The Basset Hound Club of Victoria Inc. Australia         

Arthur's claim to fame was not in the show ring but in the promoting of our breed in the media.

Back in August 1986 Channel 10 in conjunction with the Basset Hound Club of Victoria ran a competition to find "Mr. Hush".

This competition was advertised in the press and on TV asking owners of Bassets to a competition to be held at Batman Park on August 3, 1986.

The Judges were from Channel 10 and Hush Puppies Shoes, 100 Bassets turned up in all shapes and sizes...what a sight to see.

Arthur was chosen to be Mr. Hush.

He then became part of a major publicity campaign in the press and on TV to promote the annual Deafness Telethon "Sounds of Christmas".

He was featured on 10,000 posters throughout Victoria, he attended all functions for the appeal, he was featured on all TV stations in prime time 6pm news meeting the Premier Mr. John Cain.

Arthur had a wonderful temperament and people loved him. The deaf children he met soon relaxed with him. We used to get people phoning us asking for puppies that looked like Arthur.

During the actual appeal, which ran for 24 hours on Channel 10, the cameras kept crossing to Arthur who was watching Mitre 10 build him a kennel. This kept progressing all the way through the telethon till at the end Arthur was sitting in this beautiful fully insulated kennel which we still have at Kamlea.

His official title was:

Deafness Foundation of Victoria Telethon Mascot
"Mr. Hush" 1986
Proudly sponsored by Hush Puppies.

At the same time as all this was going on he had done poster work for the Hospital Benefits Association, his photo with a young boy with a broken arm was displayed in all the outlets connected with HBA.

Following this he became "Capital Clancy" for the Capital Building Society. This was an advertisement heavily featured on TV. The Society had stuffed toys made that looked like Arthur and if you opened an account for $500 or more you got a Capital Clancy toy.

He did other TV ads, calendars, cards, books etc and was a true ambassador for the breed.

He also held his own in the show ring being an in-show and in-group winner.

Until meeting Arthur this little boy was terrified of dogs.

Capital Clancy campaign.