The latest family day out we know and love as the Garden Party went ahead with the lovely backdrop of the rolling Northants countryside. After a very wet previous show day the weather was perfect, with a blend of sunshine and cloud helping to make a great success of the event from the opening Carting Parade, pictured, onwards.
The usual relaxed party atmosphere prevailed all day, even when the Swiss music was playing, and there were plenty of smiles and happy faces on display.
Plenty of reports, results and photos will continue to be posted here but in the meantime, as usual, all the photos can be browsed on the club’s Smugmug site via this link.
Garden Party photos on Smugmug
Directions to get started on Smugmug: Once open click on the “play” button in the corner of the cover photos of the Rescue Parade and you can scroll through all the photos at your own pace. You can also open the library and look back through lots of photos from the clubs events over many years.
http://bernese.co.uk/events/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=page
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For General Awareness – there are lots and lots of strands to pull together from lots of different sources to produce this report page. If you notice any details you know are incorrect in anyway please give us the chance and the info to put it right by letting us know via web@bernese.co.uk
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Main Ring Parades
There are three important parades through the day, the first is the Puppy Parade where we celebrate the future by giving our current puppies the spotlight and a chance for some good socialising exposure and cuddles from our Judge. Luckily for our judge these puppies do not have to be graded and placed because of course, that would be impossible!
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Our second parade of the day is the hugely popular, and often emotional, Rescue parade where we showcase some of our Rescue dogs who all get their chance to parade around as an outline of their story is read out. Often this is tissue time but all these emotional stories have a happy ending thanks to their new owners giving them a second chance in life. This parade gives the members present a chance to thank and acknowledge our Rescuers because without them there would be no Rescue. Rescue has been busier than ever in the last few years and Rescue CoOrdinator Fiona Hallam and her assistant Jeanette Green are also acknowledged for their hard work whilst in the ring. Fiona then explains a little bit about Rescue and how it works and of course invites people to come and spend some money on the Rescue stand but most importantly, thanks everyone who helps with Rescue.
The third parade is the Golden Oldie or Veterans Parade which also features our older dogs having some information about them read out to the audience as they strut their stuff. Whilst perhaps not quite reaching the emotional heights of the Rescue stories, some of these tales are touching in a different way and all the dogs are much appreciated, especially the ones who appear in both parades.
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Thank you to all the people who brought their dogs into the ring for us all to simply enjoy their presence.
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Top Working Dog of the Day
At the end of all the Working Events, scroll down page for more details of these, each dog’s best score from each of the three disciplines is added to give us a Top Working Dog of the Day and today’s winner was
Arthur with Richard Hallam.
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Main Ring Fun Events
The main ring is the hub of the Garden Party Day with entertaining classes and colourful or meaningful parades through the day and ending with the presentations to the working event winners. Whilst the ethos of the day is about ‘taking part’ rather than ‘winning’ many of the classes are judged to add to the entertainment. Our Judge today with the thankless task of overseeing the novelty events was our regular super steward Sam Avery who for some reason was not mocked by our compere Mark Avery in the way our normal judges are!
Big thank you to Sam and here is her report with more photos to follow shortly.
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Main Ring Events Judge’s Report by Sam Avery
“I had a lovely day. Thank you to the sporting competitors, committee and my very helpful steward, Debbie.
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MOST HANDSOME DOG
A lovely lineup of big handsome boys.
1st Benny and Emma Woodward
A small blaze on his head with dark markings giving a lovely expression. Massive fluffy coat.
A recent rescue with a fantastic temperament.
2nd Ted and Harry King
A quieter older gentleman celebrating his 8th birthday. In very good condition for his age.
3rd Gus and Andrew Burge
This boy had a lovely coat and a kind expression.
4th George and Kevin Jordan
A quieter chap with a big white blaze.
5th Yogi and Maya Townsend
Nice head and kind dark eyes.
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PRETTIEST BITCH
Lots of pretty girls to choose from.
1st Lily and Katy Jones
Dark eyes and a thin white blaze. Alert with a kind and sensitive expression.
2nd Peggy Sue and Judy Harris
An older girl in good condition for her age. An alert expression, using her ears well.
3rd Carlie and Karen Wheeler
Ultra feminine girl. Lovely melting expression. In good coat.
4th Zuzu and Gintare Mikenaite
Very dark markings. In good coat.
5th Anya and Lauryn Miller
A kind expression.
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MOST APPEALING EYES
1st Tinsel and Steve Small
Dark eyes accentuated by her dark markings giving a melting expression.
2nd Gus and Andrew Burge
Definitely a twinkle in his eyes.
3rd Ivy and Jess Love
A kind expression.
4th Sophie and Joanne Waring
Bright sparkly eyes.
5th Yogi and Mata Townsend
Dark eyes with a cute expression.
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WAGGIEST TAIL
1st Juno and Shandy Bridges
Non stop wagging from start to finish ! Lovely to see the rapport with his handler.
