HTM TEAM GB 2nd at the FCI World Championships in Stuttgart!
The Team were 5th in Heelwork To Music and there were representatives from 19 countries in total.
Lucy Creek and Skiffle were placed third in the HTM FCI Individual Championship.
Lucy was also placed 4th in the HTM Individual Final with Nicci Hindson and Elsa placing 5th.
Lots of thanks and appreciation for sponsoring the team.
Kath Hardman
Heelwork To Music, Freestyle and HTM Team GB Manager
“Thanks once again for sponsoring our Championship Working Trial.” Penny Bann
Congratulations to: TD and CC winner: WTCh. Glenalpine Peg with Julie Atkins
WD winner: Pam Clark with Lupintoonz Black Phoenix
CD winner: Lauren Marlow with Petal Power
UD winner: Mick Tustain with Vonhauswolf Voldemort
Follow on Facebook: Essex Working Trials Society
There were some amazing handlers who feed CSJ at the WSA Championships, so it’s great to see our CSJ bobble caps on their heads! Our warm thanks to Sharon Grocock for the fab photos.
Our congratulations to Pete Jones from Coldfeet Sibes, who won a Silver Medal in the 8-dog race and all the winners. Here are some of our proud CSJ bobble hat wearers:
They competed in the following classes:
The mud was phenomenal and so were the performances! Well done everyone.
Full results below
“I feel that the CP range is a very good quality priced food which suits my Briards and as we all know – we are what we eat. We now only feed CSJ on all the Briards. I feed my Briards on CP21, CP24, and the younger ones on CP30. ” Carol Foster
Briards are good looking, large dogs with their striking, long, flowing coats.
Originally bred as working dogs, for herding and guarding flocks of sheep in France, they are highly valued for their alert, kind and loyal natures, often called ‘a heart wrapped in fur’. Once they have bonded to their family members they are protective of them. They are intelligent dogs and learn quickly.
Dogs can be black, fawn with variations in shade or slate grey. Rugged, agile and supple they are able to turn very quickly making them ideal for herding. They have double dewclaws on their back legs as well as single ones on their front legs.
Carol and Fostebrie Briards
Carol Foster is based in South Yorkshire and believes in quality not quantity when breeding puppies. She focuses on breeding good natured and healthy, well-balanced Briards, ideal as family pets and suitable for showing or working.
Owning, showing and breeding Briards has been her passion for nearly 40 years. Carol’s dogs are treated as much-loved family members and she expects the same from any new puppy owners. They live in the house as part of the family and as Carol used to be a hairdresser, she spends hours grooming their flowing coats.
First and foremost to Carol is the health and well-being of the dogs and puppies she breeds. Her breeding dogs are carefully chosen for their health, temperament, character, structure and conformation.
Carol and her partner Phil have previously imported a dog from Europe and also brought in carefully chosen fresh bloodlines from USA, Australia and Belgium to broaden the Fostebrie gene pool.
For owners of her Briards, Carol offers ongoing support and advice whenever it is needed for the duration of the dog’s life.
It all started with Storm & Sergio, only 10 months apart in age, They came from totally different lines and were the best of friends. They grew up, played, went to shows together and passed away within 2 weeks of each other after long and happy lives. Their memory lives on in the Fostebrie pups they both sired.
Some Fostebrie Successes
Logan. Fostebrie Supremo Noir JW Sh Cm
1) Top Breeders 2018 in UK, Australia and Ireland.
Carol believes that this success is due to hard work and consistent breeding.
2) Successes at 2019 Championship Shows:
Ch Fostebrie Precious Hope (ai) JW, ShCM, WW18, BW18
Bitch Challenge Certificate (CC) at;
Bitch CC + Best of Breed (BOB) Richmond
Bitch CC + BOB + Pastoral Group 4 WPBS
Sel NL, IR Ch, Ch Fostebrie Magic Star
Ch Fostebrie Dream JW
Fostebrie Renaisance at Lavendale
3) Junior Warrant Competition:
In 2019, Four Fostebrie Briards gained their Junior Warrants, (3 of them from the same litter). Three of these dogs qualified to go to London to take part in the semi-finals at Discover Dogs in October 2019. Out of 64 dogs 10 were chosen to go through to the final at Crufts in 2020. One of the 10 finalists was Ch Fostebrie Precious Hope(ai) JW Sh Cm WW18 Benx18
4) World Dog Show (Amsterdam 2018):
Six Fostebrie Dogs travelled to the World Dog Show held over three days. All six dogs were graded excellent on each day and placed in their respective classes.
Highlights of the World Dog Show were:
13 yr old Ilysia competed in the Junior Handling semi-finals with Fostebrie Romantique (Macey).
Ch & Ir Ch Fostebrie Magic Star (Oska): 1st in Championship Class and Reserve Best Dog at the Speciality Show.
