June 22nd - Dreamcatcher
Siberian Huskies had a successful day with all 10 Dreamcatcher (or
Dreamcatcher-related) dogs entered getting placed. Pride of place went to Ute
who won Open Dog and went home with the dog CC (his 2nd - just one more for his
UK Championship!) and Chrystelle - Dreamcatcher The Prosecutor owned by Toni
Gillman, who took the Reserve Bitch CC at only 15 months. The day was marred by
the weather and the fact that the show was abandoned due to the dangerous
condition of some of the marquees due to the high winds. Luckily for us, Sibe
judging was completed before the show was abandoned and we got away safely.
June 15th - Ute went Best In
Show again!!! This was his 3rd Open Show BIS this year!
May 30th - Happy Birthday Terry - Love
you now and forever!
February 5th - London Fashion Week
filming - Had a great day today working with people producing Fashion
Film Show - a film they are making for London Fashion Week.
Fashion Film Show is
an event which brings together the work of three young fashion designers in a
film presentation event. The designers have collaborated with London
based Performance and Film Artists to produce three distinct films to showcase
their collections for 2008.
The films will be screened on 11th February to an anticipated audience of 750
people. Organisers are looking forward to hosting some of the fashion
industry's strongest critics for an evening of fashion films marking the unique
collaboration between some of fashion and art's finest young talent. All
artists involved in the project are this year's graduates from various art
schools around the country.
As contributors, Dreamcatcher Siberians will
be featured on:
We're really looking forward to the finished film - Ute, Tovick and Tinkerbelle
all behaved impeccably and were off-lead throughout (it was a safe, escape-proof
area)
You can access the video HERE
- it is the last of the three videos featured. Don't blink or you'll miss
the dogs!
Here are some atmospheric stills from the video

February 4th - Black Day for London -
Low Emission Zone comes into force
Just a note of warning for anyone with a van in the London area
(or who travels occasionally to the London area). On Monday, the new Low
Emission Zone (LEZ) comes into force - another one of Ken Livingstone's insane
ideas. Any vehicle which doesn't comply with Transport For London's emission
regulations will have to pay a huge daily charge (congestion charge on
steroids). It is being "phased in" so we won't have to pay on our van
until October 2010. From that point on we have a choice - either pay £100 per
day for driving in the LEZ (can't really avoid it as we live in it!") - or
pay up to £4000 to have the van modified (by 2010 it won't be worth £4000).
It's not just about those of us with dog vans, this measure will destroy
thousands of small businesses throughout Greater London who rely on their old
"white vans" for transport. Watch and wait while every single thing we
buy in London, whether a service or a product, becomes significantly more
expensive as companies have to add on the extraordinary cost of this new charge
(or completely renew their transport fleet). It also includes fire engines?????
and other public service vehicles. This is the most appalling example of stupid
"green" gesture politics we have yet seen. Good job the Mayoral
election is coming up - Ken even makes Boris Johnson look sensible!
PS - don't think, "Oh, that just affects London"- if Ken gets away
with it, other councils are sure to follow!
19th January - Message Boards, Fora & Bulletin
Boards
Two senior luminaries of the UK Siberian Husky World have both
chosen recently to attack Discussion Fora, Bulletin Boards and Message Boards
which are not controlled by either of the two UK Siberian Husky Clubs. Their
criticisms are particularly ironic when you consider the numbers of people
banned from the SHCGB Board for utterances which do not "toe the party
line." Indeed, the whole reason why such boards as ours
exist is because the SHCGB chose to stifle discussion about the breed by making
their public forum a private one.
The two individuals in question are Simon Luxmoore and Krystan Greenland
(recently resigned as Secretary of the SHCGB). Simon's recent diatribe against
internet message boards is particularly ironic as he is in the priveliged
position of pontificating from on high in the pages of Dog World every week
where no-one has the right of reply. At least if I say something
outrageous on our or any other message board, anyone who disagrees can publish
their argument immediately and (as long as no personal insults are involved)
uncensored. Simon referred in his January 11th Dog World Breed Notes to his
opinion that "not too much good comes from participation" and
that such message boards risk "spreading total ignorance."
He also refers to "the truly sad, sniping, pathetic individual who has
been thus for years and years - does nothing significant for the breed, is
negative and critical in every respect" - I think this is longhand for
people who disagree with him and his old fashioned (but somehow not charming)
patrician manner.
Interestingly however, whether he intended it or not, there is a sting in the
tail of Simon's "sad, sniping" little article, where he laments the
early days of the breed when "the then club was the centre of all breed
activity and worked very hard to represent the interests of all, through
consensus decision making."
So is he now saying that the SHCGB no longer represents the interests of all,
and no longer functions through consensus decision making? If so, welcome to the
rebel's club Simon - I've been saying that for years!
Krystan's criticisms are somewhat similar but much less arrogantly stated -
indeed, he admits that some of the non-club message boards are "very
good and offer up useful information," there are "others, often
run by people who have achieved nothing in the breed, have not been in the breed
very long, are not members of either UK breed club and therefore do not have to
abide by a code of ethics in the way they deal with members of the public or
when breeding, which are less than useful in the 'advice' they give"
(For full text, click HERE)
Of course some message boards are better than others and, being a fairly
democratic medium, the advice given is only as good as the membership of any
particular forum - which makes the two fora I am a regular contributor to
(Dreamcatcher & Sibespace), pretty high quality given the wide variety and
depth of experience of many of the contributors.
The sad (and maybe "sniping") fact is that message boards like these
and others, would neither exist nor need to exist if the SHCGB was more
open, more welcoming and less elitist.
Saturday 29th March 2008 - AGM of The Siberian
Husky Welfare Association (UK) - at the Parks Leisure Centre, Howden
Road, North Shields, NE29 6TL.
Exact times/further details etc will be posted later. For now, please put the
date in your diaries.
Friday 4th January 2008 - the BIG ONE - Mick's
60th Birthday - At last I can officially be a grumpy old man!!! Maybe I'll start
growing up now??
14th/15th/16th December 2007 - Southwark Frost Fair at Bankside by the Tate Modern. Three days of rides,
photos, husky-hugging and fundraising for SHWA(UK). It was an exhausting but fun
weekend and we raised over £500 for SHWA(UK).


8th December 2007 - That Santa gets around - another town
another grotto - this time Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. Not a bad day, but
torrential rain cut the day a bit short.
1st December - Delivering Santa again - this
time to his grotto in Windsor after a street parade. Then we'll be doing
hug-a-husky, kiddies rides and photos with the dogs.

24th November 2007 - This is where the Christmas
work starts - Delivering Santa to his grotto at Squires Garden Centre in Surrey
and giving husky rides to some of the children who turned up to greet him:

The Siberian Husky Welfare Association has just published the
first issue of its new Magazine - "Siberian Eye". To download a copy,
Click HERE for a full-colour version, or HERE
for a B/W printable edition.
