We are very proud of 'Aigul' Endevor Steel Magnolia, owned by Vlada who together, won FIRST PLACE in the hotly contested Yearling Bitch Class at Crufts judged by Zena Thron-Andrews this year

Brother 'Stanley' won Reserve place in his class

Solar won the bitch CC & RBIS at THE BORZOI CLUB 2009

SHOWING SILKENS ON THE CONTINENT - ENDEVOR HOUNDS WERE VERY PROUD TO WIN THE NOT ONLY THE BRACE CLASS (LILY & CESSIE) BUT ALSO THE SILKEN WINDHOUND BREEDERS CLASS WITH THE ENDEVOR AFFIX

After missing going to Hoope summer 2008, I am very glad that we managed to make it to the show in Holland this year, taking 4 Silken girls with us and picking Mr Blake up on route in Holland, 3 English ladies travelled to Leek to compete them in the show and Coursing trials.

Fira (Stacastle Hounds Fire Fly) was her true self 'the little Swedish Blond Bombshell' as she not only showed her socks off, ablely handled by Sue in the showring taking 3rd in her individual class behind her daugter Lily and 3rd place in Progeny. She went on next day to attack the coursing in the same vein and ended up joint second 'Beauty & Performance' over the two events.
While Diva (Endevor's Dancing Diva) took to coursing like a duck to water, putting in a fabulous performance gaining a well deserved 4th in the overall event.
Lily became an honary Swamp Hound on the day - I hope somebody got that photo!
And Cessie decided that chasing plastic was not in her itinary.
Mr Blake at 51/2 months of age gave a very mature performance in the baby puppy class and was rewarded with 2nd place, the judges comment was that; he needed more practice - yes I agree, this was his first shot at the show scene. But what a stunning character in that he felt safe enough to stay with 4 adult Silken girls and 3 ladies (2 of whom he'd never met before) for the whole weekend, without even a murmur of discontent - he'll fit in just great when he get through to the UK!, i just hope Juul his foster Mum, doesn't pine for him too much when he leaves.
 
For photos etc of the event go to silken-windhound.de

From her summer appearances (3 shows) Solar has added  a reserve CC fromThe Hound Association judge ChristineSpenser and the Challege Certificate at Paignton from Denise Courtney.
 

Crufts 2009
Solar was our only Borzoi to go to Crufts 2009, the guys being too young having only just started on their show careers, we hope they'll be there in 2010. Never-the-less we had a wonderful time as their parents did them proud. Dad Payatz, became a UK champion and won the Dog Challenge Certificate with BOB also making the cut in the group. Meanwhile Mum Solar, having just returned from maternity leave, was awarded the Reserve Bitch Challenge Certificate. Let's hope all the kids can tread firmly in their parent's pawprints

We took Fira Silken and Stan Borzoi to the Borzoi Club Fun Day, Sunday 19 July, they held a Rally with the Afghan Club of UK.

After a tasty BBQ and a bit of time meeting some new and some old faces, we found Fira and Stan a few classes to enter.
Stan just about got in the puppy class age wise; being as his 12 months were nearly up.  To my delight ‘The Thug’ behaved, pulled out all the stops and got 1st in a nice class of numerically equal Zoi & Affs, and thereby bagging a nice few goodies. After a few more came Fira’s class: for most handsomest dog/prettiest bitch this involved a ring full of entrants. After a couple of close examinations and a trot around for each; to huge applause and cheers ‘The little Swedish Blond-bombshell ‘ was awarded first place. Resulting in another armful of goodies to appease the stop-at-homers.

So they didn’t feel too left out of the eating we entered them both in the sausage race, although there were several heats Fira and Stan were drawn together. I don’t know if I’m quite so proud of her here as she was judged second fastest sausage eater overall i.e. next only to a large male Zoi she appeared the greediest - oops!. Anyway she was given even more prizes, albeit no sausages, thank goodness. Stan then collected amongst more prizes for BPIS, a nice bottle of Aussie wine and a few chocs for mom. Wish shows were a bit more like this - less serious & FUN

On Sunday 5 April we took Solar and some of the kids along to the Northern Borzoi Association show at Clay Cross, Derby.
It was the first BIG show for the kids and all 3 of them did well, qualifying to enter the next Crufts at the first attempt.

Below Solar is pictured with two of her daughters 'Maggie' (centre) and 'Aigul' (on the right)
Pictured on the move is 'Stan' one of her sons.

Australia has a new President!
Endevor President Argowan has reached his destination and has now joined the Argowan show team in The Hunter Valley, we think he'll soon be making his presence felt. We wish him and his kennel every success.

Ellie meets Alpaca Morag, a very special baby too!

Solar discovered something lurking in the long grass in the fields where we walk. Sensing by the way she'd reacted when she approached, it was something to be wary of, I warned her back. And catching sight of something rearing up in the grass that I thought might be a mink. I called her over, took her & all the other dogs a short way off and went back to look at what she'd found.
She was right to beware it was a young Buzzard with razor sharp talons on feet the size of a large chicken's. (Aren't camera phones just great - you never have to miss a shot). It was a reasonably warm day & it seemed distressed, gasping for air, I guess the act of fending of a possible assult had further stressed it. A few hours later I returned with some water to see if it was still ailing. I found it just a few yards away, so carefully and wearing leather gloves I pipetted water into its beek, it seemed to help, as it took several refills. I pondered what I could do to help it further, rang my vet who put me onto a birds of prey rescue, they did not respond to my calls. So I decided that it was probably better left to take its chances in the wild than to further distress it by removing it. I returned a couple of days later and found no trace of the bird, so I hope that means it made it.