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Cetta
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Cetta
Ch. Tal-Wardija
Arja Helwa
Name: Tal-Wardija Arja Helwa (called: Cetta) Born: 28th. Feb. 1999 in Malta
Sire: Spider Tal-Mejda
Dam: Ch. Patsy Safra Tal-Wardija Sex: female
Ch. Tal-Wardija Arja Helwa (Cetta), owner: Jan
Scotland, Germany
Owner: Jan Scotland, Bremen/Germany
Cetta
Hello,
my name is Tal-Wardija Arja Helwa, which in Maltese means "Fresh Breeze from Wardija". My friends usually call me "Cetta", which is a very common Maltese name for girls, both for two- and four legged ones.
I was born on the Island of Malta on 28 February 1999, my father is Spider tal-Mejda and my mother Ch. Patsy Safra Tal-Wardija. Since May 1999 I live with Jan Scotland in Bremen, which is a city in the Northwest of Germany, but also the smallest of the sixteen German states, only slightly bigger than Malta. You can see the flag of Bremen in the left upper side of this page.
When we walk through Bremen, many people ask what kind of dog I am. Jan explains them that I am a Kelb tal-Fenek. In the Maltese language this means "Dog of the Rabbit".
Therefore I am sometimes amazed when people on dog shows call me a "Pharaoh Hound". I have learned that a "Pharaoh" was a despotic ruler many thousands of years ago in a country called Egypt. But neither do I come from Egypt, nor is Jan a despotic ruler (just the opposite, he usually does what I want him to do). So why all this talking about Pharaohs? People should call my relatives and me by the name everybody knows in Malta: Kelb tal-Fenek.
I need a little rest...
Being a true Kelb tal-Fenek, my favourite sport is hunting. In Germany, sighthounds and sighthound-related breeds can do this in form of a sport which is called "lure coursing". We chase a bundle of stuff, which is pulled by an electric engine, and it moves exactly like a fleeing rabbit or hare. I enjoy this very much, especially when I can do this together with other Klieb tal-Fenek. There are people called "lure coursing judges" who give points for our performance. I do not think that this is very important, especially since I think there are many of those judges who do not really know how an experienced Kelb tal-Fenek hunts (certainly not always close to the lure, and rather clever than fast), but anyway, Jan wants that I mention some successful competitions here:
1st place Deutscher
Coursingsieger in Frankfurt, 29 April 2001
1st place International Lure Coursing in Freiburg, 14 October 2001
1st place DWZRV-Sieger-Coursing in Offenbach, 7 April 2002
1st place Open Lure Coursing in Ingolstadt, 26 May 2002
1st place LCO Lure Coursing in Bad Doberan, 6 June 2002
2nd place European LC Championships in Charmes (France), 6 July 2002
1st place Open Lure Coursing in Solingen, 27 October 2002
2nd place International Lure Coursing in Frankfurt, 3 May 2003
2nd place Open Lure Coursing in Hünstetten, 17 August 2003
1st place International Lure Coursing in Wismar, 18 April 2004
1st place DWZRV-Sieger-Coursing in Frankfurt, 2 May 2004
2nd place Deutscher Coursingsieger in Issum, 9 October 2004
2nd place Deutscher Coursingsieger in Zehlendorf (Oberhavel), 24 April 2005
2nd place Open Lure Coursing in Ostercappeln, 6 August 2005
2nd place Lure Coursing in Kronenberg/NL, 17 July 2006
2nd place Lure Coursing
Südcup 2002
1st place Lure Coursing Südcup 2003
Jagdcup-Bundessieger 2004
1st place Lure Coursing Südcup 2004
2nd place Holland Coursing Cup 2006
Here you can see our German Tal-Wardija family
members at the
honouring of the winners of the "Deutscher Coursingsieger" in
Frankfurt 2001 (from left to right): Myself (Cetta) with Jan Scot-
land, Guza with Marinella Rieple, Cikku with Daniela Felker,
Joe with Clive Agius-Gilibert.
I am also the first Kelb tal-Fenek who got the title of a German Lure Coursing Champion, the Coursing-Leistungsurkunde (Certificate of Lure Coursing Performance) and the German Champion for Beauty and Performance.
Catching the artificial rabbit in lure
coursing
There is only one thing which is even more interesting than lure coursing, and this is life hunting for rabbits. In September 2001 we went for two weeks to Tenerife, where I could participate in rabbit hunting with a group of Podencos Canarios.
Here I am watching out for rabbits during a
hunt with our
Spanish friend Paco and his Podencos Canarios in Tene-
rife, September 2001
Shows are not really attractive for me, but sometimes we did go just to try it, and so we did collect some more titles:
Landesjugendsieger
Weser-Ems 2000 (DWZRV)
VDH-Europajugendsieger 2000
Sieger Jahresausstellung 2000
Landessieger Baden-Kurpfalz 2000 (DWZRV)
Landessieger Sachsen 2000 (DWZRV)
Landessieger Niedersachsen/Sachsen-Anhalt 2001 (DWZRV)
Landessieger Weser-Ems 2002 (DWZRV)
Landessieger Nord/Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2004 (DWZRV)
Landessieger Hessen-Thüringen 2004 (DWZRV)
German Champion (DWZRV)
German Champion (VDH)
In 2002, I did also get the title of a "DWZRV-Sieger 2002", which consists of participation in one lure coursing and in one show. I was placed first in the DWZRV-Sieger lure coursing on 7th April 2002 in Offenbach and I did also get an Excellent 1 in the DWZRV-Sieger show on 25th May in Ingolstadt. Guess you can imagine in which event I had more fun?
Here I am on the
DWZRV-"Verbandssiegerzuchtschau" on
July 12th, 2003 in Cologne, just after I got my personal
pennant showing that I became "DWZRV-Sieger 2002"
However, Jan told me that I should add the
judge's critique, which has been done by Mr. Hermann Bürk (Germany) on
25th May 2002 in Ingolstadt. For better understanding, we have translated
it from German into English:
"3 years old red-brown bitch with amber eyes, complete
scissor bite, flesh coloured nose, very typical feminine head with correct
prick ear, muscular neck, straight front with a lot of forechest,
voluminous deep brisket, excellent upper and under line, correct
angulations, in general appearance medium sized, medium weight with
correct anatomy and good bone substance, appealing gait, good character"
Excellent 1, VDH award, best bitch, BOB In 2003, I could repeat this success and became also "DWZRV-Sieger
2003". Here are some more photos of me, taken during our holidays on
the Dutch island of Terschelling (or Schylge, as it is known in the local
Frisian language). Certainly one
of the best places for dogs that I know: 
Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Hound on the banks of
the Nile?
No, Maltese Kelb tal-Fenek on the beach of Terschelling!
Some other hobbies of me
are hunting mice and running on the bicycle. Here you can see me hunting mice in the snow
in Northern Germany, December 2001:
I would be happy to meet you this season. May be on a lure coursing ground in Germany or abroad?
Sahha, Cetta
Written down by Jan Scotland