Was I pleased to hear that a Pedigree representative called AKC to tell them that Pedigree would now be contributing $2,000 to every Parent Club Breed Rescue operation? You bet I was! Was I amazed to hear that this had always been their intention? You bet I was! Do I think that without the urging of various writers connected with this publication Pedigree would have seen the light? Absolutely not is my reaction. Am I delighted and pleased that Pedigree saw the light? You bet I am. It took a lot of rethinking to accomplish this, but let's be both grateful and thankful for small favors. Hopefully, this will be an annual and continuing donation on the part of Pedigree towards purebred rescue and not just a one-time “shut your mouth” affair.
Well, the Board elections are history now. The two Patti/y's were victors, as was Ken Marden. All three have years of Board experience. Neither Ken nor Patti Strand asked the Nominating Committee to consider them and both after the fact decided to run again. Strand for her existing seat and Marden for the one he lost last year. It took only one ballot, which surprised, if not shocked, many. With 401 delegates in attendance, and with each delegate entitled to vote for three people, a total of 1,203 votes could have been cast. Based on a total vote count, 1,124 votes were cast, which means 79 votes were NOT CAST and/or counted. Obviously, some delegates opted to bullet ballot, others voted for only two candidates, whilst some may have decided not to vote at all. Conceivably, those uncast votes, had they been cast, could have resulted in a second ballot. But “could have, should have” aside, 202 votes were needed to be elected to the Board. Strand received 233; Haines, 221; Marden, 207; Battaglia, 177; Vogels, 152; and Hart, 151. First comment must be that all six candidates did extremely well. There were no embarrassing 20 or 30 “vote people,” as in past years. Certainly, Hart and Vogels must be upbeat on that point and looking to future runs with high hopes. There is little doubt in my mind that Marden was the beneficiary of the most recent Battaglia fiasco. Carmen seems to be his own worst enemy. He has, rightly or wrongly, a solid core of “antis,” who used the latest overblown letter-signing incident to their advantage in getting him defeated. What the “antis” did not forsee was that those disenchanted with Carmen would turn to Ken rather than to Judy Hart. This, to my mind, was a serious rebuff to Pat Laurans, a strong Hart supporter and an extreme anti-Battaglian. Cindy, I believe, suffered greatly due to the political infighting, which came to a head in the CHF directors vote the Saturday or Sunday prior to the delegate vote. Her tie-breaking vote in the CHF election of directors (she was damned whatever she did) caused greatunhappiness among many people who were going to vote for her for AKC's Board. Perhaps because of past inconsistent statements of hers. These people may have influenced their delegate friends to vote or not to vote at all in the Board election—remember those 79 uncast votes!
Why a CHF directors vote should come into play in an AKC Board election is definitely a fair question to ponder. It should not, but I have it on strong authority that it did. It's more important than ever to keep outside politics out of AKC voting. Unfortunately, the CHF board is so heavily weighted with AKC delegates, motives frequently are difficult to distinguish. Some implementation of a plan to either change the make-up of the CHF board or to totally incorporate the organization back into AKC should be pursued. Else this situation will grow even more unacceptable than that which presently exists.
As for the final election results, they seem to indicate a willingness on the part of the delegates to stay the course with the board's present efforts. It seemed to be a vote of confidence in the Menaker and Sprung regimes and a rebuff to the neocons, which cannot be denied.
Now for the four grueling days at Crufts. Expanded to 25 acres at the NEC, totally attached and complete with an arena housing 6,000 people (on perhaps the most uncomfortable seats of any arena I have ever been to), the event itself was, without a doubt, an overwhelming success. With over 153,000 spectators (a 10 percent increase over last year), the event overwhelms the hardiest ofsouls. Believe me when I tell you there is something for everyone, from dog lovers to pure observers. This is a well-oiled machine unlike anything anywhere in the world. Vanessa McAlpine is the organizer and show manager extraordinaire. Oh, to have her straighten out the show scene over here is merely what dreams are made of. Eric Smethurst ably filled in for the ailing Terry Thorn, who is chairman of the Crufts committee. Crufts, as most of you are aware, is owned and operated by the Kennel Club itself and is an extremely profitable part of the Kennel Club's operation. I've said it before, and I'll repeat myself again—if you have never been to Crufts, you must go at least once. Don't stay all four days if it's too much for you, but as a show enthusiast, this show is a command performance, for sure.
