Lure coursing
Just update.
9 January 2024 | 
Author After my last update in August, my laptop crashed and after missing it for weeks I got it back but it didn’t work then! It also turned out that there was almost nothing on the backup made!! All gone! Taken away again and after a month we were told that unfortunately it could no longer be repaired. All in all, it took several months before I got a new one and then it turned out that I couldn’t log in to my website anymore!!
This week I finally succeeded and now I could continue where I left off. Poop, poo!! But because of all the updates of my website, I have the biggest problems filling a page and it takes ages before it is to my liking. And it’s still not to my liking, but yes, I have to!
Let’s just start at the beginning of last year.
The first coursing of the year 2023 was on March 18 at the RONOstrand in Een. Since Cranston had been badly injured and Cytaugh was not in good shape at all, I only let Crumbaugh and Charlaigne run. Was actually so relaxed because you already have your hands full with this couple!
Charlaigne with her fast ears.
The following weekend, March 25th, we had our CC2000 coursing day. The weather forecast was fantastic but unfortunately they turned out not to be quite right on the day itself. The rain regularly poured down from the sky and in such quantities that everything became one big swamp. At the end of the day, when everything was cleaned up, the car, which was loaded with all coursing equipment, had to be pulled out of the mud by a tractor. He had sunk to his axles! But the people who had signed up were almost all present and had a nice day despite the weather. Hopefully they dare to come again next time!
On the 13th of April I left for Cumbernauld in Scotland to enjoy the Deerhound Breed Show. This is always a wonderful weekend with nice people and lots of Deerhounds, really enjoy!
Last year, in mid-October, Brandir started hydrotherapy. We drive weekly to Rucphen where Corinne Somers has her practice. Since there was a clear improvement in stability, and if we skipped a week a decline, we do this every week as much as possible. He now knows exactly what the order of treatments are; First massage and possibly some manipulation and then into the bath to then “swim” for 4 x 5 minutes. But… you can ask a lot of an old Deerhound as long as there is something in return, all this is not possible without pieces of cheese!
On the 10th of May we left for Sweden where I had to judge the thirteenth in Hässleholm. Then we went back to Denmark where on the 19th was the sighthound show in Vejen and on the 21st the Euro Dog Show in Herning. Charlaigne showed well, became 2nd and 3rd best bitch but didn’t get any further.
Meanwhile, Brandir celebrated his 11th birthday on May 17 at the Flyvesandet campsite in Denmark. We had hoped that we would be able to walk on the mudflats again, but because of the storm that raged exactly the days we were there, the water was too high. Very unfortunate.
I did take some pictures and a video of Brandir but unfortunately my phone was stolen in a fancy restaurant and I lost everything.
At the end of June it went back to Sweden, this time for the World Championship Coursing in Kristianstad. On Thursday, June 29, it was the turn of the CSS class, Kirjojax Harris, Cranston and Crumbaugh were entered for this. Crumbaugh emerged as the winner. He can now call himself CSS World Winner.
On Sunday, Charlaigne was allowed to run. She wasn’t in great shape after her heat and wasted too much energy beforehand so she made a mess of it and finished in 14th place out of 22.
From Kristianstad we left via Gothenburg by ferry to Frederikshaven in Denmark where we had to prepare a field for the International Coursing in Nørresundby the weekend after the World Cup. On Saturday, July 8, the sighthound show was held where Charlaigne became Danish Champion and later in the day BIS. Judge was Agneta Doverholt.
On Sunday the coursing for which only Cytaugh, Cranston, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were registered. After the first round, Charlaigne was in first place but again she messed up the second round and ended up third! I had withdrawn Cytaugh after the first round because of the heat.
On the 18th of August we left for Arnhem where the Deerhound Clubmatch and the Sighthound Show would be held that weekend. On Saturday the clubshow with 23 Deerhounds present for judge Carina Ekwall from Sweden. Charlaigne became BOB again and also on Sunday with only 8 Deerhounds present she became BOB under judge Kay Sneath from Australia. Cytaugh became Best Working Dog both days and on Sunday she also got the Reserve CAC!
Charlaigne was both days BOB.
From Arnhem we went to Göhlsdorf, east Germany, where on Saturday a National Leistungcoursing was held (provided by CC2000) and on Sunday the Jahresausstellung of the Deerhounds.
There were 2 males and 12 females entered for coursing. For the second round there were 11 left and Charlaigne was tied for 2nd and Crumbaugh for 3rd place. But Crumbaugh made a mess of it and finished in 6th place and Charlaigne was 3rd.
For the Jahresaustellung 25 Deerhounds were entered. The judge was Pascal Thiery from France. Cytaugh got the reserve CAC from the Working Dog class and Charlaigne became BOB and later in the day BIS!
But just like her mother in 2018, she also won the ‘Quodlibet Drambui Trophy’ for the combination of beauty and performance!
At the beginning of last year, there was a call from an American writer for a photo of an old Deerhound. Well, I have plenty of those!! After editing a Christmas photo with a.o. Amy and sending it to the author, Sky Blaine, she was very enthusiastic.
At the beginning of September, Simon flew to America for work and came back with the three books! Amy’s old face is featured on the cover of the third and final book of the series.
It’s a fantastic story and you can’t stop reading, highly recommended!
At the end of September we left for Brittany where Henriëtte has a cozy, small gite. We were able to park the caravan right on the property with her and the hounds had plenty of space to run and play on the large field. It is a beautiful area and there are many nice places to walk and cozy villages to visit. Mont Saint Michel is also around the corner and is of course very nice to go to.
Just have a look at her website: www.lepetitcoincosy.com
After doing some chores at Henriëtte’s we left after a few days to Gesves in Belgium for the coursing where Simon had to judge and the hounds could course.
On the 14th of October the German Deerhound Club organized its Open Club Show in Wickrath. The judge was Natalie Heathcote and there were 38 !! Deerhounds signed up for her. Charlaigne became BOB again.
The following weekend we were back at RONOstrand. It was Cytaugh’s last official coursing. Since Cranston has not been feeling well for a long time and is therefore not allowed to do coursing, only Charlaigne, Cytaugh and Crumbaugh were entered. And what was to be expected, happened, Cytaugh had to ran alone in the second round, really didn’t like that so didn’t run. She ended her coursing career with a dismissed!!!
Charlaigne won and received the CACNL with which she is now Dutch Champion for Beauty and Performance. She is the third O’Cockaigne Deerhound (and they are the only three) to carry this beautiful title.
On Friday 24 and Sunday 26 November, the Fryslân Cup and the Winner took place in Leeuwarden. We had rented a house in Appelscha for a long weekend so that I wouldn’t have to drive up and down that long way twice. Friday we had Rob Douma as judge and he had 5 Deerhounds to judge. Charlaigne became BOB and was selected in the group but did not advance.
Sunday we had the judge Jose Miguel Doval Sanchez from Spain and he had 7 Deerhounds to judge. He also did the final judging. Charlaigne was BOB again and in the ring of honour she was finally placed 2nd!
And then the last event of the year; the Christmas show in Gorinchem. André van den Broek judged the 4 entered Deerhounds and made Charlaigne BOB and in the mainring he placed her second!!
I was so proud of my little girl! The hard work on her confidence in the show ring has paid off. She now likes to go to the show which makes it so much fun. For next year there are already a few exciting, big things on the program such as Crufts, the Breed Show in England and the World Championship Coursing in Poland and a lot of fun smaller events. We won’t get bored!
Posted in Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | 
Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | 
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RONOstrand and Ravels
Since we have been taking care of one of the fields for the Herfstcoursing on Ronostrand with our CC2000 team for a number of years, we left on Wednesday 19 October for Een, a very small village near Roden, just in Drenthe. It was lovely autumn weather and we decided on Thursday to take a good walk in an off-leash area nearby. A sprint was regularly pulled by the youngster’s and Cytaugh was also quite active. Until it went wrong. The youngster’s were playing at the end of a lane and Cytaugh ran from that group to us, turned around and ran back at full speed but couldn’t avoid Cranston and flipped into him head on. She literally slid together like a harmonica. We really thought she was going to drop dead, she pulled away completely crooked and spun around. Fortunately, we were close quickly and I was able to catch her. When she had calmed down a bit, she could not stand properly on her right front leg, but otherwise it turned out to be not too bad. After taking it easy for a while, she walked well again and acted as if nothing had happened.
Back at the caravan I immediately put her on the Traumeel and Novacam, but the next day it was clear that she had had a huge blow. She was stiff and, despite the Novacam, quite painful in her neck, shoulder, ribs and loins. Since she was entered for the coursing on Sunday, I withdraw her and asked if my other three could run together. Fortunately that was possible.
Sunday morning they ran in course 1. It was a very spectacular course because Cranston ran at full speed for half a lap between the ribbon barrier and the large play castle and just when we thought he was going to ran on and get out, he turned around and ran the same half circle back and then went after the hare again. We couldn’t stop laughing! How could he make it up!
In the afternoon they ran on the elongated narrow terrain where CC2000 was operating the lure. I had expected Cranston to make a huge cut here, not to run to the end of the field but to meet the hare halfway and then go straight to the finish. But once again he amazed us by tracking perfectly, even all the way to the back! He got the highest number of points of all three for this course which is really amazing for him. They had enjoyed the game again!
Fortunately, for Cytaugh I was able to make an appointment with the osteopath very quickly. Only then did it become clear what kind of blow she had made, almost her entire body was very painful, but in particular her neck, right shoulder, rib and loin section needed several treatments to recover.
Two weeks later, November 12, the coursing took place in Ravels, Belgium. Since the weather would be very nice, we decided, despite the fact that it is only 36 kilometers, to go with the caravan. So comfortable. For the hounds we had brought the stretchers so that they could lie in the sun and we sat in our T-shirt enjoying the exceptional temperature. But as soon as the sun disappeared behind the trees it got really cold and in the morning the grass was frozen.
On Ronostrand Crumbaugh had won convincingly with 12 points difference from Charlaigne, now it was Charlaigne who won with 12 points difference against Cranston because Crumbaugh really didn’t run well in the first round. Things went a lot better in the second round, but Crumbaugh couldn’t make up for it and he finished third.
This was the last coursing of the season. Crumbaugh and Charlaigne are real toppers and Cranston impresses with his enormous strength and stamina, a real pleasure to watch. Hopefully it stays that way for a while. With Cytaugh, we just have to wait and see how she goes into the upcoming season, for now we’ll just take it easy with her.
We wish everyone a very nice Christmas and a healthy and sporty 2023!
Posted in 2022, Abroad, Lure coursing | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne | Comments Closed
Göhlsdorf, Heteren and Oude Pekela
August 24 the caravan was clean and tidy again and we left for Göhlsdorf, near Berlin. CC2000 was asked to run the coursing on Saturday and so almost the entire team was present. On Thursday and Friday we still walked around in the shining sun in a T-shirt, but very bad weather was predicted for Saturday and we had to remove the rain gear out of the mothballs. Fortunately it was not that bad in the morning and also in the afternoon when the Deerhounds ran for the second time, it was still dry. Only later in the day it erupted and everyone was soaked in no time. There were 8 Deerhounds entered including my 4. It was quite a challenge to get Cranston and Crumbaugh to the start because it was at least 100 meters from the entrance of the site, walking neatly is not in their genes! After the first round, Charlaigne was first and Cytaugh last. Crumbaugh in a tie for the fourth place and Cranston was sixth. In the afternoon Charlaigne ran with Islay’s Rhiann from Silke Eichhorn a
nd this was a very nice course, the ladies were well matched but Charlaigne had lost too much energy before starting and lost a few points. She finished second, Crumbaugh fourth, Cranston sixth and Cytaugh last.
Sunday was the CAC show for which I only entered Charlaigne. Only three Deerhounds were entered; 1 male in the youth class, 1 female in the youth class and Charlaigne in the intermediate class. She did a good job and showed herself well. She became BOB and at the end of the afternoon she was selected among the three best in the group, despite not really wanting to show herself! With these two results of the coursing and the show, she obtained the title Schönheit und Leistung! She’s doing well, my little girl.
