Well 2006 is at a close, Christmas day has passed us by and the frantic shopping days are now just a distant memory, all wrapped and given to our friends and loved ones as a sign of our love and affection for their involvement in our lives. For those who like ourselves have spent many days out on the road traveling to dog shows, it is a time to reflect on our efforts, bask in our successes and dream of future expectations at forthcoming shows.Like many of you, we follow the achievements online of our dog world colleagues around the world, cheering them on from our armchairs and hoping that success and glory follow them from show to show. Oh how technology has helped us in our quest for reaching wider horizons, forging friendships with people we have never met and strengthening the ties with our competitors in the show ring.

We have been very fortunate to meet some wonderful and fascinating people on our travels, and to those people who have become part of our circle, we would like to thank you for sharing our experiences and making our days spent at shows enjoyable. We would also like to take this opportunity as the year draws to a close, of thanking all the judges who have so kindly seen certain qualities in the dogs we have shown, giving them recognition and placing them on the days in question to the titles achieved. We are grateful that they take the time to visit countries far from home, sometimes in all extremes of weather to grace us with their knowledge and wealth of experience. Already many of us will be planning the shows for 2007 and like at so many shows of the past year, all our paths will cross at some time or another in 2007. Thank you also to the show organisers who without the hard work and extremely long hours we would not see some of the spectacular shows presented. Special recognition to the individual kennel clubs for ever improving the quality of shows, for stamping out many of the bad practices that were creeping in and for ensuring variety is offered throughout the year. Last but not least, the breeders who continue to strive for perfection, who continually produce beautiful puppies and who spend many sleepless nights hand feeding because of their love and dedication to the breed. This is really the start of the chain and without these dedicated individuals dog showing would not be what it is today, so hats off to each and every one of you, raise a glass to the New Year and may you continue to offer quality and good breeding in the years to come.

We have had our own little corner of success this year with our boy Zsacharias and our girl Heidie who I am sure you have followed on our web site www.apollodane.com. Both have proved much beyond our expectations and we are delighted at their achievements. We have all covered some miles in search of success and our Danes now have their very own "frequent flyer cards" an initiative set up by our local kennel club and our regional airline carrier, something I personally feel we should all be perusing, as between us all we must cover some flying miles and let's face it, any saving on excess luggage with our dogs means we are able to visit more shows in support of other countries. Cyprus Airways to their credit and recognition give a 50% discount to members of the scheme, so for those of you out there and actively involved in your own kennel club, this is a benefit supporting two very worthwhile causes. The next thing would be to get the member cards accepted on ALL airlines, that really would be a great achievement. Anyway, back to the success of 2006 with Heidie and Zsacharias. For 2007 Zsacharias will cover Heidie and for those interested in this mating, more information can be found on our web page, copies of pedigrees and copies of the pedigrees of the potential offspring. Heidie will be given a break to concentrate her efforts on motherhood and our lovely girl Odette will take to the show circuit. Let us hope she sees similar success in 2007 to follow in the lines of Heidie.

From all here in Cyprus, especially at Apollodane Great Danes, we wish you all the very best in 2007, we wish you continued success in forthcoming shows and we wish you good fortunes in future matings throughout the year.

Today, a cold winters day in Cyprus. I think it got as low as 28 degrees today by the pool. We didn’t actually swim today, but we had swimsuits on and took in a few sun tanning rays ready for the Christmas photo’s.

Dogs were really enjoying themselves. Zac and Star were excluded for obvious reasons but they have been up on the mountain today for a good run individually. We love to get them all together as often as we can as it just breaks up their bonds with their kennel partners so as not to get to territorial. Heidie & Odette as so bossy with Polo as you can see from the photos, they really give him the old rough and tumble.

Things really are now becoming a bit of a haze !!!!! which dogs, which country. Our European adventure continues and our next stop on this whirl wind tour is Athens once again. We chose Athens because although we had been very fortunate to have Zac already made up to Greek Champion under their existing rules of 3 C.A.C under different judges, we had also managed to qualify Heidie on a previous visit to 1 C.A.C. It seemed such a pity not to at least try our hand at completing the title and although 2 C.A.C over one weekend would be a tall order, we took the attitude, if you don’t enter you don’t win.

