Posts

Judging Videos, Purina National Dog Show 2010

Best-Of-Breed-French-Bulldog-Judging

As promised, here are the judging videos from the 2010 Purina National Dog Show, in Toronto, Ontario. This is the Saturday, March 13th judging.

Just as a reminder, the results on Saturday were:

Saturday French Bulldog Judging Results, Judge Joe Walton

BOB/BP – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor
BOS – Ch. FOXMOOR LE JOUET PETITE CHERIE
WD, BOW – Bullmarket Absolut Darkly Dexter
RWD – Shore Lookin Good
WB – Shore This Is It
RWB – Bullmarket Absolut Padme

Group – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor, Group 4, BPIG

The rest of the results are here, and the videos are after the cut. They are split into three videos – bitches, dogs and best of breed.

Read more

Results from the Purina National Dog Show

Junior Puppy Judging, Sunday - Cindi and Leah

A quick post with the results and a few photos from this weekend’s Purina National Dog Show. I’ll upload video tomorrow. By the way, thanks to everyone who came out and made the breed information booth a success, and especially Richard and Ewa Rockford, and their lovely dogs (who drew a crowd twenty people deep!). It was great fun, although it was a bit disconcerting how many people asked me “Where’s Delilah??”.


Friday French Bulldog Judging Results, Judge Donna Cole

BOB/BP- Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor
BOS- Armani Baflo
RWD- Shore Lookin’ Good
WB- Shore This Is It
RWB- Amanda Baflo

Group – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor, Group 3, BPIG

Saturday French Bulldog Judging Results, Judge Joe Walton

BOB/BP – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor
BOS – Ch. FOXMOOR LE JOUET PETITE CHERIE
WD, BOW – Bullmarket Absolut Darkly Dexter
RWD – Shore Lookin Good
WB – Shore This Is It
RWB – Bullmarket Absolut Padme

Group – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor, Group 4, BPIG

Sunday French Bulldog Judging Results, Judge Norm Patton

BOB/BP – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor
BOS/WD/BOW – BOB/BP – Shore Lookin’ Good
WB – Bullmarket Absolut Padme
RWB – Epic n Absolut’s in Cahoots
RWD – Bullmarket Absolut Darkly Dexter

Group – Ch Petite Cherie Savoir Faire At Foxmoor, Group 3, BPIG

How ‘Show Snobs’ Spend Their Weekends

I came back from the shows on Sunday just exhausted, but decided to just ‘take a quick peek’ at my list mail – never a good idea. Seems that yet another ‘you breeders are all show snobs’ troll had popped up, accusing us all of just being ‘in it for the shows’, while she apparently is breeding French Bulldogs just out of some genuine philanthropic desire to provide the general public with an unlimited supply of awesome pets. She’s the noble one, while we who show are just a ‘bunch of snobs’.

I thought maybe it would be helpful if I explained just how so many of us ‘show snobs’ spend our weekends. Mine was spent at the Purina National Dog show, in Toronto, where I was joined by Sue and Dick Simon, of Epic French Bulldogs, along with my fellow breeder information booth volunteers Richard and Ewa Rockford of Aristocrafts French Bulldogs, and fellow fancier Mary Ellen Sinclair.

For Sue and Dick and I, the day began on Saturday morning at about 4:30 am, feeding dogs, checking puppies, packing the van and getting all the materials for the breeder info booth ready.

After a two hour drive, we got to the show site, checked in, got our entries, and found out where our booth location was. I was set up in the middle of a bunch of other real show snobs, let me tell you – people who’d obviously spent thousands of dollars on breed info, signs, displays of breed history, and printing off informational sheets. Kind of funny, considering that no one there had any puppies to sell, and that a few of the other ‘show snobs’ around me told me that they hadn’t had a litter in ten years, but that they keep coming out just because they love the breed.

Judging was done by ten, and shortly after that were back at the booth. The next five or so hours were pandemonium.

We spoke to literally hundreds of members of the general public, explaining the good things and the horrid things alike about French Bulldogs – the shedding, the drooling, the farting, the health issues. We explained brachycephalic syndrome, allergies, spinal issues and juvenile cataracts. We referred people to websites, told them about rescue and encouraged them to join our club. We let them play with puppies and meet the adults. We talked and talked and talked until my voice literally gave out – and then I talked to the media, just to top it all off.

And what did we do the next day? Why, we did the same thing, all over again.

What did we get from all this? Nothing much. None of the volunteers or myself have available litters or puppies. We didn’t sell anything, we didn’t make any money, and in fact we paid for the gas and the printing and the booth rental out of our own pockets. We did it in the hope that the general public would learn how to make an educated choice about whether a French Bulldog is the right dog for them. We did it because that’s the sort of thing that ‘show snobs’ do on their weekends.