The following weekend we were at a campsite near Arnhem because Saturday was Swift’s coursing and Sunday was the Young Dogs/Veterans Day of the Stichting Rasgroep Windhonden (the Dutch Sighthound Foundation) in Heteren. Swift’s coursing went like a train and Maarten had laid out a nice course on which the Deerhounds could also run well. My complete foursome appeared at the start again and this time Crumbaugh took the credit.
Charlaigne and Brandir were entered for Sunday. I just really enjoyed showing such an old, fit male one more time, but I had promised him that this would really be his last show. There were 5 Deerhounds entered for the brand new Borsoi-judge Sybiel Schroeder but unfortunately only 3 were present. The young male, John Falstaff from Jan Scheer and Joke Groeneveld, Charlaigne and Brandir. Charlaigne became Best Young Dog and Brandir was logically Best Veteran. At the beginning of the afternoon all judgements were ready and we had to show up for the group. To my surprise Sybiel chose Charlaigne as Best Young Dog of the Day and when Brandir had to compete for Best Veteran, he won too!! Leon Scholten judged this group and he thought Brandir was so good for his age. And he is! I was so proud of him!!!
And then …… on September 17 there was finally, after 26 years, a Dutch Championship Coursing for the Deerhounds!!!!!
On October 26, 1996, the first NKC in Een, also the first competition that the current WvCNL, was organized on RONOstrand. We had 6 Deerhounds together so that the title could be forgiven. At that time, it was still customary for the participants to make the dividing themselves so that you could see beautiful equivalent courses. We had expected that this would also be possible with the Dutch National Championships, but unfortunately the committee decided that they would make the dividing and we did not agree with this because the males of Dick and Wil Bults and Jacqueline de Kok showed such aggressive behavior at the finish, that the Hawkins family and we were forced to withdraw our hounds. We absolutely did not want our hounds to become the bobbin of a fight! So we withdrew our Deerhounds with the result that no title could be awarded. Well, then the dolls were dancing!!!!
Dick, Wil and Jacqueline thought differently about aggression at the finish, they thought that was normal, so the two aggressive dogs ran their rounds that day and they made sure that about eight men were ready to catch their dogs after the course. What a display, I would be ashamed of myself!!!
Anyway, luckily the regulations both National and International have finally changed for the better, so that such antisocial, unacceptable behavior results in a fat disqualification. We hardly see any aggressive behavior at the finish nowadays, with any breed. Happy!
This year, on September 17th, 61 sighthounds were entered and 8 judges had to show up for the Dutch Championship Coursing in Oude Pekela. Each hound is judged by 6 different judges and it is always a puzzle to have the right judges judged at the right time, as they often have dogs at the start themselves. A few years ago, the Dutch regulations regarding the numbers that must appear at the start for a Championship were adjusted. It was realized that there would never be a National Championship for a number of breeds in the old way. So instead of 6, only 4 have to appear at the start and that worked for the first time this year with the Deerhounds!!
They were all four my hounds but I can’t help that and the battle was no less. The three youngsters are all very fanatic, so that results in beautiful courses. The enormous power with which Cranston thunders across the field, the interplay of Crumbaugh and Charlaigne and the displayed intelligence of Cytaugh (she was completely back after her heat) make it a real party. In the first round Cytaugh ran with Crumbaugh, not such a good combination. Cytaugh cuts the corners and only thinks while Crumbaugh goes after the hare diligently. Cranston and Charlaigne is also not a good match because Cranston also cuts a lot but also shows enormous strength and agility. After the first round, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne both had 257 points, Cytaugh 252 and Cranston 248.
In the afternoon Cytaugh and Cranston first ran, a nice combination for the lure operator! The one cuts even more than the other and it is very difficult to stay ahead with the lure. Crumbaugh and Charlaigne, on the other hand, show the interplay, beautiful to see! But Charlaigne had to lose out to her brother, with two points less she came off the field. And with this, Crumbaugh became the first Dutch Deerhound with the title Dutch Coursing Champion!!
Posted in 2022, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
Tour of Sweden and Denmark
On July 23 we left for the north again. The first night was at the campsite between Bremen and Hamburg, always nice to wake up with a herd of fallow deer in the front yard. From here we continued to a campsite in Sweden where we would stay for two nights. But on arrival we were amazed, it looked like a dump of old caravans with sagging and broken awnings. The people who walked around didn’t look much like campers either. At the beginning of the evening a number of cats appeared and boldly sat a short distance to watch the hounds and a couple of large hedgehogs waddled past on the other side of the path. This was of course very exciting for the hounds but very difficult for us and in the end we decided to go into the caravan together. Partly because of this we left the next day to the next campsite where we would be three days. This was a very spacious campsite with a beautiful large forest next to it where you could walk for hours but it was also infested with ticks. Despite the hounds being treated against it, I picked dozens of ticks off them every day! On the last evening we were treated to ‘golden trees’, a very spectacular spectacle.
On July 28 we left for Västerås where on Friday and Saturday the Skokloster Summer Show and on Sunday the Swedish Deerhound Club Show took place. The campground we ended up on was a 20 minute drive from the showground and had a decent outlet area. Unfortunately, quite a lot of hares ran around here, which again required the necessary attention! Before Friday I only entered Charlaigne in the Intermediate class for judge Vlastislav Vojtek from Slovenia, she was the only one in this class, got an excellent and had to come back for Best Bitch. To my great surprise she became second Best Bitch out of a total of 14 bitches! Best bitch was Galerita’s Fiona van Mikael Nordström (husband of the breeder Cecilia Nordström and showed by Ylva, their daughter). I have always admired the Galeritas and this bitch was also lovely! So sound and well-balanced, while maintaining a beautiful topline during a very nice movement. Best of Breed was Grayrory’s Irresistible from Maria & Åke Käck.
For Best Intermediate Charlaigne had to compete with Ray Lindholm’s Necesse’s Faust Fortunatus. A beautiful male but he still needs some time; is still a bit loose in its movement. Charlaigne also won this battle. I was so proud of her!! the more so because she behaved well and allowed herself to be touched.
Saturday we had a rest day and that was a good thing, it was very hot, especially on the showground and that would have been unbearable for old Brandir. We had to break everything up again at the end of the day because we had to check out early on Sunday morning. So as late as possible, when the sun had already set behind other caravans and the temperature had dropped, the tent and awning dismantled again, packed and everything prepared for departure.
Sunday the Club Show. I entered everything except Cranston. The judge was Barbara Heidenreich from Canada and I really enjoyed it to show my hounds to her. A total of 21 males and 26 females were entered, of which 19 males and 24 females were present.
My 122 month old Brandir was the first to go into the ring, he did well but clearly showed that showing is still not his thing!
Second, Crumbaugh entered the ring along with 7 other males between the ages of 15 and 24 months. Despite the fact that he has never been shown he showed himself quite well and ran nicely. He found everything very interesting and wanted to greet everyone who sat at the ring. Barbara had a hard time with this class but in the end she made my Crumbaugh best!
Number two was Necesse’s Faust Fortunatus by Ray Lindholm, the male from which Charlaigne had won on Friday!
After judging all the male classes, Crumbaugh and the old Brandir had to come back for Best Male. Brandir of course stood for bacon and beans in the ring and was clearly disappointed but Crumbaugh loved it and showed himself to FIRST PLACE!! Best Male, who would have expected that???!!! 
After this it was Charlaigne’s turn, she misbehaved again but still ended up in second place behind another beautiful Galerita.
Finally, Cytaugh was alone in the class of 7 to 9 year old bitches. Not that hard to get first.
Best bitch eventually became Lawton’s Eqvizzical Exuviance from Stefan Hagstedt.
Several males and females entered the ring for the battle for Best of Breed. I don’t understand the Swedish judging system and certainly a Club Show has its own rules, all very complicated. Anyway, after a lot of deliberation, Lawton’s Eqvizzical Exuviance took Best of Breed and Crumbaugh came in second. A very nice achievement for such a young male!
After this judgement, Crumbaugh still had to come back for Best Intermediate, which he lost against …. a beautiful Galerita bitch, Galerita’s Athelas, who had won from Charlaigne. Charlaigne had to go back for Best Head but she wouldn’t show her head, she was constantly looking the other way. Brandir was Best Veteran and Cytaugh Best Senior and Best Working Dog. The Paar class with Charlaigne and Crumbaugh was also for O’Cockaigne! Unfortunately they had canceled the battle for Best Movement due to lack of time, which is a shame because Crumbaugh won every time also because of his movement.
We went home with a mountain of rosettes and four well-filled Goody Bags with very original gifts, it’s great how they do that there! All in all it was a very successful Club Show and it was very nice to talk to Barbara again.
After the show we had to drive another 200 kilometers to the south, to Olerum (who hasn’t heard about it?) where the coursing, for which Simon was invited to judge, would take place. We arrived around eight and quickly rebuilt everything.
Since my hounds were not allowed to participate because Simon had to stand there for two whole days in the field, Crumbaugh, Charlaigne and Cranston would do a test run. Cytaugh would run as a companion dog with the three officially entered Deerhounds. Before we walked to the coursing field on Monday morning with the three youngsters, Simon prepared Cranston’s slipline and put it on him. Unfortunately not quite according to the rules with the result that when I started him he ran off with me after him – the line didn’t slip! I made a huge thud to the ground and was dragged along. From now on it is forbidden for Simon to ever prepare a slip line again!!
Anyway, the hounds were restarted and again showed a beautiful spectacle, nothing more beautiful than three Deerhounds in ‘full speed’ over the field.
Cytaugh ran with a bitch later that morning but after a few hundred yards she stepped on a pulley and was done with it right away. Well, she was two weeks after her heat so it was understandable.
The next day the three monkey-heads did a test run twice, they had made up for the lack of free movement!
It were very nice days and we sat together under the party tent until the late hours, luckily the Swedes speak good English because you don’t understand anything about that Swedish!
Wednesday morning we packed up again and drove to Gothenburg. We stayed here until Friday morning and then took the ferry to Frederikshaven to cross. From there a short drive to Nørresundby where Simon again judged the coursing for two days. Here the hounds were officially allowed to participate and I had entered all four of them. Let’s hope Cytaugh would do a good job too!
We stood with the caravan close to a wild area where a herd of cows, Scottish Highlanders, Lakenvelders and their crosses, were walking around. The crosses were very special and resembled wire-haired Lakenvelders. One of the yearlings was very interested in Crumbaugh and he in her. She was also very beautiful and they stood looking at each other for minutes, there was clearly a Scottish click!
The hounds ran on Sunday and Hanne from the Eikica Sighthounds would help to start. Cranston and Cytaugh were the first to run and…. Cytaugh did run! She anticipated a lot and should have had the highest number of points for intelligence, but unfortunately this part has been deleted. In the second Deerhound course Crumbaugh and Charlaigne started and that was a really fantastic course! They followed the hare with devotion and Crumbaugh ran just a little better than Charlaigne but she did not show herself off and took 4 points more than Crumbaugh and 
took first place with the Certificate! Cranston was third and Cytaugh fourth. They had had a great run again and had come off the field without injury. It was again a super well organized coursing that ran like a train.
Monday August 8 we went to Camping Ringkøbing. We had been to this campsite twice before and it was great. Partly because of the large forest right next to the campsite where the hounds can run free, it is an ideal place to stand for a few days. And … we were lucky with the temperatures, not above 30°C!
On Thursday we went to the ‘Sandskulpturfestival’ in Søndervig. The impressive sand wall of 200 meters long and 7 meters high was decorated with the theme of the Middle Ages. Real works of art made by different people from many countries. i.a. a few Dutch, English, a Russian, Ukrainian, Belgians and Swedes had a great time in this huge sandbox with a beautiful result!
