The club was starting afresh, with the congratulations of the Société Canine du Bourbonnais, and was officially affiliated to the Société Centrale Canine (the French Kennel Club) on 1 October 1985. The first Nationale d'Élevage (National Specialty) took place on 23 August 1985 in Néris-les-Bains. The number of puppies born was steadily increasing, the National Specialties were drawing large numbers of dogs, and the Braque du Bourbonnais was saved.
Soon, the Braque du Bourbonnais was exported to Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Morocco and Angola, and above all to the U.S.A. Here is how everything started in that country, which is now the second-largest producer of Bourbonnais after France:
In 1987, Bonnie Wilcox and Chris Walkowicz, two American journalists who were researching their book Atlas of Dog Breeds: Dogs for All Reasons, sent a letter to the Société Centrale Canine asking for information about the Braque du Bourbonnais. The S.C.C. forwarded the request to Michel Comte, who asked Françoise Sarret to reply to the Americans. This was done, and soon a Franco-American woman from Louisiana, Christiane Bernard, was found who wanted to breed Bourbonnais.
We had a young bitch, Valky, Michel Comte's pick of the litter from the mating between Teck du Rocher des Jastres and Happiness Taza (breeder: Nougaret); this bitch had been lent to Christian Mazade so that he could breed a litter. The club decided that the bitch, pregnant by Happiness Vulcain, should be given to this breeder, and she was sent in May 1988 (the club paid the transport costs). Valky, who produced the first American litter, justified those sacrifices, as demand for Bourbonnais has never stopped since. The same year, Pierre Tixier made a trip to the USA to take Camp du Pech de Cayrol (given by Marc Sudret) there. Beth Cepil, a breeder from Pennsylvania, imported two dogs from Jean-Paul Buot in 1989, and by then the Bourbonnais was well established in the USA.
