SHERRY'S BIRTHDAY LETTER TO HER BROTHER
Dear Oscar, Mummy and Uncle Eddie, Thank you for my birthday card....
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Dear Oscar, Mummy and Uncle Eddie

Thank you for my birthday card. I had a nice birthday. In the morning I went for a long run on the golf course as it was icy and too cold for the humans to go there. I did fall over on the ice and people laughed at me, but then I met a Labrador and a Springer and played with them. In the afternoon I went and played down by the river. It was fun. I wanted a birthday cake with a big candle, but mummy said I wasn't to play with fire so instead we all shared a big yummy tin of special dog meat so that was allright.

I hope Oscar had a good birthday too.

Mummy was putting lots of shiny things on the walls and a big tree in the house. I thought it was for me as it was my birthday but she says its because her puppies are all coming home for Christmas, and I've got to behave as the tiniest puppy will be there too. He doesn't do much yet, just squeaks and tries to grab us, but she says he will play more later.
Mummy says if I behave I can have some of the yummy skin from the outside of the turkey, but Bliss says its OK cos even if I don't behave I'll get some - she's had lots of birthdays and Christmases so she knows all about these things.

I couldn't go to our dog club Christmas party as Bliss, Rosie and Barney all had sore tummies and were being sick, and mummy didn't want me to give it to anyone else. She needn't have worried as neither big Toby or me got the bug so we couldn't have passed it on. Still they are all better now.

Lots of love and Happy Christmas.

Sherry

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Mandy was a lovely bitch. Her mother was a black and white collie type, but there must have been a lot of Whippet in her as she had a lovely short brindle coat. She had a very friendly temperament – small children wanted to rush up to her and hug her, and when she came to visit us our young dog curled up with her on the sofa as if he’d found a second mum.

Mandy was getting old. She was going deaf, had developed diabetes, and her heart was weak. She had good days, and some very bad days. The family had thought about getting another dog, but decided it would be too much for her.
But Mandy had other ideas.

One dark, wet, stormy winter’s night a couple of years ago they let Mandy out as usual before going to bed. Normally on a night like that she would come back very quickly, but this time she didn’t. Fearing the worst, the went out to find her, calling her name. Eventually they saw her, looking very agitated, and wanting them to come and see what she had found.

Shivering in a ditch was a greyhound. He was soaking wet, filthy, with cut pads, riddled with fleas, and as thin as a rake. They took him home, fed him, bathed him, dressed his feet, and treated him for fleas. Soon he was curled up asleep with Mandy, who clearly wanted to mother him.
As he was tattooed, they contacted the Greyhound racing authorities, as they could identify his owners. He hadn’t been reported missing, and probably had been abandoned. They offered to take him into the rescue kennels until his future could be sorted out, but the family said no. He was settled in happily with them, and they would look after him until his future was finally decided.

He was never reclaimed and is still with them. Sadly Mandy died last year, but for the last year of her life she had a new companion who gave her a fresh lease of life. The family have a new pet, and the greyhound has a permanent loving home.

(This article originally appeared in the 2001 Independent Weimaraner Rescue and Rehoming Newsletter)

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When people phone me up wanting to know about the breed, one of the first things I ask them is why they are interested in the breed. I guess it’s only fair that I come clean now and tell people what attracted us to the breed in the first place.

In the mid-1980s when we had been showing our Weimaraners for a few years, we and some others decided to form the Hunt Point Retrieve Club in Scotland, as we felt that these gundogs were somewhat neglected by other gundog clubs, but none of the breeds had enough supporters to warrant a separate breed club. One of our early fund raising events was a demonstration day where we got representatives of as many various HPR breeds as we could to demonstrate their working ability, to show how these dogs, all doing the same jobs, worked in different ways.

One of our Founder Members, Libby Groundwater, owned a Brittany, Victoria of Talwater, in partnership with Bill Thayne. Bill worked her, Libby showed her. Vicky was the first Brittany that many of us had seen, and we were impressed with the way she worked, covering the ground far faster than the plodding Weimaraners, porpoising through the tussocky grass, and standing up on her hind legs to keep an eye on Bill. She was a joy to watch.

We also had a gundog scurry, which was raising a lot of money as our young Weimaraner had set an almost impossibly fast time, and everyone was queuing up to beat him. We challenged Libby to put Vicky in, but Bill was reluctant as he felt she would never pick up a dummy as she was used to real game. However, Libby was never one to resist a challenge and Vicky was entered in the scurry.

Vicky ran out and picked up the dummy beautifully, brought it back towards Libby, then stopped, and you could see her thinking – “I don’t bring things back to her”. She walked straight past Libby, and right across to field to where Bill Thayne was talking with a group of people. She sat in front of him, and presented the dummy to him!! Her strength of character won the breed a lot of friends that day.

We still didn’t think we’d ever own a Brittany, but as I write this Vicky’s granddaughter is asleep at one end of the sofa, her great-granddaughter is sleeping at the other end, her great-grandson is lying looking out the window at the birds, and her great-great-great-granddaughter is playing with her Kong on the hearthrug. It’s funny how things turn out.

