The Broholmer Dog

We have done and seen so much, that there was no way, I could tell the story of my day without using a collage...

The Danish Broholmer Dog originated in Denmark. As a type this breed has been known since the Middle Ages, when it was used for hunting. Later on it was used mainly as a guard dog for large farms and manors. At the end of the 18th century the royal game keeper Sehested of Broholm Castle (from where the breed inherited its name) started a serious breeding programme and these dogs increased in number. After the Second World War the breed almost became extinct, but about 30 years ago, a group of committed people organized a society called "The Society for Reconstruction of the Broholmer Dog" They were supported by the Danish Kennel Club and began the work of reviving the breed. They have done a superb job and today the breed is very healthy with a reliable temperament.

Helle collected me at 9.30 this morning and we drove to Broholm Castle on the Island Fyn, where we met with 3 other dog dancers Jette, Anja and Sonja. We had promised the The Society for Reconstruction of the Broholmer Dog to come and perform our dog dancing routines at the Society's 30th Anniversary.

Before our performances, we had time to admire the impressive Broholmer Dogs - they such gentle giants. Lovely dogs indeed.

It was not an easy place to perform. We didn't have much space and there were lots of dogs very close by. Also we were performing in one of the show rings and a puppy had had a bit of a stomach thing (probably just a reaction to all the excitment of being at a big dog show) and there was dog poo, which could not be cleaned up, in one of the corners of the ring. Hero coped quite well though and performed a nice routine. Biscuit started well, then noticed the poo and refused to get near that corner again. I had to improvise for a part of the routine, until we had moved way from the yukky corner and Biscuit was ready to concentrate on the job again. His pretty, white paws do not touch pooh! ;-) I don't really think the spectators noticed that our routine did not go quite as planned - they were very excited :-). We got a lot of positive feed-back after the performances.

When we left the Broholmer Dog Show, the 5 of us wanted to visit Egeskov Castle, which was only 20 km away. It turned out to be very expensive to get in though, so we gave up on that idea. The other 3 drove home, but Helle and I decided to go to Nyborg and visited Nyborg Castle instead.

Nyborg was a really nice town and it was a beautiful walk in the park surrounding the castle. We had a lovely meal in a Mexican restaurant on the town square. The food was very spicy, but good.

A super day with good friends and my wonderful boys.

Pictures:
Top: The Broholmer Dogs - left is an adult bitch and to the right it is a young male saying hallo to a Border Collie puppy.
Middle: Biscuit and Hero performing their routines. Biscuit is performing to 'Wonderful Copenhagen' and Hero is performing his Robbery Routine.
Bottom: Helle's and my dogs in Nyborg Town Square.

Happy Weekend, Blippers
Emmy and the Hazyland Boys