Priorscove Newfoundlands

Damian and Elaine ended 2009 with a fantastic RBIS at Sunderland and district show. 2009 was a fantastic year for them, lets hope 2010 continues to be as successful. Damians scores came back as elbows 0-0 and hips 3-7. 

Dec 27 saw Rosies puppies make their entrance to the world, a beautiful healthy litter of 6, 2 black boys, 1 brown boy, 2 brown girls and 1 brown girl. Just over a week old now they are thriving, Rosie is proving to be a fantastic mum who loves her babies.

Rosie and I saw in the New Year with her babies, watching the snow fall and fall it did. The morning saw 6", much to the delight of the rest of the gang. what is it about newfs and snow! 

Another fantastic day, this time it was Damian and Elaine stealing the show.

After getting 1st in post graduate they went on to get their first RDCC and thoroughly deserved it. They also got 3rd in the Reserve CC stakes. Thanks to everyone for all of the lovely comments about Damian and for all of the messages of congratulations.

Not forgetting his litter brother George, who got reserve in post graduate and also our lovely little (well not so little anymore) Daisy, who qualified for Crufts getting 3rd in minor puppy. Well done Gill for the practice you have put in with her since SKC, it was well worth it.

Another fantastic result was June and Howard winning a very strong puppy group with the beautiful Marilyn Rose, she remains unbeaten in puppy after 6 outings.

Barbara and Hudson had a good result too, 3rd in junior, way to go Huddie.

Sunday morning was one of those gorgeous Autumn mornings, cold but the sun was shining. I enjoyed a lovely walk with Rosie and Cassie at the Rising Sun country park, Rosie was transfixed by a family of foxes we saw playing; it was a magic moment seeing them.

By the time I walked Dooley the morning had warmed up considerably and it was t shirt weather again. The sun stayed out all day, making it a little warm for the Great North Run, but fab for the Red Arrow display.

SKC came around on bank holiday weekend and thankfully the weather stayed dry. Cold and windy, which is never a suprise in Scotland, but dry, which is always a bonus at this venue given the walk from the car park to the showground.

Digby and Nicole set the standard getting 2nd in puppy, a great start to his show career, bless him.

In yearling Elaine and Digby got 2nd behind the lovely Benson, the judges critique said it was a case of splitting hairs between them and that they would be no doubt swapping places during their show careers, which has been the case throughout puppy and junior. Both are lovely specimens of the breed, not that im biased on Damians part!

Elaine and Damian were also in post graduate and were placed first in this class, with Nicole and George following close behind in 3rd place.

The gorgeous Beau was 3rd in limit, what a sweetie he is; he did disgrace himself slightly as he demolished his crate, but how can you be angry with such a big softy. Well done Beau. 

Daisy, what can i say!!!! she is such a character, she initialy stood very well in the ring when i stacked her, then boredom set in. When it came to her turn to be seen by the judge, she had ants in her pants and when i ran her around it became clear why, she needed a wee!!!. After that she moved much better. She got VHC, the judge did comment that she liked her but that she thought she was lovely but needed a bit of ring practice.

Rosie was in post graduate and looked stunning, but would not allow the judge to go over her back end; she is due in season very soon and is one of those "hormonal bitches".  She was 2nd in her class.

Then came the buffet; it was Garys 50th we decided to celebrate. In true happy camper style we had a picnic outside, big coats were needed but it was great. Gill had made one of her famous Banoffi pies, which didnt last long, it was accompanied by a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake. WOW!!!

A lovely day with the gang

Damians last show in junior was at Leeds, where he had a fantastic win in a very strong class.

His summary for junior is below, he has his own photo album in the gallery now, i have a feeling we are going to need plenty of room!!!

Priorscove Ebony Eclipse. (Damian) DOB 20.2.08

Junior Summary (20.2.09 – 20.8.09)

Showing Achievements.

