Page 24 - News Letter

Pennie, Secretary of the same club, Christopher Habig of Germany, who
was to be one of the judges at the weekend, and Bernard Le Courtois
(Brullemail) of France, who was a judge as well. I recognized them from
photos I had seen and was in awe of being in the presence of people
whose names I had read about over many years of Mastiffs, but as I
found out, they were not to be placed on a pedestal but happy to talk
to everyone.
There was plenty of loud talk and laughter and we soon got to know
about each other and our dogs. By the time we’d eaten and drunk our
drinks it was about 10.30 pm and time for bed. It was a great start to
the weekend.
The next day, we were invited by Anne-Marie and Francoise to a seminar
on the Mastiff to be held in a nearby village. I wasn’t sure about
attending as I’m not a breeder but we decided to go along for a while and
listen to what was being discussed. As it turned out, we ended up staying
all day, and both Ian and I were able to contribute a little to the
discussions. In addition to the people we’d met the day before, we were
joined by a few extra people such as Karen Park (USA) who was
representing the MCOA, and from Scandinavia, Tina Borneklint and
Marzenna Liszewska. There were representatives from Belgium and Italy
as well but I didn’t catch their names.
Different people led discussions on various topics with contributions
from the rest of us; such things as numbers of litters being produced and
concerns relating to showing, health issues and breeding. Christopher
Habig who has been involved in our breed for years presented a great
item on the state of the breed, Gabrielle Simmonds talked about
artificial insemination – the problems, costs and limitations, Karen Park
talked about health problems and testing. Apart from the usual points,
she raised a huge concern about a new and potentially deadly brucellosis
– swine brucellosis. It breaks down the spine to mush and the lungs to
jelly. There is no known vaccine. It currently affects dogs in contact with
pigs in the Southern States, by licking and sharing water etc. This could
be contracted here via artificial insemination. It can be transferred to
humans, too, so is very worrying. Pamela Jeans-Brown as a judge and
member of The Kennel Club (UK) talked about the Mastiff as one of the
breeds that is under watch by the Kennel Club, with particular aspects
being checked at every show. A dog who wins Best of Breed isn’t
awarded until checked by a vet. If they pass the vet check, they can then
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