Last week-end in August I went to Uddevalla to judge Golden retrievers at the Sw Spaniel and Retriever Club Ch show. It brought back special memories as it was at this particular show my first labrador Minnows Leonora was being shown for the first time by her novice owner 35 years ago - me.

As Uddevalla is just north of Gothenburg I decided to drive around a bit in my old home town on my way to the show and realised just how much it had changed. Walking up and down Linnégatan I could hardly believe I had actually lived there, the whole neighbourhood had become so continental in a very pleasant sort of way and the weather was the best possible which of course meant that even more people were out walking than what had been the case had it been raining.

The following day I had a good entry of Golden Retrievers. The winner of best puppy was a very nice puppy called Cheers Silver Spoon and she made it all the way to first place in the final under breeder-judge Kjell Svensson.

Another nice puppy called Poetry's Anabelle from the older puppy class too had a good day and finished as runner up BPIS under British gentleman Reg Bunting.

I didn't find anything to award the Dog CAC to but a fine veteran called S U(u) Ch Festivals Rough'N Tough won best dog.

In bitches the quality was better but I did feel my CAC, best bitch and eventually BOB winner stood out right from the start and her name is Officer's Lady Poetry. She came from intermediate and I shall follow her career with interest. In the best in show final she finished 4th under Danish breeder-judge Erling Kjaer-Pedersen.

I judged two finals myself, best progeny group which was won by the flatcoated retriever group from kennel Miss Mallory's and best field trial which was headed by an English springer by the name Nord Ch Astrospring's  Ikonos.

Overall it was a very pleasant show and Börje and Therese Johansson are the perfect host and hostess! They have run this show for 10 years and have made it a very popular event. Long may it continue.

This is a photo of dear old Knockie, the senior citizen in the family, he turned 12 two months ago. This photo was however taken four years ago, I wish I would be more active taking photos than I am. Maybe having this blog will force me to.

Knockie is short for Thornbreaker's Postman's Knock. He is by S U Ch Poolstead Political Agent out of S U(u) Ch Thornbreaker's Alice Spring.

He won his first CAC under  labrador breeder-judge Mrs Margie Cairns of Blaircourt fame and his second (with CACIB and BOB) under Ing-Marie Hagelin. He was second a couple of times and finally I gave up and stoped showing him. With a bit more determination on my part I am sure he would have been made up

This headline was supposed to be on the top of the last two entries, but here it is. Not easy to get everything right at once:)

This is Thornbreaker's Bit of Class, Blondie for short, last year at the Labrador Club ch show at Rottneros. She's now five and has 2 CAC's under Eva Mjelde and Nina Karlsdotter (with BOB), as well as standing second to it no less than 4 times - very annoying! Blondie is by S U (u) Ch Carpenny Hurricane out of Thornbreaker's Wee Bit of Style (S U(u) Ch Cambremer Wellington x S U (u) Ch Thornbreaker's Alice Springs). Hips and elbows 0-0, clear eyes

Hej!

Det är nu första gången som jag skriver på bloggen. Det kommer inte ske dagligen men lite då och då när det finns något att berätta. Det här första blir som lite test, så vi ser att allt fungerar. Så småningom ska det läggas in lite bilder för att göra bloggen lite mera 'levande'.

Jan-Erik