December could not have a finer start!
At the London Cocker Spaniel Society
Championship Show
my black boy, Walking Shadow's As You Like It
qualified for
Crufts - for life -
by being 3rd in the any colour open class.
He is also
now eligible for an entry in the Kennel Club Stud Book!
He is the
first cocker spaniel to qualify for Crufts through competing
in the UK at the
Championship show level (under the Pet Travel Scheme)
and who is bred and owned
by an exhibitor outside UK and Ireland.
His dam, Sheerclever Wicked Game, was
third in the Veteran class,
again handled by the talented Belgian junior handler
Nicolas Hanson.
Lots of thanks and hugs for Dany & Sabine Hanson for
preparing
Will & Iina for this show.
November was really quiet - visited some shows but had entered no dogs.
Another weekend spent in the UK, this time with Nelly Feyaerts.
We visited the
Alisma kennels in southern Wales.
Heartfelt thanks to Judith and Duncan Craig for
the
lovely hospitality shown to me. We also visited the Webbs
at the Speechouse
kennels.
The following weekend took us to the Richmond Championship show,
held at the famous Ascot racecourse. And what a day we had!
I
had a chance to have a chat with many old and new friends,
Will was 4th (i.e.
Reserve) in the Open class, after such names as
Charbonnel Warlord, Lujesa Lagonda and Cardamine Gold
Ptarmigan.
The judge was Joanne Darby.
Iina made an appearance in the
Veteran stakes and
was short-listed among the best 12 out of more than 40 veterans!
Thanks a lot to my travelling companion, Rudy Feyaerts,
who had trimmed Will for
the occasion.
September could not have a finer start:
my grand old lady Iina was again BOB
veteran in Mechelen,
ending up as Best Veteran In Show 3!
She gave the performance of her
life in the main ring,
expertly handled by Nicolas Hanson.
Thank you, Nicolas, I owe you one.
We spent our whole summer holiday in Finland.
The dogs loved it when
they could freely run all over
and swim when they wanted to.
We attended some
shows but no spectacular wins
this time, at least not for us ;-)
I myself acted
as "personal assistant" to my friend's
Scottish terrier, for example
sparring him to give
an excellent performance in the Scottish Terrier Club
of
Finland's club show - he was Best In Show.
I flew to Finland with the doggies to take part in a couple of shows.
Will &
Iina stayed with my parents while I dashed back to Belgium
and from there to the UK
to see the Cocker Club Championship Show
in Malvern before leaving for my holidays in Finland.
The trip was worth the while since Will managed to get his third (and last)
Finnish CAC from Tamas Jakkel in the second of the two shows.
He still needs the working test to become a Finnish Champion.
Here are a couple of photos of Will & Iina enjoying the lovely weather in Finland.
June went quickly by - no shows to go to, even
the eagerly awaited
jubileum show of the Dutch Spaniel Club
was cancelled due to the foot and mouth crisis.
I made a work related
trip to the beautiful city of Barcelona
and managed to see even some cockers in the streets!
At the end of the month, I made a trip to the postponed Crufts
together with some
Belgian friends while the dogs stayed at Billsor.
Thanks for Nelly for looking
after them while I was travelling with Rudy.
Besides seeing many lovely
cockers, it was very nice to see many
old acquaintances and especially
nice to meet new people -
put faces to names.
A special thanks to Freda Ryan
for all that wine and laughter.
Mary, your raspberry wine was especially good -
I
hope to meet also you some day!
Will has now mated his first bitch,
more news when there is something to tell...
We missed the Dortmund show because I was not feeling so well
and the Belgian Winner show in Brussels was postponed till December.
We were back from our holiday just in time for the
Antwerp International Dog
show, taking place
only a five minutes' drive from our front door.
And what a
nice day we had!
Will got the CAC, the CACIB and was Best of Breed.
Iina was
BOB veteran, finishing as reserve best veteran in show!
Also, Iina won fourth
best veteran in the Cockers-UK cyber show.
Long-awaited holiday is just around the corner...
After that our
current home show in Antwerp -
another go for Iina in the veteran class.
Congratulations to Oliver's (Sirkiss Trademark) son
Zeasylover du Domaine d'Haïsha for his Lux
JW-01 title!
It was fun to watch him in the ring with his owner -
like looking back at the times I spent in the ring
with the father: hop,
step, jump &
'Can I sit down now, we've run two rounds already?'
After a long break in shows, in this month we have already managed
to
go to two shows. In the beginning of the month in Zuidlaren (NL)
Will got the
reserve-CACIB, his first such prize.
His travelling
companion Tripol's Fanfare went BOB & BIG-4.
In mid-month
in Aalst (B) Iina was BOB veteran for the first time.
Since Will was
beaten in his class, I had time to help a friend
by handling his blue roan cocker
dog Billsor Yesitis to BOB!
Next month
we'll have a chance to go for a holiday to Finland
and even take part in an
international show there,
very close to my hometown. And I have promised to
brush up
my ring steward skills by attending a refresh course
and by working during the
show.
No shows for us yet even in this month.
In mid-month Will & Iina spent a
nice week at Tripol's
while I visited the United States for business and
pleasure.
Thanks, Lea, for taking care of them even though you had
the Benelux
line dance championships to think about!
Next month
will see me visit Crufts for the cocker day,
without the dogs this time. As an
international
champion Iina would have qualified there, though.
Since there is
not much snow in Belgium,
I'll put here some wintery photos from Finland...
After a very eventful 2000 it has been nice just to rest and
have a good time
with Iina & Will. There have been no interesting shows
to attend
and it seems that our next show appearance won't be
until the beginning of March.
a photo of Will in the summer of 1999 |
|
