Lydia Hutchinson – A Life Devoted to Purebred Dogs

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132 – September, 2025

By Amy Fernandez

“Whenever I see her judge, I know this is a person with integrity. You might not agree with every decision but when a judge is coming from a place grounded in integrity, win or lose, you really respect their opinion. You feel confident that when they walked in the ring their only goal was finding the best dog.” That’s a recent comment from David Fitzpatrick, someone with plenty of experience sizing up judges. But the real question is who is he talking about?

Lydia Hutchinson has been part of the East Coast dog scene as a breeder, exhibitor, and a judge for as long as most of us can recall. “There are judges you like but there are a handful that you place on another level. Just watching her is instructive. I try to pay attention to judges I admire. I watch how they go about their process and when a judge is widely respected there are usually good reasons. If Lydia is judging on a Sunday, she will not go to the show the other days. She has a very independent thought process. She is an admirable person who quietly does her thing and makes a big impact,” Fitzpatrick says.

David first recalls seeing her back in the early 1970s. “That’s before she was married, she was still Lydia Coleman. She was showing Cairns with her parents. She was just someone you always saw at every dog show in the area. But the remarkable thing is she is such a wonderful mentor. At shows down here, if someone is new to Cairns, she will take them under her wing and guide them. It doesn’t even matter if you are in her breed. She will take the time to talk to you, share her knowledge, and give you a solid answer.” This is something that judges no longer provide to fanciers and the result of that communication breakdown has been disastrous. “As a judge, breeder, or exhibitor she is the best role model. We have this Mason-Dixon Judges Association and every month we do a presentation on a different breed. It’s held at Lydia’s church down in Maryland and organizing that takes a lot of work.”

Click here to read the complete article
132 – September, 2025

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Posted by AnthonyA on Sep 10 2025. 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.