RECENT BEST IN SHOWS (week ending June 11th, 2013) Erie Shores Kennel Club – Ontario Thursday West Highland White Terrier Ch. Whtebriar Jaw Dropper Judge: Mr. Les Morrison Friday French Bulldog Ch. Foxmoor Petite Cherie Raison D’Etre CGN Judge William Usherwood. Saturday Bearded Collie Am Ch. Classical’s My Turn Judge: Dr. Robert Indeglia Sunday Bernese Mountain Dog Ch. Avatar’s Smooth Criminal Judge: Gabriel Valdez Yukon Kennel Club – Yukon Friday Show 1 Afghan Hound Ch. Polo’s Air Force One Judge: Bruce Owen Friday Show 2 Afghan Hound Ch. Polo’s Air Force One Judge David Markus Saturday Show 3 Afghan Hound Ch. Polo’s Air Force One Judge: Phyliss Pancel Saturday Show 4 Afghan Hound Ch. Polo’s Air Force One Judge: Peter Machen Sunday Show 5 Siberian Husky Grizzblizzard Yegor Kuzmaevich Judge Bill Walkey Sunday Show 6 Afghan Hound – Ch. Polo’s Air Force One Judge: Garry Allan Oromocto Kennel Club – New Brunswick Saturday Show 1 Bull Mastiff Ch. PineRidges Dare To Dream Judge: Alan Bennett Saturday Show 2 Airedale Terrier Ch. Regalridge Sound Investment Judge: Martin Doherty Sunday Show 3 Chihuahua Smooth Coat Ch.Cogie’s Burning Bordeaux Judge: Don Fitzsimmons Sunday Show 4 Chihuahua Smooth Coat Ch. Cogie’s Burning Bordeaux Judge: Patricia Fitzsimmons Club Loisirs Canin – Quebec Saturday Show 1 Great Pyrenees Ch. Monark Playing Foots Judge: Heather Langfeld Saturday Show 2 Miniature Schnauzer Luckyhill Maddyson Judge: Michael Gelinas Sunday Show 3 Bulldog Ch. Doreval Xavier Eliott Judge: Chris Neilson Sunday Show 4 Drever Ch. Metsanvelho Judge: Carol Graham Comox Valley K.C. – British Columbia Saturday Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever Ch. Vermillon’s K2 At Tala of Edte Judge: Fred Dewsbury Sunday Alaskan Malamute GCh Ex Mytuk’s Technical Knock Out Judge: Lois Wilson Monday Flat Coated Retriever Ch. Glainddu’s Little Drummer Boy Judge: Honey Glendinning Tuesday Standard Poodle Ch Litilann's Lights Camera Action Judge: Dorreen Marsh
UPCOMING SHOWS this Weekend St.Francis Kennel Club – Quebec Nanaimo Kennel Club – British Columbia Kenora Dog Club – Ontario Ontario County Kennel Club – Ontario Abegweit Kennel Club – Prince Edward Island
This Week's Top 10 Dogs ( All Breeds) Courtesy Canuckdogs.com
(TopDogWeekly does not verify these stats - they are supplied as a courtesy to our readers from our friends at www.canuckdogs.com)
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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Dog Name Ch Whitebriar Jaw Dropper - West Highland White Terrier Ch Polo's Air Force One - Afghan Hound Ch Ahmahr Nahr's The Lost Angel Gabriel - Basenji GChEx Goldgrove High Intensity - Doberman Pinscher GCh Roaneden's Int'l Harvester - Nova Scotia Duck Toller Ch Champagne Charly V. Tani Kazari - Affenpinscher Ch Valcopy Jamel Sir Crystalton - Pomeranian GCh NicNak's Second To None - Yorkshire Terrier GCh Vetset Kate Winsit - Standard Poodle Ch Cinnakees Christian Louboutin - Keeshond
Points 9667 2174 2116 1967 1950 1865 1785 1777 1700 1555
MEET OUR JUDGES
- CAROL GRAHAM
1) Home city? Rockyview County (just outside Calgary, Alberta) 2) Breed or Breed’s you have bred? Miniature Poodles, Schipperke, Standard Poodles and Pomeranian 3) Years you have been Judging? 15 years 4) Licensed for or, on Permit for? All Breed 5) Judged in what Countries? Canada, U.S.A, Japan, Australia, China 6) All time favourite assignment? Australia 7) Favourite dog or dogs Judged from the past? I do not think it would be fair to mention names, but some that come to mind are a beautiful Irish Setter in Eastern Canada several years ago, an Afghan in Canada, a Giant Schnauzer bitch in the U.S and a Miniature Pinscher bitch just last year in the US. 8) Pet Peeve’s in your ring? Coming from being a professional handler, I really do like to see a dog well groomed and well presented. I also don’t think handlers should be wasting the Judges time making bad handling errors. 9) How many Canadian Assignments do you do in a year? Approx 10 to 12 in Canada as I still like to play with breeding and showing some. 10) How many foreign assignments per year? 1 or 2 only as the long distance travel catches up too quick. 11) Favourite way to relax? When I am home if there is a weekend off we enjoy taking the Motor Home with friends and family and go camping in the summer. In the winter just being at home is relaxing 12) How do you occupy your time in travel? I have my iPad so I read books on it and play card games. 