Week 12: A Rumi Interlude

I've been trying to make a point to have some special time with Rumi since everything has become Taj, Taj, Taj. We've been to a few conformation handling classes, and I've taken him for some dog park trips and on a special hike.

I had the chance last weekend to shoot up to the Nita Nee (State College) Kennel Club shows for some show practice. This was our second show, and at our first show (in April) in Harrisburg, there weren't any class dogs/bitches.

Rumi relaxed and me intensely concentrating; 
his rear feet are back a bit too far but I'm learning!

Over the weekend, there were about 13 saluki entries on Sat and about 14 on Sun. I had the chance to meet a lot of saluki folks! I really appreciate all the advice and encouragement that people gave me. I am a total newbie to showing and Rumi's breeder (Deric @ Z'bee's) is in Michigan so it's been challenging. You can learn some things by email - but a lot is "live" experience.

My special boy - lining up for judging

We got a third on Saturday and on Sunday we got first and reserve winners dog (to a Major). Rumi was very well-behaved, I was very proud of him! I am working on getting him better conditioned (he has a little bit of weight to lose - it's challenging with Taj being out of commission). I am trying to learn the hang of handling - much harder than you would think!

Poetry in motion

I loved watching all the different types of dogs (lots of diversity in this breed) and really am grateful for the tips people kindly offered. Rumi is such a good boy and seems to tolerate the show ring well (even with his 2-second attention span), but I think his real passion though is in connecting with people.

Me learning that I need to let out the lead more...

 I have done some therapy work with him (he's a registered therapy dog with Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services - I nicknamed him "Thera-ROO") and after Taj gets better, I plan to resume doing lots of therapy visits.

Paying Homage to Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi - The Dreamer

I love to watch Rumi move - he is very graceful. Rumi was named after the Persian Sufi poet - Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi. I chose his show name as "Z'bee's Homage to the Dreamer" with Rumi being the greatest dreamer and writer of beautiful poetry that pays homage to living life in the moment. His name is also a play on his personality. Rumi is a talker. He loves to chat and his favorite sound is a repertoire of various "Roo, Roo, Rooooos." One of his tricks for therapy work is that I will look at him and say, "Now, what's your name?" and he will let out a loud, protracted, straight from the lungs, "ROOOOOOOO." :)