o'cockaigne

A little later than planned, still a report of the Deerhound-JAS in Volkmarsen on 8 April and the international coursing on 9 April 2017.

Deerhound Jahresausstellung to Volkmarsen.

On 8 April, the Deerhound Jahresausstellung was Volkmarsen. The judge was Ken Aird, a breed of real shot that used to be a lot of coursing, behind the living Hare. His kennel name was Shenval, Brocade was one of his famous Deerhounds. In Total, there were 103 Deerhounds reported of which 102 were present.

After the veterans, babies, puppies, youth and Intermediate class, the Champion class came with 8 reports. Also Brandir stood in this class. We were the last and Brandir did not make much sense. When we were in turn, Brandir did not show himself from his best side, and at the time when I expected me to walk with him, I was sent back to my place. Only advantageous because Brandir thinks that the loop is too much trouble. I was expecting absolutely nothing at all and was considering just walking out the ring, which of course can't, when Mr. Aird suddenly pointed to us and sent us to the first place! I was stunned and didn't know so well what I had to think of. But yes, of course it was nice and Mr. Aird clearly saw Brandir's qualities (he really did).

After that there were two dogs in the dog class and then a large open class, 12 pieces, where Chidish was in. Chidish showed himself well and was put to my delight first!

It turned out that Mr. Aird clearly preferred a certain, a.o. The heavier type Deerhound had. Dogs with a gooseneck, extremely long legs, far too steep, no lendewelving, huge high heels and high worn curling tails were immediately punished with a ZG. This concerned the two dogs from the use dog class but also the entire intermediate class got a ZG. As a result, Chidish automatically became eligible for the CAC and had to compete against his father for the title Jahressieger. This was Chidish! Last year still Jahres Jugendsieger, now the ' adult ' title.

After that he had to take up the best of the youth class and the best veteran for best male and he also won!

Then the girls were the turn. Sonja had quite twisted her knee and could not walk. Because of this she asked Connie if he wanted to show the Vision in the youth class, 10 pieces. Unfortunately this was not such a success, Connie had to fight a little with vision and vision did not want to show himself. No placement, but an excellent one. Cytaugh stood in the Open class with 17 other bitches. She too could leave the ring with an excellent but no placement.

After the bitches, Chidish had to compete against Kilbourne Oh Sweet Lorraine, who had become the best bitch, and Mr. Aird was so impressed by Chidish that he designated it as the best of the breed! I never expected this as Lorraine is a very nice bitch.

At the end of the day, Chidish was also Best in Show under Judge Guido Schäfer. What a day! Of course we allowed ourselves to taste the cult well afterwards!

The next day was the coursing. I had reported both Chidish and Cytaugh and hoped that after all these months of rest, Cytaugh's toe would remain quite. I had taped both feet as support but unfortunately, after the first circulation, it was not enough and it appeared that the toe was shot from the bowl. No second circulation more for Cytaugh. Later I saw that after the first turn she was on a shared third place! It was also seen that she had gotten less points for condition. This was explained – she had walked halfway her toe from the bowl and this was also seen, she walked the second half of the trail clearly less than the first half.

Chidish ran in the first circulation with a similarly two year old male from the Czech Republic, Elvin Tiger Irater of Eva Vobornikova. Beforehand, we made them acquainted with each other and that went well. Also the course was fine, they were well-matched though Chidish already anticipates and cuts off what he obviously costs a lot of points. When receiving no problems, as it should.

But unfortunately that was different in the second circulation. Not with Chidish but Elvin, he was classified with a not so friendly dog. Before the courses, this dog already attacked another male in the path we were waiting for, which did not promise much good. Chidish walked with a roommate of this dog and since I was not one hundred percent sure how it would behave, I asked if Sonja wanted to walk along to the shelter. Fortunately, this proved to be an unnecessary action as everything went well. Elvin was immediately after Chidish's turn and not only Sonja walked again to help in the shelter but also a fourth person. So it was already clear what was going to happen. And sure enough, without a second doubt popped up the aforementioned dog atop Elvin. The people who would ' catch ' got no chance to avoid it and also the owner of the culprit had no chance. A fierce slugfest party was the result. And unfortunately, the Keur masters were at such a distance that they probably could not have seen who started or they were not well aware of the new relenting because there was no disqualification.

When I later appealed to the owner of her dog's misconduct, she denied that it was aggression, compared it to the behaviour that Afghans sometimes exhibit and, last, she said that it is normal for males!!! This says everything about the knowledge of the breed, the breed standard and how a Deerhound should behave. She clearly does not realize that by letting her dog run with others, not only destroys other hounds and the sport is damaged but also, because her dog runs under the name Deerhound, this breed provides a very bad name.

I had a déjà vécu. The stress we had then, years ago, about aggressive males on the Coursingveld is up to date again. Fortunately, it is now true that an aggressive dog, even after the hare standstill, has to be disqualified. And I hope that the Keur Masters will actually do this.

Chidish landed in sixth place of the six males present but with the reserve CACC and JAS Schönheit & Leistung!

It was a weekend with highs and lows and with very mixed feelings; I drove joy, sadness and anger back home on Monday.