“i’ll just keeP PluGGinG riGht AlonG. i think i’m too old to stArt somethinG new. BESIDES, I’M REALLY HUNG UP ON THIS DOG SPORT. see you At the next shows!”
lower tier it’s still possible to win Best of Breeds, Owner/ Handler groups, make up Grand Champions and get the occa- sional group placement. It can still be satisfying and fun if one allows it to be. What do You see professional handlers do that someone neW to the sport could learn from? Most pro handlers worth their pay make sure that the dogs they show are well trained and responsive to them. Some newcomers haven’t done their homework in this respect. entries have been doWn in recent Years. What do You think Would increase entries, or have doG shoWs seen their heYdaY? Like a number of other activities classical music, opera, Shakespearean theater and such, dog shows don’t seem to click with the current crop of instant gratification seek- ing younger people. It’s my firm belief that this will change again but possibly not to the extent of “heydays”. The big- gest thing I believe would increase entries would be a boost in the US economy and a return to a larger upper middle class. There is no way to get around the fact that breeding and showing dogs is an expensive hobby. A friendlier and more welcoming attitude from some of the current participants would help as well. vieWinG the entire toY Group What is the biGGest area of improvement in the last 25 Years and What area needs Work? Speaking for the breeds with which I’m most familiar I would say health and health testing are in the improved cate- gory. Over all, the way dogs are presented has become better in most of the Toys. Some breeds, including the Italian Grey- hound, could use a little more adherence to the written stan- dards rather than showing a “type” that seems to be winning. You’ve led an incredible life. What’s next for lilian barber? I’ll just keep plugging right along. I think I’m too old to start something new. Besides, I’m really hung up on this dog
the Holocaust, spending a year in the London slums before being able to enter the United States in 1940. At some point during her early years she acquired an almost insane desire for the companionship of a dog but due to the family’s strained living conditions was not able to have one until she acquired her first Italian Greyhound in 1966. She has lived with from one to 18 of them at any given time ever since and has bred nearly 100 AKC champions under the “La Scala” kennel name. Most of them she showed and finished herself, and being a part of the dog fancy helped her to shake off her shy- ness and a tendency to be clumsy at any kind of sport. She was approved in 1989 to judge Italian Greyhounds and has judged specialties in Italy and Australia as well as in the United States, including the National Specialty in 2003 and 2010. She was invited to judge in Japan in 2013. She has written four books about the IG and one about her life with and without dogs, entitled My Mother Never Taught Me Songs . She has been the IG breed colum- nist for the AKC Gazette since 1977 as well as writing a regular column in The Italian Greyhound Magazine . She has served on the Judges’ Education Committee for the Italian Greyhound Club of America, was one of the creators of the Illustrated Standard for the IG and is a past president of the IGCA, currently serving as correspond- ing secretary for that organization and as president of the Kennel Club of Palm Springs. Most of all, she says she is completely smitten with this breed and could not imagine ever again living without at least one or two of them.
sport. See you at the next shows! about lilian barber
Lilian Barber was born in Germany and left that coun- try under duress in 1939 with her parents and with only what they could wear and carry, just ahead of
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