We were very lucky to be invited over to Ireland for the Munster Circuit by Kathy Lane, Anne-Marie and Mick Cronin (Kazbian) who live in Southern Ireland. It is five shows that's held over a week in August.
It was a lovely week, our idea of heaven, a week out with the dogs, the weather was on the whole pretty good.
I wrote a diary of our holiday which was printed in the Winter 2007 edition of the English Saint Bernard Club.
"Diary of a Newcomer from the Munster Irish Circuit"
"Well we first heard about the Munster Circuit from Kathy (Lane) who invited us Craig and I, Monty our 5 year old and Bobby our 10 month old boy (who we have only started showing) over to stay with Anne-Marie and Mick Cronin at their house near Limerick, Rep of Ireland. It was very lovely of them considering we have never met thm. We only recently started to show Bobby and took Monty along for a holiday. Our friends Nadine and Mark came along with Tullah their bullmastiff and Staffy Keba, who came for the holiday too.
Thursday 16th August
We have had a long old day at work, and are sailing on the ferry from Pembroke Dock (4.5hour trip from home, Weymouth, Dorset) at wait for it.....02.45am! So we left home about 7.30pm to meet with Kathy and Jonny (Lanebern Saints) at the Dock to all sail over together. Heading down the motorway, who did we pass....Yep Kathy (bit of a godsend really, it meant we could just follow or should i say Craig did as i spent most of the time in the van snoozing over the next 10 days!!) We got to the ferry very very tired, around midnight & whilst we were waiting in the car park to get on the ferry, an Irish chap came over to fuss the dogs (who we were taking out for their toilet break) it was so hard trying to work out what he was saying, we thought oh my god, we are NEVER going to undestand there's only so many times you can say "sorry, what did you say" and trying to get away with nodding and agreeing with what they are saying, especially when he is asking how old they are!!
Friday 17th August
Got to Rosslare, and another 3-4hour drive to Anne-Marie and Mick's house nr Limerick, I know we all complain about the state of our roads over here, but believe us they are luxury compared to over there, the poor dogs in teh back, it was as if they were bouncing on a trampoline. Finally we arrived at their house, after a VERY long journey, all in all it worked out driving from 7.30pm on Thurs ngith till about midday on the Friday, not sleeping very much on the ferry (make sure if you ever go over that you take a blanket, pillow and earplugs for the crossing, as some people can snore very loudly!) Kathy and I tried to grab a bit of sleep but Craig and Jonny were having a right old laugh and chatting - bless them Craig certainly wished he had slept later on that day! Had a fairly quiet day once we got to the house, sorting the dogs out first and foremost and then relaxing, we certainly needed it.
Saturday 18th August
Well our first show today was Navan, which was held in Dublin, so up at 5am!! that was another 3.5 hours drive, this show was the furthest away. We got there and set up with our gazebos , sat underneath all together chatting away, Anne-Marie as always on every show day packed the greatest lunch with flasks of hot tea and coffee for everyone, Whilst Craig was snapping awsay the camera (he was the main man when it came to photos for all the shows, David Bailey eat your heart out, (Mick and I were watching Kathy and Nadine showing their bullmastiffs, i said to Mick what's the steward giving to Kathy and he said "oh that's the grading card" and I was shocked and said "a degrading card, why is she that bad!!!" it was so funny I did say it was hard getting used to the accent didn't I!!!! Got the dogs all groomed and blasted, we were were first in with Bobby, that's the only annoying thing about starting in the showing world with a male puppy, you are always the first class in! (I like to sit and watch what i'm meant to be doing, before going in and doing it) Well, I ended up doing the triangle completely wrong, but the judge was so nice and just aked me to repeat it, it was raining quite heavily too and I was worried that I was going to slip over, which I didn't thank goodness. We got a 1st and graded "very promising" which is the highest grade a puppy can achieve under the FCI system. We were thrilled!
