Monday 25 February 2008
BEN BENNETT, president of the BGSC, writes: “At the BGSC committee meeting at Stoneleigh, among the items discussed was the proposed Four Setter Contest of Champions, as mentioned in the Christmas newsletter. The date has now been set for Saturday Nov 21, 2009; more details will follow.
“The BGSC has also been monitoring the judging lists over previous years and a problem has been noted with judges attaining B list status. After consultation with the Kennel Club, an application was made to reduce the hands-on requirement to 45 from 60 and the classes judged to 15. This has now been passed by the KC and replaces the previous criteria.”
Having now been sent a marked catalogue of the GSA open show, I see the entry was 69 making 100, split between 29 (40) dogs and 40 (60) bitches; absentees were nine and ten respectively and there were five NFC.
To clear up any confusion, Karin Sweryda says Waseley The Brigadier of Graylacier is now back in her ownership. He was bred by her in October 2000 and is currently on two CCs.
The Breed Records Supplement for the final quarter of 2007 shows 83 puppies were registered from 15 litters and there were three importations. This brings the total registrations for the year to 312. I notice that in the case of one litter the dam is not recorded as having been hip scored, which is a shame as this has not happened for quite a long time.
Nine export pedigrees were issued – one each to Austria, Bermuda, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland and two to New Zealand.
Last week I mentioned that Linda Hall's Paradise Hollie Dayz by Melview had won her JW and I see from the BRS that it was won last year.
Twenty-two dogs were listed as having been hip scored with an average of 17.64, which is certainly better than the previous two quarters. Thanks to a very low first quarter it means the average score for the year, during which 76 dogs were scored, is 18.6. This is up on ’06 but better than ’05 and ’04. However, the overall average for the period for which I have records has still managed to go down slightly from 21.8 to 21.63. This may not sound a lot but it is still going in the right direction.
Over the last couple of years the largest number of puppies bred has been in the first quarter. From what I am hearing it would seem this will be the case this year as I believe there could be as many as 16 litters having been born or due. I know I should not need to say this but please be careful when placing puppies and try not to let two puppies go to the same home. I know it is sometimes tempting, especially when facing the possibility of being left with eight-week and older pups unsold.
However, often this does not work out, especially if both pups are dominant. I know two of the cases UGSR had to deal with in January were where, in each case, two pups from the same litter had been sold to one owner and as they grew up they did not get on. The owners were then left with the difficult decision to rehome one, but which one should it be? This situation is distressing, not only for the owners but also for the puppies themselves who have to readjust to a completely new environment.
Jocelyn Ness, acting secretary of the recently reformed breed council, writes: “In her notes of Feb 8, Hilary Tye comments on the re-registration of a Gordon Setter breed council, stating that the British GSC members had voted not to rejoin a reformed breed council – this is inaccurate.
“The BGSC balloted its members regarding participation in a reformed breed council with three options: 1 rejoin with the existing constitution; 2 not rejoin; 3 rejoin with a change in constitution. A majority of 149 to 38 members voted in favour of some form of participation in a reformed breed council.
“Minutes of meetings to work towards re-registration show representatives from the BGSC were in attendance initially and that one of its number accepted the role of vice-chairman. It was only at the third meeting it failed to attend and no explanation was given.
“The reason the BGSC is not a member at present is that it withdrew from participating in the working party, rather than on the direction of a members’ vote. The participation of the BGSC in the breed council under the constitution recently approved by the Kennel Club would be welcomed.”
HILARY TYE, 02084 602049