Re: [PyrNet-L] French National

[Charlotte & Jack Perry <pyreau@erols.com>]

Joan,
Thanks so much for sharing your visit to the French National with us! 
I've wanted to go to the French National for years. Can hardly wait to
see the pictures. 

I particularly liked your description of the dogs. I am interested to
know if you thought that the dogs were bigger all over (i.e. heavier
body and bone, etc) or simply taller than those we normally see in the
US. Were the coats also very different from what we see? (of course they
probably look a lot different ungroomed!).  Were there any particular 
kennel or kennels  whose dogs you thought were wonderful?
Charlotte

 Joan Ziehl wrote:
> 
> I'll be happy to jump in!  We just got back from our first (and
> hopefully not the last)
> French National.  What a great time!
> 
> The French club has a show for a few types of breeds, among them the
> pyrenean mountain dog,
> pyrenean shephard, and pyrenean mastiff.  It was the first time I've
> seen pyrenean mastiffs in person,
> and they were big!  The females are about the same size as our male
> pyrs, and the male mastiffs were
> close to 200 lbs.  All were heavily marked and seemed to have very nice
> temperments.  There were not
> alot of mastiffs there, from what we were able to figure out, not many
> in France as a whole.  These dogs that were at the show came from
> Spain.
> 
> Lots and lots of pyr sheps!  All sizes and shapes.   Saw alot of them
> outside of the show as well.  Seems
> to be a popular breed.  As a matter of fact, the pyr shep took the best
> in show over the pyr.
> 
> The pyrs were wonderful!  Really nice dogs, even nicer people.  Even
> though we did not speak French, we
> were made to feel right at home by many of the people there. The way the
> show was organized was quite
> different from the way it is done in the US.  About 8 rings going at
> once, with all sorts of  stuff going on--very
> confusing!  Many thanks to Joe Gentzel for helping us figure out what
> was going on!  At one point, we were
> chuckling because one woman was not pleased how her husband was gaiting
> their dog--she took the leash
> from him and just took the dog for another spin around the ring!  The
> judges there also give a written evaluation of each dog, so that takes
> some time while they dictate their thoughts to the person writing them
> down.    The way the dogs are shown is much different from here as
> well.  The dogs are not bathed, or groomed for the show.  So it was not
> uncommom to pet one and find a good mat by the ears.  The handlers
> are not what we would call professional handlers, so it was interesting
> to see how the dogs were presented.
> 
> The one thing that I noticed was the heads.  What beautiful heads!  The
> eyes were very dark and for the most part, had the beautiful gaze that
> people talk about.  And the size of the dogs.  Much bigger
> than the dogs that were at the national.  I would say that many of their
> bitches were bigger than many of the
> males in chicago.
> 
> From what we were able to tell--there were dogs there from  most of
> Europe.  The winner was CH Gardayan Des Grands Corents, out of the
> veterans class.  He was quite nice and this is his third win at this
> show.  His owner was very happy to pose for pictures for us.  I hope to
> have the pictures up on the website by the weekend.
> 
> the whole experience was a great one.  from the pyr shep herding trial
> on Saturday, to the show itself on Sunday, it was a jam-packed weekend.
> We were lucky enough to visit a few kennels after the show, and that was
> very special.  Also got to see a few dogs in our sightseeing--usually
> when one was spotted, we stopped the car and took pictures!  Talk about
> tourists!  :)
> 
> Am picking up the pictures this evening.  Hopefully we will be able to
> get a few up on the website by the weekend.  I'll let you know when that
> is done.
> 
> any questions, please yell.
> 
> Joan
> www.ourdogbleu.com
> 
> Picking up the pictures tonight and hope to have lots of pictures on the
> website by the weekend.
> 
> Charlotte & Jack Perry wrote:
> 
> > Hi Joe,
> > Would love to hear about the Great Pyrenees National show in France.
> > How about comments from listers who were there.
> > Charlotte
> >
> > To unsubscribe, send a message to esquire@pyrnet.org with
> >         unsubscribe pyrnet-l
> > as the BODY of the message.  The SUBJECT is ignored.
> 
> To unsubscribe, send a message to esquire@pyrnet.org with
>         unsubscribe pyrnet-l
> as the BODY of the message.  The SUBJECT is ignored.