News

At the wettest show we have ever attended Pen , Azi and Sunni all got drenched. I had the contents of a tent roof poured down my back and was wet to the skin. There was thunder; there was lightening. Bad even for an outdoor British show!

But it was an experience........ Azi was BOB, Sunni was Res BOB and , still in the rain, the Group was judged and Azi was Group 2 !!!!!!!!!

Far more civilised was Three Counties Ch show where it was sunny for Sunni and there was a change of judge. Despite this, Sunni won 1st in Junior Bitch. and was in the last 8 in a huge Stakes class. Not bad with no clothes on......

...make a great team.

At Birmingham National Show,Azi won Res Bitch CC. I was away judging in Scotland at the time so Pen managed abley without me! Cheers, Mate!

This was Azi's  first outing after waiting for her new coat! Which isn't as white as it used to be :-)

Peter and Melanie Matfin have had a wonderful run of THREE Best Veteran In Shows with their lovely biscuit shaded boy, Chakotay. See his picture on the home page. Well done P and M and Chuckie! He looks wonderful.

We have a new arrival who made a long road trip to us over Easter; Sunni will be out at Ch shows when she had grown a coat! She is at Stevenage with Penny and currently had the nickname of  'The Joint Venture'. Sunni was hip x-rayed before she left and is an Excellent (A/A) She also has clear eyes. Hands up all the other Samoyed people who have their dogs hip and eye tested! How many?

Meanwhile, my gang are out of coat as well and I have been filling time attending some other breeds' shows.  The prize for the most laid back must go to the Saint Bernards; they know how to take things easy...  As a breed I think they have improved enormously since I last looked at them. Some lovely strong hind quarters about nowadays. And also ringside happy to impart knowledge of their breed. Sadly there is no mentor scheme in Samoyeds.

The Samoyed Club of Slovakia has been working very hard to get this event together. Pen and I are really looking forward to our visit. My one sadness is that my yearly visit to the US Nationals will be out of the question. The Nationals changed their date when the arrangements of the World Meeting were too far advanced to change thus they clash.

The Slovaks are putting on a grand occasion for us and we are all looking forward to it.

http://www.samojed-klub.sk/2sss/index.html?sss=invitation

will take you there and follow all the links for more information.

Pen has come up with the idea of adding a New Page so;

Advice to Puppy Buyers

has started. It is in it's infancy and will be added to as we go along. But it will offer basic advice and some more advanced stuff for puppy buyers. I continue to add Health pieces on the Health and Philosophy page. Travels has been updated. Azi and Chase have been enjoying not being shown so their pages are still the same for the time being. Azi's mating missed this time, after the disaster we had earlier in the year, so no puppy updates for the time being. We are excited that some Chasey puppies will be hitting the ring soon. They are all Very Promising.

In The Rookery, things go on as normal. Gloria is a thief despite her cataracts, Zana has her daily insulin injections without hating me, Tally is due back for a blood test but has put on weight satisfactorily and Wembley is doing well on her Soluxine. She might even make it into the ring again!

I have read pieces by two Doyennes of the breed telling me how healthy the breed is and how we shouldn't worry. They obviously don't have to live with my (not inbred!) pack. 

On a personal note, I do thank the owners of the dogs who have given way to my pleas and allowed their dogs' DNA to be used for the Samoyed Club of America sponsored study on cataracts in Northern Breeds, especially the ones who took up the offer of Free  Confidential Eye  testing. Sadly there were no where near the numbers that initially expressed interest thus we were not able to make the price break on the testing scale. However the fact that people seem to think that because they are not using their animals to breed from or that Samoyeds 'don't have eye problems' are frankly, blinkered (excuse the pun). The fact that you could have taken part in a study for the betterement of the breed Worldwide seems to have escaped you.

2009 will have many changes for Pedigree dogs as a whole. Health issues will be the number one question on everybodies lips. But perhaps not in the Samoyed Breed.  After all, we have a healthy breed!

Had a wonderful time thanks to my wonderful hostesses, Janet Ainscow and Barbara Winch who looked after me so well after the show.

Prior to the show, I had a great time in Brisbane where I spent 4 days exploring and shopping by myself. It was brilliant.

I will do a full report later, but understand people actually read my notes so I'd better give them something to read!

Pen and the Beautiful Chase made the awful journey to Builth Wells. This time they were rewarded with the Dog CC which makes Chase a New Champion. His title (subject to KC confirmation) is now;

CH. AUS. CH. SNERZOK STRIKE CHASER.

Well done to Penny and her cuddly familiar, Chase. Again our grateful thanks to Dawn and John Wilders for entrusting us with this lovely dog.

We have seen the first Chase puppies out;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dreo-RWF4rg

shows one doing what Samoyeds do best! :-)

Thanks to Penny Roberts for looking after the boy so well! Cheers Pen.

I have to update this, so here you are! We have had a mixed year so far. Penny was so annoyed at not being able to contact me when Chase won the CC at Bath, as I was singing in Cologne. Her nagging and that of my dearly beloved David, has succeeded. I have bought a mobile phone. Nobody knows the number though!

Pen and I visited Slovakia and had a wonderful weekend watching dogs. And seeing the wonderful country side. There were two all breed Ch shows on consecutive days in the same venue, and it worked very well, with many of the native breeds being on show. The people are so friendly as well.

For some reason, I have had a run on Companion shows to judge this year. They are so much fun and you can actually learn a lot as well. The fact that most exhibitors seem to miss out this stage of showing and graduate straight to Championship shows means they miss a lot of basic knowledge that can be accrued at these events. I did a local dog training one last weekend and have one near Dudley to do in September; something to do with barges I think.

I am looking forward to Brisbane next mont and know my inimitable hostess has lots of wonderful things planned for me!

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!

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