As you have probably noticed in the past year or two, there has been a difficulty getting Afghan Actions published. This is only a symptom of the problem that is facing many clubs worldwide right now.
APATHY
It seems that interest in Breed Clubs, All-
Breed Clubs and Dog Shows in general is certainly on the decline. I don’t know if it is because many of us are getting older and are hoping to pass down the leash to the younger generation or because the younger generation is just simply not interested, but the executive has had a heck of a time getting anyone to step up and take on the responsibilities of the Newsletter, Rescue and other offices of the Club. We have all watched many clubs go downhill until they are no longer viable and finally have had to disband. I hope that is not the case here.
The Afghan Hound Club of Canada is truly
THE voice for the Afghan Hound in this country. It is up to us, the members to maintain the breed and breed standard into the future. We need to step up to the plate and continue the legacy that was handed down to us by the original founders of the club and the original owners and breeders of Afghans in Canada since 1928.
Now that I have sounded the doom and gloom bell, I have some good news. I will be taking on the helm of the newsletter in addition to being vice-president. In order to do this, I NEED YOUR HELP!! I need you to send me your brags, gripes, articles and any news that you would like to share with the fancy.
I am hoping to have some interesting articles to include in upcoming issues.
Page 1
It has been a year since I penned my last report. In that time we had once again lost our Newsletter Editor and we currently do not have a permanent Rescue Chair. As such, we have not had any form of member communication by way of the Afghan
Actions for over a year or an Afghan Hound
Club of Canada Annual for 2010 and 2011.
This is unfortunate because much has happened over the past 12 months.
A serious rescue issue arose last summer with the raid and closure of a puppy mill in
Quebec. In that facility there were 5 to 6
Afghans. The Club attempted to involve themselves in the process but we found a clear lack of member support when our
Acting Rescue Chair tried to get support from the membership. In the end we had to rely on the support of an outside group. A call was made to the members for someone to step forward and take over the
Chairmanship of the Committee, but again no one stepped up. As of this moment our
Rescue Program is in limbo and without
FULL member support, I see no way we can continue to offer this service.
The same situation applies to our
Newsletters and Annual. At the moment
Barbara Arndt is trying to put together a newsletter, but based on her communications to the members, she is receiving the same response as was received for Rescue. Joan King is currently trying to resurrect the Annual but she too is faced with a lack of interest. Unless the members are truly interested in receiving these publications, I cannot see us trying to continue them into the future.
This is my last year as President of this organization. I have held the position 6 out of the last 8 years. Under our Bylaws I cannot run again. The members should start to think about who should lead the
Club after 2012, as I suspect several of the
Executive will not be running again either.

On to more pleasant news.
We held our 2011 National Specialty in
Whitehorse, Yukon on June 9, 2011. It was held in conjunction with the Yukon Kennel
Club annual event and this year, in addition to the Afghan Specialty, the Western
Gazehound Club from Vancouver put on a special 50 th Anniversary show for
Sighthounds. The Club invited Mrs. Lotte
Jorgenson and her husband Ulf from
Denmark to officiate. Lotte judged all regular classes and Ulf did the
Sweepstakes. The event attracted 20 dogs for 28 entries. Although small for a
Specialty, the show certainly held its own based on entries for recent Afghan specialties in Canada and south of the border. The winners are as follows: Best in
Specialty & Best Canadian Bred: Can/Am
Ch. Procyon Omineca of Mijkelh CGN, bred and owned and handled by Fred & Lynn
Haywood, Best Opposite Sex: Ch. Lyrix
Flamen’ Hot, owned and handled by Brigit
& Glenn Wadsworth, Best of Winners &
Winners Male: Sterling’s Cridhe Treun, owned by Richard & Deborah Allen, Best
Puppy: Celestian Avalon, owned and handled by Cliff & Sheila Robertson,
Winners Bitch: Keymah Shada-licious Flash
Queen, bred and owned by Mimi Yeager, and Best Bred By Exhibitor: Daghan Joy in the Journey, bred, owned and exhibited by
Clif & Sheila Robertson. Lotte was a delight to have as a judge and her jovial manner and her sense of humor put everyone at ease. Our thanks go out to
Lotte and Ulf for taking time from their busy schedule to come to Canada to officiate this event. Thanks also must go to Clif and
Sheila Robertson, Debbie Brewster and
Heather Balfour, the Show Committee for putting together such a fun filled event. No one should have gone away from this show unhappy, their work was tremendous. We also have to thank the Yukon Kennel Club and their members for hosting our show this year. Everyone in the Club made all the exhibitors feel relaxed and welcome.