(This article originally appeared in the Brittany Club of Great Britain Newsletter Summer 2002)

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“So did you have a good summer holiday?” “Oh yes, we had a great time, flew down to the south of France. Great weather, fabulous scenery, and of course there was the dog show.” It’s at that point that people’s eyes start to glaze over, and they move away. Who wants to go to a dog show while on holiday? Well we did!

The Club de l’Epagneul Breton held its 27th Championship at Meounes-les-Montrieux, in the south of France, about 20 miles north of Toulon and 50 miles east of Nice. It’s a beautiful part of the country and for us in the north of the UK the easiest way of getting there was to get a flight to Nice and hire a car, which also gave us the chance to do some sight-seeing.

The French show is a three-day affair, and is held in various parts of the country, hosted by the local area representatives, this year from the Var region. On the Friday, they have a “tourism day” when the local organisers can show visitors some of the attractions of their area, and a “welcoming dinner”; on the Saturday they have the TAN and the Gala Dinner; and on the Sunday they have the Championship Show.

We stayed in a small town around half an hour from Meounes, and on the Friday we went to Chateau de Gavaudan, where the show was to be held, for lunch before setting off on the coach ride. There we met up with many friends we had seen on previous visits to France – Norwegian, German, American, French. There is never a language problem with a group of people like that. We may not be fluent in each other’s languages, but we do all speak Brittany!

After a good lunch we set out on a coach trip through beautiful scenery, windy roads (not for the fearful) through mountain forests, with marvellous views. This part of the country has suffered from forest fires and you could see how the woodlands were regenerating after fires in the last couple of years. We were taken past the Le Castellet Motor Racing Circuit where Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, James Hunt, Mario Andretti and Nigel Mansell all competed in the French Grand Prix in the 1970s and 80s. The circuit is only used as a test track these days.

Our final destination was the village of Le Castellet with its narrow winding streets, perched on top of a hill, with marvellous views towards the sea and surrounding hills. The old village has been lovingly restored, and has been converted into a centre for craft shops with a magnificent range covering fabrics, carved wood, pottery, paintings and metalwork, as well as home-made confectionary and biscuits. Easy on the eye, but heavy on the purse!

The TAN got off to an early start on the Saturday, so as to miss some of the heat. The ground varied quite a lot. We only watched the dogs working in one of the fields, where the grass was short with a few bushy trees, so it was easy to see what the dogs were doing. I was told that in other fields the undergrowth was so tall the dogs were almost invisible.

The weather conditions – very hot with hardy any breeze – were not good for the dogs working, and I understand very few dogs got their TAN. Certainly the ones we watched gave the impression they just didn’t believe there was any game to be found until they came onto the quail that had been set down for them. Some dogs plodded round the field, half-heartedly, while others rushed round like bats out of hell! One dog decided the field wasn’t big enough and set off cross country. Several dogs we saw pegged the birds, and one did a couple of circuits round the field carrying a, by then, very dead quail.

We hadn’t booked to go to the Gala Dinner on the Saturday evening as on previous occasions we had found the speeches too long for my school French. However, from what I’ve heard and seen from the photos since we made a mistake this year and missed a very good evening. The entertainment apparently included Polynesian dancers, and various people – including the vice-chairman of the Brittany Club of Great Britain – were called on to join in. Pity we missed it!

The Championship Show was held on the Sunday with an entry of 222. In France the Orange and Whites and Other Colours are judged separately with CACS being awarded in both colours. There were 125 orange and whites and 97 Other Colours entered. We’d previously only been to shows in the north of France, and while we recognised some of the exhibitors, others were new to us. As well as the French there were also exhibits from Italy and Germany. The non-French dogs can hold their own in competition, with German and Italian dogs winning their classes.

The judging system is different to ours in the UK. The judge has to give a grading “Excellent”, “Trés Bon”, “Bon” or “Assez Bon” to each dog in the ring. It’s fascinating to be able to hear the judge’s comments on the dogs – I just wish my French was a bit better so I could follow it all. The great advantage of this is that every exhibitor comes away knowing what the judge thought of their dog. Once the dogs have been assessed and graded, the “Excellents” are called back into the ring and are placed 1st to 4th.

The standard of ring craft is variable, from the very slick down to the “take it or leave it”. How can you do a critique on a dog that refuses to stand still, barking its head off, clearly wants to rush out of the ring, dragging its handler with it! Double handling goes on all the time – the best example we saw was one exhibitor showing his own dog in one ring, while blowing a whistle to attract the attention of his wife’s dog in the next ring!

The dogs aren’t benched as in the UK, but pens are set up in the shade of the trees. There was a range of trade stands at the show. As well as the French Epagneul Breton Club there were a couple of artists, a confectionary stand and a barbecue. There was also a very good 3 course lunch at Chateau de Gavaudan. Entertainment came in the form of folk dancing and singing, as well as line dancing.

Best in show was the orange and white dog Phalco du Clos Bécassier CACS, owner: Moulin Pascal, Breeder: Bagot Valérie. The show closed with presentation of a glittering array of trophies – 1st to 4th in the main classes and top winners.

Next year’s show will be held in the south west, in the Landes, south of Bordeaux, from 17th to 19th June. We’re looking forward to it already!

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