Each year we support a dog-related charity by donating profits from particular items. This year our Hearts and Stars leather collars are supporting our chosen charity, Mayhew International. All profits from sales of these collars from today, up to Christmas Day will be donated to them.

Mayhew International does vital work training and supplying vets in developing countries to help dogs and cats.

So, buying one of these collars not only means your dog has a funky collar in beautiful Spanish leather collar, you’ll also be helping dogs in need.

Brutus the Newfoundland was particularly pleased to hear he’d been placed…

Elizabeth the Lhasa Apso gave her first post-win interview to Claire Balding.

All the dogs put on a good show, with the OES a particular crowd favourite.

Judge: Mr Frank Kane

Here are the full Group results from Crufts 2012:

GUNDOG GROUP:
1: Sh Ch/Am Ch Whistlestop’s Elements Of Magic Cd Rn
Spaniel (Irish Water)
Dog
Owner: Mrs J & Mrs C Carruthers & McDaniel

2: Sh Ch/Am/Can Ch Salty Dog Of Tampa Bay [Atc Am00554usa]
Retriever (Labrador)
Dog
Owner: Mrs L Hess

3: Sh Ch/Nord U Ch Barecho Hold Your Horses At Peasblossom (Imp Swe)
Spaniel (English Springer)
Dog
Owner: Mr & Mrs D Mitchell

4: Sh Ch/Nz Ch Robwyn Dreams Are Free At Ridanflight (Imp Nz)
Pointer
Dog
Owner: Mr S & Mr P H Rose & Robinson

HOUND GROUP:
1: Ch Rothesby Sholwood Snow Hawk
Borzoi
Dog
Owner: S Carter

2: Ch Soletrader Peek A Boo
Basset Griffon Vendeen (Petit)
Bitch
Owner: Mrs S & Mrs W Robertson & Doherty

3: Jorjenjo Mirzam Of Fernlark Jw
Saluki
Dog
Owner: Ms, Mr & Mrs & Mr Steer, Fitzgerald & Johnston

4: Ch Carpaccio Captain Scarlet Jw
Dachshund (Min Smooth-Haired)
Dog
Owner: Mrs S & Mr J Hunt

PASTORAL GROUP:
1: Ch Bottomshaker My Secret [Atc Aj01214hun]
Old English Sheepdog
Dog
Owner: Mr J Koroknai

2: Ch Sengalas Indiana Jones
Bearded Collie
Dog
Owner: Mr N & Mrs A E May

3: Ch Elmo Vom Huhnegrab
German Shepherd Dog
Dog
Owner: Mr J Cullen

4: Sh Ch/Aust Ch Danari De Beers
Border Collie
Dog
Owner: Mr G & Mrs M & Mr P & Mrs T Clarke & Wheatley

TERRIER GROUP:
1: Belleville Burning Passion
Norfolk Terrier
Dog
Owner: Mrs C S Thompson-Morgan

2: Ch Perrisblu Kennislains Chelsey
Kerry Blue Terrier
Bitch
Owner: E, L, C, B & P Yingling & Davies

3: Ch/Am Ch Fleet St Fenway Fan
Irish Terrier
Dog
Owner: Mr A & Mr V Barker & Malzoni

4: Cloverwood Royal George
Dandie Dinmont Terrier
Dog
Owner: Mrs J Tinsley

TOY GROUP:
1: Belliver Unexpected Dream [Atc Ap00118ire]
Pomeranian
Dog
Owner: Mr F & Mrs K Nilsson & Bertilsson

2: Ch Pugalicious Provocateur Jw
Pug
Dog
Owner: Ms L Brooks-Lowe

3: Ch Pamplona Bring Me Sunshine
Bichon Frise
Dog
Owner: Mr M Coad

4: Ch/Am/Gch Lafford Fly Me Too Farleysbane Jw
Papillon
Dog
Owner: E & S Vandermolen & Newcomb

UTILITY GROUP:
1: Ch Zentarr Elizabeth
Lhasa Apso
Bitch
Owner: Mrs M Anderson

2: Ch/Am Ch Kemonts Skyline’s Game Boy (Imp Usa)
Keeshond
Dog
Owner: Mrs J A, Dr K & Mrs S Miles & Cullen

3: Ch Redwitch Leather And Lace
Akita
Bitch
Owner: Mrs J & Mrs A Killilea & Clure

4: Ch Vanitonia You’ll See
Poodle (Toy)
Dog
Owner: Messrs L A S & T S Cox & Isherwood

WORKING GROUP:
1: Multi/Int/Sk/Pol/Cro/Hun/Dk/Cz/Au Ch King Of Helluland Feel The Win [Atc Am00991svk]
Newfoundland
Dog
Owner: Mr V & Mrs S Krockovci

2: Siberiaskye Brite Borealis Of Pelenrise Jw Shcm
Siberian Husky
Bitch
Owner: Mrs P & Miss H Taylor

3: Ch/Ir Ch Winuwuk Lust At First Sight
Boxer
Dog
Owner: Miss J & Mr T Brown & Hutchings

4: Sierra’s Yogananda
Tibetan Mastiff
Dog
Owner: Ms A J & Mr T Sutton & Nagrecha

Group 2 went to Bearded Collie CH Sengalas Indiana Jones; Group 3 to German Shepherd CH Elmo vom Huhnegrab; and Group 4 to Border Collie SH CH/AUST CH Danari de Beers.

