Pekingese Club of America – 100th Anniversary Specialties

270 – February, 2010

by Edie Jones, 2nd Vice President

Candid photos by Kim Booth

.  Two of the club’s most famous sterling silver trophies — the McClure Halley Trophy and JP Morgan Cup — are maintained at AKC headquarters and are said to be “worth a fortune” while some of the club’s old silver challenge trophies are still offered at our annual shows held in New York.

In celebration of our 100th year, all exhibitors received a complimentary gold PCA centennial lapel pin with the original club logo which we still use today.  After the shows, the club published a 200-page centennial yearbook which was sent on a complimentary basis to every member household.

Martha Olmos-Ollivier judged our Centennial National on Sunday – our all silver trophy show – and  Peggy Carr judged the PCA Regional – which was our all-crystal trophy show – on Saturday.  It was the third time that Martha and Peggy have judged PCA, both having bred Pekes for many years.

The Club had many reasons to celebrate, not least of which is that we doubled our entries from the previous year and had Junior Showmanship at our National for the first time in over half a century.  There was also an outpouring of support from everywhere.

The Pekingese Club in England, for example, donated — for the first time ever to another club  –three of its historic “Silver Medals” for Best in Show both days and Best in Sleeve Show.  The UK’s Silver Medal goes back to 1907 and is awarded for top winning Pekingese of the Year in the United Kingdom.  The medals are highly sought after in the UK and have never before been awarded outside the British system.

Best of Breed both days was the bitch handled by Hiram Stewart, Ch. Franshaw Hear Me Roar, bred and owned by John Shaw. She has 16 all-breed Best in Shows and is the only American Peke ever to win the CC and Best of Breed at Crufts (2009). She also won the Breed at PCA twice in 2008, giving her four PCA Breed wins.

The other Peke that won top awards both days was the puppy dog, breeder/owner-handled by Pat Martello and co-owned by Edie Jones, Beijing LionShadow Enchantment.  This puppy won sweepstakes both days and was WD/BOW and Best Puppy at the National. Mrs. Olmos-Ollivier also awarded Winners Bitch to his litter sister, Beijing Pure Magic, which Pat Martello co-owns with Lois and James Mullany from New Jersey. The puppy bitch was also Best Puppy under Mrs. Carr the day before.

Best of Opposite Sex under Peggy Carr was Ch. Mar-Joe’s It’s All About Me, breeder/owner-handled by Joey Franklin. BOS at the National was the Canadian-bred Ch. Pekeden Ringmaster Lorricbrook, breeder/owner-handled by Tom Curley and co-owned by Max Magder and co-breeder Diane Bell from Canada.

The Sleeve Show is a special event held only at our national and this year it was judged by Dr. Simone Small from London, England.  She awarded Best to a 4.5 pound male called Purkees One and Only, owned by Bert Custodio and Donna Hamblin.  This is the second time that “One and Only” won the Sleeve Show and he is as cute as he is typey.  He’s a son of Ch. Taeplace Monet who was Top Dog All Breeds in Canada and a Breed winner at the Garden several years ago.

Mrs. Sue Barlow from Indianapolis judged Juniors at the National with Peggy Carr judging them at the Regional. Best Junior Handler both days went to Brittany Cassar from Michigan who shows a lot of promise as a handler which is exciting for our breed community.  Sue Barlow started out in Juniors in 1949 and the Juniors appreciated that she took time to mentor them after judging.

Other highlights of the weekend were the three seminars we presented.  The breed seminar by Tony Rosato and John French is always well-attended and they did an excellent PowerPoint program as well as an updated study guide.  Purina did a nutrition seminar for us on Sunday and had a booth at our shows all weekend.  And we had a very exciting presentation by an international panel of speakers on Pekingese health issues. Our speakers were Dr. Jeffrey Shoenebeck, a research geneticist from National Institutes of Health, Dr. Nicolas Small from England who is the English Kennel Club’s Joint Health Coordinator for Pekingese, and Dr. Terill Udenberg, a Canadian veterinarian who specializes in airway obstructions in brachycephalic breeds.  This seminar was “standing room only” and was attended by health committee members of parent clubs of other brachycephalic breeds.  PCA is actively promoting a better understanding of airway issues and arranged for PCA Committee member Dr. Udenberg to present a lecture on airway obstructions at an international conference in England this past January.

PCA’s upcoming 2010 New York shows (PCA Regionals) will be held on May 15-16 at Holiday Inn Buffalo Airport with judges Sari Tietjen and Luc Boileau.  Sweepstakes will be judged by Ken Winters from Canada and Jorge Bendersky from New York City of Animal Planet’s “Groomer Has It” fame.  The 2010 National Specialty is planned for October in New Orleans as 3-day event Oct. 14-17 with Delta Pekingese Club’s specialty on the first day.  The judges are Helen James, Jean Fournier and Zell Von Pohlman.

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