And yes, the sky really was that blue!
After a wonderfully relaxed week we returned home on Saturday 13 August. But not for long because at the end of August we had to be back in Göhlsdorf where Simon had to take care of the coursing together with Maarten and Willem. To be continued.
Posted in 2022, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
A little bit of everything and a trip to Finland.
At the beginning of this year I sent DNA from Vision and her sons and from Cytaugh and her puppies to America for research on Post Operative Bleeding Syndrome because I suspected that Vision died from this. After several weeks I got the results and it turned out that Vision did indeed have the genotype SERPF2-VAR, meaning she had the highest risk, as much as 500 times higher than hounds that have no risk or the SERPF2-WT genotype. Due to the bleeding after her operation, the supply of oxygen was not sufficient for the organs and the nervous system and kidneys can be damaged very easily by too little oxygen; the haemorrhages were thus the cause of the eventual renal failure.
Her sons, Cranston and Callaghan both have SERPF2-HET, meaning they are 25 times more likely to have bleeding after surgery or an accident. It is therefore important that the vet has the right medication on the shelf. Unfortunately, it turns out that you are not allowed to have that medication under your own management, so if you are on the road you have a problem.
Also two of Cytaugh’s puppies have the SERPF2-HET variant while Cytaugh himself has SERPF2-WT. The owners have of course been informed immediately so that they can inform their vets and I have also informed the owner of the father of the puppies.
I am very pleased that, in addition to Factor VII Deficiency, we now also have the opportunity to test the hounds for this bleeding disorder, Delayed Bleeding Sydrome (DBS – also called hyperfibrinolysis)). You can avoid a lot of trouble with it.
The commercial test is not yet on the market, but if necessary one can simply send a swap to America for research. Unfortunately, there are still breeders who do not even test for Factor VII, which is very irresponsible as it carries great risks. I therefore recommend that when you want to buy a puppy, you ask the breeder whether it has been tested for Factor VII and DBS. You can read more about this via the following link, https://www.o-cockaigne.eu/?page_id=20680.
We were finally able to remove the caravan from under the caravan port in mid-March and muck it out. In the course of the winter it always becomes a kind of storage place and before you have everything back in place and cleaned, you are a day further. But in the course of Thursday morning 17 March, we could then leave for Lelystad where the first CC2000 event would take place. More than 50 hounds were registered and it was a very pleasant day with perfect weather for the hounds. It was very nice to see Mackenzie (and of course Bert and Mariëtte who belong) again and also Simone and Marco with Finn and Kick.
Unfortunately Charlaigne was not allowed to walk, he was still in the rag basket but there were 6 Deerhounds walking that day! Mackenzie had to get used to it again but in the end ran very nicely. In the afternoon she walked with brother Crumbaugh and that went perfectly!! Also very nice courses from Cranston with the Afghan Kimi from John and Karin, and in the afternoon with the Barsoi from Anneke. Everyone enjoyed it immensely.
On April 11 I had Brandir’s heart tested again and it has improved again! By adding Carnitine, Taurine and Q10, his heart becomes more and more powerful and I no longer have to worry that the same thing will happen to him as Chidish. Cranston has also been tested for the first time and found to be fine. Nice to know before he starts his coursing career.
Cranston, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne have now obtained their coursing license and Cranston has already successfully completed a number of coursings.
The last major event was the World Coursing Championship on May 27, 28 and 29 in Kalajoki, Finland. We left on May 18 and had planned for a few weeks with a few days Flyvesandet in Denmark and a stop at Sonja on the way back. At Flyvesandet it was great fun again with the low water. Even Brandir, who in previous years was afraid of the tide, now walked freely and cheerfully. He even went crazy on a regular basis!
It is a lovely area and the hounds always enjoy it. It is also a great terrain for a good fitness training because walking through such a layer of muddy sand is quite hard!
On the way to Kalajoki we stayed at various campsites, including in Sweden, including a very nice nature campsite in a very beautiful environment.
On Wednesday 25 May we arrived in Kalajoki and were directed to our spot, a strip of asphalt in front of the caravan with a large sandbox next to it. We stood right on the beach, or rather on the beach, and looked out over the Gulf of Bothnia where the sea ice was still floating. A strange sensation as it was nice and warm those first days and everyone was walking around in T-shirts and shorts. The hounds loved the sandbox and we swept the sand outside every day.
The three coursing parcourses were also on the beach and all had a length of about 800 meters. This was long enough as it is of course very hard to run through the loose sand. On Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were allowed to do a test run but on Thursday I saw afterwards that both had a total of 6 broken feet from the sand that had sanded away the skin at the bottom between the toes. A very painful condition that unfortunately was not cured quickly – so no more test run on Sunday.
Cranston was in CSS class on Friday with two Swedish females and one English male. I judged this male, Kirjojax Harris, at the Breed Show in England last year and it was very nice to see that he was suddenly a lot more mature and changed in a positive way. Beautiful male!
In the first round, Harris ran under red and Grayrory’s Kestrel under white. Harris started very well but halfway through Kestrel came by and after this Harris actually followed Kestrel and at one point he also touched her twice, in other words he disturbed her. He got a disqualification for this which is of course very sour when you come all the way from England.
In the second lap, Cranston ran under red with Gray Mountain Maggies Aileen. As a young girl, Aileen usually walked closely behind the hare, but also made an error of judgment every now and then. Cranston coursed more with his head he read the terrain and cut where necessary. Three times the turner went wrong, he misjudged Cranston’s speed and this caused Cranston to come into contact with the hare. Luckily he didn’t care about it. Unfortunately there was one judge who most likely swapped the points and placed Cranston in third place.
In the afternoon he had to walk alone and that was very disadvantageous for him. Such a large, heavy male cannot be compared with the course before it of two females. He eventually ended up in third place. It’s a shame it went like this but Cranston really ran very well and enjoyed it.
Saturday it was Cytaugh’s turn. There were 12 bitches (6 German bitches, 2 Czech, 2 Swedish, 1 Finnish and my Dutch Cytaugh) entered for the CACIL class and not a single male! Cytaugh started in the first course together with Islay’s Quickstep of Ira Johannsen (DE). Cytaugh got 243 points and Quickstep 230. Cytaugh was in a provisional fifth place!! In the second round, Islay’s Luck Penny from Ira ran with Crathlint Dwynwen Dee from Satu Hakanurmi, the only Finnish rider. Luck Penny got 228 points and ended up in provisional tenth place while Dwynwen Dee was disqualified. Fernhill’s Rose at Grayrory from Åke Kack (SE) ran a very nice course and earned 245 points and Islay’s Peekeboo from Ira got 232. In course four, Islay’s Oonagh from Ira and Cotherstone Angrboda from Ann-Marie Boyle (SE) and they got 247 and 229 points respectively. Course five was for Andrea Jahelková’s Ailis Under Sharp Hill and Islay’s Quinn by Silke Eichhorn, who tied for first place with 257 points. In the last course, Andrea’s Aisha Under Sharp Hill ran with Islay’s Luighseagh by Claudia Oeljeschläger (DE) with 237 and 179 points.
In the second round, Cytaugh had to compete against Aisha Under Sharp Hill in course 4. Aisha got 1 point more than Cytaugh but that wasn’t enough to beat her. Cytaugh eventually landed in fourth place.
I was quite proud of Cytaugh, with her over 7 years she has done well!
As said, on the way back we went to visit Sonja for a day. Very strange to find only two Galgas and Brandir and Cytaugh hadn’t expected this either. After a lovely lazy day, we drove home on Sunday to see our new cork floor. The floor is beautiful, but we also found leveling everywhere; on the terrace, against the walls, even the door handles were covered. So that became a return for the floor layers to clean things up. It just meant that we couldn’t immediately start clearing out our house because everything, really everything, was in the shed, on the porch and under the carport. Well, as long as we’re ready for Christmas.
Posted in 2022, Abroad, Deerhound in general, Lure coursing | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
On the road again!
On Wednesday, August 25, we left for Göhlsdorf near Berlin, where Simon would take care of the International coursing for the sighthound racing club Phoenix. It was the first time for Crumbaugh and Charlaigne to make such a long trip with the caravan, but they adapted well and found it very exciting to arrive and walk in a different, unknown location each time.
After we had set up everything on Thursday and had a nice walk with the hounds, we found a beer stand opposite us when we returned. They were still working on some things but as soon as they were done we could come and get a beer. Well don’t let that tell you twice! On Friday Simon built up the course and Cytaugh, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne were able to stretch their legs. The three of them thundered across the field, beautiful to watch. Cytaugh is still the fastest but Crumbaugh was nearly as fast as his mother!
A total of about 100 sighthounds were entered for the coursing on Saturday, but because it didn’t go very smooth in the morning, it was around six o’clock before all courses were run! I hadn’t entered Cytaugh for the official coursing, but luckily she was allowed to do a round of coursing with Crumbaugh and Charlaigne afterwards. They enjoyed it again! Crumbaugh in particular was so fanatical and wanted to get on the field every time so badly that he couldn’t get past the field during normal walks, very difficult!
On Sunday was the CAC show and I had entered Charlaigne for this. It had been nice weather every day before, on Sunday the rain came pouring down from the sky. There was 1 veteran bitch, 3 youth bitches (of which Charlaigne was the youngest) and 1 open class bitch entered by judge Hanna Wozna-Gil from Poland. The moment I entered the ring it was dry and Charlaigne showed exemplary. She walked along nicely without acting crazy and also stood still reasonably well, amazing! She finished first!! But when she had to come back to compete for BOB, it came crashing down again and she wanted nothing more than to go back to the caravan! Initially we were supposed to leave again on Monday, but as the weather forecast did not predict better weather, we decided to pack up and leave during an hour when it was dry.
No sooner said than done, but against expectations it was very busy on the road and we did not arrive at our overnight place until late in the afternoon. Monday afternoon we were back home.
The following weekend, Simon should have judged a coursing in France, but it was canceled due to a too low number of entered hounds. Too bad, it would be nice to do some coursing in France again. Then again next year. But this canceled weekend gave us some more air to prepare for the trip to England.
To be continued!
Posted in 2021, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Charlaigne O'Cockaigne, Crumbaugh O'Cockaigne | Comments Closed
Two pleasant weekends
After the holidays and the hustle and bustle around Cytaugh, we had the national coursing of WRV ‘t Haasje on September 19. On Friday afternoon, Cearrean was finally able to run the first course for his coursinglisence thanks to Henriëtte’s Saluki Geer. This went fine. On Saturday morning he ran the second course together with the Sloughi Gabr van Els and Frie and this also went well. So Cearrean can get to work. It was a very nice weekend, a little too hot at times and quite cold in the evenings but we survived and now know how to set up camp next time at this place in high temperatures and lots of sunshine.
After we packed our things again on Sunday, we first went to pick up 3 new chickens in Langerak. Now we have 7 chickens and 1 rooster again, they fit exactly on the perch in their ‘enclosure’. Let’s hope that some more eggs are produced.
Also when I got home I checked whether the bees were still hanging in the tree. Somewhere since April / May we have a ‘wild beehive’ hanging in the oak. Now we even saw honeycombs. I just hope the nest doesn’t come down because that could become a problem with curious Deerhounds!
The following weekend we had our CC2000 funcoursing in Coevorden. Just under 30 dogs wree entered and ran various parts of the 900 meter long parcours. Sonja had also come to give the girls a nice workout again. The organizing team, which now also includes Edith and Willem Jorritsma, thus stood with 4 units within one fence and this created a high “Nienoord” feeling. The “Nienoord” feeling was also reinforced by the presence of Nelli with her young Sloughi Tiffa and Alfred and Gineke with their Salukis and a Galgo. Within the fence, all hounds were mixed together nicely; 6 Deerhounds, 6 Whippets and 1 Galgo. Lovely !!! Especially for Cranston this was fantastic, he learned a lot but above all had a lot of fun. The weather was great and it was again a great weekend.
