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Let me first tell you a little about where we come from. New Zealand is in the South Pacific about three and a half hours flying time from Australia. That’s approximately the same as London to Malta or Boston to Texas. New Zealand is made up of two main islands, the North Island where the majority of the population live and the South Island where we live.

Shows held in New Zealand are conducted under the auspicious of the New Zealand Kennel Club. The all breeds shows range in size from around 400 dogs in the smaller country areas to around 2000 dogs at the National Dog Show. There is no specialist Tibetan Terrier Club in New Zealand although most of us belong to the Asian Breeds Club and treat their shows as out specialty. Tibetan Terriers have been Best in Show at the Asian Breeds Club on six occasions. Although we occasionally see an Australian dog at our shows, dogs shown are almost all New Zealand owned due to New Zealands quarantine laws.

Dogs are shown in classes according to age beginning at 4 months of age with Baby Puppies, 4 to 6 months. The next class is Puppy 6 to 12 months, followed by Junior 12 to 24 months, Intermediate 24 to 36 months and Open over 36 months, although any dog except Baby Puppy may be shown in Open if the owners wishes. This is of course means if you have a very big young dog you can try and fool the judges that he or she is older than it really is. Some shows also include a New Zealand Bred class. All class winners then compete for Best Dog or Best Bitch respectfully and then the two winners compete for Best of Breed. Champions are shown in the breed classes and so to become a New Zealand Champion, dogs have to beat the existing champions. All age classes are carried through to Group and In Show and so we have Best Puppy of Group, Best Junior, Best Intermediate, Best NZ Bred and Open of Group, Best Puppy in Show, Junior, Intermediate, NZ Bred and Open in Show. Best of Breed winners compete for Best of Group and Best of Group winners for Best in Show. There are seven groups in New Zealand. Toys, Terriers, Gundogs, Hounds, Working (the pastoral breeds), Utility (the guard breeds) and Non Sporting (which includes the TT’s). To date there have been 114 NZ Champion Tibetan Terriers of which 37 have been Caerlaverock owned or bred. The most recent imports to New Zealand have been an Africandawns bitch from the UK, a Kashi dog from the UK, A Boshanti dog from the UK and a Bakit dog from Australia.

The New Zealand Kennel Club has just instigated a new award, The Gold Certificate of Merit, awarded to dogs that have been awarded 50 or more challenge certificates, and if those present will indulge me a little, our UK import NZ Ch Boshanti Tyson is the first TT to receive this award and I would like to ask Pat Tempest co-owner along with Krista Guziolek of Tyson’s dam to come up and accept this Gold Certificate of Merit Award, awarded by the New Zealand Kennel Club to NZ Ch Boshanti Tyson (Imp. UK).

Health problems are rare in the New Zealand TT population. In the twenty-five years the breed has been in our country we have seen five or six cases of Lens-Lux in the North Island and one reported case of PRA, although I have yet to see the paperwork confirming this. Hip testing is rare but most South Island TT’s used in the breeding program are eye tested. The NZ Kennel Club holds a register of hip scores and the results are published monthly in the NZ Kennel Club Gazette.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the dedicated UK breeders who took the time to select quality stock to send to New Zealand on which we have built. The Tibetan Terrier breed goes from strength to strength in our country and is a constant winner in the group and in show ring.

Brian Harris
Caerlaverock Tibetan Terriers
New Zealand.