Crufts 2009:

Special puppy 5th

4 other championship shows:

1st x 2 (Dr Goran Bodegard, Mr M Sutcliffe)

2nd x 1

4th x 1

Never unplaced

7 open shows judged on the group system:

BOB x 3

BAVNS x 1

RBIS x 1 (Aitken Johnson)

Grp1 x 3

Grp 3 x 1

When reached adult group never placed less than 3rd.Beaten 3 x by older dogs for BOB.

Junior warrant:

Total 9 points.

Show Certificate of Merit:

Achieved at 13m 3weeks, with 26 points.

What The Judges Thought!

(Unfortunately Damian has had limited critics’ published)

1.3.09 Gateshead Metropolitan Borough CS

Caroline Nicholson: ‘Young black male, this lovely young lad really does fill the eye standing and on the move, lovely head and expression, body with good spring of rib, deep chest, very sound movement all round and with such lightness and spring in his step, one to watch.’ BOB and Grp 1

5.4.09 Birtley and District CS

Christina Chapman: ‘Well grown, good head, super quality bone, feet and muscle. On the move rear drive and correct bear like front action.BOB. Impressive looking Newfoundland, nice head for age and very good on the move, especially in front’. Grp 3.

10.4.09 Tweedmouth CS

Dianna Spavin: ‘Lovely youngster, maturing nicely for age, enough bone and substance, typical head with correct clean eye, good neck, level top line, well ribbed back, sound strong quarters , very sound, in good coat. BOB, Grp1 and RBIS.

28.6.09 Blackpool Championship Show

Dr Goran Bodegard: ‘Big handsome male and is generally sound built with excellent balance, excellent head, very nice construction, very typical action’. 1st Junior.

26.7.09 Leeds Championship Show

Mike Sutcliffe: ‘Correct bite, nice eye colour, correct muzzle depth, broad skull, level top line, well bent stifle, strong quarters moved well.’1st Junior.

Other Achievements’:

Damian is genetically clear of the Cystinurea gene.

He carries the brown colour but not the grey gene, but is Black in colour.

He still loves to bark and whine and basically be as vocal as he can.

He is a bit hormonal at the moment and is pouncing on every one and every dog! (For love and affection)

He is becoming a bit of a Daddies boy (humph!)

He is actually ‘filling out’ and becoming a ‘big strong boy’.

His favourite toy is/are the cushions off the settee which he steals and takes into the garden.

He likes to close the bottom half of the stable door in the utility/run and then bark and bark as if we had locked him in!

He is a real poser!!! , and a show off too.

Beau is his best buddy and he adores him.

He loves to instigate tug of war with Beau by banging a ‘raggy’ on Beaus head.

And we have still NEVER heard him growl or grumble, he has the sweetest nature and out look on life.

And finally he is a very special ‘person’ and we love him to bits. We are very proud of him and would love to have a baby Damian (DJ- Damian Junior)!!! (But only to a special lady)

14.8.09

Elaine Dickson

Hi everyone, its been ages i know, i have had terrible problems with my internet provider. I have now switched providers and back online at last.

Elaine has been doing very well with Damian, her latest result was at Leeds Ch show, a very credible 1st place in junior from a very strong class.

June and Howard had Marilyn Rose there too, she won best puppy in breed from her very first Ch show.

Digby Daisy and Blue are doing well with their show training, first show is SKC in August-where's the time gone!!

Rosie is all grown up now, she had a great result at Border Union- 1st in Post Graduate-again a big strong class.

She is still full of mischief and i think she always will be!!

Easter Sunday saw the last of Cassies puppies, Storm go to his new home. Its always a bit of a wrench when the last one goes but it means that routine returns. After cleaning out the whelping room (i can still smell the bleach on my hands) I bathed and trimmed Dooley, we have a show tomorrow. The weather was glorious and Travis appreciated the shower i gave him with the hose, Cassie didnt seem the least bit bothered that her babies had gone, Rosie loved that she got all of the toys to play with. Granny Ruby took up her spot beside the front door again, ever hoping that she would get another walk, Allan went for a game of golf and I just enjoyed a bit of me time.