Hopefully we can experience a few more fun events before Cytaugh enters the whelping box. But I will only know in a week and a half whether that will actually happen. We keep our fingers crossed!
And many thanks to Sonja Koning for those beautifull pictures!!!
Posted in 2020, Lure coursing | Tags: Cearrean Argyll O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Cranston Argyll O'Cockaigne, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
A new year, new opportunities.
It was already clear last year that this would be a busy and fully planned year. Also, the plans that we had with Vision, many planned events in which I would participate, could fall into the water. And so it will most likely happen.
The first event, the DWZRV-Sieger coursing in Tüttleben in the weekend of 29-2 / 1-3 was taken care of by Simon and Maarten and so we left on February 26, packed with lurecoursingmachines and an aggregate towards Warstein where we would spend the night. When we arrived at the campsite we ended up in the wet snow and mud, a cold and dirty start. But the next days the weather was not too bad and we could even occasionally enjoy the sun. Cytaugh was also allowed to participate and did so successfully! She became second of the 10 entered hounds while she is still in her afterseason. The men had laid out a nice parcours of over 900 meters and it was clear that many hounds were not yet in top condition, many slowed down after 500/600 meters. But the hounds enjoyed it and that’s why we are doing it. It was a nice weekend, a bit chilly and an occasional shower but all in all good to do.
Unfortunately Sonja could not be present with Vision as Vision was in season. And since it was intended that Vision would be covered, Sonja was very busy driving back and forth to Hannover to have the progesterone determined. Of course Vision took it easy and only after four punctures Sonja did get the green light on Wednesday 4 March to drive her to Frankfurt for the mating with Fortheringhay’s Faerwald Fable. This mating took place on Friday, March 6. Then on Saturday, March 7, Vision was inseminated with the remaining frozen semen of 29 years old from my first Deerhound male Argyll Bryan from the Market Garden.
So now we have to wait and see if Vision is pregnant, we will know at the beginning of April. So it will be an exciting time again and hopefully a few fat puppies will crawl into the whelping box in two months.
Posted in 2020, Lure coursing, O'Cockaigne Estate | Tags: Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
A weekend at RONO-strand
Last week I had the caravan in front of the door and lugged full of what one needs. Cearrean bravely helped and he jumped in and out of the caravan as if he were used to it. Thursday 21 March, late in the morning, we left for Een where the Spring-Coursing would take place at RONOstrand. The trip went well and Cearrean behaved exemplary. In that regard, he is very easy, he thinks everything is fine as long as he can be there.
Cearrean was very amazed with all the dogs and of course had to greet everyone and everything. He does this with quite a bit of noise which I find very annoying but it is difficult to tell him off because he must like the other dogs.
Friday at the start of the afternoon we went to the ‘Nienoord Estate’ in Leek. Nostalgia! The hounds that we have now never run on Leek, but Cearrean’s father, Argyll Bryan from the Market Garden, ran his first coursing here in 1989. He was already 5 years old then! In the years before, he had already done several demonstrations and funcoursings, there were hardly any competitions then.
Nienoord has changed over the years; a lot of trees and shrubs have been felled, it looks bare, especially now that everything is still without leaves. The ice club has placed poles in the middle of the terrain and in the summer sheep are walking around. So if WvCNL wants to hold a competition there, they first have to remove the posts and fill in the gaps. Nor does the terrain seem to have improved in terms of holes and potholes. It is a shame but we have many wonderful memories of Nienoord. It was a great time!
Back on RONOstrand, Cearrean was the first to have a piece of “coursing”. Of course I had a real fur for him, that makes it extra exciting! And although he goes super fanatically behind his mouse, he still had to get used to the fur that just “ran away” over the sand. The first time it went a bit uncertain but the second time he went after his hare confidently.
He certainly enjoys the game and hopefully it will stay that way. 
It was Cytaugh’s turn on Saturday. She was the only Deerhound entered because Chidish had an operation on his foot a week earlier, so she ran alone. I didn’t mind that because it was for the first time after her broken thumb and after the birth of Cearrean. It was clearly visible that her condition wasn’t the best, the first part of the course she ran beautifully but halfway you saw that the loose sand was troubling. But she had enjoyed it and her toe had remained whole again, that was the most important thing!
When, after a long pause, I wanted to prepare her for the second round, we were told that there was no more coursing. After the first round it turned out that a Whippet (from a very important person) most likely had broken his toe and it was thought that the cause was a stone because they found quite some stones in the sand. (But of course it could also have been a pulley.) This is of course ridiculous because those stones are always there and the soft sand with the stones never caused problems. It is also true that if you walk across any random coursing field, you will find stones, crown caps, plastic spoons, glass fragments and so on everywhere. This is unavoidable and never actually causes a problem. What was much worse was the coursing field of the NKC last year. Almost 3 of the 5 dogs rolled over there, I don’t know how many dogs got injured, Cytaugh broke her thumb there but do you think they would stop the competition? No of course not!!! And what about the grounds of the EKC; in Pouch (Germany) the entire area was full of broken glass, in Hungary the coursing area was more hole than field (by the ground squirrels) and in Italy the fields were littered with boulders of all sizes! (An Italian Greyhound has been killed as a result of crashing into a block.) No, canceling a game because of a few stones in soft sand I think is really going too far, I don’t have a good word for it, next time we will run on a billiard cloth! How do we ruin the coursing ?!
Posted in 2019, Lure coursing | Tags: Cearrean Argyll O'Cockaigne, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden | Comments Closed
A weekend Gröditz
Saturday 29th of September I was allowed to judge in Gröditz, near Dresden. It promised to be brilliant weather again and that’s why we left on Thursday to be there Friday early in the afternoon. And it became brilliant weather again! I had 57 hounds to judge on Saturday, a nice number of very varying quality. The Afghans and Barsoi’s scored the highest, unfortunately most Azawakh’s ended with a disqualification because of too much white in the fur. Sunday we had the coursing. They have a beautiful terrain there, really exciting for the hounds because of the groves, trees and the altitude difference. The only Deerhounds were Chidish and Vision and both ran a beautiful course. Unfortunately, Chidish har ran into a pulley and turned to have a thick toe after the afternoon nap. No second run for him so Vision was allowed to receive her prize on stage. For the time being, we are again eliminated as far as the coursing is concerned; Cytaugh a broken thumb and Chidish a thick toe. Pity of Ronostrand I would have liked Chidish to run there.
Dutch Coursing Championships
On 15 September the Dutch Coursing Championship was organised at a riding school in Werkendam. In itself a beautiful location, large coursingveld, nice quiet and sufficient walking-possibility for a short weekend. Unfortunately, during the first runs, the terrain seams to be so uneven that more than half of the dogs hit the head. There were holes in the way that even a few Afghans fell! Several hounds were injured from the field, varying from barely anything to see until, yes, how is it possible, my Cytaugh with a 
broken thumb! Just recovered from a hole of 2 cm deep between her toes, now again a broken toe. How does she manage it! And then again her right front foot which is always wrapped when she is coursing or running free. In one way or another, her stocking is pushed down during the fall and she is likely to linger with her thumb in the high grass. Fortunately, the X-ray showed that it is a ‘nice’ break and that it will be good with simple stabilization. So the next 8 weeks her foot is consistently packed again! Luckily she doesn’t bother and she’s used to wear socks in the meantime! But also Chidish wasn’t unscathed, he had a slight muscle injury in his left front leg after the second run. So he also has to take a quiet moment. A pity, it seemed like a very good location but such a horse meadow is not suitable.
Posted in 2018, Lure coursing | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden | Comments Closed
July & August
July was a quiet month, only during the weekend of 21 and 22 July we had the Beauty and Performance weekend of OWRV ‘t Haasje in Axel. Since I had the honour of judging the hounds on Saturday, Chidish and Cytaugh could not participate in the ‘title’. However, Sunday they had a wonderful coursing. August on the other hand was busy again; The first weekend we were in Donaueschingen. I took my ceramics with me because that sells very well over there, and we had two days of showing. It was actually was way too hot to do anything. On Saturday we had Frederic Maison as a judge and on Sunday Espen Engh. He made the unforgettable mistake by mentioning in Chidish’s judge report “Head is a little bit plain, needs more stop”. Hasn’t he had the time or didn’t he want to take the effort to go through the breed standard the evening before??? But… it can be even crazier. During the Benelux Winner Show in Amsterdam, the following Thursday
, Sonja was told by a Russian judge that Vision has a Barsoi gait! We then looked at the judging of the Barsois for three days, whether we saw one with the same gait as Vision. Unfortunately, not found, so Vision is the only one with the correct Barsoi gait! André van den Broek judged the World Exhibition on Saturday, August 11th and was happy to appreciate Vision, she got the Res.CACIB. Best male was Kilbourne Kaine at Oelmühle and best bitch Kilbourne Oh Sweet Lorraine to Oelmühle, both of Jürgen Rösner. (see the exhibition results)
The following Sunday, the hounds were able to stretch the legs during the coursing of Lelystad. They found it a bit more fun than showing and they enjoyed it!
On August 26th I had the show in Mechelen where Chidish became Belgian champion and 9 September we had instead of a show and coursing in Berlin that did not pass, a coursing in Gesves, Belgium. Cytaugh obtained her last CACBL for the Belgian Coursing Championship and Chidish received the reserve.
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Brief overview of June
The month of June was an extremely busy month. It started with the show in Paris on Saturday the 2nd where we had entered Chidish and Vision. Sonja had arrived Thursday afternoon so we could drive to Paris on Friday. On Thursday-evening, Silva suddenly got a fever and had to cough a little later. After having given a few antibiotic tablets, she was quiet and against two o’clock and Sonja went to bed. But not for long… At half past three, Sonja woke me up with the sad announcement that Silva had died. Silva woke up and stand up, probably to turn around, and ended up on the ground. Before Sonja was out of her bed, Silva was already over the Rainbow Bridge. A very nice death but very sudden. We took Silva out of the camper and put her in my car to be able to bring her to the crematorium in the morning. We have not slept anymore.
After having handled everything and having packed the camper we left for Paris. Luckily the judging on Saturday didn’t start too early, because we were still a little confused by all the commotion. Both Chidish and Vision obtained the reserve CAC, which meant that we could go home again. Fine!
The weekend after we were in Le Touquet at the French R.A.L.I.E. Club show. Here 57 Deerhounds were entered. Judge was Joan Wragg. Chidish got the reserve CAC again behind the Finnish male Direwolf Mac Custennin of Tapio Hellman. Vision stood in a large open class of 14 bitches and got an unplaced U. Cytaugh, who now also participated, won the Working Class (3) and became Best Working Dog. Unfortunately, we had to leave after the judging, because Sonja had to return home again on Monday because she had to leave on Thursday towards Denmark where we would first go to the show in Vejen and then drive to Nørresundby for the EKC.
So on Thursday, June 14th, fully packed, we left for Denmark. We stayed at a small campsite in northern Germany and the next day we drove to a campsite in Ringkøbing where we found Sonja again. On Saturday we went to the beach to let the hounds stretch their legs and let the wind blow through their coat. 
From here we drove to the show in Vejen on Sunday. Chidish became best male, BOB and also with this Danish CAC, Danish champion. Vision Unfortunately only got an Excellent.
Monday we cleared our camp again and left for Nørresundby, near Aalborg, where during the weekend of 22-24 June the European Championship coursing took place. The wide fields were adjacent to Lindholm Høje. This is the largest historical Danish cemetery from the Iron and Viking era, located on a hill opposite Aalborg. From 1952 the area was examined and at excavations 682 graves were found from the period 500 to 1100 as well as remnants of construction. All participants in the EKC got a ticket for the museum, a very nice gesture. Also on Saturday the solstice was celebrated, called Sankt Hans Aften. The feast dates from the time of the Vikings and until
1770 it was an official holiday. As a result of this, a Viking market and village was also created and the opening of the EKC was graced with a performance of fighting Vikings.
