9 June 2006

There has not been any breed notes for the hovawarts in a long time but what great news we have to announce for a fresh start: Pines Tipperary “Becks”, owned by Ann Travis just won the Dutch Hovawart Club Show, thus becoming the first UK bred Dutch hovawart champion. She might even be the first UK bred hovawart champion as our breed does not have CC’s yet and that being able to show our dogs abroad is still quite new. All our congratulations go to Ann and Dave who very successfully represent the British hovawarts abroad. They now put a lot of pressure on the British hovawarts going to the French club show at the end of the week or those who are planning to go to the IHF show in Austria at the end of the summer. Just kidding! Have you ever tried to put pressure on a hovawart anyway? That would probably just lead to a typical hovawart sulk.

June is a busy month for the hovawarts with the following shows coming up
- French hovawart club show on 10-11, judged by Dr Ursula Berges and Jacky Touron
- Newmarket and District open show with hovawart classes on Sunday 18 judged by Sylvia J Monaghan
- Blackpool championship show with hovawart classes on Sunday 26 judged by Mrs L Lewis

And how nice to know that 2006 will be even busier than usual with two more championship shows offering hovawart classes: Paington and Richmond. If you haven’t entered your hovawart at Richmond, there is still time to do it. Entry closes 17 July and you can download schedule and entry form at the following address: www.highampress.co.uk/richmond.zip.

We also would like to announce that our import from Poland Oxane-Diable Animagus avec Spicemill has now finally arrived in the UK. She generated a lot of interest amongst the hovawart community at her first “public appearance” at the Birmingham National. Our breed is still very small in the UK so any new line is bound to attract attention. But she was in a very playful mood and proved a handful for James in the ring. I guess we can’t really blame her as she had been with us only for a week. We don’t think the judge, Mr T Munro, was able to assess much of her move, but at least she made him smile.

Please feel free to send us any pictures or news that may be appropriate so we can get the hovawart breed notes alive again.