LATEST NEWS

5^th June 2009	Where has 2009 gone? Hugo won his 9^th C.C. and Best of Breed at The National, and Cherish won her 1^st C.C. and Best of Breed at S.K.A. We have also been over to Ireland to the St Patricks Day show, and started with Hugo and Cherish winning their 1^st Green Stars with Hugo awarded 4^th in the Group. Henley was Best Junior and they now all have Celtic Winners 09 after their name. We went back over for Fermoy International Show and won both the C.A.C.I.B.s and Green Stars. The following day was The Hound Association of Ireland Championship show and our first experience of Irish rain. We were judged outside and there are no wet weather tents at Irish Shows. Cherish and Hugo won the Green Stars and Hugo was Best of Breed. He then won the Group and took BEST IN SHOW!!!!!!!!! Making history being the first Otterhound to win a Best in Show in Ireland. Last weekend we went to the European Winners Show and Carol Johnson (Wildans) and Puzzle ( Wildans Just Joking) travelled with us. Once again Hugo and Cherish took the C.A.C.I.B.S and Green Stars, Best of Breed going to Hugo. The Reserve Green Stars were awarded to Henley and Puzzle with Henley Best Junior .Under F.C.I.rules the juniors were too young to challenge for the Reserve C.A.C.I.B.s so were given to 2 of the other hounds there from the U.K. The Best in Show ring was stunning, complete with beautiful flowers and harpists. Hugo went on to be shortlisted in the Group and is now an Irish Champion. Henley and Puzzle have European Junior Winner 2009 titles, and Cherish and Hugo are European Winners 2009. Suffice to say we had a super weekend and Carol and I enjoyed a chilled bottle of wine over dinner on the boat home!!!!!
1^st Dec 08	We finished the 2008 show season with Hugo winning the CC and Best of Breed at both Welsh Kennel Club and Driffield. 2008 was the Otterhound Club’s 30^th Anniversary and for the 2^nd year Hugo was awarded CC and Best in Show, bringing his total to 8CCs all with Best of Breed. He also follows his joint top Otterhound 2007 with top Otterhound 2008. We had a very busy weekend at Discover Dogs, with Henley joining Hugo, Cherish and Finlay (Bunnahabhain Ramsay) on Saturday. On Sunday Morse (K. Discovery) travelled up from Southampton to attend with Hugo and Charisma. To see these hounds representing the breed and still wagging their tails at 5pm makes me very proud!
10^th August	At Houndshow Hugo won the dog CC and Best of Breed and Cherish was reserve best bitch. This was a repeat of last year. Yesterday at Bournemouth Hugo was awarded Best of Breed by Jeff Horswell. In the group ring he showed his socks off and was shortlisted by Jim Nixon, who much to my amazement, then gave Him Reserve Hound Group, I couldn’t believe it!!!!!!! This makes him the first male Otterhound since 1978 to achieve this and the first male since CCs were awarded in the breed. The other big news is Megan had 4 puppies and all are doing well.
20^th July	June and July were very busy and at Windsor Hugo was Best of Breed with Cherish best bitch, then at South Wales the Best of Breed went to Cherish. We had a party for the D litter’s 1^st birthday complete with hats, balloons and of course cake!(There are some pics on the album page.) Jean Precious and I had 2 lovely days with Richard Griffiths and his PCOH Otterhounds. It was so interesting seeing all his wonderful hounds and listening to some great stories from them both. Obviously it is usual to bring home a memento, and with a lot of persuasion and a glass or two of red, PCOH Henley came to live with us!
16^th May	Last week we had our annual trip up to Edinburgh to attend Scottish Kennel Club. We always travel up the day before and give the hounds the afternoon walking in the Lake District, which they love. Megan repeated her win from last year taking the Bitch CC and Best of Breed. We are especially proud of her as she was a working pack hound till she was over 3 years old and came to live with us, really showing the adaptability of the breed.
6^th April	We had a great day at the Otterhound Club Show. Hugo won Best in Show and Cherish was Res. Best Bitch. It was our puppy, Duchess' first show so we were thrilled to also win Best Puppy.
1st April 08	Perhaps not the most auspicious day to launch the new web site! But here goes! Please feel free to give me feedback on the site I hope to keep on developing and improving it over the next few months..
9^th March 08	At Crufts, Keepcott Connoisseur (Hugo) gained his 3rd CC and was best of Breed, making him a UK Champion.  His sister Keepcott Charisma won the Res. Bitch CC. which definitely gave us a reason to celebrate.