Glory.... DCh DM Jolie Noir

Glory is one of the Flag Day Litter and she was the last puppy born on 14 June 2007.  We tried to keep all the names flag related and hers is, sorta...  well....  not really.

Because of her color, black, actual flag names were somewhat limited to those on a Pirate Flag theme.  (I must say that I wanted to call her "Old Glory".)  Anyway, some of the known pirate flags were Jolly Roger....  Not good because she's definitely not a "Roger".  Jolly Rogue - Nope...  no "rogues" in this litter and, besides, who ever heard of calling a girl a "rogue"?  There were red pirate flags as well as black pirate flags (who knew?) and Betsey, her co-owner, suggested "Jolie Rouge" because that's what the French called the red pirate flag...  uhm...  she's black, not red.  And, come to find out, Jolie Rouge is the root for Jolly Roger.  Back there again....  Sheesh!  Talk about frustrating!  So, we came up with "Jolie Noire".  Ya know, naming puppies shouldn't be this hard!

Glory was never claimed by her co-owner, so she permanently resides here in New Mexico with her two brothers.  She regularly beats up on them here at the house.  She rules the boys and shows her dam, Abbey, proper respect. Like her Aunties Jib & Javelin, she's another busy body who is always into something!

Best Opposite Photo, Coronado KC

We think Glory is stunning!  She is an AKC dual champion. She finished her breed ring title by going Best of Opposite Sex over finished champions!  That win took place at the Coronado Kennel Club shows in Rio Rancho, NM under noted judge Dr. Edna K. "Midge" Martin.  Dr. Martin gave Glory's sire a major win in Lubbock, TX several years back so I was hoping that she's like her as she resembles Dash.  Dr. Martin's comment on handing me the ribbon, "Finally! A bitch with the proper topline."  I thanked her and she told me, "Don't thank me.  Thank the bitch."  Yes ma'am!

Prior to finishing her lure coursing title, Glory was major pointed in AKC lure coursing and has 8 points, including a 5 point major by going Best of Breed over the field champions.  Hmmm...  I'm sensing a pattern here.  She beats up on her brothers & she beats up on champions?   The girl is an Amazon, an Amazon that is very fleet of foot.  One of her lure coursing wins was at age 14 months when she finished first in the Open stakes at the GCA Western Specialty lure course in 2008.  She tired, however, and did not win breed.  If she had, she would have retired the GCA Western's lure coursing trophy as she would have been my 3rd winner as an owner. Our other two winners with legs on that trophy were BJ and Jiblet.

In Glory's first attempt at ASFA lure coursing, she got points when she finished 2nd to her littermate, Banner, on Saturday.  In that effort, she qualified for the Region 3 Regional and garnered 18 points towards her field championship.  She has since finished her ASFA FCh title.  We also tried oval (NOTRA) racing and she did get a JOR.  However, that toe is keeping her from competing further in NOTRA and in any other running events. So sad...

Glory has been open field coursing and she's pointed with AK's.  She showed great promise as a hunting bitch but that toe injury has, as of now, effectively ended her running days. At least, until after she finishes her AKC Grand Championship. 

In May 2012, Glory was entered one day & one day only in the Rio Grande Cluster.  We pulled her out of retirement to show to Dr. Edna K. Martin.  Dr. Martin awarded her Best of Breed over other champions of record for a 5 point major towards her Grand Championship.  To get a GCh, a dog needs to have 3 major wins (3 points or more) over champions of record and a total of 25 points.  Well, since Glory took that major win, we've brought her out of retirement to show.  In October 2012, we entered her two of the four days of the Los Lunas cluster.  She took two, 3-point majors on the days she was entered.  That gives her the required 3 majors and a total of 11 points towards that GCh.  Not too shabby...  Three majors in Three Days under Three judges....  The hard work is done, now she only needs to point out.

AKC Page for DC DM Jolie Noir FCh JOR aka Glory

We are thinking about heading to the Eukanuba National Championship, which is being held this year in mid-December in Orlando, Florida, to see if we can pick up more points and another major towards that Grand.  It would be nice.  Out of a total of 11 puppies, 5 of them have been Eukanuba invitees with several of them being invited more than once.  We are very proud of our record and of our dogs.

Glory in continuing in the footsteps of her predecessors and she's doing it with class & style!  Beauty & function go paw in paw....

Jiblet

Jiblet was my joy!  Jiblet was the apple of my eye!  Oh how I loved my Jiblet!  Oh how I cried for months, stretching into years, after she died in an accident in the back yard. Rob & I were absolutely devastated and we were within a hare's breath of getting out of dogs.

DCh DM Flying Jib FCh - "Jiblet"

Jib was very typical of the dogs that are bred here at DM Greyhounds - athletic, healthy, graceful and beautiful to behold.  However...