Thank You!!
Page 2
Our 2012 Specialty will be held in conjunction with the Cornwall & District
Kennel Club and will take place in Ingleside
Ontario. The paperwork is in at the CKC and the date and Judge will be announced as soon as they are approved. Please mark this weekend on you calendar as a must attend event.
Please be reminded that 2012 dues are due. They can be sent to our Secretary
Melissa Williams.
Until next time……..
Fred Haywood
General fund Dec.31, 2011 1557.56
Rescue fund Dec 31, 2011 2571.06
Hello to all our members. I hope everyone enjoyed this past winter across Canada.
Where we live here, in eastern Ontario, it was a very subdued event, only a handful of really cold days, not much snow, and now we’re into what seems to be a premature (but quite welcome!) spring.
Birds are singing, snow’s melted off the roof, and the drainpipes haven’t frozen.
Very nice.
I’m afraid i haven't been very active dogwise over the course of this past summer. I only went to a couple of shows last year

(and happily did well at both) but with the arrival of our two new Standardbreds last spring we’ve been kept awfully busy! There were lots of fences to be built and new pastures to seed, not to mention saddles and harnesses. But everything is under control now and I can finally have more weekends to get away.
We’re also very excited, and sleep deprived, as we’re in the process of breeding one of our bitches this week.
Which means lots of singing and howling from the boys and short nights for us humans. But luckily we’re far enough from the closest neighbors to wake anybody else up. Of course, if we have puppies, they won’t be old enough to show this summer but I still plan to attend as many local shows as possible, as many of them have wonderful outdoor venues and I do enjoy seeing everyone again after so many winter months off.
Well, I wish I had more Ontario news to report but I don’t really have any since our last newsletter. And, speaking of that, I would like to give Barb Arndt a huge thank you for stepping in to do these newsletters for now. I hope everyone will try to send in articles, photos, news updates, etc., to make it easier for this club to get back into the habit of regular newsletters. It’s not easy for the editor when there’s no material to edit!
That’s all for now, and I hope to see many of you at shows this summer.
Micky
Congratulations to:
- Karen Pearson and her beautiful girl Am
Can Ch Nalikar Don’t Stop Believin’ (JJ) placing # 3 Afghan in 2011
- Ch. Nalikar Don’t Stop Believin’ took a
Group 4 th at the AKC show in February
Page 3
- Mijkelh Sarasota who took a Group 4 th and Best Puppy in Group under John
Rowton the first day of the Crocus
Obedience and Kennel Club Shows in
Brandon.
- Polo’s the Pilot at Darkmoon (Jetz) and
Katherine McKinnon who also had a Best
Puppy in Group in Brandon
Reminder: Calgary folks are putting on a
Regional Specialty, all is still pending, but they have applied for August 4/12 in conjunction with the Alberta Kennel Club shows at the beautiful venue of Spruce
Meadows.
WONDER WHERE THE ANNUAL
WENT??
Joan King
Unfortunately, it has been entangled in today’s hectic work life. Wayne tried to bring about our Newsletters and Annuals but he is also an extremely hard working business owner and regrettably there are just not enough hours in a day to do everything one hopes to get done.
