I happed to be in the right place at the right time.
Bored in my au-pair position but loving the horses I got to ride, I visited the first Word Congress for Afghan hounds in Windsor
of 1993. Lotte and Ulf Jorgensen where there as speakers and visiting was Roger and Evleyn Rechler with Michael Canalizo thier
handler, manager and friend. I got introduced and Lotte pretty much said to me - don't screw this up when they offered
me a position as Michael's assistant. Hmm - home to Sweden for a few weeks and them came the ticket and I flew to New
York - August 23'd 1993. The date will come back later....
I had three days to learn "everything" and
then it was off to Cleveland Ohio with Tryst, TR and young Scout. I got to spend the first night of many in a hotel room with
Tryst and we started on separate beds Tryst acting like she always did with a new person - polite but not excited. She curled
up on the other bed and I went to sleep exhausted from all teh hype, the news and the reality! I woke up with Tryst draped
along my left side and there she stayed for ten years. I must say that this dog wrapped my heart around her body completely
and utterly and she could do no wrong... Not true - I was her worst criticm her fitness expert, her chef and her hairdresser.
Add personal assistant and manager and you got it! She was a lady on the outside and in public but the real Tryst had her
toung out on the side getting down and dirty with the young dogs, ripping up the lawn every day at home. On the road we played
on the hotel grounds.. she ran like a maniac if you chased her and would play with her silly squeaqy toys. She was always
loose in a hotel room - most of the Grandeur dog were at all times. I can count the one and only time she ever got sick on
one hand and one finger and it was in Idaho on the long summer cirquit. She came down with a bug and she got soo sick that
when we got to Salt Lake she had to have fluids, AB's and smelled like oh god...We got her to San Antonio after she rested
for 48 hours and after a healthy bath that same after noon (for everyone that had to smell her!) she won Best in Show over
3500 dogs under Mrs. Clark. Sturdy, loyal and with a heart of a lion for the people she loved! The story of Tryst
and her adventures cold fill a book but when she peacefully fell to sleep for he last time on August 22 It took me and everyone
involved with this wonderful dog weeks to get back in somewhat mental shape. Ten years minus one day since the day we
met. There have been so many special dogs carrying the Grandeur name. Many before I was even born. I have never met a group
of dogs with a more fantastic temperament and stamina. They were and still are truly unique. Anyone who ever got to share
their life with one of these dogs or came to meet them would second that! Again - I thank Roger and Evelyn for the opportunities
they gave me and for everything they did for me. For all the memories... for everything. I am forever grateful.
Below
is a bigraphy I wrote on Tryst a few years back. She was still alive at that point.
You’re Simply the Best…
Just like
that I was at Grandeur kennels in New York
on a grueling hot August afternoon in 1993. Well that story is long enough to fill a book so I will leave it out this time.
Suffering from jetlag and a huge case of butterflies in my stomach I was introduced to the folks and hounds at the absolutely
amazing facility that would become my home for the future….
My first meeting with Tryst came about ten minutes later when she came
in from the paddocks down below covered in leaves and dust from running around, she stopped and looked at me and it was like
she said: Hey You are new here! On she moved and I had no Idea that I’d just met her…. Mesmerized
that I would be with all these famous dogs from now on was overwhelming and I got that “I can’t do this”
feeling right that moment.
Well everything came to place in record time because that very weekend we headed off to the Midwest specialty held
in Ravenna, Ohio and I got the crash course in how the shows gets done in the US. TR (Triumph) came with us and so did Scout
(Tried and True), at the time fifteen months old and full of himself.
Tryst was the queen in the company and that evening Roger decided
that Tryst and I should share a room. TR went with Mike and Roger and Evelyn bravely took on baby Scout. I had groomed the
three of them that afternoon for the first time and on top of that I was still suffering from the time difference so I soon
passed out after we had exchanged pleasantries and Tryst fell asleep on the other bed in the room. That morning when the alarm
clock went off she was curled up under my arm next to me and I was a little stunned because I had never seen any afghan before
in my life get so close so fast!
From this day on we have shared a bed on the road and a lot at home… (Nowadays she has her own queenside bed
in Roger and Evelyn’s bedroom!) She filled that spot where my beloved dogs in Sweden had been and made the pain of not having them with me a lot easier to deal with.
That weekend
will etch itself to my memory forever because I got to watch Triumph in full flare in 100 degree heat against Taco, and Tryst
beating everyone the first day of competition with a Group First and I remember thinking to myself that this is pretty good!
This girl has something special!
