A Family Affair at the Breed Championship Show

Recently we attended the Flatcoated Retriever Society Breed Championship Show at the Kennel Club building at Stoneleigh. Our judges were husband and wife duo Sue and Phil Goodman, Sue was tasked with the dogs and Phil the bitches. We had a really great day as Lenka's family from the South West were present. After they arrived and several bags of fur were trimmed from the team, the showing started !

Jive : Clandrift Dirty Dancing at Harlistream ... VHC Veteran Bitch
Lenka : Tonggreen Woodland Nymph of Harlistream .. Unplaced Puppy Bitch
Pebbles : Tonggreen Woodland Sprite HC Puppy Bitch
Rowan : Tonggreen King of the Makers ... 2nd Puppy Dog
Percy : Harlistream Pilara ... Unplaced Limit Bitch
Tuva : Harlistream Ellerstina .. HC Open Bitch

Thank you so much Karen Taylor for showing Jive to her 5th and a very naughty Lenka in Puppy, couldn't of done it without you! The stars of the day were Rowan, first show and Crufts qualified .. he's a special boy! Also to my little Tuva who held her own in Open with all the Show Champions and wasn't intimidated at all ... unlike me !

 Left to Right ... Lenka, Tuva, Jive, Percy, Pebbles, Rowan

Rowan : Tonggreen King of the Makers

Lenka Best Puppy In Breed

Well on Mothering Sunday we decided to attend Guildford Open Show held at the South of England Showground in Ardingly, West Sussex. It was such a wonderfully warm and sunny day, and such a shame for the show to be held in the very cold, dank barns, especially when we had acres of lovely grass outside ! C'est la vie ! Our judge was Jenny Millard (Nee Fairhall) whom judged a number of breeds that day. Lenka was entered in puppy, and was shockingly well behaved ! All four feet were kept on the ground, even on the sand ! We were so thrilled for her to win her class, I was very proud ! Next up was Tuva in Open, she did not share her nieces success and was awarded 3rd out of 3, but she certainly enjoyed her day .. as always ! I was so proud of Lenka who really handled the challenge like a pro, and did not let me down, she was awarded Best Puppy In Breed, and some lovely comments from the judge. Well done all the other winners. Next stop the Breed Champ show, lets hope Lenka's obedience continues !!!! 

CRUFTS 2017

We are a little behind with this blog, so will endeavour to do better this year ! Well Crufts is over for another year! We were there with all four of the team. Our bitch judge was Dr Ronald James, and dog judge was Victoria Goldberg. Jive (Clandrift Dirty Dancing at Harlistream) was first in the ring at the eye wateringly early time of 8:30am (we had to crawl out of bed at 4am!). Her Veteran class had an entry of 28, this year she was unlucky, but she certainly enjoyed her day. Next up was Lenka's (Tonggreen Woodland Nymph of Harlistream) first ever Crufts ! She took everything in her stride and was such a little star, she was ably handled by Karen Taylor, but alas went unplaced. But the queen of the day was Tuva (Harlistream Ellerstina) who truly showed her socks off, and was placed VHC in a sizeable Mid Limit Bitch class. I'm so proud of all my girls, Crufts is a very different show to attend, the atmosphere, and noise are quite unlike "normal" Championship shows, but all were happy to be there and be surrounded by people. All I can say is its a good job its only once a year !!!

Super Southern Flatcoat Show

We've been quiet for a while, but attended our last show outing for the year. On Sunday we went to the Southern Flatcoated Retriever Club Open Show in Whitchurch, Hampshire. Always love this show, as the club colours are always proudly on display, in the form of a beautiful Christmas tree !!

We had such a lovely day, the judge was Hannah Higginbotham (Howlingale) who braved the horrendous Cumbria weather to make it down to Hampshire ! The girls did well, all being in the cards, Cookie was 4th in Junior, Tuva 2nd in Post Graduate, but the star of the day was Jive who was 1st in Veteran Bitch and Best Veteran In Show !!!! So proud of my Bunny Dog !!

Our beautiful rosette and trophy !

