This Site Chosen By Microsoft As THE Afghan Web Link for Encarta Afghan Hound Database and Breed Information Exchange (Afghan Hound World Congress 2000 Report by Vivienne Machen) Email: peter.machen@sympatico.ca

The "Panther's" is a Football Club's Facility...... not so much a "resort" as a full blown, very busy CASINO with a hotel attached by a walkway! On the weekend it was wall to wall people 24 hours a day.

The Congress itself was in the "Pavilion" which is a "TENT" style structure just a couple of hundred yards from the Casino. When I say a "tent"....not exactly a tubular pole and khaki canvas tent but a huge "big top" style construction of heavy duty white Kevlar held in place by steel cables, concrete ground supports etc.

The Ring and tenting for the accompanying Dog Shows were just beyond the Pavilion and were beautifully laid out. Some of the Vendors/Artists were set up around the ring area outside and could view the show from their stalls and a few were over inside the Pavilion. The weather was perfect!

I think if we were all being honest we would agree on one thing..the Congress was perhaps not long enough!! There were so many important issues to be discussed and subjects to be aired and few were able to be addressed with any meaningful depth. Just as we were getting into each topic....it's time limit was reached and it was on to something else. The result was that many of the most intriguing presentations were no more than touched upon. This of course is symptomatic of this type of event, so much stuff, so little time.

This was Peter's second trip to Australia and he turned down "Afghan" judging appointments in NZ and Australia, so that this time he could freely mix with the Afghan people and of course I could get to see all the people, places and dogs he had told me about!! On the previous visit, he judged sighthounds so it was not really possible for him to watch dogs other than those he judged. (Point of interest.....he gave "Hellraiser" Best In Show during that visit and commented to the handler Leigh Gibson that "This dog could do some serious winning in the USA" and we all know what happened after that!!!! )

Each day, for those staying at the Panther's , began with the Hot and Cold Buffet Breakfast...something for everyone....and this became a great place for discussions as they had assigned 3 long tables each for about 12 to 16 people for the Afghan Congress attendees. Naturally for all the Non Anglo/Ozz types the "Vegemite" was a must try item .... "NOT!"

The highlights of the Congress for us were as follows..........

Espen Engh's presentation on the 3 breeds of dogs ( Tazi, Khalag & Taigan..Lost cousins of the Afghan Hound)..with pictures....simply amazing and everyone we were sitting with was totally intrigued by them and wanted to hear more if there is more to be heard. Especially the part where they are like birds!! In complete unison, they all look one way, then the other, like birds in flight!!! Gave you goose bumps!!

Afghan Hounds into The New Millenium was discussed by people from several countries, UK, USA, NZ and was supposed to include the National Specialty Judge Roberto Posa from Italy but he had not realised he was supposed to take part and arrived too late.

The Roches video on Hair was simply superb......lots of lovely slides with appropriate music.

Julie Messersmith's fabulous video's on her Afghan Activities.....many saw only brief glimpses of them as they were run during the lunch break and people were lining up or eating or trying to snatch up the Congress Logo Souvenirs!. But her video's were excellent from what we saw and it struck a chord with us as one of our dogs is heavily into Oval Track racing and was Top in 99. Agility next?? Afghans ARE smart!!

The presentations on Genetics and the hands on "You Be The Judge" of the various subject parts......were both held at the same time..one inside and one outside.......hmmmm, a difficult choice. Peter stayed inside for the genetics and I went outside for the "live" dogs!

Duane and Connie Butherus had a truly amazing pictorial analysis of gait with regards to Spring, Bounce and Elasticity etc. Peter and I are going to set up our own measuring board etc this summer. We found it very revealing!!!!

Lynn Watson's presentation on the Dingo, it's primitiveness and it's likeness to Afghan type temperament was also interesting although many seemed to label it controversial.

All of the other topics were also of great interest but too numerous to detail as many were complex and lengthy. The ones mentioned here are the ones we found of particular interest.

Then there is the Afghan Hound Pedigree Data Base on CDROM!! A system that you can build on....really fantastic....the intent is that a world wide pedigree base be established....they sold lots of the basic CD's within minutes of the presentation.

Before the Congress was over, many were saying that it could perhaps have started earlier each day and finished later, perhaps till 6pm or ran for 3 days with 2 1/ 2 days of presentations and the last afternoon simply left free for just hanging about shooting the breeze about anything "Afghan".

Other presentations included :-
Behaviour & training.
How judges become "qualified" in various countries.
Movement and structure.

The reason that some subjects ran thru the lunch hour was because the attendees did not want to have to choose from some of the programs that were originally scheduled at the same time as others.

