Caroline's breed notes are also available from www.pedigreedogs.co.uk.

14 July 2007

I am afraid that these breed notes start with the sad news that little Louis, the puppy that Elaine Betts and John Sharpe kept from their Mercedes' last litter had to go far too early. He had been unwell for a few days so they took him to their vet to discover in horror a cancer on the x-ray. Unfortunately, when a cancer starts to develop in a young animal, it spreads very quickly and putting him to sleep was the only humane thing to do. I know I was not the only one to look forward to meeting him at his first show in September. Our thoughs go with Elaine and John.

I was pleased though to hear that Orchid (Kynyaf Tiy of Pines) managed to put a smile back on Elaine's face as they finally got this elusive UDEX at a working trial last week. They had worked hard for it and definitely deserve it. Congratulations!

2007 seems to be a good year for hovawart puppies, with 2 first time mums having given birth recently, bringing the count to 4 litters so far in the UK. Pines Penny Whistle had 8 puppies in Hertfordshire following her trip to Austria to Cooper ex Canis Lupus. And Ann Stewart is pleased to report on the birth of 9 puppies in Scotland from Minches Jaunty and Tyehelva Neo Nexus.
Our British puppies keep attracting interest abroad. After Spicemill Steamy Wasabi (Pines Piccolo avec Spicemill x Jambo von Wittlerdamm) finding a home in Poland earlier this year, this time, it is 2 of Whistle's puppies who are going to Finland.

I am keeping the best piece of news for the end. The IHF show was taking place in Cologne this year and 2 British hovawart made the trip to Germany. Gill Stockton took young Berkenbos Chinook to this show where he got a very honourable very good grading in the junior class. But we have to give a special mention to Maggie and Lloyd Spencer's boy DJ (Pines Saxophone at Hightimbers) who did not only get an excellent rating in the male open class but also got the 3rd place in this class, which had no less than 43 dogs entered. What an achievement! Maggie felt that the dogs who got the 1st and 2nd place were more mature than DJ, so she was thrilled with the result and grateful for Nikki Douglas's help. Nikki took over with DJ in the ring when the judge asked the contestant to keep running in order to assess the dogs' moves. Best of breed went to Regina Franz' Colja vom Nadjangrund, winner of the male open class. The full results of the show can be found at the following address: http://lg40.hovawart.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=1.

Read the previous breed notes