The Hip Score is in !!

In August we took Cookie to have her hips x-rayed. We have just had the results and we are thrilled to announce that her score is 3/2 = 5 This is our lowest score ever, so to say we are happy is an understatement !!

In other news, we have attended a couple of shows in the past two months. At the beginning of September we were at Richmond Championship show. This is always a favourite seeing as it's our local show at a mere 20 minutes (compared to the normal 2 and a half hours for a normal show!) In attendance was Jive and Cookie under breed specialist Graham Lambert. Jive was awarded 5th in Veteran bitch, a tough class, as there are some true golden oldies. Then Cookie took to the stage and was awarded 4th in Junior bitch. Always a lovely atmosphere at the show, and good ice cream !

At the weekend we attended South of England Gundog at the South of England Showground. We had two judges, David McCubbin doing dogs, and Alex Webster-Newton proceeding over the bitches. All the girls were entered, which made for an entertaining change over between classes !! The results were ..... Cookie 3rd in Junior Bitch, Tuva 2nd in Post Graduate Bitch, Jive 1st Open Bitch, Reserve Best Bitch and Reserve Best of Breed. Massive well done to all the other winners, we celebrated with an M&S sandwich from the service station on the way home ... we know how to live !!!

Cookie is on a roll !

We have had a good couple of shows recently. Firstly we attended the Flatcoated Retriever Society Open Show in Leicestershire. It was a very damp day, made worse by a tiny hall for the show, such a shame as the grounds outside were beautiful. Good news for next year though as the show will be moving to the Kennel Club building at Stoneleigh, which is a lovely venue with lots of space and good catering !!!!!!! But we had a lovely day despite the weather and venue, the bitch judge was Helen Osborne-Brown, Jive was 5th in Veteran, Tuva 4th in Post Graduate and Cookie was 1st in Puppy Bitch ! So a lovely collection of rosettes !!

Yesterday we attended Southampton Open Show which is held in the Royal Victoria Country park in Netley Abby right next to the beach. Such a lovely venue, so much space and a very relaxed atmosphere. Our judge was all rounder John Taylor (Tannadice) he awarded Cookie 1st in Puppy and Jive 2nd in Open. Cookie then went on to be shortlisted in the Gundog Puppy Group under Lyn Strudwick (Burpham). We had such a lovely day with friends at the show. We took our picnic chairs and table, and had a lovely lunch in the sunshine.

Cookie & Tuva Crufts Qualified !

Well what a good couple of shows for Team Harlistream ! First was the Birmingham National Show under Jan Erik Ek. Cookie and Tuva were in attendance, it was a very windy day, with the ring full of smells and long grass, all making for a recipe of disaster with a head strong Flatcoat puppy ! Cookie certainly enjoyed herself in the ring (I'm not sure I did!). You know your in for a bad time, when even the judge can't stop laughing, and notes "she certainly enjoys life" ... Well miraculously Cookie was placed 2nd in Puppy Bitch (really not sure how we managed that!) and therefore qualified for Crufts 2016. Tuva performed brilliantly in Post Graduate, but no place that day.

Next up was Bath Championship show under Karen Joyce, always a favourite of ours due to the excellent ground and ring size, this year was no different. First up was Cookie, due to last weeks performance we were all very hesitant, however she decided to behave and listen to me (I know !!!!) She was a different puppy, it was glorious sunshine, no wind, and very short grass, maybe all these things helped !?! Anyway she was a star, and was awarded 3rd in Puppy Bitch. Tuva was entered in Post Graduate bitch, predictably the largest class of the day, she was on a mission to run around the ring as fast as she could ! She thoroughly enjoyed herself, and I really struggled to keep up with her ! We were so happy when she was awarded 2nd, and therefore qualified for Crufts 2016 ! This was only her second show of the year after a long break last year to mature, and I am so proud of her !

So understandably we are thrilled that the full team will be at Crufts next year, Cookie, Tuva and of course Jive who is qualified for life ! Now we have a relaxing summer of shows with the girls to look forward to !