The National Gundog Association Championship Show. Judges: Mrs H. Kirby (Ambergold) Dogs & Mrs C. Carter, Bitches.
Messano Urban Myth, 2nd Minor Puppy Dog. Messano Phonafriend, 3rd Limit Bitch.
After all the disappointments and upset of the past few weeks, we were delighted with the results from this show.
Rumour was awarded his second Minor Puppy 2nd place in a nice class and Beattie was awarded a 3rd place in her first ever Limit Bitch class. This gave Beattie her stud book number and lifetime qualification for Crufts.
We took a few photos at the show, please click here to see them.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took the time to send us messages of support during our recent sad time; it is very much appreciated and makes it easier to bear when we know that other people care about us and our dogs.
Thanks to you all.

Just as we thought things could not get any worse, they did.
Julie took Rumour and Beattie for a walk on the common this morning and Rumour was savagely attacked by a stray lurcher type dog. During the attack, the dog sank its teeth into Rumour's head which resulted in very serious puncture wounds requiring a general anesthetic and several stitches to a hole in his skull and ear, some of which was torn off. Julie also received some very serious bites from the dog and has bandaged arms and hand due to deep puncture wounds and very bad bruising. Luckily there was a groundsman working on the golf course who helped get the dog of Rumour; if he had not been there, we have no doubt that Rumour would have been killed and Julie even more seriously injured. Paul captured the stray dog as 'evidence' and secured him in a cage in our garage until the dog warden collected him. Hopefully the owner will be traced and a prosecution will follow. The outcome was bad enough as it was, it does not bear thinking of what the result had been if the dog had attacked an old lady or small child with a dog.
Rumour's physical wounds will heal, we just hope that he is not mentally scarred from his ordeal as he has an exceptionally loving and sunny temperament. We are so pleased that Rumour did not retaliate during the attack; things could have been much worse if it had turned from a savage one-sided attack into a dog-fight.
Poor little Rumour; he is only seven months old and never dreamt that there were dogs out there who would do him harm.
Hopefully our luck will now change after the past few days of trauma!

Sadly the last 4 puppies in the 'Jackson' litter succumbed to Canine herpes Virus today. This has been a very difficult time for us and one that we hope is never repeated. Details can be found in the puppy diary.

East Of England Championship Show. Judge: Mrs G. Hill (Bramhills). Messano Urban Myth, 2nd Puppy Dog. This was only the second Championship show that Rumour has attended, so we were very pleased with his 2nd place which qualified him for Crufts 2010.

We are proud to announce that Beattie (Messano Phonafriend) has now achieved her Kennel Club Good Citizens Silver award. The next target is to go for gold at the end of the year!

The Royal Norfolk Open Show. Judge: Mrs P. North (Tippastree). Messano Urban Myth, 2nd Puppy Dog. Messano Mustang Sally, 2nd Open Bitch.

Roxy's puppies were born 3 days earlier than expected in the early hours of 26/06/2009. The puppies arrival coincided with the death of Michael Jackson, so in memory of a great entertainer who is almost the same age as us and who's songs were the soundtrack to our youth, we have decided to break with the alphabet tradition for this litter and name the puppies after Jackson songs. The only other time that we have done this is with our 'D' litter, who were born on the 50th anniversary of D-Day and had wartime names as the theme. The litter consists of 8 puppies, 4 dogs and 4 bitches. Unfortunately Paul was on a business trip in Germany when the puppies made their entrance, so Julie had to cope on her own with support only from text and phone calls! All the puppies have homes arranged for them.

Roxy has one week remaining until her puppies are due to be born. She is looking a good size and we hope for a large litter. A photo of Roxy taken today can be seen here.

Uxbridge Canine Society Open Show. Judge: Ms Sue Loach (Putjade). Messano Urban Myth, 1st Puppy Dog, Best Opposite Sex and Best Puppy. A very nice day for Rumour at only 7 months of age! A photo of Rumour at the show can be seen here

Gruppo Cinofilo Orvietano FCI show (13th) & San Marino FCI show (14th). Julie was invited to judge two CACIB/CAC shows on successive days in the beautiful town of Orvieto in Umbria, Italy. We travelled on Friday, attended the shows on Saturday and Sunday (which coincidentally was Paul's 50th birthday) and returned home on Monday. Julie had some very nice dogs and judged in the beautiful setting of Villa Paulina Porano, set in a clearing in the middle of a wooded area. We were entertained in the evenings by the committee and had a very enjoyable (but very tiring) time. Unlike the UK shows, every dog has a critique dictated to a translator by the Judge. This means that the time to assess a dog is much longer and takes more concentration than at a UKKC show. CACIB Male & BOB on the first day was Valentina Zanini's Ch Pinkerly Never Say Never (UK Sh Ch Shardanell Castaspell x Ch Don't Worry Be Happy). Res CACIB/CAC was Alessio Gasperini's Xanthous Gringotts (Meloak Dancing Storm x Xanthous Promise).
Second day was the turn of the bitches, CACIB/ CAC was Valentina Zanini's Ch Pinkerly Kuala Lumpar (Ch Taram Du Bois de La Rayere x Ch Barbarella) and Res CACIB/CAC was Laura Dietinger's Dietinger's Gipsy's Queen (Ch Royal Crest Gold'n Seveneleven x dam incorrect in catalogue).
Photos of the show can be seen here.

