"You ought to be in pictures...."

It has been forever since I last posted to the blog.....

Numerous things have happened over this time, many of which I will cover in future posts (I promise!). But, first, I would like to post a brag about an exciting experience we and a couple of our hounds had....

A little over two weeks ago, I received a phone message from an advertising/design firm in Cleveland. They were looking for some "exotic" dogs to use in a photo shoot for local furniture company - the furniture company's new fall line had a "Moroccan" influence and it was decided to use pharaoh hounds in the photos with this furniture. Feeling a little skeptical about the validity of the call, I asked my father to check out if it truly was "kosher". To my amazement, it was!!!!

The photo shoot was to take place in Cleveland Heights at The Alcazar, a beautiful, historical hotel built in 1923. We were asked to bring a couple of our best-behaved dogs - some of the photos would be of the dog(s) alone on various pieces of furniture, while others would be of the dog(s) with either a male or female model. After much contemplation, we decided to take with us Minnie, Venus, Emma and her daughter Arielle.

We were asked to arrive at the photo shoot on Thursday (which was only two days later) at 2:00pm. So, on Thursday morning, I picked up my daughter early from school, and we hit the road at approximately 11:30 am for an adventure we all would not soon forget.....

Why "The House of Haw"?

Yes, I know the name I have given this blog space is kind of odd. But, there is a story behind the madness......

I have a soon-to-be 3 year old male pharaoh -- his name is Leo (Ch. Sunwinds DesrtPhenx EZ Rider). Leo is a wonderful boy: playful, energetic, sweet, goofy. A typical male pharaoh hound.


As with all of our dogs, Leo has acquired several nick-names. Leo's list of nick-names can read like the the "Begats" found in the Bible: Leo became Ree-Rope, which became "Dee-Dope", which became "Hee-Hope", which lead to "Hee-Haw" (or "Haw", for short). Of course, the nick-name "Hee-Haw" encourages the funny donkey references and calls of "hee-haw, hee-haw!" or the singing of the Hee-Haw theme song, "hee-hee-hee-haw-haw", all befitting because of his goofiness. :) As it is, Leo is often referred to as "The Haw" around here. So, when it came time to name this blog, "The House of Haw" just seemed to fit.

A New Beginning

Hmmph, people......you know, some of them can be a real pain in the ass!

So, at the suggestion of my husband, Scott (or, Don, to his law school friends), I am embarking on a new adventure -- the publishing of my own blog space. Hopefully, it will be of some help (if not informative for others, then at least therapeutic for me); like a "new beginning". Hence, the title of my first post.

I have been in the sport of dogs for approximately 8 1/2 years now. In actuality, I kind of stumbled into it. Believe it or not, 9 years ago I came across a beat up diamond ring lying in the parking lot near Bowling Green State University's Jerome Library. It was the end of the Spring semester, I had just returned some books to the library. Walking to my car, I proceeded to the passenger side door so I could place my purse and book bag on the passenger seat. Out of habit, I was looking mainly at the ground while walking and happened to see this ring lying amongst the stones on the blacktop right by my passenger door. I stooped over and picked up the ring. To my surprise, it seemed to be a diamond solitaire. Little did I know at the time how the ring I was holding would end up having such an effect on my life.....

I ended up taking the ring to a local jewelry store to find out if it really was a diamond -- it was. And it was over a karat in size, but the color and clarity were on the low end of the scale. I got an appraisal on the ring, and then turned it in to the BGSU police department's lost and found. They recommended I run a Found ad in the university's newspaper -- this I did for several weeks. After a certain period of time (I don't really remember how long it was, now), I was able to check back with the police and see if anyone claimed the ring -- as it was, no one did and the ring eventually became mine.

Though it was neat having a ring with such a large diamond (I'll probably never have one that big ever again), I decided to sell it since I needed the money. You know, poor college student. It was around that same time that I had come across an ad in the Toledo Blade for a pharaoh hound for sale. My husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) and I went to look at this dog (an 8 month old female named Athena -- this doozy of a story will be a future post!) just to see what a pharaoh hound looked like. Five months later, and $600 dollars from the ring money, Athena became the first pharaoh hound member of our family.

If I had known then about all of the shit I'd be going through now, I don't know....maybe I wouldn't have gotten into showing and breeding dogs. But, I can say that I don't regret having gotten a pharaoh hound. I do love this breed!! But, the people you have to deal with....God, I really feel as if I am back in high school. Or, hell, back in junior high!

The world of dog sports, especially showing, is VERY competitive, even cut-throat. Being a new-comer to not only the breed, but also to showing, and on top of that having purchased my dog from an (unbeknownst to me at the time) unpopular blood line (though very healthy and having a wonderful temperament), I have gone through a lot of crap -- lies being spread about me and my dogs, puppy buyers dissuaded from my kennel, being treated with total disrespect and rudeness, and nasty things being said directly to my face, just to name a few -- and after what I've just recently gone through, I have had ENOUGH!!

My goals for this blog are many: first, I hope to set the record straight as to what I have been dealing with in the pharaoh hound community. From (a) source(s) who will remain unnamed, I have found out that a lot of lies about myself and my hounds have been spread by (a) person(s) in the breed -- I intend to address these lies in future posts. Secondly, I will use this blog to tell my story about how I got involved with this wonderful breed of dog. Finally, the blog will be MY SPACE to brag about my wonderful hounds and their accomplishments. :)

I have kept my mouth shut for long enough.....as the title of this post says, it is time for "a new beginning"!