Well that’s Crufts done and dusted, all over bar the shouting! What a great day it was on Saturday – a wonderful celebration of our fabulous breed. With an entry of over 100 Havanese, it was a colourful spectacle of many beautiful dogs. It was also a truly international affair, with exhibitors travelling from far and wide to compete. I think I speak for all exhibitors when I say that it was wonderful to catch up with old friends, meet facebook friends for the first time in ‘real life’ and to also make new friends – all with one thing in common – the love, passion and enthusiasm for the Havanese.
Amongst our overseas exhibitors included Ruta Gvazdaittiene and Anna Nasevic of the Oazé Havana Kennel in Lithuania. What a treat it was to see both these ladies, together with their beautiful males. Both Pia Hoiberg and Maria Dige Andersen from Denmark also travelled to Birmingham, Pia with her beautiful boy and Maria with her stunning girl. Having made the journey in 2015, Helena Olofsson returned to Birmingham. We also welcomed Katia Bizzo and Maria del Mar Viggianiello from Italy. It was wonderful to see you all at Birmingham and a real treat to see all your beautiful Havanese.
The results can be found in the usual place on Fossedata, and the main winners were as follows; Best of Breed and Bitch CC Int Se Ch Fin Ch No Ch DK Ch Lt Ch Facklans Manjana SE V 14, 16, owned by H Olofsson, Dog CC was Sheneva’s Homeward Bound at Jeminai ShCm owend by Ms AE & Miss S E Stevenson. Reserve Dog CC DK Ch Int Ch Fin Ch VDH Ch KLB Ch Frihedshabs Chester WJW11 DKKV 12 13 KLBV13, owned by Pia Hoiberg and Reserve Bitch CC Pandaprint’s Anastasia JW owned by Miss H McCallum-Sealy. Best Puppy in Breed was Dianaia’s Perfect Day owned by Miss S Moore and Best Veteran was DK Ch Int Ch Fin Ch VDH Ch KLB Ch Frihedshabs Chester WJW11 DKKV 12 13 KLBV13, owned by Pia Hoiberg. Well done to all in the cards on the day and indeed to everyone who qualified, and remember that we all took the best dogs home with us.
It was also great to see our American friend, Margaret Fox Moore around the ring and benches. Margaret has taken some great candid’s of the Havanese at Crufts and they can be viewed on her Daily Dogs Devotional and Dogs Outside the Ring pages on Facebook. A special thanks must also go to our fantastic Havie Directors and Producers Valerie and Jeremy Knight, who have filmed the judging. They are currently in the process of editing and putting the clips together (I believe there are over 150 clips!). This is a very time consuming task, so I would urge everyone to please be patient whilst they work their magic. Valerie and Jeremy have been very kind to film the judging at Crufts over the past few years and do so on a voluntary basis, so we are very appreciative of their efforts.
This weekend sees the biggest shows in the Irish calendar, the St Patrick’s Day International Show on Saturday and Celtic Winners International Show on Sunday. We have a good entry both days, 9 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday. We have not entered for the Saturday show, as with the travelling to Crufts and a busy day showing, we felt a back to back weekend was too much for our dogs, so we will only be exhibiting on the Sunday. We are looking forward to meeting with and catching up with everyone, after break.
Next Championship Show on the UK Calendar is UK Toy, which is always a lovely show and a wonderful celebration of Toy Dogs. Now that entries have closed, I would like to say that I am very much looking forward to judging the Special Awards Classes at the Havanese Club of GB’s Open Show on 8th April. I consider it a great honour and am very excited about it.
Another gentle reminder that the HCGB is running a BVA Eye testing clinic with Mr John Goodyear on Sunday 25th March. The venue is Normanton Village Hall, Normanton on Saor, Loughborough, LE12 5HB and a BVA group rate for eye testing will apply. Litter screening will also be available at the usual BVA rate. Fully paid up members of the Havanese Club of GB who submit eye testing certificates on the day will receive a further discount. If you would like any further information, you can contact the Clubs Health Officer, Andrea Akkad either by pm on Facebook or by email via contact@havanese-club-gb.co.uk. Please note that the Clubs AGM will follow the Eye Testing Clinic.
If you have any news, results or information that you would like included in the breed notes, please feel free to drop me a line. You can contact me either by email (cartyolivia@gmail.com) or on Facebook through Facebook Messenger.
Olivia Carty-Parge