She was at the time two and a half and Mike and I got our hands full after that. She started
to really win a lot of groups and big breeds that fall and showed us her whole repertoire of tricks and ideas. The book was
not available to us and we got to learn them the hard way, after the fact. Tryst, was and is, not an easy piece of cake to
show and famous friends like Jimmy Moses and Gene Blake offered hints and help how to try to get on the same wavelength as
she was on. She loved the excitement and attention from her first day in the ring but wanted to do it her way…on a
loose lead and with all the freedom that she could have! Before we figured that out we where about to pull our hair out.
One weekend
in November Mike had to go out of town and there were shows in Pennsylvania. Tryst had really been showing well and Roger said that I could take her there and show her myself.
Our dear friends Fran and Peggy Gioia , was the saving grace because I still had a hard time going the right direction on
Long Island Expressway and they took the two of us out to Back Mountain Kennel Club.
I will never ever forget the
day but a whole lot of it is in a blur because at first we won the breed and I got to call home and almost scream that to
Roger. Secondly we won the group, again under the lovely Mrs. Powers and over Luke the world-famous whippet! At this point
my legs where shaking and I had no voice to say anything which was probably just as good since it would not make any sense.
For Best in Show
I can remember two dogs: the Doberman of the Di Nardo’s shown for the first time by their daughter Gina (well I did
not know that at the time) and Bonnie Trelfall with her English cocker – Hoist the Flag. Everything else is a blur!
Tryst and I won the Best in Show that day under Col. Jerry Weiss and someone was filming it and later handed me a copy. On
this tape you can hear me crying: “This is her first best in show…. AND MINE!” I was absolutely stunned
but very proud of Tryst and extremely honored being allowed to be there with her!
I called my mother afterwards and it was probably four
in the morning by then in Sweden so she
said it was okay to call if the news was that good.
Her career is so long and illustrious that it would be very boring to
read for you. She has won everything, everywhere and in my eyes with those pink colored glasses on, very stylish and afghan-like.
If she would have a motto it would be: “Kill ‘em with kindness.” She exemplifies that with her personality
and attitude. We, that get to be around her every day knows that she would do anything to please You (in afghan limits off
course, she would never go and get the paper for you…) She is very devoted to her family and loves to play and hang
around all day long. Action is a must for her! She still to this day is the best dog to exersize and gets with me on the bike
almost every day. We do a coffee run in the morning and she notoriously steals that egg and cheese roll…She has earned
the nickname of “bad dog” since she retired a second time because of her energy and even got a tag on her collar
to prove it! She can seem to be snooty at shows but it’s because she doesn’t know the person. If someone she knows
shows up she wiggles her tail and butt and pokes them in the face jumping up on them and gives the famous Tryst hug.
Tryst, the show
dog, will always be my role model and what I will compare everything else to. She did close to 130 shows three years straight
and you need a heck of a dog to do that and come out on top. I have always been asked how we did it and the answer will always
be that the dogs got to come first! You have to sacrifice a lot and make sure that they are happy, healthy and most of all
loves it! There are no shortcuts either and the coat care and conditioning is another key to success. If you can do that and
have a high caliber dog in your hands, you can give it a try! It’s not that easy…..
Being so pushed to the edge
all of the time she held up fantasticly. Once she got sick and she was back in the ring three days later winning a Best in
San Antonio under Mrs. Clark over 3000 dogs…Never
once she failed to come up with her personality towards children and others that has admired her. I can’t remember how
many autographs she has written… but it’s a lot of PR she has done for this breed and show dogs in general
all over the world.
I have a special feel for her first time at the prestigious Westchester Kennel Club in the fall of 1994. She had won
Bests that whole year and we where thinking that maybe she would catch her own mother’s record of 16 Bests someday.
I had gotten so sick that week before and could not figure out why I could not get over this cold. It was pneumonia and I
did not know until that Friday before the show. I was at Rockland Kennel Club on Thursday feeling like I would die right there
and then, went to the doctor the next day and got ordered to bed immediately. Mike went to Somerset Hills with Tryst and I
can’t tell you how she did. I know that I let her up the stairs to go to Westchester that Sunday morning after I had sulked all night because I could not attend my friends, Kari
and Duke’s, wedding. I fell back asleep and the next thing I know was her coming flying down the stairs around 8 PM with a BIS ribbon hanging off the collar…
I was stunned! Mike used the saying for her ad in Dog News: “Expect the unexpected” and I think
that will say it all for her forthcoming career.
