We first went to East of England Championship Show last weekend. Well, as an unsocialised and untrained Canaan Dog would be, Rene was not very happy! Pam O'Loughlin kindly handled him for me. I was pleased with the fact that he stood for the judge, not backing off. Although I have seen him move better! And he was not over happy with moving straight back to the judge, but considering everything I was very happy with him. He was awarded 1st in Limit Dog and was awarded Reserve Best Dog in AVNSC Utility.

Today we went to the Peterborough Open Show, which had Canaan Dog breed classes. I was chuffed when the judge, Marion Sargent (Tegwani), awarded him 1st in open class and Best of Breed. We then had a fair wait for the Utility Group, which is the next stage you go to when showing dogs. Norma Naylor (Aniday) was judging the Utility Group.  I was shocked when she shortlisted Rene, and even more shocked when she awarded us GROUP 3!!

Thank you Barbara, for staying and supporting me. Thanks also to those who said how nice Rene looked in the ring, and also how good it was that a Canaan Dog be placed in the group.  Most of all, thanks to Marion and Norma for liking my boy!

Today was a real pleasure for me, and not just because Rene did so well. What a change it makes when the judges actually ENJOY their task and like the breed they are judging.  I can never understand those judges who decide to judge a breed that they don't even like, and make it obvious that they don't!

So, I guess the question is.... Will I now start showing again?  Well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you!

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Pleased to say that Beau has now found a home and is settling in very nicely with Marcus and Jackie!

This is Evie just after she came home with us. Photo was taken on 6th August, 1996, she was just 1 day short of being 8 weeks old.

Now the weather is improving and the sun is shining first thing in the mornings, Frenchie can't be bothered to wait for us. As soon as the sun shines she opens her hatch, takes her bed out and lies there sunning herself!

When we finally emerge from the house she knows how much we like to open up all the hatches, so she goes back in and shuts the hatch behind her, just so we can open it and let her out!!

You gotta love these Canaan Dogs!

The colour scheme I chosed seemed to be appropriate for a dog that originates from the deserts within the Land of Canaan, Israel.

I still have more information to write and add, plus my photo gallery, which I hope I will be able to do soon, so, as they say, watch this space!

Pre-biblical drawings and carvings have been found depicting dogs very similar to the Canaan Dog we know today and there is a rock carving from the first to third century BC mid Sinai that depicts a dog which is very like a Canaan type dog. In ancient Ashkelon, a graveyard was discovered, which is believed to be Phoenician from the middle of the fifth century BC. It contained 700 dogs, all carefully buried in the same position, on their sides with legs flexed and tail tucked in around the hind legs. According to the archaeologists, there was a strong similarity between these dogs and the "Bedouin pariah dogs", in other words, the Canaan Dog. A sarcophagus dated from the end of the fourth century BC, was found in Sidon, on which Alexander the Great and the King of Sidon are painted hunting a lion with the help of a hunting dog which is similar in build to the dogs of Ashkelon and similar in appearance to the Canaan Dog.

For a very long time, the Bedouins and Druse people used, and indeed still use, Pariah Dogs of the Canaan Dog type to guard their flocks and camps. However, they have never bred them, and merely take males from the free-living and semi-free litters when they need one.

It wasn't until 1934 that the Canaan Dog was domestically bred and named, when Professor Rudolphina Menzel, together with her husband, began a domesticated breeding programme for the purpose of supplying dogs to the Haganah (Jewish Defence Forces).

After looking at various breeds of dogs, Menzel soon turned her attention to the local pariah dog in which she found a dog with all the traits that would make them a good service dog — an alert and agile dog, being territorial and with highly developed senses, and capable of surviving the harsh terrain and climate. Menzel began by capturing free-living pariah dogs and litters of puppies, naming the type of pariah Canaan Dog after the land where she found them most abundant -- the Land of Canaan, today known as part of Israel.

Rene

Born: 12th January 2006
Colour: Sand
Sex: Dog

HEALTH:
Patella Luxation: Clear

We were originally going to call this boy Johnny, with his KC registered name as French Letter. Unfortunately the KC would not allow us to have that name, so he became Rene, named after Rene in Allo, Allo - a comedy tv series about the French Resistance.

Pedigree

Talis

Born: 18th March 2004
Colour: Red
Sex: Dog

HEALTH:
Patella Luxation: Clear
Eyes: Dry eye
Hips: Awaited

Talis's name came from the litter theme of Magic. Unfortunately The Kennel Club did not allow our first choice name of Talisman, nor our 2nd, 3rd or even 4th choice of name! But, finally they did allow Talismanic.

Pedigree

Vicky

Born: 18th March 2004
Colour: Red & White
Sex: Bitch

HEALTH:
Patella Luxation: clear
BAER: Bi-lateral

Pedigree