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Dog News The Digest of American Dogs Volume 26, Issue 21 May 28, 2010
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Dog News 3
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*The Dog News Top Ten List
138 Dog News
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*The Dog News Top Ten List - All Breed**C.C. System
10 ♦ Editorial
14 ♦ Inside Out
18 ♦ The Upside Of The Seesaw
22 ♦ Question Of The Week
26 ♦ A Delegate’s Journal
30 ♦ Tributes To Corky Vroom
34 ♦ Bests Of The Week
38 ♦ Ten Questions
42 ♦ Remembering Bob Condon
46 ♦ Big Is Beautiful
50 ♦ Stop The Insanity
54 ♦ Schipperkes In Mayfair
58 ♦ A Little Bit Of Paradise
62 ♦ Adorable, Fluffly, White Athletes?
64 ♦ Wonderful Japan
66 ♦ Re-gifting: A Wagging Tale
68 ♦ Poster Children For Kennel Blindness
70 ♦ All In The Family
72 ♦ Thyroid Medication
74 ♦ Off The Leash
76 ♦ Tough Week, Those Judges Fees, Animals In War And More
78 ♦ Back To The Bluegrass
80 ♦ English Cockers Return To Wisconsin!!
90 ♦ The Gossip Column
100 ♦ Click – Ladies Kennel Association
114 ♦ Click – The Way We Were
BY JOHN MANDEVILLE
BY SHARON ANDERSON
BY MATTHEW H. STANDER
BY CONNIE VANACORE
BY PAT TROTTER, BRUCE SCHULTZ, & CAROL TOBIN MURRAY
BY LESLEY BOYES
BY LOUIS AUSLANDER
BY YOSSI GUY
BY DIANNE MCKEE-ROWLAND
BY NICK WATERS
BY SHARON SAKSON
BY M.J. NELSON
BY JACQUELINE STACEY
BY SHERRY BOSLEY
BY SEYMOUR WEISS
BY CHARLES C. ROBEY
BY CARLOTTA COOPER
BY SHAUN COEN
BY MATTHEW H. STANDER
BY STEPHANIE ABRAHAM
BY KATE ROMANSKI
BY EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
BY EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
BY EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
124 dog show calendar • 130 handlers directory • 132 subscription rates • 134 classified advertising • 136 advertising rates
All advertisements are copyrighted andowned by DOG NEWS, Harris Publications,unless received camera-ready. Permission toreprint must be requested in writing.
DOG NEWS (ISSN 0886-2133) is publishedweekly except the last two weeks inDecember by Harris Publications,1115 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10010.Periodical Postage paid at New York.
CONTENTSMay 28, 2010
POSTMASTER:Send address changes toDOG NEWS,1115 Broadway,New York, N.Y. 10010
4 Dog News
10 ♦ Editorial
14 ♦ Inside Out
18 ♦ The Upside Of The Seesaw
22 ♦ Question Of The Week
26 ♦ A Delegate’s Journal
30 ♦ Tributes To Corky Vroom
34 ♦ Bests Of The Week
38 ♦ Ten Questions
42 ♦ Remembering Bob Condon
46 ♦ Big Is Beautiful
50 ♦ Stop The Insanity
54 ♦ Schipperkes In Mayfair
58 ♦ A Little Bit Of Paradise
62 ♦ Adorable, Fluffly, White Athletes?
64 ♦ Wonderful Japan
66 ♦ Re-gifting: A Wagging Tale
68 ♦ Poster Children For Kennel Blindness
70 ♦ All In The Family
72 ♦ Thyroid Medication
74 ♦ Off The Leash
76 ♦ Tough Week, Those Judges Fees, Animals In War And More
78 ♦ Back To The Bluegrass
80 ♦ English Cockers Return To Wisconsin!!
90 ♦ The Gossip Column
100 ♦ Click – Ladies Kennel Association
114 ♦ Click – The Way We Were
BY JOHN MANDEVILLE
BY SHARON ANDERSON
BY MATTHEW H. STANDER
BY CONNIE VANACORE
BY PAT TROTTER, BRUCE SCHULTZ, & CAROL TOBIN MURRAY
BY LESLEY BOYES
BY LOUIS AUSLANDER
BY YOSSI GUY
BY DIANNE MCKEE-ROWLAND
BY NICK WATERS
BY SHARON SAKSON
BY M.J. NELSON
BY JACQUELINE STACEY
BY SHERRY BOSLEY
BY SEYMOUR WEISS
BY CHARLES C. ROBEY
BY CARLOTTA COOPER
BY SHAUN COEN
BY MATTHEW H. STANDER
BY STEPHANIE ABRAHAM
BY KATE ROMANSKI
BY EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
BY EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
BY EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
124 dog show calendar • 130 handlers directory • 132 subscription rates • 134 classified advertising • 136 advertising rates
All advertisements are copyrighted andowned by DOG NEWS, Harris Publications,unless received camera-ready. Permission toreprint must be requested in writing.
DOG NEWS (ISSN 0886-2133) is publishedweekly except the last two weeks inDecember by Harris Publications,1115 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10010.Periodical Postage paid at New York.
CONTENTSMay 28, 2010
POSTMASTER:Send address changes toDOG NEWS,1115 Broadway,New York, N.Y. 10010
4 Dog News
Dog News 5
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DOG NEWS is sent to all AKC approved judg-es every week on a complimentary basis. Nopart of this publication can be reproduced inany form without written permission from theeditor. The opinions expressed by this pub-lication do not necessarily express the opin-ions of the publisher. The editor reserves theright to edit all copy submitted.
PUBLISHER
STANLEY R. HARRIS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
EUGENE Z. ZAPHIRIS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
SEAN KEVIN GAFFNEY
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SHAUN COENY. CHRISTOPHER KING
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WEB ADDRESS: www.dognews.com
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IAN MILLER212 462.9624
CONTRIBUTING EDITORSSharon Anderson
Lesley Boyes
Andrew Brace
Shaun Coen
Carlotta Cooper
Geoff Corish
Allison Foley
Denise Flaim
Yossi Guy
Mary Jung
John Mandeville
Billy Miller
Desmond J. Murphy
M. J. Nelson
Sharon Newcombe
Robert Paust
Lenora Riddle
Sharon Sakson
Gerald Schwartz
Kim Silva
Frances O. Smith, DVM
Matthew H. Stander
Sari Brewster Tietjen
Patricia Trotter
Connie Vanacore
Carla Viggiano
Nick Waters
Seymour Weiss
Minta (Mike) Williquette
DOG NEWS PHOTOGRAPHERSChet Jezierski
Perry Phillips
Kitten Rodwell
Leslie Simis
Paddy Spear
MAY 28, 2010MAY 28,, 2010
Dog News Cover StoryDog News Cover Story
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*The Dog News Top Ten List & C.C. All Breed Systems
“BLING”Ch. Boardwalk’s Bling Bling
OwnersJulianne Steele and Ed Wolkenmuth, Aspen, Colorado
Richard and Kay Kraft, West Linn, Oregon
Breeder Richard Kraft
Handlers Andy and Amy LintonAssistant Ashlie Whitmore
The Number One* Bedlington Terrier
The Multiple Group Winning Blingis pictured winning a Group First under
Judge Mr. Peter Green.
Dog News 7
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*The Dog News Top Ten List
8 Dog News
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*THE DOG NEWS TOP TEN LIST - ALL BREED
Dog News 9
The Plague Which Is CancerTwo of the more visible and surely belovedindividuals in our sport succumbed this past weekto cancer. I refer of course to Corky Vroom andBob Condon, both of whom fought valiant battlesagainst this dreaded disease. Unfortunately itusually takes more than the perseverance of thestricken individual to overcome certain forms ofcancer and such was the case with both Corkyand Bob. Corky was a third generation son of thedog world from California who apprenticed underthe famous professional handler Harry Sangster.He was the last licensed all-breed handlerapproved under the Brumby regimes of the late‘60s. That in itself was a major accomplishmentas the long time dog show goer will no doubtrecall. He handled three different exhibits toTop Dog All-Breed and all exhibits were for thesame clients Nat and Gloria Reese with whomhe established one of the great relationships ofloyalty and devotion in the dog show world. Thisteam of handler and owners remains one of themost outstanding teams ever developed in oursport and is an example for anyone in these kindsof relationships to admire. The turning pointin Corky’s personal life was marrying Sue sometwenty-nine plus years ago. She complimentedhim and helped him perfect what at times couldbe described nicely as a less than perfect lifestyle.They too matured into one of our great dog showcouples who helped set the standard for us tofollow both in our dog show lives and otherwise.Corky will be sorely missed and our thoughts andbest wishes are with Sue always. Bob Condona man of respect and fortitude from the Chicagoarea was a Midwest fixture until he and his wife,Madeline, moved to Florida. In their hearts thoughthey were Chicagoans first and world travelersfor sure. Bob was a fun, intense sort of guy whoreveled in telling stories. Perhaps not as diverseas Corky as a handler he still had major successeswhich distinguished him way above the ordinaryprofessional handler. He was a sought after judgewho was as pleasant in the ring as out of it andan incomparable traveling companion. His love ofthe Orient in particular could not be denied. Bobwas an unusual person. It seems hard to believethat the dog world lost these two men within aweek’s time but such unhappily is life. We all goon as they would have wanted us to albeit withheavy hearts but with extremely fond and lovingmemories.
It’s Obvious But DeniedThe weekend of May 21st there were over40 All-Breed shows held from Thursday toSunday. This Memorial weekend from Thursdaythrough Monday close to 50 All-Breed shows arescheduled! No matter how you look at it that’san awful lot of All-Breed shows being held in avery short period of time. Too many?? Thesepages believe so as do many people in the sport.Indeed there are so many All-Breeds scheduledthat it is mind boggling. Where are the dogs tocome from? There are plenty of judges but whereis the gene pool to supply the entries? If one istalking Cluster Events usually the exhibitor willattend and entries and majors are in abundance.But for two-day events or country fair type singleevents held say on the East Coast from LongIsland to Maine to Virginia to Ohio to Tennessee(two sets) to Florida and South Carolina how caneven the Delegates justify this kind of scheduling?These pages are fairly confident that the Boardrecognizes, indeed is even discussing the problembut just imagine a recommendation to cut backon shows or alternate annually shows in obviouscompetition. You think the howls about judgesfees are loud – they would be insignificantcompared to a paring of the show giving events.But something has to be done, hasn’t it? And it isthe opinion of these pages that the Board shouldjust act as they did in the case of introducing10 Dog News
DOGNEWS EDITORIALmixed-breeds into areas of conformations shows. Justdo it and face the consequences of acceptance orfailure. If the Board believes judges fees are necessarythen implement them. If the majority within the Fancydisagrees then “vote the bums out” at the next Boardelection! Don’t resort to term limits – reject that ideathe way the Brits just did in the UK – vote them out.You don’t want a realignment of the groups even ifthe Board believes it is in the best interest of the sportvote them out! But unless and until new ideas andregulations are implemented we all face the prospectof a decline in the value and meaning of an AKC purebred dog competition. New ideas, new theories must bedeveloped for both AKC to survive and for our sport tocontinue. Registrations are amok – require club membersto register their litters – what’s wrong with that – don’tlike the idea “vote the bums out.” But at least recognizethat times demand new, progressive and different rules,regulations and attitudes. If this means altering the formof the present Delegate Body – so be it. If this meansaltering the change in membership for AKC – so be it. Ifthis means altering the Board elections and officers – sobe it. Call a Constitutional Convention to examine allthe existing provisions under which AKC operates – puta moratorium on all changes while this is going on andagree to abide by the new adopted suggestions. Callin the top constitutional attorneys and people who runnot for profits and restructure the corporation to meetthe demands of today’s society. Restructure the entireoperation – until that is started these piecemeal attitudeswill continue the status quo which just cannot bepermitted to happen.
A Surprising ReportThere’s nothing like today’s society to totally confuseyou. What was long accepted as fact is today dismissedas fiction as a result of that scary word “Study.” Wellhere’s the latest – it’s pretty well accepted that theGreat Dane was bred as a guard dog, the Old Englishas a herder and on and on. The emergence of breedswas a rather strategic process of artificial selection thatoccurred over a long span of time. Humans bred dogs forcertain personality traits, looks and ability and that’s howbreeds evolved. An inadvertent consequence of thesebreeding practices is a new “study” relating to longevity.Docile, shy dogs tend to live much longer than bold,aggressive dogs according to a paper to be publishedsoon in The American naturalist. It seems some peoplein Canada analyzed data and studies including one froma Swedish pet insurance company that evaluated caninelongevity. For instance, the English springer spanielis said to be 34 per cent more docile than the bassethound based on a scale established in a l995 Journalof General Psychology study and twice as likely to livelonger than 10 years. Well we always thought a Bassetto be more docile than an ESS for sure but what do weknow. Similarly the poodle per this study is 29 per centmore docile than the boxer and is four times as likelyto live past 10. The study was careful to compare dogsof similar size since it is known large dogs tend to dieyounger than smaller ones. Oh well, next week a newstudy will come out with a totally different interpretation.But we are all used to that aren’t we!
Thought For The WeekIn USA Today a headline read, “Mother of 14 backspet birth control.” It seems this mother of 14 childrenunveiled on the front door of her California home asign which read “Don’t Let Your Dog or Cat Become anOctomom. Always Spay or Neuter.” PETA gave her$5,000 for this endorsement plus a month’s supply ofveggie hot dogs and burgers for her and her 14 kids. Isthat how PETA gets endorsements – by paying for them.One must wonder how much is paid to celebrities byPETA for endorsing them as well. Could the judge whowrote to PETA asking for them to bring suit against AKCbecause of the attempt to charge a judges fee be a PETApayee in disguise. Can you imagine anyone taking thatkind of tact – going to PETA for help because they wereagainst a fee charge. That person should be boycottedfor sure and the truth about PETA buying endorsementspublicized nationally as well. •
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If this isn’t proof positive I need to geta life, it’s the next thing to it: I haveprobably paid closer attention for alonger time to the public announcements,pronouncements, press releases, minutes
and what have you coming from The GreatAmerican Kennel Club than 99% of the peoplein dogs. Good grief.
In the interests of full disclosure, thepreceding reference to “The Great AmericanKennel Club” is not an original witticism fromyours truly. I wish I could claim it. To the bestof my knowledge “The Great American KennelClub” was coined by long gone all-breed judgeand character par excellence Billy Kendrick,who delighted in using the phrase, especiallywhen his friends from AKC’s upper echelonswere around.
Mr. Kendrick well knew neither AKC as aninstitution nor AKC higher-ups were anywherenear as great as they thought they were, butthen that’s true for most things and nearly allof us.
You could say the most instructive thingabout The Great American Kennel Club’saborted decision to start charging judgesannual fees per breed is AKC caves when lotsof people yell loud enough. But we alreadyknew that… Petland, anybody? At least thiswasn’t dragged out – a mere week from “It’sgoing to cost you” to “Oops, no it isn’t… fornow.”
AKC needs to regularly remind itselfrespect for authority isn’t what it once was.Even before the general erosion of respect forauthority that occurred in the last decadesof the Twentieth Century, there was built-inresentment toward AKC in the judging ranks,for the obvious reason: Judges want more;AKC gives less, although the approval systemhas so devolved we are almost certainly in themost sustained period of low or no complainingabout approval from judges in AKC history.
We can only hope the just appointed“committee to review the current judgingapproval system to see if any improvementscould be made” does indeed makerecommendations for, shall we say, tighteningthe system. It’s a good committee, well-qualified to undertake their assignment…although, how it’s possible today to appoint aneight person committee with only one womanmember escapes me.
In all of dogs there were no otherwomen qualified and willing to serve on thiscommittee? That seems far-fetched.
In any case, however the collective
InsideInsideInsideInsideInsideOutOutOutOutOutOutOutInsideInsideOutInsideOutInsideInsideOutInsideby John Mandeville
Reading The Board Minutes
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”respect” of judges for AKC’s Board might becharacterized, it took a significant hit with the one-twopunch of first the Board allowing their spouses/householdmembers then themselves to be approved for breeds –something never permitted in AKC’s first 116 years or so.
However much judges and the fancy generally mayhave raised their proverbial eyebrows at such decisions,the Board appears to have scarcely thought they werebeing perceived as self-serving. If anything it was justa few years before the Board moved into “Why stopthere?” territory.
Why not exempt delegate judges from the proposed– and potentially substantial – new judges’ fees? May’sBoard Minutes state, “As the AKC Bylaws prohibitDelegates from charging a judges’ fee, DelegateConformation judges will not be required to pay thisfee.” That should mollify most of the nigh onto 40%,or thereabouts is it, of the delegates who are judges,shouldn’t it?
There’s just a tiny bit bigger problem than whetherexempting delegate conformation judges from the fee isintended to appease – known in some quarters as bribe –a chunk of the delegates. Actually it’s much bigger thana “tiny” problem.
Six of the seven approved conformation judges on theBoard voted in favor of the proposal to impose an annualfee on judges and exempt delegate judges. Got it? Sixof seven Board member judges – obviously delegatesall – voted to exempt themselves from fees they voted toimpose on all judges except delegate judges.