In an attempt to bring everything up to date
Barb Arndt offered to take on the job. But as I’m sure many of you are aware Barb voluntarily took on the “Rescue” portfolio for the club, she is filling the v/Pres shoes and trying to have some kind of life with her family and her own dogs. As I had a bit of time before my job started to get very busy and as I had edited the Newsletter and
Annual in time before, I asked Barb if there was anyway I could assist her. Between us we decided that Barb would bring the
Newsletters current and I would tackle the
Annuals.
So guys here is where we’re at. This is your first Newsletter in a long time and it is great to have it back again. NOW FOLKS its my time to ask you to step up and help me to bring the Annuals up to date.

The plan is as follows: I am going to do some more work on a 2009/2010 edition.
Hopefully with luck and your contributions I will be able to get to the printing by the end of February. Then I that point I will begin working on the 2011 Annual publication.
Right at this point I am looking for the following for the 2009/2010 Annuals: a. Photos of the “Winning Dogs” from the
2009 Specialty held at Calgary. b.
Photos of the “Winning Dogs” from the
2010 Specialty held in Ontario. c. Candid photos from either Specialty.. i.e. in the ring shots, wine and cheese party shots, other gathering shots of folks who attended…WELL YOU KNOW
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR.
I do have several ads that were submitted for these publications and I am not going to ask for anything more in the way of paid ads for either the 2009 or 2010 editions.
NOW WE COME TO THE 2011
EDITION!
The Robertsons from Whitehorse have been alerted and they are going to send as much as they can. Fred Haywood has also sent some candid shots from up north…BUT if any of you who attended have sone great candids please send them to me…they may not all get used but I would like to have lots of choices….Also “winners” photos as I am not sure whether the club got photos of all the winners for their archives from the photographer.
Also I am looking for things that have happened during the last year with you and your dogs. Anecdotes, short stories whatever…Let us get to know one another….who knows a great new friend may be right around the corner.
Page 4
Also are you planning a new litter, do you have puppies on the ground for sale
… why not put an ad in our Annual … it goes across the country.
ADVERTISING!!!!! For the 2011 Annual
I am requesting Advertising ~ the rates are as follows: a. Full Page colour: $40.00
(no more than 2 photos) b. Full Page B&W: $30.00
(no more than 2 photos) c. ½ Page Colour: $30.00
(one photo only) d. ½ Page B&W: $20.00
(one photo only) e. Stud Dog Page: $40.00
(one photo only) f. COMMERCIAL ADS
Do you create items for sale i.e. snoods, collars, leashes, crate blankets, rain and winter coats,
Build crates, Bake special dog cookies.
Do you paint or sketch portraits?
If you do any of these things or other commercial ventures please consider placing an ad in our Annual.
Prices as follows:
Full page colour: $45.00
½ page colour: $35.00
¼ page colour: $25.00
Full page B&W: $35.00
½ page B&W: $25.00
¼ page B& W: $20.00
Business Card: $10.00
PLEASE NOTE: PAYMENT IN FULL FOR
ALL ADS MUST BE RECEIVED BEFORE
PRINTING.
YOU MAY SEND YOUR AD PRINT
READY (AS A JPEG)
OR
IF YOU WISH SEND ME THE PHOTO OR
PHOTOS AND AN IDEA OF WHAT YOU
WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IN YOUR AD I
WILL DO MY BEST TO CREATE AN AD

FOR YOU AND I WILL SEND IT TO YOU
FOR YOUR APPROVAL BEFORE IT IS
PRINTED. THERE IS NO COST TO YOU
FOR THIS SERVICE. ALL PHOTOS TO
BE SENT AS JPEGS PLEASE.
I can be reached at:
Phone: 506-773-3045
Fax: 506-778-8354
Email: jking@nb.sympatico.ca
If you have any questions, or want info re advertising or anything you wish to submit for the 2011 Annual or you have things I could use for the 2009 and 2010 Annual please contact me and we can discuss your suggestions, needs and/or requests.
Lyzane Hamel
– Show Chair
Reserve your Labour Day weekend for the
AHCC 2012 National to be held in conjunction with the Cornwall and District
Kennel Club in Ingleside, ON. More details to come once everything is approved by the
CKC. Exquisite venue next to the water with an access to a beach.
