It never ceases to amaze me the way Chicagoans support IKC! The crowds overwhelm you, certainly on Saturday. There's something for everyone here, and for sure this year's bench show, without benching, proved very popular. Think of the money it saved the show, too. But more than money saved is the lesson other clubs can learn with regard to the usefulness of the benched show. Both as a learning implement and as a means to get spectators to shows, the benched show could be an ideal tool. Certainly in some smaller mid-cities with arena-type venues, the introduction of the Chicago-style benching could increase spectator attendance and provide an excellent educational service for exhibitors to boot. Lou Auslander has been particularly innovative through the years with regard to IKC. And quite candidly, his motivation is much more than a monetary one. Sure, IKC is a proprietary club, as are some of the other clubs in major cities—and these clubs, namely Golden Gate and Detroit, perform a most valuable service to the purebred dog community by getting tens of thousands of people to come and see and even buy purebred dogs. As to Lou, there is also no denying his love for IKC nor his competitive side, which refused to let the show lose its glamour, allure and tradition.
As for the shows, Blackhawk was on Friday. Won by the Peke shown and bred by David Fitzpatrick, this was the only exhibit to sweep his group all four days. Indeed, the next three Best in Show winners all were defeated in their breed at least once during the four-day event. I really don't recall such a variance in opinions at one four-day happening at the same location. Although I'm sure a number of you will enlighten me as to similar past four-day occurrences where three exhibitors which were awarded Best in Show were beaten in the breed that same weekend. Saturday, the Linda Krukar-shown Doberman was Best; Sunday, the Sandy D'Andrea-shown Alaskan Malamute, and Monday, the Jenny Wornall-shown Airedale were adjudicated the winners. I thought some of the specials competitions top-notch. Whether or not I agreed with everything I saw judged is secondary to the fact that I was not the judge. I was, though, called in to substitute judge for the non-sporting Bred-By group on Friday, and I'm reasonably confident and comfortable with the fact that probably not everyone agreed with what I did either. Tit for tat, I guess.
I see in the Board Minutes Ric Chashoudian got suspended again—again for one month. During his first suspension, I am told he had no assignments, whereas during this last one he had six or seven! Again, it was some kind of Dandie thing! Could it be he is overly obsessive about that breed or was it just the dog in question?
I was surprised to see that the German Wirehaired Pointer Club of America had authorized Delegate Pat Laurans, to send out a letter supporting candidates in the board election. Other than sitting board members doing this on rare occasions, I can't recall a club or a delegate publicly doing so in any Board election. This sure does open the door to making these elections more ofa personality contest than ever before. The request on Ms. Laurans' part to cross-post was even more perplexing. Indeed, my copy came, and don't ask me why or how, from the akcparentclubconference. This is the organization which receives $150,000 for its Parent Conference from the Board! Talk about a conflict of interest situation. What a barrel of worms that could create. Forgetabout whom the club and the delegate supported and what the given reasons were, how did the Parent Club Conference get involved? It was also posted, I am told, to all members of DJAA. Explain that one, if you can. Are clubs and delegates now going to bombard the entire Fancy with position papers, pro and con, for individuals running for the Board? In a sense, this is better than those insidious telephone campaigns some delegates are alleged to be carrying on (guess who heads that one), but surely isn’t enough enough? Contacting your own members is one thing—contacting the world is a bit over-the-top, don't you think? •