Page 144 - K9 News - Issue 15 - March2021

Coach Trips,
Hairies,
and a
Gin - or Two...
by David Alcorn
Having put forward a number of names
for inclusion in this wonderful breed
feature, it seems I wasn’t to escape,
as June suggested I put something
together. I don’t profess to be a breed
expert by any manner or means, so
thought a brief background history and
some anecdotes might go down well.
Most people can recount various fairly romantic
tales of how they encountered the breed –
mine was up close and personal, in the back
of a bus! I was showing Gordon Setters at the
time, my usual dog –a male bred by Carol Gill
(Diptonia) – wasn’t entered so I was to get on
a “dog show coach” at Abington services with a
friend, along with the dog I was to show under
esteemed Gordon Setter specialist Geoff Coupe
(Timadon). Off we set, at some ungodly hour
of the morning no doubt. Settled on the coach
I was faced with a crazy old lady and her team
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of weimaraners, who were leading their owner
up the back stairs at speed. This turned out
to be Marion McAngus (who really wasn’t that
old) and her Greyfurs Weimaraners (who really
weren’t that crazy either); the start of a great
friendship, and an ever-lasting relationship with
this incredible breed.
Marion had a few dogs to show at the time,
but was very kind in entrusting me with her
older two to start showing – these were the
male Sireva Advantage of Greyfurs, bred by
Gil Averis (now Simpson) who had the most
gentlemanly temperament, and her homebred
Greyfurs Lady Godiva who was great fun to
show and had a stomach like a bottomless pit! It
was fun showing these dogs at open shows all
over Scotland (but mostly in the sports centre
at Bathgate which us Scots always remember
with such fondness). We won a fair bit from the
off – which made us fairly unpopular with some
exhibitors, of course!