Donations to support the specialty can be sent to Bev McKenzie, Treasurer, AHCC,
3952 Pandora Street, Burnaby, BC V5C2A7
All who donate towards prizes will have their name acknowledged in the catalogue.
More Information to come
Make this National one to remember.
Lyzane
We’re happy to let you know that the AHCC
Regional Specialty is being held on August
4/12 in conjunction with the August Alberta
Page 5
Kennel Club shows. Our judge is Chie
Yamakado of Japan. Chie is a Papillon breeder and an international all-breed judge. We did try to get Allan Pepper but he was already judging the sighthound specialty so couldn’t get him – that would have been fun – another time Allan!
These shows are fantastic. Saturday judging is filmed by TSN, prizes are terrific, and the setting is gorgeous as you can see from the picture. There is also a Gr. 2 specialty so there would be 6 sets of points available.
We are joining up with other sighthound clubs on Saturday night for a wine & cheese (details still coming). Sure hope that some of you can join us.
If you have any brags to share, please send them to me at panaceaafs@sympatico.ca
so that they can be included them in our newsletter.
Fred Haywood writes
–
For the Afghan Hound community 2010 was a banner year with one of their own winning Top Dog in Canada honour for the first time ever. Canadian American
Champion Mijkelh Sikanni of Procyon CGN we believe is the first Afghan Hound in

Canada to take this award. In 2011 he placed second in Canada’s Top Dog
Awards.
Congratulations must go the Sherril
Wallack, Keefer’s owner and co-breeder. It is unfortunate that we were not able to announce this information in a more timely manner
Lorianne Amadeo sent these brags :
Ace has earned both Grand Ch in Canada and USA
There are several litters born in Australia and Russia sired by Home Bred Polo
Afghans and last year saw several Polo afghans completing their American and
Canadian titles. Am. Can. Ch Polo's I Did it
Myway kids, Sired by Am. Gr. Can. Gr. Ch
Polo's The Aviator - Am/Can Jr. Fr. Ch.
Polo's Chai Tea, Am/Can Ch. Polo's French
Vanilla, Am/Can. Ch. Polo's Oolong To Me
N Myway, Am/Can.Ch Polo's Indian Spice,
Can. Ch. Polo's Witches Brew at Cysalis
Jr. Russian Ch. Polo's Ahmand Royal
Palace, Am & Can Pointed Polo's
Moroccan Red
Am/Can Ch; Polo's Electra at Ronas Hill kids sired by Am/Can. Gr. Ch Polo's In The
Air Tonite - Am/Can. Ch. Polo's Kabik T
Sensation , now resides in Malta , Can Ch.
Polo's Crime of Passion
Both Aries and Ace have sired litters in
Australia. Karakush had a litter sired by Ace with Ralph being the first to title in Australia and earning a Best in Show. Satang and
Keywest both had a Litter sired by Aries,
There are several already titled in their respective home land.
In Russia there are several litters born from dogs that I have sold and all are doing exceptionally well
Thank you to all The Judges who have acknowledge the Polo Afghans World Wide
Page 6
Ace winning Best in Show at Canada
’s
Largest Dog Show in Oct. under breeder/judge Goren Bodegard
Dee Devins writes
–
Dare is now Canadian American Ch.
Tokabout Daredevil .He was handled to his
Am Championship by his co-owners Kit &
Scott Schmitt who he lives with. Norm
Fargo put his last 2 pts on him & did a fabulous job. We all are looking forward to his debut as a special this spring . He took
4 grp puppy wins as a youngster in his first
4 days of shows & we knew we were onto a great boy.
Louise Ouimet Lavigne has brags:
In 2010 our girl Multi BPIS, RBIS Am. Can.
Ch. Deloubelle Maya Polo Damsel Elen aka Damsel sired by : Multi BIS ’ SBIS’ Am.
