Manchester Terrier 10/10/2020

Well the Manchester Terrier Association 2021 calendar landed through my letter box this week, what a delight, with all the Manchester terrier enthusiasts from around the world, submitting pictures of their dogs, all the winners from the picture competition, that was held online. A great size, plenty of room also for notable appointments / reminders and a welcome addition to anyone’s wall. Further details can be obtained by sending an email to calendar2021@manchesterterrierassociation.com .

How many of our manchesters are diggers? Our youngest one, ‘Holly’ is a nightmare, she has holes as deep as a foot all over the garden, not satisfied with the grassed areas (I wont call them lawns) she digs in the gravelled areas. However this morning she has surpassed herself, pulling about 5 metres of the external  ‘virgin cables’ from the wall, luckily one cable pin remained in place, which saved the whole cable from been extracted from the virgin box ! also it is well reinforced cables. Guess we would have been without tv and wifi for quite a while!!

The breed record supplement for Autumn 2020 was issued this week by the kennel club. Surprisingly it showed only one Manchester terrier litter, that produced a singleton male puppy. The BRS only covered the months of July to August, however, from what I have seen on the internet I am sure there will be a lot more litters announced for the final quarter of the year. Numbers for all terrier breeds were down from the previous quarter, I am hopeful that this was just to having a 2 month coverage period.  Kerry Blue Terriers & Skye terriers showed no registrations for that period, worryingly for skyes there were also none in the previous quarter. The total terrier figure of 2,582 puppies in this period was down nearly 2,000 on the previous quarter, hope this is just a one of blip. A peep at the BRS for hounds, also showed a similar decline, with similarly over 2,000 puppies down on the previous quarter. I guess the last quarter will be a bumper one. There was a total of 482 manchesters registered with the KC last year, to date for 2020 there has been 236 registered, so unlikely that the figures will be anywhere near the total in 2019. Again very little to report testing wise, with just one dog been registered as having the Von Willerbrands Disease test, a Dutch import, who tested clear.

It was so warming to see the Midland Counties Norfolk terrier Association folk enjoying their championship show, in conjunction with a open show on Saturday gone. Held in a spacious field, with Covid restrictions in place, made me feel so jealous. If run correctly and people conform to the requirements, these shows must be safer than some of the other past times that continue and certainly safer than vising the shops.  This follows on from the Brittany show, which took place the previous week, in a place familiar with ourselves, Thomlinsons, all went well, not a huge entry, so plenty of space for social distancing, based on an alternative layout of the building and one way system throughout. . Lets hope other breed clubs take note, seek advice and hopefully move forward in this way. Shame we are now in the Autumn / winter period, so outside shows are less likely, hopefully March will see these become the norm.

Here is a snippet from the Our Dogs, breed notes 2003, by Carol Dunford … “Finding a show home for that promising pup can be heart-breaking - we cannot see our best stock going out as pets to be neutered and lost to our small gene pool, and as most of our dogs live in the home we cannot keep them all. The best must be in the ring and produce future MTs or the quality of the dogs will drop and with that a decline of interest in exhibitors and ultimately pet owners. I have been in the breed 13 and a half years and have seen the number of exhibitors, entries, and puppies bred fall. It’s a cracking little dog and like the other native breeds that are on the decline deserves better.” … 17 years on and I think this still rings true ?

Also from the same columnist some 10 years ago this week, CD reported that…  “Christianne (Beardow)took herself off to France to try the French shows with Stui, regardless of the fact that her French seems about as good as mine and she had a cracking time. Stui went CAC, CACIB, BOB and was short listed in the Grp during the 2 day show which was indoors, she says everyone was so helpful and kind and showed her what to do and where to go and the language was no major problem, and she says we must go for it, well done Christianne.” …. Oh to have the freedom travel around again…

Please get in touch and send any info to myself on the breed or dog talk in general, don’t be afraid to mail me with your personal stories, think everyone likes to listen to doggy chat, whilst we remain in these more confining times.

I am readily contactable with your news by any of the following means:

Facebook / Email: mwalshaw.janmark@gmail.com / telephone: 01287 652860 / face to face at all Champ shows.

Mark Walshaw JANMARK