26 Breed Notes – Sth C’ties 2021

Southern Counties was the eagerly anticipated first general Ch show not to be cancelled since Crufts last year, when the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns appeared to put paid to virtually everything apart from football.

Our judge Carole Jackson (Carnor) (who last judged us at Midland Counties in 2017) had drawn an entry of 27 dogs with 4 absentees making 23 entries. The puppy dog was absent and there were no entries for Junior Dog, Special Beginners Dog or Bitch & the Good Citizen class. Keesies were first in the ring with a 10.00 am start and were finished by 11.45am

The Dog CC went to Natasha Hickson’s Ch Kichigai’s Only The Lonley (Bert von Ricara (imp Den) x Kichigai Special Edition) with the RDCC going to second in Open – David Peck’s Kwajongen He’s A Dandy Byquy (Ch Wund-R Y Workin For A Livin at Szaryk (IMP USA) x Ch Byquy Pebbles at Kwajongen) handled by David Matthews.

The BCC with Best of Breed went to Sue Lindsay’s Ch Cosmic Dream’s Damn You Look Good For Mezanda (Imp Nor) JW (Dungens Never Ending Dream x Dungens Kosmic Love) The RBCC also went to second in Open and was won by Cheri & Trevor Rogers’ Can Am Ch Cedarhills-Shamrock Foreign Exchange at Keez (Imp Can) (Ikon’s Cha Ching x Cedarhills Shamrock Sabrina) attending her first ever show in the UK.

Best Puppy was Dawn Gregory’s Amikirs Lovealicious (Ch Neradmik All About The Boy for Watchkees x Ch Amikirs Bubblelicious) and Joan Miles and Gus – Ch Rossvale’s Legacy For Lekkerbek (who was BV) won Veteran Group 4 from judge Ian Gabriel.

All the rings were outdoor with a gazebo set at one end for the stewards and judge and where exhibitors could stand either waiting their turn or to have their critiques written up. There were 2 metre lines on the ground with plenty of gangways for all the gazebos & pop up tents to set up around the rings. The layout made for a very friendly relaxed atmosphere, shade for the dogs & somewhere reasonably safe to leave your things when in the ring and all in all contributed to a sociable day out. Although from what I gathered, the trade stands didn’t appear to have a particularly profitable weekend as they were sited at the far end of the show ground and not many exhibitors made it that far down.

Members of SCCA were canvassing exhibitors for their opinions about the show and judging by the comments, this layout was by far preferable to the traditional benching under a large marque. But that was with blue skies, sunshine and ice-creams all round. Would opinions and the general ambiance have been the same on a more typical show day – with a cold wind, chucking it down with rain and being surrounded by mud?

The schedules are now appearing thick and fast – as are the huge dents in our bank balances as we start to enter the shows again. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed how expensive showing actually is; and that’s without fuel etc taken into consideration. I wonder if this will be reflected in fewer dogs and shows being entered or will exhibitors recover from their initial financial shock & carry on as before?

For those of you who have been wondering about (& looking up) the future show results appearing on this site last week, no I don’t have a crystal ball – I just couldn’t remember how to set a new years’ show page and it took a few attempts before I got it right!!

Anji Marfleet