When Dave told me we were going to be at the Discover Dogs booth for 2 days at Crufts – the thought of it really did not impress me at all !! To be stuck on the booth all day –ugh!

We set off at 6.45 am on Thursday, day 1, with Fran (one Blackie ), Nedezhda (our Russian friend), myself and Dave. Along with what seemed like thousands of bags – dog bag, dog food bag, human food bag, handbags, fold away seat bag and various bags that included all the items to set up the booth.

Thankfully the morning was dry and the journey was good. We took the back road into the exhibition halls and managed to avoid the queues. We parked in the east car park and decided to walk – no bus for us! With the many bags to carry, we eventually reached the booth at 9 o’clock.

Ron and Kay (Carter-Simms) were well settled, and it was heaven to sip the first cuppa of the day. Dave took control of decorating the booth, using the various photos and flags. Nedezhda had also bought along her show rosettes, 3 dog medal collars and photos of her with her dogs and horses. Plenty of blue tack and sellotape was needed.

I had planned to help with decorating the booth, but from as early as 9 o’clock visitors were calling at the booth. Fran was the only blackie available on the first day and so she took centre stage, loving every minute of the fussing, stroking, stacking and the many photo and video sessions that went on through the day. By midday we had parted with all of the leaflets (allocated for that day) to all of the people interested in our lovely breed, and an SOS call was made to Jan Huxley to bring down more leaflets for the remaining 3 days.

I have never talked so much, to so many people in one day! What an experience…..The interest in our breed was phenomenal and Fran was thoroughly enjoying her star treatment. She was a perfect ambassador – being stroked, prodded, poked, she had photos and video pictures being taken, she stood in a show pose, sat down, laid down, had her tum tickled – she was in seventh heaven and we were very proud of her.

It wasn’t until 3 o’clock in the afternoon that I realised I hadn’t had a chance to visit any of the other halls! I was enjoying myself so much.

After a hectic day of almost non-stop talking we were all ready to leave the booth at 5.15 pm. It was good to get some fresh air, with the walk back to the car. Still carrying most of the bags – but it didn’t seem so much of a trauma.

Friday –6.45 am and the same 1 dog and 3 humans piled into the car (thankfully with less bags). Fran couldn’t believe she was off again in the car! We got parked up in the east car park, but more traffic and longer queues, especially from the M42.

Mike Smith with Sacha were already at the booth, and a little later Sue Wilson arrived with her bitch, so that gave us 3 dogs to be viewed, prodded and stroked. I was pleased that Fran would be able to rest a little more after Thursday’s hectic session. The 3 bitches were perfectly well behaved when penned together, they had never met before and not a grumble or snap from any of them, what an excellent breed these blackies are.

Ralf and Sue Holmes joined us at the booth, and the day was again taken up by talking about our favourite breed. We also had a number of overseas visitors, a family from Russia, much to the delight of our friend, as at last she could talk in her native tongue. We also had visitors from Australia and Holland. One of the highlights of the day was a visit to the booth from John, the policeman, who is currently training the first blackie – Mig in police work. He is in the Warwickshire police force, and John was saying how responsive and quick he is to train. Lets hope we can hear more on his progress in the future months, I think John said he was into his first 6 months of training.

Thankfully the extra leaflets were brought to the booth by Anastasia, one of our club members, who incidentally is Russian so our friend was again entertained in her native tongue for most of that afternoon.

Another full day ended and all 3 dogs were excellent ambassadors – showing the superb temperament of this breed. After another exhausting day we were ready to leave the booth at 5 o’clock, ready to fight the rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon in Birmingham !! MUST BE MAD..

Dave had spent two very exhausting days at Crufts , he was determined to go back on Saturday and Sunday with Nadezhda. Fran and myself had a well earned rest at home.

Dave opened the booth at 9 o’clock, only to find there would be no representative of the breed until the afternoon. He had to ask Violet Slade and her husband, if they would bring their bitch in earlier. Another full day at the booth, with again many overseas visitors, Dave mentioned that it was actually busier than the other two days (was that possible!) and that for future planning there would be a need for more help at weekends.

