o'cockaigne

The month of June was an extremely busy month. It started with the show in Paris on Saturday the 2nd where we had entered Chidish and Vision. Sonja had arrived Thursday afternoon so we could drive to Paris on Friday. On Thursday-evening, Silva suddenly got a fever and had to cough a little later. After having given a few antibiotic tablets, she was quiet and against two o’clock and Sonja went to bed. But not for long… At half past three, Sonja woke me up with the sad announcement that Silva had died. Silva woke up and stand up, probably to turn around, and ended up on the ground. Before Sonja was out of her bed, Silva was already over the Rainbow Bridge. A very nice death but very sudden. We took Silva out of the camper and put her in my car to be able to bring her to the crematorium in the morning. We have not slept anymore.

After having handled everything and having packed the camper we left for Paris. Luckily the judging on Saturday didn’t start too early, because we were still a little confused by all the commotion. Both Chidish and Vision obtained the reserve CAC, which meant that we could go home again. Fine!

The weekend after we were in Le Touquet at the French R.A.L.I.E. Club show. Here 57 Deerhounds were entered. Judge was Joan Wragg. Chidish got the reserve CAC again behind the Finnish male Direwolf Mac Custennin of Tapio Hellman. Vision stood in a large open class of 14 bitches and got an unplaced U. Cytaugh, who now also participated, won the Working Class (3) and became Best Working Dog. Unfortunately, we had to leave after the judging, because Sonja had to return home again on Monday because she had to leave on Thursday towards Denmark where we would first go to the show in Vejen and then drive to Nørresundby for the EKC.

So on Thursday, June 14th, fully packed, we left for Denmark. We stayed at a small campsite in northern Germany and the next day we drove to a campsite in Ringkøbing where we found Sonja again. On Saturday we went to the beach to let the hounds stretch their legs and let the wind blow through their coat.  

From here we drove to the show in Vejen on Sunday. Chidish became best male, BOB and also with this Danish CAC, Danish champion. Vision Unfortunately only got an Excellent.

Monday we cleared our camp again and left for Nørresundby, near Aalborg, where during the weekend of 22-24 June the European Championship coursing took place. The wide fields were adjacent to Lindholm Høje. This is the largest historical Danish cemetery from the Iron and Viking era, located on a hill opposite Aalborg. From 1952 the area was examined and at excavations 682 graves were found from the period 500 to 1100 as well as remnants of construction. All participants in the EKC got a ticket for the museum, a very nice gesture. Also on Saturday the solstice was celebrated, called Sankt Hans Aften. The feast dates from the time of the Vikings and until 1770 it was an official holiday. As a result of this, a Viking market and village was also created and the opening of the EKC was graced with a performance of fighting Vikings.

Because we, as CC2000, had given a coursing demonstration at the beginning of this century in Bjerringbro, Denmark, we still had contact with Karin Janz, who organized that at the time. Later we also met her regularly at EKC’s and when we were invited several years ago; as a judge for the show and Simon as a jury for the coursing, to come to Nørresundby, we grabbed this with both hands. Once there we were very impressed with the gigantic fields and we told Karin that it was a wonderful location to organize a EKC. And so the ball went rolling. We, CC2000, were asked to organize one field and take care of everything around it. After two years of preparation, we had a team of 20 people; 6 German and 14 Dutch coursing-lovers who, as a team in nice T-shirts sponsored by the Dutch Kennel Club, have been busy for three days to complete about 60 courses per day. From the beginning; the paddock with chip control, until the end; supervising the terrain so that no one could walk in the rope, there were constantly about 10 men working. It was fantastic and afterwards we were told that we were the most friendly and fastest field with the most beautiful trail. What else do you want!

A German team was asked to do another field and Denmark took field 3 for her account and everything that comes to mind. There was a lot of foreign assistance among other things; in the secretariat, at the entrance to give the people their papers and to point the way and when retrieving the results.

The Deerhounds ran on Saturday, 10 Deerhound males were entered and 9 were present, 25 bitches of which 21 appeared at the start. The Dutch participation consisted of the male Fiddich Forever in my Heart Caoinlan from Ingrid Weiss and Erik den Ouden and the bitches Vision and Cytaugh. Chidish was not allowed to participate yet and I was really happy, because of this I had no stress concerning the classification because Nelungaloo Untouchable also participated. And sure enough, at the end of the first run it was fighting again. Just like last year in Switzerland and on RONOstrand Untouchable from Esther Bühler jumped without hesitation on his partner Pitlochry’s Othello. Yes, and see two fighting Deerhounds get hold of. Fortunately, there was a Czech man who had experience with such animals and just popped up on top of it. Life-threatening because these muzzles really do not stop everything! Both Esther and her husband seem to find it normal because when we were recommending them to no longer do coursing with Untouchable with other dogs they became extremely angry. How is it possible for people to like fighting Deerhounds and to find it good that other hounds do not run anymore or become aggressive too. It is really time that this behaviour is radically punished. Through all the commotion Vision did not want to start with another hound and was given a Dismission For The Day. My Cytaugh was classified in the first course with the probably winner; Islay’s Luck Penny from Ira Johannsen. They ran a dazzling course and Cytaugh was not much inferior for Luck Penny. Unfortunately, the afternoon break showed that Cytaugh had a slight shoulder injury and therefore no longer participated in the second run. Very unfortunate because she was reasonably well classified.

The only remaining Dutch participant, Fiddich, was very good classified after the first course, at least one hound who kept the Dutch honour high.

In the afternoon, the Deerhounds had to run on a small, reasonably narrow terrain, where there was also a not so nice trail. All males were participating again but the number of bitches started was reduced to 16. One of these was cripple at the start but was happily so wise not to run, another bitch didn’t feel like it and didn’t start. And again, there was a fight again  between Untouchable and his partner Islay’s Little John and again he was not disqualified. Outrageous! Fiddich ran a formidable course and appeared to be in the first place at the award ceremony! Fantastic! Finally, after 9 years, the Netherlands again has a European coursing champion at the Deerhounds.   Next year is the EKC in Estonia, we are curious!