Border Collies in Poland and Germany
By Emmy M. Simonsen
Translated by Hanne Roslind.

It actually all started in the winter of 2002. I was visiting Lis and her two Border Collies:
Bliss (Lionheart Bliss) and Ea (Nikkiline). We were having dinner and the conversation turned to the fact that Lis aspired to visit the family of Bliss in Germany. She asked me if I would join her. I would love to but on the condition that we attended a current inter-national dog show. My dog Robbie (Whenway Decorated Hero) was short of a foreign CACIB in order to become an International Champion, which meant that I was all for trying to get it. We grapped the Kennel Club calendar of international shows. The only show within Lis' holidays was in Stettin, Poland, the 21st of June 2003.

Ea (Nikkiline) and Bliss (Lionheart Bliss)

20th of June 2003:
We started from home around 8 o'clock. In our car we had 7 dogs, 2 persons and luggage plus dog food for a week. Except for the obligatory car queues and bad East German roads the trip was without problems. We arrived at Stettin a little past 6 pm. We stopped for fuel and immediately felt us transported back to another age… a young chap came rushing and started to fill our tank. While tanking he cleaned our windows and mirrors... Lis and I hardly knew what to do...! In the shop we bought a map and though Stettin is a crazy town to drive in and even though they consistently decline putting up road signs we relatively easy found our hotel " Hotel Arkona".
We checked ourselves and our seven dogs into two single-rooms. We thought that single-rooms would give the dogs most rest up to the show. After a quick shower we again threw ourselves into the metropol-traffic. We went to find K.S. Arkona Stadium, where the show would be. We had heard many terror stories about having everything stolen in Poland and we had been warned not to leave dogs unattended in cars, as a consequence we bought our dinner at McDonald and brought it back to the hotel. The menu at McDonald in Poland costs below 20 Danish Crowns.

Hotel Arkona

21st of June 2003:
Show day!!! Early up and off. My two dogs Kiri (Rough Collie Gardan Kiri Te Kanawa) and Whisper (Border Collie Bridacre Wisp) were not entered the show, so they were left at the hotel. We arrived at the show with the remaining 5 dogs. Here we got our first surprise: Besides paying for entering the exhibition.... you also are charged for parking outside the stadium. The parking attendant asked for 5, we thought it was 5 zloty (= 10 Danish Crowns), but no... it was 5 Euro (= about 40 Da.Cr.).
The Polish Kennel Club has the splendid system of foreign attendees not having to pay entrance-fee in advance, that meant that now we had to find the secretariat and check in. The entrance-fee was 35 Euro per dog, but veterans and certain Polish breeds are free of charge. The catalogue concerning everything about the show was free for all the participants.
The actual show seemed somewhat chaotic, especially because nobody in Poland speaks English and all the signs ect. are in Polish. We succeeded in finding ring 12 where the Border Collies were to be judged. By the ringside were a small group of Danish "rough collie people" that we had met in the hotel the same morning. This was very nice as we now could help each other taking photos, guarding dogs and things against theft, and handling dogs.
The first breed was Bearded Collie. The winner was a beautiful dog. The next breed was Border Collie. 12 dogs were entered. The first Danish dog in the ring was Robbie who achieved Excellent and won the class without competition. He went on to the winner class and the contest for the title of Best Dog, which he won without any greater problems. Robbie was a class above the other dogs. He got the desired CACIB, which means that when FCI approves the title, he will be International Champion.

Winner class dogs
In the middle: Best Dog and BOB INTCH DKCH HYRDPR Whenway Decorated Hero

Also among the bitches the Danish Border Collieswere superior. All were awarded "Excellent" and after an exciting contest with a German open class bitch my blue bitch Hazy (OBCH Bluewyle Hazy Shade of Winter) was awarded Best Bitch. Ria (Fæhunden`s Al-Minya) was announced Best Veteran. Robbie got BOB and Hazy Res. BOB.

