Manchester Terrier 28/12/2020

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Period and didn’t indulge too much and most importantly remained safe. Also hoping that your four legged friends enjoyed the festivities and hopefully the additional time spent with them in the home and out in the fields.

I wish that everyone’s dreams come true in 2021 and at some stage we can all return to what we considered normality. Lets all be positive and look to the future….

Janelle who judged the online show was very kind in her summation of results, declaring…. “Thank you, Manchester Terrier Association (proposed), for allowing me to judge your online show. It was a delight to see Manchester Terriers having such good fun as seen in the active and devoted photo classes. I came away wishing I had a Manchester myself! One downside to judging photo competitions is you don't get that lovely experience of 'hands-on.' However, we do have the opportunity to see golden oldies and those gone to Rainbow Bridge . It was a real delight to see these photos. There was strong competition in Open Class but unfortunate that some photos were not of a size to allow a good view of the heads. Two dogs were lovely in outline, but I'm sorry I couldn't see heads well enough to place. So once again, thank you for the brilliant opportunity and so with no further ado on with the placing and Best in Show.”

I understand fully where Janelle is coming from here after been invited to judge several online shows, with the quality and angle of photo making such a big difference. But they are fun and seem to have been taken on by all as an alternative to the real thing. 

Looking into the Our Dogs archives from 10 years ago, the columnist first notes of 2011 made interesting reading, but there again, there was plenty going on then, lets hope it soon returns …. “All the best for the New Year everyone, may all your pups become champions!

Just to catch up on pre Christmas shows -at the Lincoln Open under Felicity Freer Estella and Phil and their Egloshayle Sea Sprite went BOB and TGrp 1 and Jeanette and Mojero Bowmore went BPIB and then under Dr G Curr went TPGrp 2 well done folks.  At Chepstow & DCS  Open under judge Tony Alcock Liz and Pete Hammett and their bitch pup Digelsa  Double Take for Bryedal went 1 st AVNSCTP, Best AVNSCTP, and then TPGrp 1 and TGrp 2  and then onto the dizzy heights of BPIS what a cracking day out well done there.  

Sad news from Pam Stubbington, her lovely old girl Ch Galchris Princess Leia at Calot (Ch Glory Boy at Galchris x Mahratta Mystique at G.)  has passed on,  she was the litter sister of Ch G.Millenium Falcon who died earlier this year, she won 6 CCs and 7 Res CCs and still holds the record for being the only MT ever to win a Terrier Group at a championship show. Poor Pam must be missing her so.

Chrissie Bynam fell on the ice before Christmas and has fractured her wrist, hope it soon heals and you are rushing around the Agility courses again. If you are into Agility you will be pleased to know that Val Hart has given an Agility trophy to the Club, so be quick and ask Terry Hempsall for a points claim form, good luck.

Rio has perked up quite a bit despite the snow and cold thanks to a blood test that showed her thyroid count was very low, so she has been put on a low dose tablet and the new test shows a huge improvement. So when you have an oldy it really is worth having a general blood test done to see what is going on, she is enjoying a longer walk again and seems brighter all round.

Just a few Open shows to report on,at Ashbourne & DCS Terry and Delia and their dog Tetani Wizard of Dreams went BOB and TGrp 4, and Estella and Phil and their dog Rattusrap Black Sheep was BPIB under judge Barry Day, well done both.

At the Worcester & Malvern CS Open show Nicola and her dog Browdel Black Muskateer Sh CM  went BOB, and Mrs Hammetts Digelsa Double Take for Brydal was 1st in the Puppy Bitch Stakes, well done.  Estella and Phil went to the Notts Sherwood Foresters KA under judge Ian Layfield where Egloshayle Sea Sprite of Rattustrap went BOB and R. Black Sheep was BPIB, nice one.

I had a note with a Christmas card from one of my owners to say that their bitch had been put to sleep at 8yrs old, when I rang her she told me that Willow had been to the West side of Edinburgh to visit relatives as they always did and came back very ill. She ended up at the Vet College at Liverpool for a week where she suffered major organ failure from an unknown virus. She made it back home for a few days and relapsed and so they sadly had her put to sleep. The reason I am telling you this is that a  new owner and her 7mth old Brookstream puppy dog went to the Scottish show in May with a friend and had a few days holiday up there, and the pup caught a virus, similar symptoms, and was so ill he had to be put to sleep. Not only that but my horsey friend tells me that in Scotland they have had horses dying and the vets have found that they are only dying on land also used by dogs, so it looks like a very nasty virus is at work, lets hope the vet laboratories can find a solution.

Carol Dunford “

Following on, the same columnist, from 17 years ago, things don’t really change ? …. “Back to normal now after all the seasonal good cheer, swapped all the presents ( for something you wanted), bought the wrapping paper in the sales for next time etc. Just to go back to 50mg Vivitonin tablets I mentioned for doggy dementia, this is a prescription drug available from your vets. Sorry I did not make it clear.You will have had your Kennel Club health survey by now and I hope that you have returned it and not stuck it with the other things waiting to be done. We must all hope for some positive outcome from this, and while I applaud the KC initiative I hope it isn`t too little too late, the press seems determined to sell us short. You will also have our Clubs` letter re the Animal Health Trust DNA survey, available for £10. per dog at our Open show. This simple mouth swab will map the breed for the future and will, with a photo and pedigree give breeders a good base line for the future. I hope we will get a good turn out of dogs for this, it will be invaluable for a numerically small breed like ours. Has anyone any good ideas on how we make our breed more available ? so many people have no idea what they are,and that includes the odd vet. All the years of Discover Dogs does not seem to have had any impact on the breed, not in puppy numbers bred or in new exhibitors joining the dwindling ranks. So come on, lets have a few ideas from you, put on your thinking caps and send in your emails. Carol Dunford ”

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