Now regular faces at Larnaca Airport, the check in staff process the paperwork with ease, we pay our excess funds and we go upstairs to the outside café area and enjoy the late afternoon sunshine, watch the people as they arrive and just relax in readiness for our flight. Zac always on show for the passing photographer, he poses this way and that way like a true supermodel. Heidie on the other hand is more interested in the three cats that have found their way via the roof in to the café area. One smell of cats and Heidie goes in to overdrive. Sometimes I think rather than bait them in the ring with tit-bits of meat, maybe I should put a small kitten in my pocket, that really would do the trick, as well as cause chaos to my rivals. In no time we have been called, our dogs collected and taken to the aircraft and we sit back on board ready for our journey. It’s a busy flight, commuters going home for the weekend, Christmas shoppers going to pick up that something special and the odd scattering of romantics going away for what one can best describe as “an old fashioned lovers weekend” Us, well we were on our own, no other dog show entrants on that flight, although we did see a few spectators who were going along to see any new competition that may have hit the show circuit recently.

In no time we are ready for touchdown in Athens, the usual mad scramble to the passport control and then the unenviable wait for the luggage. With our past experience in Frankfurt (see Zagreb Show News) we have now become nervous that all airports are the same. I have to say, in the case of Athens Airport that could not be further from the truth. If all airports took a leaf out of the book of airport staff in Athens, traveling would be a much nicer experience. Porters on hand to assist you as soon as you enter the baggage re-claim hall, friendly staff wanting to help you and even the customs officials smile and greet you in a way that fills you with confidence. They along with all other airports we have visited need to just concentrate their efforts on the passport control staff, who considering this is your first point of contact with that particular country seem to have all come out of the same training school. I don’t think I have ever once met a passport control officer who has wished me a pleasant stay in their country. Dogs collected safe and sound, luggage all nicely stacked on the trolley with the Porter and straight through to our awaiting pet taxi Nick and his mother. It is so nice to just sit back and enjoy the journey, taking in the window shopping and observing the surrounding areas. About 30 minutes and we were at the London Hotel in the centre of Glyfada. Checked in we went up to see the room, only to discover that if we had toy poodles the room would have been great, but with 2 Great Danes unfortunately this was not my idea of a good nights sleep for either the dogs or for us. It had laminate wooden flooring which immediately flagged up problems. Eight heavy hoofed paws pattering up and down all night would be like torture whilst trying to get to sleep and the lack of space would make life impossible. We decided to try our luck with some other hotels before we settled in to the hotel London just in case we managed to find anything with a little more space. Sadly we came upon what seems to be an ever growing problem, that of the fact that hotels view people with dogs as a no go area. As a Travel Agency Proprietor I have to say this really gets on my nerves. You are either in the business of letting rooms or your not and turning away good business at a time of year when hotels are operating on 40% occupancy and less, my thoughts are this is business they can ill afford to turn away. As we know, the majority of people who travel with their show dogs are more respectful of the circumstances than the average traveler, they care for their surroundings and they are appreciative of noise which may occur from time to time.

In the London Hotel at the time of our stay we had the unfortunate situation to share the hotel with four water polo teams of school children who seemed to think it wholly appropriate and acceptable to run up and down the corridors past midnight screaming and shouting. When the tutors were eventually found the noise was then transferred to the rooms of the school children who gathered 12 in a room. The poor people who were showing dogs the next day of which there were quite a few had absolutely NO SLEEP, despite numerous complaints to the hotel and despite numerous protests to the children and their tutors. Why is it that Kennel Clubs in their recommendations for accommodation in general think that dog owners are worthy of nothing less than sub standard accommodation. I for one like my creature comforts, I am not a snob and I do not put myself on a pedestal, but when it comes to a good nights sleep, decent accommodation is paramount in my opinion. In Nicosia I stayed with Craig and my parents in what can only be described as a hotel frequented by ladies of the night. Rooms rented out by the hour, doors banging all night and the sound of satisfied customers of a sexual nature ringing through the walls. We all slept fully clothed and on top of our towels what little sleep we did get. Our hotel in Zagreb was very much the same until we absconded and found sanctuary in the four star Zagreb Astoria. Here we are again going through the same performance, lack of care when suggesting these hotels, people traveling many, many kilometers, sometimes spending days on the road, finally having to make do with accommodation normally they would not give a second glance at. I am beginning to get very angry at various levels. First towards the hoteliers who see us as little more than a problem. They are so short sighted they can not see beyond their noses. The hotel in Zagreb that eventually saw us as adding to their weekly target figures saw us spend money in their restaurant each evening on food, they saw us have room service when we were peckish and they saw us enjoy a bottle of champagne to celebrate our Champion wins. So you see, quite a bit of business being turned away, not only from us, but from all those other people who travel with their dogs. What I would like to do is start a data base of accommodation around the world at various levels, places where we the dog owners know that rooms offered are big enough for the dogs we are transporting. To add to that I would like to add to it names and contact numbers of any facilitators, or facilities where transport can be arranged without the need to stress over driving in strange cities to venues not known. We surely as dog owners must have come across hotels and taxi firms who actually pleasure in our business and we must have all stayed in hotels that we are happy to share with our doggie partners around the world. So if you can start me off with any of your recommendations, for hotels, hire transport companies, taxi companies, facilitators, that is people locally who are happy to arrange all these things for you or anything else you feel may assist in future travellers at future shows, send an e-mail to info@apollodane.com and let us see what we can collate between us. We had no option to stay at the Hotel London and the Saturday, tired through lack of sleep we set off on our journey to the Glyfada Old Airport Arrivals Hall. It was a strange feeling driving up to it as you imagined it as it was supposed to be and not as an International Exhibition Centre. Inside was as you can imagine HUGE, set out in rings and with lots of space to set up your crates and prepare your dogs.