Talk about damned if you knew/damned if you didn’tknow: Either six of the seven conformation judgeson AKC’s Board knew they were voting to exemptthemselves from substantial fees – blatantly self-serving– or they did not know that’s what they were doing,which would be unimaginable if it weren’t AKC’s Board.
AKC Board Minutes record the yeas and nays for allvotes, as well as who abstains and who was absent. Noreason is given when someone abstains.
Just one of the seven conformation judges on AKC’sBoard abstained from the vote to impose an annual fee onnon-delegate judges. I don’t know why he abstained, butas far as I’m concerned Dr. Tom Davies is the only judgemember of AKC’s Board who did the right thing.
Some might say if all Board member judges abstainedthere would be no quorum and therefore the Board couldnot conduct business, e.g. no vote on the issue. That iscorrect. It is correct because the Board’s intent was toexclude a class of participants in the sport from a fee theyintended to impose. Unfortunately they are all membersof that class. They created a paradox which cannot beresolved. That’s about right for AKC’s Board.
So, is The Great American Kennel Club’s Board aparadox, or what?
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*All Systems **The Dog News Top Ten List
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AAnd
Six dogs and handlers would have anopportunity to win their way onto the teamvia the weekend competition, which meansit was pressure packed. It is one of the onlytimes other than the AKC National AgilityChampions that the best in the country gohead to head on the same courses. Thismeans that all have the same conditions,courses, judging, and challenges. This iswhen the cream rises to the top and showsthat they can handle the pressure of beingfilmed live all runs, having the coach (NancyGyes) on the sidelines making notes ontheir abilities or lackof them and so manyspectators expecting somuch of them in all fiveruns they perform in. Ittakes courage to try outfor the team but the winis well worth it. Manywho have made the teamhave had life changes fromthe experiences, givenup professional careers inmany cases to become fulltime trainers and seminargivers.
The Friday session is apractice run to acclimate to thesurface which was perfect dirtin this case and the equipment.The contacts were all newlyrubberized and gave perfecttraction regardless of theangle of the entry. Hopefullyall clubs will start rubberizingtheir contacts as it is very
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The World Team Tryouts were held on May 7-9, 2010and proved as exciting as any agility competition couldpossibly be. Nearly 80 of the best dogs in the country
tried out for the 12 spots on the AKC/USA World AgilityChampionship team that will be representing our country in theWorld Agility Championships held in Rieden, Germany.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 82
by Sharon Anderson
UpsideSeesawTHE
OFTHE
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Kerrie KuperI think it was fantastic thatpeople want to get involvedand have their voices heard.I do believe too manypeople feel that they are notappreciated and that they arenot listened to. Judging bythe swift reaction from thesubsequent follow up letterreceived from AKC I think thatpeople WERE heard!
David and Sharon KroghWe hope that there is a betterway to fix AKC’s financialproblems, and save the futureof our sport. Obviouslythere are many dog showenthusiasts who have voiced amultitude of ideas. By comingtogether in a positive mannerwe might be able to workwith the American KennelClub. With that in mind, botha Washington and an Oregongroup have asked AKC Boardmember Patti Strand to speakat two separate meetings.One to be held on May 26 inAuburn, Washington and theother on June 1 in Canby,Oregon. The title: “Planninga constructive future for AKCand the sport of purebreddogs.”
Dr Alvin W KrauseI do not object to paying anannual fee, but I do objectto the methodology of thecharges. I feel that the feeshould be the same for all of usthat are judging, regardless ofhow many breeds we judge orif we are a delegate or a boardmember. Most professionsthat I am familiar with chargea flat rate for all of theirmembers, as should be donewith judges.
WeekT heT he
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of theof theBY MATTHEW STANDER
What Was AndIs Your ReactionTo The FurorOver The Board’sDecision ToChargeConformationJudges A Fee?
Carolyn R. KraskeyThis is ridiculous to ask judgesto pay for this or any part ofjudging. If AKC is short ofmoney there are thing theycould change such as: movethe site from New York toNorth Carolina as their mainoffice and reduce the wages oftop executives.
Andrew KramerThe furor was understandablegiven how the judge’s feewas to be levied. I don’t thinkmost judges would objectto an annual fee, after all,there are administrative costsassociated with processingand maintaining informationon thousands of judges.Where I think most judgestook umbrage was in the factthat delegates were exemptedfrom the fees. Judges whoare delegates incur the samecosts as judges who are notdelegates. To place fees onlyon the latter was unpalatableto many, including myself. Ihope that the Board comes upwith an equitable fee schedulewhich I believe would bereceived without too muchopposition from the judgingcommunity.
Roz Kraus-KramerMy first reaction was shockand disbelief, mostly becausedelegate judges were not tobe charged fees. Over the nextcouple of days my resentmentsubsided as the idea of judgespaying an annual fee seemedreasonable. But the fact thatdelegates were exemptedfrom the fees still botheredme tremendously. Delegatesare not REQUIRED to judge,it is their personal decision,and administration fees costthe same for delegates aswell as non-delegate judges.So having all judges, not justnon-delegates pay an annualfee is essential. The originalper breed fee struck me asburdensome. All-rounderswould eventually have topay $1,700 annually, in effectpenalizing them for theirknowledge and experience.
Even a judge with one groupcould get hit with a $125- $180 annual fee. A morereasonable fee schedulewould be $50 per partialgroup and $100 per fullgroup; a judge with twogroups would be assessed$200, a judge with threegroups $300, etc. I do thinkthe judging community has,and still is, going overboardon their reaction. Manyof the “complainers” havea hand full of breeds, andtheir annual fee would notbe devastating. Simply put,if a judge has 20 breedsthey would be chargedapproximately $150 –divided by 10 shows judgedannually. Can you tell methat $15 spent per show isgoing to break someone?Entry fees are double thatamount! Naturally somejudges will try and passthose costs to clubs – clubsare already suffering – so myhope is they will not passthe buck. Registrations andshow entries have beendeclining for 10 years, whilethe number of judges (andhence expense to the AKC) isincreasing. Charging judgesan annual fee is a small stepin fiscal responsibility, butthe much larger problemfacing AKC remains. It ismy hope that the Board willmake the tough choicesnecessary to ensure theorganization’s solvency. Itis also my hope the judgingcommunity will do their partin helping to keep the sportwe all love alive.
Grace KosubI have been judging almost20 years but have onlyfive breeds, includingjuniors. I am still tryingto finish provisionals formy last breed. Having toredo provisionals (on abreed in which I have bredchampions of record) Ihave now lost some of theeducational components Ihad completed on breedsthat I intended to applyfor next. At this time Iwill most probably notcontinue to pursue mydream of adding morebreeds, as I cannot affordto repeat educationalcomponents that havealready been done once.I am opposed to ANY feethat the AKC imposeson judges. However, ifthe AKC decided that Iwould be issued an officiallicense to judge, wouldallow me to use the AKClogo on a business cardwith my name, listed asan AKC licensed judge,and allowed me to solicitassignments, I mightconsider a small onetime fee, which would bethe same for all judgesregardless of the numberof breeds for which theywere licensed.
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#1 English Springer Spaniel*
“DUSTIN”
Ch. Cerise Signature of Telltale, CGC, RN, CD, TDISire: Ch. Telltale Freestyle “Gorsha” Dam: Am. & Can. Ch. Cerise Winsome Winter Rose “Rosie”
Owned and bred by Dorothy Cherry and Rosemary FugitHandled by Meagan Ulfers
*The Dog News Top Ten List - All Breed
Our thanks to Judge Mr.DesmondMurphy for this honor
Multiple Best In ShowMultiple Best In Specialty Show
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The one thing that seems to bemissing here is acknowledgement thatall purebred dogs evolved from differentbreeds for special purposes. One doesnot have to dig too deep into history todiscover that the majority of our “pure-bred” dogs were custom-created forspecific purposes by owners who want-ed them for guarding, herding, cuddling,racing and hunting. Dalmatians have aworld wide problem with calcification ofuric acid. Many generations ago someDalmatian breeders, having despairedof finding breeding stock which doesnot carry this genetic defect, did a trialbreeding of Dalmatian to English Point-er. Descendents of that original crossedlitter do not carry the defect and havecome to the AKC for permission to regis-ter those offspring in order to enter themin performance events.
The argument was such that manyDalmatian fanciers left the Parent clubto form their own organization, whichis now petitioning the AKC Board torecognize descendents of these dogs aspurebred and eligible to compete in AKCevents.
Dalmatians, of course, are not theonly breed which carries a gene for deaf-ness. Their owners are merely the firstto ask for admittance into AKC events.Some of the arguments against allow-ing them to compete are downrightridiculous. There has been no evidencethat these dogs are more unpredictable,untrainable or dangerous than any otherbreed of dog, whether in competition ornot.
Although the recent poll of ParentClubs on this subject has not been re-leased (to my knowledge,) my own Par-ent Club Board concluded that deaf dogsshould be allowed to compete, but thatthey should be spayed or neutered. I be-lieve this was a reflection of the Princi-ples of Integrity that our club promotes,stating that dogs with known hereditary
ADelegate’sJournalby Connie Vanacore
Two items which appeared in the May minutes of the AKC Board of Directorsappear to have stirred up the ire and wrath of some Delegates. The first hasto do with the postponement of discussion concerning the admission of deafdogs into Agility competition. An offshoot of the Dalmatian Club of America
has asked that deaf dogs be permitted to compete in that venue. Two AKC Board mem-bers, Dr. Charles Garvin and Patty Strand, both Dalmatian breeders, are adamantly op-posed to this possibility. There has been a great deal of discussion both within the Del-egates Obedience Committee and on the Board about the ramifications of this.
26 Dog News
defects should not be bred.There are two threads to this
discussion. One is the fact that thesedogs are deaf.
The other is that the cross be-tween Dalmatian and Pointer wasoriginally made, not to cure deafness,but to eliminate the problem of uricacid stones forming in the kidneys.This cross has been able to producedogs which do not carry that gene,but does not do anything about deaf-ness. That research is still in progress.
In the meantime, if AKC is nowencouraging mixed breeds to competein performance events, why wouldthere be an objection to admittingthese dogs as mixed breeds? Thereare least five generations of Dalma-tian/Pointer crosses, with many hav-ing far more behind them, more thanAKC calls for in admitting breeds fromforeign registries to enter the studbook. At least they all have spots!
Another ruckus has been stirredup by the Board in deciding to levy acharge on judges to help defray theexpenses which are associated withthe events area. The conformation de-partment has always been subsidizedby registrations. This is no longer thecase, since that part of the annualbudget has gone into steep decline.There have been some suggestionsabout how to rectify this situation,none of which would cut the deficitin that department enough to makeit worthwhile. Some Delegates feltthat the field representatives werenot needed, so they could be elimi-nated. In my opinion the field reps areworth every penny, in helping clubsovercome problems that may ariseon the grounds, to interpreting rulesof discipline, to defusing arguments,to help novice judges overcome theirfears, to evaluate judges looking fornew breeds.
The fee schedule proposed wasnot in the Board minutes and sinceI am not a judge I cannot speakfrom personal experience. Perhaps,rather than being a detriment tojudging, assessing a modest fee perbreed would keep some judges fromapplying for licenses before they re-ally know the breeds they apply for.Perhaps instead of an annual fee, aschedule could be devised wherebyjudges could be assessed every fiveyears on new breeds which theyhave acquired during that period.Sort of like a motor vehicle licensefee which is assessed every threeyears (depending on where youlive.) Just a thought.
There has been quite a bit ofdiscussion about the number ofDelegates’ meetings necessary peryear. Some meetings are very wellattended, like the annual meet-ing in March. Others, like the Junemeetings, are small and could pos-sibly be handled in another way, orcombined into an extra day threetimes a year instead of four. It isvery expensive for both Delegatesand staff to schlep around the coun-try, especially when there is verylittle which needs to be discussedor voted upon four times a year.Perhaps regional meetings twicea year, with representatives fromthose meetings gathering for na-tional meetings at regular intervalsmight be a solution. I am sure staffis working on this and it will beinteresting to see if anything comesout of their discussions.
This is National Specialtyseason. I hope you all attend yourNationals and enjoy the dogs gath-ered from all over. Have fun at thereunions of like-minded exhibitorsand spectators. Remember it’s asport and only a game!
Owned by Dorothy CherryHandled by Howard Huber
Dog News 27
“Zelda”“Zelda”
Multiple Best In Specialty ShowMultiple Best In Specialty Show
Multiple Group FirstsMultiple Group Firsts
Multiple Group PlacementsMultiple Group Placements
ONEWEEKEND!ONEWEEKEND!THREE GROUP FIRSTSTHREE GROUP FIRSTSONE GROUP SECONDONE GROUP SECOND
Ch. CeriseTender
is the NightThank you JudgesThank you Judges
Mr.Lawrence Stanbridge,Mr.Lawrence Stanbridge,Mr.Roger Hartinger andMr.Roger Hartinger and
Dr.Robert IndegliaDr.Robert Indeglia
28 Dog News
Dog News 29
*
Tributes to
Corky was the toughest com-petitor I ever knew, and hefought thecancer that rav-
aged his body for the last year like achampion prize fighter. In late Aprilhis courage pushed him to makehis last public appearance to pres-ent his two-day handling seminar inFairbanks, Alaska. His lovely wifeSue pointed out to him that flying toFairbanks from his home near Dallaswas a taxing trip, but he wanted tofulfill his commitment and answerthe call like he always did. Thisunique man was not about to letanybody down who wanted to learnmore about dogs.
A native Californian who movedto Texas when his wife Sue becamea field representative for the Ameri-can Kennel Club, Charles Vroom,always affectionately called Corky,was born into dogs. His fatherHenry “Red” Vroom was a profes-sional dogman whose mother raisedPekingese. It seemed natural for thisthird-generation dogman to himselfbecome a professional handler fol-lowing his apprenticeship with thefamous Harry Sangster.
Corky’s dog career had onlyone interruption in his entire life,a stint with the US Navy that sawhim serve on the USS Lexingtonand the USS Hornet. When the handsome sailor returnedfrom military service to Sangster’s set up and startedhoning his skills, he soon established himself as a risingstar, winning his first BIS with the Norwegian ElkhoundRowdy Ringo, sire of my own Howdy Rowdy.
Corky and Mike Shea, who apprenticed under FrankSabella, were the last licensed all-breed handlers ap-proved by AKC under the auspices of Len Brumby in thelate 1960’s. It was about that time that Harry decided to
retire and soon Corky was driving the big rig called OldBlue on Western Circuits. In 1969, right before the Cal-Ore Circuit known as “the Death March” in those days,Corky gave me a desperate call as he and his wife at thetime (Karen) were suddenly without kennel help for thisexhausting trip. So off my dog and I went in Old Blue towork and learn more from this amazing dogman, whoseanimal husbandry and dedication to his dogs in 100degree temperatures could serve as a lesson for all whocare for dogs.
30 Dog News
Corky VroomIf ever a person was able to raise the bar for those whocame into his world, it was Corky Vroom. His death lastweekend at the age of 68 dealt a tragic blow to the sportof dogs and all who knew and loved this special man.
By Pat Trotter
by Pat Trotter, Bruce Schultz and Carol Tobin Murray
CONTINUED ON PAGE 135
Corky with Punky
Dog News 31
*
*All Systems
Buddych. cragsmoor
goodman
handlerslarry corneliusmarcelo veras
breederseugene z. zaphirismatthew h. stander
32 Dog News
ownerscarolyn kochvictor malzoni, jr.