The short-listed line-up:

Places went to: Group 2: Siberian Husky Siberiaskye Brite Borealis of Pelenrise JW SHCM; Group 3: Boxer CH/IR CH Winuwuk Lust at First Sight; Group 4: Tibetan Mastiff Sierra’s Yogananda.

And here, a view of the perfect Newfie nose:

Group 2 was won by Labrador Retriever SH CH/AM/CAN CH Salty Dog of Tampa Bay; Group 3 was English Springer Spaniel SH CH/NORD U CH Barecho Hold YOur Horses at Peasblossom; and Group 4 was English Pointer SH CH/NZ CH Robwyn Dreams are Free at Ridanflight.

A lovely YouTube video – watch out for the dog’s reaction when the guitar player starts singing. This beautiful dog is Pup, and in 2010 he starred on America’s Got Talent. All did not go according to plan. Seconds before the live broadcast Pup accidentally pulled his accordion over, breaking its bellows. Here’s what happened next…

Pup obviously knew something was wrong, and tried to alert his master – who unfortunately couldn’t stop playing as they were going out live. Well done Sharon for sticking up for Pup!

The section on grooming dogs is clear and straightforward. Though it does involve hair gloves…

Under ordinary circumstances frequent grooming will be quite sufficient to maintain cleanliness and health of the skin and hair, and he who expects to keep his dog in the “pink of condition” must faithfully apply it not less than once a day.

The brushes should be of bristles always, and what is called the “dandy brush” for short-coated dogs, while for the long-coated the bristles must be nearly if not quite an inch and a half in length, in order to pass through the coat and reach the skin.

Instances in which a fine-tooth comb is required are very rare indeed; and this is fortunate, for except in the hands of a most careful person it is sure to irritate the skin as well as seriously endanger the coat. The comb of the kennel, therefore, should be of the coarsest kind – its teeth being widely set and very blunt at the ends.
[....]

The brush will meet all positive requirements, but there are certain accessories which must be resorted to if a fine coat is to be made “cherry ripe,” and these are gloves of woollen yarn or hair – the latter for choice – and the bare hands.

To first brush long and well, then rub diligently with the gloves, and finally with the bare hands are the secrets of the toilet, and by faithfully applying the principles embodied in them cleanliness of the skin can be maintained, the hair stimulated to healthy growth and made to shine like satin if it is naturally fine.

The brush and gloves should be applied the one way always, with, not against, the hair, but in using the bare hands on dogs which ought to have a “bossy muscle”, as bull-dogs, bull terriers and greyhounds, the thighs must be rubbed both ways – up as well as down – and afterward the ruffled hair be made right by brushing one way and hand rubbing one way.  And lest the reader assume that the use of the bare hands is the least important o f these measures the fact is urged that it is of the first importance in putting the coat of a fine-haired dog in prime condition, for buy this means only can it be given the highest finish and lustre.

So, to get your dog in the “pink of condition”, get your hair gloves on…and get rubbing…

Can you buy hair gloves on ebay, do you think?

We have chosen to honour the bravery of all those people, and the memory of those lost, by recalling the role dogs and their handlers played in the rescue attempt post-9/11. The search-and-rescue (SAR) dogs who worked after the 9/11 tragedy deserve to be recognized and remembered.

New York, 15 September, 2001. A rescue dog is transported out of the debris of the World Trade Center. (Photo US Navy / Preston Keres)

Rescue dogs were on the scene on the day of the attacks on New York and Washington. And in the following days more than 400 dogs were deployed at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, including over 80 dogs from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It was the largest deployment of dogs in US history, and they stayed there, searching, for a full month.

A surprisingly large number of breeds were involved. Among those deployed in response to the 9/11 attacks were: German Shepherds, Australian Shepherd, Belgian Shepherds, Yellow/Black/Chocolate Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Portuguese Waterdogs, German Shorthair Pointers, Belgian Malinious, Border Collies, Belgian Tervurnes, Doberman Pincers, Giant Schnauzers, Rat Terriers, and several mixed breed dogs and dogs from city pounds.

“If these dogs only knew what a difference they make. Certainly, there’s nothing that can replace the precision of a dog’s nose—and absolutely nothing that can replace a dog’s heart.”
— Bob Sessions, rescue worker, Federal Emergency Management Agency

New York, September 21, 2001. Kent Olson and his dog, Thunder, from Lakewood, Washington search through the rubble for victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. (Photo by Andrea Booher/ FEMA News Photo)

The majority of the dogs were ‘live find’ dogs, trained to find people alive. Dogs were on call for 12-hour shifts, as were all task force team members. These shifts sometimes extended to 16 hours of non-stop searching. In the first days after the attacks, canine SAR teams did help to find injured survivors. The dogs would crawl on their bellies, squeeze through holes, and dig to find survivors.

