2011 Year
All things considered, 2011 was a pretty good year for us and Ahmahr Nahr. Grand Champion Ahmahr Nahr’s Ryder of the Voodoo Child
was campaigned as a “Special” in the United States with Sergio Espejo, who did an outstanding job. Ryder finished the year in the Top Four (4) in Breed Points and the Top 10 in group points, as well as #2 in Grand Championship points. As the year came to a close, he was finishing his Silver Level as a Grand Champion. Ryder has never been particularly fond of the show circuit, but after one year in Canada as a Top Basenji and a Top Hound, 
and then another year in the States, it is the only life he has ever known. Ryder was the 2009 Canadian National Champion and he has done the Basenji Club of Canada and the Basenji Club of America proud, both in Canada and the United States.
Ryder will come home to look for a retirement career. He has no idea what career he will choose, but I am sure he will try to get some help from the little girl’s here in trying to figure it out. He might try to make those little girl’s his career, but I doubt we’ll let him. He hasn’t shown much aptitude for lure coursing in the past, and I don’t know that he has developed any within the past several months. Ryder, as usual, is always happy just smelling the daisies
While Ryder was busy campai
gning in the United States, Grand Champion Ahmahr Nahr’s Harlequin Casanova Jack at Whitewater was being campaigned as a “Special” in Canada. Jack started the year with a
bang and was a multiple Best in Show winner and by mid-year he was the Top Basenji and the #2 Hound in Canada. However, due to the unfortunate handler situation and not being shown from September onward, he had fallen to #7 by the end of the year. It is remarkable that he maintained his standing in the Top 10. It is unfortunate that Jack, one of the most handsome tri-colored Basenjis, had his Canadian year affected by the unpleasant events that transpired. I would like to ‘Course’ Jack, now that he is retired, but his co-owner misses him and wants him home as a companion. Whatever we do, we will be “collecting” Jack as well as breeding to him as last year he produced a litter of puppies out of Ch Ahmahr Nahr’s Tear of the Giraffe (Precious, the 2007 Junior World Champion) that turned out to be a dynamite litter. So once he is healthy and back in tip-top condition, we will see what Jack does. The important point is that Jack is now home and is happy. Sadly, the two (2) puppies that were in Calgary with Jack were not as fortunate as Jack was and may suffer some long-term consequences resulting from their poor treatment. They will be undergoing 6-8 weeks of intense veterinary treatment in an effort to, hopefully, correct the problems that ensued for the little guys. Many thanks to our friends who helped to get them home.
On a happier note, the most fun that we had all year was with our new little black and while girl, Magic (pronounced Mageek), bred out of our old stud dog Grand Champion Astarte Sultan Siete with Pips SC and Jabba, who belongs to Michelle Smith-Barbour. Michelle, Sergio, and I are the co-breeders of Magic and we were able to show her in the Bred-by class which produced some very interesting and shocked expressions. Nevertheless, our little girl won from this class, even winning Winners’ Bitch at the Canadian National as a Bred-by. She finished both her Canadian and AKC Championships and is now growing up to compete for her Grand Championship title. Magic is a beautiful black and white, one of the prettiest that we have ever seen, and we hope to be able to show her at the Specialties;
Our second litter last year was out of Ch Ahmahr Nahr’s Golden Talisman and Jake. They produced a dynamite litter, one of the best I have ever seen. Our little girl, G Ch Ahmahr Nahr’s Reason to Celebrate (Fiesta) , and our Champion boy, Justice, are out of this litter, and these two puppies finished their championship so fast nobody got to see them. This way, they will be a big surprise in a couple of years when they start to special. They are two beautiful moving dogs who have incredible ring presence.
Last, but not least, we had the pleasant surprise of our lives at the end of July and beginning of August when Sergio and I attended the Canadian National in Fredrickton, New Brunswick. G Ch Ahmahr Nahr’s Hallelujiah makes a Joyful Noise (Halle) not only won the National, but also went Best In Show under All-Breed Judge John Ross that week. Halle’s encore for the week was to win her first All-Breed Best in Show. There were approximately 58 Specialty entries and it was a terrific show. We had a great 4 days! We also had great weather, with only one bad day of rain and it was a beauty! Halle is currently in Canada with Edgar Rojas and has started her career as a Special. She has shown two weekends “just for fun to practice” and only missed out on a Group placement once; and this was to Legend, who was back in Onterio to finish his Canadian title.
G Ch Ahmahr Nahr’s The Lots Angel Gabriel is a litter brother to Halle. He was only shown one day at the Canadian national, the day after the specialty at the all-breed booster and he won. Ryder got a bad allergic reaction to some cattle debris at the Greeley fairgrounds in the fall and so Gabe substituted for him as a special at less than 1 year of age and won winning Best of Breeds like crazy and also took three group placements. Everyone wanted us to take Gabe out in 2012 so that is what we have done, he’s back by public acclaim.
The litter out of Jack and Precious was spread all over the United States, but special wishes go out to the little boy, “Tex”, who we often see in shows and we hope to see again in the New Year and to my wonderful co-breeder of this litter, Patty Simpkins and her husband. They raised great puppies. I think it would be a close contest between they and Sanda Saunders in Petawawa, ON as to who is the best co-breeder and who raises the best Basenji puppies as both are dynamite at it.
We have recently had three (3) litters, of which I am co-breeder. A new litter out of Misty and Cooper, Jack’s brother, that Amy Whalen and I co-own and two litters that Sanda Saunders and I co-own, one of which was a special breeding of Madam to Chris Frost’s dog, Spade. This breeding only produced two puppies so I think we will try again. The puppies look terrific, though Chris keeps saying that all Basenji puppies look like they “smashed their heads into a brick wall.” A second litter is out of a lovely bitch named “Winnie” that Sanda got from Sue Kite, that is related to a Special that Michelle and I like so much, Duncan. Michelle and I tried to breed to Duncan, but we had one of those ‘missed’ breedings. I guess we were all in too much of a hurry, but we will try that one again next year, being a tri to tri breeding, hopefully getting an all tri litter.
During the year, I have also had the good fortune and honor to judge all over the country. I’ve judged Sweeps at two Specialties, one in Phoenix and the other the African Specialty in Portland, an AKC Puppy Spectacular and regular Puppy Best In Show in Mississippi, as well as having judged in Kansas. I have now turned in my completed Judge’s Application and will, be “hounding” all of you for assignments again in the upcoming year. This is a great deal of fun and I hope I am re-paying in some small measure the trust of those who have chosen to have me judge. I continue to judge Coursing, including a Basenji and Afghan Specialty this year.
Likewise, Bob and I earned the Breeder of Merit Award and designation this year and we are very proud of the program. This and the new Grand Championship program, regardless of whatever else you may say, brought many more exhibitors out to show and performance events, which is to the good of the sport.
On a sad note, this was the year that our beloved Dogo Argentina, Hoss, who protected us so all so well, crossed to the Rainbow Bridge after an unsuccessful bout with Melanoma.