Can. Ch. Polo ’s the Aviator aka Ace and
Am. Can.Ch. Deloubelle Maya Taza
Exquisite aka Heidy became the top Afghan
Puppy in Canada and the 2 nd top Hound
Puppy in Canada and Best Afghan Female in Canada with those great results and all before 12 months of age and in five shows!
Almost all the big wins were won under great breeder judges!!
One Reserve Best in Show
One Group 1 st
Two Group 2 nd
One Group 3 rd
Three Group 4 th
Four Best Puppy in Show
Twelve Best Puppy in Group
One Specialty Best Puppy in Show

One Award of Merit at the Canadian
National Specialty
And then at 12 months of age she left for
United States and complete her American titles in three shows and Specialty and one month later she was back and Am.
Champion.
Deloubelle would love to thank all of the judges who recognise Damsel qualities!!
WE ARE SOOOO PROUD AND ALWAYS
BE VERYYYY PROUD OF OUR SPECIAL
GIRL!!! WE LOVE YOU LADY DAMSEL!!!
Now Damsel lives with our Special Friend
Ms Beth Collins from Taza Afghans and already won BOS at the Nutmeg Specialty
2011 and Select Bitch at the winter
Colonial Specialty! She needs a five point major to be an American Grand
Champion!!
Am. Can. Ch. Deloubelle Maya Polo Damsel Elen
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Am. Can. Ch. Maya Deloubelle Celebration
Katharine McKinnon
Dakota majors.
writes
Sioux Falls Kennel Club, Sioux Falls, South
Cdn. Ch. Mijkelh A Star Is Born (aka Jar
Jar) Winners dog - Fri and Sunday for 2 pts. For a total of 11 now, including 3
Owned by Katharine McKinnon and Sherril
Wallack
Polo's The Pilot at Darkmoon - aka -
Jetz came home with 5 points from our local show in Brandon Feb. 17-29, 2012
Including Best of Breed wins and a Best
Puppy in Group.
Owned by Katharine McKinnon - Brandon,
Manitoba
Bred by: Lorianne Amadeo
Polo’s The Pilot at Darkmoon
And also in 2011 our Special ‘Fame’ Am.
Can. Ch. Maya Deloubelle Celebration completed her American title in U.S. and lived during that time with our very Special
Friends Family M. Ms Noor and Cheryl
Rahaman and Noor (our American brother) completed Heidy
’s American Title! Many thanks to Noor for this Great accomplishment!
And we are also proud that in 2011
Deloubelle finished 5 Champions in 6 shows and Deloubelle and Taiga finished 2
American Champions!!!

Page 8
Am. Can. Ch. Panacea Simoon Chon-Teh-Kah-Deh, NA, NAJ, MX, MXJ, XF,
I belong to a club. We wear special T- shirts that say, “I belong to AA- Afghan
Agility.” AA is a small group of people who have discovered the treasure of the Afghan hound as a natural contender for the dog sport of agility.
Agility is a fast moving, team game, where the dog is in the ring for less then a minute.
Afghans love running, jumping, climbing up high and even weaving as if they were on a
“hunt” for some live creature. Because this activity is full of action and short lived, it easily holds the attention of this hairy sight hound. Trained correctly, Afghans find the agility ring invigorating.
I have been training and competing with
Afghans in agility since l995 and have completed MX and MXJ titles on numerous dogs (including the first MX, MXJ title on an
Afghan Hound in history.) Over the years I have discovered which techniques work

best for sensitive, intelligent, hounds with long strides, built to run more than jump.
My hounds never participate in group agility classes. Thoughtful and impatient, they do not appreciate standing around and waiting their turn. I train them for a very brief period of time with a lot of enthusiasm. My training sessions are usually no more then
5-10 minutes long. The advantage to working with the mind of the Afghan Hound is that once they understand a concept, they will know if forever. Truth be told, it takes very little practice to keep an Afghan trained.