New York, September 25, 2001. Colorado Task Force One member Ann Wickman works with her dog, Jenner, to search for victims in the collapsed World Trade Center. (Photo by Michael Rieger/ FEMA News Photo)

But it was reported that, as the weeks passed, some dogs grew depressed when they could no longer find living people.  The dogs grew stressed and disheartened, as if they were unsuccessful. To counter this, rescue workers started hiding among the twisted wreckage, staging mock rescues where the dogs would be thrilled again to find a living human.

“Morale is important … So it’s my job as handler to remove her from the pile [the rescuers' name for the WTC search site] … and then what we do is we set up a scenario for her that she can win at.  We used a New York firefighter.  He actually hid amongst a little bit of rubble … and we sent her on a search.  She finds the firefighter.  He plays with her real good.  She’s real happy, and she’s ready to go to work again.”
— Mark Bogush, Tampa Fire Rescue, speaking about his partner “Marley”

Another unit of dogs were brought in after the 9/11 attacks.  These dogs were sent specifically to provide emotional support to rescue workers suffering from trauma at the disaster site. Handlers, police, and firemen were under great stress.  They felt able to reach out to these dogs in ways they couldn’t to those around them. One rescue worker commented,

“These dogs have been trained to pick up on trauma and go towards it. So they pursue people they perceive as being in a state of trauma … We’ve been visiting a lot of firemen, police, and cleanup detail.”

New York, September 18, 2001. Dog and handler resting. (Photo: Reuters)

Special canine medical teams worked hard to  care for the dogs. They treated as many as 100 injured dogs per day in the first few days of searching. SAR dogs suffered minor burns, and cuts on their paws from jagged glass or sharp steel wreckage that the dogs climbed over and dug into, in order to find survivors. None received a serious injury and no SAR dogs lost their lives in the rescue operation, although fears have subsequently been expressed about the long-term impact on their health.  One month after starting work at the World Trade Center site, the SAR dogs were stood down.

We are now ten years on from the events of 9/11. Ten years is a long time in a dog’s life, and many of these dogs have since passed away, or reached old age.  Photographer Charlotte Dumas was inspired by the story of the 9/11 dogs and recently published a moving photographic tribute, photographing some of the surviving dogs as they are now. A slideshow of her photographs can be seen here on the NY Times website.

In these dogs’ wise, grey-whiskered faces we see the surprisingly sudden passage of time, but also a calmness, patience and reassuring warmth. Dogs’ willingness to trust us in the most unlikely situations, their enthusiasm to work for us, and their ‘dogged’ persistence are traits that many dog-owners will have valued in their own pet. But in the case of the SAR dogs these qualities create a particular, special bond not only with their owners, but with each and every person they have been, or might have been, sent out to rescue.

Moxie, age 13, Winthrop, Mass. She arrived at the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11 and began working the next morning. Though she is trained to find survivors, she identified six bodies and many body parts during the eight days she worked there. Since her owner retired her at age 7, she has hunted and spent time on the waterfront.

Notes:

Sources for this article include: FEMA, Dogs in the News, Environmental Graffiti.  The Dogs in the News site at this link is a contemporary account of dogs’ work at the World Trade Center.

This year, from today until 25 December, we are raising money for Nowzad by donating a proportion of all profits from our Union Jack dog beds.

ABOUT NOWZAD

Pen Farthing set up Nowzad Dogs after his 2006 tour of Afghanistan with the Royal Marines, where he rescued a dog from a fight that Afghan men were arranging for sport. What started as a human desire to assist the small band of dogs that befriended the Marines in his compound, grew rapidly into an international charity to support and assist animals and their soldiers.  Nowzad now works in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

The support soldiers gain from local dogs that befriend them is immense. In such a hard, high-risk environment, a few hours or even minutes spent caring for the dogs brings soldiers some normality and reassurance.  And when soldiers are sent home from tour, it can be impossible for them to abandon these dogs.

This is where Nowzad can help. They arrange for these dogs (and cats!) to be transported from remote and dangerous regions to their holding shelter in Afghanistan. Nowzad’s generous supporters  then raise funds to cover the animals’ transport and quarantine costs, and finally the dogs make their journey to their new life in the West, to be reunited with their old companions. Experience shows that the dogs can be hugely therapeutic and help soldiers re-adjust to life back home.

Nowzad realizes, of course, that it cannot transport all of the stray dogs of Afghanistan and Iraq to loving homes, so it also works hard to promote animal welfare and to assist in vital animal aid work that is so desperately needed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Communities and individuals worldwide raise money to help both the dogs, and their soldiers. All money donated goes directly to helping the animals of Afghanistan and Iraq.

FIND OUT MORE

You can find out more about Nowzad by visiting their website (www.nowzad.com), and join their Facebook page for daily updates on their work and links to all the dogs’ and cats’ ‘chipin’ pages.

MERRY DOGS’ SUPPORT

We are proud to be assisting Nowzad’s animals and their soldiers this year by donating 50% of all profits from sales of our Union Jack beds, from September to December 2011. This bed is hand-made in the UK from separate layers of faux-suede fabric, cut and sewn in place. All colours of Union Jack bed will raise money for Nowzad.