Because we, as CC2000, had given a coursing demonstration at the beginning of this century in Bjerringbro, Denmark, we still had contact with Karin Janz, who organized that at the time. Later we also met her regularly at EKC’s and when we were invited several years ago; as a judge for the show and Simon as a jury for the coursing, to come to Nørresundby, we grabbed this with both hands. Once there we were very impressed with the gigantic fields and we told Karin that it was a wonderful location to organize a EKC. And so the ball went rolling. We, CC2000, were asked to organize one field and take care of everything around it. After two years of preparation, we had a team of 20 people; 6 German and 14 Dutch coursing-lovers who, as a team in nice T-shirts sponsored by the Dutch Kennel Club, have been busy for three days to complete about 60 courses per day. 
From the beginning; the paddock with chip control, until the end; supervising the terrain so that no one could walk in the rope, there were constantly about 10 men working. It was fantastic and afterwards we were told that we were the most friendly and fastest field with the most beautiful trail. What else do you want!
A German team was asked to do another field and Denmark took field 3 for her account and everything that comes to mind. There was a lot of foreign assistance among other things; in the secretariat, at the entrance to give the people their papers and to point the way and when retrieving the results.
The Deerhounds ran on Saturday, 10 Deerhound males were entered and 9 were present, 25 bitches of which 21 appeared at the start. The Dutch participation consisted of the male Fiddich Forever in my Heart Caoinlan from Ingrid Weiss and Erik den Ouden and the bitches Vision and Cytaugh. Chidish was not allowed to participate yet and I was really happy, because of this I had no stress concerning the classification because Nelungaloo Untouchable also participated. And sure enough, at the end of the first run it was fighting again. 
Just like last year in Switzerland and on RONOstrand Untouchable from Esther Bühler jumped without hesitation on his partner Pitlochry’s Othello. Yes, and see two fighting Deerhounds get hold of. 
Fortunately, there was a Czech man who had experience with such animals and just popped up on top of it. Life-threatening because these muzzles really do not stop everything! Both Esther and her husband seem to find it normal because when we were recommending them to no longer do coursing with Untouchable with other dogs they became extremely angry. How is it possible for people to like fighting Deerhounds and to find it good that other hounds do not run anymore or become aggressive too. It is really time that this behaviour is radically punished. Through all the commotion Vision did not want to start with another hound and was given a Dismission For The Day. My Cytaugh was classified in the first course with
the probably winner; Islay’s Luck Penny from Ira Johannsen. They ran a dazzling course and Cytaugh was not much inferior for Luck Penny. Unfortunately, the afternoon break showed that Cytaugh had a slight shoulder injury and therefore no longer participated in the second run. Very unfortunate because she was reasonably well classified.
The only remaining D
utch participant, Fiddich, was very good classified after the first course, at least one hound who kept the Dutch honour high.
In the afternoon, the Deerhounds had to run on a small, reasonably narrow terrain, where there was also a not so nice trail. All males were participating again but the number of bitches started was reduced to 16. One of these was cripple at the start but was happily so wise not to run, another bitch didn’t feel like it and didn’t start. And again, there was a fight again between Untouchable and his partner Islay’s Little John and again he was not disqualified. Outrageous! Fiddich ran a formidable course and appeared to be in the first place at the award ceremony! Fantastic! Finally, after 9 years, the Netherlands again has a European coursing champion at the Deerhounds. Next year is the EKC in Estonia, we are curious!
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing, O'Cockaigne Estate, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Deerhound Jahresausstellung and Pinkstercoursing to Tüttleben.
On May 19, Jl. The German Deerhound Jahresausstellung was held to Tüttleben. Since Simon has been providing the coursings in Tüttleben for years, this club has become our ' Home association '. For us so extra nice that the jacket was held here. As usual, the show was opened with the inmarch of the 80 reported Deerhounds. Our judge was Uli Prober, an Irish Wolfhounds breeder, born in Germany, who now lives in Ireland. 
Uli approved a very strict, something I did. Of the 80 reported Deerhounds there were 3 absent, 1 withdrawn (our Brandir there he limped), 33 got a U, 21 a ZG, 4 a G, the veterans were placed without qualification and the youngest were on one after a lot of promising. It was remarkable that the males were rated much lower than the bitches. Chidish and Brandir stood with 7 other males in the Championship class but we pulled Brandir back because he didn't run well. Only the first three got a U, also Chidish who became third. 
Cytaugh stood in the Use dog class (5 reported, 1 absent) and won this. Vision stood in the open classroom and unfortunately got a ZG.
Best Male and BOB was Kilbourne Kaine to Oelmühle of Jürgen Rösner and best bitch Garamante or Bestmara of M. K from France. A bunch of beautiful hounds. 
The day after was the Pinkstercoursing. There were 25 Deerhounds reported and 24 present. Vision was classified in the sixth course, but did not know. Cytaugh walked in Course 9 with Islay's Hollyhock but it was injured halfway. After the first circulation, Cytaugh was on a shared seventh place with 172 points. In The Second Circuit she walked with Islay's Hyra. Hyra got 175 points and Cytaugh 184. With this, Cytaugh finally cam
e in fifth place. And at the awards ceremony, which is always a feast in Tüttleben, it appeared that Cytaugh had won the prize for beauty and performance!!! What was I proud of her! After a year with a lot of fear and care for her foot, it turns out that all this effort was not for nothing. For the eighth time I took the "of the Scottish Highlands" Wanderpreis for the best Gebruikshound home and the since last year, for the Deerhound with the highest points number for Schönheit und Leistung, made available Quodlibet Drambui Trophy. 
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Coursing in Wanlin, Belgium
Well, I forgot to mention that during the international coursing in Wanlin in Belgium, on 15 April JL. There were initially 10 Deerhounds reported. Unfortunately, Chidish fell off because of an injury to his foot. After the first turn, a French bitch fell off and a second French bitch held it for the second circulation. Cytaugh stood in fourth place and retained it after the second turn but she did get the CACBL and the CACIL! This allows them to start in the use dog classroom now!
Posted in 2018, Abroad, Lure coursing | Tags: Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden | Comments Closed
European Coursing Championship 2018
They have been doing this for years, the Danes, the European coursing championship. And, the funny thing is that we are the cause of it.
In, I believe, 2001 we were with CC2000 in Denmark to organize a coursingdag. There were a lot of 20 hounds with their owners who first became acquainted with the Coursingsport. It was a great day and several participants were so enthusiastic that they picked it up and finally ensured that the coursing became a popular sport in Denmark.
A few years ago, Simon and I were invited to come to the coursing judging and to come and approve the show. We were so enthusiastic about the location and asked Karin Janz why they would not hold a European coursing championship and of course we offered our cooperation. After a long time of worrying and pondering, the Danes decided to put their shoulders under it and started rolling the ball.
CC2000 is therefore asked to take one field for our account and since then Simon has been busy with it. He has already had a very international team of employees and we hope that everyone has as much sense as we do. We look forward to it!
Through the following link everything can be followed; http://www.coursing2018.eu
September/October
They were a few busy months. In September we repainted the floor of our house, we had a fun-coursing-day with the Barsoi Club, found the NKC place in Oude Brina, Chidish had to be checked on his heart for a cover with Fortheringhay's Farrah Cailean of Cristina Wüger (DE) What took place a few days later and we had the show in Maastricht. For the latter, Sonja came a few days about what always results in more work as we invariably go to the garden centre and always find something we like to have. So days later I'm still sitting in the earth plants with my hands.
Just before the show in Maastricht I got an email from Marijn that Bibelot had become loops but that he renounced a litter because he didn't have time for his work. After a little thought I decided that I had the time and that it would be a sin to pass this opportunity. We had already talked about this in the spring to use the frozen sperm that I still have from Argyll in Utrecht, at Bibelot. So he quickly called Marijn and it has just settled that Bibelot was able to check her heart on Tuesday. So Tuesday afternoon just up and down to Eersel. For Wednesday I had made an appointment in Utrecht and after research it appeared that she could be inseminated right! Thursday back for the second insemination and then wait and see. Wednesday 1st of November we will go back to Utrecht to see if there are any puppies.
The weekend after that, Sonja and I threw each other on a mini-camping on Friday 6 October. From here we drove to the show in Zwolle the next day. Since we were only later in the morning we had all the time to chat with everyone. Nice to see Gary Boyce again with Moka or Muma, an even very young, beautiful male with a fine character who is well developed. The inspections were, to say the least, "surprising" but it had its advantage; We were able to get back to the camper in time to travel to Ostercappeln where Vision and Chidish would run a coursing the next day. Of the four reported Deerhounds there were three present. In the first circulation, Vision ran alone and got the highest number of points. Chidish ran with Fiddich Forever In My Heart Caoinlan by Ingrid Wagstaff & Erik den Ouden. Chidish cut off quite a bit but got a little more points than Fiddich. In the second turn, Fiddich ran alone and got the most points and ended up in the first place, Vision became second and Chidish third. Since Simon left early on Monday morning abroad I had to return home after the coursing.
Tuesday I had an appointment with Dr. Orange for control of Cytaugh's foot. It was half a year after surgery and he was very amazed and satisfied with the good healing. Cytaugh may run loose again and the sport in! I will always let them walk with a stocking and possibly tape around her toes, even on our own terrain.
Friday afternoon Sonja and I were back in Dortmund on the camper-parking lot in the Wischlingenpark. Saturday we had the Bundessieger and Sunday the international Show. Vision was both days forest and Chidish BOB.
On Monday I went back home after taking some of the station plates, and then packing the caravan to go to RONO-Beach for the coursing there on Thursday. During the NKC, Alfred Nada had asked Simon if he wanted to take care of a field on RONO beach with CC2000 and to do it with a closed fair, it was agreed that CC2000 can take a quad to the EKC next year in Denmark. A great deal! Since there were quite a few employees who had cancelled their cooperation, Sonja and I were asked to jump in. So we had our hands full of walking with the whole group, walking from Vision and Chidish on Saturday and the veterinary control on Saturday evening and Sunday. I also helped some of the paddocks on Sunday. As mentioned, the Deerhounds ran on Saturday. Of the 14 reported hounds there were 4 males. 1 male and 1 bitch were absent. After the first turn there was 1 bitch injured and Nelungaloo untouchable was disqualified due to attacks from his partner just before and at the shelter. He had already done this during the EKC, but the jury did not do anything with it. Now there was finally a jury panel that dared to disqualify such a dog but after the owner made the announcement of the disc. Had gotten the jury for everything that was ugly and told them that they expected this in the morning. Yes, if you know that you have an aggressive dog on the line, you can wait for it to fly out! Hopefully she sees that she is really wrong by letting that beast run. The owner of Islay's Little John was just too cancerous. After the first turn on the trail that did not virtue and after the second turn she made it completely fur! Little John walked together with Chidish and they were well-matched. They both met at the same time at the reception and went together on the hare. The owner of Little John immediately pulled this road from the Hare. In the meantime, Chidish had the hare by grabbing the muzzle and did not loose any more. I was busy getting the hare out of his mouth when Miss Little John started to rant that she didn't think her dog was allowed to be at the hare! Since I was working with Chidish I ignored her but after we got off the Coursingterrein she started again! I told her she had pulled her dog from the hare herself, but she was not susceptible to reason. What a lamb bitch! It shouldn't be crazier! I now also know why many of those dogs are aggressive in the shelter; Their owners are extremely tense and this is about their dog. That told Miss Little John me right before the course and yes, it may well be true, if you know that your dog is not friendly I would be too tense! No, coursing is not fun and we were glad we had our own CC2000 party the weekend. Such a small 30 hounds enjoyed a nice long trail, without stress, without muzzle and dumb Rendek, just wonderfully relaxed with perfect coursingweer. Vision could walk again with Chidish and she walked the stars of heaven. She always runs with Chidish much better than with another, I think it is a matter of self-confidence, she is also so young.
