24th September - We attended the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Great Britain's Special Ruby Anniversary Club Show where we exhibited Geilo, Elkie and Freya. The Judge for the males was from Sweden with the female Judge from England.

 

Now seven years old we entered Geilo in the Veteran class, there were 7 exhibits in this class, the judge awarded Geilo First place. In the Special Junior female class from an entry of 6 Freya was placed Fifth, her litter sister was placed Second, so a good result for two of Geilo's daughters. In the Post Graduate class from an entry of 15 Elkie was placed Third.

 

We had entered the Brace class, unlike on the Continent where the pair must be male and female here in England this class can be two of any sex so we were up against pairs of male's and pair's of female's. Both judges selected the placings in this class, we were placed Third, the Second placed pair contained a son of Geilo.

 

We had also entered the male Progeny class, we exhibited Geilo and his daughter's Elkie and Quilla (Clashaidy Nidvella Flowing at Balahunz), there were two groups entered for this class, the other group being   Van't Stokerybos, again both judges had to decide on the winner. We were delighted to be awarded First place in this class.

 

21st September - We are sorry for the delay in adding new notes, after returning from our annual holiday to Switzerland we have been very busy. This year was the first time Freya had been abroad, she was very good and well behaved in the hotels we stayed at, like Geilo and Elkie she had a great time in the mountains and loved all the attention given, she was very happy to have lots of pictures taken of her, Geilo and Elkie. 

 

Our friends Ray and Sue from Tazmania were on holiday with us,  they both loved our dogs and they would take Geilo up the mountains in the cable cars and on the Post Bus.

 

At the end of our holiday we went to the KBS Club Show in Burgdorf (Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Switzerland), this is a show we have always liked to attend, like all the shows on the Continent it is totally different to shows in the UK. The judges for our classes were unknown to us and we had never seen them judge before, unlike the UK the judges do not know which classes they will be judging until the start of the show. This year we had entered Geilo (Open male), Elkie (Open female) and Freya (Junior female) this was Freya's first major Continental show.

 

 

 

The Show was held at the picturesque old town of Burgdorf where the show hall was overlooked from the top of a hill a few hundred yards away by the beautiful Castle. As soon as we entered the show hall the secretary had the vet waiting for us to complete the Pet Passports for our return to England.

 

The total entry for the show was 219 with entries from all parts of Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and ourselves the sole exhibitors from the UK. In the Junior class of 25 Freya who is still a little out of coat was graded Sehr Gut (Very Good) by the judge Herr Roland Sporr from Austria, Elkie was in a class of 41 where she was graded Sehr Gut (Very Good) by another Austrian judge, Frau Gabi Schrank. We were pleased with both results and the judges critiques for Freya and Elkie.

 

Fortunately for us Geilo was the first dog to be seen in the Open male class, this was good as we had Elkie and Freya in two other rings and we were dashing between them. In Geilo's class there were 38 dogs, the judge was Frau Elin Normannseth from Norway, Geilo was graded Excellent, along with 10 other dogs. At the end of the class judging all the dogs with Excellent grades returned to the ring so the judge could select her final four to go forward to the Ring of Honour in the afternoon. As the judge went over all the dogs again she thanked those who were not to go further, we were delighted when the judge handed us the Red Invitation to the Ring of Honour as we had made the final four in the class. In the afternoon all the four dogs in each class went into the Ring of Honour where the judge's made their final selections, they also gave a verbal critique of each exhibit. We were delighted when the judge selected Geilo for 4th place from a class of 38 very good males.

 

We also entered the Pairs Class with Geilo and Elkie, from 6 pairs we were awarded 3rd place. The next class we entered was a breeder class, this was the first time we had ever entered a class like this, we were able to because we had a father (Geilo) and two daughters (Elkie and Freya). In this class there were eleven breeders groups with three dogs with each breeder. There were some very good groups in this class and just to take part in the class was good for us, we both had to handle the dogs in this class. The judge had all the Groups running round the Ring of Honour, we were delighted to be awarded 4th place in the Breeder Group, it was a great show for us. Our friends Ray and Sue who are not Bernese owners or breeders had a great time and enjoyed the show and were impressed with all the Bernese Mountain Dogs at the show.

We will be adding a Holiday Album page for Switzerland 2011 soon.

 

 

6th September - Happy 7th Birthday to Geilo. Seven, now a Veteran we can'believe that it is 6 years ago that we went to Norway to collect him, it seems like yesterday.  He spent his birthday walking in the mountains of Grindelwald, we took him and his two daughters, Elkie and Freya up in a cable car above the village of Grindelwald.  Janka was supposed to be coming on holiday with us, but the day before we came away she came into season, so she has had to stay at home.  This has been Freyas first time away on holiday with us and she is having a great time, loving all the attention she is getting from all the tourists who want to take pictures of the dogs.     

 

3rd September: We had good news from Pat and Majella O'Donovan, they are the owners of Odin (Staubach Jozef von der Wald), a son of Geilo and Steffi (Gwen Steffani von Bernice Love at Staubach (Ger Imp) from our last litter. They showed Odin for the first time at the Bernese Mountain Dog Club of Ireland's Championship Show in the Baby Male Puppy class, not yet 5 months old Odin won the class. In winning his class he received a rosette and the Kinelarty Trophy which he holds for one year. This was the first time that Pat and Majella had exhibited, they were very pleased with Odin who attracted lots of attention from some of the spectators. The picture opposite is of Odin with his rosette and trophy. Also entered at this show were Mollie (Kinelarty Lady of the Loch) who won the Junior female class and Tillie (Kinelarty Norsk Starstruck) who was third in the Junior female class both from Geilo and GB & IR Ch. Kinelarty Star of County Down bred by Sally and Andrew  Murphy. 

 

2nd September 2011: At the recent Irish Kennel Club National Show two of Geilo's daughters had good results, Freya's litter sister Tillie (Kinelarty Norsk Starstruck) owned and bred by Sally and Andrew  Murphy was awarded the Reserve Green Star. The other sister Mollie (Kinelarty Lady of the Loch) was placed 3rd in the Junior class, the following day at the Irish Kennel Club National Show under another judge Tillie was 1st in the Junior female classand her mother was 4th in Champion female.