News

J'ai recu une demande de resiegnment pour un chiot male, de la France, par telephone.  Ma Francais n'est pas bon! Si vous voulez m'envoyer e-mail, j'esseierai d'aider.Veuillez excuser la grammaire; ce clavier n'a aucun accent!

We had a fairly quiet Christmas at Smiliesam. Azi found yet another way to scale the now colossal fortifications here, but we think she is now safely penned!

I did five hours of Carol singing on Christmas Eve in Melbourne, Derbyshire and our 'ad hoc' choir raised £800 for the National Childrens Home. It was a wet, cold night but we were invited into some houses and plied with mulled wine and mince pies. I could not take the former as I had to drive home, but the mincepies were delicious.

I was also in a Christmas concert with my compatriots from Derby Choral Union at Derby Cathedral, singing Messiah and many Rutter carols. It was a wonderful evening.

I went to a very good Norwegian Elkhound seminar during one weekend this month. It was good to see mentors in a breed who actually knew what they were talking about. And somebody was there actually showing people how to go over dogs properly.

This is not something that happens in Samoyeds, as I found out to my cost when a potential judge went over my dog in an assessment and actually stopped her breathing  by blocking her nostrils when examining her mouth. Naturally as the person concern was on the Committee of one of the assessors, that person PASSED the assessment.

This year is shaping up nicely with a few trips planned. First with the choir to Cologne and Altenberg in Germany, singing Faure's Requiem and Haydn's Te Deum. Then my exciting overseas judging appointments in Australia and the USA. I do enjoy judging, I enjoy dogs and enjoy the intellectual stimulation. But of course, you only get that if you do it properly instead of deciding which Best Friend you are going to reward today. Or even to make sure your puppy has red on both sides of it's pedigree!

There are some judges at Championship shows this year who are equally as bad as some from the previous twelve months. Certainly some 'Congratulation' cards could be sent out BEFORE the judging!

Chase had a wonderful day at this show, going Best In Show from an entry of 123 under Mrs E Cartledge. It was a friendly show and had few absentees, often a feature of British shows.

I  have not posted much news lately due to a distinct lack of interest in the Samoyed scene in the UK. The Breed Council in it's wisdom says it is not necessary to do Eye Testing. God help the dogs with painful undiagnosed eye conditions as a result of this. And of course, the rest of the Samoyed Clubs around the World who advocate eye testing and who all started off with dogs from Great Britain, must be wrong! Certainly my Eye specialist when I was in Cumbria said he had seen more than a few Samoyeds go through his referral service.

However, I went to Switzerland, where they do believe in Eye Testing and they do believe in Hip Scoring, a couple of weeks ago. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Nordic Breeds of Switzerland show. My hostess for the weekend was Andrea Eiger with husband, Bruno, who is like my David, a wonderful chef! I am now a great fan of Swiss Cuisine.

There were some nice quality dogs there in all breeds. The ones I have never seen before like the Iceland Sheepdogs, I am not so sure about! The breeders groups at the end were impressive. Andrea had a wonderful day with the Arctic Aivik Samoyeds but I do not envy her some of the trophies she had to take home.

The International grapevine is alive and kicking! I heard of another very expensive British Export who had not made size and will be rehomed as a pet. Why oh why don't British Breeders take into consideration the Breed Standard of the countries they export to?  Is the thought of ready money so attractive they will willingly sell puppies they know will not be suitable for showing under FCI rules, for example? Mind you, most of them ignore the British Standard! LOL

There has been another paper written for the Small Animal Practice Magazine, July 2007. It specifically says that an allele has been found which makes the breed suspectible to Diabetes. This allele was found in the Control dogs as well as the Clinically affected. For the unknowing, this means that probably all Samoyeds in the UK carry it.

However,there is really no point developing a test for this, as far as most people are concerned. If breeders are happily ignoring hip scoring, whicb was described to me by two breeders as 'a load of sh-te', there is very little chance that they will test for Diabetes. I suppose if your stud dog  has produced nearly a hundred puppies and only 20% of those scored get high hip scores, you don't have a problem! After all you can always blame it on the unscored bitches you let him be used on!

And of course any conversation at ringside carefully avoids health problems in the breed. They are more interested in the current yearly placings of their dogs.

I will go on as normal, availing myself or all current technology and trying to breed healthy dogs.

This took place in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in September this year. I was delighted to meet up with many old friends and make some new ones! This year, I tried to help with the Agility. I say 'tried' as I was more of a hindrance than a help. These Agility Ladies really know what they are doing and I ended up taking much needed shelter under the tents from those who really deserved it! Anyway, there will be more about it on My Travels. But I must say there were some cracking males there this year. The dogs weren't bad either! LOL

At the SBOL Open Breed Open Show today, Chase went Best Dog and Best In Show. Well done to energetic handler, Penny and to Chase who stood wagging his tail from start to end! What a lovely chap he is! Well done to Pen as well for going Best Bitch with Roushka.

Thanks to Jack Goodday (Duckslake) the Judge.

It was a nice show with a few new faces and a couple of older ones. :-)

I have resigned from the Parish Chair at Isley Walton due to my time with the dogs being affected.

I have also resigned from one of the internet groups due to the vast quantity of drivel, self agrandissement, misinformation and, as one correspondant said to me, pure mean spiritedness, that seems to prevail.

To paraphrase an old saying, you can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends and internet groups! LOL

Malvern last weekend was an enjoyable time for us. It rained mightily when we arrived with the camper and I put the tent up in the rain. I am still drying it out! Thanks to the Fremlins for the cuppa and a dry place to sit when we had finished setting up.

Azi arrived eight days previously at Dover, personally brought over by Jana, Mario and Janka. Azi enjoyed her weekend in the campervan with Chase, Wembley and Roushka. Her show results are on her page. Thanks to Judge Janet Johnson for a wonderul debut for this special bitch. Azi will be mated to Chase this Autumn. She will also bring back 'lost alleles' to this country . It is a such a shame when people reckon themselves to be genetics experts but rely on information decades old.

However I digress. After a wonderful day and an evening enjoying genial banter and some good company, the rain started again. Right through to the next morning. It was still going when Pen and I decided enough was enough, and packed up the camper and left without attending Evesham show.

However, Azi doesn't seem to mind the rain, or the rabbits in the garden or anything else that gets thrown at her. What a well socialised girl she is and all thanks to Jana for that.

I recently had a phone call from a lady wanting a puppy. Nothing new there. But it seems she had been talking to another 'breeder' (if you can call having one litter and making a tosh of it, a breeder) who tried to persuade this particular buyer to get a puppy out of a specific stud dog. When asked about my stock, the 'breeder' said, 'she has more of a working type of dog'. Sadly for her this had the opposite effect to that required and persuaded the client to place her enquiry with me!

Understand, while in the UK 'working' is almost a derogatory comment; in many other countries it is a complement! I have no intention of producing the cartoon sheep with fluffy toilet roll bodies and cocktail stick legs that win so well in this county!And that many parts of the rest of the World ridicule us for!

But, you may ask, can your dogs work? Just look at the dogs I have sold! I am far too lazy to find out fo myself! LOL