Vive La Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen!

By Lisa Dubé Forman

On Saturday, February 9, 2013, the Petit Basset Griffon Vendeens stole the show at New Jersey’s Meadowlands Exposition Center. Two back-to-back specialty shows were held at the Exposition Center to celebrate these wonderful rustic, petit French hounds. Along with the Roughy’s, there were 10 other breed specialties for Saturday’s production. If you are an aspiring judge for one or more of these breeds and you have not attended this three-day Meadowlands Specialty Association event, I suggest this is a valuable experience as it offers an intimate atmosphere to examine and discuss various important aspects of the breeds. Saturday’s specialty lineup included the Working Group’s visually stunning Black Russian Terrier; the Sporting Group’s Vizsla, Red & White, Gordon, Irish, and English Setters; the Toy Group’s Pug and Bichon Frise, and the Hound Group’s Dachshunds, Salukis and PBGV’s. Certainly you get bang for your buck here.

Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night can stop many dog show exhibitors and this event was no exception. Mother Nature livened things up by throwing her fury at the East Coast with a winter storm named Nemo. There were a reported 5300 flights cancelled into the New York City/north east coast resulting in many contracted judges unable to fulfill their assignments. However, the show must go on and so replacements were found at the very last moment to fill in. As for the PBGV’s, this wonderfully good natured, outgoing, cotton tail hunter was nonplussed about the whole situation, despite a foot of snow. The beauty of these hounds is that no matter how nervous the handler, when you have a confident, happy dog at the end of your lead, then your blood pressure simply lowers.

Though the PBGV did not lead the way in entries amongst the 10 other breeds sharing the spotlight on Saturday, they were proud in their numbers and certainly inspiring entries for an AKC low-entry breed. The Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen Club of America Regional specialty led off with 7 sweepstakes and 25 regular class entries culminating in Best of Breed going to GCh. Celestial CJ’s All’s Well That Ends Well and Best of Opposite Sex awarded to GCh. Jaren’s Ready Set Don’t Go At R-N-B. After a brief intermission, we began the Mid New Jersey Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen Specialty with 6 Sweepstakes and 25 regular class entries. This specialty finished with a reverse of the earlier specialty, Best of Breed was awarded to GCh. Jaren’s Ready Set Don’t Go At R-N-B and Best of Opposite Sex went to GCh. Celestial CJ’s All’s Well That Ends Well.

The Roughy’s came, they saw and they conquered. The mighty, cheerful, jaunty hounds with their proud, rough and tousled appearances stealing so many hearts along the way.

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Posted by Lisa Dube Forman on Feb 11 2013. Filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.