Tryst won the national 1995 the same year that she became
the top dog of all breeds in America. I
was on top of a folding chair trying to peak over that crowds at the bay in San Diego and I almost killed myself falling off
it as the judge, Bob Stein, pointed to Tryst and Michael. It felt very relieving to me watching her win that day under the
same judge who had given her the group at that first show I watched her win in Ohio. I can not express my feelings for this dog. She is more than everything to me.
Tryst at the Garden
has been very emotional for everyone involved with her. I have to say that she has been a turning point in Michael and Rogers’s lifetime involvement with these Grandeur
Afghans. Before her they had Shah, Star and TR as the huge winners they where but none of them had won the National and none
of them made a statement at Madison Square Garden like Tryst has done. Shah, her grandfather was a breed winner there and both Star and TR was
multiple BOS winners there. Tryst had finished that weekend in 1992 after almost not made it through an illness that winter
so something special was brewing. I had been a spectator at Westminster KC in 91 and 94 but never exhibited or helped with
exhibiting a dog there. Tryst did everything you asked of her and the audience fell in love with her that day and it has carried
on from that moment in that very building.
She won her first Best of Breed in 1995 and I felt a sigh or relief going through the whole
Grandeur camp that was there! It was unbelievable to have her going around that ring to the screams of the audience (and myself!)
She carried on that evening with a group second.
The following year she was the group winner on top of her breed win and that was another
high in my life! She had the crowds going and she loved it! People who are just spectators and have no clue who’s who
was screaming for her! So the following year I was one of very few people that knew she could win again. I have such respect
for Glorvina Schwartz and I knew she admired Tryst. It came down to be between Tryst and her archrival Flyer and I have never
seen her so incredible in the ring. If you ask me when was she the most exciting it would have to be that day. I was a wreck
that whole weekend. After Tryst came up lame two days before, at the pier specialties, I almost had had it! I knew our wonderful
beautiful and most beloved Carlos was almost in the hands of God and I could not bare loosing him. I prayed for Tryst being
OK on Tuesday and she won; she won for Carlos who left this world one week later….
Loosing Carlos was a huge
blow to all of us. He was one of those dogs that you will have so close in your heart that you can feel his breath on your
hand and feel of his coat between your fingers if you close your eyes at any time. It just hurts endlessly thinking about
him. In him we lost the dog that could have carried on the torch the same way Tryst did.
She retired after that night
at the Garden and motherhood was next! She liked to be at home at first but got over it very fast and begged to come every
weekend when we took Belle and her siblings to shows. She whelped her first litter in December of 1997 and her next one in
July of 1998 and broke her water both times in my bed….. I guess that was her way of telling me something. A great
whelper and mother and the most devoted one I have ever seen. You had to drag her outside and she whined the whole time like
she was telling you it was not necessary at all to go out.
At home we have her exuberant daughter Duchess and she is a lot like
her mom, without the hair!
Her comeback in the ring was carefully discussed and debated within the family and among authorities in the sport of
dogs. Was it worth the risk of loosing her reputation that she had built up? Was it possible? Did she have the mind and body
for it?
I
guess the last question was mine to answer and I knew she would do everything she was asked to do and the coat was almost
back and her body was better then ever but I have to admit that I was skeptic. So at eight years of age and new mother she
put the leash back on and kicked some butt!
Well I did not mean for that to sound bad but I was so proud over her and the biggest critique
too I guess. I knew that the coat was not there yet but she kept winning and winning and loved it! We went back to California that July and it was a triumphant week for
Tryst and us. She won the specialty and Best at the Shoreline Kennel Club and another group over Americas best hounds including the mystical Treasure. She went on to make
the top ten of all breeds, number one hound and all this as a veteran!
Her last shows came in January of 2000, the new millennium, and it came
with a bang. She went on to win four BIS under judges like Mrs. Clark and Mr. Jim Reynold and to me that was a perfect ending.
She was now nine years old and in extreme coat and body. I have to admit that I COMPLETELY lost it at the Garden when she
lost the breed. My breakdown was due to a lot of emotions and memories but in my eyes she was the winner in that ring. You
just had to listen to the crowds screaming their heads off as soon as she entered the ring. I think Tryst
thought that she won too, when she stood there in the middle and the roof was about to come down.
She did it all they
told her she could not do at the hospital that night early in her life and she did it in style!
I will always be thankful
to the Rechler’s and to Michael Canalizo for letting me be a part of Tryst’s and their life! She is the ultimate
dog – she is simply the best! Thank You Tryst for making my life so fantastic! I love you.
Anna
