107 Breed Notes – Bournemouth 2017

With no tickets on offer at Bournemouth, Keesies were third in the ring after Shar Pei & Boston Terriers; so it was a leisurely start for a Monday morning missing the traffic. Although it was humid, the threatened rain held off and it was very pleasant outside with the breeze; but hot and sticky inside the marquees. With only 13 dogs entered; the half row of keesies benches were quite difficult to find!

Our judge was Janice Bannister (not as printed in the schedule!) and we got into the ring around 1.00pm. It was one of those days for Sue Lindsay as Best Dog with Best of Breed was her Mezanda Merry Starshower (Nor Ch Dungens Nice Guy x Mezanda Mai Starshine) from Post Graduate. Then Disney’s Uncle Hamley, Mezanda Madog’s Storm (Ch Wund-r-y Workin for a Livin at Szaryk (imp USA) x Enreveyar Mystic Star at Mezanda) got Reserve Best Dog from Limit.

Best Bitch was Mark Redler & David Wheatley’s Keitakees Asleep In The Back (Luddelos Figaro With Valindale (imp Swe) x Pommary Almost An Angel) and the Reserve went to Alison and Ivan Passmore’s Torrikees Lust For Life (Ch Winklestar Hadar x Ch Torrikees Victoria’s Secret) with both girls coming from the Limit class. The only puppy entered was absent.

Sue Lindsay had also entered young Disney in the Lester Aldridge Pll Yearling Stakes; which got done just before breed judging started. It was worth the running from ring to ring as Judge Chris Bexon awarded Disney a 2nd place from a very large class with £25 cash as very nice winnings!

I have to say that generally I try to avoid watching TV programs about dogs, puppies and the general public as although they might make ‘good television’ it doesn’t do my blood pressure much good. I confess that I only caught the odd five minutes here and there of last week’s Channel 4’s ‘Animal Rescue Live: Supervet Special’ but very soon reached boiling point!

Philippa Robinson has posted a blog; ‘They ship ’em out and they ship ’em back in again’ on her Karlton Index web site, in which she very succinctly states what I suspect an awful lot of us think about the ‘Supervet’ and his almost messianic complex. Go and have a look, the blog is accessible from the home page and it’s well worth a read.

If Channel 4 were to revisit the Newcastle Dog and Cat shelter in even six months’ time and find it empty and all those re-homed animals still happy and cared for in their ‘forever homes’ I might change my mind. Call me a cynic – but what are the odds on them doing that or that happening???

One snippet Philippa did come up with which I have to say I didn’t know or realise was that breed clubs (as recognised by the Kennel Club), manage to rehome in the region of 10,000 dogs annually; all on a voluntary and usually unpaid basis. That’s a similar number to those rehomed by the Dogs Trust – but without the 10 salaries over £60k and 5 salaries over £100k and without the advantage of a whopping £98 million plus budget.

So where’s the Kennel Club’s trumpet blower in all this? Missing yet another opportunity to publicise and support pedigree dogs along with all the breed rescue clubs’ and their unsung heroes???

Andy Fitches has started the next issue of the North of England Keeshond Club’s magazine – Walkee Talkees and would like to have all your contributions by the mid-September at the latest. Please email them to him at: mail@andrewfitches.plus.com

Anji Marfleet