Kanzu attained his Novice Agility Jumpers title (NAJ) in March 2010 in his first weekend of agility trials. He then progressed to competing for his Open Agility Jumpers title and earned his first leg at the San Diego Rhodesian Ridgeback trial in Escondido on March 28th. The following weekend, he attained his second leg at the Gamblers Agility Club of Greater Las Vegas where he earned a second place ribbon. At his next competition at the Portuguese Water Dog Trial in Walnut CA on April 24th he earned his third and final leg in Open Agility with a perfect score and a first place win. With this third leg completed, Kanzu secured his Open Agility Jumpers title (OAJ).

This new title was one of Kanzu’s most significant accomplishments as it completed his requirements for his Rhodesian Ridgeback Club (RRCUS) Versatility Certificate. This VC title is awarded by RRCUS to highlight the versatility of the Rhodesian Ridgeback hound.
http://www.rrcus.org/performance/honors/vc/VC_VCX_req_new.htm

To obtain the VC award, the dog must have 10 points across 5 different performance categories such as conformation, lure coursing, obedience, agility, tracking etc. The award is given once a year and honored at the National Specialty Dog Show along with an ad in The Ridgeback magazine. An application must be submitted with supporting documentation of all of the titles. We will be busy putting together Kanzu’s application and excitedly awaiting his VC award in the spring of 2011.

Kanzu competed in the San Diego Rhodesian Ridgeback Club Agility Trial in Escondido CA on March 28, 2010. With handler Tracy Tennison he earned a perfect score in Open Jumpers with Weaves for his second leg toward his Open Jumpers title. The club offered beautiful ribbons for the high scoring RR in each class and Kanzu was lucky enough to take home his largest and most beautiful ribbon ever for his score in Open Jumpers. He seemed to know it was something special and enjoyed posing with his new ribbon.

The final rankings are out for 2009 Lure Coursing. Kanzu had a great year. He earned his Field Championship in July and ended the year as Number 10 Ridgeback in the country for AKC lure coursing. He also ranked #29 for all sighthounds in the US for the year. Lots of thanks go to his special handlers especially Justin Dannenbring who Kanzu adored just about as much as he loved ‘chasing the bunny’. Thanks too to Jim Wallace for all the great lure coursing photos.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Kanzu earned his Lure Coursing Field Championship in July 2009 at the Lompoc Inland Wilderness Hunt Club Trial. His field championship added to his conformation championship resulted in his new title “Dual Champion”.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

In 2009, Kanzu and Linda worked as a team and earned 3 Rally Obedience Titles. In January, in his very first Rally Trial, Kanzu earned his first of the 3 needed qualifying legs and took a 1st place in rally on the same day he won his second major conformation show in Indio, CA. He earned his Rally Novice title (RN) in February 2009 at the Scottsdale, AZ shows with another 1st place and a 2nd place. He moved up to Rally Advanced competition in June and earned his first leg with a 3rd place, his second leg with a 2nd place and earned his Rally Advanced title (RA) in August 2009 at the Mensona Kennel Club show in Santa Rosa with another 1st place finish. His Rally Excellent (RE) qualifying legs followed rapidly with two 2nd place finishes and he earned his RE title with another 1st place finish at the Cabrillo Kennel Club trial in Del Mar, CA in October 2009.

Kira (CIB CM DC Ahram Bordwalk No More Drama RN MC FCh JOR) is an Ibizan Hound owned by Justin Dannenbring and Curtis Freeling. Kanzu’s “uncle Justin” has been Kanzu’s primary handler in lure coursing, helping Kanzu earn his 2009 Top 10 AKC ranking. Recently Kanzu’s uncle Curtis has begun handling Kanzu in the show ring. So, it was only natural that we would keep it all in the family and Linda would team up with Kira to take her into the Rally Obedience Ring to work toward her Rally Title.

It is believed that the Ibizan Hound’s origins were in ancient Egypt making them another African Treasure with many similarities to the Rhodesian Ridgeback. As primitive sighthounds they have a strong prey drive and cannot be trusted off lead. Like their other sighthound relatives, they are independent and stubborn at times and they are easily bored and have an exceedingly low tolerance for drill. Hence, sighthound owners often joke about being ‘gluttons for punishment’ when they take their visually vigilant, sniffing, nervous, very independent thinking sightounds, who refuse to drill to learn into the ring to compete with the ever-eager-to-please working dogs. Therefore, it is not surprising that there are relatively few sighthounds who compete in Rally or Obedience. In fact, since the sport of Rally Obedience began in 2005 through Dec 2009 only 17 Ibizan Hounds have ever earned a Rally Novice title.

Armed with her experience earning Kanzu’s three Rally titles, Linda saw in Kira a very special girl and took the challenge to take Kira into the rally ring. Kira received her first qualifying leg in Rally Novice at her very first Rally Trial put on by the Cabrillo Kennel Club in Del Mar, CA in October 2009. Her first time in the ring she earned a score of 98, only 2 points away from a perfect score of 100. There was applause all around the ring from many seasoned obedience handlers who had never before seen an Ibizan in the ring. Kira’s second leg came at the Palm Springs Kennel Club show in January, 2010 and she received her RN title at the Inland Empire Kennel Club show in January 2010.

Kira’s Rally Novice title combined with her conformation and field championships assure her a spot in the Ibizan Hound Club of the US Hall of Fame.
 
 
 

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The Ridgeback, Issue 2 – 2010
2009 RRCUS Top Performers Issue