Canaan Dogs were judged at Crufts on Thursday 8th March 2012 by Mary Deats. Mary has been interested in Canaan Dogs for a number of years and has judged the breed a number of times. The last time she judged us was 6 years ago, so she had dogs entered that she had not seen before. Sadly, the entry was a bit lower than usual this year, with just 15 Canaan Dogs entered, 3 of which were absent.
However, in January 2012 the quarantine regulations had been relaxed further, which meant that dogs from all around the world could enter Crufts. So, for the first time ever, a Canaan Dog from Israel made the very long journey to the UK and was entered.
My day started interestingly to say the least! At 5.45am, Ian drove me over to Pam's house, the friend I was going with. We arrived at 5.55am to find her home in darkness and her car wasn't there! I rang her mobile a couple of times but there was no reply so we went back home. A few minutes before getting home Pam rang - she was at our place! After the initial panic we left about 6.10am and had a good journey with no hold-ups.
Pam had two of her German Spitz Mittels entered and was going to handle Rene (Babrees French Resistance) in the ring for me. She did not have Dezi (Babrees Desert Orchid Via Caoilta) entered as he had already won a Best of Breed under Mary Deats. Luckily both breeds were in the same hall this year, which made things a lot easier - or so we thought!
Unfortunately, both breeds were being judged at the same time and Pam had not arrived at our ring when Rene had to go in to his class. Inna, from Israel, kindly offered to handle Rene for me. But once in the class Rene was not happy as he did not know her at all. Fortunately Pam arrived at that moment and we asked the judge if we could change handlers, which she very kindly allowed.
Rene went on to win Best Canaan Dog! He was only beaten for Best of Breed by Inna's bitch, Terosh, from Israel - it was certainly worth the long trip for Inna! Well done!