Sunday and the last day, what excitement as Dave and Nadezhda left - as they had managed to purchase tickets for the group and best in show – lucky things and there was me left at home – ironing, cooking, cleaning, gardening, walking dogs – did I tell you my name was Cinderella !

The booth was attended by committee members Jan and Tom Huxley, Louise and Peter Dugdill and two dogs represented the breed, Linda Newton’s bitch Sova and Neil Longley-Bennett’s dog Ryker. Another full day and I believe no leaflets were left by the end of the day.

<--Dave, Tom & Nadezhda

If I was - asked “would I do it again” –YES PLEASE -it was a brilliant 2 days, what better way to spend your time than talking non stop about your favourite breed.

If you get the chance to help at any of the future events - I would say go for it , I will be ……..

It all started on a cold December morning at the National Dog Training Centre where I work as an Instructor for H.M. Prison Service. One of our kennel staff answered the phone and shouted to me do you want to know what a Russian Black Terrier is and do you want one? Having seen a few of these dogs at various show grounds I arranged to look at the dog the following morning. Thursday morning I set off for Sheffield, on arrival a man met me and told me due to work commitments the family had to get the dog a new home. After a chat about the various paperwork I sat on the floor in the lounge and the man let ‘’TIGGREA’ in. I was taken back to see this big dog appear but .he was the wrong colour! according to the K.C however I liked his salt & pepper and more so I liked his attitude. He came in wagging his little stump and tried to take the pen out of my hand that I had been writing with. My mind was made up within a couple of minutes, this dog was going to be mine and so all I had to do was tell my wife! I asked, what did ‘Tigrea’ travel like. The answer was, ‘He has never been on a car’. So taking the bull by the horns I took the front end my assistant took the rear and in the dog cage he went!. After a fond farewell from his previous owner who was genuine and a responsible person off we set back to the dog school. After a quiet journey back to the school I unloaded ‘Tigrea’ and put him in a kennel to let him settle in. After an hour I took him for a walk I then fed him and left him until the next morning. When I let him out of his kennel he jumped all over me and was very pleased to see me. I decided to let him off the leash in a paddock he ran away and stood and looked at me, I then sat down and ignored him. I could tell he didn’t like this, after a short while he could not stand it any longer and came up to me

I then gave him a big fuss and started to play with him. I could tell by his attitude that we were going to get on fine. I took him home after a few days to introduce him to the other members of the household , these consist of my other half Nancy, a GSD-‘Cass’, a GSD-’Charlie’, and an old Labrador called ’Hudson’. I let ‘Tigrea’ out of the van all the other dogs came up to him, there were a few growls I told them all to behave and I made a fuss of them and from that day to this they have never had a cross word. One thing that has changed is Tigrea’s name. He is now called ‘TIGGER’ or ‘TIG’ for short. I have found an easy dog to live with and he has taken well to all his man-work exercises although any person who wants to train their dog in man-work exercises I would advise them to get expert tuition. ‘Tigger’ finds the obedience exercises boring but this must be taught to enable to get full control on other disciplines. I have found him to be very agile for his size and he seems to have a good nose on him. I have found him very possessive with bones and he had to be taught to leave them when told, and YES, he is a challenge to train and NO he is not an ideal dog for a novice handler and YES I love him to bits and NO you can’t have him.

This was my first experience of Discover Dogs as an “exhibitor”. Sadly I wasn’t able to take our Rio with me since she was close to parting with a litter of puppies, but what a joy to spend a day in the company of Ryker, Bear, ? and Rouble. Many thanks for their owners’ help on the booth, respectively Neil Longley-Barnet, Gloria Hill, Alex & Elena Nikitian and David Cantor.

These dogs worked incredibly hard all day, never put a foot wrong and were a credit to themselves, their owners and the breed. There always seemed to be a crowd around the booth and much positive interest in the breed. People visiting Discover Dogs believing they had made their decision to complete their family with a Bouvier, Newfoundland or Hungarian Vizsla found themselves wavering having been wooed by the Russian Black Terrier.

Now there’s a surprise!!!

Thank you Keith for your article and for decorating the booth Walls.

The Wall Hanging was on display at Discover Dogs. It was a gift presented to the Club from Dawn Longley– Barnet. Many thanks for such a lovely wall hanging. I dare not ask how long it took her to make it.!