Satuday 19th August
This show was held at Clonmel, only a couple of hours drive so a tiny lay in, this was the International Show. We had a last minute change from a Hungarian judge to an Israeli judge. According to "International" rules puppies over 9 months are no longer classed as puppies so have to go into junior, we thought it was a tad unfair as bobby or "blob" as he is affectionately know, was just 9 month and ONE day, so he just missed out. It just goes to show how different judges can be, as this judge wanted me to show him blob's bite and then said "hold his head while I check his testicles". I really wasn't quite sure what he said at first!! We were delighted though as he got a 4th our of 5 so to be honest were were very happy with his placing, and as he was in a "grown up" class he was graded "EXCELLENT" which is the highest an adult can achieve.
This was the most enjoyable show, the weather was lovely, but had a bit of waiting to do that day as I believe we were near the end of the breeds in the ring. We were all stood round the ring watching, and the best bit about going with friends, is everyone pulls together, swapping dogs and armbands, giving everyone a drink (dogs I mean) and generally giving a good clap and cheer when someone does well. Cody (Kathy's dog) did very well at this show, winning his class out of 11 dogs in "Open" my goodness didn't we cheer.
Monday 20th August
Today was a rest day and boy did we need it, can safely say were all knackered after the past few days, managed to get a bit of shopping done .................. well I am a woman!!
Tuesday 21st August
Well this show we looked forward to, held at Killarney in the grounds of a monastery and apparently the lady on the tanny was the best part of the show. I couldn't believe some of the things she was saying, but she made everyone laugh! I can't print exactly what she said but she does get quite het up, you will have to go over and listen for yourselves! Now unfortunately this show did not end up as we all would have liked, the car park was set quite far way so we have to set up ringside with about 8 crates for everone, lots of too-ing and fro-ing from the vans with dogs & picnics etc..., Kathy & Nadine had gone back to the van for the rest of the dogs whilst Jonny and I were waiting ringside by the crates. A good half hour later, I hear that something had happened to Kathy and Nadine, I went back to the main road to find Nadine with a gashed chin and bite marks on her elbow and Kathy on the floor with paramedics round her in a right state. They had tried to stop a rough collie that had slipped it's lead and was heading off to the main road, the dog was so shocked that it had attacked them both, Kathy had then had an asthma attack and was in a bad way, her first words when he came round was "who's going to show the dogs?" that's Kathy for you, dogs first, everything else second! We convinced her she had to go to hospital and the diagnosis was a fractured wrist where the dog had bit her, complete with bruises like she'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. We all pulled together to get all the dogs show, Craig & Mick were going to show the "boys" but Jonny (Kathy's son) decided that HE wanted to take all 4 of Kathy's dogs in (3 Saints & a Bullmastiff which he had never handled before!!) and he did so well, he was a little trooper, didn't phase him in the slightest, we were all so proud of him that day. I enjoyed this show too as the dogs were ringside all crated up & best of all Bobby performed brilliantly at this show and I think it was because he was chilled out in the crate beforehand, again he got graded "very promising". The worst thing about this show was that due to Kathy's accident, Craig had to drive Kathy's van home and I had to drive ours, now don't get me wrong. I drive it every day to and from work but I get really tired and doing a day's showing, then having to drive nearly 2 hours home tired me more... but I had to get a grip and prepare myself! Mick came with me in the van to keep me awake, & feed me sugary sweets... I thought I drove quite carefully until we got home and Mick revealed how he kept grip of the handle of the door the whole time LOL - CHARMING!!
Wednesday 22nd August
I was looking forward to today most of all, Anne-Marie had booked us all on a horse ride out at the stables where she rides sometimes. Anne-Marie, Kathy, Nadine and I went, I felt a bit out of my depth as they have all ridden more recently, where i've not ridden for 6 years since I came off and broke my pelvis. I had a lovely boy called Ben, a huge 16h plus horse, but he was placid, didn't spook at anything, We went "hacking" round a lovely place called "Hollywood" which was so peaceful and relaxing, then on the way back, the instructor offered for us to have a canter in the arena, I thought what the hell it's now or never, and OMG I had the most wonderful time, it was fantastic! Back to Anne-Marie's for a quick change & off we went for a back massage which was booked at the local health spa, just 15 mins where Anne-Marie lives, I've never had one before and at times I felt it was quite painful, but sooooo relaxing! I have told Anne-Marie this is one thing that I will definitely be continuing. Craig, Jonny,Mick and Ciaron (Anne-Marie and Mick's son) who by the way at 2 years old was a right little charmer and boy could he talk..... had a day out at a local Castle, they had lots of fun and took more photos for us to look at, courtesy of Craig.