Ir Ch Fostebrie Spartan (Troy): 1st in Championship Class and Reserve Best Dog at the Benelux Show.
Ch Fostebrie Precious Hope (ai) JW Sh Cm (Hope): Benelux Winner & World Winner
History of the Breed
Briards are one of the oldest French breeds that could date as far back as Emperor Charlemagne’s rule in 768 AD, when similar looking dogs appear in tapestries.
The breed is thought to be a descendant of Sir Aubry de Montdidier’s dog who took it upon himself to relentlessly pursue his master’s assassin. The King ordered that a duel should take place between the man and the dog in 1371 on the Isle de Notre Dame, and the dog won. The dog might well have been known as the dog of Aubry (chien d’Aubry), and it could easily have become over time, to ‘chien de Brie’.
There is another story that the dogs came from the region of France known as Brie where they were developed for their wonderful guarding and herding skills.
Napoleon is believed to have had two Briards.
American President Thomas Jefferson was so impressed with the breed he took several back to the States where they worked with American farmers and became highly regarded.
The breed became popular after the Paris dog show of 1863, after being crossed with the Beauceron and the Barbet.
Briards in the War
The Briard was made the French army’s official dog. Due to their keen hearing and high intelligence they were used during World War I as red cross dogs, sentry dogs and ammunition carriers. On the battlefield, Briards appeared to know which wounded soldiers needed help and which were beyond help. Sadly, as a result of the war, breed numbers were depleted almost to extinction at the end of the war.
Briards in the UK
The breed arrived in Britain in the late 1960’s. The first Briard to be exhibited in the UK was in 1967 with 2 dogs then qualifying for Crufts in 1969. The British Briard Club was established in 1973 and a year later the Kennel Club granted the breed full championship status.
As well as showing Briards compete in dog agility trials, obedience, flyball and herding events. Briards are now used in service and therapy roles to help people with disabilities and comfort people in hospitals, schools, and retirement communities. They are excellent as autism and PTSD service dogs for adults and children. With keen intelligence and loyalty they can really help improve someone’s quality of life.
Briard Characteristics
Positives
Loyal and devoted family pets and companions
Negatives
“We have been away with the dogs showing with great results in Scotland. We have just booked to go off again before Christmas to the Netherland and taking Hope, she only needs one more win to become Dutch Champion…”
We have two lovely border collie pups, Smoke and Spook, who have been plagued with chronic runny tummies.
They drink from the Thames and fetid puddles, so at first we attributed it to that. But they’ve tested for giardia, had all their parasite meds, and even on days without lapping up at random ponds the output was variable. The vet suggested looking at diet.
Though we live in London suburbs, we’ve begun training them and they have of late been losing weight from the exercise; no doubt their regular kibble was inadequate for them.
It’s anecdotal, but it took just a day for CSJ mixed-in to their diet to stabilise them. We shall monitor the weight (too early to tell), but the dogs love the kibble and it shows. They sniff about near the new kibble bag, ignoring the old one (a so-called leading brand).
We plan to move to the Irish countryside soon. We’re thrilled your brand is available at Quinn’s agricultural stores and other fine locations. Bravo. Many thanks and Keep it up!
Lorna and Francis 
We are Nadine and Stefan from Switzerland, feeding and also selling CSJ for now around 8 years and totally happy with it.
We own several Border Collies and they are all out of the same family. We own Sweep, who is the dad of all of them, except the two youngest, who are by Reese, Sweep’s son. So we are having 3 generations of one family and we will breed the next Generation with our young bitch Peanut next year.
Our dogs are trained in Herding, Agility, Nosework and we do also a lot of tricks, jogging, hiking. We love to travel and we are totally in love with Cornwall!!
After Border Collie Classics 2017 at Rutland Showground, we did a road trip trough Great Britain, visiting Wales (we loooved Rhossili beach and also Pen-y-Fan) and after this spending a week in St. Just, south Cornwall. We did lot of beach visits and walks and sightseeing. I would also be sooo intersted in going once to the North coast and we hope very much that Brexit will not make this too difficult.
TEAM GB with team dog coats
Heelwork to Music, Team GB:
Cathy Bates and Twinkle Competing in HTM and FS Reserve
Cathy Bates and Twinkle Competing in HTM and FS Reserve
Helen Dennis and Kara – Competing in HTM & FS
Helen Dennis and Kara – Competing in HTM & FS
Kath Hardman and Denby – Team Manager and competing HTM & Freestyle
Kath Hardman and Denby – Team Manager and competing HTM & Freestyle
Lucy Creek and Skiffle – competing HTM & FS, Nicci Hindson
Lucy Creek and Skiffle – competing HTM & FS
Nicci Hindson and Elsa competing in FS and in HTM Reserve
Nicci Hindson and Elsa competing in FS and in HTM Reserve
TEAM GB with team dog coats
9th Nov saw Shannonside Gundog Club hold its third trial of the year in Glenoo.
