An expedition to Komatsu, & Piacere won

A week has passed since the dog shows described in today's blog. I made an expedition to two dog shows held in Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on May 29th and 30th to show Piacere.

Since I started dog show rally last year, I have shown my Scotties in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki and Gunma Prefectures, but has not extended my journey further.

I left my home at about 10:00pm on Friday night and picked up Nakahara-san in Yotsuya, and then drove on Kanetsu, Joshin-etsu and Hokuriku Highway, and arrived at the show site at 5:00am on Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Itoya, the owner of "Dolce", which won Award Of Merit in this year's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, kindly assisted us with their tent, table and chairs. I owe my successful expedition very much to their kindness, and I would like to express my heatiest thanks to them.

The shows were Kanazawa Show Dog Club Show on May 29th and Joint Show of Ishikawa Prefecture Clubs on May 30th. Ms. Elaine Young, a world-famous judge and a specialist on Scottie, judged the both shows, which was the main reason of making such a long travel.


Ms. Elaine Young. She is an elegant lady with silver hair. She kept sweetly talking to the dogs during the examination, but she showed sharp eyes when she examined the gait and free stay.

I will show the results first.

The judge for the breed judgement on 30th was Ms. Young and the judge for the group
judgement of 3G (Terrier Group) was Mr. Akira Hayashida. Since Piacere was the only bitch in the championship class of Scotties, she automatically obtained Best Of Breed (BOB), and proceeded to group judgement.


A ceremonial photo with heart-throb Ms. Young. I have come to Komatsu to take this photo...

Piacere made an exploit of obtaining the third position in the group judgement. Since Pieta, Piacere's mother, never got into the third or upper in the group judgement, this was my first experience of being awarded in the group judgement. Pieta obtained Champion Challenge Certificate, and that it is a major certificate. Well done, Piacere!


The ceremonial photo with Judge Hayashida. He told me afterward that he owned a wheaten Scottie.

As I waited for these photos delivered, it took so long time to post this blog.

Now, I will show you more photos of the shows. There should be many photos today.

Photos from Kanazawa Show Dog Club Show on May 29 come first.


Breed judgement by Ms. Young.


Group judgement by Mr. Hayashida.

Piacere was not in the mood from the morning in the Joint Show of Ishikawa Prefecture Clubs on May 30. In the breed judgement in the morning, Piacere might not have waken up enough and was reluctant to walk actively. I needed to pull the lead to make her walk.


Breed judge on May 30 was Mr. Koji Wada. You can see the difference of the angles of the lead compared with the photos of the previous day shown above.

Piacere was also the only one bitch in the championship class of Scottie, and proceeded to the group judgement after obtaining BOB.


The judge for group judgement of 3G (Terrier Group) was Ms. Young.


The group judgement was matched by five terriers. Piacere lost her tension after waiting too long, and was not selected among the top three. This was a very good lesson for me to cosider when I should bring the dog to the ring from the padock.

In this expedition, Piacere experienced for the first time what other terriers of mine have never experienced.

It was...


Staying in a hotel.

I stayed in a hotel, which offered the show site, on May 29 night. I brought a cage into the guest room, and Piacere stayed in the cage while I was out and was sleeping.


When I was in the room, Piacere was given a freedom in the room. Piacere never made
clumsiness in the room, and the expedition ended successfully with MCC.

Among Piacere's comrade Scotties, Masamune took part in both May 29 and 30, Frank was shown in the puppy class on May 29, and Soleil appeared on May 30.

Ishioka Dog Fanciers Club Dog Show

Ishioka Dog Fanciers Club Dog Show was held last Sunday (April 11th) near National Hitachinaka Seashore Park in Hitachinaka City, and I showed Piacere.

This is the second challenge for Piacere following Japan International Dog Show of the previous weekend.

Four Scotties, two dogs and two bitches, took part in the show. Two dogs and one bitch, Piacere, were from Team Nakahara, and the other bitch was owned by a lady from Mito City.


I handled Soleil, a dog owned by Kato-san, for the first time. Since Soleil seems to become spoiled when he is handled by his owner, this was an experiment to see how he behaves when he is handled by somebody else.

The judge came from Mexico.


Soleil walked powerfully kicking up the dried grass. I had to walk with the lead tightly held.