13) Your thoughts on limit shows? I am not a fan of limited shows, however in remote areas I do understand that they are perhaps needed. Not in populated areas. I don’t think people have the money for dog shows that they perhaps used to have. The entries are dropping due to too many shows for people to try to budget for. 14) What do you think is the biggest problem facing our Sport? I think too many shows are the biggest reason for our entries dropping. It is becoming a real problem for clubs to keep a good entry and maintain a good show with a good judging panel. The costs are getting higher and higher so dog shows as we have known them over the past 20 or 30 years may be soon gone. I do not know the answer to this problem but I know the clubs have to keep their expenses down in order to survive. However as someone who does run a show I have to say so far we try to keep our judging panels very interesting by trying to bring in faces from other countries or faces from our country that we have not seen in the area for some time. So far our entries have held well just under the 500 mark. As well we try to make our show fun for the exhibitor. None of our club members show at our show so hopefully that helps keep all our exhibitors happy.
Widening The Winner’s Circle By Pat Hastings This article was reprinted from The Canine Chronicle, May 2013 issue. http://caninechronicle.com/currentarticles/widening-the-winners-circle
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have an opinion on just about every aspect of the dog world. If you and I have not met yet, allow me to introduce myself. I began in dogs as an owner — simply one among millions with a love of dogs. I became an owner-handler, breeder, 4-H dog club leader and went into professional handling when I married E.R. Bob Hastings. Upon our retirement in 1990, we both went into judging. I was show chairman for the 1995 Doberman national specialty and for more than twenty years have presented numerous seminars across the country, which hopefully are helping to create better dog people. From this lifetime in dogs, I continue to learn, observe, and formulate some potentially valid conclusions and solutions that always seem to emanate from idle questions. For example, what happened to the value of winning Best of Breed? When did the emphasis shift to Group and Best In Show wins? How did the records get so totally out of this world? Who would have ever dreamed that the day would come when 100 Bests In Show would be an attainable goal for a top dog — yet the record is now well over 200! 275 to be exact! And 100 has become a bit ho-hum!
Old-time dog people who grew up with a thorough knowledge and understanding of animal husbandry and gave priority to the welfare of their dogs would turn over in their graves if they knew what modern exhibitors put their dogs through. For example, it is hard enough on people to board commercial airliners and fly around the country every weekend (just ask any judge). Imagine the wear and tear on dogs being boarded in those dark, smelly, crowded baggage compartments to fly from one show to the next every weekend. Once in awhile, a trip to the National Specialty or Madison Square Garden or some of the more prominent specialty shows is one thing; week-in, week-out each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is ridiculous to me. Today it is even running the other four days of the week also. There was a time when everyone showing dogs had an equal chance to put together a winning package. More and more, however, it appears that if you want your quality dog recognized with top wins, you'd better have money — lots of money. I feel the most negative part of a dog show is when the catalogs come out in the morning and people start talking about who is going Best In Show. I read somewhere that 20 percent of the AKC judges judge 80 percent of the shows. If this assertion is accurate, how did this happen? Are the judges within that 20 percent the only quality judges? Or even the best? Although that assessment may sound a bit like David and Goliath, I
think I may have a solution that could give David the edge. The sport of purebred dogs is maintained, for the most part, not by the Goliaths but by the average, local dog people. It's all of the “little” people who make up the majority of entries at dog shows. They are the people who do most of the work putting on dog shows from one end of this country to the other. AKC rule changes begin with the delegate body, and that, folks, is us. Our kennel clubs should be member clubs with a delegate to AKC and our delegates should vote according to the will of the club's membership. In other words, we the people have the power to make the rule changes that would help put the importance and emphasis back on the breed level and rejuvenate equal opportunity in the ring. What I propose is a rule change to allow a club to change the way they hire judges for groups and Best In Show. Let's give them the opportunity to hire at the breed level only: we would print the premium list as usual except that it would not list judges for group and Best In Show. As the time for group judging nears, the names of all judges on the slate who are eligible to judge each group would be thrown in a hat (box, bowl, whatever) for a drawing to determine that group's judge. Each drawing would take place only after the dogs entered the group ring. This same process would be applied to Best In Show. If judges are hired for a weekend, circuit, or cluster with numerous shows