Best Bitch and Res. BOB DKOBCH Bluewyle Hazy Shade of Winter

Best Veteran Fæhunden's Al-Minya

In the Ring of Honour Ria was out before she really had started (this might be due to the fact that she did not walk 2 steps but jumped happily around and bit into the lead); however Robbie was chosen among the 6 best in group 1. Alas, he was not placed among the Top 3. This was formed by The Bearded Collie and two Polish herding breeds (a PON and some other big white sheepdog).

Robbie (Whenway Decorated Hero in Poland

Late afternoon we left the show and went back to the hotel. Kiri and Whisper were taken for a good walk before we went out for something to eat.
We found a restaurant where we could eat outside. We parked so that we could keep an eye on the car and the dogs. The food was quite good but when we ordered dessert we were again reminded of the fact that the Polish do not speak English very well. We asked for apple pie and had a glass apple juice....

22nd of June
We left the hotel before noon and drove towards Berlin. Continued to Hanover and Nienberg/Weser where Renate Hilger and Anke Schubert and their husbands live. They jointly run Kennel As Bold As Brass and Anke have a dogcenter with agility training, herding courses, obedience training and diff. competitions.
Renate has 2 Border Collies: Colin (Cinlock Catching the "I") and Shadow (Midnight shadow von Skuddenhof).

Beside that she has the mix Suki and the Groenendal dog Uros. Anke, too, has 2 Border Collies: Carmen (Cinlock China Doll) which is of the same litter as Colin and Asco (Spot aus dem Barok), who is out of working lines - his father is Ettrick Joe. Anke has also got a black mix "Gamma".

Spot aus dem Barok

Gamma

Suki

Sunday afternoon as we arrived, Christine Fischer (from Clan-Alba) was present to teach at a herding seminar. Anke participated with Carmen, but Renate brought no dog so she went for a walk with our dogs and us. They live that far out in the countryside that we could let our dogs run freely in the road. Lis normally only releases her dogs on grass, and Bliss was rather wild after the long ride in the car as a result she ran a lot. In fact she ran that much that she wore the skin off both front paws. Alas, we first found this out later.
Returning from the walk we went into a magnificent hall where we were going to enjoy many cosy hours. It was the main entrance for the great estate and outside was big dogs yard so the dogs could come and go as they pleased. The hall itself was big, the ceiling high and it was pleasantly cool. Here we sat talking. Everything clicked as if we had known each other for several years and not a mere ½ hour.

Renates husband Wilfred and Uros

After the seminar Anke and Christine came in. Christine owns Bliss father "Clan-Alba Amoss" (Moss) and she was pleased to see Bliss and Lis. The chat went lively on until quite late... we spent the night in a caravan just outside the house, which was perfect for the dogs and us.

23rd of June 2003
Renate met us with a very nice breakfast. Whisper, who had already charmed his way in the evening before, had his own little morning celebration with lots of kisses (from him to Renate and Co.) and pats (the other way round). After breakfast we drove to the nearest big city. Lis and I went bananas in a shop for dog items and in a warehouse and we bought stamps for about 1 million post-cards.
Back home we wrote post-cards, photographed dogs, trained agility and talked. Dinner was a great experience. Behind the barn and encircled by the sheepfold our hosts and hostesses had arranged a little covered place where the bales of straw were benches and table and where a grill was placed. Here Renate's husband Wilfred grilled delicious sausages and pork for us and we sat eating in the middle of an idyllic estate. The surroundings looked like something out of an English post-card. The dogs of course were mostly interested in the sheep.
The remains of the day were again spent on chat and cosiness. In the evening we watched a video from England's greatest competition in Heelwork to Music and Freestyle.

Dinner

24th of June 2003.
Today we had to rise early as we were going to Christine Fischer at Clan-Alba Border Collies. Christine uses her Border Collies for herding but she has also done some agility. Renate and Anke were driving ahead and Lis and I followed. It was a drive of approximately 1½ hour to get to Coppenbrügge where Christine resides.
We all brought our dogs into the garden where we sat having cold drinks. Lis saw the father, the aunt, the cousins and the paternal grandmother of Bliss.