Dog News 33
The Number One*Skye TerrierandNumber Five*Among All Terrier Breeds
*The Dog News Top Ten List - All Breed points
Back to Back Group FirstsJudges Dr. Alvin Krauseand Mr. Terry StacyontoBest In ShowJudge Mr. Joseph Joly III
Sunflower Kennel Club of Olathe Kansas -Saturday & SundayPolish Lowland SheepdogCh. Starpons Mustang Sally RaeJudge Mr. Zell Von PohlmanJudge Mr. Bernard SchwartzOwners Cindy Czerechowicz, Barbara Bruns &Wolfgang StampHandler Nancy Martin
Greater Kingsport Kennel Club - SaturdayBorder TerrierCh. Devon Lady Simper FiJudge Mr. Jon ColeOwners Sandra Middlebrooks, and Leslie andAlison MillerHandler Erin Roberts
Clarksville Kennel ClubJackson Tennessee Dog Fanciers AssociationPekingeseCh. Palacegarden MalachyJudge Mrs. Robert D. SmithJudge Ms. Sandra Goose AllenOwners Iris Love, Sandra Middlebrooks &David FitzpatrickHandler David Fitzpatrick
Winnegamie Dog ClubGerman Wirehaired PointerCh. Ripsnorter’s Mt. View LookoutJudge Mrs. Lee CanalizoOwners Kiki Courtelis, J. & H. Witt, J. WilkinsonHandler Frank Murphy
Vacationland Dog Club - SaturdayToy PoodleCh. Smash JP Moon WalkJudge Miss Mike MacbethOwners Ron Scott and Debbie BurkeHandler Kaz Hosaka
Mt. Baker Kennel ClubStandard PoodleCh. Brighton Lakeridge EncoreJudge Mr. David BolusOwners Toni and Martin SosnoffHandler Tim Brazier
York Kennel Club of MaineBucks County Kennel ClubIrish SetterCh. Shadagee Caught Red HandedJudge Mr. Don EvansJudge Mr. Walter GoodmanOwners Debra Burke and Nancy Lee ConnerHandler Adam Bernardin
Blennerhassett Kennel Club - ThursdayRavenna Kennel Club15” BeagleCh. Torquay Midnight ConfessionJudge Dr. Robert A. IndegliaJudge Mr. Robert SlayOwners Marcelo Chagas, Marco Flavio and AlessandraBotelhoHandler Marcelo Chagas
Vacationland Dog ClubPugCh. Riversong’s Broadway JoeJudge Mrs. Catherine BellOwner Carolyn KochHandler Barry Clothier
Blennerhassett Kennel Club - SundayBoxerCh. Winfall Brookwood Styled DreamJudge Mr. Lawrence StanbridgeOwners D. McCarroll, Mrs. Jack Billhardt, &S. TenenbaumHandler Diego Garcia
Mount Ogden Kennel Club - Saturday & SundayWhippetCh. Starline’s ChanelJudge Mr. Brian MeyerJudge Mr. Charles OlvisOwners Carey & Lori LawrenceHandler Lori Wilson
Ladies Kennel Association of America - SaturdayBearded CollieCh. Tolkien Raintree Mister BagginsJudge Dr. Bernard McGivernOwners Ellen M. Charles, Larry & Angela Stein,Robert Lamm, Sue Ross & Lesley WoodcockHandler Clifford Steele
Greater Fort Myers Kennel ClubSkye TerrierCh. Cragsmoor Buddy GoodmanJudge Mr. Joseph Joly IIIOwners Carolyn Koch & Victor Malzoni, Jr.Handler Larry Cornelius
Greater Kingsport Kennel Club - SundayPapillonCh. Wildfire On The RocksJudge Mrs. Jean FournierOwners Madeline Mosing & Cheslie PickettHandler Brian Livingston
To report an AKC All Breed Best In Showor National Specialty Win Call, Fax orEmail before 12:00 Noon TuesdayFax: 212 675-5994Phone: 212 462-9588Email: [email protected]
MAY 28, 2010MAY 28, 2010
TheTheoftheoftheBestsBestsWeekWeek
34 Dog News CONTINUED ON PAGE 126
Dog News 35
*Best In Show, Best In Specialty Show & Multiple Group Winning Ch. Winsome’s Trouble At Coral Bay
Handlers Bill & Taffe McfaddenBreeders Virginia Cox Flatley ¶ Christa Reisinger
Owners Joe & Carla Sanchez, Virginia Cox Flatley, Carol Anne GilesFor “Trouble”*
36 Dog News
Does sizereally matter?
I don’t knowbut for a little guy,
Trouble is really heavy.
The ladies agree...SIZE DOES MATTER!
Yes,of course,
size Matters!
Geez,why aren’t THEMEN holding back
that Monsterof a Dog?
1. 2.
3. 4.
YouBet!
The Team of the McFaddens and theThe Team of the McFaddens and the Sanchez’ with Giambi and Trouble...
*Best in Specialty Show and Multiple Group Placing Ch. Lexington Divine’s Put Me In, Coach
Handlers Bill and Taffe McFaddenBreeders Valerie and John Tortorella, Erica Tortorella
Owners Joe and Carla Sanchez, Mary Delisa, Erica TortorellaFor “Giambi”*
Dog News 37
Giambi One ofAmerica’sTop Mastiffsand Trouble oneof America’sTop Pugs!!!
Taffe... holdhim back.I’m
Trying!
5.
I amso worried,hold on to
Giambi, and keephim off me!
Stop that!Yuck. Stop him...yuck... sloppy,
slobbery Mastiffkisses!!!
6.
I knew yougirls couldn’t
hold Giambi back.If it’s gonna be;it’s got to be me.
Trouble...Sit, Stay.
Are youkidding? Do yousee the size of
this Guy?
7.
eam of the McFaddens and the Sanchez’ with Giambi and Trouble...The Team of the McFaddens and the Sanchez’ with Giambi and Trouble...
1010988776655
44332211
questionsquestions
What is yourfavorite dogshow momentexclusive ofa win?
Whichtalentwouldyou mostlike tohave?
Whichwords orphrases doyou mostoveruse?
Who isyourreal lifehero orheroine?
If you couldchange onething aboutyourselfwhatwould it be?
OtherpeoplethinkI am:
How wouldyou describeyourself in apersonal ad?
What was yourmost embarrassingmoment at adog show?
Which judge, no longer alive orjudging, do you miss the most?
What do you miss the mostat dog shows?
Judging the BullmastiffNational Specialty in 1997.
A better painter.
“Oh, really?”
Angela Merkel.
I would like to bebetter organized.
Pretty direct.Don’t do personal ads!
When I was trying to show adog that absolutely refused tomove. Percy Roberts,
Mrs. Augustus Riggs,Mrs. Godsol.
Individual character of showsand their sites; sharing ofknowledge and encouraging offellow competitors; friendly so-cializing after judging; empha-sis on breed judging and winsrather than the current empha-sis on group accomplishments.
Asked ofHelma Weeks
Born: Celle, GermanyResides: Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMarital Status: Widowed
By Lesley Boyes38 Dog News
Dog News 39
CorkyVroom1942 - 2010
The Herding Group1992Westminster Kennel Club
JudgeMr.Louis HarrisTrophy PresenterMr.WilliamChisholm
Valiant,Vital,VictoriousGoodbye dear friend
00 Dog News
BreedersJoan & Mark Taggart
Absolutely Smooth Fox Terriers
OwnerJ. W. SmithAbsolutely Smooth Fox Terriers
HandlersEdward & Lesley BoyesGrass Valley, California
530.272.494040 Dog News
Sneek a Peekat What Happened
the Sacramento WeekendBest Terrier
Northern California Terrier ClubJudge Ms. Betsy Dale
Best In ShowSacramento Kennel Club IJudge Mrs. Houston Clark
Best In ShowSacramento Kennel Club IIJudge Mrs. Cindy Vogels
Dog News 00
Ch. Slyfox Sneaks A Peek
Absolutely Smooth Fox Terriers
Multiple All Breed Best In Show & Specialty Winner
Dog News 41
Judge Ms. Betsy Dale
Judge Mrs. Houston Clark
42 Dog News
Re-gifting:AWaggingTaleBy Sherry Bosley
I thought it not possible because I am a dogI thought it not possible because I am a dogperson. In my case this means lover of dogs, owner-person. In my case this means lover of dogs, owner-breeder, former dog show handler, and currentbreeder, former dog show handler, and currentAKC judge – and this means on most given daysAKC judge – and this means on most given daysI make three people happy (Breed, Winner’s Dog,I make three people happy (Breed, Winner’s Dog,and Winner’s Bitch owners) and potentially 172and Winner’s Bitch owners) and potentially 172people questioning my own parentage. Somehowpeople questioning my own parentage. Somehowunderneath all those layers it translates to meanunderneath all those layers it translates to meanI cannot watch the commercial in which SarahI cannot watch the commercial in which SarahMcLaughlin sings for homeless dogs, watchMcLaughlin sings for homeless dogs, watchmovies where dogs die – alas it is never Marleymovies where dogs die – alas it is never Marleyand me in the theater, or read books where dogsand me in the theater, or read books where dogsperish, regardless of the literary allegory, as in Paulperish, regardless of the literary allegory, as in PaulAusten’s Timbuktu.Austen’s Timbuktu.
Dogs are my Achilles’ heel.Dogs are my Achilles’ heel.And that tendon has been pulled, stretched, andAnd that tendon has been pulled, stretched, and
nearly severed as the result of 15 brass, wooden,nearly severed as the result of 15 brass, wooden,and plastic containers holding the ashes of myand plastic containers holding the ashes of mycanine friends that line the floor of my walk-incanine friends that line the floor of my walk-incloset. I suppose if I were a 120 year-old woman,closet. I suppose if I were a 120 year-old woman,or the owner of a large kennel, this might seemor the owner of a large kennel, this might seemplausible, but I am not even half that age and I’veplausible, but I am not even half that age and I’veonly bred two litters.only bred two litters.
But, my breed of choice has been the GreatBut, my breed of choice has been the GreatDane, the Apollo of Dogs, the Gentle Giant. TheirDane, the Apollo of Dogs, the Gentle Giant. Theiraverage life span is supposed to be eight years.average life span is supposed to be eight years.For my husband and me, it has varied from ourFor my husband and me, it has varied from ouroldest living to be almost ten, and our youngest tooldest living to be almost ten, and our youngest tobe seven months. Of course, we knew this goingbe seven months. Of course, we knew this goinginto the breed, but when you’re young, eight yearsinto the breed, but when you’re young, eight yearsseems a lifetime. It is only later that you realize it isseems a lifetime. It is only later that you realize it isa lifetime, a very short one, for a dog that claims aa lifetime, a very short one, for a dog that claims apiece of your heart.piece of your heart.
There is a doctrine that most believe, that ifThere is a doctrine that most believe, that ifyou try hard, and do most of the right things, lifeyou try hard, and do most of the right things, lifeshould be fair, not that it is all the time, but that itshould be fair, not that it is all the time, but that itshould be fair most of the time. I’m not sure whereshould be fair most of the time. I’m not sure wherethis is engrained, maybe in the grape Kool-Aid,this is engrained, maybe in the grape Kool-Aid,maybe in those yellow stars in Lucky Charms, butmaybe in those yellow stars in Lucky Charms, butsomewhere quite a few of us believe this mantra.somewhere quite a few of us believe this mantra.And maybe it is true; it’s just hard to weigh it all onAnd maybe it is true; it’s just hard to weigh it all onthe tilt-a-whirl journey we’re all on.the tilt-a-whirl journey we’re all on.
I am doing what I never thought possible; I amwriting a dog story, or really, a bit about dogs.
It’s hard to lose a dog at 9 and three-It’s hard to lose a dog at 9 and three-quarters to old age and be told you’re lucky,quarters to old age and be told you’re lucky,he lived a long time. And know that ishe lived a long time. And know that istrue. It’s harder to lose one to bloat, cancer,true. It’s harder to lose one to bloat, cancer,cardio-myopathy, Addison’s disease, andcardio-myopathy, Addison’s disease, andseizures in the years before that. Harderseizures in the years before that. Harderstill to show your children the joys of dogstill to show your children the joys of dogownership and the wonders of unconditionalownership and the wonders of unconditionallove and question if you really are.love and question if you really are.
My husband and I, in our twenty-My husband and I, in our twenty-something years of marriage, have alwayssomething years of marriage, have alwaysgone to the vet and stayed with each dog asgone to the vet and stayed with each dog aswe have been forced to euthanize him or herwe have been forced to euthanize him or herto end their suffering.to end their suffering.
“How can you do that?” friends will“How can you do that?” friends willask. “I just couldn’t – I wouldn’t be able toask. “I just couldn’t – I wouldn’t be able tohandle it.”handle it.”
How can we not, we say to ourselvesHow can we not, we say to ourselvesand to each other. How can we not?and to each other. How can we not?
“Handling it” is questionable at best.“Handling it” is questionable at best.Tootie was seven when I noticed a bumpTootie was seven when I noticed a bump
on her front leg. I waited a week or two buton her front leg. I waited a week or two butthen, yes, she was limping just a bit. Thethen, yes, she was limping just a bit. Thex-ray and tests were conclusive – she had ax-ray and tests were conclusive – she had amalignant tumor of a particularly aggressivemalignant tumor of a particularly aggressivecancer. My vet gave me two weeks worthcancer. My vet gave me two weeks worthof pain pills to keep her comfortable. Iof pain pills to keep her comfortable. Icame back for a refill and he looked at mecame back for a refill and he looked at mequestionably before refilling it for anotherquestionably before refilling it for anotherfortnight. “It isn’t time yet,” I told him, “I’llfortnight. “It isn’t time yet,” I told him, “I’llknow when that is.”know when that is.”
The time was six pills later. I saw it inThe time was six pills later. I saw it inher eyes when she tried to position herselfher eyes when she tried to position herselfon her dog bed to sleep. I didn’t close myon her dog bed to sleep. I didn’t close myown eyes much that night knowing whatown eyes much that night knowing whatwaited in the morning. My husband madewaited in the morning. My husband madethe call as I debated trying to feed herthe call as I debated trying to feed herbreakfast and the irony of it all. As I stoodbreakfast and the irony of it all. As I stoodwith her empty bowl, I heard her clump-with her empty bowl, I heard her clump-clump up the steps to the second floor,clump up the steps to the second floor,something she hadn’t tried in more thansomething she hadn’t tried in more thana month. Puzzled, I trailed behind her,a month. Puzzled, I trailed behind her,CONTINUED ON PAGE 84
Dog News 43
44 Dog News
Dog News 45
It all started a couple of years ago, whenEitan Etinger, a self-made businessmanand entrepreneur took over the positionof president of the Israeli Kennel Club.Etinger was concerned over the finan-cial situation of the IKC that couldn’t af-ford to fulfill many of its objectives dueto lack of funds. At that time, showswere being budgeted at a deficit to be-gin with. Being the businessman he is,Etinger decided to take a huge risk andgo for an enormous project that hadworked well almost 20 years ago in theearly 90’s, when he was president of theIKC for the first time – the pet show.
The concept was that if we want-ed to draw the ticket-buying public inlarge numbers we needed to offer themsomething more than a regular dogshow. So we turned to a cat breeders’
association and they hopped on the wagon. Then we appliedto the pigeon breeders’ association, added unique chickensand other birds. We found willing partners who breed snakesand other reptiles. A horse farm joined us as well as an al-paca breeder from the south. At some period, we believedwe could muster a very famous bullbelonging to no less than formerPrime Minister, Ariel Sharon.
With this Noah’s Ark, a publicrelations and advertisement cam-paign began. Items were placed inboth written press, TV and internetand the primary result was the ex-tremely nice entry (in Israeli terms)of 1,005 dogs, about 30% more thanthe usual attendance at all-breedshows. Thousands of tickets weresold in advance and the pet showbecame the talk of the day.
46 Dog News
BigisBeautifulby Yossi Guy • Photos by Yossi Guy and Dalit Elan
The Israeli Kennel Club put together a theoreticallymegalomaniacal project – and it worked out. The TelAviv Pet Show drew a huge crowd of pet lovers who,apparently are thirsty for the sight of some furry,scaly or downy creatures. And besides the regularBest in Show there was even a people’s choice award.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 88
Dog News 47
Owners:Maxine EvansFrogtown [email protected]
Jennifer CraneJenbur Boxerswww.jenburboxers.com
JudgeMr. JamesWhite
JudgeMrs. KarenMcFarlane
Breeders & Handlers:Stan & Jane Flowers, DHGEvergreenwww.standandjaneflowers.com612 747-5770
JJJJJJJMMMMMM
Ch. Evergreen’s Go Get ‘Em Frogtown
“Jasper”“Jasper”
48 Dog News
Dog News 49
Here are just a few of my concerns about my breed,Old English Sheepdogs. However they could apply toseveral other breeds.1. The sculpturing of the dogs being shown has reachedintolerable levels.2. Breeders are encouraging the exhibition of dogs thatare unsound.3. Not enough comprehensive educational programs arebeing offered.4. Clubs need to make use of AKC sponsored events.
1. The OES has some well earned new nicknames. Poodle orBichon of the Herding Group, a poorly done caricature of aherding dog, Q-tip dog and a few less appealing ones. Whatdoes sculpting an Old English Sheepdog do for the breed? Inmy opinion it does nothing good. What it does do is hide thetruth and create unrealistic expectations. Judges are beingtold and shown in strong language that they do not have tospend the time actually going over the dog to discover forthemselves what the anatomy of the dog really is. They canjust evaluate the appearance the handler/groomer has cre-ated. Why work when you can just look at a pretty picture?To create a dog by sculpting is to not only create a falseimpression but it is detrimental to those breeder/exhibitorslooking for bloodlines to consider adding to or incorporatinginto their current ones. Often the selection of dogs to be usedfor breeding is done by photographs and as much informa-tion as the breeder/owner is willing to impart to the otherperson. This can be, and far too often is, a rude awakeningfor the uninformed or less knowledgeable inquirer. It is alsonot a practice of fair competition for the novice or less accom-plished (grooming) owner and or handler. We are losing newexhibitors at an alarming rate and others are not joining inbecause they see that they cannot hope to compete againstthe appearance of dogs currently being shown. There is alsoa sad lack of mentorship within our breed.