Elaine and Damian had another good day on Good Friday at Tweedmouth show, getting Reserve Best in Show.

I am collecting the photos i had done of the puppies and will be posting them ASAP, i have been reliably informed that they are stunning, big thanks to Ian.

Thank you to all of my new (and not so new) puppy people who have taken Cassies babies, again i seem to have been very fortunate in finding wonderful homes for them  .  Daisy and Digby will be starting their training soon, i think Nicole and Gill will have their hands full.

Oh and Travis is happy again, now the puppies have gone! 

This is a little late in coming due to me having a house full of puppies for the past few weeks. Now my life is back to normal, i have the time to dedicate a page to Elaine and Damian.

They both had a great 2008, which started with Damian passing his puppy foundation course on 13 July and then his puppy  intermediate course on 23 August.

He competed in 5 champ shows, qualifying for Crufts 2009 at his first at SKC under Bill Piggott at the age of 6 months and 4 days.

He was never unplaced in any of his champ shows and gained 1st at Driffield under Robin Searle.

At  Crufts he was placed VHC under Ronnie Chadwick, brilliant!

He also enjoyed 10 open shows, judged on the group system.

He was placed best puppy in breed in every show and won the puppy working group 5 times. He also had two puppy group 2 placings and 3 puppy group placings. He was never placed less than puppy group 3 in any of the shows.

His best achievement was Best puppy in Show under Shirley Davies,  with a Reserve Best Puppy in show under H Lamb, coming a close second.

All of the hard work and training done by them both has certainly paid off, they have done Priorscove proud, thanks to both of you. Lets hope they continue their success into 2009.

The dogs have had a whale of a time in the snow this week, i have had some great walks with them. Cassie is still enjoying her toddles although at a much more sedate pace. She only has a week left and is now the size of a small hippo bless her. She seems very content with her lot though and is enjoying the extra meals. I have caught up with the big jobs in the house and we decided to have a Sunday roast with all of the trimmings, as I will be otherwise engaged once the puppies arrive, so it will be fish and chips or beans on toast for a couple of weeks!

Janet tells me that Arwen has taken to checking on the melted snowmen for the "noses" lying about.  She has had quite a few carrots then!

Damian continues to shine, he took another puppy group last week, and got puppy group 3 yesterday.  He only has one show left in puppy before we head off to Crufts in 4 weeks, with Ted, Rosie and Dooley.

We enjoyed a lovely day at Tynemouth on Sunday, taking Ruby and Rosie to see the (not so little anymore) puppies from her last litter

The sun was shining as it always seems to do when we meet up, the girls, Stella and Tilly were on their best behaviour, as was Rosie. The boys however, were full of themselves. Damian, who had won best puppy in working group on Saturday was determined to show off in front of the girls, I think his main objective was to let off steam after having to be on his best behaviour for the show. Ted just wanted the girls, Nicole had quite a job restraining him! Beau had a quiet word in his ear though, which seemed to calm him down!  No aggro, Beau just wandered up to him and Ted immediately quietened  down, bless him.

I took some photos and will add them to the litter 2 page as soon as possible, I am gradually getting the hang of the lap top.

Cassie is doing fine, she is very content and getting bigger by the day. Only 3 weeks to go now so I will be getting the rest of the dogs bathed this weekend, as they wont get much attention in the first three weeks after the new arrivals. 

Travis has decided Spring wont be long in coming, he alway s sleeps till about 7ish in the winter, but as soon as the birds start the dawn chorus, which they have, he is up at 5 and expects the rest of the house to get up too! Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!

• Hi everyone, hope you all had a lovely Christmas, Santa brought me new laptop; I am in the process of learning the ropes. I have changed my ISP too so please note my new email address priorscove@yahoo.co.uk .
• We mated Cassie two weeks ago, fingers crossed now until 14 Jan when i have her scanned.
• Here's hoping everone has a lovely New Year, I have a show at the weekend so lets hope we get off to a good start with the boys.