We got set up right next to our ring which on the first day was ring number 8. It was a great position and had lots of space for practising with the dogs and for me changing in to my show suites without the need to be running as we often do, backwards and forwards to the toilet. Horrible places some of those toilets to get changed in, but get changed we must if the judge is to take us seriously and how I have seen particularly in local Cypriot shows how dress sense has improved in the ring. It might be said that my suites are a little on the loud side, but to be honest, that’s my personality and I have now become a little superstitious were they are concerned so continue with them I will. Zac was first in his class, Champion Class and showing like a dream. He was a bit lazy when he first went in, but he soon knows its time to perform and quickly steps it up. He wins his class and is chosen Best Dog, now it’s the turn of Heidie. Heidie is getting a little hormonal and I worried this would stop her from doing her bit. She is more concerned about the possibilities of coming in to season than showing in the ring and just wants to be loved, not good when you are trying to convince the judge she is a prize winning bitch. She pulled it off, showed very well and we came away with winning Open Class, taking Best Bitch and getting one more C.A.C & C.A.C.I.B towards her Greek Champion title. B.O.B was taken by Zsacharias, a real professional we are now beginning to see. That all important wait for groups took us through to around 4pm and with a stroke of luck, they actually started the afternoon session with the groups first. Group 1 in, shown and decided, group 2 standing nervously on the side awaiting introduction. Once again we are at the front, once again we show to perfection and once again we are pipped to the post for a local dog the miniature schnauzer. A lovely dog, but we are large breed lovers so struggle to see the same qualities in them as we do in our own. The same schnauzer went on to take Best In Show, so to lose out the Best In Show winner was quite acceptable. Saturday night was yet another night without sleep due to screaming children. Some dear friends who were staying in the same hotel, non drinkers I have to add came to breakfast quite hung over.

“What ever is the matter” we asked. “Oh we couldn’t get to sleep so we decided to drink some red wine to knock us out after we complained and it never got any quieter”

Now any kennel club responsible for recommending accommodation not befitting it’s clients should take heed. They are driving perfectly respectable non drinkers to the bottle. So please, please, please, do not think you are doing your members any favours by just offering the first thing that comes to hand. Plead with the hotels, tell them we are respectable citizens and that we respect other peoples possessions and if they need to charge a deposit in case of damage I am sure many would be happy to leave it on the understanding that it is refunded upon departure if everything is left as it was found.

