It Takes A Village

By Joan Harrigan

Elizabeth Reynolds of Rising Sun, Maryland is a breeder/owner/handler exhibiting the fourth generation of her own breeding at Westminster on Monday.  Standard Poodles are arguably one of if not the most difficult breed for amateur-owners to learn to groom for the show ring.  The scissoring, the banding, the spray-up for the ring – it is really an art form.  Reynolds, a veterinary practice manager, didn’t go to grooming school.  She got her first poodle, and “just had to learn,” she says with a laugh.  At shows, Reynolds would set up near the professionals and observe their techniques.  Kaz Hosaka helped her to learn the basics, and others gave her advice.  Today, Reynolds is a successful breeder/owner/handler, and also shows client dogs, as well as her own.

She is justifiably proud of not-even-2-year-old Phoenicks, Ch. L’Paige Majick Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, who was co-bred and is co-owned with her friend, Debra Dowling of Garnet Valley, Pa.  At Westminster, he was shown in the English Saddle trim, which isn’t often seen on Standard Poodles.  It is even more complex than the Continental, with three puffs of scissored hair on each hind leg and the hindquarters covered by hair that is blown straight, scissored, and then misted with water to restore its natural curl.

“I’ve always wanted to show in an English Saddle,” Reynolds says.  “But I needed the right dog—a tall, leggy, short-backed dog with a long neck.  Otherwise, the English Saddle can make a dog look long and low.”

What followed has been a community effort, and a lovely example of how handlers can come together to help each other.  Gail Wolaniuk of Unique Standard Poodles set the lines on Phoenicks (“while he was prancing,” Wolaniuk says).  Reynolds studied pictures of Ann Rairigh’s Ch. Absolively Rosie, a stunning white bitch who was shown in this trim.  Wolaniuk wasn’t the only handler to offer her assistance—the roster of those who helped Reynolds reads like a Who’s Who of the handling world—Alan Waterman, Chris Manelopoulos, Ann Rairigh, and Joseph Vergnetti.

“Every time someone gave me advice at a show, a crowd gathered to watch,” Reynolds says. “Others just want to learn how to do it.”  Unfortunately, she has found a less welcoming reception in the ring.  “Some judges think that I am trying to hide a flaw in his conformation,” Reynolds says.  “And I had one judge tell me that he would never give a poodle in English Saddle a variety win.             I think it is mainly appreciated by poodle breeder-judges”

Vergnetti, of Dassin Poodles, agrees.  “I had a stunning bitch that I showed 15 times in English Saddle, and she never won a class.  I put her in the Continental, and she finished with three consecutive five-point majors,”  he says.

Vergnetti points out that the English Saddle trim would have given a water dog additional protection in frigid waters—the show trim is a stylized version of something that had practical origins.  As for Phoenicks—Reynolds plans to leave him in the English Saddle through the Poodle Club of America national specialty in April, then put him in the Continental.  Though glad she learned the trim, “never again,” she concludes a bit sadly.

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Posted by chesliepickett on Feb 17 2016. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.