Photo by Lesley Busby
Winner of Kent Superdogs 2001 was Clare and Dennis Coxall’s
three year old white standard poodle, The Hustler At Tiopepi.

Dover & Deal Canine Society hosted its annual Kent Super Dogs Contest on Friday 15th February at the Winter Gardens in Margate, sponsored by Pedigree who supplied bags of food to competitors, and Trophy, who sponsored the rosettes.

Since the event’s inauguration some 15 years ago it has been held at various venues around Kent, although this was its fourth consecutive year at the Winter Gardens, raising money for deserving charities. This year’s beneficiary is SCOPE, a charity for Cerebal Palsy. It is anticipated that the sum of money raised this year will surpass the £800 raised last year for the Cinnamon Trust. There were 156 people who attended this year’s event who put their hands in their pockets to buy raffle tickets etc.

Classification

With the best entry to date there were 56 dogs in the three classifications; puppy, open and veteran. The three named judges introduced by Bernard Hall, the compere for the evening, were Mrs Brenda Strivens, who has been involved with Miniature Schnauzers, Papillons, Cairn Terriers, Labradors and West Highland White Terriers; and Mr Peter Taylor and Mrs Brenda Taylor who both judge extensively in the U.K. and overseas. Some of the breeds they have been involved with include Labradors, Pekingese, Papillons, Shelties, West Highland White Terriers, Japanese Chins.

The criteria for qualification to Kent Superdogs 2001 were changed slightly due to last year’s ‘foot and mouth’ outbreak which affected many societies, causing them to cancel their shows. A dog that had won a BIS, RBIS, BPIS, RPBIS or Best Veteran at a Kent show or any person living in the county of Kent owning a dog that had won any of these awards anywhere in the U.K. were eligible.

The judging was preceded by a presentation to last year’s winner Donna Brandon’s Am. Cocker Spaniel who did a lap of honour.

When the judging commenced dogs were introduced to the audience by their pet names, age, sex and where they qualified. No titles or KC awards were mentioned relating to any individual dog. The judges took it in turn to judge a round each until the final where all three judges made the decision. The overall winner on the night was the open class winner, Clare and Dennis Coxall’s three year old white standard poodle, The Hustler At Tiopepi, handled by Clare; they qualified by winning BIS at the Dover & Deal’s January 2001 open show. Dennis says ‘’Hussy is a very intelligent and wonderful dog who lives in the house with us but has never had to negotiate stairs before the event. (The dogs were located on a balcony area accessed only by stairs whilst we all sat down at the tables to eat). After Clare had carried Hussy down to the competition floor and coaxed him back up to his bench a few times he can now happily go up and downstairs.”

Delighted

Best Puppy was awarded to Judy Cross’s Samoyed Shaningo Hiawatha Love, who qualified by winning BPIS at Dover & Deal’s open show in Oct. 2001. Judy, who was very nervous on the night, was delighted with her win and said “I am new to showing dogs and it was this puppy, Liza, that has taken me to a number of open shows and to my first ever championship show. I was very nervous and could not believe when she won Best Puppy and went through to the final”.

Best Veteran was awarded to Mr Ted Percival & Mr D Fairfield’s home-bred eight year old West Highland White Terrier, Underholt Snow Prince, who qulified by winning Best Veteran at their WHWT club open show. Ted says “Simon who likes to think he’s the boss has won many BOBs and BIS during his show career. I was absolutely thrilled with this win.”.