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Rocky GapWho's heard of it, who hasn’t heard of it? Hasn’t nearly everyone heard of it since the 28.03 - 01.04. 2006? But let us start at the beginning: Let us recall last year’s invitation by the Newfoundland Club of America to the“Newfoundland National Specialty 2006” Yes, I wanted to go there!!!! Together with my friend Peter Moebius, a non dog-owner from Dresden, I set out westwards towards Atlanta, via Paris - some people obviously believe Atlanta is somewhere in Africa: as black as my suitcase, which disappeared for an entire day. From there, it was a four hour drive to Waynesville, NC, near the “Great Smokey Mountains”, where friends of ours from Louisiana have their summer retreat. We wandered through the enormous national-park, supposedly the biggest in the USA, in sunny but freezing cold weather, and experienced the “smoking mountains” first hand. Apart from the numerous other animals that live there: foxes, deer and snakes etc, there are still today around 1400 bears in the park. They didn’t want anything to do with me, however, and stayed in their caves. They didn’t want to be stroked or anything. Yeah, Newf fans! They didn’t realise that I’ve got two bears – albeit black ones – at home. The 5 days spent in Cherokee Indian territory passed much too quickly and we had to say our goodbyes in 10cms of fresh snow.
Our next destination as undercover tourists was New York. We were shown the latest and the most interesting city sites, in temperatures of 1 degree over freezing, during a city tour in an open-top double-decker bus. It took a few brandies to thaw us out afterwards, but I kept the cold. I knew a lot of it already but New York is always good for something new. We visited the Empire State Building, Rockefellers Top of the Rock, the Liberty Statue and Ground Zero, for instance, but we gave the museums a miss.
After 4 days we set in a hired car out towards Washington, via Philadelphia, in order to get a view of the administration district. In the evening, we undertook the approximately 2 hour drive to Rocky Gap, near Cumberland, MD. This state-park lies in the Appalachian Mountains, as does the aforementioned national-park. The Hotel, a five storey building comprising of several separate elements, was the perfect location for this meeting.
A short path along the lake to the extremely large main-presentation-ring, the secondary ring (for obedience), exhibition tents, the styling tent (every Newf gets a personal hairdo, after all, one has to keep up appearances), and diverse other fixtures. I must take this opportunity to praise the team from the “Hospitality House”, the coffee was more than American and the cake was fantastic. Thank you Ladies
Sadly, the exhibition-ring was so big that you couldn't really see individual animals; however, considering the large number of entries for each category, this was understandable and the organisers had little choice other than to delineate a large area. For example: Bitches 6-9 months = 42 entries.
Unfortunately, the banquette hall was so small that the number of guests had to be strictly limited. The “Top Twenty” presentation, for instance, took place in a very small circle, much to the annoyance of some of the other participants. Here, I met Pamela Rubio from “Capriccio Newfs” again; we had met the previous year in Monterey, as had many others. The show must go on!!! I was surprised by the number of registered dogs, 549 dogs from a total of 843 entries. Entries can be registered for different categories; thus, almost all of the 42 youths mentioned earlier where entered in the “Sweepstake Class”. Sadly, the first four of every group were not even presented in the ring, so that it wasn’t possible to take any of those much sought-after shots of the winners standing with the judges. Visitors from all over the world were present, even from Australia. Visitors from Europe included: Bela Siklosi (Hungary); Sona and Vlado Krockovi (Slovakia); P.Bogaerts (Belgium), with offspring; as well as a few familiar Spaniards and some Germans (DNK and VND members). The “Top Twenty” were presented in the Ballroom on Thursday evening. The judges plumped for the 1st placed “Brinklee”, Ch. “Bear Trax Midnite Report”, the audience, however, didn't share this opinion. “Kongo” Ch. “Rocky Harbour No Assembly Required” was their favourite. The bitch “Lucy” Ch. “Misty Mtn’s Love at First Sight” was particularly impressive among the top 20 (15 were present). Apart from the “beauty victories”, she was excellent in the water work, and is also employed as a therapy dog in a hospital. You can’t get more versatile than that!
I must not forget to mention: I met Larry Hansen, Phoenix! Do you remember Syrgenstein 2004? He looks back with affection at the time he spent with us, and tells as much to anyone wishing to hear about us. If we have managed to leave a good impression? Next year he will be judging the Sweepstakes at the National 2007. The exhibited dogs were presented in excellent condition, as usual. Apart from the silver coloured Newf, which was a bit too Mastino-esque for my liking, most of them all had the “Pouch Cove” faces – sorry, but I LOVE those potato snouts! In addition to the Newfs the visitors had many other breeds in tow. These ranged from Poodles to Bernese Mountain Dogs; there was even a Basenji - black and white with a curly brain, a prime specimen! That was obviously one of the highlights for me since I’ve been a Basenji owner for nearly 20 years.
The 2006 winners were: CH Seabrook Heiristotle Pouch Cove - BOB CH Pouch Cove’s Rosewood Gracie - BOS Sunvalley Petitions Pouch Cove - Best of winners
The show closed with the traditional banquette, and I sat at a table with some very interesting people. My immediate neighbour was a woman from Alaska, for instance. She told me a great deal about that area. The cordial evening ended with the presentation of the trophies by Kathy Hamilton. Whilst presenting the two rosettes sponsored by the VND, she named our club president, Mrs Tineke Baumeister, thus rounding off a very pleasant show. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the organisers and helpers who were responsible for ensuring the smooth running of this great event. Everything evaporated at lightning speed on Sunday, as the dogs and owners set off on their considerable home-journeys. However, one place was on everyone’s lips as they left: the venue of the NCA National Specialty 2007: The “Rocky Mountains Rendevous” in
B O U L D E R / Coloradofrom 29 April until 5 May 2007 !!! Goodbye – see you next year !!!
Juergen
Clemens All the results can be found under: www.cncnewfs.com/NationalSpecialty/ more photographs under: http://community.webshots.com/album/548992083gSHvka http://s66.photobucket.com/albums/h246/LST00 http://community.webshots.com/album/548993446Rzqisg
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