Text Box: Trinity Valley Weimaraner Club of Texas

Trinity Valley Weimaraner Club

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Text Box: Remember Your Dog with a Donation Why not make a nice donation to Weimaraner Rescue in your dog’s name, when you finish a title, or when to celebrate a great win, or to remember that special dog that has passed on? Rescue does a terrific job with unwanted members of the breed we love, and they operate on a shoestring. Please send your donation along with a note rememberyour dog to Weimaraner Rescue of N. Texas, 4347 Northwest Hwy., Suite 120, Box 184, Dallas, TX 75220. These great gray dogs can use your help. Text Box: Rescue Calendars Now Available WRNT’s annual calendar is being printed. We are ordering a limited number – once they’re gone, they are gone! The calendar features 14 pictures of Weimaraners adopted through WRNT as captured by dog photographer, Margaret Bryant. Once again, they were printed by Hudson Printing who did their 2007 calendars. The format is a 12” x 12” glossy heavy stock – If you saw our 2007 calendars, you know the quality is exceptional. You can order the calendars by going to their website at www.weimrescuetexas.org - orders can be processed with paypal or by printing out the order form and mailing in a check. Text Box: Pedigree Pulls Crufts Sponsorship (from the London Times) In the dog house: the Kennel Club has faced allegations that Crufts promotes breeding deformities and disease. Entrants have included King Charles spaniels, pugs and Chinese crested dogs Pedigree, the pet food company, dropped its estimated £1.5-million-a-year sponsorship of Crufts dog show yesterday, ending a relationship that has endured for 44 years. The decision follows the furor over claims that the show promoted breeding methods that encouraged deformities and disease in animals. The Pedigree brand was once so inextricably linked with Crufts that cans of the dog food carried the strapline “Top breeders recommend it” and champion dogs regularly appeared in TV advertisements. After a BBC documentary that high-lighted the genetic side-effects of unhealthy breeding, there was concern that the brand was being tainted by association with the show. A statement from Mars UK, which owns Pedigree, said: “After careful consideration, Pedigree has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Crufts. We look forward to working with the Kennel Club on other projects in the future.” Leading figures in the canine world have suggested that the split between the two now puts a question mark over the long-term future of the world’s biggest dog show. The Kennel Club, which organizes Crufts, last night insisted that the show would go ahead, although it is still unclear if TV coverage of the event by the BBC will proceed or whether the format will change in some way. The pullout by Pedigree comes four months before the next show at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Rosemary Smart, chief executive of the Kennel Club, said “Clearly we are very sad to lose Pedigree from Crufts. We have had an excellent relationship for many years and we wish them well and look forward to working with them in the future.” The RSPCA and the Dogs’ Trust announced last month that they were severing links with the show. Last night there were fears that other exhibitors may decide to follow Pedigree and withdraw their support. Canine experts were curious as to why Pedigree had waited so long to distance itself from Crufts, especially when the club has embarked on a shake-up of all dog-breeding to introduce kinder rearing methods for all pets and show dogs. Beverley Cuddy, editor of Dogs Today magazine and a longstanding critic of the Kennel Club, said: “I think it is sad in a way that it’s come at a time when the Kennel Club was trying to tackle the problems. It will make it very difficult to be profitable. The club only makes about £500,000 from the show so this will create a massive deficit.” The club is already on a collision course with breed societies over its decision with the Dogs’ Trust to review breeding standards for 209 species. The first dog breeds to face scrutiny are the pekingese, the Clumber spaniel, bloodhound, bulldog, mastiff, German shepherd, basset hound and St Bernard. Incestuous inbreeding of dogs – sons with their mothers and half-siblings with each other – is also to be tackled. The documentary, which the Kennel Club has denounced as biased, showed a prize-winning Cavalier King Charles spaniel with syringomyelia, which occurs when a dog’s skull is too small for the brain. There were also pugs with breathing difficulties and boxers suffering with epilepsy. Text Box: Look Who’s Coming to Ardmore It looks like Delmar and/or Ronnie Smith will be in attendance at the WCA National Field Trials at Ardmore, Oklahoma. They have their book on dog training (written by Bill Tarrant) and will be there to sign them. The name of the book is “Best Way to Train Your Gun Dog—the Delmar Smith Method”. They would prefer to sign them ahead of time so you can just pick up your copy when you get there If you are interested in an autographed copy of the book, please contact Rosemary Carlson, who is representing them. Please contact her privately at her email: darocaweim@sbcglobal.net . She will give you details with signing, etc. Or call her at (405) 850-8020. The books are $22.00 and the check should be made out to Delmar Smith, and include what inscription you would like him to write in the book. Send it to Rosemary at 1705 North Bryant Avenue, Moore, OK 73160. If you are going to the trial, you can pick up your book there. If not, your book can be shipped. Rosemary can tell you how much to add for shipping.