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“Blizzard warning! Prepare to end travel!” Flashing orange highway signs spurred drivers from the Midwest and Northeast racing to stay ahead of Winter Storm Neptune on their way to New York City. “Cancelled. Cancelled. Cancelled.” Airport departure boards all around the country lit up as Winter Storm Octavia, sweeping from the West across the South, added her efforts to Neptune’s. Westminster’s mid-February dates make snow, ice, wind, sub-zero temperatures, and travel challenges part of the show’s grand tradition. Veterans are as adept at rescheduling winter travel as they are at showing dogs. Westminster has never been for the faint of heart.
April 22nd, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
What you need to know about Canine Influenza Virus! by Peri Norman We have seen it on the evening news, read about it on Facebook and talked about it with our friends. Sorting out the “real” information about the Canine Influenza outbreak and being well informed is the first step toward effective stewardship of the […]
April 21st, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Featured | Read More »
What Happens After Westminster?
Being crowned Best In Show at Westminster is usually the pinnacle of a show dog’s career. It’s like winning an Oscar. You are an instant celebrity, and everyone wants a piece of you. You and your exhausted but exalted entourage make the round of morning talk shows; open the Stock Market on Wall Street; dine at Sardi’s. But after the Oscars, actors just go on to their next roles. What happens to their canine counterparts, many of whom are still quite young when they leave the limelight? As it turns out, they’re still winners.
April 21st, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
The Westminster Group Judges Talk About Their Choices
April 20th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
We all read with profound sadness articles recounting the loss of Jagger, the Irish Setter, after the Crufts Dog Show. It struck particularly close to home because I breed, own and love Irish Setters. My life has been shared with these beautiful dogs since eighth grade. Having bred and shown them since 1984 under the Rumraisin prefix they have won best in show, national specialties, obedience, field and performance titles. It is difficult to read about any dog getting poisoned. When you read about a dog of your beloved breed arriving home and dying after competing in a show as prestigious as Crufts, it gets personal.
April 18th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
A few weeks ago I stood by the ringside along with some of my friends and watched the judging in a Terrier breed, not my own Westies though. We watched several breeds, and I found out pretty quickly that my friend felt that the judge consistently put up the best known face in the ring. I couldn’t disagree with his opinion of this multiple group judge. Then we got ourselves a cup of coffee and the conversation became very wide ranging, from the decline in entries, to the aging of club members and exhibitors, the quality and cost of show facilities, individual dogs of various breeds – you surely have been in similar conversations yourself.
April 17th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
Just when one mega media occurrence in our little world ends…so begins another.
I refer to the waning of Westminster and the ascension of Crufts. (To be completely transparent) I personally have never been to the event across the pond, but via multiple sources (of the human variety) and my new found friend “online streaming”, I think I have a good handle on it.
April 16th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
So, your beautiful sporting dog has completed its conformation championship, perhaps two or three different championships from breed registries in the U.S. and Canada, maybe even owns a grand championship or two and a bunch of blue, red, yellow and white ribbons for group placements, possibly even a few Best In Show trophies. But, now the dog’s show career is coming to an end. It has either won every possible award you ever wanted or it has indicated that it simply has had enough of being a “foo-foo.”
April 15th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
The first time I put on my pantyhose at nine years-old for a dog show, I wanted to take them right off. However, my mom made me continue to wear them so I would look professional in the ring. As time went on, I grew more comfortable in my pantyhose, just as I grew more comfortable in the dog show ring.
April 14th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
Westminster is now firmly established as a dual-venue show. Occasionally, a nostalgic exhibitor asks, “when do you think they’ll go back to the Garden for the breeds?” However, the size of the show and the renovations at Madison Square Garden have determined the answer—“never.” While the Piers have distinct advantages over Madison Square Garden for the daytime breed competition, nothing can compare with the impact of seeing the dogs gait into the enormous Garden group ring. So, it’s back to the refurbished Garden for the evening competition, which begins with the a capella singing of the national anthem by talented youngsters from the cast of Broadway’s “Matilda.” There’s no doubt—it’s Westminster, and there’s “only one.”
April 13th, 2015 | Posted in Current Articles,Editorial,Featured | Read More »
