by Amy Fernandez Originally published: February 2013 If you are involved with Terriers or Retrievers, Bob Bartos is a familiar name. Next June he can add one more achievement to those notable contributions. The oldest living handler to win BIS at Westminster will turn 100. In 1967 Bob handled the English bred Scottie, Ch. Bardene Bingo, [...]
We received sad news of the passing of former professional handler, Doberman breeder and respected judge, Mrs. Betty Leininger. Betty’s judging career spanned nearly 40 years. She was a popular judge here in the States and her expertise led to requests for her to judge all over the world. The highlights of her judging career most likely included three Doberman Pinscher Club of America National Specialties, the World Shows in Rio de Janeiro (2004) and Mexico City (2007), the Westminster Non-Sporting Group in 2004 then the Working Group in 2012, and Best In Show at Westminster in 2014.
From the CC Vault: Betty Regina Leininger
By Amy Fernandez There is no question that showing dogs is hard business. Achieving any degree of success requires 24/7 dedication with zero guarantees–and a million things that can and do go wrong. That said, we sometimes forget how much easier it is today. Just think about showing Chows back in 1935. A brief review of [...]
By Amy Fernandez Originally published: September 2015 Anyone acquainted with our sport knows that the first dog show happened in 1859. However, like most conventionally accepted historical facts, the truth is kinda, sorta different. “The Sporting Dog Show” staged at the Town Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne on June 28 and 29, 1859 was actually an afterthought tacked [...]
If you’ve ever given your entire heart to a dog, then you know the price you must eventually pay. The only thing that can ever cure the loss of a great love is another love, and even though it’s not easy to understand this at the time when your heart is breaking into little, shattered pieces, the best thing to do is to get another dog. Don’t look back, just throw your heart over and bring home another somebody to love.
The perpetual question is whether this sport has gotten harder or easier over the decades. There is no end of opinionated discussion on both sides of that argument. However, everything is relative. Case in point, prior to 2015 there was non-stop talk about revising the Triple Crown requirements because no one had conquered that challenge since Affirmed crossed the finish line at Belmont way back in 1978.
We are sad to report the passing of the Top Winning German Wirehaired Pointer of All Time with 102 Best In Shows · #1 Dog Among All Breeds 2012 · Westminster Sporting Group Winner 2013
The economy is difficult in just about every city and state in this country. Monies are short, show entries are down for some clubs, and costs of putting together a show and paying for judges’ expenses are rising. I do not mean that judges’ fees are rising. I have NOT heard of a judge increasing the fee for judging under any circumstances! Most judges are very aware of how much it costs to put together a show and do not want to “bite the hand that (sometimes) feeds them” by pricing themselves out of judging assignments. If anything, many judges do not list all the expenses that are incurred in getting to and from a show including meals and incidentals. I hear judges discussing some of the expenses they “eat” in order to save the club money.
Those who judge know that faults and virtues vary in their degree of severity and in the frequency of their occurrence from dog to dog and from breed to breed. Because virtues and faults occur in all breeds the challenge is to recognize the average dog from the better and the best ones.
