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BEVANRAY JUBILANT WITH ASHCLYST "CALLUM" | |||||||||||||||
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DOB:04.02.2005 | ||||||||||||||
| HIPS: 12/12 | |||||||||||||||
| BREEDER: BEV HUCKER | |||||||||||||||
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CALLUM is a wonderful dog to own and in addition to
that he has done us proud in the show-ring. His character was clear to see,
when in 2006 we almost lost him to a severe intestinal illness, after he had
devoured a decomposing rabbit on the hills near our home. Emergency surgery
followed, and we were told he may only have 24 hours to live. Needless to
say, he pulled through and less that a week later, he was being placed 3rd
in his class at CRUFTS!Remarkable
testament to the courage and fortitude of dogs. With multiple firsts in the Champ and Open show rings, he has been in the cards far more often than not. He was runner up SWRA dog of the year in 2007. His show results can be seen on our show pages. Thanks to his breeder Bev Hucker for letting us have him and congratulations to her on the success of Callum's litter sister, BEVANRAY JAMELIA who so far has won 1CC and 1 rcc. We have had the privilege of looking after Callum's mum CH BEVANRAY DROOPY DRAWERS on one occasion whilst Bev and Steve were on holiday and suffice to say, what a wonderful bitch she is, still looking great in her veteran years. A word too for Jo Barnes (GYRIMA), the owner of GUARDAMI GLADIATOR AT GYRIMA (Locky) - Callum's dad. Locky must be one of the unluckiest dogs never to have become a Champion. He has 2cc's and 8 rcc's and many of those were won during the time when the breed record holder, CH ROLEX RUMOUR HAS IT BY FANTASA, was sweeping all before him. He was then followed by CH. KANESBROOK BLACK DENZIL and CH. TRAVILLONS RANT AND RAVE, so Locky certainly had tough competition, hence his large number of rcc's. What a wonderful dog, bred by Pauline Lockyer (GUARDAMI). HIPS You may have noted Callum's hip-score of 12-12 at the top of the page. As many of you will know, this is above the breed average and was a disappointment to us as we felt that Callum had very desireable breed-type which we hoped he would pass on at some stage. There is a cautionary tale in how this score came about. I had used the same vets in the past for hip-scoring GSD's and had good results, so had no reason to anticipate any problem with Callum's. When he reached 12 months of age, he was duly x-rayed and the film sent off to the BVA for scoring. Obviously, we were not happy with the score and on obtaining the radiograph, it was apparent that not only was the film quality poor, the positioning was suspect. I would recommend you all to read the article on hip x-raying on Eddie Nicol's Rottweilers direct site. It was very prophetic for us. I knew that once a score has been issued, there is no appeal process to the BVA, but for peace of mind. I decided to get Callum's hips re x-rayed by a highly acknowledged canine radiographer. Obviously, I needed to know whether Callum's hips were indeed 12-12 or not. A much clearer, properly positioned xray was taken and the opinion given to us was that his score would have been significantly better than 12-12 and should have been in the region of 8-8. A total of 3 of Callum's litter siblings have been hip-scored. The two based in the UK each have a total score of ten or under, and his Sweden-based brother has a Swedish pass score. So whilst Callum's is not a top-drawer score, it should have been much more respectable and totally acceptable for breeding purposes and this was a weight off my mind. We have the second set of plates should anyone wish to see them! So there you go. I only had myself to blame for not checking the original xrays prior to submission. We live and learn even after all these years. I cannot change Callum's score now, but I have the xrays along with the peace of mind that he has perfectly good hips not only for breeding purposes, but also that he is not likely to suffer hip joint problems as he gets older. If you have been getting your xrays done by the same vet for many years, always check them. They may have been taken by a more inexperienced vet in the practice. You pay your money and you have the right to insist they are done again if they are not of an acceptable standard. | |||||||||||||||