QUESTION OF THE WEEK JUNE 12th, 2013 This week TopDogWeekly is reprinting an article by Pat Hastings, which is about taking dog shows back to Best of Breed Judging as the main focus of a dog show. All premium lists would list Breed Judges. Group and BIS Judges would be announced prior to the group judging from the panel once dogs are in the ring. Do you believe this would encourage more exhibitors to come out and show with the remainder of the show's Judging unknown until announced? Pam Bruce Breeder/Owner/Exhibitor/Judge No I do not believe this would be of assistance. I believe it is important to most exhibitors to know how the line up falls. I do believe however that if the point system was changed to reflect top dog status at the breed level only then this application may be of some value. Shannon Scheer Breeder/Owner/Professional Handler Most exhibitors enter shows for just the breed level. The serious breeder owners come out to finish their up and coming stock, and who they choose to show to a particular judge is very important. They do not enter a show just because there is one locally, the judging panel has got to be up to specifications. The campaign dogs choose shows on the entire panel with the hopes they can get past the breed level and continue on. Personally, I would not choose to do such a show if only the breed judge was
listed, in many of the breeds that we as handlers present the numbers in our breed are very low. Sometimes with a certain dog being the only one exhibited in their chosen breed ring, hoping for the “Luck of the Draw” on a judge that you feel is favorable to your breed at group level could be detrimental to the number of entries received at that show. Campaign dogs rely on the number of points they receive at group levels. Low breed entries rely on placing at group level in order to receive points towards their Championship titles, These are how shows are chosen to be entered – by the panels listed. However speaking from a breeder –owner point of view as well, we also peruse the premium lists for judges that are knowledgeable in our breeds. Many of the breeder owner dogs are top contenders in their breed and knowing who is doing your group is a safe guard on whether you wish to present your breeding stock to that chosen judge. The CKC has implemented the rule where if there is a judge change due to illness or overloads, you can pull your entry and get refunded. This is a very welcome choice for the exhibitors to make and on the whole, most choose to show to the replacement judge, but the option is there to not continue on for that day. I do not think this would be beneficial in bringing more entries to the shows. All that is needed is to cut down on the amount of shows running on the same weekends. To many shows within fair driving distance of each other is what is killing our sport… NOT the judging panels!!!!
Larisa Hotchin Breeder/Owner/Exhibitor This idea has the potential of adding some excitement and interest to dog showing with this element of surprise, and if done well, could definitely make dog show weekends more fun! If the process has a truly random element to it (amongst qualified judges on the panel), I do think it has the possibility of encouraging exhibitors with finished champions to exhibit when they otherwise might not have. But with a caution! If this new system comes with a process of picking the judges so that select people have an “in” with the officials to know beforehand who will judge what, it has the real possibility of backfiring. An objective and fair process that people trusted would be required. That’s my feeling overall – yes with a caution. For my specific experience in a breed that has very few entries, and takes so much effort to have in show condition, we typically enter shows based on the group level judge. I focus on the breed level for specialties, but in North America, that only occurs in the US. If bias on the judging selection for the show of the day were identified, I believe that it would not take long to have negative repercussions. Collectively, our time (at the show), effort to put into show condition, and funds are limited, and many have US shows as alternatives if we found the Canadian system not working well for us. In sum, if we can have an objective selection process, I do think more exhibitors will participate – less air miles gained, but more participation! Florence Erwin Breeder/Owner/Exhibitor I very much like this idea, I don’t know if it will make much of a difference in increasing the number of entries and interest in new people in the sport.