2nd Womble and Cia Magnusson
A cute little crossbreed with an enthusiastic tail wag.
3rd Ruby and Liz Waterman
A slow and steady happy waggy tail.
4th Peggy Sue and Judy Harris
A slower steady wag from an older girl.
5th Eddie and Harry King
A very cute happy puppy tail wag.
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DOG MOST LIKE IT’S OWNER
1st Rolo and Katy Jones
A colour co-ordinated pair with the handler wearing black clothes with white socks and
trainers which together with her tanned legs matched all the colours of the dog.
2nd Rosie and Elaine Spalding
The owner’s t-shirt matched the dog.
3rd George and Kevin Jordan
No visual similarity but the owner remarked that he and the dog have very similar curious personalities. An interesting concept.
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JUNIOR HANDLING 6 – 10 YEARS
1st Maya Townsend and Anya
2nd Joseph Graham and Patch
Both competitors were calm and sympathetic handlers, coping well with the large dogs.
They both tried hard and there really wasn’t much to choose between them except Patch left the ring for a while. Next time both handlers need to make sure that the dog is on their left when moving so the judge’s view of the dog is not blocked. Well done both of you.
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JUNIOR HANDLING 11 – 16 YEARS
1st Katy Jones and Lily
A very competent handler with a kind and calm manner. She noticed when I moved position and corrected the side the dog was moving on.
Well done.
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BEST CONDITION
This was a very hard class to judge !
All dogs were in great condition and a credit to their owners.
1st Tinsel and Steve Small
Beautifully presented, in good coat and correct weight for size. Very clean teeth and ears.
2nd Gracie and Becky Price
In good coat and her white markings were sparkling. Correct weight for size.
3rd Kricket and Shandy Bridges
Lovely big boy in good coat. Clean teeth and neat nails. Just had slight yellowing on his chest which was the only way I could split him from the two girls in front.
4th Peggy Sue and Judy Harris
A gorgeous veteran girl looking very good for her age.
5th Edie and Megan Price
She had a very dribbly chest which just spoiled
things as in good condition overall.
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BEST GREETING
1st Ivy and Jess Love
Ran to me and jumped up. Rubbed her head against me and then leant on me in true Bernese style.
2nd Peggy Sue and Judy Harris
Shook her paws very politely.
3rd Sapphire and Ella Moore
Wanted to be stroked but with her back towards me.
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BEST SMILE OR CUDDLE
1st Lily and Katy Jones
A brilliant “Elvis” impression, lifting her lips on both sides which I have not seen before.
2nd George and Kevin Jordan
Very enthusiastic greeting and cuddles.
3rd Lyra and Colin
Cuddly and showed part of a smile.
4th Peggy Sue and Judy Harris
A wiggly bum cuddle.
5th Cleo and Linzi
A nice calm cuddle.
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Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Cart
The above events are interspersed between lots of other activities in the Main ring including games and Parades of various kinds. One highlight for most people is the randomly themed Decorated Cart class which on this occasion was entitled ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Cart’. This turned out to be a play on the famous Morecambe and Wise sketch, which won’t mean much to our younger members but most people of a certain age will recall the famous tag line “I’m playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order” .
Carts were all decorated as orchestral instruments with their handlers dressed up for a night of classical music and they paraded around the ring to spread out and oversee a representation of the sketch. The ringside audience were spellbound and rapturous applause was given as the carters left the ring.
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For these magic moments we would like to thank
Arthur with Richard Hallam, Moshe with Annie New, Henry with Simon Gould, Rodney with Chris Handley, Rosie and Ciara with Elaine Spalding, Lexie and Bramble with Andy Smith, Izzy with Elaine Worrall, Barnaby with Owenetta Copeland, Carrick with Di Crawshaw, Cooper with Caroline Dunhill, Jana with Carol, Mia with Belle Owen, Morgan with Beverley Gould and of course the mercurial maestros Sandra Hallam and Andy Worrall
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Fun and Games
Int he middle of the day a main ring slot is given to some doggy based games and these vary from event to event but regulars are the Musical Sits, (much like Musical Chairs but without the chairs), and the Biscuit catching.
Musical Sitz winners (l to r)
1st Penny with Danni Andrews, 2nd Anya with Maya, 3rd Phoebe with Barbara Peters, 4th Teddy with Chloe, 5th Rosa with Linda
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Biscuit Catching
1st Napoleon with Katy Jones
2nd Teddy with Lee Wheeler
Three dogs were joint third but unfortunately not recorded on the results sheet
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The First event of the day in the Main ring is the Decorated Cart Swiss style following straight on from the Opening Parade which is the biggest dose of Swissness of the day.
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The final Decorated Cart class of the day is the pure Carting Turnout Class which is judged on the condition and cleanliness of the cart and harness, no decoration here just old fashioned ‘spit and polish’ type values.