The other dog was Masamune, owned by Fukuoka-san, another member of Team Nakahara. Masamune completed championship on the previous day in a show held at the same site. Congratulations, Masamune and Fukuoka-san!

Masamune was being handled by a professional handler called Mr. Nakashima.


One can observe from this photo that Masamune shows Scottie's character of "Head Up, Tail Up". The coat is also beautifully groomed, although it is difficult to see in this photo.

The result: Masamune won the breed judging of dogs, and proceeded to the group judging of Group 3 (Terrier Group) in the afternoon.


Now, bitches, Piacere appeared. Although her body has become matured, her skirt has not fully grown, and the lack of coat in front of rear leg can be seen in this photo.


Through the daily training before breakfast, Piacere's gait becomes better and she is now able to stay in front of the judge.




The result: Bell from Mito City won the breed judging of bitches. In this photo, the judge is telling the owner-handler of Bell to be the winner.

Although Piacere withdrew from the show at this point, Masamune, who proceeded to the group judging won the 3rd.

Since the show was held in Hitachinaka City, which is populated by factories and people of my company, Hitachi, one of my past colleagues visited the show with his family members. His wife regularly reads this blog and is quite familiar with my terriers, and it was great fun to tell them about dog shows.

After returning to Tokyo, I reported the result to Mrs. Nakahara, and she found that the dam of Bell was a daughter of Nakahara-san's stud, the late Callaghan, which is a kind of relief for me as Piacere was not defeated by a pet dog.

Japan International Dog Show

Although I wrote in my previous post that I would post the result of Japan International Dog Show immediately, two weeks have passed. During this period of absense, I made a business trip to Mongolia, which is an excuse of my delay in posting the result.

Japan International Dog Show is an annual dog show run by the headquarters of Japan Kennel Club (JKC), and is the largest dog show in Japan. JKC claims that it is the largest dog show in Asia.

"Team Nakahara" formed by Scottie fanciers, who are being taken care of and educated by Nakahara-san, got together with 6 Scotties.


The first photo shows myself. This was the real debut of Piacere to the dog show.
Piacere was shown in dog shows last year together with Pieta to fulfill the conditions of having more than two bitches for Pieta's Pedigree Award points, and this was to support Pieta with no intention of Piacere's winning. Piacere starts dog show circuit for her career this year.

The judge, Ms. Schwab=Kersch from Luxemburg, is also a Scottie breeder, and she examined Piacere carefully with comforting voices.


This is Hatakeyama-san, handling Becky (dog). While Becky won the regular class, he was defeated by a champion.


Boggy (dog), handled by Emura-san. Although Boggy was defeated by Becky, he won G2 in a recent show.


A wheaten Moco (bitch), handled by Mrs. Tsujimoto. Mr. and Mrs. Tsujimoto run an Italian restaurant, and Mr. Tsujimoto trims their two Scotties in the midnight after the restaurant is closed. I sincerely admire their effort to the dogs.


This shows the final of breed judging of dogs. Hatakeyama-san with Becky is on the right, and the other two dogs are champions. The winner among the three becomes Best Of Breed (BOB) of Scottie dogs.

I have not talked about Piacere, have I?

Piacere was the only one "Young Adult Bitch", and proceeded to breed judging of bitchs, in which she was defeated by Precious (adult class) owned by Mr. and Mrs. Yamagata, who are also members of Team Nakahara.

Precious won BOB of bitch, winning against champions. Well done, Precious!


This shows group judging of Group 3 (Terrier Group) bitches. Precious, representing Scottish Terrier, can be seen in the middle.

Precious was selected one of Excellent, and the photo shown above shows the final judging among the Excellent six.

I feel very much satisfied with the result of Piacere, as Precious, who defeated Piacere, was selected as an excellent.

Getting ready

FCI Japan International Dog Show, the largest dog show in Japan, is being held in the coming weekend in Tokyo. Piacere is representing my kennel to the show.

As the final preparation to the show, I had Piacere groomed by Nakahara-san last Sunday, March 28.


A photo taken after her grooming.

Six Scotties will take part in the show from the comrade Scottie fanciers, who get together around Mr. and Mrs. Nakahara.

The result shall be posted next weekend. Don't miss it!

