Immediately after our Mother's Day AKC trial I switched attention to my planned travel to the borzoi nationals in Frankenmuth, MI. I was looking forward to this for several reasons and all in all had a good time. Reason 1 was of course - it is the Borzoi Nationals - and at this annual event one gets a chance to put faces to names, renew old friendships, and make new ones. I got to see many beautiful hounds and delighted in meeting their owners/handlers. 2nd - friends from my navy days lived close enough (Detroit) to visit. I have not seen them since my wedding 16 years ago and it was a true highlight to pick up where we had left off way back then. Gary and i met 40 years ago at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center and we have been like brothers ever since. 3rd - since KC & I lived for 10 years in Germany I was looking forward to having our Nationals at the Bavarian Inn Resort. Well, from the outside it looked German, but the wait staff and worker bees there knew very little about German customs. Also they had little in the way of German cuisine and drink but I made the most of what they had to offer. It was also disappointing that the resort had no laundry facilities. All in all however the grounds were very nice, the hotel rooms were small for the price but clean and the wait staff courteous. The grooming area was adequate and well thought out. the bathing facilities left a little to be desired. Fortunately we were blessed with wonderful weather and the facilities were just fine. Had the weather turned south I think there would have been difficulties. There were a few folks doing a tremendous amount of work. Especially the Steele's. My hat is off to them. Lyn from the local coursing group brought several folks to help at the LGRA meet and that was a huge help. It was nice having a set of dedicated foul and finish line judges.
The hotel sat adjacent to a large pasture which turned out to the the FAV walking area for several of us. We had one incident with PETA but nothing bad happened. The impromptu gatherings were a lot of fun and I got to meet more folks than I can remember names of.
Our hounds did pretty good but there was some disappointment. In the first run of the ASFA trial Nitro injured a rear leg. Not enough to cause lameness but enough to take him out of running 100%. It was really evident during the LGRA meet as he was not running his normal self. He still completed all of the meets and got a couple days rest before he had to enter the conformation ring. His son Jazz took 4th in Futurity 9-12 dog and 3rd in 9-12 sweeps. He did not place in the puppy class on day 3. Nitro took 4th in Am Bred Dog Class. I was very happy with the way both Nitro and Jazz presented themselves. They both have a good potential in conformation. Shannon Hall groomed and handled them both for me and she did an excellent job with them. There is no way I could have experienced the successes without her expertise.
So another national is under the belt and I find myself looking forward to Ft Mitchell, KY in 2010.
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