The club was starting over, with the congratulations of the Société Canine du Bourbonnais, and was officially affiliated to the Société Centrale Canine on the 01/10/85. The first "Nationale d'Elevage" (National Specialty) took place on the 23/08/1985 in Néris-les-Bains. The number of puppies produced was steadily increasing, the National Specialties were gathering numerous dogs, and the braque du Bourbonnais was saved.
First Nationale d'Elevage, Néris-les-Bains, 1985
Soon, the braque du Bourbonnais was exported to
Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Morocco, Angola, and
mostly in the U.S.A. Here is how everything started in this latter country, which is now the second producer of
Bourbonnais after France:
In 1987, Bonnie Wilcox and Chris Walkowicz, two American journalists, making research for their book " Atlas of Dog Breeds: Dogs for All Reasons", sent a letter to the Société Centrale Canine to get information about the braque du Bourbonnais. The SCC transmitted the request to Michel Comte, who asked Françoise Sarret to answer to the Americans. It was done and soon a Franco-American woman from Louisiana was found, Christiane Bernard, who wanted to breed Bourbonnais.
We had a young bitch, Valky, litter choice of Michel Comte in the litter between Teck du Rocher des Jastres and Happiness Taza (breeder Nougaret); this bitch had been lend to Christian Mazade so that he made a litter. The club decided that the bitch, pregnant from Happiness Vulcain, should be given to this breeder, and the bitch was sent in May 1988 (the club paid the transportation fees).
Personally, I lost a bitch that I loved and that I was hopping to see coming back, Christian Mazade lost a litter on which he was counting, but Valky, having the first American litter, justified those sacrifices, as the demand for Bourbonnais never stopped since then. Pierre Tixier made the same year a trip to the USA to bring there Camp du Pech de Cayrol (given by Marc Sudret), Beth Cepil, breeder from Pennsylvania, imported two dogs from Jean-Paul Buot in 1989, the Bourbonnais was well implanted in the USA.
Madame du Barry, first Bourbonnais born in the USA, from Happiness Vulcain and Valky:
