Article from Dog World A look back through the Crufts archives By: Bronwyn Bartley 14/02/2017
As we approach Crufts, the highlight of the show calendar, I thought that it would be fitting to take a brief look back in time. The very first Crufts Obedience Championships were held at Olympia in 1955 where dogs and bitches were judged, as always, on successive days. The judge of those very first Championships was George Sly, and his winners were both German Shepherd Dogs. On the first day Dorothy Homan’s Dog Ob Ch Shepherdon Spun Gold was the winner with Bill Spencer’s bitch Ob Ch Della of Gipton heading the final line-up on the second day. The runner-up to the bitch winner at those very first Championships was Barbara Pindar with her GSD Greyvalley Chloe. Barbara later became Barbara Hill and she was destined to herself win the Crufts Championships some 21 years later with her wonderful German Shepherd bitch Ob Ch Greyvalley Honey. Recognition of Barbara’s contribution to our sport came in ‘67 when she was invited to judge the Championships and this year we shall see her daughter, Wendy Birch, competing in the bitch Championships for the second time. What a great ‘family’ link stretching back to the very beginning of the Crufts Championships. This year will be the 63rd time the Championships have been held and so that means there will have been 63 judges, because no one has ever judged the Championships more than once. Out of those 63 judges only 14 have ever won the event as a handler. Two of these, Muriel Pearce (‘69) and Bill Shackleton (‘71), each won on four occasions – Muriel with the brilliant Ob Ch Megan of Monksmead won four times between ‘58 and ‘66, and Bill who won twice with his dog Ob Ch Dash in 1956 and also in the following year, and twice with his bitch Ob Ch Zena, also in successive years, ‘60 and ’61. Karina Griffiths (‘89) won twice with Ob Ch Lowella of Greatmeadows CDex UDex WDex TDex in ‘78 and ‘80 handling under her former name of Karina Smith and Kathy Russell (‘01) has also won twice – she first saw off the opposition 20 years earlier with Ob Ch Rintilloch Gingham and more recently won in ‘12 with Ob Ch Ruskath Portent Image. The others have each won once, Bill Spencer (‘65) won the inaugural event in ’55 as stated above, Barbara Hill (‘67) was a very popular winner in ‘76 (also noted above), Bing Bellamy (‘83) took the prize in ‘69 with her Ob Ch Blaze of Sealight, Mary McKenzie (‘86) was the trophy winner in ‘80 with Crest of Muirside, making him an obedience champion in the process I believe, Paula Ackary (‘93) took the honours in ‘75 (handling as Paula Lister) with her Ob Ch Stillmoor Jamie of Hurstview, Linda White (‘98) topped the list in ‘89 with Ob Ch Darlodge Fen, Carole Patrick (‘05) came first in ‘86 with Ob Ch Mac Belan, Herbie Watson (‘09) was the winner in ‘04 with Ob Ch Whatknow Razzamatazz and, in more recent years, Lyn Tozer (‘12) was presented with the trophy in ‘94, winning with Ob Ch Darkbeck Kracker Pop and Stella Henstridge, last year’s judge won the trophy in the same year as Lyn, ‘94.
Dominant breeds German Shepherds were very much to the fore in the early days, but the success which Bill Shackleton and Muriel Pearce had with their Border Collies in the ‘50s and ‘60s had the effect of changing the face of obedience over the next decade. The winners of the 124 Championship classes held to date have come from just nine breeds. There have been 58 Working Sheepdogs, 33 Border Collies, 22 German Shepherds (only three in the last 30 years), three Golden Retrievers, two Belgian Shepherds (Tervuerens), three crossbreeds, one Dobermann, one Standard Poodle and one Australian Shepherd. Only three venues have ever been used for the Championships, starting at Olympia originally, before Crufts moved to Earls Court, and now, since 1991, at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Over the years the floor surface has changed from concrete to green carpet, then astroturf and more recently, since obedience has had its own dedicated ring, the surface has returned to the best loved green carpet. Right through until the mid ‘70s the ring was surrounded by just a couple of rows of wooden seats or benches and the only sure way of getting a seat was to queue through the night. As in queues for most ‘sporting’ events the atmosphere through the long dark hours was superb and became almost electric as the time neared for the opening of the doors. The mad rush to claim those few unreserved seats is now of course a thing of the past which very few will remember and today’s superb arena, being surrounded by over 1,000 tiered seats, guarantees a first class viewpoint for the obedience enthusiasts.
ObedienceUK, Dog Training, Competitive Obedience, Crufts Obedience, Championship C