31 Breed Notes – July 2024

Well, the proverbial seems to be hitting the fan this week. Firstly, the fiasco at the Kennel Club, who are yet again demonstrating that they are not fit for purpose and now with the latest statement from the Keeshond Club which Melanie Reed Peck has asked me to put in these notes.

Following a survey of Keeshond exhibitors undertaken by the Keeshond Club and a subsequent application to the Royal Kennel Club for approval, the RKC has recently approved the use of the ramp in show rings for Keeshonds. Of course, the ramp is only used at the discretion of both exhibitor and judge and on a dog-by-dog basis.
The Keeshond Club has purchased a ramp and it has been agreed that its use should commence at the beginning of 2025 as this would give exhibitors a chance to practice using it outside of the rings at our remaining club shows from October this year.
The Keeshond Club will shortly be advising the secretaries of all the general championship shows of the RKC’s approval of the use of the ramp from the start of 2025.

For those of you to whom this may come as a surprise (of which there seem to be quite a few); the Keeshond Club brought a voting box with questionnaires for exhibitors to the NoEKC’s Ch show in November 2022 regarding the use of a ramp for showing. It was agreed that they could do this; despite the NoEKC Committee unanimously agreeing that the Keeshond is and should be a freestanding dog and that we had concerns that the use of a ramp may impede exhibitor’s entries.

The Keeshond Club’s announcement was finally made public on social media, (although with commenting turned off) yesterday, having been previously been posted on an ‘exclusive’ Facebook group called ‘The Keeshond Club Members Group’ and this is the group which also seems to be updated on a more regular basis re the club’s business. I can understand the club having a private group for members; but with only 46 people in this group, what about the rest of the membership. I realise that I’m not the most avid fb user; but having been a member of The Keeshond Club for more years than I care to remember, was totally unaware of its existence until recently, as are quite a few other club members. Should this information not be shared and available to the whole membership, not just a select few?? Unimpressed is an understatement.

The NoEKC were never informed of the result of the survey, so do not know how this decision was reached; but surely it should have at least been mentioned at an AGM? The NoEKC committee held a meeting last night about this, where we again, unanimously voted that as the Keeshond is a free-standing breed we are against the use of the ramp, and will not be offering it at our future shows. But we would like to thank The Keeshond Club for their kind gesture offering us the use of their ramp at our shows which we do appreciate.
Obviously as a Club we would welcome our members comments and thoughts.

Of the exhibitors who have spoken to me so far, without exception all are against the use of a ramp; with several breed judges also saying, that in their opinion if a judge is not fit enough to be able to bend down to go over a Keeshond, then they shouldn’t be judging – which is quite clearly stated in KC rules.

As far as I’m aware it’s
a) Up to each individual club which schedule Keesie classes, if they wish to offer the use of a ramp
b) The judge’s choice as whether they want to use a ramp
c) And finally, the exhibitors’ choice to show their dog on the floor or ramp.

Me personally?? A Keeshond is a free-standing breed, not stacked nor on a table or ramp, shown with all 4 paws firmly on the ground – if you’re lucky😂

Anji Marfleet