Bliss and family

Clan-Alba Amoss - Bliss' father

When we had covered our greatest need for drinks and talks we drove about 1 km into the mountains where Christine has got her sheep grazing.
As she has quite a lot of sheep herding and training she has got more types of sheep.
Some sheep that practically cling to the shepherd which means that beginner-dogs feels that they can control them even if they do not place themselves quite correct all the time. Other sheep that move very easily when more skilled dogs are training driving and some sheep that really challenge the more hardened dogs. She has got different sheep-breeds for different purposes.
Christine began showing what her own dogs could do and telling a little about their different ways of working.

Clan-Alba Amoss, Bliss' father.

Robbie (Whenway Decorated Hero) and I

Later they wanted to see Robbie at work. He did well and they were impressed by his style. Whisper did well, too.
Then we shifted to the "clinging-sheep", as the beginner dogs were on. Carmen who was very eager was first. She was very close to the sheep, but she did well. Then Asco, who also worked well. These sheep were easy and pleasant which strengthened the self-confidence of the beginner dogs.
At last it was Bliss. As mentioned earlier she had worn out her paws, so we were not sure she would herd. Raw paws hurt when used. And Bliss did absolutely not want to do anything. We quickly stopped trying to get her to do so, and Christine had to be content with watching Bliss on video.
Robbie and Whisper had yet another turn. These "clinging-sheep" were no great challenge for them but for me it was a challenge to get away from the sheep. If they could have dived into my pockets they would have done so...

It was getting too hot for herding so we went down to a brook and let the dogs cool off. Then we went for a walk in the forest.
At home again at Christine's we played with puppies, had cake and drank buckets of sodawater.
Time was running out but we just managed to watch a video with some Danish sheep-dogs a.o. Bliss.
At 7 pm we broke up and with Renate in front we drove for 20 minutes to Caren Bock from Lucky Borders. Here we met all of Caren's family, Elke Ostmeyer from Kennel "von den 3 Eichen" and Caren's friend Anja, plus of course all of Caren's dogs. She breeds Border Collies mainly on the Beagold lines and especially Clan-Abby Silver Kiwi at Beagold is behind her dogs.
The whole family, Renate, Anke, Elke, Anja, Lis and I were having dinner at Caren's parents. During dinner the lively conversation was mainly about the breed. The discussion touched CEA, it was however more interesting when the debate turned to work-ability and the instinct for herding in the breed. Caren thinks that the extreme herding dogs are a problem for ordinary people, who have Border Collies for pets, and therefore she tries to avoid them in her breeding. She breeds show- and family dogs that like obedience and agility, but working sheep is not for her.
This for me was a surprising point of view as I think that the instinct for herding is what makes the Border Collie special compared to other dog-breeds and that this is extremely important to preserve. If a dog is good looking it is OK but if it not able to herd... then it does not matter how it looks. Anke and Renate seem to sympathise more with my view that with Caren's but passions ran high. After dinner however we all left the table as friends who accept each other's differences. We took leave of Renate and Anke. Sadly as we had had some wonderful days together and in a short time had got to like them very much.
The other of Caren's guests also left but we remained talking for some hours in the dining room before we went down to the luxurious guest-room and fell asleep.

25th of June 2003
After a sumptuous morning table at Caren's parents we took leave and set course towards Wulbüttel where Rolf C. Franck, Kennel Lionheart lives. Rolf has bred Bliss. We found it without problems and were met by the maternal grandmother of Bliss Maggie (CH Bordershome A Magic Heart) and Rolfs little new puppy Chance (5. mth).

Lionheart Border Collies

Bliss sister Bridie (Lionheart Bridie) and her owner Birgit Mausolf were also visiting, it turned out to be a really family-party. We spent a couple of cosy hours with Rolf and then we set out for Denmark.

Lionheart Bridie and Lionheart Bliss

At 10 pm we were in Sorø… absolutely worn out and with 7 tired but happy dogs.

INTCH DKCH HYRDPR Whenway Decorated Hero