 "JIBLET!!!!"

If I only had a penny for each time...  if only....

Jib was drop dead gorgeous and had  personality galore. She was my "girly girl", a silly goose and very much a busy body.  She was always into something and when she was, it usually surrounded looking for something to 'collect' as she was a great collector of objects: my favorite shoes, my toothbrush, me...  Well, I'm sure you get the picture.  Lordy that girl was a trip!

Greyhounds are an ancient hunting breed and, as a baby, Jib made her first 'kill' when she caught and killed a mouse!  She was 6 weeks old at that time.  She turned into a superior mouser and didn't hesitate to snap up flies, spiders, and other bugs in an instant.  This made her a great favorite here as I don't do bugs.  Ugh!

Mr. Jackrabbit, Javelin (yellow), Hadley (pink), Jib (blue)

Jib loved to hunt.  She was deadly on hares and over a span of 4 years, she was working on an open field coursing title.  Jib was good and she showed a great deal of endurance, running long, long courses after the wily black tailed jack rabbit.  Some of her courses were well over two minutes and some approached four minutes in length.  She had all of her placements and credits towards a NOFCA open field title, lacking only enough points to finish that championship.

Jib Chasing a Jackrabbit (right) in Tall Grass

Her open field credits included a win over two of the top greyhounds in the country: Point Breeze Lionheart and Lady MacBeth.  With all that running, she held up exceptionally well, sustaining only one minor injury, a toe, in her last year of open field, in the run that earned her a berth in NOFCA's version of the International Invitational, the Grand Course.  That was the run with Lionheart & Lady MacBeth.

Jib was prepping for another season of open field when she suffered a career ending injury while lure coursing.  It was sustained in a collision with a larger greyhound. She was tee-boned on a turn right in the loin, which left her with some neurological issues in her rear legs.  Her rear just never worked right after that.

In the breed ring, Jib's first points came when she was still in the 9-12 month puppy class.  She went Best of Breed on Saturday and Best of Opposite Sex on Sunday, both days over older bitches, to get the points.  That was just a precursor of what was to come.

Jib - BOW Under Noted Greyhound Judge, Richard Bauer

 At the huge San Antonio cluster on July 10, 2003 at age 14 months, Jib took her first major worth 4 points from the Bred By Exhibitor class.  The judge was the noted Miss Dorothy M. MacDonald.  The next day, under judge Bettie Krause, she went Reserve Winners Bitch.  On the 3rd day, she was in the ribbons with a 2nd place in BBX.  However, on day 4, which was July 13, she again went Winners Bitch under judge Richard Bauer.  Unfortunately, the major broke and the win was only worth 2 points.  Hey!  Points are points!

Jib finished her championship easily, before 2 years of age, with additional majors from Mr. Nelson Huber in February 2004 and Mike (Michele) Billings in March 2004 at the supported entry for the Fort Worth Kennel Club show.  And, in September 2004, judge George Heitzman awarded her a Group 4 at the Sangre de Cristo Kennel Club shows.

Mar 2005 - Jib Getting an Award of Merit under George S. Bell

In March 2005, she earned an Award of Merit from noted greyhound breeder judge, Mr. George S. Bell, at the Greyhound Club of America's Southern Specialty.  And, due to finishing the year as one of the Top Twenty greyhounds in the country, she received an invite to the 2006 Eukanuba National Championship show held in Long Beach, CA.

 Only recently, Jib has started with a behavior that her dam, Feather, used to do. If she doesn't want to do something, she'll roll over on her back, showing her belly in a rather submissive gesture.  It is most embarrassing and she only does it if there are other people around!  She doesn't do it when it is only us.  Danged bitch!  She's a pistol!  She's good and she knows it.

 In addition to a very good show career, Jiblet has two lure coursing field championships.  Like B.J., she showed her versatility by winning Best of Breed in the conformation ring at the Shawnee, OK shows and then winning Best of Breed at the concurrent lure course.  We got our exercise that day...  running from the ring to the lure course...  running from the lure course to the group ring....  running from the group ring to the lure course....  Should have seen us in the group ring...  she had grass stains on her hocks!  They were green!  She did get a pull in the group, but not a placement.  After the group ring and running back to the coursing field, Jib went Best In Field (BIF). Other than Jib & B.J., I really do not know of any other greyhounds with this kind of versatility and ability!  In addition to her many lure coursing Best of Breed wins, she won Greyhound Breed and the Fantasy Trophy at the 2006 ASFA International Invitational held in Colorado Springs.  What a thrill!