One of the last subjects discussed was the formulation of ICAHF..(International Confederation of Afghan Hound Fanciers) to establish a World Body for Afghan Hound Affairs. An admirable but thoroughly daunting (and probably thankless) endeavor, but a necessary one we feel.

There were numerous attendees from the local area who had breeds other than Afghans. They were there for varying reasons.....checking out what they could expect from their own breed's Congress's, and some who are going for their Hound judging licenses!

Many discussions seemed to emphasize an uncanny similarity....about how primitive our breed is and indeed, in the 27 years we have been AIn Afghans"....no one will ever convince me that they are simply "a breed of domesticated dog like many others". Most Afghan bitches only come in season when they darned well feel like it and certainly not with regularity!! They are also amazingly stealthy thieves of anything that takes their fancy as we all know.

There were numerous people who had planned to attend, who then backed out for various reasons...for example, some were disappointed that Mr Abdul Wahab Kamal was unable to attend when he had intended to be there initially so they canceled.......others had already paid for flights and tickets when they found out that he was not to be there so they attended anyway. It seems from general conversations that he would have had a large audience!

Another fact which seems to be generally agreed upon is that this breed and some others world wide may soon be in deep trouble from a common problem. A complete lack of new and young people coming into the breed! Many ideas were tossed around to try to combat this.....encouraging other than Conformation showing, mentor new comers, keep in touch with puppy buyers, breeders must be more critical of their stock when selling show prospect puppies. But on this topic many seem only willing to pay lip service to the possible solutions, but does the real "will' exist?? Gill Ullom mentioned being mentored by the Abram's (Dureigh). We are still in regular contact with the people (The Nagels, Sanarr) from whom we got our foundation bitch and are to visit them shortly in California for an "old times' and dog show holiday! And in turn we maintain regular contact with people who buy from us, Pet or Show.

Dozens of Afghan people also attended the Pal OZZDOG "Showdog of the Year" contest on the evening of the 1st day of the Congress, which, in addition to the dinner and actual dog show of the Top Dog All Breeds from each State/Territory, there was an Auction (Calcutta style) of all of the dogs with the $$$$ pool going to the buyer of the eventual top dog!! The winner was the Siberian Husky who had been "bought' by Duane Butherus. USA!!! Many of the dogs were "sold" for huge sums into the hundreds of dollars!!! Ch Kjavu Air Jordan who had been Top Dogs All Breeds in Australia for '99 was naturally a popular favorite with so many Affy people in the crowd. Judges for this event were "top secret" till moments before the contest began. Geoff Whitfield, NZ, Peter Machen, Canada & Thomas Lim, Singapore did the judging honours!

The ladies we stayed with after the Congress told us just hours before we were leaving for home when we were discussing the various happenings at the Congress etc...that when Gary Newton had stayed with them, he brought many of his pictures of the Afghanistan Afghans from Mr Kamal and that they had in fact scanned them into their daughter's computer...sadly, she had recently taken her computer with her to her new apartment so we did not get to see them!!

New South Wales is a fabulous State & Sydney is certainly a beautiful city and we soon decided that in Sydney, everyone is either a Millionaire or they wait tables.... or maybe they got to be Millionaires by waiting tables!?!?!?. (Every house in Sydney costs at least 2 million dollars and there is at least one restaurant/cafe for every 2 citizens).The sidewalk cafes are everywhere and always busy, making for an exciting downtown cosmopolitan atmosphere among the glamor of the lovely homes and parks all around the bays, coves and inlets bordering Sydney. The Park with the huge Bronze Borzois/ fountain is fabulous. Most foreign attendees did the Blue Mountains, Harbour Boat Cruises , Wild Life Parks and Sydney Royal. There was much to see and do....many went off to Cairns, the Barrier Reef, Ayrs Rock and still others had made it part of a Aworld" tour and were off to Singapore, Japan, Fiji.....you name it.

We were based right near Bondi Beach and rented a car and used Trains, Buses and Ferries. We really got around! Generally, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves...there were some great times, some heated debates, some fun dining experiences and some dining disasters..(every order wrong, dessert brought before starters, side dishes not brought at all and much of it brought stone cold!) a few late nights in the Casino ( 4am!) after some of the organised social events had finished quite early....John (Ireland) doing a fantastic turn at Karaoke with "Hound Dog", Jennifer (NZ) with a fabulous voice with the Kiwis and their Maori song. And many more memories.........since coming back home to the relative safety of Canada, we have thought of the people returning to Zimbabwe and wondered for their safety in such dangerous times.

Vivienne Machen (Gypsy Afghans, Canada)
Email: peter.machen@sympatico.ca

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