Well, we Rumbled till we dropped today - what a turn-out. Sue and Marjory couldn't make it because of the Scottish Breeds committee meeting, so we were several Deerhounds down on the strength but we still managed a ten dog combined Deerhound/Irish Wolfhound stakes and a twenty-five dog Other Breeds stakes. And we even had snacks - Graham and Claire are hereby requested to have a party every Saturday night before a lure coursing meeting and bring along the remaining goodies to share.
The Large, Grey and Hairy stake was won by my Dileas (Lyart Yea Verily) from Bodhranlady's Merrick (Kwaricott Abdiel) at his first Rumbling Bridge meeting, but hopefully not his last - he was having fun, although his kennel-mate Ailligan (sp?) was unimpressed. We had Tara the Irish Wolfhound x Deerhound in this stake and Chaser (Sabine) brought two IWs, Otto and Emily. Otto thought the whole thing was a good idea and joined in with gusto, but Emily sussed the con straight away and wasn't for chasing a lure at all. Ah well, some do, some don't. For example, my DownJess insisted that she was coming too this morning and would not be gainsayed, but she sat around scrounging fusses and Being Old in case anyone asked her to lower herself by chasing something that didn't breathe. Rehome dog Cluny is getting the hang of things and ran well, but Tavish decided it was more fun to run behind Jean Gilhooly's Freya in the first round. Tav and Dileas's daughter Isla came with Wendy and acquitted herself well against Merrick. Thank you to Graham and Fiona, who judged when my dogs were running.
On to the Other Breeds now - we had Afghan Hounds, Lurchers, Whippets, Zak and Torquil the Greyhounds and yes, Charlie the Rottie was back, keen as mustard and today he actually won a round against Brin the honorary Afghan Hound lurcher, who didn't want to chase the lure. Unfortunately, he came up against eventual winner Bryn Fastpants in the next round and went out, but he wasn't bothered in the least and zoomed round convinced he'd won. The Afghans are wonderful to watch - it's like watching the Flying Spaghetti Monster at full speed - and seemed to enjoy themselves, especially Anyanka. I'm told they're coming back mob-handed next time, so don't miss them. Team Speedo were back with the boys (Hairybeasty, don't tell Iain he missed them) as were Anne-Marie and her son Ryan and Fly the lurcher, now recovered after a nasty run-in with bloat. We had several flying machines apart from Young Master Fastpants, including two of his sisters, Fala and Izzie. Duffy was back and hadn't forgotten how to do it - she beat newcomer Mr Darcy the Deerhound lurcher, then ran again with Hazel. This was one of the closest courses of the day, narrowly won by Hazel. Another close run thing was the first round run between Pilot and Willow the Whippets - they shot round the course at about Mach 3, and Willow won by a whisker, only to be beaten by kennel-mate Charlie Whippet, whose determination to get there first is becoming legendary. And Feshie has got the hang of starting when the other dog does.
At this point, I'd like to place on record my own personal thanks to Sue and Kevin's son Chris - he gives up his Sunday to drive the lure retrieve quad without a word of complaint and is unfailingly helpful. Next time anyone's tempted to slag off teenagers, kindly remember that there are still some good ones around. As ever, our thanks go to Team Rose en masse, which was how they appeared later on when Sue got back from her committee meeting. The sight of Magic the Poodle with her Campari pink bracelets, tail and ears is one that will linger for some time and she thoroughly enjoyed mixing it with the last few Other Breeds runs. Sue's Deerhounds caroomed round the course in a demonstration run, which they thoroughly enjoyed, then the puppies wandered about being charming, Poppy insisted on leaning on her friends (as her mother used to do), Rannoch got groomed a bit and we stood around blethering and catching up on news until it was time to go home and finish off another wonderful day at Rumbling Bridge. If I'm not mistaken, next one's on 6th June - don't miss it.
Forum
she's got a party at the sheltered housing complex 
help with grabbing the wee minx after her run will be very much appreciated 
..so you will be safe from "monkey boy".. 