A dog show in India

My recent business trip to India was blessed with a lucky coincidence. On Sunday, January 31st, while I was in New Delhi, I took the advantage of taking a break in the midts of tight business schedule by visiting "New Delhi Kennel Club Championship Show". While my colleague staying there kindly proposed escorting me to tourist spots, I replied that I would rather attend the show than visiting ruins and remains, even if they were among the World Heritages.

I, thus, watched the show for about two and half hours, while I felt sorry for a young Indian lady of my regional company, who accompanied me to guide in the city, for making her very bored.

The show site was a kind of sports ground amid a woody area. It was a outdoor show, but the climate in New Delhi at this time of the year was quite comfortable, and the very day of the show was blessed with gorgious sun shine.

The catalogue is luxurier than I expected with 40 pages without ads. It lists 267 entries to the show.

Unfortunately, there was no Scottish Terrier entry, and only 4 terriers, one for each of Wire and Smooth Fox Terriers and 2 Bull Terriers, were shown.

　　My first impression in the show site was the dominance of large dogs.

The catalogue tells the numbers of entries by breed as follows.
Top: German Shephard Dog (33)
Top tie: Rottweiler (33)
#3: Labrador Retriever (26)
#4: Beagle (20)
#5: Saint Bernard (17)
then, Boxer, Great Dane, Pug follow, each counting 14, follow.


I noticed the difference to the show in Japan as follows.

(1) There was no paddock. Few people groomed and finished up their dogs at the site. They only combed their dog when they bring them into the rings.
(2) Because of the above, there was no diesel enginge generator, and the site was comfortablly quiet only with voices of dogs and people.
(3) There seemed to be no professional handlers, and owner handling seemed dominant.
(4) The clothes of the handlers were fairly casual. There ware even some handlers in T-shirts and blue jeans.

The examination of the small dogs was done on an ordinary table, not on a trimming table. This photo shows the examination of American Cocker Spaniel.

The organization home pavillion also shows the local taste.

　　A couple of glances of the site.

The atmosphere of the show was quite genial and homey with family outings.
Far more elderly people and children were around than in the shows in Japan.

Although I can not judge the qualities of the dogs shown, I felt that their gaits were of somewhat low level, as I saw dogs refusing to walk or wandering.

　　A couple of breeders were showing and selling puppies at a corner of the site, which I have not seen in Japan. The poster of one of them shown above told that one of the dogs they had bred won in JKC Bibai Dog Fanciers Club Show in Japan, which means Indian-bred dogs are running in the Japanese show scenes. I was not able to make it sure as I could not talk with the breeder under the fear that I might have to buy one there as the Indian merchants are famous as alert businesspersons!

Out of the fence of the site, a guy, who seemed not to be certified as a breeder, was selling puppies.

I had a great break and relief during my business trip to the unfamiliar country.

New Year's Greetings

A Happy New Year!

I wish you all the year 2010 be a happy and prosperous year.

Year 2009 was a fruitful year for me with Pieta winning a championship, viewing a dog show in US, and visiting kennels in UK and US. I expect that this year be another good year for me. Despite dismal social situations, I hope that this year would be full of brighter happenings.

My terriers send you their new year greetings to you.


The first is Leeds, the oldest. While she will become 14 years old in April this year, she shows no signs of wane, and is quite healthy. Although she has lost most of her teeth, she does not suffer cataract, and proudly serves as the leader.


The next is Chilwell, the socond daughter. She celebrates her zodiac year, the Year of Tiger, this year, and becomes 12 years old in October. She maintains her going-my-way attitude as a ranger of the terrier squadron with her lean and agile movements, and


Now then, matermal three generations of three Scotties. From left are Piacere, Pizzicato and Pieta. Piacere starts dog show challenges for real this year. Pieta, who graduated from the show rings, shall be serving as a trial horse of my trimming drills. It would be a race between the improvement of my trimmimng skill and the deterioration of Pieta's coat, and one should see how long Pieta maintains her coat, which had been finished by Nakahara-san for dog shows.

The traditional (?) display of my new year's card.

The card is featured with photos of a dog show held in Yokohama in May, 2009, in which Mr. Peter Green, who is respected as the God of Terriers, judged on his first visit to Japan, and Pieta won the Best of Breed (BOB).

Well, everybody, please visit and enjoy this blog this year as well.