Irish Canine Press

Scarlett Burnside (16) was crowned International Junior Handler at the finals at Crufts on Saturday, under judge, Vesa Lehtonen from Finland. Scarlett, who won the Irish finals in December under top handler, Michael Coad, beat representatives from 43 other countries to win the International Junior Handling competition for Ireland in front of thousands of people in the Genting Arena at the NEC, Birmingham. Juniors up to the age of 19 and from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and, for the first time, Chile were competing in the final.

Caroline Kisko, Secretary of the Kennel Club which organises Crufts, said: “Congratulations to Scarlett on her fabulous win. Competing at Crufts can be daunting for many people, so to do so in front of such a huge crowd and at such a young age is a remarkable feat."

“Scarlett clearly showed the natural handling skills which she has with dogs, even ones that she has only just met, and she will surely have a long and successful Crufts ‘career’ ahead of her.”

The Irish Kennel Club hosted two International Ch Shows over the St Patrick’s festival in Dublin, both generously sponsored by GAIN Petfoods on the day represented by Jim Treacy & Sean Martin; the first event was on March 17th and titled the IKC Int St Patrick’s Day Ch Show. This year there were 1,550 dogs entered in the across the breeds with a mixture of overseas and Irish judges and it was popular Irish judge, Bernie Ladd, who gave the BIS rosette to the the Papillon, Multi BISS Ch Expana’s Sea Dragon Conqueror, owned by Sean Carroll and James Newman and handled on the day by Sean. ‘Howard’, who has only been with them for two weeks was at his first Irish show, was Sean’s World Show BOB winner in Finland in 2014. He was bred in Thailand by Mrs B Myra and Mr Y Ponkrit.
Reserve BIS was the Alaskan Malamute, Ch, Int & Lux Ch Libertia Reggae Master, owned by Mark Burnside and daughter, Scarlett who handled ‘Marley’ who is also Amsterdam Winner '12 & '15 and Triple Winner Germany Bundessieger ‘15. IKC President, Sean Delmar joined the winners in the photograph.

IKC Int St Patrick’s Day Ch Show
Best In Show, Sean Carroll and James Newman's Papilon Multi BISS Ch Expana's Sea Dragon Conqueror
Reserve BIS, Mark and Scarlett Burnside's Alaskan Malamute, Ch, Int & Lux Ch Libertia Reggae Master.
IKC Celtic Winners International Ch Show
Best In Show, Tom and Annie Mervyn's, German Shorthaired Pointer, Sh Ch Tomanipoint Celtic Knight,
RBIS, Pat & David Foley and Gyte Morkute's Rottweiler, Ch Joshabelle I’m Gorgeous And I Know It At Zarimus.

The IKC Celtic Winners International Ch Show was on Saturday, 18th March, offering the Celtic Winner titles and was also a Crufts qualifier, resulting in a slightly higher entry with 1,572 showdogs. This time judging in the big ring was Chris Hancock whose choice for top honours fell to the German Shorthaired Pointer, Sh Ch Tomanipoint Celtic Knight, bred and owned by Tom and Annie Mervyn, ‘Rory’ and no stranger to top wins having clinched a half dozen BIS wins now, andhe had earlier collected the crystal for the second year running for topping the Gain/Irish Canine Press/Dog World Group 7 Leaderboard.
Reserve BIS under Chris was the Rottweiler bitch, Ch Joshabelle I’m Gorgeous And I Know It At Zarimus, Top Rottweiler Bitch in ’14; ‘Zara’ is owned by Pat & David Foley and Gyte Morkute, and handled by Pat. Rob O’Keeffe and Sean Martin represented sponsors, Gain Petfood, and IKC President, Sean Delmar, is also pictured.