The biggest challenge with Afghan Hounds is maintaining their speed on course. It’s not difficult at the Novice level because the courses tend to be open and flowing allowing them to stretch out and run. Once the agility courses become more complicated at the higher levels, if there are too many lead changes and tight turns, the hounds naturally slow down because they are smart. They know there is no reason to run fast if you are going to have to turn suddenly. Border Collies (which I also own and train) never seem to arrive at this common sense conclusion.
Maintaining motivation and a desire to run, I am careful not to work too close to these tall, graceful hounds. I teach all my dogs to work at a distance which encourages them to run as opposed to trotting next to me. I balance teaching turns with straight line running sequences.
All my Afghans seem to prefer the standard agility class (with the contact equipment) to
Jumpers with Weaves. I believe this is because Afghans are bred to run and not to jump. Repeated jumping is an effort for them and they feel as though they can never get up any speed. In a standard course they get to run many more straight lines as they perform a Dogwalk, A-frame and See-saw.
Page 9
Teaching weavepoles has become much easier since the onset of 24 inch spacing.
Large dogs have a much easier time bending around poles with the added space and I am grateful for the rule change. I train all my dogs on the Weave-a-Matic tilted style of poles because I feel it is motivational, teaches good footwork for long legged dogs and instructs the dog how to make angle entries independently.
Afghans are cautious creatures. They will not move in any direction if they are not sure it is safe to do so. All obstacles are learned at a speed that the hound is comfortable with. As they gain confidence, they naturally speed up. Afghans need to understand what is going to happen and why before they will venture out.
I make sure to teach the See- saw by explaining to them how it works and what is going to happen as they walk over it, before ever expecting them to step foot on it. (See
Agility Start To Finish by Bauman/Ajoux
(Alpine) for information on exactly how to teach the See-Saw. (This is the only book on agility that features Afghan Hounds in the photos.)
At some point in the training of most dogs, but especially Afghan Hounds, you are going to experience what is commonly referred to as “zoomies.” This is when your dog takes off at a mad dash and runs laps around the ring. Zoomies, otherwise called
“getting a bug up your ass,” occurs for different reasons. Some dogs “zoom” to relieve stress caused by confusion. In my experience, Afghans take off running for the shear joy of running. How a trainer handles
“zoomies” makes a big difference in the dog’s final performance and attitude toward agility.
Since it is my goal to have a dog run in the agility ring, I do nothing to discourage
“zoomies.” In fact, I encourage the dog to run and suggest that they execute some obstacle along the way. Sometimes they

do and sometimes they are going too fast to think. As the running subsides, I persuade the dog to do something, anything, on my command and reward at the end of the energy spurt.
Gradually, as the hounds learn more, there is a gradual decrease in the frequency of
“zoomies” and we start to see more agility and less mindless, wild running. Some day you will undoubtedly be in a trial ring when your dog takes off zooming. When this happens, respond the same as if you were in training and never scold for enthusiasm.
Once, as my Afghan was reaching lure coursing speed in circles around the agility ring, I had a judge authoritatively instruct me to “get your dog!” I looked at her in disbelief and responded, “How? I can’t cat ch her. She will stop soon.”
While it is true that I teach all my Afghans a recall command and use “Here” frequently while on course, a dog in prey drive at top speed is unlikely to respond until the adrenalin dissipates and the dog can once again, think clearly. It never does you any good to call your dog when they are racing because they are so engaged they cannot hear you. Encouraging them to run seems to be a better way to connect with them.
Eventually they calm down and what they remember is that running, agility and you are fun.
There is nothing more beautiful than an
Afghan Hound in full coat gracefully negotiating an agility course. I call it “pretty agility.” While they will never beat the
Border Collies in time, Afghans draw a lot of attention and admiration from the audience.
I love training and competing with both my
Afghan Hounds and Border Collies in the agility ring. The contrast between the two breeds keeps training exciting and challenging.
“Chon”
One of today’s most successful professionals in the field of canine agility and obedience, Diane Bauman uses her talent and innate sensitivity for understanding how dogs think and how people learn. A born teacher, she has instructed hundreds of successful students, many of whom have gone on to become famous competitors and trainers in the world of canine competition.