To honor the memory of my Dad, Sam Lampert, who was a New Jersey dairy farmer, Bolt, my 6-year-old, parti-color Cocker Spaniel GCH. Topaz Palm Beach Playboy CD BN RM CGCA TKE, and I attempted the AKC Farm Dog Certified Title (FDC) on Father’s Day weekend run by Burlington County Kennel Club at Ev-Ry Farm in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
Cars and motorcycles ranging from the classics to just plain funky are hidden in some of dogdom’s secret garages.
Seeing so many brand new exhibitors enter the ring recently made me consider the way judges treat these newcomers and experienced exhibitors, too. What qualities are desirable in the ring to make everyone feel comfortable and to promote good sportsmanship? If we can encourage those traits in one another, we are bound to improve the sport.
“…when you think like a judge, you’ll grasp why these twenty-seven steps facilitate a great day for you, the judge and for the sport.”
Many breeds have an epigram that defines them. That short, distinctive line or quote that instantly gives you a mental picture of the breed’s essence.
The dog’s functional components consist of the forelimb and the hindlimb. The limbs are comprised of bones of many shapes and sizes. Some bones are long or short, and some are thick or thin. Some bones are straight, and many of them are curved.
You pay your entry fee, take your chances, and hopefully, the judge is well-educated in your breed. Your entry fee is the fee to evaluate your dog. You are paying for one judge’s opinion. What if you disagree? What if, in your opinion, the judge is way off base? When, if ever, is it appropriate to approach the judge about the placements?
Westminster is easy to take for granted—if you aren’t on the staff or show committee. Each year in February, mid-town Manhattan spends a week celebrating purebred dogs. The main event is, of course, the benched conformation show, where spectators could count on watching virtually every AKC-recognized breed compete. But there is much more to “Westminster Week”—the obedience and rally competition, the vendors—even the myriad other shows that precede it. Every year, it all materializes—the banners, the floral displays, the portraits of past winners, the purple velvet ropes and green flooring—certainly it must take a lot of effort, but somehow, each year everything reappears. Exhibitors might complain about the expense of attending, NYC traffic, and the inconvenience of schlepping dogs, tables, and tack from mid-town to the Piers for the breed judging; but for most, showing here was on a bucket list, if not an annual tradition.
“I told you so” is pretty well-established as a useless approach to any productive debate. And honestly, in most of those situations, the dreadfully predictable outcome is nothing to gloat about. Specifically, I’m referring to the recent CDC announcement about their upcoming yearlong ban on foreign dog imports. Needless to say, that sort of drastic action marks a last ditch attempt to cope with an ongoing, spiraling mess. But just in case anyone needed a little more convincing, here’s an auspiciously timed news item that was reported by the AP on June 23.
Lightning never strikes twice.” So, the saying goes, but in terms of the great Westminster dog show, lightning most certainly did strike twice, twenty-eight years apart. The first time was when Mrs. Claire Knapp Penney’s English import Sealyham Terrier won top honors at the 60th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in 1936. The second time was in 1964, when Mrs. Penney’s daughter the late, Mrs. Margaret Newcombe (AKC judge and active until her death as a Whippet breeder and exhibitor) followed in her mother’s footsteps as her sensational Whippet — also imported from England — was crowned Best In Show at the 88th Westminster KC show. Although time and space separate the two legendary events, this story begins in a year when dogs and humans of folklore and legend walked the earth on the down and back, gathering ribbons and silver wherever they went.