Sunday saw us move to ring 3 a day when we really needed to take Heidie and show her to her best. A lovely Steward made sure we had a call in time to prepare and the Argentinian / English judge the nicest person you could wish to meet. He took time not only to go over your dogs, but to set you aside and cover points which in his opinion were of value to you and your future shows. Interesting points he made as he was deciding Best Of Breed once again between Heidie & Zac. He looked closely and kept going back to go over Heidie. We moved round the ring, we went up and down and then round once more and the winner Best Of Breed was Zsacharias, but only just he tells me as there were many qualities he said he preferred in Heidie over Zac. Personal choice of course at the end of the day, but always nice to hear different judges opinions and always good to take them on board. We have had one judge give a critique stating Heidie didn’t have a full set of teeth and then we got one the following week to say Heidie had a good full set of teeth. So as personal opinion count quite highly in the marking, some may say that it is not always a true reflection of what they are seeing, but at the end of the day it is the judges decision that is final and we respect that no matter what. So Heidie had lost Best Of Breed to Zac, but what she didn’t lose was her entitlement to be awarded Greek Champion title. With an excellent critique and her C.A.C & C.A.C.I.B. Zac went on to groups, a line up of 41 we were told as I couldn’t see the end of the line up as it was so far away. Short listed to 12 and then down to 6 and we were still there. 3rd , 2nd & 1st place announced and we were still left standing, but hey, we had done well to get where we had and after all, we did get Heidie to Greek Champion, Zac was already Greek Champion and we got 2 more Best Of Breed, so who was complaining, not us. So Heidie now showing signs of spotting, her rear end quite swollen, we took her sign to inform us that her season was imminent and completely out of timing. Mind you Heidie has always been one of those daughters from hell who would be 2 months late, have you rushing to the chemist for testing kits, only to discover she was in fact just IRREGULAR. Her last season produced a phantom pregnancy so we feel it appropriate to listen to her body and draw to a close our European adventure for the time being. We were due in Helsinki next week and St Petersburg the week after and really looking forward to going and competing with Danes we had not competed against. The body clock the way it is we decided to take the opportunity to cover Heidie with Zsacharias and give them both a rest until in to the New Year when we will bring Zac out again accompanied by his new showgirl Hildydane Odette. By then Heidie will be settled with her little brood, fingers crossed and she can enjoy a well earned rest. So in 4 countries over 6 weeks we have collected an impressive number of titles we are very proud of for both our current showing Danes. For Heidie we have taken:

• International Champion
• Bulgarian Grand Champion
• Bulgarian Champion
• Balkan Champion
• Croatian Champion
• Greek Champion
• Aphrodite Winner
• Zagreb Winner
• Crufts Qualifier

To add to her already achieved:

• Cyprus Champion
• Reserve Best In Show
• Best Great Dane Cyprus

For Zac we are proud to announce in 4 countries over 6 weeks we collected for him:

• Bulgarian Grand Champion
• Cyprus Champion
• Bulgarian Champion
• Balkan Champion
• Croatian Champion
• Greek Champion
• Aphrodite Winner
• Zagreb Winner
• 10 Best Of Breed
• 2 Group Wins
• 1 Best In Show
• To add to his already achieved
• Australian Champion
• 4 Australian Best In Show

All this would not have been possible without the careful selection of the judges who we would like to thank for having the faith in our Danes to take the titles achieved. They do a very hard job, sometimes extremely chaotic and very disorganised, but they come through at the end of the day and for that we are truly grateful. We have visited some lovely countries and our thanks to the kennel clubs of those countries for hosting such events and making it all possible. We have travelled with some fantastic airlines and to those mentioned on previous show news we would like to thank you for your continued efforts in assisting us, making our journey hassle free and for taking the stress out of flying. Thanks also to our dear friend Susan Charalambous who I have to say with her colleague Gerdi have taken on a new dimension in the Travel Agency here in Paphos. They are now fully trained and highly qualified in the transporting of dogs throughout the world, mind you they should be the hassle we have put them through. Thanks to all those people we have met on route, who have shared our success and us theirs, to the companions we have sat with ring side and for those offering us assistance with shows past, present and future. For the time being we will take a break, we will share the joys of motherhood with Heidie if she and Zac manage to get it together and we shall resume our showing in the New Year.

In the meantime, a quick reminder to those of you who can and will assist me in compiling a database of accommodation at various levels around the world, please send me your information and experiences so I can start to put a list together on my site. Any additional information regarding dog friendly taxis, dog friendly car hire companies, dog crate hire companies, people who are just happy to lend a hand, then send it all via my e-mail at info@apollodane.com For the time being that is show news update completed until 2007, which after all is not that far away. Keep checking in to see how we get on with the romance between Heidie & Zsacharias and watch how Odette performs in her run up to becoming our next multi champion. She is already showing great movement in the ring, has taken a number of coveted titles in Australia before we brought her to Europe and we feel she will equal that of her companions Heidie & Zsacharias. Thank you for sharing our show news with us, we hope you continue to enjoy our diary notes and our pictures, come back again soon.

N.B I would like to make it known that the incident at the London Hotel was in no way connected to any recommendation made by the OKA (Athens Canine Society) All arrangements with them by way of information, prior to and during the show was of first class standard and can be fully supported and endorsed by us. The comedy of errors at the London Hotel was wholly the responsibility of the hotel and it's management team.