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This statue can be seen in the native house
of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in Colmar. So
to extend my culture I went to see this
“famous dog”. It is a medium spitz sitting
close to its owner who drinks wine from a
barrel. A copy can even be seen near the
Covered Market (today a parking place) of
the city.Colmar is really a wonderful city. The beauty of its
houses influenced even the architecture of the fair.
When you enter you are impressed by the four huge
houses that decorate the main hall. They represent
the typical houses of Colmar that you can see
walking in the centre of the city or visiting the
small villages of the region. You have the
impression to be a part of a story. Even the
restaurant has the shape of a local house. The other
three halls are less typical but very wide.
The rings were well located, only a few in the first
hall had no light. Not easy for the judges to see
dark dogs. The rings occupied three halls. In the
fourth there was the market of the puppies. Only
people with pedigree dogs could sell the puppies
after the permission of the kennel club. In this
area could stay only dogs entered in the puppy
market. This section is very appreciated by people
who want to buy a puppy or to ask breeders about
this or that breed. A few ones even printed their
own brochure to explain a bit the history, the
temperament and how to feed the puppy. If for the
adult it was a way to choose a breed, for children
it was a really lesson before buying a puppy. They
must understand that it is not an alive toy. A
breeder even suggested the public to go to the ring
to see the adult version. Something obvious: the
breeder sold Pyrenean Mountain Dog puppies. The
white ball so warm with its three black points on
the faces (eyes and nose) and so easy to pick up, a
few months later is really something else.
In the show we could see two rare breeds. The first
one belong to the first group. It is the Croatian
Shepherd dog (Hrvatski Ovcar). Its coat is always
black. In this period were we are discussing about
cropped or not cropped tail, this breed can be born
with or without tail. It is similar as the
Västgötaspetz, a Swedish breed. The ears can be
straight or semi-straight. The straight version is
of coarse favourite. Croatian Shepherd dog with
cropped ears are not accepted. In Colmar there were
two subjects and we could see the two kinds of ears.
BOB was the male, Ari Zagrebacki Biseri. It
is one of the first subjects imported in France. The
number of the pedigree is very short 15/3.
The second breed, the Epagneul de Saint Usuge,
is a French one. It belongs to the group 7. This
breed was officially recognised in 2003. A young
breed but with a very long and interesting history.
The saviour of the breed is a priest that discovered
this “local breed” and decided to save it. He wrote
a diary describing very carefully all the litters. A
diary that today is almost a gospel (with all the
respect of the word). He started his work in 1946
and went on until 1980 when he decided to “adopted”
a successor: Mr Serge Bey. He chose the right
person. During these almost 30 years many things
took place: in 1980 Mr. Serge founded the club, in
1994 the first dossier is presented to the French
Kennel Club (SCC), 2003 signed the TRAGUARDO of this
long selection. Since then we can admire this
hunting breed also in the dog shows. On 18th
May 2008 the club will organise a specialty in Cluny.
The BOB in Colmar was assigned to Bethoven. |
