Sorry, just been growled by Jacobite Dave who phoned to find out the results. I forgot to say it was a two day show, so have been to Rotorua twice. Made the BIG mistake of taking husband and the 2 kids as well on Saturday. The wee ones were really good until we went in the ring and they lost the plot as they had had to sit from 9.30am when the judging started till 2pm when we finally went in (after millions of beagles, bassets, dachshunds etc). Anyway there was quite a lot of drama ring side as i had to enlist the help of Glenn the slightly sozzled embalmer (beagles) as i ran out of hands and legs after Faye (Jacobite Rosashorn) won Puppy Bitch and Jag (Mapleridge jaguar) won Junior dog and had to go against each other and Paul was tied up with 2 screaming under three's and the snotty steward was yelling at me to get in the ring. You can imagine. The ridgeback owners were looking down their noses at me with their hackles up and the borzoi ladies were fluttering about getting in on the action in a helpful and beautifully groomed way. So down to the nitty gritty both dogs went well and looked good. Jag who has shown no interest in anything remotley like showing at home and refuses to stack, stood like a pro without stacking and showed off his upper and nether furnishings well. Richard and Graeme at mapleridge had obviously done some surruptious showing practice with him. Faye was her usual happy waggy self. Jag won Best of Breed and Faye got Reserve Best of Breed. Unfortunately Jag won a prize pack which contained amongst other things a large container of lollies (sweeties to us foreigners). This was smuggled out of the bag by Miss Sarah, and totally consumed, in hiding. She was still bouncing off the walls on a sugar rush at midnight. Thank you, paul for sitting up with her.....
This morning I was more organised. Had a leisurely lie in, drove to Rororua (never any traffic on roads in NZ) and got to the show, minus Paul and the kids, with an hour to spare. There I enlisted the help of a semi-professional 6.5 year old called Jorja who had shown interest in the dogs the day before. Now Jorja is a member of the young kennel club and does training every week, plus she has shown Australian shepherds, terriers and border collies since she was five - so this in my eyes makes her a big expert. She was delighted to be asked and I was instantly bombarded with questions - how did I want her to stack Faye?, which gait should be she be run in?, bait versus collar stacking? I tried to explain that I didn't know and that this was only our second show but she didn't seem to think that was a plausible answer. She then took over taking the dogs for wees (as there is nothing more embaressing than your dog weeing in the ring, apparently), watering them and practicing running Faye out. This of course drew attention to us by the media. So Jorja and Jag, and Faye and I had to have our photos taken from all angles, at different paces etc, then we got interviewed all about deerhounds, about the breed, history and about the dogs themselves. The show secretary had told the media about the deerhounds as there haven't been any shown for over 10 years, and then there was an influx this year with mine and some NZ breed dogs. Then we had to rush into the ring and got the same results as yesterday. The heavens opened before the best of group so everyone ran into the ring, lined up and the judged picked dachshunds for all the prizes and it ended up more like a wet t-shirt competition. Honestly there were nipples pointing in all directions, espcially from the super-sized basset lady and the more mature dachshund owners.
Anyway there was lots of interest in the dogs with people coming up to say hello and to admire them. Many of the older people said how great it was to see deerhounds in the ring again, and many said what wonderful looking dogs they are, and what good conformation they have (thanks Pam and Dave, and Richard and Graeme!). It was also good to make contact with the other sight hound people so I can get into some coursing later on.
Found the breeding of the NZ bred dogs. Does anyone know anything about them? Apparently 2 have been exported to Australia and 1 to USA. The sire is Anaitiuil Haast and dam is Claidhembor Caerbhan at Anaitiuil. I'll look up the rest of the pedigree on the NZKC website but apparently they go back to Stranwith Reason. Interesting.
The show itself was an eye opener as it was in a football stadium, and everyone had their own gazebo and wee entourage around them. So next week I'm taking the horse truck and loading it with homemade feijoa gin and making a party of it.
Thanks for all the encouragement. Onwards and upwards, as they say.
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Good luck. I am sure that it will all go well and you will enjoy the show. Will be thinking of you all 
Best just to say 'pardon'!! 
