A Taste of Melbourne All Breed Dog Championship Show

22nd April, 2007 was a date that I will always remember. My husband agreed to entertain my desire to attend the local dog show even though he has thousands of other stuffs to do. We left early making our way to the Showgrounds at Ascot Vale. Upon reaching the place, we found the parking lot already full with cars and had to park at the farthest end of the area. A kind lady directed us to building number 15 and 18, where the dog shows had already started. Yes, the Showgrounds of Ascot Vale was truly amazing. It was a truly large area that housed numerous houses for the benefit of showing animals of different kind. There was a horse barn, a race tract, buildings used for conducting exercises for animal and others that I could not determine their functions.

We made our way to building number 15 where most of the larger breeds were shown. Here I met up with Mrs Carole Burke, a very nice and friendly lady who travelled all the way from Frankston to show her 15 month Old English Sheepdog, Ernie, whom she imported from England. From the photos below, you can see that Earnie is a VERY large dog. This dog can grow to a maximum height of 61cm and weight to about 50kgs.



Mrs Carole told me that she actually groomed her dog from 8am to 2pm the day before. Her dog looked so at ease with his surrounding and truthfully, was something that I would want to have to warm me up during the cold winter nights. Just kiss those commercial heaters goodbye!



I can imagine burying myself in Ernie's thick coat and just let him warm me - Nick, my husband, will be so happy as we can cut down on the electricity bill by not turning on the electric blankets and heaters!

There was another OES puppy beside Ernie who was very eager to pose for a snapshot as well. This puppy which is only 6 months old was a very perky fella and loves to lick!



I was also mesmerised by the other large breeds that were showed on that day. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos using our camera flash so the photos did not turn out well.

From building number 15, we made our way to number 18, where they were having the championship for the toy breeds. The Cavelier King Charles Spaniels were beautiful, the Malteses look very regal with their lush white coat and the Silky Terriers, simply adorable.

I had a chance to meet up with Mr. James Carmac of Balkana Kennel. Mr James is the king of Australian Silky Terrier and he was actually mentioned to me by Mrs Connie Redhead who judged the last MKA Dog Championship in Malaysia. At that time I was showing Suki, and Cris was showing Misty. When Mrs Connie approached us, she recommended that we import a Silky from Balkana Kennel which is famous all over Australia to strenghten our kennel reputation as well as use the dog as our own stud dog, so that we could start our own breeding programme. So when I finally got hold of Mr James at the Showgrounds, I was truly ecstatic!

Mr James introduced me to Tommy, his Aus Champion. Unlike the Silkies in Malaysia, Tommy sported a very lush and soft coat that glistered. A further probe revealed that Mr James actually brush his dogs a minimum of once a week - truly amazing as we normally brush our dogs a few times a day!

I asked Mr James whether he has any male show pups for sale and he said that he has one that will be about 8 weeks old by the end of May. The asking price was AUD2 - 2.5K and that could easily translate to RM7.3K! I was shocked but Mr James told me that the linage comes from champion lines and has proven very successful at the showgrounds all around the world! Well, that sums it all I guess. I told him that we will find out about the age limitation to bring in a dog into Malaysia and will get back to him once I get the answers.





Mr James lives in Ballarat, about 2 hours away from where we live at Northcote. So if I were to decide that I want to get the pup from James, it will be very easy for me to visit him at his kennel.



I truly had a wonderful time at the Showgrounds. Even though I was sad for not being able to get as many photos as I could, the memories of it WILL last me a lifetime.