Fogel Hlara Index

LABRADOR RETRIEVER

GENERAL APPEARANCE AND BEHAVIOUR: Strongly built, short-coupled, very active; broad in skull; broad and deep through chest and ribs; broad and strong over loins and hindquarters. Good-tempered, very agile, excellent nose, soft mouth; keen lover of water. Adaptable, devoted companion. Intelligent, keen and biddable, with a strong will to please. Kindly nature, with no trace of aggression or undue shyness.

Links:
www.labrador.asso.fr
www.fokkerskringisonzeclub.nl
www.retrieverclubdefrance.com
www.european-labrador-breeder-list.com

Being a FCI-judge; just an impression

In The Netherlands it is very difficult to pass the judges-exam, but after many months of serious preparation I succeeded in 1988. I can’t recall the exact date of passing my judges exam, but I think it was in January.

It’s not only a great pleasure to judge dogs abroad or at home, but the main benefit from judging is that you get a wonderful opportunity to meet other breeders and dogs, which makes it more easily to improve your own ideas about breeding and offers you a unique opportunity to select possible studs or puppies for your own country.

After my exam it took more than one year before I was actually judging my first show.
This was the Leiden show. My Best Dog was Blondella Bonny Lad, later on a famous dog in Europe. Soon after that I judged the Bundessieger in Germany. I tried very hard to give all my critics and my congratulations to exhibiters in German. Suddenly however someone answered in Dutch; he was the owner of Withara`s Marine Highflyer, who won the Junior title.

Nurmo, Finland, 1991

It is very nice to be invited to judge abroad, especially in summertime in a far away country. The invitation of the Finnish in 1991 in Nurmo (in the middle of the country) was a real gift. We decided to spend our family holiday in Finland. It turned out to be an unforgettable experience. I was thrilled by being the judge (a big surprise was the presence of the late Ritva Tervo, Hirsipirtin kennel) and the family was thrilled by being able to swim in the Finnish archipelago and the Botnic Sea. A trip to remember.

Some years later I was judging again in Finland at the Clubshow of the Finnish Labrador Club, together with Marion Hopkinson. My Best Male was Rosanan Emperor. This male became the father of my yellow Rosanan puppies, Sea Lord and Sea Lily. Sea Lily got puppies from Ch.Tabatha`s Drifter at Dickendall and this couple produced our only yellow champion Fogel Hlara Yesterday.

Judging is one thing, but more important is to learn a great deal about other dogs and lines while doing the job. It opens your eyes to the rest of the world and offers many opportunities for your own breeding program and for your fellow breeders in The Netherlands.

Judging in the USA

I saw Drifter when I was in the States on a business trip with my husband. I took some time to visit a dogshow, where I was quite impressed by all those lovely Tabatha dogs. I succeeded in buying some youngsters from Carol Heidl, but unfortunately they never did turn out for the best. Being again in the USA, I could award the BOB to my favourite Tabatha bitch, Rainbow. At another judging occasion in the USA, I saw another very pretty and typical Drifter daughter, Chablais Mai. It took quite a while before I was permitted to buy one of the Chablais puppies. Chablais Mickel, daughter of the so very famous Chablais Mia, came to live with us just recently. People sometimes seem to think that it all went very easily for me, but they should know that, for example, it took me some seven (!) years of constant calling and mailing and sending letters before I got that lovely puppy from Chablais.

In 1978 I started the same way. Gwen Broadly, in those days the most famous English breeder, did not even want to meet with me. Only because Gunilla Andersson from Sweden, who started several years earlier, was willing to help me, I made a successful start.

Visiting or judging the American shows is something special, but being invited in the middle of the winter in Moscow in Russia is in a way an even more special experience. The show was very special to me because I did it together with my daughter. She was still studying Russian language at the Groningen University and through her I was able to express exactly what I wanted to say about all the dogs entered at this Retriever Clubshow. It also was the first (and hopefully the last) time I was bitten by a Labrador!