And where, I wonder, were the people who breed and breed and breed, but just don’t manage to ‘have the time or the money’ to make it out to shows? Sitting at home, I suppose, talking about how ‘horrible’ all of us show snobs are, and how we don’t care about the people who just want to buy a nice pet dog.

Show results from the weekend, along with photos and video, coming in the next day or two.

They grow up so fast…

Luke attends show handling class

Luke attends show handling class

It’s hard to believe that our last round of French Bulldog puppies are almost seven months old. With age comes the thought of show ring careers, so I thought we’d update you on what’s going on with our budding beauty queens (and king).

Over in Illinois, Andrea Morden Moore and the lovely Luke are getting ready for their show ring debut. Luke has already been doing some ring training, and Andrea says he is progressing quite nicely. I’m very pleased with him, albeit only from his photos.

Luke will be making his ring debut at the Chicago International Kennel Club show, which takes place the last weekend in February.

You can learn more about the IKC show on their web page – http://www.ikcdogshow.com/

Luke and Andrea will be showing during the ‘benched’ portion of the show. The Westminster Kennel Club website has the description for “Benched” shows –

Originally, most shows were “benched” in some fashion, where the entered dogs were required to be in assigned areas (on benches) at all times when not being judged in the ring. This allowed for interaction of dogs and their owners with spectators and other owners and breeders as an educational process.

What this means, in essence, is that all the dogs of a single breed are set up in the same area in between showing. All of the French Bulldogs, for example, will be together, which means you’ll also have easy access to all of the French Bulldog breeders and exhibitors who are at the same show. Many times, people will set up little informational booths and displays, often with the breed clubs or local breed rescues also offering a display.

There are very, very few benched shows left in the world, and while exhibitors might complain about them, there are really no better shows for the average public to attend.  Benched shows are ultimately intended to provide a way for the public to interact with large groups of breeders and exhibitors, all in one place, and most people who enter benched shows do so with the understanding that they will make themselves available to answer questions about their dogs and their breed.

If you live in or near the Chicago area, Luke and Andrea would LOVE to have you come out to meet them, and to cheer for them. As I mentioned, they’re only entered in the ‘benched’ portion of the show, which is Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be posting entry times as the show dates gets closer, but please let me know if you plan to attend, so that they can keep an eye out for you.

Up in Michigan, Sue Simon had been hoping to attend the IKC show with Luke and Leah’s dad, Dexter. Unfortunately, the timing isn’t great right now, so she’ll be entering him in some local Michigan shows, including Cobo Hall – which just happens to be another benched show!

This means another great chance to come out and meet with dogs and their owners, including the Dashingly Devious Dexter. Please give him a head skritch from me, and tell him to try to behave himself for Sue!

French Bulldog in the snow

Leah 'enjoying' the snowy CT weather

Over on the East Coast, Luke’s sister Leah is also getting ready for her show ring debut. We’re currently working out details for the Lovely Ms Leah to head up to Canada, where she’ll be ably handled by the ultra talented Kay Reil, who finished Butters for us last year.  I have high hopes that Leah will make it up in time for the CKC’s Charitable dog show event, the Purina National dog show. This year’s show should have a great turn out, as it’s being held at the Interational Center near the Toronto Airport.

Last year, Butters made her debut at the Purina National, and it would be nice to see Leah do the same. We’ll be offering a breed information booth at the Purina National this year, and again – we’d love to see you come out to meet us, and to learn more about Frenchies.

Also on the east coast is Finlee, Delilah’s Dexter daughter. Finlee and her new mom, Amanda, will be making their ring debut some time later this spring, and we look forward to hearing more about their progress. We also need Amanda to send us more photos – Flickr is your friend, people!

Last but hardly least is our own little Dex-ette, Pickle. She’s coming along quite nicely – her body is lovely at this stage, but her head needs to catch up with it. Right now, she looks like she’s got a mature body, with a puppy head. We’re going to give her some time for all of her bits to catch up with each other before we put her in the ring. Some pups just aren’t fully finished until a year or so, and I’m in no rush to get her out there. We’re aiming for early summer, with our fingers crossed. In the meantime, we’re going to do a local obedience class, as I think it will be good for her confidence.

I hope Barb can’t read the blog from Heaven – she used to freak out when she heard I was putting show puppies into obedience class! It’s that lingering, old school belief that “if you teach them to sit, they won’t stand in the ring!”. I think they can learn to do both, and I think it’s good for them to be stimulated and learning something other than just to be pretty faces.

How about you – if you have show prospect puppies, are you making plans for spring? If you’re a pet person, have you ever attended a dog show, or would you ever?