What about Your touGhest daY? I was fairly new to judging and was adjudicating a rather large IG entry in another state. I had a ring steward who was very popular in the area and, although quite adept at handling his duties, spent quite a bit of time laughing and chatting with his friends instead of paying full attention. He evidently didn’t notice that I had given Winners Dog to the Bred by Exhibitor entry and insisted on calling the second place Open Dog into the ring for me to make the Reserve placement. I tried to tell him that we needed the second place Bred by instead and he argued with me. The AKC rep was at ringside writing a report since I was a newish judge. It was a rep with whom, for several reasons, I didn’t have much rapport and I needed this kind of discussion with the steward in front of him like I needed another hole in my head. I worried about the incident for the rest of the day, but I learned later that the rep had written a glowing report about me. What is the funniest or most entertaininG thinG that’s happened in Your rinG? A few years ago a rather well-known person in the breed whose partner breeds and shows Weimaraners brought a Weim puppy into the ring at a match during an IG specialty week. He did it so casually and calmly that everyone got a huge laugh out of it. What does an oWner-handler have to do to beat the “biG names”? Pretty obviously make sure he or she has a great dog that’s very well trained and then enter the ring with the attitude that beating the big names may be difficult but not impossible. Two things. First of all, tell the owner-handler that if he or she has the necessities for doing so, work on becoming a “face”. Basically, show only top quality dogs and show them exceptionally well, show at every possible show whether or not it’s convenient, and spend lots of money on advertising in at least most of the dog magazines. Secondly, if the time and money aren’t there to do this, accept the fact that show- ing successfully can be done on two tiers. Showing on the “...show only toP quAlity doGs And show them excePtionAlly well, show At every Possible show whether or not it’s convenient...” What Would You saY to an oWner-handler Who saYs onlY the “faces” Win?
Where do You think todaY’s Group of iG breeders are losinG their WaY, and Where are theY most succeedinG? There are too many really large dogs in the show ring today—mostly males. Some of these dogs are winning big time and some breeders have not seen the need to get back to breeding within the standard size-wise. There are also a few breeders who don’t, or refuse to understand the correct topline and persist in showing roach backed dogs. On the plus side, there is considerably more health testing than there used to be, especially DNA based testing, and some of the problems that were common when we first started out are now diminished. Poor bone density is one of them. We are also seeing very few of the “Toy type” IGs with apple heads and snipey muzzles that were quite common years ago. What Was Your most memorable Win, biG or small? Probably the Owner/Handler Best in Show at the Santa Ana Valley KC show in 2012. The win was with Ch. Peonya do BR Reino, a Brazilian bred IG that goes back to my line and was given to me as a puppy by her breeder, Elias Duarte, Jr. from What loss in the rinG did You learn the most? I won’t mention any names but it involved a dog with which I had been doing lots of winning and I showed it to a judge I knew quite well, expecting that I would win. I didn’t. What is Your pet peeve as a judGe? I think people who show an inferior dog to a judge they consider to be a friend and then bad mouth that judge if they don’t win. tell us about Your favorite daY as a judGe. Again, there have been several. I think maybe judging the IG Specialty in Italy was one of the proudest days of my life. Not only was I honored to have been invited to judge that event but I had the opportunity to see some of Europe’s best examples of the breed from several countries as well as those bred in Italy. I had a wonderful student as my translator and was able to enjoy talking with Italy’s top IG people as well as to judge their dogs. “i think mAybe JUDGING THE IG SPECIALTY IN ITALY wAs one of the Proudest dAys of my life.”
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