As a long time exhibitor I certainly would give this sort of alternative way a chance. Doug McIntyre Breeder/Owner/Exhibitor This is a great question and just speaking on Canada if this was an idea 20 years ago where we had good numbers in Breeds, I think it would have worked. Clubs could have thought more about bringing in good Breed Judges, BUT gone are the days of large breed entries, and Clubs have a hard enough time affording to bring in panels that can judge over their whole show. As well Canada is big on using permits. The bottom line is the whole purpose of a dog show is about judging breeding stock and that begins at the Breed level. I think Eukanuba has had the right idea about supporting Breeder Classic’s, we have recently had them in Ontario with the Caledon K.C. and Erie Shores K.C they are a great way to show off Breeder’s stock. This past weekend at Erie Shores K.C. the Judges were Beth Sweigart, Robert Shreve, Gaby Valdez, Les & Gael Morrison, Dana Cline, Janet & Larry Sinclair, a great panel of long time accomplished dog people and the 3 dog teams of breeds from all 7 groups were so competitive, it was a fabulous showcase of dedicated breeders.
! Breeder!Profile:! Laureate!Shetland!SheepDogs.! This!week!TDW!‘sat!down’!with!Kim!Aston!&!Peter!Culumovic!of!Laureate!Shetlies!and!this!is!what! they!shared!with!us…! What!attracted!you!to!your!breed?!Kim!had!a!Sheltie!growing!up,!as!well!as!a!Gordon!Setter.!!Pete!did! not!have!pets!growing!up,!but!when!we!bought!our!first!home!and!had!an!opportunity!to!get!a!dog,!Pete! was!fond!of!the!family!Sheltie,!and!so!we!decided!to!get!one.!!We!are!attracted!to!Shelties!as!they!are! beautiful,!have!a!nice!expression,!are!smart,!devoted,!a!nice!size!and!a!natural!dog.! How!many!years!have!you!been!breeding!and!exhibiting?!!Kim!showed!neighbors’!dogs!from!the!age!of! 11!and!saved!babysitting!money!to!buy!her!first!show!dog…a!Gordon!Setter.!!She!finished!her!first! Champion!in!1979!and!first!homebred!Champion!in!1983.!!Pete!and!Kim!bought!their!first!show!Sheltie! together!in!1987.! What!are!your!accomplishments!in!your!breed?!!Since!our!first!Sheltie!litter!in!1989,!we!have!bred!or! owned!143!Champions,!including!four!National!Specialty!Best!of!Breed!winners!and!several!Best!in! Specialty!and!Best!in!Show!winners.!!We!have!breederLownerLhandled!the!#1!Conformation!Dog!in!the! Herding!Group!in!Canada!in!1995.!!We!are!proud!to!have!produced!three!ROM!and!13!ROMC!titlists.! We!are!most!proud!of!our!accomplishments!at!the!most!competitive!Sheltie!venue!in!the!world,!the! American!Shetland!Sheepdog!Association!(ASSA)!National!Specialty,!where!we!won!Best!of!Breed,!twice! Best!of!Opposite!Sex,!Best!of!Winners!and!ten!Awards!of!Merit,!with!seven!different!dogs.! Did!you!have!a!mentor!in!your!Breed?!Absolutely!!!When!Kim!went!to!the!ASSA!National!in!1988,!she! met!Chris!Lynch!(Westwind!Shelties).!!She!had!fallen!in!love!with!her!sable!bitch!in!the!open!class!and! went!over!to!introduced!herself.!!She!wrote!on!the!back!of!her!catalogue!what!she!was!looking!for!and! followed!up!with!a!phone!conversation!a!week!later.!!We!then!started!calling!on!a!regular!basis!and!Pete! joined!in!the!conversations.!!Chris!was!a!generous!mentor!and!become!a!good!friend.!!She!sold!us!a!top! quality!bitch!that!became!our!foundation.!!Am/Can!Ch!Krystalyn!Just!An!Illusion!ROM/ROMC,!who! produced!6!American!and!11!Canadian!Champions.! Do!you!believe!Judges!have!a!good!understanding!of!your!breed?!We!find!that!judges!still!struggle!with! our!breed,!but!then,!we!also!feel!that!breeders!struggle!with!our!breed!!!We!think!that!Canadian!judges! generally!see!less!shelties!than!American!judges,!and!so!tend!to!judge!Shelties!based!on!more!generic! dog!attributes,!such!as!structure,!temperament!and!movement.!!Some!Canadian!judges!struggle!with!
