Bernese Mountain Dog Club Garden Party 2009

Recently I attended my first Garden Party with my first Bernese Mountain Dog pup, Tonka.  I also brought along my first Briard pup, Chippewa, and we had a great time!  Upon arriving we walked the magical Pukekora Park in New Plymouth, grabbed a bite to eat and a couple beers at the tea rooms on site, and met some wonderful people.  The colorful lights in the park came on just before leaving and created the most spectacular atmosphere for us to depart in. 

Saturday was full-on with the ribbon and stakes shows in which everyone had fun.  Games for dogs and people kept us all entertained and in good cheer despite the weather.  Many laughs were shared along with many stories of Berner antics.  Being my first time, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was just such a wonderful time spent with my pups and other like-minded people.  We enjoyed a feast at lunch and again at dinner.  Phew!  All that food!  The afternoon raffle and auction was quite entertaining with many fun prizes being won along with some silly ones.  It kept us all smiling! 

Sunday we walked and carted through the park in Stratford and had a few inquisitive looks from passersby. Again, just time spent with my pups was wonderful for me as I’m sure it was for everyone else with their dogs.  Then it was more food and off for home. 

The next day as I drove in my car to work without my pups I thought how strange it felt to be without them after spending the entire past couple of days with them.  I missed their presence and looked forward to the next garden party filled with the excitement and relaxation of being with new friends.

At last year’s Garden Party the High Point Bernese – Dog of the Year was resurrected.  We had looked at different ways of gauging points and after many discussions the new scheme was put in place – it was based on similar point schemes used by other dog breeds.

The fairness of being able to submit points from all shows was asked but the points obtained are higher when there are more dogs entered so going to shows where you are the one and only Berner entered doesn’t really give you that many points – the idea is to take a win when there are more dogs entered.  The points are multiplied by the number of dogs entered.  Even when I divided the points with the number of shows attended the winner still remained on top.  Only club members are eligible to submit points and they need to do this within a month of the show along with their reporting sheet.

The year started well with Graham Langford’s new import Savvy doing very well but then my own young girl Dante was also doing very well and it looked like a great battle was going to emerge.  Dante was soon in the lead with Savvy close behind.  Unfortunately Graham decided to retire from showing so this left Dante well ahead of the competition.  There was a battle going on with Barbera Tate’s Pru and Wilbur and my own boy Emmerson behind Dante and it was a close finish with Wilbur taking Best Opposite with 66 points more then Emmerson.  Sadly Pru had to sit out some shows due to being in season and being mated.

The results

BERNESE HIGH POINT WINNER  2008

CH Schallenberg Sweetest Thing – Dante – 4768 points

BEST OPPOSITE 2008

CH Aviator of Estcarp – Wilbur – 2022 points

BABY PUPPY/PUPPY 2008

Hvalbernerns Ablaze Deeodin – Viggo – 683

JUNIOR 2008

CH Schallenberg Sweetest Thing – Dante – 4768 points

INTERMEDIATE 2008

CH Aviator of Estcarp – Wilbur – 2022 points

NEW ZEALAND BRED 2008

CH Schallenberg Blaze of Glory – Emmerson – 1956 points

OPEN 2008

CH Schallenberg Man of Mysturi – Denver – 796 points

BEST IMPORT

NZ CH Sagekeeps Devine Sauvignon – Savvy – 1455 points

2008 also proved to be a great year for some with a lot of Group wins – this is just great for our breed – recognition at last.

Well done to all and we look forward to the battles in the ring for 2009!!

PS:  If you need a form please contact Lisa Stevenson or myself – we will endeavour to get one on the website shortly!