2. Exhibitors, breeder/exhibitors, and owners need to rethinkwhat they are doing by knowingly showing dogs, or en-couraging the showing of dogs that are not sound and thusshould not be used for breeding. I see dogs being shown thatI know would not meet the criteria stated by the parent club
code of ethics or the Standard for thebreed. It simply tears apart the fabricof our breed to show, and thus stateto the fancy, that these faulty dogsare suitable for exhibiting and breed-ing. Everyone who sees these dogs notonly exhibited, but receiving winningribbons from Judges, who seeminglycould care less about its quality, willthen believe it is in the best interest ofthe breed to buy, show, and breed onelike it. Of course this simply passes onto the following generations the samedegenerative problems. The noviceowner/exhibitors are being shown by afew exhibitors that it is OK to show andbreed dogs who came from as many asfive generations, or more, of dogs whoexhibited the same problems. To sella dog which may exhibit signs it toois unsound, without making the buyeraware, is tantamount to utter negli-gence on the part of the breeder. If itis learned at a later date that the dogis exhibiting signs of being unsound,and the breeder does not insist thatit be retired from showing and pos-sibly be surgically sterilized, then thatbreeder is deliberately demeaning thebreed. Members of parent clubs agreed,by signing the Code of Ethics whenthey joined, to promote and protectthe breed. We must honestly considerwhat is in the best interest of our breedwith regard to breeding a dog whichdevelops a disease, and must remainon drugs to control the symptoms. Dogswhich exhibit signs of genetic diseasesshould not be bred. When you have aproblem “fixed,” no matter how bigor how small, that action cannot pos-sibly alter the faulty genes which that
50 Dog News
STOP THEINSANITYby Dianne McKee-Rowland(Chairperson, OESCA; Breeder/Owner Education Commit-tee)
Harsh words? You bet! It is time we all stood backand viewed the whole picture while examining justwhat we are contributing to our breed.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 96
Dog News 51
52 Dog News
Dog News 53
This week I look at some of theSchipperke art, of which there are someinteresting pieces, the most importantbeing the pictures which representthe work of British, Continental, andAmerican artists.
However well painted a picture maybe, or however important the artist,it is of far greater interest if the dogsportrayed can be identified, and thisis the case with many of the pictureson show. They are led by two from theKennel Club’s own collection: LilianCheviot’s double portrait of two dogsfrom the 1920s, one being Ch. Queen ofClubs owned by Miss Elliot Inchbald,and Frances Fairman’s portrait of Ch.Yaap with two Puppies. Yaap was bornin 1898, owned byMrs. Skewes andwas the eighth malechampion in thebreed in Britain.
Anotherimportant British dogis featured twice, ina pastel sketch byArthur Wardle andin the photogravurefrom Maud Earl’sportfolio, Terriersand Toys. Ch.Fandango won theCC at Crufts in 1901and 1902, was bred and owned by Dr. Freeman, the author ofthe first book on the breed, and was half brother to Ch. Yaap,both being sired by El Dorado, who also sired another earlychampion, Ch. Woodland Flink.
There are two pictures of early Belgian dogs, one by thelisted Belgian artist, Alexandre Clarys of an unnamed dog andone by the little-known artist, Zelia Klerz, of a bitch namedBetsy, a prize winner at a show in Brussels in 1903.
More up-to-date is a portrait of the American dog, Ch.Maroufke of Kelso, painted in 1941 by the American artist,
54 Dog News
by Nick Waters
When I reviewed the latest exhibition at the KennelClub Art Gallery in Mayfair, London, “Two DissimilarBreeds,” I focused on the main breed, the French Bulldog.
SCHIPPERKESINMAYFAIR
CONTINUED ON PAGE 98
Breeder/OwnerSheri Smith
HandlersMichael &Michele Kemp
“Chewy”The OutstandingLakelandTerrier withBeautiful Reach and Drive
Ch. Talydales Friend Of The Force
Dog News 55
Multiple Best In Show WinningGroup First • Judge Dr. Alvin Krause
56 Dog News
Dog News 57
AAnd
The Pug’s name was Tugboat Willie, but he wascalled “Tug” by his friends, of whom he had manyacross the country. Tug was famous for his 40 AllBreed Best in Show wins and winning the Pug DogClub of America National Specialty three times. Hewas the Number One Toy Dog for four years. Duringhis campaign he traveled far and wide, enjoyingapplause and acclaim in every region. But hisfavorite moment was always his return to his privateparadise, Sycamore Kennels in Lido, California,where he lived with his owners Riney and AliciaKahler.
One day, Tug passed on, as all our dogs do, tothe paradise in the sky, leaving Riney and Aliciasad and lonely. They had an idea; they would buildlovely grassy fields between the vineyards and thecherry trees, and invite specialty clubs to hold theirshows there. Then they would get to see manybeautiful purebred dogs, and that would alwaysremind them of Tug. The first club shows went sowell that Riney improved the grounds even further,adding a pond and waterfall and footpath and thentwo fenced fields for performance events like rallyand agility and Canine Good Citizen tests. Everytime a specialty club came for a show, Riney strolledamong the humans and canines, and felt Tug smilingdown from above.
That’s how it feels to enter Sycamore Kennels;you feel you are entering a fairy tale. You traversethe mile long driveway between grapevines and fruittrees. In one orchard, slivers of shiny pink, silver,and black foil dance among the limbs of the trees.Their purpose is to keep the birds away, but the waylight flickers and sparkles makes the orchard looklike one big art installation.
58 Dog News
ALittleBitofParadiseBy Sharon Sakson • photos by Everett Van Dye
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, acompact Pug of well-knit proportionsroamed 130 acres of Chardonnay vineyardsand fruit orchards. On either side ofthe long lane that wound towards hisestate home, thousands of cherry treesblossomed, stretching out their pinkflowers like hands toward the sun.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 102
Great Danes in Lodi, California
Dog News 59
*
*
*All Systems
60 Dog News
Dog News 61
“This is precisely the attitude that gets peoplein trouble with Maltese,” said Jenny Cuccinello,who owns MACH 3 Carpe Diem Aristotle VCD2 RENF TDX PK2 PD1 PG1 PJ2 UCD NAC OJC CL-1-RRS-N JS-N (“Ares.”) “These are dogs in every senseof the word. When people forget that is when prob-lems occur. They can bark, rip things up and causeproblems around a house if they are not trained andexercised.”
“I decided my dog needed a job because shewas a house terror from the day she came to livewith Steve, my husband, and myself,” said SandyBingham-Porter who owns Ch. SeaBreeze SmoothSailing CD and Sandy’s Hot Salsa UD. “Althoughthese little companion dogs were originally bred tobe lapsitters, they are very smart and can indeeddisplay their intelligence when given tasks to per-form. At the time I started obedience, the goal wasto have a dog with good house manners. One suc-cess led to another and before long, my goals hadexpanded to breeding dogs that could attain both aconformation and a performance title. Maltese arenot generally considered to be an ‘obedience breed.’To see a 4-5 pound Maltese perform the same ex-ercises that a large ‘obedience breed’ would with
the same kind of precision is a sight to behold andalways a crowd favorite. At our national specialtiesand although it’s usually very early in the morning,obedience is very well attended.”
These elegant little dogs, although known as“ye ancient dogee of Malta,” probably did not origi-nate on that island but instead the breed was de-veloped in Asia. There are dogs resembling Maltesein ancient drawings, art and writings dating backas early as 5000 B.C. If, in fact, the breed originatedin Asia, it probably made its way through the Mid-dle East with the migration of the nomadic tribesthat lived in that area. Since Malta was a geograph-ic center for trade in that era, the tiny white dogsexplorers found on that island probably were leftthere by traders who had used them as barter forsupplies.
During the time of ancient Greece, the Maltesewas a favorite lap dog for the nobility and as suchwas mentioned in the writings of Aristotle. Theywere also fancied by the Roman nobility and thereare many drawings of small, long-haired dogs onGreek and Roman pottery from this period. The factthat Malta was an island allowed its people to de-velop a breed of dog that was free of outside influ-
Adorbable, Fluffy,White Athletes?
by M.J. Nelson
62 Dog News
Displaying a lot of elan, for any dog butespecially one developed to be a “lapsit-ter,” MACH 3 Carpe Diem Aristotle VCD2RE NF TDX PK2 PD1 PG1 PJ2 UCD NACOJC CL-1-R RS-N JS-N (“Ares”) JennyCuccinello’s Maltese emerges from thetunnel on an agility course.
Ares also enjoys weaves.
If you suggest that the last word in this description applies to Malteseto most dog people, if they are polite and possess a good deal of self-discipline, you’ll likely get a look of disbelief. With the others, havingless restraint, the response very probably would be hysterical laughter
followed by, “A Maltese? An athlete? Are you out of your mind?”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 106
“Dewey” (Ch Kandu’s Thistle DewNicely CD MX AXJ) which Brenda Mor-ris co-owned with the dog’s breederPeggy Wanner, was the first Maltesechampion to earn agility titles.
Dog News 63
Owner: Edward FarrellCo-Owners: B. Stamper, L. Jewel &G. Middei (Breeder)
Handler: Scott YerginBoss: Loren Yergin
Thank you Judge Mrs. Patricia A. Mowbray-Morgan
Select Ch. Shoal Creek’s Sangria V BarickEarns Her Twentieth Best In Show
At Treasure Coast Kennel Club
TTThhhh kkkk JJJ dddd MMM PPP t iii iii AAA MMM bbbb MMM
As I researched a fewthings about Japanbefore I began writ-ing this article, I was
reminded of how much Japanhas been influenced by the Westsince the mid-19th century.
Presently one would haveto consider it a contemporaryhybrid culture, combining influ-ences from Asia, Europe, andAmerica. It was clearly evidentfrom clothing to literature tomusic to food, and to DOGS. Theshow we judged was a typicalsized show, around 400 dogs,held just outside the major cityof Osaka, under the authority ofthe JKC. This type of show isrestricted to the Non-US cham-pion titled dogs and to those notconsidered to be the big win-ners. An interesting twist and rather refreshing Imight add.
Harumi Shiba and Hiroki Shiba were our hosts;perhaps you will remember Harumi. She appren-ticed under Gabriel Rangel for five years from2002-2007. She is rather tall for the average Japa-nese woman, very beautiful with an infectioussmile and marvelous sense of humor. I think Terryfell in love with her while she was in the States.We all reminisced how every time Harumi tookone of Gabe’s dogs into the ring, it and perhapsshe won. What fun memories. Harumi is remark-able in that prior to coming to the US she spokeNO ENGLISH and had never shown dogs. Yet sheworked hard in her brother Hiroki’s grooming shopand was very interested in show dogs. When anopportunity arose to come to the States with hercolleagues from the grooming school she jumpedat the chance. For her it was an instant love affair.She wanted to come here and work for a handlerand learn all she could. From what I understoodshe was shopped around to some well known,respected handlers to see if any one needed help.Gabriel got the prize.
Harumi arrived just a few days before Gabeand crew headed off to Montgomery. Talkingabout jumping in feet first. Wow! Brave, ambi-
64 Dog News
WonderfulJapanby Jacqueline Stacey
CONTINUED ON PAGE 110
Dog News 65
Can. Ch. & AKC Ch. & CKCSC USA Ch.Mondrian V.H. Lamslag of Piccadil RE
Mondrian
Always shown naturallyby
Owner-Handler Janet York*The Dog News Top Ten List, All Breed **All Systems ***C.C. System
National Specialty Winner 2010Number 1 Cavalier 2008*, 2009**, 2010**
Number Eight*** ToyOnly being shown selectively!
With 12 Best In Shows!
Number 1 CavalierAll Systems
Our appreciation to Judge Mr. Robert Sturm for this Group First Win!
RememberingLast Monday evening I received a call that
my good friend Bob Condon had passedaway. I was shocked but not surprisedbecause about a week ago I spoke to him
and he told me the doctors had advised him theycould not come up with any new methods to pro-long his life.
He was kind of matter-of-fact aboutit and resigned to the inevitable.There wasn’t much emotion in hisstatement, and I presume he was tiredof fighting the battle.
Bob and Madeline Condon go backin time with Seme and me some 40years to Libertyville, Illinois. While mymemory is not exactly perfect I believewe met each other in the MiniatureSchnauzer ring.
Those were the days when youwere competing with the likes ofWayne Miller, Dick Trubee, LarryDowney, George Ward and manymore, too numerous to mention. It wasnot easy to compete in those days asthe Midwest was the hotbed of thebreed and beating those top handlerswas pretty tough.
But Bob and Madeline struggled asdid Seme and myself and eventuallywe did our share of winning. Some-where in those early years, Bob came to me andtold me he was going to quit as he felt he wasn’tgetting ahead as fast as he should. I spoke to himat length and I believe I was instrumental in himcontinuing on with the rest of us.
Back in the late ‘40s, Bob worked for the localBoard of Education as a chief engineer of one ofthe largest schools. Madeline used to groom theschnauzer and she did one heck of a job. Dick andRuth Cooper groomed and showed our schnauzersbut they were never able to put the dogs down aswell as the Condon’s did. In fact, the Wayne Mill-ers and the Dick Trubees were the best in thatdepartment.
The Condons and the Auslanders lived about ahalf mile apart in the Libertyville area. Our social
group included the Condon’s, the Downey’s, theFlower’s, Doug McLaine and most of the handlersin our area.
Once Bob and Madeline became successful, hestarted showing dogs for others. He had a greatMin Pin that he showed to a impressive record
including winning some majorshows. He also began showingsome Standard Schnauzers andestablished himself as a competi-tor to be reckoned with.
Somewhere along the lineMadeline lost interest, and Bobbegan to do some judging. Mad-eline did as well, but she soondropped out. Bob was not yourtypical “dog man.” He wasn’t ter-ribly ambitious and was contentin judging the Terrier Group alongwith some Toy breeds.
While his judging career waslimited, he was a prolific judge inthe Orient. He probably judged inthe Orient as much as any judgelisted in the judge’s directory.From the day I met him, he nevercalled me Lou or Louis, but headdressed me as “Moish.” Why,I don’t know, but I answered tothat name.
The word love is tossed around and usedindiscriminately in our daily lives, but I say hereand now that I loved Bob Condon. He was a verysimple man. He had no ego and always thought ofhimself as just one of the guys. He reveled in hischildren and was so proud of them and his entirefamily. I never had a conversation with him thathe didn’t give me a rundown on how each andeveryone was doing.
He became a member of the I.K.C. show com-mittee early on after Dorothy Donnelly and Iacquired it. He was a tireless worker and one Icould always count on. I think the club will misshim terribly. I will miss his morning greeting, “HiMoish,” his smile, his simple demeanor, and ofcourse, his white socks.
66 Dog News
Bob CondonMy Associate, My Dear Friendby Louis Auslander
Handled By:Holley Eldred
Bred By:Suzan Otto
Multiple Best In Show, Multiple Best In Specialty Show Winning, V1 RatedMultiple Best In Show, Multiple Best In Specialty Show Winning, V1 Rated
Ch. Cammcastle’s Friar Tuck, CGCCh. Cammcastle’s Friar Tuck, CGC
““TUX””...BEST OF THE BEST
Tux is pictured going Best of Breed underJudge Mr. Edd Embry Bivin at the Colonial Rottweiler Club.
This win was just two weeks after winning The American Rottweiler ClubNational Specialty under Breeder -Judge Mrs. Jane Wiedel.
Since this victory, Tux has been to five shows where he has won fiveBest of Breeds, five GROUP FIRSTS and TWO BEST IN SHOWS.Our sincere appreciation to Judges Mrs. Karen McFarlane and
Mrs. Maryann Alston for Tux’s most recent Bests.
Tux is currently the Nation’s Number One Rottweiler All Systemsand the NUMBER THREE WORKING DOG.*
Dog News 67
*The Dog News Top Ten List
Sire: CH. Gamegard’s U.S. Marshall Dam: Ch. Cammcastles Vintage Zenner V QR
Tux is Owned by:Vicky & Tony O’Brien
Commercial livestock breeders and “gentleman farmers,”by contrast, are generally free of this taint. Generally,they are not emotionally involved with the animals intheir lives so in a worst case scenario they can always
“eat” their mistakes and breed in a new direction. The deep loveso many fanciers have for their dogs often clouds judgment, pre-venting them from applying the standard objectively. In so doing,they are unable to be honest with themselves regarding the faultsand virtues of their own dogs.
The progression of thought is something like “He/ she is mydog, therefore he/ she is wonderful and for them there can be nofurther discussion. It’s a little like the overly aggressive driver whomust compulsively pass everyone else on the highway and goesballistic when another driver tries to pass him or her, in howeverorderly a fashion. The only reason for this? Ego.
Sometimes people coming into dogs bring with them attitudesthey developed in unrelated areas of endeavor. Our community isnot without its type A personalities and soccer moms who haveyet to realize that some of their perceptions about competitionand parameters of quality do not quite fit the templates used inthe dog fancy. At the least of it, they make themselves look foolishand become a detriment to our image as a group, making all dogfanciers seem bizarre. During this trend toward negative atten-tion by animal rights activists and media types who know nothingabout us, what we do and why we do it, this image is somethingwe emphatically do not need.