Drammen, Norway

I shall never forget the Norwegian Clubshow in Drammen. That weekend Princess Diana was killed in that tragic accident. Everybody was really upset, but the show had to go on. My BOB was a black male from Sweden, Rocksteady Ride the Storm. I had been considering for a long time which dog I wanted to use for my Unique. And, suddenly, here he was. It was of course not easy to get it all worked out with the rabies and import limitations of the Swedish government, but, in the end, it was all arranged. Pipi (Unique van de Ottershof) was mated to "Storm" and produced her next beautiful litter. Fogel Hlara Rider on the Storm is now a Dutch champion and he won the Winner title in 2001.

Being in Sweden I saw another Rocksteady dog. He was not as beautiful as Storm, but probably of more use for my Royal Romance. She was a bit lacking in head and Max had "too much head" for me. The combination worked out well. Fogel Hlara Forever Young was Best Male at the Amsterdam Winnershow 2000 and Bundessieger 2001 in Germany.

I judged several shows abroad, but not every time with that absolute thrill. I like to see a dog I would very much like to have in my own kennel or use myself. I’m always looking for that special Lab that could be of great use to me or the rest of the world. You won’t find that so easily.

Northern Ireland

Another very special experience was the Show in Northern Ireland. Judging according to the English system is real nice. You can do it so much faster when you don`t have to write the critics about every dog. I never judged that many dogs on one day! The Res. BIS was Sh.Ch. Marfell Seafarer, a black male I had never seen before in England. He is the dog presented on the Video of the Labrador in England. Mrs. Jo Coulson did use him as an example of a true breedtype dog, with the right angulations, the perfect expression of the head, the required movement and temperament. I imported some semen of this male to Holland, but for some unknown reason, it did not work out.

The housing of the judge for this show was somewhat peculiar. I was hidden somewhere far away in the country at a farm. The organizing committee was, acting this way, pretty sure that there would be no IRA attack. They once had a judge who was taken hostage in a hotel, so after that experience they would never put a judge in a hotel again. It was such a small room where they put us, that my husband, who accompanied me, had to put his legs outside the bathroom when taking a shower! Afterwards we had a splendid holiday in Ireland. Here we found Ballymaloe cookeryschool with its famous cook Darina Allen. Cooking is my second hobby.
Being a judge in Poland was another very special event. The Specialty show of the Polish Retriever Club made it clear that people are trying very hard to get equal with the rest of Europe. They are very enthusiastic and spend a lot of time, money and energy on breeding real nice dogs. I hope they don`t forget to screen the dogs on hips and elbows too, because it would be a waste if they start breeding with not so healthy dogs, although they look sound. Here we already know that soundness is required, but that not all sound dogs have good hips and might produce something that is not worth keeping and building your kennel on.

I have been judging in most European countries now, but unfortunately not yet in Sweden. I have so many Swedish dogs or lines in my kennel, that I really would like to judge in that country too. Hopefully it’s not too late to do so, once!

Of course I judged in Holland many times as well. The problem of judging in your own country, especially in Holland is, that people seem to like to think you are judging "politically" (face-judging), which certainly is not the case. Keep in mind that at a show you can only make two people really happy, and those are both winners. The other exhibitors always seem to think you did it wrong or not fair. But every judge is absolutely willing to be fair. During the judging you only see the handler of the dogs up to their middle and you never know who is at the other end of the leash. Honesty is one of the required qualities for a judge! When you loose, you loose, because that day your dog was not at its best or another one was in a much better condition or presented better or was just simply the better one. Don`t blame it on the judge or the dog, because the dog you take home at the end of the day, is the same you brought with you in the morning…
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In March 2005 I judged the SYVLRC in California. This was my first time judging at the westcoast of the USA. I expected to see a lot of unknown Labradors. These two days of judging were super. Excellent quality, especially in the puppy- and junior classes. My critical remark goes to the adult males: too many of them were broad in skull and too short in muzzle. My Best Male came from the puppy class 9 - 12 months. A few weeks later this boy also won tthe Res. Winners Dog at the Potomac show, the largest quality show for Labradors in the USA! Best puppy was Ghoststone`s Respect ( I wished I owned her).

This judging in California made it even more difficult to be happy in Erfuhrt /Germany a few weeks later. The overall quality here was a bit disappointing, especially in the junior bitches. There is a lot of work to be done. My priority is always "type". Here, lacking type was a serious problem.