Sailing Litter - Left to Right:  Javelin, Dash, Bugsy, Slate, Jib, Jetty

Jib truly showed that beauty and function go together. Jib was an outstanding greyhound and she was everything for which I hoped.  She was one of our Sailing Litter.

A joy with which to live with tons of personality, one couldn't have asked for a better bitch.  She is a tough act to follow.

Jib had been health screened for hip dysplasia, thyroid conditions and cardiac abnormalities, passing all her clearances with flying colors!  (Hmmm....  puppy name?  Flying Colors?) Her health clearances can be found on the OFA website.

We bred Jib in 2009, but puppies were not in the cards and she died before a repeat breeding could happen.

I so miss my lovely Jiblet.  May she be resting and tormenting her sister up there in heaven.

Javelin

DCh DM Summer Squall at Scatpak FCh aka Javelin aka Jav aka Javvy...

Javelin was a hoot!  Beginning as a puppy, she was ALWAYS into something and it usually meant trouble!  One day, Laurie Soutar mentioned to me that as a 6 month old puppy, Javelin attempted to take over the position of alpha bitch.  Oops...  bad move!  Another time, Laurie told me that Javelin was climbing up shelving units to get to the "cookies" on the top.  Oh my...  Oops!  Another bad move....  That's the problem with a very smart animal, especially a greyhound bitch...  they use that brain and not always in ways we appreciate!

Mom and Javelin

Javelin was the first of Feather's pups to be born.  Feather had been in labor about 30 minutes or so and no pup was forthcoming.  I inserted a finger into the birth canal and felt around.  The only thing that either I or Laurel Drew felt was the bottom pads of one hind foot.  Javelin had gotten tangled up in there and Feather needed veterinary assistance.  We went off to the Emergency Vet on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend to get Feather the help she needed.  The attending vet in her infinite wisdom & knowledge (not) gave Feather a muscle relaxer so she could get Javelin out, which she did.  However, there was one big problem with giving an in labor bitch a muscle relaxer....  it STOPPED the contractions!  With an unknown number of pups still inside her, Feather needed an emergency C-section.  (Yes, the vet took an x-ray to determine how many pups were in there, but it was so underexposed that you couldn't tell anything!  It was useless!)  We lost three of Feather's pups.  What should have been a litter of 9, wound up being a litter of 6.  Thankfully, both bitch pups survived!

Since the sire & dam were named, Barracuda & Summer Breeze, we decided to name the litter after sailing terms. Prior to their birth, Rob & I wanted to name any red or red brindle bitch pup, DM Wake of the Red Witch.  That was a favorite, John Wayne movie of mine.  However, she earned her name, Summer Squall, the day she was born. When the vet finally got her out, she came out squallin'!  I remember holding up this small, 10 ounce puppy who was a hollerin' and I declared, "This one is Summer Squall."  She's been like a whirlwind or squall line, quickly moving through ever since.

In living up to her name, Javelin was known for sprinting off of the line like a rifle shot at lure coursing events.  Lure coursing out here in the Western US is highly competitive and Javelin was one that run with the best of them!

This little red dynamo was proudly co-owned by us, DM Greyhounds, with Windrock Greyhounds (Kim & Colin Fritzler).  She spent time at both homes, coming home to New Mexico for a bit after the 2007 Grand National.  Kim and Colin sadly bid her good-bye to allow us to campaign her in some other venues.

In June 2009, I took Jav to the Colorado Springs Kennel Club shows to try for that elusive second major and also for the Fritzlers to see.  Javelin, after seeing Kim and Colin kept looking for them.  She really wanted to go back home to Grand Junction with them, so, after the shows, I hugged her tightly and quickly  handed Colin the leash, saying, "Take her, she knows where she wants to live"  . . .   I miss her dearly but I couldn't keep her here, knowing how much she loves Kim & Colin. The next day, Kim called me when they got home and told me that Javelin moved right back in and it was like she was never gone.

Javelin at the GCA 2004 Western Specialty

Jav's a little busybody, like her sister.  I've been told that she tells the calves to eat all their food and keeps the pups in line and out of the irrigation ditch. Javelin keeps an eye on things for the Fritzlers and they are glad she's back home!  Kim and I bred Javelin on her next season, after all of her health certifications  (hips, thyroid and eyes) had been performed.  Her results are on the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals site.

Javelin graced us with a lovely, single puppy girl - Windrock DM The One and Only - Nikki, who is owned by Kim & Colin.

Sadly, Javelin passed over the Rainbow Bridge not too long after Nikki's birth. I pray that she's up there in heaven getting into mischief with my mom, both of them causing St. Peter a smidgeon of grief.  Mom also loved her dearly.  I miss both of them more than words can say - my mom & my lovely little red witch, Javelin. I wish all the best for her only daughter, Nikki.