Often the newly minted are likely to abrade when their ego-tism spills over onto the sensitivities of their peers. But this is notby any means always true. There are those established fanciersamong us who passionately trumpet their dog’s virtue to all whowill listen or at least be polite enough not to turn away. And sadly,some who cheerlead publicly for their own dog would do well tospend a little time with their own breed standard, a little objectiv-ity and some honest assessment of how good their dog really is.
Many years ago there was a feisty lady with a reputation forproducing very good dogs of her own breed. When asked why sheoften entered her young homebreds in the open class, she wouldreply “I want to get the bad news fast.” Now, it can be arguedthat showing an immature dog out of its depth is not fair to theexhibit and does not give a true picture. However, this lady knewher breed, her bloodlines and how her breeding grew on. If shefelt comfortable going out on a limb, that was her privilege. Thefact that the dogs she sent into the ring were usually of a highorder of excellence lent authority to her game plan. It’s hard tofind fault with a sound strategy that leads to legitimately earnedsuccess.
When one’s dogs make the positive statement on their own-er’s/ breeder’s behalf, nothing further need be said. It is for ken-nel blind egotists to proclaim the virtue of their animals when theactual virtue may fall far short of the true merit the poster child forkennel blindness will not see.
It is surprising to learn that many who fall intothe “poster child” class lack the familiarity with theirbreed standard that one might normally assume suchpeople would have. While comprehending a standardis not rocket science, many standards include eso-teric statements tucked into their text that can easilyescape the notice of fanciers. These can be smallspecifications, but they can be important hallmarksof breed type. It is absolutely imperative, therefore,that all serious dog people familiarize themselveswith all the specifications of a standard if they wouldthink of themselves as knowledgeable.
Keeping and showing dogs that do not make thegrade is not the same as running on a puppy until itstrue merit is known. Sooner or later every breederwill come up with a youngster that appears to exudepromise. It’s almost as though this puppy is a bless-ing from on high. Sadly, it is also not unusual for thatflyer’s sweet early promise to go sour. When real-ity does set in, the wise breeder understands thatMother Nature was amusing herself at his expense;yesterday’s hopeful becomes today’s candidate for apet home. It is also the wise breeder who can recog-nize a lost cause, take the appropriate action and cuther losses. That estimable skill, however, takes timeto cultivate and perfect.
But then there’s another aspect of kennel blind-ness justified. In a perfect world only the truly supe-rior dogs rise to the top. Too often, however, medi-ocrity carries the day and the laurel wreath goes tothe best of an indifferent lot. There are many reasonsfor this and they can vary from clever presentation tobeing in the right place at the right time to showingunder judges less familiar with the fine points of agiven breed. The fact is, we do not live and functionin a perfect world and in the dog sport the humanelement often plays an important part in the outcomeof competition. There is no across the board fix forany of this. It remains for each of us to do our part,aiming for the best dogs we can produce, showingthem in the best possible condition we can achieveand bringing them to the most knowledgeablejudges in the sport. Only in this way can we hope tomake the most valid statement possible.
The poster child for kennel blindness is a detri-ment to us all. He or she will never go away, buthopefully those who know the difference can mini-mize the negative influence of this segment of thedog fancy.
Thanks for reading.•
68 Dog News
PosterChildrenforKennelBlindnessby Seymour Weiss
There’s nothing new about kennel blindness, right? Right!There have always been those among us who cannotobjectively focus on the strengths and weaknesses of theirown dogs, putting those attributes in proper perspective.And they cannot do this precisely because they involve theirown dogs. And it is the only reason this happens.
From the beginning of time, Americans have alwayswanted to get what they paid for. As Steven Dietzput it: “Getting your money’s worth is not enough.Get your heart and mind’s worth.” So, are the pup-
py customers getting what they pay for when registeringtheir dogs – a healthy quality dog at a reasonable price?
The question of the day is, “Why the decline in dogand litter registrations?” The answer to this question is asdiverse as the people who are brave enough to tackle thequestion.
I’m sure you’ve heard the old cliché, “Apples to orang-es.” When you compare two things that are so unlike thatthe comparison makes no sense, you are said to be compar-ing apples to oranges. This old cliché assessment certainlyholds true when registering dogs. Some registries are veryprestigious by concentrating on the welfare of the pure-bred dogs and by offering very good benefits to the cus-tomers, while other registries simply issue a piece of paper.So, if a mind too, customers can “pick and choose” whenit comes to dog registries. However, obviously registries,in and of themselves, are not necessarily the reason dogsare not being registered. It’s just the time we are living in.People just don’t relate to dog registries nor do they care,as the majority of puppy customers never intend to show orbreed their new family pet.
One need only to surf the Internet or talk to John Q.Public to get a glimpse of the general attitude, when itcomes to registering puppies. Apparently, registration af-filiation, breeding or showing the dog is of no concern
Oh, an individual might buy a certain breed, after see-ing the breed win a national dog show, or a certain breedmay be bought, as a fad, after seeing the breed featured ina movie. However, in reality how many of the new founddogs turn out like the ones publicized?
So, why the attitude shift? And, can the dog registriesgain the public’s trust? The answer to these questions is asvaried as the answers to the questions above. However, letus take a stab at answering. Basically, in today’s environ-ment, the prospective puppy buyer is only looking at twoimportant factors. That being a good quality healthy pet ata reasonable price.
When it comes to registering dogs, now days cost is ofgreat concern. Wal Mart, the nation’s largest retailer, foundthis out and decided to do something about the economystrain, by “ Rolling Back Prices.” Reputable breeders oftentimes are hard to deal with and seem to charge too much
for average dogs, thus prospective puppybuyers are turned away. And guess what,the puppies are not registered with theprestigious breeders registry.
And, what about quality. Questions ofhealth and safety surface, due to a numberof reasons. What about the quality of im-port dogs? And breeders, whom by over-population the dog industry, cause geneticdisease and bad temperaments. Whenregistries only confirm that the dog, andpuppy offspring are purebred dogs, anddo not certify the quality and health of thepuppies. Why should the puppy customerspay more for a registered dog?
Also, many in the dog owning publichad much rather adopt a dog from a shel-ter. This gives people a purposeful mean-ing for rescuing a dog in need of love andattention, at a reasonable cost. In my city,one of the biggest attractions, is the an-nual, “Dog Dazes.” People come from milesaround to show off their dogs, while othersvisit the dog rescue booths.
Some registries, especially the mostprestigious constituents, have alwaysfound delight in being an elitist group.However, offering quality healthy puppieswhile chasing the bottom line dollar do notmix but rather are two entirely oppositeconcepts. One is based on increasing qual-ity, while the other is based on revenuesfrom a greater volume of inferior goods.This, in part, is why registers are wherethey are today. Registries must wake up,by being consistent and competitive in theregistration fees, and offer a health puppyby requiring a breeder health certificate,when registering the dogs. . Then, and onlythen, will the puppy customer appreciatethe “Apples to Apples” dog.
REMEMBER!APPLES TO APPLES = A BALANCE OFQUALITY TO COST. •
70 Dog News
AllInTheFamily
By Charles C. Robey
Why The Decline In Dog Registrations(Comparing Apples To Oranges)
The “ALL IN THE FAMILY SERIES” takes a generalpractical common-sense approach to dog care. For amore detailed, scientific explanation of dog behavior,contact your local vetenarian.
Dog News 71
Best In Show And Best In Specialty Show Winner
Ch. Kaylen’s In A Perfect World
EVE. .
Our sincere appreciation to Judge Mrs. Sally Ray Baugniet
Exclusively and expertly handled by:Sharon Svoboda
Assisted by the Greenridge Team
Owners:Nancy Trombley and Kay L. PieserVic-Tori Standard [email protected]
What’s most perplexing aboutthe thyroid problem is thevarying attitudes taken bydifferent breeders. Somebreeders are having their
dogs thyroid-tested but many other breedersstill take the attitude that it’s not that impor-tant. Afterall, it’s so easy and inexpensiveto supplement a dog with low thyroid (hypo-thyroid) with a little pill. There are plenty oflong-time breeders who know that they havehypothyroid dogs and don’t use thyroid as afactor when making breeding decisions.
Let me say here that I am not castingstones at anyone. That’s not my purpose. Infact, there are probably so many English Set-ters that are hypothyroid or who have somecompensative or reduced thyroid functionthat it would be virtually impossible to stopusing all of them for breeding purposes atthis point. However, it would be nice if morebreeders were testing to find out the statusof their dogs. At least if a dog’s status wereknown a breeder could make better breedingdecisions with regard to thyroid function.
What does trouble me in this coatedbreed with thyroid problems is the frequentuse of thyroid pills as a way to grow coat.As many people know, some of the signs oflow thyroid function can include hair loss,dry hair/coat, and excessive shedding. How-ever, many people who have coated dogswho don’t grow a lot of coat simply decide totake a shortcut and put their dogs on thyroidpills in the hope of growing a more luxuriouscoat.
The use of thyroid pills as a coat supple-ment is not a new practice. It’s been go-ing on for years. This practice can be veryharmful to any dog who doesn’t really havea genuine thyroid problem. Hyperthyroidismcan result from giving dogs an over-supple-mentation of thyroid medication when theydo not have hypothyroidism. This meansthere is too much thyroid hormone circulat-ing in the body which can over-stimulate thebody’s metabolism. The result can resemblean overdose of epinephrine (adrenaline).Continued use of thyroid medication whenit’s not needed can cause the dog’s body tostop producing its own thyroid hormone.
Despite this danger — possibly becausethey are not aware of the danger — there
ThyroidMedication
by Carlotta Cooper
When it comes to showing and breeding dogs, I have a coated breed. Not only that but,according to OFA, I have the #1 breed in terms of thyroid problems. English Setters are anoverall healthy breed. Breeders dutifully x-ray hips. They are x-raying elbows more andmore frequently in the last decade. And, thanks to increased BAER testing (BrainstemAuditory Evoked Response), they have significantly lowered the incidence of deafness inthe breed in the last few decades. Yet there still remains that pesky thyroid problem.
72 Dog News
are owners, breeders and exhibitors who do supplement their dogswith thyroid medication for the sake of growing coat instead of forany legitimate veterinary medical reasons. They discuss thyroidsupplementation the same way they discuss the latest nutriceuticalfrom the dog show vendors. But it’s important to realize, for yourdog’s health and safety, that thyroid medication is not in the samecategory as Show Stopper, flax seed or fish oil tabs. It’s a medica-tion, no matter how easily it may be obtained from a vet. In fact, it’sa hormone, albeit a synthetic hormone in most cases.
Soloxine is commonly sold in many pet supply catalogues. Ac-cording to one pet supplier, Soloxine:
“is a prescription medication used to treat hypothyroidism. Itprovides thyroid replacement when the pet’s thyroid gland isn’t pro-ducing enough of its own. It is the synthetic hormone levothyroxine.Hypothyroidism is caused by lack of thyroid hormone and is charac-terized by lack of energy and weight gain. It is a disease commonlyseen in middle age and older dogs. Soloxine contains levothyroxine,which acts similar to the hormone thyroxine, which is produced nat-urally by the thyroid gland. Thyroxine normally regulates many bodyprocesses. When the body is not producing enough of this hormoneon its own, the condition is called hypothyroidism. Soloxine workslike thyroxine to maintain normal metabolism in the body.”
The generic equivalent of Soloxine is L-Thyroxine.For people with English Setters and other breeds that are prone
to hypothyroidism, we need to do our best to identify dogs thatare Thyroid Normal through testing and use more of these dogs forbreeding. Use all of our good dogs for breeding but try to select to-wards more and more Thyroid Normal dogs. And, as possible in thecoming years, we can try to cut down on the use of dogs that are hy-pothyroid. This should become easier as we breed to more and moreThyroid Normal dogs and produce more Thyroid Normal offspring.I am not advocating that anyone should stop using good dogs thathave important qualities to offer the breed. But we should start con-sidering the thyroid status of all the dogs that are being bred.
I certainly think we need to stop trying to mask coat length bygiving dogs thyroid medication when they are not hypothyroid. Ifyour bitch does not carry a lot of coat but she is Thyroid Normal, Iwish you would show her anyway. I wish we had judges who couldlook past coat to find the best dog in the ring. Surely we have somejudges who can still do that job. Coat isn’t everything. If you wantyour bitches to have more coat then you need to breed for it insteadof getting it out of a bottle of pills.
There are several breeds besides English Setters which can beprone to thyroid problems: Golden Retrievers, Kuvasz, ShetlandSheepdogs, German Wirehaired Pointers, Boxers, Welsh SpringerSpaniels, Dalmatians, Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Nova Scotia Duck-tolling Retrievers, Doberman Pinschers, Irish Setters, Akitas, Leon-bergers, Havanese, and Giant Schnauzers, per OFA. Certainly, if yoususpect that your dog has a thyroid problem, please see your vet tohave your dog tested. On the other hand, please stop and considerthe health hazards to your dog before you give him or her thyroidmedication simply to grow coat. •
Dog News 73
Dog owners everywhereshould take note of aninteresting piece oflegislation being consideredin Tennessee. A bill awaiting
Governor Phil Bredensen’s signaturecould have a significant impact on howcriminals use, train and own dogs.Felons convicted of violent or drug-related crimes would not be allowedto keep “potentially vicious” dogs forten years after being released fromprison or probation under the provision.It would also require that any dogowned by felons be spayed or neuteredand implanted with a microchip foridentification, the logic being thatunsterilized dogs are apt to be moreaggressive.
The law is similar to one enactedin Illinois, where the sterilizationrequirement is used as a way to identifyand build cases against suspected drugdealers. An intact dog can be just causefor a police officer to stop a dog owneron the street for questioning or even tosearch their homes. While some mayclaim this is a violation of civil rights,perhaps it’s more a sign of the times. Inthe post-9/11 world, legislators identifythe bigger picture of homeland securityand public safety when drafting lawsand civilians are more apt to allowthemselves to be frisked or their bagsto be searched if it means insuring thegreater safety of our nation. Proponentsof these laws claim that it will allowofficers to capture more drug dealers.Guard and attack dogs have longbeen employed by drug dealers toserve either as a threat or deterrentto trespassers or to alert its owners.Barking dogs have been cited as thereason why residents of known crystalmeth labs and drug dens have been ableto flush goods down the toilet beforeofficers were able to enter the home.In other instances, officers have simplyshot the aggressive dogs.
The law does not cite specificbreeds, and any breed can be deemed“potentially vicious” if it has beenreported twice for lunging at people orbiting. While this is certainly fairer thana blanket indictment of certain breedsrather than deeds, this does leaveopen the possibility of false reportingof incidents. Under the Tennesseeproposal, if a dog owned by a convictedfelon is labeled potentially dangerous,it must be given away or turned overto animal control. Sherry L. Rout, a
legislative advocate in Memphis forthe ASPCA, said, “Breed-specific lawsdo not get at the root of the problem,which is the owners.” Ms. Rout helpeddraft both the Illinois and the Tennesseebills, and elected officials in other stateswith a ‘drug dealer and dangerousdog problem’ may wish to consult herexpertise in crafting similar bills. Sheclaims, “The thought is that a dog inthe hands of a wrong person can bedangerous but a dog that’s walking theline may not be dangerous in the handsof the right person.” This progressivethinking addresses a very real andserious problem, while also walking thatfine line of infringing upon civil rights.In this instance, though, the feelinghere is that such a law allows officersto do their jobs, it saves lives of thoseaddicted to drugs or caught up in theirdangerous trade, while also saving thelives of dogs in the process.
Right in the American Kennel Club’sbackyard, a bill is being considered bythe New York Assembly Committee thatseeks to change the state’s existingdefinition of “pet dealer”, create a newdefinition of a “commercial kennel”and hit those designated as such withextensive - and sure to be expensive- operational restrictions. Known as“Charlemagne’s Law”, or Assembly Bill5507, it also seeks to redefine the terms“inhumane condition,” “animal facility”and “humane treatment standards”, butmake no mistake, this bill is not simplyabout semantics.
The bill has been bandied about forseveral years, championed by a groupcalling themselves Laws for Paws,as well as other animal rights groupsand humane societies. Should the billever come to fruition, a pet dealerwould be considered someone whosells more than five animals per yearat wholesale or retail. Current statelaw sets that limit at nine. The lawalso seeks to further amend Section752 of the General Business Law tochange the definition of “pet dealer”to someone who sells fewer than tenanimals per year rather than twenty-five that are raised on the breeders’residence. In addition, the passage ofAB 5507 would allow the inspectionof any animal “facility” – another termredefined under Charlemagne’s Law,as it will be considered “any area built,installed, or designed to serve as a
breeding or maintainingarea for animals.”
Completing
the new dictionary entries containedwithin AB 5507, “commercial kennels”will be defined as anyone who sells adog to a pet dealer or sells or transfersmore than 60 dogs per year.