Messano Minnie The Moocher (Roxy) has been scanned and confirmed in whelp to Ritzilyn Rock On Tommy For Messano (Tommy). The puppies are due on 29/06/2009. The waiting list for this litter is currently closed, but we will reopen it if Roxy has a larger than expected litter.

The Suffolk Agricultural Society Open Show. Judge: Mrs J. Lees (Denmarella). Messano Urban Myth, 2nd Puppy. Ritzilyn Rock On Tommy For Messano, 3rd Post Graduate Dog.

Edwinstowe & District Canine Society Open Show. Judge: L. Dunbar (Linigor). Messano Urban Myth, Res Puppy.

Coventry & District Canine Society Open Show. Judge: M. Haselden (Overdene). Messano Urban Myth, Res Puppy.

Boxer Rescue Companion Show. We attended the show with Rumour (Messano Urban Myth) today as practice before his first open Show. We were very pleased when he was placed 3rd in a class of 30+ puppies. A photo of Rumour being shown can be seen here.

Paul attended the Eastern Counties Golden Retriever Club Open, Novice & Veteran working tests at Glemham Hall, Suffolk as 'official' club photographer. if you would like to see photographs of the tests, please click here

The Golden Retriever Club Of Northumbria. Judge (Dogs): Mrs H. Morss (Xanthos). Ritzilyn Rock On Tommy For Messano, 2nd Post Graduate. We were very pleased with this place for Tommy in his first 'big boy' class, which also qualified him for Crufts 2010. A photo of Tommy taken at the show can be seen here.

Roxy (Messano Minnie The Moocher) has been mated to Tommy (Ritzily Rock On Tommy For Messano). This the first 'in-house' mating that we have done since 2002 and we hope that the combination of Roxy and Tommy will produce puppies with the same loving temperaments and good conformation of their parents. The waiting list for this litter is currently closed.

Norfolk & Norwich Canine Society Open Show. Judge: Mrs J. Critoph. Messano Riseandshine , Res Limit. Jenny Bowdens Messano Spinning Jenny, 1st Open & Best Of Breed. Julie attended the show on her own, as Paul was judging Dogs at Camberley & District Canine Society's Open Show at Woking Leisure Centre. Best Of Breed, with the agreement of the bitch judge Margaret Joy (Shardanell) was Sue Russell's Rosinante Crystal Lace JW. Best Puppy was Di Rose's Azteca April Quest.

Northern Golden Retriever Association Open Show. Judge: Mrs J. May (Cherrygold). Ritzilyn Rock On Tommy For Messano 2nd Graduate Dog. Messano Riseandshine VHC Graduate Bitch.

This is non-doggy news but we are very proud to announce that we have become grand parents as our daughter Emma and her partner Glen have produced our first grand daughter 'Annabelle Louise'. It was a double celebration as Annabelle made her appearance on the same day as her mum celebrated her birthday. At least we should not forget the date!
Click here for some photos of the latest 'Messano' baby.

Eastern Counties Golden Retriever Club Open Show. Judge: Mr Bertil Lundgren (Engelen, Sweden). Messano Riseandshine 2nd Post Graduate Bitch. We were pleased with this result, as this was only the second show that Sunny has attended since before she had her litter in July 2008.
Paul was the 'official' photographer at this show and recorded all first and second place winners. Please click here to see the results on the ECGRC website.

Two of our girls have proven that they have brains as well as beauty by passing their Kennel Club Good Citizen Awards. Faith was awarded the bronze cerificate and Roxy added the silver award to the bronze that she was awarded last year.
Click here to see a photo of them in a 'down-stay' with their awards.

A Happy New year to all our visitors. We apologise for the large gap since the last update, but things have been very hectic here at Messano. The puppies have been going to their new homes and on Christmas day, Paul suddenly decided it would be a good idea to redecorate the lounge over the holiday period and has spent all his spare time working in the room, leaving no time for updating the web site.
Nearly three weeks later it is still not finished, but will be very nice when it is completed!