Dachshund Club 2021

It was some 40 years ago that Jeff Crawford encouraged me to take part in the Dachshund Club’s judging trials run by the great Sylvia Kershaw so it was a thrill to be asked to judge BIS at the parent club’s championship show. Dr Sylvia’s teachings were uppermost in my mind!

It was an excellent show run by secretary Lloyd Cross, chairman John Bennett and their team with Jeff Horswell, latest in a long line of distinguished presidents, and his immediate predecessor Jeff C (now life vice-president) keeping a kindly eye on proceedings.

The Kennel Club’s building at Stoneleigh is the perfect venue for this event with six good sized-rings, and the floor surface ensures that the good movers get a real chance to excel. There was an enormous raffle and good catering, and a highlight was a presentation to ‘Maisie’ and Kim and Duncan McCalmont - the first chance the club had had to mark her history-making win.

There were several possible contenders for the BIS award but when I sent them round together the winner became clear, in the beautiful Smooth bitch Ch Adnerbs Take A Chance On Me at Raajput. She’s a lovely size, perfectly feminine, has an aristocratic expression with regal bearing, excellent body with good balance of ribbing and loin, in super muscular condition, matching angles front and rear, true coming and going and with an unusually ground-eating side gait and a topline that never wavered. She appears to have a lovely temperament and it’s good to see a Smooth who will cheerfully pose herself without being stacked.

Reserve was the 15-months Longhaired Ch Swansford Gregorydor, another beautiful unexaggerated Dachshund with lots of style about him, the right amount of bone for his size, correct angles and again with a super topline. He’s a steady mover with a fluid stride. Has plenty of time to reach full maturity and I’m sure that in this long-lasting variety he will continue to make an impression in the ring for many years to come.

I must mention another strong contender, the fawn Min Smooth Lokmadi Sand Dollar who has I gather become the first MS of this colour to become a UK champion since the 1960s. And he’s a very good Dachshund too.

Best puppy was another Smooth sent through by Phil Freer, in Cedavoch Struuann, a most impressive young man with a dignity and bearing from beyond his tender age. As distinctly male as the BIS winner is feminine, he has a distinguished head, front conformation as per the Standard, super forechest, a lovely body shape and moves well from all angles. Well done to the Smooth breeders who are combining lines from around the world to help put the variety back in its traditional premier place.

In the BIS line-up the glamour boy Min Long Zarcrest See In Red had caught my eye with his arrogance, shape and attitude. Just needed a bit more finish in body so I wasn’t surprised to find he was still a puppy. Came into his own in the BPIS competition and ended up reserve to the very mature Smooth. Has a lovely head, more neck than you often see in this variety and a good free stride.

Among the veterans the stand-out winner was the Min Smooth Ch Distinctly So D’Arisca whose conditioning, super shape, balanced angulation, ideal topline and steady rhythmic movement were a joy to see.

Completing a good day for the Smooth varieties, the best beginner award went to the Min Smooth Ardenrun Foolish Whisper at Rosencrantz, a quality very feminine bitch with a pretty head, shapely body and good overall conformation, especially in front. Her steadiness on the move narrowly won her the day over the very typy Wire Collidach Paige Turner who looked lovely standing. Nice to see the club is encouraging the many newer exhibitors and I hope a good proportion of them will stay the course in these very popular and competitive breeds.