Anyway, the caravan is clean and empty again and can hibernate. We are still facing a busy period; Tomorrow to Utrecht with Bibelot and next week to the world exhibition in Leipzig. And then……. Who knows.
Posted in 2017, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
European Coursing Championship
A week's holiday for the EKC.
On Wednesday the 21st of June we left for Strotzbüsch, a small village in the Eifel, where we would stand for a week at a campsite before we would travel to the EKC in Lotzwil. After a four hour drive we arrived at the top of a small, narrow, steep road. On the site of the campsite we had already read that for very long combinations it was very difficult to come down and up, given the two hairpin bends. As we have already experienced something, we went into the adventure, or the abyss. The hairpin curves were only just to take, we didn't have to be 10 centimeters wider or longer but arrived downstairs
it turned out that the bike rack had damaged the car something. We decided to take the rack with the bike and the gate of the caravan on the way back. The camp site was located in a stretched valley along a flowing stream, the Ueβbach. We chose a spot at the end of the campsite which seemed very quiet at first, but when the owners of the tipi who stood next to us came back, they turned out to have two small children who did not want to go to bed especially in the evening and then spent hours To Blèren in full. Fortunately they left on Saturday and returned the rest,…. Although. Friday afternoon there was a large group of friends with a dog and many children perched in the middle of the terrain and especially the children had a lot of fun. Until late in the evening they ran around the campsite with a lot of screams. Fortunately, Sunday morning they broke the tent camp again and around noon the weather was wonderfully quiet. Walking was a top sport, a mountain, a mountain, something we are not used to. There are a lot of hiking trails in this area and also very well signposted but there are also many paths in between, so you do not have to walk necessarily 35 kilometers. Certainly with Cytaugh's
foot, which has undergone a fierce operation after her toe has been shot out of the bowl in mid-April, we still have to be a little cautious.
Also at this campsite we had the space to play with Chidish or to throw with his werpbal, he really can't do without his balls, that must be every day! And a round of cycling around the campsi
te he also found beautiful, much further could not, there the path was too steep!
On a regular basis Dolf ' The Camping Wolf ' came to the neighbourhoods. A treasure of a dog that suffers a life like a louse on a very head. All day stroll, a little playing with the kids and other guests, a little paw bathing in the water and regularly a walk with the boss, what more do you want as a dog? 
On Tuesday the 27th of June we took our mess again and left for Freiburg where many other EKC visitors would spend the night at the racecourse, before we would travel further to Lotzwil. A quiet night was not there, around Tienen we saw it again in the distance and at midnight it finally arrived with us. With some huge popping and an incredible hoosbui thundered the thunderstorm over us. We again experienced the distress during the EKC to Pouch in a slightly smaller but just as fierce a degree.
The next day we were again early on the way to Lotzwil. Get there, find a spot, unpack it and set it up and run a nice piece with the Hounds = Coursingterreinen view. The weather was very difficult. The ' Red ' field was life-threatening, the ' yellow ' field was full of stones and holes and was far too small + bordered by corn and corn fields and the ' Blue ' field was oersaai. After several judges and other managers looked at the ' Red ' field, Simon, together with the team that turned here, made the field safer. And that it has worked turned out, because there are no deaths, even just a few minimal injuries. The opening on Thursday evening was boring and cold. Little party mood and halfway the majority of participants walked away. It gets less every year, apparently it's only about the title and no More fun.
There were 16 Deerhound bitches reported of which 14 are present. All 11 males were there including three that are absolutely untrustable in the reception or, very aggressive. We had agreed beforehand that if Chidish were to be classified with one of these etters, he would not walk. What was I happy when it appeared that he had been classified in the first circulation with the German male Islay's Kurt Cobain. Chidish and Kurt Cobain had the very first course with the males on the ' red ' field. 
Chidish took the lead clearly and two thirds of the course was leading. As he shot past the second pass, he continued to walk down the hill and later came up behind the hare. Because of this he was a second later with the Hare Dan Kurt
Cobain. But he had walked a very good course. Unfortunately, when leaving the field that Kurt Cobain had been injured, he did not appear in the second circulation. When we saw the points of the first circulation we were a little surprised. Kurt had received more points from two judges than Chidish, for which… no idea. After the first turn, Chidish was in ninth place, but we were already pleased that he had come unscathed of the field!
Also in the second turn, Chidish was classified with a reliable male so that we could go to the start without stress. Chidish took the lead again and ran a good course. The third course in this circulation, was for the two highly placed; The German Islay's Little John and the Swiss Nelungaloo untouchable. The latter was at the top with 447 points. We had already noticed that this dog was constantly kept aside and yes, at the reception he dived on his partner without any excuse. This should have been a fatty disqualification according to the new FCI regulations but so far no jury member has been involved. He did get fewer points and landed in tenth place. Chidish was finally allowed to take sixth place on stage.
Islay's Jock appeared t
o have ended in fifth place and when it was already growling the podium, he had the sweetest right Chidish attacked. What an aggression radiated this male! Chidish shot completely in the stress and wanted to finish the stage as quickly as possible, I had my hands full to hold him in place. He finds the courses beautifully and he does it full of surrender but on stage next to one bonk tension, that does not need for him anymore and I think that I no longer harming him.
Sunday, Simon had to judging half a day and we enjoyed the greyhounds. Monday we packed up our mess again and we drove home in one go. On to next year, we have to organize a field at the European Championships in Denmark. Hopefully that will be a more sociable European Championship!
Posted in 2017, Abroad, Lure coursing | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
Jahresausstellung to Volkmarsen
A little later than planned, still a report of the Deerhound-JAS in Volkmarsen on 8 April and the international coursing on 9 April 2017.
Deerhound Jahresausstellung to Volkmarsen.
On 8 April, the Deerhound Jahresausstellung was Volkmarsen. The judge was Ken Aird, a breed of real shot that used to be a lot of coursing, behind the living Hare. His kennel name was Shenval, Brocade was one of his famous Deerhounds. In Total, there were 103 Deerhounds reported of which 102 were present.
After the veterans, babies, puppies, youth and Intermediate class, the Champion class came with 8 reports. Also Brandir stood in this class. We were the last and Brandir did not make much sense. When we were in turn, Brandir did not show himself from his best side, and at the time when I expected me
to walk with him, I was sent back to my place. Only advantageous because Brandir thinks that the loop is too much trouble. I was expecting absolutely nothing at all and was considering just walking out the ring, which of course can't, when Mr. Aird suddenly pointed to us and sent us to the first place! I was stunned and didn't know so well what I had to think of. But yes, of course it was nice and Mr. Aird clearly saw Brandir's qualities (he really did).
After that there were two dogs in the dog class and then a large open class, 12 pieces, where Chidish was in. Chidish showed himself well and was put to my delight first!
It turned out that Mr. Aird clearly preferred a certain, a.o. The heavier type Deerhound had. Dogs with a gooseneck, extremely long legs, far too steep, no lendewelving, huge high heels and high worn curling tails were immediately punished with a ZG. This concerned the two dogs from the use dog class but also the entire intermediate class got a ZG. As a result, Chidish automatically became eligible for the CAC and had to compete against his father for the title Jahressieger. This was Chidish! Last year still Jahres Jugendsieger, now the ' adult ' title.
After that he had to take up the best of the youth class and the best veteran for best male and he also won!
Then the girls were the turn. Sonja had quite twisted her knee and could not walk. Because of this she asked Connie if he wanted to show the Vision in the youth class, 10 pieces. Unfortunately this was not such a success, Co
nnie had to fight a little with vision and vision did not want to show himself. No placement, but an excellent one. Cytaugh stood in the Open class with 17 other bitches. She too could leave the ring with an excellent but no placement.
After the bitches, Chidish had to compete against Kilbourne Oh Sweet Lorraine, who had become the best bitch, and Mr. Aird was so impressed by Chidish that he designated it as the best of the breed! I never expected this as Lorraine is a very nice bitch.
At the end of the day, Chidish was also Best in Show under Judge Guido Schäfer. What a day! Of course we allowed ourselves to taste the cult well afterwards!
The next day was the coursing. I had reported both Chidish and Cytaugh and hoped that after all these months of rest, Cytaugh's toe would remain quite. I had taped both feet as support but unfortunately, after the first circulation, it was not enough and it appeared that the toe was shot from the bowl. No second circulation more for Cytaugh. Later I saw that after the first turn she was on a shared third place! It was also seen that she had gotten less points for condition. This was explained – she had walked halfway her toe from the bowl and this was also seen, she walked the second half of the trail clearly less than the first half.
Chidish ran in the first circulation with a similarly two year old male from the Czech Republic, Elvin Tiger Irater of Eva Vobornikova. Beforehand, we made them acquainted with each other and that went well. Also the course was fine, they were well-matched though Chidish already anticipates and cuts off what he obviously costs a lot of points. When receiving no problems, as it should.
But unfortunately that was different in the second circulation. Not with Chidish but Elvin, he was classified with a not so friendly dog. Before the courses, this dog already attacked another male in the path we were waiting for, which did not promise much good. Chidish walked with a roommate of this dog and since I was not one hundred percent sure how it would behave, I asked if Sonja wanted to walk along to the shelter. Fortunately, this proved to be an unnecessary action as everything went well. Elvin was immediately after Chidish's turn and not only Sonja walked again to help in the shelter but also a fourth person. So it was already clear what was going to happen. And sure enough, without a second doubt popped up the aforementioned dog atop Elvin. The people who would ' catch ' got no chance to avoid it and also the owner of the culprit had no chance. A fierce slugfest party was the result. And unfortunately, the Keur masters were at such a distance that they probably could not have seen who started or they were not well aware of the new relenting because there was no disqualification.
When I later appealed to the owner of her dog's misconduct, she denied that it was aggression, compared it to the behaviour that Afghans sometimes exhibit and, last, she said that it is normal for males!!! This says everything about the knowledge of the breed, the breed standard and how a Deerhound should behave. She clearly does not realize that by letting her dog run with others, not only destroys other hounds and the sport is damaged but also, because her dog runs under the name Deerhound, this breed provides a very bad name.
I had a déjà vécu. The stress we had then, years ago, about aggressive males on the Coursingveld is up to date again. Fortunately, it is now true that an aggressive dog, even after the hare standstill, has to be disqualified. And I hope that the Keur Masters will actually do this.
Chidish landed in sixth place of the six males present but with the reserve CACC and JAS Schönheit & Leistung!
It was a weekend with highs and lows and with very mixed feelings; I drove joy, sadness and anger back home on Monday.
A wonderful CC2000 weekend!
During the weekend of the 24th and 25th of March we were a guest with CC2000 at Mini camping ' De Blökke ' in the Heurne, a small town in the Achterhoek. We Boften again tremendously with the weather; A lovely sun with perfect temperatures. It was for the first time that Maarten and Monique were part of the CC2000 clan and especially for this they had purchased a caravan. Unfortunately, they used to be on a regular basis with a caravan so it didn't provide much fun while building the awning.
In the course of the Friday, Simon and Maarten have laid out a nice long trail that could easily be cut into pieces so that each hound could run its own distance.
Quite unexpectedly and not planned, Sonja showed up on Friday-afternoon. This was a perfect moment for Vision to run with muzzle and Rendek, something she hadn't done yet.
For the coursing there were a z0'n 45 hounds logged in. Also the young Afghaantjes of Pascal and Martine Talia were again from the party and showed their passion for the course. Vision ran together with Chidish. She had to get used to the muzzle in the first circulation, but in the afternoon she showed that she had no problems with it and walked with surrender behind the hare. Chidish showed himself an experienced courser and cut off decent pieces!
There were several beautiful courses to be admired and everyone had a lot to his liking.
For lunch Andrea Kisser had made a delicious pan soup, thanks Andrea again!!! and also the roll ball were greatly appreciated.
