MEMBER STORY – Jennie Hegarty

This is my 10 Months of being a Bolognese parent!

In February I picked up Fizz from Jane her breeder and my life is now totally ruled and manipulated by a tiny (now a bit bigger but still small) ball of white fluff – I am absolutely besotted and think she is just beautiful.  She has many different looks, on a good day she almost looks like a meringue with two dark eyes peeping out from a cloud of white fur.

Usually she looks like a Muppet – from the American series ‘The Muppets’. Often she is covered in mud or sand as her hobbies include wading in muddy puddles and excavating mole hills! I am desperately aware of my shortcomings in the ‘grooming department’ and I now have more products and hair accessories than I ever did for my daughter. I constantly look at pictures of Bolognese – not very easy as there aren’t that many – I have read the one and only Bolognese book from cover to cover again and again and still I fail to present her as she should be presented. I am having great fun showing her and only yesterday a Judge said she had a very cute face and another judge commented on her mischievous expression. Jane her breeder does a super miracle makeover to cover up my shortcomings which at one stage resulted in her having to have most of her coat combed out.

It has been a super ten months – together we go to a ring craft club designed solely for Cavalier King Charles – initially Rob the leader said he didn’t see the appeal in Bolognese – now he is a convert! However she bounds up to every Cavalier she meets I think she thinks she is one! We have been to a training class where she passed her puppy foundation and bronze Good citizen award amidst mainly gundogs – however she now refuses to ‘perform’ even when bribed it’s as if she needed to learn the exercises but now doesn’t see the need to do as she is asked/told.

I will never forget the embarrassment I suffered when on our first Bolognese meet up it quickly became obvious from the ardent attentions of the male Bolognese that she was in season – I had to carry her all around Greenwich Park whilst fending off her admirers.

She spends a lot of her time hiding my underwear and my husband’s socks – she is quirky and makes me smile. I feel very lucky not only to have her but to be a part of the wider community of Bolognese Club.