Honiton hound show is latest casualty of kennel cough outbreak

The recent outbreak of kennel cough is continuing to impact upon hound shows up and down the country, with the West of England Hound Show at Honiton, which takes place tomorrow (Thursday 1 August), the latest to impose restrictions.

Packs that attended the Festival of Hunting at Peterborough (17 July) will not be allowed to attend Honiton after the Vine & Craven pack which exhibited — and won there — was found to be affected.

The Sandhurst & Aldershot Beagles, which are kennelled with the Vine & Craven, are also currently quarantined.

A statement from the Honiton show committee confirmed that: “All packs that went to Peterborough therefore have potentially been in contact with animals suffering from an infectious disease and will therefore not be allowed to come to Honiton.”

According to hound show secretary Peter Sadgrove, this rules out 9 of the 43 packs originally scheduled to attend, including all six packs of harriers.

The committee was keen to emphasise that packs that exhibited at July’s other premier hound show, Dunster Country Fair (24 July), are still welcome to attend.

“Neither the Vine & Craven nor the Sandhurst & Aldershot were at Dunster, therefore any packs that went to [this show], but were not at Peterborough, will not have been in direct contact with any packs that are coughing,” continued the statement.

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