litter and we were blessed with 5 beautiful puppies, co-bred with Sue.
Our third litter was actually a very upsetting accident. During the time we had bred the other girls (who all decided to come in at the same time!!!!) our Swedish Import Quincy (Burnt Sienna Midsummer Dream JC) decided he wanted some action too so he found Gali (Shannon Down The Speed Of Light JC) who was in full blown season (ALL the girls came in at the same time!) and he jumped the kennel run gate to get to her! I ran out as soon as I saw him go over and he was tied within seconds, I was able to 'part' them after only about 10-15 seconds - but none the less, we had 7 puppies via c-section which resulted in Gali having to be spayed. Half her uterus has lost blood supply and we did not want to risk infection, so we had them spay her. But other than the litter being born at the same time as the others, it was a very nice litter and we couldn't be more happy with the outcome!
Our fourth litter was co-bred with Kiesha, out of our wonderful girl Winnie and sired by Bosley. She easily whelped 7 puppies, one of which we later lost as she faded away. I am so excited about what all her kids will be doing!

Congratulations to the new puppy owners...
...to start off we have to go back to our 2006 litter out of Leigh (2004 Top 20 Contender, Multi. Group Placing Ch. Shannon Down Blazing Angel SC, CR, OTR) and sired by Flynn (Group Winning Ch. Tivio N Windigo's In Like Flynn). Several of them found their new homes this year. First, Van (Shannon Down Vanishing Act) went to his new companion home to Mia Wallace and he might get to participate in some racing this coming year! His brother Blaine (Shannon Down Mind Control) just recently went to his new home to Sharron Lane who has worked wonders with him in obedience and agility - so we can't wait to see how he does when he gets older, he will hopefully get to do some coursing as well! After Levi (Shannon Down Levitation) went to her new home, we worked on getting her back after we were not satisfied with the home she had. I am very glad we did, we were very lucky to get her back as fast as we did as we know of another Whippet breeder that went through weeks and weeks of trying to get his dog home. But her and her brother Illu (Shannon Down Optical Illusion) found their forever home with Ben & Wendy Wigger where they are completely spoiled couch hogs :) Their sister Sydney (Shannon Down Art Of Deception JC) just recently earned her JC and is in her wonderful home with Beth Partington, she will hopefully dig her paws in to the field more this coming year as well as play around in the show ring. Sister Magic (Shannon Down Black Magic Woman) is in the most wonderful companion home and is very much loved by Walter & Jewel Blackwell. Brother Riley (Shannon Down Sleight Of Hand) could sadly not show or run due to a blue eye, but he is in his wonderful companion home with Jason Helrigle. And last but not least, litte Peter crooked tail (Shannon Down Into Thin Air) could also not show due to his very crooked tail that he was born with - but he is in his wonderful companion home with Chris NiBlock.

Now onto the Raku kids...
...Tinsley (Shannon Down Cinnamon Girl) will be staying here with us, our little red devil girl! Grace (Shannon Down Dreamgirl) is going to her new home on Monday where she will be doing flyball and maybe some coursing and racing with Doreen Sutton! Bandit, formally LeRoi (Shannon Down Break Free) is in his performance home with Mia Wallace and big "brother" Van!! He will get to do some racing when he is older :) Ashley, now Aesa (Shannon Down Dancing Nancies) just arrived to her new home in California this evening to Whitney Watts and she will hopefully get to do some coursing and/or racing when she is old enough! Ripper, formally Jimi (Shannon Down Jimi Thing) also just recently went to his new home in Canada with Linda Brenton and will get to tackle Flyball and maybe some coursing and/or racing!!! Dave (Shannon Down Can't Stop) is still looking for that right home, but he looks great and shows a lot of potential to make a great race or coursing dog!

Now for the Fiona kids...
...Helen (Shannon Down Mad About You) has been our pick for some time now, we got very attached to her as a pup and she won't be going anywhere :) Sister Imagene (Shannon Down About My Image) is in her new show home with Kevin and Diana Parks and I hope they all have fun learning the show ring together! Braggin, now Brom will be leaving to his new owner, our good friend Glenda (owner of Anna, Leo & Christine) this weekend! He will get to show, course and be a couch potato :) Christian (SDW Annadar All About Heart)(Shannon Down About Time) is staying with us for a while to await his nose pigment some more. And Romero (Shannon Down Blue About You) is still here waiting for his forever home, unfortuntely he has one testicle and he's such a stunning boy!!!

Now for the Gali kids...
...Tommy (Shannon Down What A Surprise) went to his new companion home with Ellen Quinn and is spoiled rotton! Mercury, formally Carla (Shannon Down Taken By Surprise) is in her home with Nelly Musso and will get to play around with racing and showing! Walter (Shannon Down Shanghai Surprise) went to his new home with Brian & Andrea Sonnier and has his own Labrador playmate. Lester (Shannon Down Surprise Of My Life) is awaiting the right home to come along, we would really like to see him show as he's such a nice boy, but we will wait and see what comes along for him. Brother Elle will be staying here unless the perfect show or performance home comes along, he's such a handsome fella! Wallace(Shannon Down Element Of Surprise) (Shannon Down The Big Surprise) is also awaiting the right pet or performance home, also a very nice puppy - but only has one testicle :( He's it he biggest goofiest pup!!! And then little Francois (Shannon Down Evil Surprise), well what can we say about Francois (aka, Francie Pants, Lil' Bit, Wee Man, etc.) he is a true runt. Still very small and the spunkiest thing around. Not afraid of ANYTHING!!! He will be staying her, atleast for now, as my brother (and even my FATHER) is attached to him :)

And now for the Winnie kids...
...little Delite (SDW Kismet Prospector's Delite) is our pick girl and I love her to death, she is such a cute little thing!!! She is co-owned with Kiesha as well. Sister Tower, formally Tiara (SDW Kismet's Classic Crown) is in her awesome Flyball home with Katy Kaylor and I am so excited to have our kids doing Flyball!!! As of right now she is doing really well with her training. Sister Ravin (SDW Kismet's Ravinella) is also in a Flyball home with Jen Wessling - she unfortunetly had a set back with an injury in the backyard, but should be back to training soon! Tower will be a member of the Touch-N-Go Flyball Team and Ravin will be a member of the Arizona Fuzion Flyball Team!!! Layla, formally Digit (SDW Kismet's Can You Dig It?) and sister Mya, formally Rio (SDW Kismet's Golden Colors) are both together in their wonderful home with Steve Van Voorhees and will hopefully do some coursing when they are older! And then Fappi, the only boy, who I think is being changed to Striker (SDW Kismet's Smart Strike - formally Fappiano) is in his performance home with Dee Evans!! He will hopefully get to course and race when he is old enough! We had the misfortune of loosing the 7th of the litter, little Georgia (SDW Kismet's Hello Gorgeous), all the puppies came down with a cold and she just could not push herself out of it and eventually faded away. She was a tough little thing and put up a good fight.

WELL, I think I made that long enough :) I know I missed a few things atleast, but once I remember them or I am reminded of them I will post them in another blog, I think this one is long enough as it is!!!

Everyone have a great new year, I hope ours is half as nice as this year was!

Krys