Also in the afternoon there were many courses so that it was only about celebrating we were ready. It was a great success again and everyone enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, the beautiful courses and the blissful weather.
I had agreed with Iris and Marijn to judge the puppies and to take the picture on Sunday. Of course Sonja also wanted to see the puppies. They were 9 weeks old and there were clear differences to observe. Our favorite, the dog with the blue collar, still heads and shoulders above the others. 
In second place came the bitch with the green collar. A very powerful bitch, looks very much like Cute Coney.
In third place the bitch came with the collar with hearts. A lot more elegant than the green bitch.
Sonja acted as a star and the next was the male with the yellow collar. Also a cracks.
Then there's another female with a red/yellow collar.
And last a female with a lot of white.
All in all, we are very satisfied with this litter and they also all have a good home. Hopefully they will grow further and we'll see them once again.
In any case, I wish the new owners a lot of fun and happiness with their new house.
Posted in 2017, Lure coursing | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
September
The first weekend of September we go to the coursing, or actually the Lievelde. Simon would explain the trail and turn in the morning, Maarten Cameron would run in the afternoon. There were about 66 hounds logged in. Chidish and Cytaugh could do a test run on Friday-afternoon and Saturday-afternoon, and they did so diligently! You can always enjoy walking in the surroundings; Sand, water and forest what else do you want?! The team that organizes this coursing is extremely pleasant and always does its stinkenden best. This year they also had very nice prizes; Wind lights with a candle in it.
The grass was somewhat on the high side and of course there was a lot of commentary on it. It's preferable to let people walk their hounds on billiard sheets where there is no blade to be wrong. The whole course is being helped by this mentality because the organizing associations always adapt to the people's whining. The fields are getting flatter, obstacles are out of the wicker and ditches all the way, a nice long trail is always too long and if a hook is less than 70 degrees (while 60 is allowed) the bend is too sharp and dangerous. Apparently, the whiners have never experienced a real hare-coursing, because they are turning hares 360 degrees in full speed!
When I remember the French Championships in Guignicourt, sometime in the last century, the hounds had to jump over a flowing stream of about three metres wide and covered with pebbles and pebbles. Many hounds jumped into the creek or against the shore but there was no one who complained about it. Coursing is imitating the real hare Hunt and that happened here! And so it should be everywhere but the problem is that people do not train their hounds. With hours running on the leash, they do not learn to use their eyes and to cope with their bodies and they really need it with coursing! I hope that the coursing in France is still a bit of what it was then because with my two youngsters I am eager to go "real" coursing.
Anyway, during the coursing in Lichtenvoorde a Barsoi and Whippet was injured, the Barsoi broke her front leg and the Whippet a metatarsal, both after they ended up in a ditch. At the Whippet it was stupid bad luck because she did not see the ditch but the Barsoi could have seen it but did not look good and did not jump well. Yes, and not looking good and not jumping well is disastrous at this sport. The nasty is just that the screwdriver always gets the blame and usually this is not right!
Sunday 11 September I left early in the morning towards Luxembourg. At the last moment I had decided to register as Brandir still needs a CACIB and Chidish and Cytaugh could still be just in the youth class. On the statistics I had seen that another male was enrolled in the Open class, so whether Brandir would get this IB was just the question. There, the male became Fritzen Gunpowder. A still quite young male who I had given a ZG during my inspection in Bremen mainly because of the too short and not dancing gait work. Well Brandir's is not at the moment that what I like to see so I found it very exciting anyway. Whether it was right that he won, I don't know, you can't judge from the ring, but I was very happy with it. Brandir got the CACIB and becomes international champion. He is also now Luxemburg's champion and it turned out that the Benelux winner card was also forgiven, so also the title Benelux winner Luxemburg he had. With the Dutch and Belgian Benelux Winner title, Brandir is now the first Dutch Deerhound to be the Benelux champion! He is now ready and may stay at home, only a little club matches maybe.
Chidish eventually became best male and BOB with the Luxembourg youth Kampioen's title and Benelux Youth winner ' 16 and also Cytaugh was Luxembourg's youth champion and Benelux Youth winner ' 16. In the honour ring, Chidish came out against a thick 60 other juvenile dogs and was selected until the last 6. After that he had to return to the honour ring with group 10 and he was third! All in all I went home with 8 titles! Not bad!
The weekend was the Dutch coursing championship in Axel. A relaxed weekend with delicious weather, nice walks and Chidish and Cytaugh have walked a test run.
Friday the 23rd we left for Amermont, Belgium. Here Cytaugh and Chidish would run their first game. Finally we were able to join again and we felt like it! It was like old; Camping on a field where the cows are from and everything is on his thaw. It was perfect coursingweer although the terrain was pretty hard by the preceding dry period. The Deerhounds walked on Saturday and to my great surprise there were six Deerhounds reported and also present, 4 bitches and 2 males. This meant that the CACIL could be forgiven. Cytaugh and Chidish walked very convincingly and especially Cytaugh followed the hare nicely. But after the first turn, Chidish was at the top with 265 points followed by Cytaugh with 263 points. Kilbourne Norma Jean received a disq. Because they did not ran, Laïs Palantiri had 218 points, Limelight Palantiri 256 and Livingston Palantiri 261. That became even more exciting because could Chidish and Cytaugh continue to retain these places? In the second round they were thus grouped together and walked Cytaugh again neatly behind the hare while Chidish anticipated and cut off here and there. Chidish showed more passion and strength. He was therefore first at the shelter and made a nice flying kill, as far as that can with a 
muzzle on it. At the beginning of the evening was the award ceremony and then it appeared that Cytaugh had received the highest number of points for the second circulation, 259. In total, therefore, 522 points and with this she became first with the CACBL and CACIL. Chidish had very astonishingly gotten the least number of points, 252, and thus became third with 517 points. Livingston was second (261 + 257) with the reserve CACBL and reserve CACIL, Limelight was fourth (256 + 257) and Laïs became fifth with altogether 473 points.
Unfortunately, a day later, both Chidish and Cytaugh both had a thick toe. That means at least 6 weeks of rest and that's good bales!
Posted in 2016, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed
Short overview of the last half year.
On Friday 15 April, Sonja and I left with Chidish and Cytaugh towards Stratford upon Avon where the wide Show of the English Deerhound Club was held. We went with the camper of Sonja because we would take a puppy with you on the way back and then the motorhome was so comfortable. I had booked a room in the hotel at the beginning of the year because we did not know that a puppy would travel back.
After we entered the hotel, we went up with our stuff. It was a very traipsing with dog beds, clothes bags and bags to our room there which was of course on the second floor and at the end of a very complicated and long corridor. First we had to go with the elevator, then a walk through, then stairs up and back stairs, all sorts of nooks and again a long corridor descend. After a lot of sighs and gepuf we came to our room. The first thing I did was pull the curtain aside and open the window, it's always too hot in such a room. Then we had to give the dog beds a place, the room was redecorated and when we finally looked at the bed it turned out to be a French queen! Well, we're not going to be there for a couple! So Sonja back down, to the reception and ask if there was no other room. That was there, on the other side of the hotel on the ground floor! So we load everything on the trolley and finally I closed the window and wanted to close the curtain again. After a small mahbub the whole curtain came down! This started all right! Limp of laughter we came down and after having reported it (it turned out to occur more often) we could go through to our new room; Corner, stairs and 10 meters in the corridor. It turned out to be a room for disabled people, s
o nice spacious. Sonja warned me that I didn't have to attract anything, especially those red cords that were everywhere! For the show on Saturday I had Chidish in Junior Dog reported. He stood with 7 others in the ring. The judge, Mrs. Dagmar K.C.-Pordham was charmed by Chidish and placed him first! Best Dog was Pyefleet Tarka and Reserve became Hyndsight Desperado. Cytaugh stood with 6 other in the Junior class as well. She was third behind two Neroche sisters. Best bitch was Killoeter sai Tallavarjula and Reserve was Kilbourne Pandora to Talorpechie. For Sunday I had Chidish and Cytaugh reported in the ' Special not bred by Exhibitor ' class. A very strong class with 19 entries. Sonja showed Cytaugh. Here they made nothing under Judge Wendy Cross.
After this inspection we packed our gear and headed for Brightlingsea where we would pick up a puppy for Sonja. Mary Girling was still cleaning up the wide Show in Stratford and so we had the time to walk with the hounds, behold the puppies and prepare the food. I had dropped my eye on the smallest of the two bitches and hoped it would be for Sonja.
This proved to be the case and after all the paper Rompslomp to have completed and signed we left the next day again towards the Netherlands. The small Vision did just fine on the way, no beeping or whining, a prodigy and once arrived in Rijsbergen it soon turned out that she was a natural talent for shows! 
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A week later, Simon and I sat with the hounds in France at the club show of the RALIE, the French Irish Wolfhounds and Deerhound Club. I liked to Betina Adams, she approved the Deerhounds, my two ' youngsters ' show mainly because Chidish seems so awfully much like Cscarf. Brandir got 1h in the Championship class, Chidish also got 1h and became best youth Deerhound. Best Male became Jesus-Maria-Joseph du triple Bois and reserve became infidel-et-Ram du triple Bois both of Mari-Eugenie Vinen. At the youth bitches, Cytaugh also got 1h, although Betina would have preferred to put two others on her, but these two didn't want to show up, yes and then you're out of luck! Best Bitch and BOB eventually became Garbo or Muma of Gilles Barreda.
At the end of April we were in Göhlsdorf near Berlin. Gert Jan had made a turning machine for ' Windhunden-Rennclub Phoenix ' and Simon would turn the coursing with it. But first on Saturday the show. Only Chidish and Cytaugh were reported in the youth class. Chidish got from judge Mrs. Ella Yaschenko from Moldova 1h and became BOB over Cytaugh who also got 1h. In the Jügend BIS inspection, Chidish was placed fourth by Olaf Knauber. The next day was the coursing, this was the first time that Vision saw such a thing and she found it twisted interesting!
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Thursday, May 5 was the Deerhound club match. Judge was Willem outside camp. Brandir became fifth of the five, Chidish first of the two and Cytaugh third of the three. Not such a success. The pictures can be found on http://www.deerhoundcllub.nl I had in consultation with the Board and the University of Nottingham, organized that we would decrease DNA for the surveys that are currently running in England. I was very happy with our foreign participants because these were all willing to let DNA be taken from their hounds. This is in contrast to the ' big ' Dutch breeders. One for me (and many others) incomprehensible setting.
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On Saturday 7 May I was with Cytaugh and Chidish in Dortmund. Here Mr. Dux approved the 17 reported Deerhounds. Chidish got 1h and became best youth Deerhound and Cytaugh got 2h behind something that should never have been won. It was very strangely approved and many could not find themselves in the results. Next time, again to someone coming out of the greyhounds.
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Wednesday May 11th we left for Tüttleben. This year the Saluki Jahresausstellung took place. The center of the racecourse was nicely decorated with a camel, Sheikh and Saluki's. For the show on Saturday, 5 Deerhounds were reported. Chidish was the only male, he got 1h (with this he became German Youth champion) and became BOB, Cytaugh got 1h in the youth class and eventually became forest. Because there were so few couples logged in, I also reported Chidish and Cytaugh. They walked beautifully next to each other but of course it is not a real couple, they do not resemble each other. But the judge thought differently and made them first. Next, Chidish had to appear in the ring for best young dog. He also won this and a little later he became a further BIS! I found this very embarrassing. The BOB Saluki was also not exactly bad and just had to be BIS. For his victory Chidish got a beautiful bed but I found it more appropriate for Saluki's so the BOB Saluki got it.
Vision had already grown considerably and thought it was wonderful to see her comrades again. They had fun for ten so with his threes. In Tüttleben We always have a nice piece of garden so that they can rauzen a lot but they found it very nice on Tuesday to also take a course on the Middenterrein. Simon had a spectacular trail over a ditch and back long the trees. You saw that the hounds enjoyed this, it was something else than in such a smooth, uncluttered field. Of course Vision could also be a piece and she did it full of surrender!