breed!type,!as!there!are!diverging!types!being!presented!in!the!ring!and!so,!they!have!more!difficulty! recognizing!some!of!the!exquisite!sheltie!virtues!that!are!difficult!to!get!and!difficult!to!keep.! In!as!few!fords!as!possible!describe!the!essence!of!your!Breed?!A!beautiful,!elegant,!balanced!herding! dog,!with!flowing!body!lines,!sturdy!and!agile,!inquisitive!and!sweet,!very!smart!and!eager!to!please.! What!are!the!medical!problems!in!your!breed?!!Shelties!seem!to!have!similar!problems!as!other!breeds,! such!as!epilepsy,!hip!dysplasia,!gall!bladder!and!skin!syndrome.!!We!do!our!utmost!to!test!what!is! possible!and!eliminate!problems.! Fault!wise,!currently!what!needs!the!most!improvement!in!your!breed?!!We!believe!that!the!most! prevalent!fault!is!commonness.!!In!other!words,!a!mediocre!dog,!with!no!glaring!faults,!but!with!little! virtue.!!A!close!second!is!bad!fronts.!
! What!do!you!believe!to!be!the!best!dog!you!have!bred?!!That!is!a!difficult!question,!as!we!believe!that! we!have!breed!several!dogs!that!have!been!exceptional!and!very!close!to!one!another!in!terms!of!virtue! and!to!some!extent,!show!wins.!!If!we!had!to!pick!one,!a!la!Sophie’s!Choice,!it!would!likely!be!Am/Can! Ch.!Laureate!Louisiana.!!She!wasn’t!our!biggest!winner,!but!was!a!breeder!favourite!and!won!many! specialties,!including!BOB!at!the!CSSA!and!BOS!at!the!ASSA.! What!dog!of!your!breed!would!you!have!loved!to!own?!!A!few!favourites!were!Am!Ch!Hannalore! Improvisation!(tri!bitch),!Am!Ch!Ashwood!Steel!Magnolia!(blue!bitch)!and!Am!Ch!Macdega!Glenhart! Grand!Prix!ROM!(sable!dog)! How!many!dogs!do!you!normally!have!in!your!kennel?!!We!usually!have!6!to!8!dogs!that!are!active!in! our!showing!and!breeding!program.!!Then!we!may!have!two!or!three!youngsters!that!we!are!raising!and! training.!And!finally,!our!favorites!are!the!old!timers.!!We!used!to!have!more,!but!have!lost!four!of!them! in!the!last!three!years,!all!around!sixteen!years!of!age.!!Our!current!oldest!one!is!only!seven!years!old,!so! we’re!really!looking!forward!to!growing!old!with!them.! How!many!litters!do!you!have!in!a!year!and!what!is!the!average!size!of!your!litters?!!We!typically!have! two!or!three!litters!a!year.!!The!average!litter!size!is!usually!four!to!five!puppies.!
Are!you!having!trouble!selling!or!placing!your!puppies?!!No,!we’ve!been!fortunate.!!To!the!contrary,!we! often!have!to!turn!people!away!and!refer!them!to!other!breeders.! How!many!Canadian!Shows!do!you!attend!in!a!year?!!It!depends!on!how!many!puppies!we!need!to! finish,!so!maybe!five!to!ten!weekends!a!year.!!Our!pattern!is!to!finish!them!in!Canada,!then!finish!them! in!the!US,!then!to!show!at!specialties!and!nationals.!!In!Canada,!most!of!our!dogs!have!finished!quite! quickly,!so!may!just!be!out!for!a!weekend!or!two.!!In!recent!years,!we’ve!started!specialing!puppies!and! that’s!been!bringing!us!out!to!more!shows.! How!many!American!Shows!do!you!attend!in!a!year?!!Again,!it!depends!on!how!many!we!need!to! finish,!so!maybe!five!to!ten!weekends!a!year.!!Since!US!shows!are!generally!more!competitive,!we! usually!only!show!puppies!at!specialties,!then!if!needed,!will!wait!for!them!to!become!adults!in!order!to! be!more!competitive!at!allLbreed!shows.!!We!prefer!to!wait!until!they!are!ready!to!win,!and!don’t!like!to! show!a!dog!until!ready.! Do!you!attend!your!Canadian!or!American!National!Specialty!Shows?!Yes,!nationals!are!our!main! interest.!!We!make!it!our!priority!to!be!at!every!one!of!them!if!possible,!since!they!bring!together!the! best!dogs!and!breeders.!
! ! Kim!Aston!&!Peter!Culumovic,!laureate@storm.ca!;!www.laureate.ca! !