First of all I hope everyone had a good time over the New Year, wishing you well for a happy and successful 2025. For now, it is back to the grindstone as we are still in the thick of the shooting season – although its hard to believe that for most of us there is less than 4 weeks to go and the season will be over. As always and dependent on birds extra days are often added to the calendar in January, usually these days will be smaller or may include boundary days.
These days give an excellent opportunity for your novice dogs where they will see fewer birds with less demand to pick a large number. The cost of running these shoots is always a reason for concern. I have seen so many shoots fold over the years. One shoot that I have gone to since it first started originally had 2 pickers up, then 4 then 6 as the size of the shoot grew. They have now dropped the pickers up back to 4 and the same with beaters. On some of the drives the pickers up dog through alongside the beaters. I never mind doing any of these jobs, as its always interesting, you see the shoot from different sides and good experience for your dogs.
The RKC have worked hard collating all of the breed judges lists, finally they are out. No doubt there will be some errors. I think there should be more information in these lists which just give you the name of the judge the year they awarded CCs and the number of dogs entered. I would like to see for instance identification if the judge is a breed specialist, an overseas judge, awarding CCs for the first time and whether the judge is a member of the RKC.
I have done a short breakdown of the Chesapeake list. Of the 61 judges who award or may award CCs 34 are RKC members, only 11 are breed specialists, and I am told that 3 of these have retired. There are 19 judges who have awarded CCs more than 3 times in the past 10 years. Mr R Bott 6 times; Miss J Condron (BS) 5 times; Mr M Blay, Mrs P Blay, Mrs T Butler (BS), Mrs C Coode, Mrs JP Gill-Davies VN, Mrs P Hollings, Miss B Johnson and Mrs E Keene all with 4 sets each. In 2025 we have 15 sets of CCs, 8 of the judges (more than half) are awarding CCs in the breed for the first time. The CBRC Championship Show and Crufts remain as the shows that draw the largest entries.
Judges for 2025 awarding CCs (* first time awarding CCs in the breed): Manchester – Mr M Armstrong; Crufts – Mrs J Eyeington; CBRC – Mr M Rees; Birmingham National – Mr J Newton; SKC – Mr H Fryckstrand; Bath – Mr E Casey; Blackpool – Mrs P Hollings; Windsor – Mrs J Miller; Leeds – Mr J Richardson; NGA – Mrs D Bailey; URC – Mrs R Mosedale; WKC – Mr E Engu; Richmond – Mr G Philpott; Darlington – Mr F Whyte; LKA – tba.
In the summary of Top Dogs and dogs that won top awards in 2024 Top Puppy Penrose Visual Impact won 3 RCCs and not CCs, this was all at the age of 9 months.
Janet Morris
01873 880271
penrosechesapeakes@gmail.com