Thursday 23rd August
The next show was held at Limerick just down the road from us, in face at the same venue where we had the massage the day before, so we could have another little lie-in. Bobby was in the class on his own, so got a 1st and another "very promising" he was a good boy in the ring. Jonny had to handle Tia and Rooney for Kathy as she was still a bit out of sorts after Tuesday's ordeal..... he did very well with them both winning their classes too!
Friday 24th August
This was a day of shpping!!! Well...like I said before... I AM a Woman!! We had a day of just generally not doing a lot. The shows & driving seemed to be catching up with us somewhat. We visited some friends of Anne-Marie and Mick's that run a wildlife rehabilitatin centre, they have a tame fo that got brought in as a youngster that wasn't able to be set free, he was certainly a character, a couple of Pot Bellied Pigs and lots of Birds of Prey who were just stunning, they also had a selection of dogs that included a couple of Irish Wolfhounds, my god I thought Saints were tall!!
Saturday 25th August
We were really sad as this was our last show, held at Tralee. The week had gone so fast! We had a long old wait at this shw as the judge was very late due to a storm in the USA & his flight was delayed. He had a huge entry of Boxers to get through before starting on the Saints. Again we were in the class on our own and Bobby decided that today was going to be the day where he was changing into the Damien the Antichrist!!, I guess he had had enough of the shows too! We received a grading of "promising" which went across the board for all the puppies which we all found odd, but all of the adults except 2 were graded "Very Good" or some even just "Good", so we just guessed that the judge simply wanted just 2 dogs in to challenge. I must admit, it did make us feel a bit better & not so upset that "Blob" was not the only one given a grade lower than he had all week that day.
Sunday 26th August
Our last day, we rested before our big journey home, had to get up at 3am to get the ferry at 7.30am, the trip back wasn't as bad as outgoing, probably because we managed to sneak in a bit of sleep before heading off. The ferry trip was pretty good, the boys coped so well with their "holiday" and on the ferry, don't think they've ever spent so much time in the van but we do think it's helped them get closer, Monty has very recently started to play with Bobby, we knew it would come in time, just didn't think it would take 7 months to get there!! To sum up....... What I will say to newcomers on the show scene, (not just to go to compete in Ireland) is give it a go!! You really can't lose, the friends we have made along the way has been just brilliant. It is a great day out, I do get quite nervous normally but do feel at ease in the show ring, because at the end of the day, everyone is looking at the dog's not you!!! Unless of course your dog decides to kangaroo around the ring, (mentioning no names there!! ha ha) but hopefully that won't last long. That said, people laugh not at your misfortune, but at a puppy having fun & making the most of his/her day, although I must say, the handler doesn't feel the same way as the dog does!! It is a wonderful day out for both you and the dogs, so I hope maybe in some small way it will help encourage someone just to give it a go, we cannot believe we have only got into this even after owning a Saint for 5 years, special thanks go to Kathy, Steve and Jonathan for a special lad and all their help and advice over the past few months, long may it continue, special thanks to Mick, Anne-Marie and Ciaron for putting us up and putting up with us LOL. All in all Ireland was really enjoyable and lots of fun and laughs, be prepared for a lot of miles, not a lot of sleep but so worth it, especially when you have good friends to share it with, win or lose you ALWAYS take the best dog home!
Vicki, Craig , Monty (Broadheath Dare to Stare) and Bobby (Karmonbel High Flyer By Lanebern) xxxx This is Monty enjoying his birthday cake with Bobby he was 5! Look at the eyes!!