The winner was My Mia with Belle Owen
Working Events
The Main Ring and its Bernese visual extravaganza should not make us forget there is also, what used to be a separate event called, the Working Day proceeding in adjacent rings. There is an Obedience ring, an agility ring and of course the Working Cart ring where Bernese can be seen doing more meaningful activities. Each of these rings has practice and competition opportunities for mostly Bernese but there are some opportunities for other breeds as well. We thank our judges for these rings who give up their day for us often, in the case of Agility and Obedience, for a different breed to their own.
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Agility with Judge Jackie Orriss
Novice – BMD Only
1st Anya with Sarah – 10 faults in 1 min 15.03 seconds
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Beginners – BMD Only
1st Cleo with Lyndsey – Clear in 1 min 34.57 secs
2nd Arthur with Richard Hallam – 10 faults in 1 min 01.47 secs
3rd Carly with Karen – 10 faults in 2 mins 37.94 secs
Judges comments
Penny with Danielle – special mention for a brilliant clear round
Karen with Carly – Amazing round for a dog that had never done agility beofore.
Moshi with Annie – Fabulous dog -hilarious round
All Breeds (Not BMD)
No Entries
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Obedience with Judge Karen Hayward
Results and Judge’s comments
Have a Go for Bernese
It was lovely seeing so many dogs and handlers having a go in the obedience with some clear rounds
1st Arthur with Richard Hallam – Amazing attention, worked a lovely round. Must continue obedience with this lovely boy.
2nd Carly with Lee Wheeler – Happier working with both Mum and Dad by the ring. Lovely heel work on the straight.
3rd Forrest with Julie Ann Wright – Kept a constant position in heel work. Working in a nice pace.
4th Carly with Karen Wheeler
5th Clara with Sue Maddocks
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Triers for Bernese
Some really good rounds of heel work in this class.
1st Tilly with Carol Davis – Excellent heel work both on and off lead. Needs to continue with Obedience as she obviously enjoys it.
2nd Clara with Sue Maddocks – Another with excellent heel work but lost attention on the turns Clear in recall (perfect)
3rd Indy with Sherry Round – Beautiful turns but was enjoying the scenery on the straight. Worked better off lead.
4th Mia with Belle Owen
5th Gus with Andy Burge
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Future Stars For Bernese
All handlers in this class should be pleased and proud of their dog’s heel work today with 2 dogs gaining a perfect score in retrieve and recall.
1st Georgie with David Maddocks – Amazing heel work for a dog of 10 years. I loved watching this dog work. Clear perfect retrieve.
2nd Mia with Belle Owen – Much more enthusiastic round this time. Looked like she really enjoyed it.
3rd Indy with Sherry Round – Another great round, just lost on turns. Perfect recall.
4th Penny with Danni Andrews
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Open for all Breeds
No entries
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Working Cart Course (Assorted Judges)
Beginners
1st Moshe with Annie New
2nd Morgan with Beverley Gould
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Intermediate
1st Ryley with Chris Handley
2nd Arthur with Richard Hallam
3rd Tilly with Geoff Stelmach
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Advanced
1st Rodney with Chris Handley
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Medals Advanced
1st Mia with Belle Owen
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Veteran
Rosie with Elaine Spalding
Torin with Di Crawshaw
Ted with Rebecca King
Lexi with Simon Gould (here with Beverley Gould)
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First Draft
The first step on the road to being an established carting dog is the First Draft which is an assessed activity declaring your dog capable and safe to tackle the courses.
Today’s dogs taking that first step and collecting a First Draft goodie bag from the club were Pixie with Lianne, Izzy with Elaine Worrall, Benny with Ross, Cooper with Dave, Cleo with Linzi, Remzy with Shandy, and Forrest with Julie. See you all in the classes next time.
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Would your dog like to cart?
If you’d like to consider carting with your Bernese why not come and meet the carters at the next Garden Party and get yourself started. Most Bernese just breeze through the training and assessment stages and really enjoy it so didn’t you ought to give yours a chance? In a very short space of time you could be tackling the working course or taking part in parades at Bernese events or even special processions at other events such as Christmas markets, country fairs etc etc.
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Working Cart Annual Awards
As this is the last formal Working Cart course of the year after all the courses classes have been scored they can be added into the previous competitions for this year and some overall winders announced. Much prized Annual Medals are awarded and this year the winners were as follows.
Overall Top Working Cart Dogs of 2024
Overall Annual Medal Winners
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Overall Annual Medal Runner Ups
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We R Family
Usually well into the afternoon the We R Family show rolls into the Main Ring producing the largest gatherings of the day for both dogs and people. This is for family groups of dogs directly related to each other or, more usually, connected by being bred or owned by particular kennels. A brief explanation of each group is given and, whether small or large, each group is given a warm reception..
Oakbern
Waldershelf
Trudaleaze
Gorsebern
Kernow
Jesterbrock
Codebern
Chippis
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