Charlie's breeder emailed me last night to remind me I hadn't done the Kennel Club registration thingy (I hadn't really forgotten, I just couldn't quite see why I should give the Kennel Club £15 - I mean, what for?). Anyway, thought I should do it, if only to keep on the right side of the breeder. Had a look at Charlie's papers and guess what? His granddad was a french stray made good! Hah Hah Hah. OH loves it! I found out this about him: "Ole was bred by Mme de Mareschal - a small, strictly non-professional breeder - the dam being from the successful show kennel of Mlle Dreyfus' aunt, Mme Forien. At over two-years-old he was simply dumped in the street by the people who had bought him and was in due course picked up and turned over to the society for the protection of animals. They traced him back, no doubt through his tattoo number, to his breeder, who passed him over to Mlle Dreyfus. She could see his potential as a show dog, and so things took off." (Ole looks really, really chunky, but Charlie's mum and grandmum look much lighter, so here's hoping....)
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! Hah - I tried to download one and got a message saying "good try, there is copyright" ! Anyway, here is a web page with some snaps of Ole, chunky or what... http://etang-balancet.pagesperso-orange.fr/oleGB.htm
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! he's substantial !!!! I think he'd make two of Riley (who is obviously perfect : ) I like his face, he looks really friendly
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! He sort of looks over weight, don't you think? If he was 5 - 7 kg slimmer he'd look better. Ah, Charlie comes from a long line of podges! That explains a LOT.
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! How interesting! We have an FB friend named Ole, oddly enough (a dog of course) Doggy genealogy......hmmm....
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! I wonder if Ole's original owners dumped him because he chewed down the house and ate it (as his grandson is trying to do today - pen time!).
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! Beautiful conformation (lovely sloping shoulder etc) and nice head. Often very solid dogs have totally overdone, short heads, but he doesn't. He could have lost a couple of kilos I reckon, but underneath he is basically just a really muscly, solid dog. I can see why he did so well in the ring. Spunky Grandad you've got, Charlie ;D
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! [quote author=Oberon link=topic=2751.msg28169#msg28169 date=1380577686] Beautiful conformation (lovely sloping shoulder etc) and nice head. [/quote] This has made me realise I know absolutely nothing about labrador conformation - I wouldn't know if he was right or every last paw was in the wrong place! Must get a book...
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! If you can find them I'd recommend 'The Dual Purpose Labrador' and 'Advanced Labrador Breeding' by Mary Roslin-Williams. You may find them second hand. She was a big advocate of dogs that had the athleticism to work in the field but also the confirmation to win in the show ring. She favoured a more moderate dog than is often seen in the show ring these days but was also critical of the light 'working' types. The Labrador Retriever Breed Standard Extention is a good read too. It supplements and elaborates the breed standard. This is a link to this document on the Australian Kennel Club sits but it's exactly the same as the UK one. http://www.ankc.org.au/_uploads/docs/201734Labrador_BSE_09.pdf
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! Just read the breed standard (instead of working!) now know what you mean about sloping shoulders...
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! Yes, the diagrams are helpful and the whole Extension document explains some of the jargon in the Breed Standard (like 'short coupled'). The Standard itself is a lot briefer and can be found here: http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/services/public/breed/standard.aspx?id=2048 Reading about Labradors is always better than working ;D
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! Oh dear...I fear the show ring will not find Riley as lovely as I do He's altogether just too lightweight
Re: Charlie is a french street urchin! [quote author=bbrown link=topic=2751.msg28222#msg28222 date=1380622573] Oh dear...I fear the show ring will not find Riley as lovely as I do He's altogether just too lightweight [/quote] I doubt anyone else would find Charlie as lovely as I do! My gundog trainer told me about this requirement for all gundog show champions to have a working certificate: http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/media/257409/sgwc-a5-7-nov-2011.pdf So all those podgy pooches at crufts will have been able to demonstrate that they can do MUCH more than Charlie ever will, gundog wise, I should think (although, we might improve, I hope....) METHOD OF ACHIEVEMENT The granting of a Show Gundog Working Certificate will be at the discretion of the Judges at the meeting, and two Judges, one of whom must be an A Panel Judge, must sign the Certificate. Before doing so they must be satisfied that the dog has fulfilled the following requirements: (a) The dog has been tested in line. (b) The dog has shown that it is not gun-shy. (c) For a Retriever, that it hunted for, and found, dead or wounded game, faced cover, and retrieved tenderly. (d) For a Spaniel, that it hunted, faced cover, produced game and retrieved tenderly. (e) For a Pointer or Setter, that it hunted and pointed game. (f) For a Hunt, Point and Retrieve Breed, that it hunted, pointed game, and retrieved tenderly. (g) For all retrieving breeds, that the dog entered water freely, swam and retrieved (If a natural retrieve from water is not possible, then a dummy may be used. If suitable water is not available the dog is permitted to undertake a special water test on a separate date at a separate location recognised by the issue of a Certificate, to be signed by two Field Trial Panel Judges one of whom must be on the “A” Panel. (h) The dog has not whined or barked in line. (Subject to the Breed Standard) (i) The dog has been under reasonable control. (Absolute steadiness is not essential)