All responsible and reasonable dogowners are in agreement that dogsshould be treated humanely, receive aproper diet, clean water and safe livingconditions, as well as regular veterinarycare, proper socialization and training.Unfortunately, they don’t always receivethis type of care and conditions foundin puppy mills are appalling. So, on thesurface, concerned dog owners wouldbe in support of such a bill. However,“Charlemagne’s Law” won’t do muchto ensure that dogs will receive thecare and treatment they deserve. Noreal plan is in place on how to identifybreeders that are operating outside therealm of the law and history has shownthat they will continue to do so. What“Charlemagne’s Law” will do is placean unnecessary burden and expense onresponsible breeders who sell as few asone litter of five well-raised and properlytrained puppies. Is that really theintent of a law that purports to addressanimal cruelty? Or, as we have seen inother municipalities and states acrossthe union, is it an attempt to reducethe number of puppies being sold tothe ultimate goal of the animal rightsextremists: zero. Responsible ownersand breeders are all for sensible, easilyenforceable laws that protect the healthof animals and are in the best interestof the consumer, but they have a zerotolerance when it comes to laws thatinfringe upon their rights and lump theminto a category that continually showsblatant disregard for the law.
HARD TIMES A pit bull terrier awaitingadoption from a shelter doesn’tusually make the news, but six year-old Ingrid is an unusual case. Ingridhas a life-threatening heart conditionthat requires two daily 50 mg. doses ofViagra. Rescued by the Little ShelterAnimal Rescue and Adoption Center inHuntingdon, Long Island two years ago,Ingrid was found to have heartworm.A veterinarian recommended Viagra,the drug developed to promote bloodflow for human patients with heartconditions. The drug, however, hasproven to promote blood flow to otherparts of the human body as well,resulting in an increased libido, and hasbeen cited in saving some marriages andblamed for ruining others. Now it maysave a dog’s life, too. The Little Shelter’sViagra drive two years ago resultedin donations pouring in – a single pillwith a note here and there, and even awhole supply, donated by a wife whofeared her husband was having anaffair. However, Ingrid’s supply has rundry. The little blue pills go for about $10each. So, if you happen to be looking fora dog with whom to share your homeand your supply of Viagra, or save yourmarriage, or know of someone who canspare a few, contact the Little ShelterAnimal Rescue and Adoption Center inHuntingdon at (631) 368-8770 •
OFFTHE
LEASHby Shaun Coen
74 Dog News
Dog News 75
76 Dog News
It’s been a tough week for all the long term peoplein dogs as two very prominent people – CorkyVroom and Bob Condon both passed away afterbouts fighting cancer. Corky’s name, after overfive decades in dogs may have been better known
than Bob’s, but both gentlemen rose to the ranks of themore respected individuals insofar as their devotion tothe sport was concerned. Corky goes back to the dayswhen he worked as a teen-ager on weekends for theimmortal Harry Sangster in California while Bob wasin the Mid-West competing with the Flowers, Coopers,Wards and Downeys of their era. Proper homage is givenin this issue by Pat Totter, Bruce Schultz, and CarolTobin to Corky while former Board Chair Lou Auslandereulogizes Bob. I knew and was close to both men whowere outstanding dog individuals in their own right.Corky of course was involved with a multitude of dogscovering the broad spectrum of handling some of thetop dogs of our era. Bob’s approach was more limited inscope insofar as the breeds he showed were concernedbut comparatively as well known as Corky. Corky wasintense, stern and unflinching as a professional handler.He could point out the virtue’s of his charges publiclyjust as he admitted their faults privately. I would haveto say that arguably Punky Greyhound owned by theReeses was his preeminent exhibit although I can thinkof any number of dogs which were of equal staturewhich he also handled. Corky was a fierce exhibitor,the most loyal friend and totally unpredictable inreaction. Under the influence of Sue he calmed downconsiderably but one thing for sure you never wantedto get on his bad side. He expected and got the respectand admiration from his friends which he gave tothem except if anyone crossed him ... then beware hisreaction. And his philosophy was understandable – hegave his all to you and expected the same in return.Corky was a great and longtime friend who taught me asmuch about this sport as anyone I have ever known – Iwill miss him terribly and love and adore Sue.
Bob was perhaps an easier going guy whose wifeMadeline was his pride and joy. We spent 10 days inShanghai with the Condons many years ago and had
by Matthew H. StanderMOREAND
Tough Week, Those Judges Fees, Animals In War...
one of the great judging dogs and vacations of our lifetimewith them. Bob’s schnauzers were his pride but of coursehis MinPin was the pinnacle of his success. A devoted familyman who was fun to be with its just hard to believe thesetwo men were shot down by cancer at almost the sametime. We are all losers in their deaths but at the same timewinners for having had the privilege of knowing and beingfriendly with the two of them. God rest.....
Well the controversy about the Judges fees continuesto boil. There is no easy answer. I love it when people sayclose New York and move to North Carolina to save money.Why not the opposite close NC and save more money andget more qualified people in New York – I say. Or thosewho are complaining about executive salaries – surely theymust realize the figures listed on the Internet are not whatis earned on the W2’s – those inflated figures are requiredby the Federal Government to include pension plans andhealth benefits too. What I say is to require member clubsto get their members to register all their litters with AKCas a way to counter the decline in registrations. That wayregistrations will go back up and then taxes will becomeunnecessary. I mean let’s face it name the organizationwhich does not require members to pay a fee. Belong toAARP – pay a fee. Be a delegate judge – pay a fee too. Isit wrong to charge on a pro-rated basis depending uponthe number of breeds you judge. Some people think so – Ido not – why should the single breed judge who gets anassignment every other three months pay the same fee asa judge who adjudicates at over 100 shows a year? Andthose who argue that the judges fees supplement theirincome truly diminish what judging dogs is all about. Thisis supposed to be about giving not taking – the professionaljudging status in America has grown like Topsy with noregulations ever having been applied. What is this a teaparty thing where a regulation less philosophy is the actiondu jure? I don’t think so – You want to judge at AKC showsdo so on their terms. What about the judge who wrote shewould judge only FCI shows – I say let her but she had bestrecall that unless she is approved by AKC FCI won’t let herjudge. Or what about the judge who claims to have writtento PETA asking them to bring suit against AKC – she or heshould be banned from the sport in the altogether as far as Iam concerned. And should the delegate judge pay a fee – of
course they shouldbut those sayingthe delegate-judgeson the Board should
have recused themselves really are going overboard. Shouldthe delegate judge on the Board not vote on anythingconcerning judging – of course they should have a say.Extremists – they’ll do you in on every chance they get!
Interesting book to read called “Silent Heroes.” Writtenby Evelyn Le Chene and devoted to the bravery anddevotion of animals in war. Published by Souvenir Press
in the UK it involves animals, dogs, bearsdonkeys and more which
have been awardedthe American Purpleheart and the FrenchLegion d’Honneuramong other awardsand some animalswhich have receivedno awards but haveperformed deedsof valor too. It is ajust tribute of theundaunted spirit of allthese animals. It wasfirst printed in l994 withthe paperback editioncoming out in 2009.•
Dog News 77
CH.BELGAR’S DESERT SAND
ThankyouJudgeMs.MarjorieUnderwoodfor thisprestigiousaward
Best InSpecialtyShow,MultipleGroupPlacements,45BestofBreedsAwardofExcellence&AwardofMerit
NumberThree*MiniatureSchnauzer inBreedStandingstodate in2010andgoingstrong.
BredbyBonnieWarrellBelgar’sMiniatureSchnauzers
OwnersMarilynLandeandLyleHarstad
1829North29thPlace•Mesa,Arizona85213480396-6933•[email protected]
ProfessionallyGroomedandHandledBy
Jorge&SusieOlivera
““SONNYSONNY””
Best InSpecialtyShowWinning
*All Systems
There were 709 dogs entered for the Specialty andTrials, with a total entry of 978—up a bit fromlast year. The fragile economy affects us all, butthe upswing in entries demonstrated a dedicatedcommitment from the fancy.
Obedience and Rally took place on Saturdayand Sunday in the big ballroom at London Hall. Judges this yearwere Fred Buroff from Illinois and Richard Strong from Indiana.High in Trial on Saturday, from an entry of 63 Obedience and32 Rally, with a score of 197 from Open B, was Sunchase’s TheNew Black RN UD NAJ, bred by Rhoda Brouillette and ownedby Tracy Hendrickson & Rhoda Brouillette. High Combinedwas Tealcrest’s Half a Sixpence UD RN MX AXJ. Bred by JillHootman and owned by Mary Nee. Sunday’s winners competedin an entry of 65 Obedience and 31 Rally contestants. Highin Trial with a score of 198.5 from Novice B was Sunchase’sSimply Can Can Can Can, bred by Rhoda Brouillette and ownedby Tracy Hendrickson & Rhoda Brouillette. High Combinedwas Sunchase’s Seize the Moment UDX4, bred by Brian,William, & Kara Curry and owned by Larry Moody & TracyHendrickson. Highest Scoring Champion of Record on bothdays, with respective scores of 193 and 196, was Ch Regal’sHereee’s Johnny UD, bred by Korinne & Evan Vanderpool andowned by Peggy McConnell & Korinne Vanderpool. Anyonewho has trained a Boxer to do anything at all, knows the level ofdedication and skill required to get these stunningly intelligentanimals to agree to do repetitive exercises whentheir every instinct is saying “I did that already,why do I have to do it again?”
The great Breeder showcase, the Futuritystakes, took center stage on Monday and Tues-day, judged by Clifford W. Steele from New York,who grew up in a household of boxers as the sonof professional handler Chuck Steele and mom LuSteele, now an AKC judge. 203 contestants viedfor the enviable Grand Prize, their dams nominat-ed before whelping, and each individual puppynominated before 4 months of age. The top win-ners this year, taking home lots of glory and nofew dollars as well, were Best Puppy, the fawn
78 Dog News
BackToTheBluegrass
by Stephanie Abraham
The 67th annual American Boxer Club NationalSpecialty, beautifully orchestrated by Show ChairSalli Moore-Kottas, delivered its usual measure ofexcitement and drama at the Drawbridge Inn in FortMitchell, Kentucky during the week of May 8-14th.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 116
photos by Daniel & Stephanie Abraham
Dog News 79
In a moment of weakness? madness? – whatever – theECSC of Southeastern Wisconsin decided to host theparent club national specialty once again, a mere three
years since we plunged into the daunting task in 2007.Amazingly we were able to book the site on rather shortnotice, thanks to a cancellation, and so the 69th specialty ofthe English Cocker Spaniel Club of America, Inc. took overthe Olympia Resort and conference Center in Oconomowoc,WI for the first week in May.
English Cockers, being a versatile breed, do lots of dif-ferent things with their owners, and this year a hardy spec-tator could watch every venue. A local field events club,the Fox Valley ECSC held two cocker field trials on April28-29 at the Rock River Kennel grounds in Beaver Dam, WI.Then the ECSCA followed with TD/TDX test on April 30in Eagle, WI, followed the same day by an ECSCA Work-ing Test at the Beaver Dam site. Two days of AKC HuntingTests ran on May 1-2, also at Beaver Dam, and on May 2-3two days of Agility were held at the Olympia site outdoors.Conformation, rally and obedience followed inside at theOlympia May 4-7. Not quite sure how we managed all this,but thanks to many fanciers outside our little club, wepulled it off.
The tracking tests, held on the Ottawa Field Trail Train-ing Area, part of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, werejudged by Annette Cochrane and Pam German. Our limit offour in each level was filled. The weather was clear, but abit dry and windy. Four dogs were successful in the TD, butsadly none passed the TDX. Later the same day with theweather turning rainy, the Working Test at Rock River Ken-nel, which drew a good entry for Danae Steel to judge witha number of ECs earning the club’s WD or WDX title.
Saturday May 1 and Sunday May 2 we held HuntingTests also at the Rock River venue, with filled (limit was40) tests each day. These events were open to all flush-ing spaniel breeds with ECs having priority) and we hadentries from Clumbers, English Springers, Field Spaniels,American Water Spaniels, and even one Airedale! Theweather was somewhat temperamental, but not disas-trous, and we appreciated every bit of help from all whoassisted in these events.
By Sunday, the weather had cleared andalthough windy it was sunny, bright andalmost spring-like for the back-to-backAgility trials open to ECS only held on thegrounds of the Olympia Resort. JudgeKim Reeher came out from Pennsylvaniato do both days and there were well over100 “runs” for each event. AKC rules do
not permit High in Trial awards at Agility events, but wewere able to offer a special award to any exhibitor whosedog qualified in each venue of the trial – Standard, Jumperswith Weaves and FAST – four teams of English Cockers andtheir owners accomplished this feat. Known as a Triple Q !
80 Dog News
EnglishCockersReturnToWisconsin!!by Kate Romanski • Photos by Heather Sammis & Delores Burkholder
ECSCA National Specialty, April 30-May 7, 2010Oconomowoc, Wisconsin
CONTINUED ON PAGE 108
Dog News 81
THE DOG NEWS TOP TEN LIST - ALL BREED
good for the dog’s body with the give of the material andexcellent footing for the dog. The viaduct is a challengingnew wide jump obstacle presented to the dog and definitelythe dog and handler needed an opportunity for the dog tojump repeatedly on this obstacle. Each dog is given threeminutes practice on three different courses, so nine minutestotal in the full course area. Practice is allowed at the Worldcompetition based on the number of dogs on the team so itis also a preparation for the handler to know what to expectin Germany. Friday night the competitors are allowed todraw their own running order and of course all hope it isnot number one in the lineup when they pick out of the hat.This is the fairest method for running order in my opinionfor such an important event. Also on Friday a measuringin process is done on all dogs trying out for the small andmedium team, two dogs were measured out and could onlyrun FEO at the competition as they must be within a certainheight to be on the teams, measuring is done at the Worldcompetition before any dog can run as well as a check onthe microchip or tattoo. The Saturday competition wasthree courses, one jumpers, and two standard courses,which at the completion of the day all scores are combinedto determine the first three team members. The winnerson the first day were nearly all experienced previous teammembers with excellent dogs that showed consistency onall three runs. The Sunday competition is one jumpers andone standard course, which now allows the adding up ofall five scores earned and produces the next three teammembers. Six in all are chosen, half the team needed oftwelve. The six winners should have produced the mostconsistent and speediest dogs since the course time was setfor each round by the fast dogs time. Consistency for theteam is paramount but they must be fast as well.
82 Dog News
The difficult task ahead is now for the Director of Agility,Andy Hartman and coach, Nancy Gyes to pick the rest of the teamto compliment the six that have earned a spot. Toni Osojnicki,team manager, supplies them statistics from the full year of thehandlers competition, information from the Agility Nationalscompetition as well as all information on the Tryouts competition,several pages of stats that will help them make an informeddecision. The current team members are large dogs (26” jumpheight), Terry Smorch and his Border Collie, Presto (second timeteam member but new dog) and Channan Fosty and Icon herBorder Collie (second time team member); Medium team (18”jump height) is Karen Holik and her Shetland Sheepdog, Sizzle(fourth time team member) and first time team member, DianeGoodspeed and her Shetland Sheepdog, Demon; and Small team(14” jump height) Marcy Mantell and her Shetland Sheepdog,Wave (third time team member) and Dee Anna Gamel anotherShetland Sheepdog, Kelsi (fourth time team member). Many newdogs and handlers rose to the top of the competition and it willbe expected that the teams will be a mixture of experienced andnew.
As is so often the case in caring dog people, another examplewas present even in this high powered competition and a storyemerged to show the support of dog people to those who need it.One of the competitors, a previous team member, is facing verysevere cancer issues and she signed her dog over to a friend whoran the Sheltie. He did outstanding and it was so heartening towatch how well the dog ran for the new handler and gave hisall even though the experienced previous team member was notcalling out the commands. The stands erupted each time theyran in support and it spurred him on without a doubt. The newhandler may have a chance to make the team and I can only wishthem the best.
If you have any interest in traveling with the team, be sure tovisit the AKC Web site for information. It will tell you to contactToni Osojnicki who has secured the rooms right on site of thecompetition which is Gut Matheshof Event Center in Rieden,Germany on October 1-3, 2010. Matheshof is a state of the arthorse arena with the same type of dirt surface that the tryoutswere held on. The hotel is on site next to the arena, one of theeasiest to date locations. All supporters will be able to just walkover to the show site at will. The package plan for the trip will begiven you upon request and a yahoo group is formed before yougo and you get to know the other people that will be travelingwith you. The team members also chime in and you get to knowthem better as well. As a consistent traveler to these WorldChampionships, if you like agility, it is a must see event. •
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18
UpsideSeesawTHE
OFTHE
Dog News 83
catching sight of her as she went into my son’scatching sight of her as she went into my son’sroom. I stood in the doorway as she hobbledroom. I stood in the doorway as she hobbledto the side of his bed and lifted her soft fawnto the side of his bed and lifted her soft fawnmuzzle to the side of his face, not touching, justmuzzle to the side of his face, not touching, justseeming to breathe in his scent. She pausedseeming to breathe in his scent. She pausedto look at me before turning and going throughto look at me before turning and going throughthe door, to repeat the same good-bye at mythe door, to repeat the same good-bye at mydaughter’s side.daughter’s side.
