o'cockaigne

After the last update in January, we have experienced quite a few things. To start with, Charlaigne had received an invitation for the Dog of the Year Show, so on February 24th we packed pur showbag and went to Dordrecht to run around the ring and then quickly go home again. No success.

On the 8th of March, Charlaigne and I left for Birmingham.

Since I didn’t want to drive back and forth in too much of a hurry, we had booked an Inn in Whitney, Bird in Hand. After settling in, we first went for a nice walk and then dived into the extremely atmospheric pub for a delicious pint of Bitter and a delicious meal.

The next morning, during the morning walk, when we came around the bend, we were surprised by a fallow deer. At first, the deer and Charlaigne looked at each other in amazement and then reacted; The deer ran in front of us but stopped every time to look back. This only made Charlaigne crazier and I could barely keep her. Hence the bad picture! The rest of the hike wasn’t exactly relaxed.

After breakfast we left at our leisure. Along the way we took a nice walk in a very baggy off-leash area and a nature garden and then we drove to Birmingham via a beautiful shortcut.

Sunday Crufts day. Our judge was Bryan Doak of the Rosslyn Deerhounds. He was clearly looking for the heavier type of Deerhound but still thought Charlaigne was good enough for a fifth place out of the 11 bitches present in the Open Class. Not too bad.

We left early Monday morning for home but all in all we were on the road for more than 10 hours before we got home. The next trip we will do it differently.

On March 28, Sonja came to us for a few days and then we went to the Deerhound Jahresausstellung in Cologne. As judge we had Brit Schöne-Brodwall from Norway. A total of 51 Deerhounds were entered of which only 15 were males! I had entered Cytaugh in the veteran class and out of 5 old ladies she came third. Charlaigne was in the working dog class and was placed behind a dog that I wouldn’t want to have myself. To say the least, it was a very strange judging.

On the 18th of April Charlaigne and I left for England for the annual Breed Show which was held in Broughton. The Forest Pines Hotel is a beautiful with a gigantic golf course where you can take beautiful walks. The only problem is that it is full of squirrels which were used to people so just stay put when you approach them. There was also a large hare hopping around, which was of course quite a challenge!

On the Friday prior to the actual Breed Show, the first Deerhound Championship Show was organized. There were 58 Deerhounds entered for judge Miss Mary Ann Stuart of the Ollandsheart kennel. Charlaigne finished fifth in Open Bitch. Best male and BIS was Björn Fritz and Klaus Krüger’s Fritzens the Muthaiga Club, presented by Hector Heathcote, and best female was Vanessa Lucas’s Packway Smackfarthing.

On Saturday we had Clare Drew as judge. She grew up among the Lealla Deerhounds of her parents Tony and Mary Churchill. A total of 77 Deerhounds were entered, of which 24 were males and 53 females. Charlaigne finished third in her class. Best Male and BIS was Sam Taylor’s Ormanstar Dark Shadow and Best Female was again Packway Smackfarthing.

After the Champion Parade, which unfortunately no longer has what used to make it so beautiful, a real bagpiper, Sue Spring-Arnold judged the various Special Classes on Sunday. Charlaigne was entered in Special Coursing/Lure Chasing and finished third here, in the Special Bred By Exhibitor she was not placed.

My thanks to Mark Cannon for the beautiful photos!

After a nice and pleasant weekend we left for Folkestone on Monday. But this time we had booked a room in “The Black Horse” near Maidstone. It looked like a small holiday resort and the apartments were spread over the sloping terrain. A lovely spacious room with all the trimmings and nice and clean. The pub was very cozy and when I got there, completely packed. After a lovely walk in the beautiful surroundings, I went back and fortunately it was a bit quieter so that I could enjoy a very nice dinner with Charlaigne. Highly recommended this Inn.

This year we were again asked to take care of the coursing in Tüttleben. Since the Saluki Jahresausstellung was also held, many sighthounds were entered and the coursing was spread over two days. We left on the 15th of May to arrive in Tüttleben on the 16th with one overnight stay so that the men had the whole Friday to lay out a nice course.

On July 29, 2012 Sonja and I picked up Nimloth Brandir and his sister Bernice from Jill and Toby Smith in England and a few days later we set off again towards East Germany. It was Brandir’s first trip to Tüttleben! Now he celebrated his 12th birthday here on Friday!!

Nimloth Brandir, as a puppy with sister Bernice, and 12 years old!

Cranston, Crumbaugh and Charlaigne had never been to Tüttleben before and found it very interesting when the men were working at the coursingfield across the street.

On Saturday we had the CAC show where Charlaigne got the CAC but wasn’t good enough for BOB because she was a bit stiff. On Sunday, the youngsters were finally allowed to run. Charlaigne was assigned with Alyesha Under Sharp Hill from Gabriela Klenk. Somehow, she made a misstep that caused her to take quite a tumble. She recovered fairly quickly and gave chase again.

Crumbaugh was placed with Islay’s Quarterback Jim. When, after a few hundred meters, the hare came to a standstill due to technical failure, and Crumbaugh (under white) came second to the hare, Jim did not think long before plunging at Crumbaugh, resulting in a fierce brawl.

On the link below you can clearly see Crumbaugh’s surprised reaction, but he doesn’t let himself be upset and goes on the counterattack. Hopefully, this won’t have any nasty consequences for Crumbaugh.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMb-KVNNn6vfEKeF3XwTRbreWsgXFpgyanSE9UhCu0UQ8dMXNC-N6uQmCuIprh_cA/photo/AF1QipOtcKMMe4Hgx50___wZ8Ciztfgo30XEkckusVcE?key=bWtaMmFQTW5Hc1g5V1BPTTBpYndHRkkzTGlJM293

Cranston ran alone, but the technique didn’t run smoothly either and he had a disturbed course that cost him a lot of energy.
But of course, because of Jim and Crumbaugh’s brawl, we didn’t let them run together anymore and they were taken out of the coursing, with Cranston finishing first!!

Around May 24, 1984, Meta Melser and her daughter Jaqueline brought two Deerhound puppies; Argyll Bryan from the Market Garden and Aragorn from the Market Garden. These were our first Deerhounds after we got our first Irish Wolfhound in 1979.
So we’ve had Deerhounds for 40 years now and they’ve gotten us everywhere we are today. They have enriched our lives with the show and coursing world in which we quickly became active then and still are today.

What delightful creatures they are, those Deerhounds, and it really is; once a Deerhound – always a Deerhound!!

On the 26th of May we had a show in Wieze (Belgium) where Charlaigne got her last needed CAC for the Belgian Championship under judge Doris Getzinger and became Best Working Dog under Johan Wulteputte.

Two weeks later at the outdoor show in Geldrop she became BOB again and second in the group thanks to André van den Broek.

And then there’s bad news and good news.

On June 21, Brandir had an ultrasound to see why he didn’t want to eat anymore and felt nauseous. It turned out that there are metastases in his liver of most likely a Hemangiosarcoma. His spleen is also enlarged.

So far everything is going fine, he eats well and still walks with us every walk but we only have a few weeks left to enjoy him and keep it as pleasant as possible for him.

The good news is that we are hoping for a litter from Charlaigne. If all goes well, we expect the puppies around mid-November (hopefully not another footballteam). Fingers crossed!!