A 16 dog open stake for retrievers. Glenoo is a fantastic venue where judges have plenty of scope to put the dogs through their paces, to find a winner.
A huge debt of gratitude must go to Tom Woods and his team who are so accommodating where it comes to hosting trials. This day was no different. The birds flew really well, and the team of guns were very skilled in bringing down game.
I would like to thank the judges, who all are running Open dogs and would have welcomed the chance to run their dogs. They instead gave up their day to Judge. They were Gary Wilson, Danny Behan, Sean Kearney and Trevor Doherty.
To the competitors who came to support this trial, Shannonside GD Club would like to acknowledge your part in making these days viable. As we all know, trialling is an ever increasing financial burden so thank you to you all.
Finally I would like to thank CSJ Dog food for their continued sponsorship
Quality dog food fuels all our dogs, so it is great for the club to have the support of this company CSJ. For your dog food requirements please contact Keith Freeburn (+447729423620) for your nearist CSJ stockist.
Three dogs finished, and all were graded excellent
1st – Anthony Reilly with FTCh Kilgola Lola.
2nd – John Behan with Quarry pool Glenda.
3rd – David Fitzpatrick with Mayberry Little Button.
Follow Shannonside Gundog Club on Facebook
The Arfon Working Gundog Club held its 16 dog A V Novice Spaniel Stake at the Carrog Shoot, Carrog, Clwyd on the 30th October 2019 by kind permission of Mr James Tuner.
The judges were Mr Kevin A Powell and Mr Noel Parry. The Guns were Mr Eifion Roberts, Mr Howard Latham. Mr Graham Burton and Mr Ian Ross.
The weather was overcast but dry with a cold wind, the ground was a mixture of white grass, gorse, heather and bracken. As the wind got colder the birds got more scares and our host moved us to a more sheltered area where where we were able to complete the trial.
I would like to thank our host, the judges, the guns,the helpers and for the continuing support of our sponsors CSJ Specialist Canine Feeds and Gary McCarthy of Gundog Gear.
Results below you will notice that all the spaniels in the awards are female and for the first time in my recollection we have two lady handlers in the awards.
Results
First – Kipperidge Diamond ESSB – handler Adrian Slater
Second – Dawsonlee Krystal ESSB – handler Richard Wells
Third – Betley Court Holly ESSB – handler David Ross
Fourth – Edgegrove Stich of Cudannsa ESSB – handler Louise Allen
COM – Scafell Swift ESSB – handler Angela Atkins
Guns Choice – Royal Engineers Lady ESSB – handler David Wilkes
Photo L-R – Steve Jamesy (helper) Eifion Roberts (Gun), Noel Parry (Judge), Howard Latham (Gun), James Tuner (HOst), David Wilkes, Ian Ross (Gun), Adrian Sleter, Richard Wells, Angele Atkin, David Ross, Louise Allen, Graham Burton (Gun), Kevin Powell (Judge)
By Mark Laker
This is the training that Karen Laker is using with our young dog Moog, I asked her if she would be happy to write about the training she’s doing to help him understand start-lines. It’s called… WAIT.
Willing
Moog does really want to be a good boy and is so willing. It’s actually his willingness that can cause a problem.
He’s willing to get going as soon as I give the signal or maybe he’ll go sooner just to make sure 😊
Training needs to help him understand various things:
Able – to deal with external distractions:
Until he is comfortable and confident around these things, it’s much harder for him to stay on the start line. His lack of confidence means he really isn’t able to stop there.
Training includes simple daily confidence building. I never underestimate work revolving around recall and loose lead walking for relationship and calming when out and about.
He is also on CSJ Focus as recommended by Ceri. It has made a difference and I used it previously with Rhyme when he was younger too.
Interested
Sometimes an ‘obedience’ style wait can flatten a dog. Although Moog has high drive he is also very sensitive so a strict command could knock his confidence.
Using toys, treats & ground markers I aim to keep him interested and understand that inactivity can be a fun challenge.
Trusted or Trained
For long lasting performance I want a clear and concise routine that he totally gets and will work under pressure. At the moment this looks a long way off. I don’t want to have negative association for him or me on the ultimate routine so I am breaking it down into smaller elements and doing more away from the start.
This includes:
With every job that he learns in different way and a different environment his confidence will grow and then we will have all elements in place for that (currently) elusive startline wait.
If you’re interested in seeing some of the games/challenges we’ve used, follow him on #moogstartline or if music appeals to you join his Spotify playlist #moogstay which features amongst others: ‘should I stay or should I go’ and ‘stop in the name of love’.
CSJ blog 