Later my husband said he found us bothLater my husband said he found us bothat the top of the stairs, me sobbing and Tootieat the top of the stairs, me sobbing and Tootiewith her head on my shoulder, seemingly tryingwith her head on my shoulder, seemingly tryingto console me. We carried her 140 poundsto console me. We carried her 140 poundsdown the 13 steps to save her any more paindown the 13 steps to save her any more painand my husband told me to sit this one out thatand my husband told me to sit this one out thathe would take her the rest of the way as shehe would take her the rest of the way as shehad already said her good-bye to me.had already said her good-bye to me.
It was a bittersweet pact we made to notIt was a bittersweet pact we made to notget another Great Dane. We did this with ourget another Great Dane. We did this with ourlast one, at two and half, battling Addison’slast one, at two and half, battling Addison’sdisease. The battle consisted of a monthlydisease. The battle consisted of a monthlyshot that cost four hundred dollars, a periodshot that cost four hundred dollars, a periodof almost two weeks where she was almostof almost two weeks where she was almostnormal, and a period of two weeks where shenormal, and a period of two weeks where shespiraled down, where she was incontinent, andspiraled down, where she was incontinent, andlistless. This went on until the almost normallistless. This went on until the almost normalperiod was only a few days.period was only a few days.
Other “people in dogs” told us we shouldOther “people in dogs” told us we shouldget a Standard Poodle as our next breed. Ourget a Standard Poodle as our next breed. Ournew breed. “They are smart, they are hearty,new breed. “They are smart, they are hearty,and they don’t shed – they are the perfect dog.”and they don’t shed – they are the perfect dog.”
I wandered the show grounds. I visitedI wandered the show grounds. I visitedbreeders. And finally, I bought a whitebreeders. And finally, I bought a whitestandard puppy and named him Eliot, after T.S.standard puppy and named him Eliot, after T.S.(I am a writer and teacher in my other life) and(I am a writer and teacher in my other life) andfell into all things standard. He was all thingsfell into all things standard. He was all thingspromised. He was so smart I expected to comepromised. He was so smart I expected to comehome to find him reading my books. And hehome to find him reading my books. And hewas more. He was the peacemaker, gettingwas more. He was the peacemaker, gettingbetween our two cats where one really neededbetween our two cats where one really neededsome anti-bullying instruction. He would drinksome anti-bullying instruction. He would drinkhalf of the leftover milk in the cereal bowl (sorryhalf of the leftover milk in the cereal bowl (sorrymom – that’s why I tell you the white bowls aremom – that’s why I tell you the white bowls arefor salad) and then step away so the cats couldfor salad) and then step away so the cats couldhave their share. He followed me from room tohave their share. He followed me from room toroom, lying just beyond the bathtub, or besideroom, lying just beyond the bathtub, or besidemy desk, or chair.my desk, or chair.
People often talk about the great love ofPeople often talk about the great love oftheir life, and the one special dog. I’m nottheir life, and the one special dog. I’m notdiscounting any of that, because I have haddiscounting any of that, because I have hadmine also, but I have to add, there are differentmine also, but I have to add, there are differentdogs for different times. Eliot’s gentlenessdogs for different times. Eliot’s gentlenesscalmed me merely by looking in his eyes, andcalmed me merely by looking in his eyes, andit was a time in my life when I needed calmit was a time in my life when I needed calmreinforcement. My children were in college,reinforcement. My children were in college,I was publishing my first book, and I wasI was publishing my first book, and I wasdealing with the change of a promotion and adealing with the change of a promotion and areassignment.reassignment.
To celebrate, I joined a small group goingTo celebrate, I joined a small group goingon a Caribbean cruise – my husband hates theon a Caribbean cruise – my husband hates the
sun, the water, and crowds and electedsun, the water, and crowds and electedto stay home and work and dog sit. Ito stay home and work and dog sit. Ireturned after nine days to discover Eliotreturned after nine days to discover Eliothad stopped eating and had lost about fivehad stopped eating and had lost about fivepounds. Guiltily, I believed he had missedpounds. Guiltily, I believed he had missedme to the point of making himself ill. Ime to the point of making himself ill. Itook him to the vet after two days and wetook him to the vet after two days and webegan the journey that enlisted specialistsbegan the journey that enlisted specialistsand numerous tests. Two weeks later, heand numerous tests. Two weeks later, hewas much worse and we had no answers.was much worse and we had no answers.He was now down 14 pounds. He couldHe was now down 14 pounds. He couldnot eat, and finally, he could not drink. Inot eat, and finally, he could not drink. Ihad been taking him to the vet and leavinghad been taking him to the vet and leavinghim during the day and then bringing himhim during the day and then bringing himhome at night. On Tuesday of that week,home at night. On Tuesday of that week,I knew we had reached the T in the road.I knew we had reached the T in the road.The vet told me she would call me in aThe vet told me she would call me in afew hours after the latest blood tests werefew hours after the latest blood tests wereanalyzed.analyzed.
IIt was the first day for teacherst was the first day for teachersat my new school where I wasat my new school where I wasthe newly appointed Assistantthe newly appointed AssistantPrincipal. I’m sure I came acrossPrincipal. I’m sure I came acrossa bit cool and reserved when Ia bit cool and reserved when Iwas really just numb, afraid forwas really just numb, afraid forthe phone to ring, afraid for it notthe phone to ring, afraid for it notto.to.
My vet called at 10:00. She explainedMy vet called at 10:00. She explainedit in degrees and stages but my gentleit in degrees and stages but my gentleboy had developed cancer in the stomachboy had developed cancer in the stomachlining. He had hours to perhaps a few dayslining. He had hours to perhaps a few daysto live but they would be painful hours andto live but they would be painful hours andhe could not process food or water.he could not process food or water.
I wanted to call my husband during theI wanted to call my husband during thetwenty minute drive to the vet’s office,twenty minute drive to the vet’s office,but I couldn’t put any of it into words sobut I couldn’t put any of it into words soI didn’t use my cell phone. I cried, I triedI didn’t use my cell phone. I cried, I triedto bargain with any deity on duty. I toldto bargain with any deity on duty. I toldmyself there could be worse things – thismyself there could be worse things – thiswasn’t my son or daughter. It wasn’t mywasn’t my son or daughter. It wasn’t myhusband. Could I survive that, when Ihusband. Could I survive that, when Icould barely function doing this?could barely function doing this?
At the vet’s I asked if I could take EliotAt the vet’s I asked if I could take Eliotoutside – it was August. The sky wasoutside – it was August. The sky wasa perfect Duron blue. “Can you comea perfect Duron blue. “Can you comeoutside, in the back, on the grassy fieldoutside, in the back, on the grassy fieldbehind the center? In ten minutes or so?”behind the center? In ten minutes or so?”
Eliot staggered and I wound up carryingEliot staggered and I wound up carryinghim until we reached the grass andhim until we reached the grass andthen we both just sat in the quietness. Ithen we both just sat in the quietness. Iwatched a bird glide without using itswatched a bird glide without using itswings for what seemed like an impossiblewings for what seemed like an impossibleamount of time. And then I started talking.amount of time. And then I started talking.I thanked Eliot for bringing me joy, andI thanked Eliot for bringing me joy, andshowing me what a difference tendernessshowing me what a difference tendernessin spirit makes in life, how his kindness andin spirit makes in life, how his kindness andgentleness would never be forgotten. Andgentleness would never be forgotten. Andthen I just held him.then I just held him.
Re-gifting:AWaggingTaleCONTINUED FROM PAGE 42
CONTINUED ON PAGE 86
84 Dog News
Dog News 85
Heaven on your eyesStyle BulletParadise“Eden”
Thank you for recognizing her qualities!
Eden is loved & shown by Mary CummingsBred by Dr. Elena Jordanova, BulgariaOwned by Michael & Shirley Zimmer
Apalachin, New York email [email protected] - www.bulldogsofbullrush.com
Shown byMary Cummings
JudgeMs. Dianne Miller
Group SecondJudge
Mrs. Jean FournierShown by
Dan Cunninghamfor Mary(home withpuppies)
I continued even when the vet cameI continued even when the vet cameout and put the needle in the IV still inout and put the needle in the IV still inhis leg. I felt the tension of life leave andhis leg. I felt the tension of life leave andthen he was limp.then he was limp.
I continued to sit in the grass afterI continued to sit in the grass afterthey carried him away wondering if thethey carried him away wondering if thevet had closed his eyes or if he had, hisvet had closed his eyes or if he had, hislast act to comfort me.last act to comfort me.
A week later, my vet sent me a cardA week later, my vet sent me a cardthat his ashes were ready to be pickedthat his ashes were ready to be pickedup. The box was a quarter of the size ofup. The box was a quarter of the size ofthe others, and they had misspelled histhe others, and they had misspelled hisname, using two ls, but my heart didn’tname, using two ls, but my heart didn’tthink it mattered at that point.think it mattered at that point.
Eliot had been 8 years old.Eliot had been 8 years old.And how I missed him. Not sittingAnd how I missed him. Not sitting
against my feet as I read a book, notagainst my feet as I read a book, notfeeling his weight against my leg as Ifeeling his weight against my leg as Iwatched TV, tried to sleep. Not able towatched TV, tried to sleep. Not able torub his curly knot.rub his curly knot.
BBy October I was angry.y October I was angry.I had played by theI had played by therules. I bought therules. I bought thebest dog food withoutbest dog food withoutcancer causingcancer causingadditives. I had crabadditives. I had crabgrass because I didn’tgrass because I didn’twant pesticides in mywant pesticides in my
yard. I bought from breeders who caredyard. I bought from breeders who caredabout health and registered and verifiedabout health and registered and verifiedand certified. How was this possible?and certified. How was this possible?How was this fair? I turned to theHow was this fair? I turned to theInternet looking at Rescue sites, lookingInternet looking at Rescue sites, lookingat Standard Poodle rescues from all overat Standard Poodle rescues from all overthe country, at the horror stories, at thethe country, at the horror stories, at thesad stories, at the disappointing humanssad stories, at the disappointing humansbehind the horror and sad stories.behind the horror and sad stories.
By November I had stopped tryingBy November I had stopped tryingto make myself angry by looking at theto make myself angry by looking at thestories of people who didn’t deservestories of people who didn’t deservethe dogs they had forsaken and startedthe dogs they had forsaken and startedlooking at the dogs. This is how I foundlooking at the dogs. This is how I foundAtticus.Atticus.
Atticus? “Are you just screwing withAtticus? “Are you just screwing withme now?” I asked the same deities thatme now?” I asked the same deities thatperiodically gather to watch if nothingperiodically gather to watch if nothingelse.else.
I made the calls. I planned the trip.I made the calls. I planned the trip.My husband made a tentativeMy husband made a tentative
comment. “This is a rescue dog right?”comment. “This is a rescue dog right?”“Yes.”“Yes.”“And, don’t they have like fifty rescue“And, don’t they have like fifty rescue
groups in Maryland. Do you really havegroups in Maryland. Do you really haveto drive through five states to get a dog?”to drive through five states to get a dog?”
“Yes, I do.” End of discussion.“Yes, I do.” End of discussion.So I went to Connecticut for Atticus.So I went to Connecticut for Atticus.
I had my doubts of course. I am a DaneI had my doubts of course. I am a Dane
person who had purchased a Standardperson who had purchased a StandardPoodle because they live longer andPoodle because they live longer andbecause they are touted to be the bestbecause they are touted to be the bestdogs in the world. The second partdogs in the world. The second partwas true. Was I really going to nowwas true. Was I really going to nowgamble on getting a five year old?gamble on getting a five year old?
It was not really love at first sight. IIt was not really love at first sight. Itook Atticus for a walk and discoveredtook Atticus for a walk and discoveredhe was seemingly better trained thanhe was seemingly better trained thanany of my previous dogs (show peopleany of my previous dogs (show peopleare not big on the automatic “sit” andare not big on the automatic “sit” andheeling is also a lost art). He was muchheeling is also a lost art). He was muchbigger than Eliot, but I had told myselfbigger than Eliot, but I had told myselfI would not compare the two. Still heI would not compare the two. Still hehad kind, intelligent, and trusting eyes.had kind, intelligent, and trusting eyes.We accepted each other in that weWe accepted each other in that werecognized we each had a need.recognized we each had a need.
On the way home, Atticus sat in theOn the way home, Atticus sat in theback seat of the SUV and looked outback seat of the SUV and looked outthe window, at the back of my head,the window, at the back of my head,or at my eyes in the rearview mirror.or at my eyes in the rearview mirror.Once in the house, he, a former kennelOnce in the house, he, a former kenneldog, raised his leg on a library chairdog, raised his leg on a library chairand I told him “NO” and that was theand I told him “NO” and that was thelast time I needed to correct him aboutlast time I needed to correct him aboutanything.anything.
Initially I said he was a rescue dog,Initially I said he was a rescue dog,but then I stopped after the secondbut then I stopped after the secondutterance because it seemed ridiculousutterance because it seemed ridiculous– much like someone getting a current– much like someone getting a currentyear Mercedes for a dollar because theyear Mercedes for a dollar because theformer owner sold it because she didn‘tformer owner sold it because she didn‘tlike the color. Then I tried to describelike the color. Then I tried to describeit as re-homed, but again that didn’tit as re-homed, but again that didn’tseem to fit. Finally, I just say I got himseem to fit. Finally, I just say I got himthrough a re-gifting process and onlythrough a re-gifting process and onlyI really understand the significance ofI really understand the significance ofthis logic.this logic.
He has a gentleness, a kindness,He has a gentleness, a kindness,and a tenderness of spirit that isand a tenderness of spirit that isuncanny. He is not truly white, but isuncanny. He is not truly white, but istermed “apricot” which means he istermed “apricot” which means he iswhite with a little bit of red highlightwhite with a little bit of red highlight(something I try to pull off at the tune(something I try to pull off at the tuneof 90.00 every 8 weeks or so in my ownof 90.00 every 8 weeks or so in my ownhair). He is not the replacement dog,hair). He is not the replacement dog,he has earned his spot on his own.he has earned his spot on his own.But, the dog before him showed meBut, the dog before him showed mewhat it means to trust and be open towhat it means to trust and be open tothe gentleness there is in life. I knowthe gentleness there is in life. I knowI have started the clock five years pastI have started the clock five years pastthe time I usually start, and that hasn’tthe time I usually start, and that hasn’talways stopped where I wanted it to.always stopped where I wanted it to.But Atticus has love to last a lifetime,But Atticus has love to last a lifetime,his lifetime, and however long thathis lifetime, and however long thatmight be, I’m going to be there to lovemight be, I’m going to be there to lovehim right back. •him right back. •
Re-gifting:AWaggingTaleCONTINUED FROM PAGE 84
86 Dog News
Dog News 87
“major”...An Officer, A Gentleman,
A Best In Show Winner
Bred by Sherry & Michael HarmanOwned by Sherry & Michael Harman & Janet CupoloAlways Breeder-Owner-Handled by Michael Harman
The #1 Komondor All SystemsThe Best In Show Winning
Ch. Meadow View Officer N A GentlemanBest In Show Judge Mrs. Elaine E. MathisGroup First Judge Miss Virginia L. Lyne
The show was held at the Tel Aviv showground, the largestvenue in Israel, with some rings outside on a tidy lawn with lotsof shade while others were in air-conditioned pavilions. The panelof judges included representatives from as far away as Japan aswell as Russia, Finland, Ireland and Italy, and of course top localjudges. A small but elite group of foreign entries included dogsfrom Russia, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands. These dogs,mostly champions, were drawn by the premise of winning an Is-raeli championship title at a single show (local dogs must win atthree shows) and could also get the Tel Aviv Winner title, a titleawarded at this show only.
The first impression when entering theshowground was: “Wow, this is huge!”One could definitely lose one’s way aroundthe place. On the other hand, there wasplenty of room around the rings for theexhibitors and their dogs and the ringsthemselves were of a generous size. Ataround 10 AM the visitors began to ar-rive. Soon there were no spaces left in theadjacent parking lots and traffic began to
amass, causing the police to divert traffic to other, further loca-tions. But the crowds continued to flow, with long lines collectingat the ticket office.
The judging progressed at a regular pace. This was the firsttime the IKC had based the entire show on its new online software.With direct connection to the stud book, the stewards could enterthe dog’s critique and qualifications and they were immediatelyupdated in the dog’s records within the stud book, thus ensuringdogs would get all the titles they were eligible to receive. Screensin the rings displayed the class being judged and the number ofthe dogs in the following class, making it easier on the exhibitors.
There were hitches here and there: the computers sometimeshad a mind of their own, causing the support team to run betweenthe rings like mice in a maze; some of the visitors had a hard timefinding their way around the show for lack of signage and printedmaps; not everyone enjoyed the heat or the dense crowds. How-ever, these things were to be expected at such a huge affair.
