BISS GCH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, CGC (Miss Ginny) Heart Hound

Godspeed, Ginny. February 2006-February 2014.

Best in Specialty

GCH Gryffindor's Wild Rose O'Starry Glen, Best in Specialty, IWAWC

At the Irish Wolfhound Association of the West Coast Specialty on July 26, 2013, Breeder-Judge Ms. S. Kelly Cromer awarded Best in Specialty Show to our own GCH Gryffindor's Wild Rose O'Starry Glen (Rose). Thank you, Ms. Cromer. Thank you, handler Erin Hines.

Rose, born Feb. 1, 2010, was the only girl in a litter of 8. She is Gryffindor's first home-bred champion, grand champion, and bronze grand champion.

Rose was co-bred by owner Pat Murkland and by Jocelyne Gagne.
Her mother, our own BISS GCH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, CGC, won Best in Specialty at Irish Wolfhound Association of the West Coast in 2008. Her father, CH Taryn Tate of Limerick, SC, won Best in Specialty at Irish Wolfhound Association of the West Coast in 2002 and 2006. Thank you to all the dogs and people behind Rose.

There's more! The day before, on July 25, 2013, at the first IWAWC specialty, Judge Mr. Bo Bengston awarded the select Grand Champion award to our Rose. Thank you to Mr. Bengston. Thank you to handler Erin Hines.

We believe this win propels Rose to Bronze Grand Champion.


Rose would be the first Irish Wolfhound girl in California to achieve Bronze Grand Champion status. And she would be the second girl to do so in Irish Wolfhound history!

All in all, a fantastic specialty show weekend!

Fred reads the show catalog (Pat Murkland Photo)

Two dogs, two specialties, two wins

Photo by Rich Bergman

Gryffindor Colin at Tara Hill, with co-owner Barbara Call (also co-owned by Linda Souza), en route to winning Best of Winners at Irish Wolfhound Association of the West Coast specialty 1, July 2012. 
Thank you to Judge Miss Dorothy M. MacDonald. 
Thank you to handler Bill Buell. 
Colin, pictured here winning the Open Dog class, went on to Winner's for a five-point major and then Best of Winners, quite an exciting day!

Photo by Rich Bergman

 The next day was Irish Wolfhound Association of the West Coast's second specialty. Our GCH Gryffindor's Wild Rose O'Starry Glen, Colin's littermate, went Best of Opposite Sex. 
Thank you to Breeder-Judge Mrs. Beverly Little. 
And thank you to Bill Buell, who has been showing our wolfhounds since 2004!

Rose and Colin were the only two dogs we brought to the specialties. Their mother is GCH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, CGC, who won this specialty in 2008. Their sire is CH Taryn Tate of Limerick, SC, who won this specialty twice, in 2002 and 2006, and is the sire and grandsire of many champions.

The Rose is a Grand Champion

Rich Bergman Photo

Rose finished her AKC Grand Championship title with a Best of Breed win and her seventh major at Kennel Club of Beverly Hills. Thank you to Judge Mrs. Betty-Anne Stenmark, who then awarded Rose a very competitive Hound Group 4 placement. Thank you to handlers Erin Hines and Bill Buell.

Now she's GCH Gryffindor's Wild Rose O'Starry Glen. 

Rose and her mom, GCH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, apparently are the only mother-daughter Irish Wolfhound Grand Champions.

Veteran Bitch, Irish Wolfhound Club of America National Specialty Show 2012

Photo by Bill Meyer

BISS GCH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, CGC
First Place Veteran Bitch (entry: 16)
2012 Irish Wolfhound Club of America National Specialty
Thank You to Breeder-Judge Jacqueline Carswell!
RESULTS

Photo by Helen Cullum

Photo by Helen Cullum

Photo by Helen Cullum

Verity at Our National Specialty

Photo Courtesy of Helen Cullum

Our own BISS GCH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, CGC, won Veteran Bitch today at the Irish Wolfhound Club of America National Specialty.

Glam Girls

Our daughter and mother photos from

the Irish Wolfhound Assn. of the West Coast 2011 specialty.

Thank you to Breeder-Judge Mr. Thomas S. Powers.


Reserve Winner's Bitch at 17 months

Gryffindor's Wild Rose O'Starry Glen
(Vicki Holloway Photo)


Grand Champion Select Bitch

BISS CH Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity, CGC
(Vicki Holloway Photo)

See results HERE.

When You Need A Smile ...

You can count on an Irish Wolfhound.

© Pat Murkland

Miss Canine Good Citizen

© Pat Murkland

© Pat Murkland

Guess Which One

© Pat Murkland

Hey Starbucks ... Guess which one of these is "tall."

You've Got Mail!

We've got mail! A mysterious package from Texas.

Rosie (at left) says to her mom, Ginny:

"Hey, this could be from my brother Ocho."

Ginny (right) to Rosie: "Yes! It is from our dear Ocho."

Look! Ocho even helped wrap the presents inside.

Wow! Two cards, beautiful and funny,

three cool Ocho decals ...

... And wonderful studio shots of Ocho

(pictured at one year old).

Check it out. Feel envious. It's an OCHO T-SHIRT!

Here's the newspaper with the Page 1 article about Ocho.

He received his certification to be a therapy dog, in case you have not seen the glaring headlines.

And here's another view of the t-shirt.

Thank you, Ocho, and the Cox family,

for such magnificent gifts.

We love you!

Five Years Ago

Harry and Baby Ginny. Now she's the matriarch.

True Love

© Murkland photo

Wolfhounds laugh at our jokes, and we laugh at theirs.

Happy, happy birthday

Pat Murkland Photo

Our Funny Valentine

Four weeks old, in 2006

Courtesy of Glenamadda Irish Wolfhounds

This week our Ginny turns 5!

Her official AKC registered name is

Glenamadda Starkeeper Verity.

She gets to wear the crowns of SBIS (Specialty Best in Show) CH (AKC Champion) in front of that.

Her registered names each have meaning:

Glenamadda for the kennel of Susan Prokopenko,

and Starkeeper for the kennel of Jocelyne Gagne,

her wonderful co-breeders.

Verity means Truth.

The "V" name comes from being in the V litter.

But when she was a tiny pup, her litter nickname was Valentine.

In these litter photos, she is the lady in red.

When she came to her forever home with us,

she answered to Red.

She soon named herself Ginny

because of her crush on our Harry Potter.

But once you're named Valentine, you never lose it.

She's our forever Funny Valentine.

Our Heart Hound.

Have you hugged your heart hound today?

What Love Is

We have new wolfhound babies in our world. Ocho, above, pictured at two days old, wears his heart for all to see.

Happy Holidays

© Murkland 2009 Baby Hunter at 10 months

Happy Holidays from all of us!

Catching Up With Hunter

© Murkland

Hunter has his mother's eyes and His Dad's smile, along with his very own Irish humor and sense of mischief.

© Murkland

He's losing his baby coat.

Yes, Baby Hunter is now eight months old!

Mr. Growing Hunter

©Photo by Pat Murkland

Hunter is growing so fast.

He's all tall and rangy just one week shy of his fourth month birthday.

And full of growing mischief, too!

©Photo by Pat Murkland

It's so much fun to see both his mother and his father in him.

He has his father's head, for example, but his mother's expressive eyes.

©Photo by Pat Murkland

And yes, he knows how to use those eyes, just the way his Mom and Dad do, when he gets into trouble!

A Dream Come True

Gryffindor's Dream Hunter is now registered with the American Kennel Club.