Two weeks later we were in Nörten-Hardenberg. Simon was in the front of the coursing and so I was staying with Sonja in the camper. This all went fine. From Thursday to Sunday it was the ' European Irish Wolfhound Congress ' with the Jahresausstellung of the Irish on Saturday. 250 Irish Wolfhounds were reported there for the three electoral masters; Gretchen Bernardi (USA), Chris Amoo (UK) and Jan Pain (UK). The results can be found at http://www.dwzrv.de
Sunday was the CAC show for all the greyhounds and Mr. Peter Friedrich approved the 15 Deerhounds. All Deerhounds got an excellent so that says enough again. Chidish was first in his class and became best male. Cytaugh also got 1h and is now also a German junior champion. BOB became the Finnish bitch Brokenwheel Mc Blodeuwedd.
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Saturday, June 4, Chidish and Cytaugh were in Tilburg on the show of KC de barony. Here Ricky Lochs-Novels accepted the 5 Deerhounds present. Chidish got 1h and the reserve CAC and Cytaugh also had 1h in the youth class. With this U'tjes they have become both Dutch junior champion.
Above you can see one of the Coursingvelden of the EKC in Slovakia. This was held from 17 to 19 June. We planned to leave Sunday morning 12 June but when I drove home on Saturday afternoon of my Greyhound inspection in Lelystad, I got a breakdown. It was such a serious that the roads waited it could not fix it and honor a garage that could be it of course Monday! Only on Monday-evening we were able to leave and drove the first piece until just before Frankfurt in record tempo. Wednesday evening we joined the group at the racecourse at Vienna and Thursday afternoon we were in Vel'ké Pole, Slovakia. We had no hounds in the fight but Simon was once again chef D'équipe. It was all not such a success; The organization left a lot to be desired, variable prices for eating and drinking were requested and no good agreements were made with the associations that provided the coursings. This resulted in a single field that started off with a very small round of racecourse instead of a coursing and where, after this was changed, it turned out that two people manned this terrain for three whole days. This resulted in errors of the Turner, tensions with the participants and organisation and finally the removal of the greyhounds on Sunday a
fternoon to prevent injuries caused by spinal errors. Another field on Sunday turned another team and it had no spare material. So when the turntable started at the beginning of the second turn, the German team gave a different field, their the spare, but the driver did not want to turn. Anyway, the German Turner that he took over, turned much better than the first one and this gave the hounds quite different points than the hounds who had already walked. This caused a huge shift in the rankings. Don't like them all. For Brandir, Chidish and Cytaugh It wasn't really nice either; You couldn't walk well, during the day it was sometimes very hot and I was looking much at the far-away fields or with my ceramics. In order to make up for it we had planned a few days of holiday at the back, but at the camp site where we initially landed, we were geattaqueerded in such a way by Hornets and other very large flying rigs that we will be right the next day Have left. After that we went to a campsite in the Czech Republic and that was better. We could take a very large piece of ' garden ' and walk very well in the surroundings. After three days we went home again and the hounds were happy again that they could uitrazen on their own terrain.
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2 and 3 July I was allowed to Hyvinkää the windhondenspecialty in Finland. On Saturday I had the Barsoi's and on Sunday the Deerhounds. The quality struck me from both breeds and because I am strict with the Barsoi's (49 present) I forgive 10 excellents and at the Deerhounds (39) 4. Especially the Bovenbelijningen were very flat in both races and the corridor works really bad. Something that is very important for a Barsoi and Deerhound! Best Barsoi was Yegorov Morning Haze of Virva Sundberg & Seija Piippo Kokkola and best Deerhound the beautiful bitch Kerslake Doreen by Carina Engman.
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On Thursday 21 July we went to Crown Mountain near the Here was on Saturday the exterior inspection for which we had signed Vision. And as I wrote before, she is a natural language. She showed herself as an accomplished lady at the Judge Willem Outer camp.
Cytaugh and Chidish have walked together for their ' haasvast ' in the afternoon. This went fine! The next day, Cytaugh walked with Bernice in the morning and Chidish with Bernice in the afternoon. And both times, Bernice happily joined so now the two ' puppies ' have their ' haasvast ' and they can officially join in from 22 September.
And of course Vision could also walk a bit on Saturdays! Again she did it full of surrender. And after hard work it's good to make junk!
Posted in 2016, Abroad, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Bernice, Nimloth Brandir, Pyefleet Vision | Comments Closed
Finally recognition!!!
Calhoun O'Cockaigne still gets his CACIL and thus the title European coursing Champion 2009!
On 23 August 2010 I write the following article for the Dutch Deerhound Club magazine.
"It would happen to you!"
Last year I was still very enthusiastic and proud that my Calhoun O'Cockaigne had won the European Coursing Championship, on 1 July this year I received a letter from the Board of directors that the FCI has withdrawn its title. How can this be? To keep a long and difficult story short, it is tantamount to saying that, on the basis of statements by Frank Schmidt and Mr Martin Haas, both from Germany, the FCI believes that Calhoun would have walked his two qualifying matches too young.
If we read the Dutch regulations well, we will see as first important article that all greyhounds can get a starting license from 15 months. So also the big varieties. As a result, Calhoun also had a 15-month license. In the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, in their national regulations, the large varieties are allowed to participate in a competition (national and international) from 18 months, but in France the large races of national competitions can take part from 15 Months. Nowhere, even in the international Ren and coursing regulations, does a greyhound have to run its qualifying competitions for the European Championships in his native country or whether it should be international or national competitions. There is also nowhere that a Dutch greyhound also has to keep the Dutch national Ren-en Coursingreglement abroad. (A French greyhound is not allowed to participate in a national competition in the Netherlands with 15 months, he must be 18 months because he then runs through the Dutch rules).
So Calhoun has walked for 15 months, two qualifiers during a national PVL in France, like several Dutch and French greyhounds.
We therefore find it very unjustified that the FCI Calhoun's title and the CACIL has withdrawn and are therefore engaged in a legal process to challenge it.
From that moment on I am trying to get right through the appropriate channels, but unfortunately it is not that easy to go. A lot of back and forth is written and mailed and eventually it ends up at the CdL. A body that really does not have anything to do with it because the FCI forgives the title and in this case has also withdrawn. The CdL brings it to vote twice during meetings but the majority vote against giving the title back to Calhoun. By now I have taken a lawyer, Anne-Greet van der Wal, in the arm and again a thick letter has gone to the board of Management. Yes, direct contact with the FCI is not allowed. The dossier grows into a huge pile of all the same letters, council statements and requests for additional data as it is now really in the process but… Nothing happens. Beginning 2016 shows that everything has been lost and Anne-Greet resends the writing. And sure enough…. On Friday 25 March I received an e-mail from Mrs. Sabet of the Management board. She shared that she had just received notice from the FCI regarding Calhoun. The FCI Executive Committee has renegotiated the request for the CACIL to Calhoun and they had decided the following:
"It was further agreed to re-confirm the CACIL awarded to Calhoun O'Cockaigne, Deerhound, NHSB 2683124 at the CACIL coursing of Marianske Lazne (CZ), July 2009. The CACIL award will be sent by post to the BOM in the next days.
The titles of European coursing Champions are issued by the CMKU or the organizing club of the event ".
I have had to read the writing several times to be able to realise that it is now finally, after almost 6 years of fighting for it, succeeded!
A few weeks later I was allowed to receive the CACIL by post. No accompanying writing, no excuses, nothing at all attached to the FCI. But, of course, it is also very difficult to admit that it was terribly dumb to listen to two Germans who have no knowledge of things.
Meanwhile, I have applied for Calhoun as well as the international coursing Championship. Hopefully that won't take 6 years!! Of course it is also very difficult because they have to use the international Ren and Coursingreglement of 2011, the year in which Calhoun obtained his last CACIL. We are waiting for it.
Five days in Germany.
Earlier this month I again spent a short week with Sonja in Germany. We went for lovely walks in the environment and enjoyed our hounds. Chidish and Cytaugh saw their first deer and were quite enthusiastic. Bernice was slightly unwell, as they had made a wrong move and left her with a bad pain in her back. After physical therapy she was a lot better, but not running and playing during the first few days of rest.
Sonja gave me a printed copy of “Deutsches Windhundzuchtbuch” [Book of German Sighthounds], which was written specifically for exhibitors and judges, and I agree with what it says. I have translated it and placed the translation below this blog entry. The article also is listed in “The Deerhound” under “Interesting Articles Generally.”
On Friday, Simon arrived at Hermannsburg after working in Denmark and visiting a trade fair in Berlin. Saturday afternoon he explained a great course held on a bare cornfield so the hounds could all run freely. It started with making the lures, and of course with real rabbit-skin in it! The hounds definitely had to watch that.
Next Simon took the lure machine and pulleys into the field, with Sonja following with a wheelbarrow. Very handy, that, because otherwise you walk back and forth with the stuff. After fifteen minutes I drove the car and all the hounds to the field. Because to tie them up to a tree while others were on the coursing field, didn’t look very clever to us.
First we slipped Bernice and Silva to run a half course. Bernice ran like the wind but afterwards was a little stiff again. Silva enjoyed it thoroughly but could not keep up with Bernice and so cut a lot. Good enough!
Chidish and Cytaugh are terrifically fanatical and ran really well. For the second course add Brandir to them. He started very well but halfway saw something in the woods. He suddenly stood still with his ears straight up. Then he cut off a portion of the course and made the kill as first.
That was enjoyable!!
Sonja, thanks again for the wonderful days, but especially thanks for the splendid birdhouse!! I will install it this weekend and make a couple of photos to show how it looks. It is really beautiful.
October
October has been in the sign of RONO Beach for many years. We've been there almost every year, mostly with coursing hounds but in recent years only with hounds running on Friday. Sonja has also consistently been present in recent years. This year, during the training, Brandir started halfway through the trail after Bernice had walked the first piece. Brandir started full surrender and walked a good second half together with Bernice. The puppies also walked a quarter of the course with great enthusiasm. The days after were pure relaxation, a little walking and courses watching. Monday the 19th everything is packed again and home. 
Thursday 22nd of October I left for Hermannsburg. I would stay a long weekend with Sonja and walk the show in Hanove
r on the Saturday. In order not to make it Stressig we had the Friday load. For the puppies it was the first time they came to Sonja but they found everything fine and beautiful. Only the stairs running to sleep above with me, gave some problems. After two nights we decided that they would have to stay downstairs. And that went fine! Saturday to the show. Brandir still needs one CACIB and I had hoped to address him here. Unfortunately, this kite did not get up, he got the reserve. Chidish and Cytaugh behaved exemplary and this time became Chidish best Jüngsten. So We were able to go home in time to make another big walk. 
The next day it was fine again to take pictures and.. They have succeeded
! 
It took some time but the result is also there! 
On these photos are Cytaugh and Chidish 7 months young and Brandir nearly 3.5 years.
And on Monday another nice piece walked. It was again beautiful weather and the trees were brilliantly discoloring! The hounds were very run loose and had fun for ten!
Tuesday morning my mess packed up again and home. Quickly cleared the car and cleared the caravan because Thursday we left again for a weekend CC2000. Again we had beautiful weather! Simon and Gert Jan had a nice trail with an obstacle in it. In Total there were such a thick 60 hounds, but the most beautiful courses were those with 7 Afghans and 4 Saluki's, always a joy to watch. Brandir and Bernice have walked together with a Barsoi and also Chidish and Cytaugh were allowed to have a piece. It was again a wonderful weekend!
Brandir about the obstacle!
Posted in 2015, Deerhound in general, Lure coursing, Show | Tags: Cockaigne Chidish van de Meirse Weiden, Cockaigne Cytaugh van de Meirse Weiden, Nimloth Bernice, Nimloth Brandir | Comments Closed