Kylie - skypinda guardian angel.
Kylie was my third ridgeback and was chosen for her calm loving nature as well as being big mates with her sister Sabrina so i knew they would get on
As soon as she came to live with us she took her spot in the garden under the blossom tree were she spent many many hours taking in the sun but also this made the perfect stalking spot for her passing sister and aunt.
She has always had a strong pray drive and takes the lead in most of our walks checking out the ground before she will let the others venture round, one of her favourite past times is to sleep on my couch with her feet firmly driven in to the underside to make sure there is no way can any of the others sneak a push and get her down but once she is in the open air she takes on a different role as in the one who will not sit or lie or wait for anyone, this can be a bit of a pain when there are a lot of squirrels and rabbits around but i am lucky as in she will always respond to my commands to leave a sent or stop a chase.
Kylie has been my best companion at the dog shows as she seems to be able to switch off to the crowd and can ignore things around her (snobby is a word my hubby often uses to describe her) I say she is chilled out and happy.
One of my most treasured results is when she entered her third show and went in to the any breed junior hound and showed her self in a good light despite standing for three quarters of an hour in the burning sun, she was in with 41 other dogs of all sorts of breeds and brought home a 4th place I can not put in to words the feeling you get when your babies show well and a placing is just total bounce,
she has only been in one show and not got a placing and funny as it may seem that was one of my fave shows of the year as i believe she did so well and the one i think she was most relaxed in, she was also lucky enough to have been placed in crufts 3rd in special yearling but i do have to say she was not in good coat condition after suffering a reaction after her booster jabs but still the dogs who beat her walked away with it and most definitely well deserved by them as well as the whole group in general.
My friend Marie generally handles her in the ring and they do both seem to enjoy being there, I have only handled her once and we came home with a 1st but i will say Marie shows her better.
I met Marie on an internet group about rhodesians (see links) and we agreed to meet up at one of the shows were she was showing her boy Toby, a joke was made about me being to nervous to go in with her and Marie said she would love to take her in which i decided to go with as much to the surprise of Marie, she had spent around 5 mins near Marie as i was chatting to her then i handed the lead over and a few mins later they were in the ring, i was so pleased with how Kylie took to her as not many Ridgies would go with a total stranger and be handled in the ring when they are so young and have never been with anyone but there owner on a lead nor had any ring craft at all, the most Kylie did was the odd glance towards me as i was in the ring with her sister Sabrina.
I will continue to show her as long as she enjoys it.
bravenet.com