It was mid-January and the Knicks and Nets seasons were going as most recent ones had, in the tank. If it weren’t for the political scandals at the New York Board of Education, there wouldn’t be any headlines at all. It was too early to worry about baseball and the Rangers and Islanders weren’t worth talking about. Snow was falling and traffic as usual was an abomination. The subway workers were again threatening to go on strike. You will notice they always threaten a strike before an important holiday. The coffee machine wouldn’t even belch out stuff that resembled coffee. In short, a typical New York City day.
August 26th, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized | Read More »
Many stories describing the history of a breed proudly start with: “This breed was known in Roman times” or “The ancestors of this breed can be seen on Egyptian tombs.” We could start the history of the Kromfohrländer with: “This breed is by far the youngest breed in Germany” or “This breed is the result of a meeting between two neighboring dogs shortly after the Second World War.” And indeed this breed is the result of a chance hit with two leading actors, a French pointing dog – probably a Grand Griffon Vendéen – and ‘Fiffi’, a black-and-white female Fox Terrier without a pedigree. It is not sure whether the Griffon was purebred or not. If nothing had happened afterward, the puppies would just have been mongrels, and if they were lucky, they might have found good homes. End of story.
August 26th, 2010 | Posted in Remembering Our Past? | Read More »
What is it about that last qualifying score or those last few points that makes them so difficult to acquire? During the years I judged hunt tests, time after time I saw dogs going for their final qualifying score manage to turn the go into a situation that folks in the U.S. military describe as FUBAR. (Since this is a family publication, if you don’t know for what that acronym stands, you’ll have to look it up on a military slang website.)
August 26th, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized | Read More »
Most of us consider PETA and HSUS the enemy, although I understand there exists a difference of opinion regarding the latter. Following introduction in Washington of the Puppy Uniform Protection Statute (PUPS Act), HSUS President and CEO Wayne Pacelle stated, “Yesterday’s (May 25, 2010) report and legislative introduction should serve as a warning to all those who protect this dubious industry – from “kennel clubs” to pet stores to lobbying front groups who claim to care about purebred dog breeding, but in fact only care about how much money they can make peddling loads of puppies. Your days of abusing dogs for profit while snubbing the laws of this country and many states are coming to an end.” No matter how you choose to slice Pacelle’s statement, connected as we are to a “kennel club,” we, as purebred dog fanciers, are part of the animal rights group’s long-range plan to at least seriously curb our passion if not cause its total demise.
August 25th, 2010 | Posted in Uncategorized | Read More »
As could well have been expected (and was), a number of communications, mainly by e-mail, have been received in response to the article published in last month’s issue of The Canine Chronicle concerning the Grand Championship program and how it has been variously received by the Fancy and by judges in particular.
August 22nd, 2010 | Posted in Editorial,Uncategorized | Read More »
The original Morris & Essex Kennel Club Dog Show was the realization of one extraordinary woman’s vision. Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge set a standard for shows in the first half of the twentieth century. She had the influence and resources to craft a show to her own specifications. However, when Mrs. Dodge could no longer orchestrate the show, Morris & Essex ended. Only memories remained and a treasure trove of catalogs, pictures and memorabilia were forgotten in an attic at St. Hubert’s Giralda, the shelter established on Mrs. Dodge’s Madison, New Jersey estate after her death.
August 22nd, 2010 | Posted in Dog Show History,In The Spotlight,Remembering Our Past? | Read More »
