Life With Pat
256 – November, 2010
by Pat Gellerman
“If the United States has a cold, Mexico has pneumonia,” said Jose Payro, president of the Mexican Kennel Club during an interesting conversation I had with him while I was judging in Mexico City.
Dr. Payro told us they were celebrating the 70th birthday of the founding of the Mexican Club with this 10 show circuit.
There was also a meeting of the Latin American Association which was attended by the presidents of the Latin American countries, Canada, and the U. S. These kennel club’s presidents were to have discussed such problems as artificial insemination, registrations, using D & A and micro-chipping.
President Payro explained that the Mexican Kennel Club is made up of private clubs around the country. There are 32 states in the country and there are all-breed clubs in each state as well as several breed clubs and group clubs. There is a total of 160 clubs in Mexico.
Mexican clubs do not have superintendents. The Mexican Kennel Club provides the judges’ books and the clubs procure their own rosettes, trophies, certificates, and anything else needed for the show.
The club does not have paid officers, nor do they have young people in the club. The board does not get paid since it is a non-profit club.
“We have our own park to have shows, our own library, and our own auditorium. We have a private parking lot for our use and also a veterinary clinic and semen bank,” Payro told us. “We put on 350 shows a year. Our entries are $20 and entries this year are down because of the poor economy,” he added.
This was an indoor show I judged and was to be a 10 show circuit. The building was spacious and the carpeted rings were huge and comfortable. There were 10 groups judged each day and groups started at 4 p.m. The shows ended around 9 p.m.
I found the Schnauzers (all sizes) I judged to be excellent as were the Boxers. Dobermans were standouts and in the hound group Beagles prevailed. The two shows I attended were won by a mediocre Basenji the first day and an excellent Boxer the second day. After BIS on the second day the BIS winner, the Basenji, was brought out and judged with the Boxer. The Boxer was the overall winner for the two days.
Judges hospitality was excellent and the Holiday Inn was the most modern I have ever stayed in. Judges’ luncheons were unusually good and my steward who, of course, had to speak English was very helpful.
After the shows, around 9 p.m. we were taken to excellent restaurants, one of which was a five-star Argentinian Bistro. We had drinks until almost midnight, had dinner, and then it was back to the hotel. The next morning we were in the ring to start judging at 10 a.m. and the lunch break was around 2:30 p.m.
I found it quite amusing that the Bulldog section of exhibitors next to my ring had some exhibitors “tidying” up their dogs with nose coloring, chalk, etc. It was all done quite openly right next to my ring where I would be judging this breed. However, I could not find any color on my hands while judging this breed.
I certainly wish I had taken Spanish instead of German in school. Each night at dinner there was only one judge, from Costa Rica, who could carry on a conversation with me. All I could do was enjoy the food and smile a lot. These other judges from Latin American countries told me, through the interpretor, they judge about 4 shows and were quite surprised at the number of shows I did annually.
The presidents of the Latin clubs, Canada, and our own Ron Menaker from the U. S. all judged during this circuit and met to discuss various problems during the week. The entries held at about 1,500 per day each day.
Summing it all up, I found it most interesting to speak with Payro and I hope everyone on this long circuit survived. Ten shows in a row is quite tiring for dogs as well as handler.
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Posted by admin
on Jul 9 2011. Filed under The Buzz, Uncategorized.
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