England
To view Pictures of our trip
Pictures of
This years
Best of Show
winner
We met our friends Patricia & Alan and also were introduced to some new friends Sue and Andy, lovely people from England. That day was just spent talking about the dogs and getting to know our new friends. After dinner at a lovely French restaurant we called it a night and headed back to talk long into the night.
Friday we started out meeting and then going to a local restaurant. Lunch was served and we headed to the tour bus to begin our journey. Our tour this year was of Marqueze, an establishment back in the 19th century. The pictures below represent some of the artifacts that they used in those times. After the tour we had a little to time to prepare for the welcome dinner this was at Chef Maite resterant.. A world renowned French chef. I must say this was the best dinner that I have had. It was meal prepared to make your mouth water with delight. Duck is very popular in that area and was prepared to everyone's liking. Also the liver pate was out of this world. Again another long night of seeing old friends and discussing dogs.
Saturday morning we met at 7 am for the TAN. Andy and I was scheduled to follow someone in the TAN so that we could observe how it is ran in France. I must say that I never expected to be with Serge Guilber the President of the CEB of France Club. What an honor it was. We were able to see the true running style of the EB and look for what I refer to the flat back and head high search. Also they were looking for the quartering of the EB. Gun shyness was also checked like the AKC hunt tests. Our running style is very different from the American Brittany as the flat back and locomotion is seen in the rear legs projecting to the front assembly. You can see the power in the rear acting like a pushing motion to the front. Just like the wheels on a train. Our lunch was again spectacular French food served at a local restaurant. We ended early to get ready for the Gala dinner which was a production meal prepared to perfection. As always the wine was flowing like water.
Sunday morning was an early to rise once again. We are getting used to as little as 4 hours sleep every night and are raring to go by 7. The National Show began at 8 am. This was the highlight of my trip as I was going to be in the ring with Jean Louvet a very respected French Judge who has wrote a book on our breed. He had prepared a booklet for me to review of his interpretation of the Standard in English. M. Louvet speaks English so our communication was good. You can view his booklet on our website. The day started off with each exhibitor brining their dog up and having M. Louvet exams their dogs to be confirmed. In France a dog cannot be confirmed till 1 year of age. What the judge is looking for is how close it is to the FCI standard. He looks at the overall outline of the dog, then looks to see if it has all its required teeth. Then on to the ears to check for the correct length and to the top line to see if it is straight then on to the croup to see if it is correct. Also he is checking to see the correct angulations of the front and rear of the dog. The judge also checks for the loin to see that it is thick and muscular and short. These dogs should be overall a square looking dog. a cob if you will: as long as it is tall.
I must say that this years trip was none the less than perfect for us. We kept saying to ourselves it don't get any better than this!!! With our friend Patricia Rush's bitch, Patouche Toscane winning Best of Show and being tutored by the French. We will continue this strive to try to bring a Judge to the USA to educate all Americans. We very much are in need of their help to know how to breed the correct type of these dogs.