A visitor wrote on one of the internet forums: “At the begin-ning, we felt a bit like at the Oscars’ – we were able to see in per-son all the amazing dogs we had only seen on the Web, and theirowners too. That’s cool – we know them but they don’t know us.Have you ever thought that you are a type of celebs? Despite theheat, parking problems and other logistical issues, e.g. long linesfor the cafeteria and restrooms, we had a wonderful time. This wasthe first time we had seen such a rich and diverse array of dogs.Hats off to the organizers. Although there is room for improve-ment, we had lots of fun. I believe the spectators were impressednot only by the dogs but by their owners and the cooperation andsupport they displayed. They got to know the open, positive dogbreeding community, were able to see how interesting this hob-by is, received detailed explanations and were impressed by thefamily idylls as little children laid down to rest besides their dogsthat were three times bigger than them. Those experiences attractmore people, and that is wonderful!”
88 Dog News
BigisBeautifulCONTINUED FROM PAGE 46
CONTINUED ON PAGE 94
Dog News 89
SBKCSanta Barbara Kennel Club
2nd AnnualBreeder’s Showcase
2010August 28th – Santa Barbara, CA
4 All-Breed Shows – August 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th
We have combined our resources to give the breeder the recognition thatwe feel that you deserve. This year on August 28th at the
Santa Barbara Kennel Club Show there will be the Second AnnualBreeder’s Showcase – this Special Attraction will showcase your breeding program.
All it takes is two dogs and/or bitches bred by you.You don’t have to show them and you don’t have to own them.
Anyone can own either or both and anyone including professional handlerscan show them for you. You are also invited to join us for dinner compliments
of our many patrons – “Dinner At The Dog Show” on Saturday night!!
It is to highlight your breeding program.Come show everyone what you have done.
$12,300 Cash PrizesIf you have any questions, please give one of our co-chairpersons a call:
Connie Miller – 269-375-8846Desi Murphy 914-523-6091; email:[email protected]
Entry forms are on our web site: www.sbkcdogs.com or throughJack Bradshaw, Superintendent – www.jbradshaw.com
SBKC Show Chair; David Powers – 818-367-5785
Gossipthe
column
By Eugene Z. Zaphiris
CORKY VROOM,retired all breedhandler and husbandof AmericanKennel Club FieldRepresentativeSUSAN VROOM,passed awaythis week fromthe cancer thathe fought till theend. CORKY wascatapulted intothe front lines ata very young agewhen his employer,all breed handlerHARRY SANGSTER,was killed in anauto accident.He inherited hisclients and theresponsibility ofrunning a handlingbusiness. He wasa giant in hisprofession, and thehalcyon days of hispartnership withGLORIA & NATREESE producedthree different dogsthat were numberone all breeds inthe nation, pluslots of other recordbreakers andholders. He marriedthree times toKAREN, BARBARAand of course SUSANwho tamed the wildbeast in him (noeasy task). He wonseven groups at theGarden but neverdid win best in showat that event. Butwhat he did winwas the love andrespect of everyonein the sport from the
novice to the mostcynical amongst us.Upon the VROOM’Shandling retirement,they movedfrom their nativeCalifornia to Texasand SUE began hercareer as a Field Repand CORKY, notwanting to judge,worked with anotherformer handler,GEORGE ALSTON,in conductinghandling seminars.He was a good friendto me and I’ll misshim. He leaves avoid in the sport thatcan never be filled,but leaves manygreat memoriesto remember himby, but I can’t helpbut think of thatChristmas dinner(an annual event)with SUSAN,CAROL & MICHAELGROSSMAN, MATTSTANDER andmyself and thatconversation aboutthe Oldsmobilestation wagon (butthat story is foranother time). Amemorial servicehas been plannedfor late June inTexas and anothermemorial service tobe held in Californiaat a later date. Allof us at DOG NEWSsend SUE andCORKY’S mother
and sister who wereplanning a move toTexas to be closerto the VROOMS ourdeepest sympathyand love. Just aswe say goodbye toCORKY, word comesthat yet another oldfriend and formerhandler turnedjudge, ROBERTCONDON, passedaway. BOB was aformer MiniatureSchnauzer breederand handler alongwith his wifeMADELINE. Upontheir retirement theCONDONS movedfrom the Chicagoarea to Floridaand just enjoyedlife. They plannedtrips and traveledthe world, visitingthe most remoteplaces and sendingus postcards thatwe read with greatenvy. Better thanthe postcards wereMADELINE’S carepackages of homebaked cookies. Italways seemed tome that she wouldbake a batch ofcookies, pack andsend them, thenpack for them andfly off to some partof the world. BOBnot only leaves hisbeloved MADELINEbut his sons andtheir families and ahost of friends notsoon to forget thatman who alwayswore white socks,
no matter what theoccasion.God, I’m gettingtired of sayinggoodbye to somany friends…The AmericanKennel Club hasannounced thedates for its secondstand alone MEETTHE BREEDS (allrecognized AmericanKennel Club breedsplus all pure bredcats recognized bythe Cat Fancier’sAssociation) withPETPARTNERS,the dog insurancecompany, as itsmajor sponsorto be held at theJACOB JAVITSCONVENTIONCENTER inManhattan. TheSaturday & Sundayevent will be heldon October 16th &17th from 10 A.M.to 5 P.M. I wouldstrongly suggestthat those breedclubs who didnot participate inlast year’s hugelysuccessful eventsign up for thisupcoming one.BIRTHDAYING…TORIE STEELE,LOWELL DAVIS,PETER ATKINSON,JOHN SAEMANN,SKIP HERENDEEN,BARBARA KEENAN,ROMANA ARNOLD,BILL MCFADDEN,KEEGAN
MCFADDEN, JERRYPUTMAN, BILLCUNNINGHAM, PATWILLER, DENNISMCCOY, JAYRICHARDSON, GAYGLAZBROOK andSIBYLL SOMMER.In the NEW YORKsection of theMonday, May24th issue of theWALL STREETJORUNAL therewas a nice pieceabout TERRIERSUNLEASHED INCENTRAL PARKwritten by RALPHGARDNER, JR. Itwas about a groupof Norwich Terrierand Norfolk Terrierowners gatheringin Central Park withtheir dogs. No parentclub or AmericanKennel Clubparticipation, justpet loving owners ofpure bred dogs. Theevent was organizedby MARCIA LEWIN.According to theauthor several dozendogs with theirowners showed upincluding formerCalifornia SenatorJOHN TUNNEY.Nice outing for acommon interest andbest of all some goodpublicity on purebred dogs and theirowners.
90 Dog News
Dog News 91
Multiple Group Winning
Ch. Larkspur Milestone Flyby
“Blake”Number 2 English Cocker Spaniel*
Thank you to Judge Mr. Terry Stacy and all the other judgeswho have recognized this fine young dog.
Owned By:Jill and Bob Lindheim
Handled By:Evan Threlfall*C.C. All Breed System
Breeder & Owner:Cindy SmithAkitas CASwww.akitascas.com
Professionally Handled ByChris Ann Moore
Co-Owners:Robert & Chris Ann Moore
Shinto Akitaswww.shintoakitas.com
92 Dog News
One Word Says It All
‘IMPRESSIVE’
Representing the best of the standard“Large & Powerful with Much Substance & Heavy Bone”
Pictured here with Judge Mrs. Wendy Paquette
ANOTHER GROUP FIRSTCH. CAS COBO HAUL EUDOR AOM
CH. DAWN HEIR’S HE’S THE BOSSMatching the Standard, a Strong Compact Symmetrically Built
Working DogThank You Judge Mrs. Irma Fertl
BreederMarty Youmans-Griffith
Professionally Handled ByChris Ann [email protected]
Owners:David & Carla Price
Dog News 93
When Things Get Tough, Look To The
“BOSS”
Throughout the day, the agility club and obedience club put on demonstrationsthat drew large crowds. In the afternoon, their ring was transformed into the ringof honor and the final judging began with junior handlers, then breeders’ groups,progeny groups, braces, Best Puppy, Best Junior and Best Veteran. Then came the10 FCI groups.
About half the groups were dominated by foreign exhibitors who hadflown in from various countries. Naturally, they had brought top quality andtop winning dogs with them, including a Giant Schnauzer and MiniatureSchnauzer from Moscow who placed 1st and 2nd in their group and a Min-iature Poodle that had also flown over from Russia.
The most prominent group of dogs had been brought over by two han-dlers, Ante Lucin of Croatia and Javier Gonzales Mendicote, a Spaniard.Between them they brought eight dogs: one Pug who placed second in itsclass, two Boston Terriers who placed BOB and BIS, a Chihuahua and Shi-ba Inu both second in their groups and three group winners, an AmericanCocker Spaniel, a Dalmation and a Maltese.
When the 10 group winners were presented to Finnish judge, PaulaHeikkinen-Lehkonen, the crowd was rooting for thelatter three dogs, all beautifully groomed and present-ed. The judge put up Italian-bred and owned Maltese,Cinecitta Quentin Tarantino owned by Franco Prosperifirst. She placed the Dalmation, Alphadirato FutureBrand, also Italian owned, in second place. Third placewent to an Alaskan Malamute, Nanuke for ayla of Na-varama Mal, a dog imported from the Czech Republicby local owner Ayelet Shushan.
Dan Simkin: “The BIS judge was Finnish. I am notfamiliar with the Maltese, but I saw Ante with his Dal-mation give a real show in the ring at Cruft’s and takingthird place in the group. His quality of handling and thequality of the dog could also be seen at our show. I per-sonally would have given him BIS even at the expenseof my personal dog. I hope more and more exhibitorsand dogs come to our shows and I will gladly lose to abetter dog or one handled better than mine. This is theway to learn, if you don’t lose, you can’t win.”
Before the Best in Show judging, “Israel’s Pet of theYear” was chosen. This competition was among all theanimals entered to the show, including dogs, cats, rep-tiles and larger animals too. Throughout the day, visitorsand exhibitors could send text messages thus voting fortheir favorite participant. After the votes were tallied,the top prize – a huge trophy – went to a pony.
One can say this show was a pivotal event for the Is-raeli Kennel Club. The immediate result of the financialsuccess was expressed in a 10% discount in stud bookfees. The IKC board also rented new offices that willcater to all the needs of the organization and providemembers with better service. Next May, Israel will hostthe Mediterranean Winner show and hopes to drawmore and more foreign exhibitors.
Or at least foreign judges, as expressed by Sean Del-mar, Irish Kennel Club president, who judged with hiswife Cathy: “Many thanks for the hospitality shown tous on our visit to Israel. We will keep good memoriesof your committee and exhibitors. Such a special placewith special people. By the way, the BIS line-up wasworld class.” •
BigisBeautifulCONTINUED FROM PAGE 88
94 Dog News
Dog News 95
Robert Condon1932 – 2010
Dear friend and associate, he will be missed by all membersof the Show Committee of the
International Kennel Club of Chicago
dog carries. Fixing any part of the anatomy of thedog is not only against AKC rules, but is againstall ethical practices. Breeders must stop talkingthemselves into believing it will do no harm toshow and breed these faulty dogs. The problemswill simply show up in future generations andbe spread throughout the World by exporting forbreeding, those dogs which have produced theproblem or show that they are affected.
One specific and personallytroubling symptom of un-soundness is in the shakinghindquarters of some dogs. Ifirst published my concernsabout this problem in a Ca-nine Chronicle ad, Feb 26,1983. From what I see in the
ring it has only escalated. I frankly do not know allthe possible causes of this condition, but I do feelstrongly that it must be genetic as it has occurredin several generations, and is against one or morestatements in our Standard. One line that fits fromthe Standard would be “Therefore, soundness isof the greatest importance.” Another is “with nosign of aggression, shyness or nervousness.” TheCode of Ethics for the Old English Sheepdog Clubof America states: “Only dogs and bitches that arephysically sound and of good temperament are tobe used for breeding”. Dogs that have hip dyspla-sia, eye defects, auto-immune disease, deafness,or any other significant hereditary problem mustnot be bred if we are to keep our breed viable. Thesoundness, healthy appearance, and temperamentof dogs that we have bred reflects our dedicationto the good breeding practices and best interestsof the breed as set forth in this Code of Ethics. Aswith many Clubs, we have members threateningmembers who talk openly about the problems inour breed, and of course this only spreads distrustand animosity among those who truly want to findanswers to all the disease processes our breed issubject to. To be fully informed is to be forearmedwhen considering a future for our beloved pets.We need to encourage everyone to participate inall ongoing health studies, and Clubs need to pro-vide clinics where DNA or blood samples may becollected to be provided for those studies. Grantsneed to be supported by Parent Clubs to facilitatethe studies designed to promote the health withinthat breed. These studies will hopefully add to theoverall health of all breeds.
3. Education needs to be ongoing and shouldbe open and available to everyone, no matterhow little or how much experience they havewith the breed. Nor should it be a matter ofwhat their current aspirations or future dreamsmay be. Educational Seminars should never beheld behind closed doors or presented by justone person who travels across the Country.What is being taught should never be done ona limited basis, with only a chosen few allowedto sit in on the event. This simply promotes theidea that personal agendas are being followedand leaves an unpleasant memory for those de-nied admittance. If limited space is a concern,then a video representation of the event needsto be made available to those who were de-nied attendance. Mentor programs need to beimplemented by Mentor Meetings, where theStandard and Illustrated Guide are discussedwith an eye to making the dissemination ofinformation more uniform.
Education should be sought with all pos-sible diligence by everyone who wishes tomake raising and showing dogs a hobby oravocation. Our breed is not a singular entity,but rather one of a complex group. I often sug-gest that people interested in learning abouta breed that interests them attend seminarsoffered by other breed clubs, as well as thoseabout their breed. Learning what your breed isnot isn’t only of interest, but is of actual value,as it identifies and offers contrasts to what isvital to your breed. The study of any breed,needs to start with basic anatomy and formand function. The AKC now has a Mentor pro-gram that will be of great value to companionanimal owners, as well as those whose interestis in breeding and showing. I urge all knowl-edgeable owners to list themselves as beingwilling to mentor to new owners in their area.Passing on factual information will contributeto the well-being of the AKC, and all Breeds.
4. Clubs need to promote events sponsored bythe AKC rather than other entities when at allpossible. We turn to the AKC for assistancewhen unfair dog laws are being proposed thatwill impact us, and then complain when theAKC needs to make some adjustments to fundraising so they can continue to afford to lobbyin our favor. In our breed, herding is an ex-ample. Instead of providing an AKC sponsoredevent, my Club this year has elected to providean event sponsored by another entity, and thuswe will deny the AKC their share of the incomethat will be generated by the event. It is not agreat amount of money, but every dime countsin these tough times. Only AKC supportedevents will yield titles that will be included onour AKC Certified Pedigrees. •
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STOP THEINSANITYCONTINUED FROM PAGE 50
Dog News 97
Lillian Tiffany, and British artist, Julia Brenan’s portraitof the South African bred but British owned, Ch. Pudi ofMoorehaven, who has the distinction of being the only (todate) Schipperke to win BIS at a championship show in theUK, which he achieved at Bath in 1981.
A historically interesting exhibit, as it goes back to thevery roots of the breed in the UK, is the front page ofThe Stock-Keeper from September 1891. It featuresthe imported Ch. Shtoots, who won the ChallengeClass (this was in the days before ChallengeCertificates) at the first Crufts show in 1891 andagain in 1892 and was the first British champion inthe breed. Shtoots, together with Drieske, Mia andSkip, all imported, helped form the nucleus of thebreed in England.
The Schipperke models include a bronze by theCalifornian based sculptress, Christine Baldwin, of adog with a clog, a cold painted Vienna bronze and aBelgian bronze, both the latter being from the earlyyears of the 20th century. Dominating the sculpture,and rightly so, is a life-size terra cotta model bythe French Artist, Richard Fath, one of the mostimportant French dog artists of the 20th century who
comfortably worked in many mediums.
Also on show are somerare medals awardedby the old St. HubertSchipperke Club in 1910.The club was foundedby George Krehl, oneof the breed’s earliestsupporters, indeed hewas instrumental in theimportation of severalbreeds during the lasttwo decades of the 19th
century. On a visit to Antwerp Krehl visited Mons. Reussens’kennel who maintained ‘the true Belgian type’. However, hewould not sell any of his dogs for exporting since he trulybelieved all good Schipperkes should stay in Belgium.
Krehl was concerned that the breed in England wasbecoming ‘a black prick-eared, wire-haired terrier’, it beinga question of mane and breeching with the British dogs.Money appeared to be no problem with Krehl and hemanaged to pursued Reussens to part with his famous Ch.Hubert so that he could convince the fanciers in Englandthat the Belgians were right and that the British dogs werenot the true type.
Thus was born the ‘St. Hubert Schipperke Club’, withCh. Hubert placed at stud at the ‘Spratts Sanatorium’. Hewas to be available to any St. Hubert Schipperke Clubmember on payment of a three guinea stud fee. Krehl’s‘club’ adopted a standard embodying the missing points ofbreeching and mane, and they have remained ever since.
Two Dissimilar Breeds: The French Bulldog andSchipperke runs at the Kennel Club Art Gallery, 1-5 ClargesStreet, Piccadilly, London until June 11th. •
SCHIPPERKESINMAYFAIR
98 Dog News
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