20 Breed Notes – B’ham Nat 2026

Still on my soap box about Ch shows and dwindling entries, there’s also value for money which needs to be taken into account when considering entry levels etc. It seems now that most, if not all of the General Ch shows add an extra £2 surcharge onto all entries made after postal entries have closed – sneakily changed from previously being added from when online extensions were offered. Now that Stafford is becoming the venue where most of the Ch shows are ending up, it is interesting to compare what the different societies are charging for what is effectively ‘the same product’ and it’s interesting to see who comes out on top!

Midland Counties – 4 days Benched: Breeds with CCs 1st entry – £30.00/£32 inc surcharge
Spectator Dogs donation to Dogs for Good

LKA (last year’s info)– 4 days Benched: Breeds with CCs 1st entry – £31.00/£33 inc surcharge
Spectator Dogs £5 per dog

Manchester – 4 days Benched: Breeds with CCs 1st entry – £32.00/£34 inc surcharge
Spectator Dogs £5 per dog to Guide Dogs for the Blind

Driffield – 4 days Benched: Breeds with CCs 1st entry – £32.00/£34 inc surcharge
Spectator Dogs £5.00 per dog

Birmingham National – 4 days No Benching: Breeds with CCs 1st entry – £34.00/£36 inc surcharge
Spectator Dogs £5.00 per dog

Doing away with benching and increasing entry fees does not, in my mind, offer value for money at all. Spectator dog fees – which I have to say that I don’t mind paying if the money goes to a charity (well done Midland Counties and Manchester) but I do object it being used as an extra earner for the society – especially with some shows charging as much as £10 per spectator dog.

At Birmingham National our judge was Janice Bannister, who was awarding CC’s for the second time (her 1st appointment was at Leeds in 2021) and she had drawn an entry of 27 Keesies with 10 absentees. We were third in the ring after 41 Mini Schnauzers and 23 Schnauzers, with a not before time of 11.00am. Judging started at around 1.15pm; there were no entries in both Special Beginners classes, Puppy Dog and Junior Bitch; Limit Dog and both Minor & Puppy bitches were absent; and it was all over by 2.00pm

Winning the DCC with Best of Breed was Gill Brunt’s Ch Divnyi Drug Dar (imp Russ) (Russ Ch Cinerus Artic Prince of Star x Russ Ch Divnyi Drug Gusja Lebed) and it was another RDCC with Best Puppy for Mel Harris & Jean Sharp-Bale’s Neradmik Shooting Star (Ch Aragorn Elessar Elfiyskiy Berill x Ch Neradmik Pandora’s Box)

The BCC went to Val Tew’s Ch Bargeway Crystal Clear (Torrikees Purple Rein x Ch Art Pride Bomb Explosive Beauty (imp Russ)) with the RBCC going to second in Open, Gill Brunt’s Ch Zandvoort Grace’s Secret (Ch Divnyi Drug Dar (imp Russ) x Almaznyi Istochnik Tropicheskaya Noch (imp Russ))

Anji Marfleet