Sunday November 24th at Wentworth Castle

The Russian Black Terrier Club again selected the impressive Wentworth Castle near Barnsley, this time for its Seminar for Judges. Hon Secretary, Janet Huxley, had put her all energy into planning the day’s event, and likened it to the organisation of a wedding celebration, relieved when it was all over!

Some visitors were just there for the general seminar, others of us with an opportunity to go over Russian Black Terriers. For me this was the highlight of the day. I was not alone in being rather disappointed to find that the ‘hands on’ session was the first item on the day’s agenda, for I was hoping to have had some initial input from the guest speakers. In my mind I had a number of points concerning the breed standard that I would have liked clarified, but these had to wait until later in the day. Had my queries been qualified beforehand, I would have been wiser about certain aspects when observing the breed at close quarters.

Master of ceremonies was Chairman, Ralph Holmes, who was anxious that we should all enjoy ourselves with a smile on our faces, and there is no doubting that we did. 

The dogs to be gone over were wonderfully patient, and even a seven-month-old puppy  lasted the course like a real trouper. photo Juliette Cunliffe  'Hands On'  the seven-month-old  puppy 

We must all be grateful to them, and to their owners and handlers, for allowing us the valuable experience of getting our hands on seven representatives of this numerically small breed.

Afterwards the weather was good enough for the dogs to be taken outside, for our assessment of their movement.

The Russian Black Terrier has made very rapid progress in its short time in Britain, and certainly there were some high quality specimens there for us to assess. But, as is the case with all breeds in their formative years of establishment in a country, there was a wide variation in quality.

We then all watched an absorbing video of the RBTs in the Mersiyanov’s Malahovskiy Kennel. Mrs Elena Mersiyanova was one of the intended speakers, but sadly she was unable to get a visa, so Russian-born Svetlana Dervyn, who lives in France, kindly came along in her stead.

The video portrayed the breed in all its glory, and we were treated not only to show shots, but also the breed interacting with loved ones and children, as well as with ‘thieves’ that were well-padded for protection! The latter was really an eye opener, and I still have a vivid image of one RBT hanging on to a man’s arm reaching over a wall. The dog would simply not let go, its feet suspended in mid-air, until it eventually ran off with the padding in its mouth. Certainly this is a breed that can readily distinguish friend from foe! There were also some lovely snow shots of RBTs pulling a person on a toboggan and another on skis.

Finally Italian breed expert, Marco Galli of the famed Lisander prefix, and Svetlana Dervyn took centre stage, a moment we had all been Guests-Marco Galli, Svetlana Dervyn with Chairman Ralph Holmeswaiting for. Now there was an opportunity for those burning questions to be answered. Something that had confused several of us was coat quality and texture, for it had become apparent that few of the coats we had observed in the breed seemed to fit the standard. Svetlana told the audience that the Russians are now taking steps to change the breed standard to suit accordingly, and Marco said that the coat is ‘not the same harsh coat as in the first standard’.

Part of my own mental confusion, was that for personal research I had read not only the English, but also the FCI and Russian breed standards, and found several discrepancies. I put my point to the chair and was glad to find that those in authority recognised this was indeed so. It is to be hoped that for the sake of the breed they can all work together to bring these into line.

Movement was something else that clearly differs greatly within the breed, and only when watching the video of top winners in Europe was I able to weigh up in my mind quite how much hind extension is apparently desired.

The discussion moved on to the pros and cons of hip scoring at this early stage in the breed’s history. This is not done in Russia as there seems to be a problem there with an aesthesia, and owners are understandably not prepared to risk this. Marco also mentioned that he felt the breed in Britain needed more exercise, and that owners should not allow their RBTs to get too fat. This also applied to puppies, he said, for if they were overweight this would affect their developmental structure. The speakers recommended feeding puppies three small meals each day, up to the age of six months.

On the subject of food, there had been several human ‘tummy rumbles’ over the final hour or so, but the day closed with an informal buffet ‘lunch’, a chance to enjoy good company and to discuss the issues of the day. A few of us later went back to Janet and Tom Huxleys’ home, for more ‘dog talk’ and more ‘eats’, a warm and enjoyable end to a thoroughly informative day’s events.

Juliette Cunliffe.