KENNEL NOTES

Evening Star, Issue 22453, 25 September 1936, Page 2

KENNEL NOTES

[By Tail-waggbr.]

. To-morrow evening, in tho basement of the Town Hall, the Kennel Section of the Fanciers’ Club will hold a big ribbon parade, when Mr Alex. Kidd, of Invercargill, will sort out the various dogs entered. All owners who will have dogs competing are asked to be present early and to make their entries at the secretary’s table before 7.;i0 p.ra., as judging is to commence at 8 sharp. To avoid confusion and assist tne secretary and his stewards each dog will be issued with a number, and owners and handlers are requested to present themselves at the ringside as they see their numbers falling due. Every effort will be made to assist the judge to complete the judging of tho minor classes before 10 p.m., so that the presentation of the big ribbons may be commenced at that hour. During the progress of the parade a competition For the purpose of guessing tho weight of Mr Henry Brown’s big St. Bernard, Bernese Viking, will be held. Schedules, setting-out classes, etc., are available to those wishing to know further particulars for the purpose of entering dogs, and are obtainable from the secretary. T. Scofield, care Fraser and Sons, Stuart street, Austen’s Frederick street, and G. Moody, tobacconist. Those interested in dogs in this country will bo pleased to learn that a New Zealand sheep dog (Toby) won the Queensland State championship recently against a big field of collies representative of all parts of Australia. Until some months ago Toby was the property of Mr L. H. Tilson, of Parapai (near Balelutha), when a request was received by the New Zealand Stud Book Association from Mr H. E.

Ferrier, of Queensland, for a good sheep dog. As a result of negotiations Toby was sent across the Tasman, and is now one of the proudest possessions of his new owner.

There was a record entry at the recent Adelaide Royal Show, where the English judges, Mrs D. F. Whit well and Sir John Renwick, made their first appearance in a colonial judging ring. The pair soon made it apparent that they knew their job, and their criticisms on the dogs they handled were concise and to the point. Several awards are of interest to local owners, and these are given herewith. The challenge-winning cockers were ch. Coonara Cheerful Joe and ch. Coonara Jill, both being sired by ch. The Cheerful Abbot (imp.), owned by Mrs Gray, of the Radio-Abbot kennels, Melbourne. This dog also sired the second dog in the open class and the first in puppy (Jeanette of Radio-Abbey) and limit'bitch classes (Coonara Exquisite), while another of Mrs Gray’s dogs, ch. Dobrow Danillo (imp.), was also represented by a winner. Smooth fox terriers made the best, showing in the terrier section, and a Victorian-owned l puppy in Mr S. P. Walker’s Rovillen Rarity made a name for himself by going' through from puppy to second in the open in good company. In Scottish terriers, also, Victoria hold its own. the challenge dog, ch. Granite of Glanageth, having been bred there. In wire-haired fox terriers, however, New Zealand produced the winner, this being Mr J. W. Wilkin’s gd, ch. Mahaki Gallant Gesture. This terrier was bred by Mr Wall, of Martinborough, and several of his progeny are winning in Dunedin at the present time. Gesture was also the sire of the winning bitch, a daughter of Charming of Carie (imp.), also owned by Mr Wilkin, and brought out from the Old Country originally by W. M. Jack, of the Rybura kennels in Christchurch. Miss Hart, of the Hartlea kennels, has returned from her holiday in Sydney, and from reports was not unduly impressed by their dogs, although some rather nice Labradors were shown her. Miss Flora Duff the N.Z.K.C. chief secretary, has also returned home after a pleasant sojourn in the land of the kangaroo. As she is leaving New Zealand, Mrs M. Stanur, of Rotorua, is disposing of

her fine imported bull terrier Baravais Rumpus. Rumpus is an all-white dog, just 18 months old, by Breudon Bang from Boko’s, Beltona, and is a sound dog in every way. Mrs E. J. Coyle, of tho famous ‘ Wialla ” kennels, in Hampton, Victoria, has some very nice young stock on hand, and which she would like to see placed in New Zealand. These are ch. Gay Cavalier of Wialla, liver-and-white, by ch. Cavalier of Gildabrook (imp.l ex ch. Bocara Radiant and Goldilocks of Wialla, chostuut-aml-white, by Research of Ranscombe (imp.) ex Radiant. Both are show bench successes and capable of good field work, and as a field trialer tin' springer spaniel takes so e heating. In Austral : a there are f nir brothers by the name < ' Rowlcs who judge dogs, aiid three of i.iese a wee’.-, or two ago judged in three different States. Frank, of Campbell street, Sydney, judged at the Windsor K.C. show, Brisbane; Stan was sorting them out at Port Adelaide, South Australia; and Fred was at the Terrier Club’s show at Melbourne—surely a record rarely, if ever, equalled. BREEDS OF THE PAST, “Although to-day nearly a hundred distinct breeds of dogs are recognised for show purposes, there are many described by ancient writers and artists which have disappeared entirely. Marco Polo, during his travels in Tibet in the fourteenth century, found dogs ‘ of the size of wild asses,’ strong enough to hunt all sorts of wild beasts. Some of Marco’s alleged discoveries were afterwards found to be mere traveller’s tales, but in this instance there was corroboration from another and more reliable source, for Turner, in his 1 Embassy to Tibet,’ describes some ‘ huge dogs, tremendously fierce, strong, and noisy,’ which he saw in a row of wooden cages. Albrecht Durer, the

great fifteenth century Genian artist, depicted a lion-dog, which really looked like a lion, with great masses of hair on the hindquarters and a long tufted tail. Lucas Van Leyden, his Dutch contemporary, also made a drawing of a very similar dog, so that we may assume that an honest-to-goodness liondog did actually exist 400 years ago. George Tuberville, in his ‘ Noble,Art_of Vcnerie,’ published in London in 1575, shows a hefty animal described as' a ‘ black or Swiss foxhound,’ which has a blunt nose with the nostrils a long way from the mouth, long spaniel-like ears, and a whip-lash tail quite as long as the dog himself. Matthew Hopkins, the professional witch-finder .of the seventeenth century, has many drawings of dogs in ‘ The Discovery of Witches,’ published in 1647. One in particular is interesting in that it possessed horns like a cow and an attenuated body that would turn a Dachshund green with envy. But Matthew’s representations of dogs are probably as trustworthy as his reputation for finding witches. His method was to throw the suspected old woman into deep water. If she could swim, and thus save herself, it was considered conclu-sh-o proof of witchcraft, and she was accordingly condemned; but if she drowned she was deemed innocent of the heinous crime. On the whole, it would seem that these breeds of the past disappeared because they were no longer wanted. Certainly we have many better and handsomer dogs today.”—The ‘ Daily Advertiser.’