The results. Well, by now most of you know that the U.K.-bred Tibetan terrier which won the Utility group two years ago was adjudicated Best by Zena Thorn-Andrews. He is Eng. Am. Ch. ArakiFabulous Willy. Owned by John Shaw, of Pekingese fame, and Neil Smith, co-breeder with Ken Sinclair. The Araki prefix is famous worldwide in this breed. Shown for two years in the States by Larry Cornelius, his triumphant return to the U.K. was both well earned and well deserved. Larry presented him flawlessly throughout the proceedings and now, for two years in a row, an American handler with the first name Larry (last year was Larry Fenner) have guided an exhibit to the top spot at Crufts. One would certainly be remiss not to mention the great job Larry's partner, Marcelo Veras, played inconditioning this exhibit. Winning the Utility group under Albert Wright may have been the hardest part of the show for this dog, who is to stay home with his breeders.
The final line-up, in my opinion at any rate, offered little to truly challenge Willie, whereas the quality within the Utility group was absolutely outstanding. This outstanding quality was true, I thought, of all the other groups, with the exception of the Pastoral group, which I found to be below par. Perhaps a little group realignment would help Pastoral. Putting the Bouvier (now in Working) in to Pastoral and the Samoyed into Working would make sense to me.
Reserve Best went to the WFT in a very competitive Terrier group loaded with many lovely American-bred-and-owned terriers. Once the tail docking laws go into effect in the U.K., I'm not too sure how this will affect American competition, but the Airedale, the Norwich, the Scottie and the Sealy breed winners were all American. The Bill McFadden-handled Dandie, of course, was American-shown—Group and number one all-breed here in 2006. The Scottie shown by Geoff Dawson was Group 4 (and won the breed at the “Big W” and could have placed higher at Crufts… under me anyway); the Welsh (American-sired) went Group 3. By the way, there was no denying the Airedale bitch in the breed. She is certainly coming along magnificently, and I thought she deserved a piece of the group, too.
The Hound group went to a worthy breed-winning Bloodhound. Whether she was a group winner or even worthy of being shortlisted in some very lovely competition is for the individual to decide. Thefourth-placing Pharaoh hound—looking great—was American-bred-and-shown (and owned, I am told). The Basenji was lovely—from America, too! I thought it could have taken the group. Lovely, too, was the Standard Dachshund from America. The Basset, PBGV, Norwegian Elkhound, Scottish Deerhound, Rhodesian and Grand Petit, all from the U.K., were outstanding as well. Any one of them were group placers, for sure.
Toy group was an American-bred Maltese being shown in the U.K. and was last year's Group 3. Shown by Fernandes Wagner, he was an easy winner for me. The incredible Charlie from the U.S., owned and shown by Karen Miller won over an unheard of entry of 142 King Charles Spaniels. Candidly, he was an easy breed winner for me. He had had it by group time but still looked the part. Pastoral was a Bearded Collie, although an American-bred Puli that placed fourth, I thought to be the winner. It was owned, bred, and shown by Mrs. A. Davis of Virginia. The Beardie I just did not understand at all. Both the Working and Gundog groups were unusually strong, and whilst aNorwegian-owned but Swedish-bred Flat Coat won Gundog, there were seven or eight others that easily could have done so as well. An AlaskanMalamute from Italy was awarded Working—stood out, I thought, but also challenged by several other exhibits, most notably the St. Bernard and Rottweiler. In BIS, the Malamute lacked the spirit it had in both the breed and the group. Overall, I think these were as strong, if not the strongest, groups I have seen at Crufts.
Some other miscellaneous thoughts. Zena Thorne-Andrews handled herself really well under very trying circumstances. Her courage and demeanor was both touching and tasteful beyond words. The Friends for Life portion of the program, sponsored by Pet Partners Insurance, particularly in the new arena (which added dimensions the show had until then been missing) deserves more recognition from the BBC. Even though moved to smaller quarters, the Visitors Lounge, supported by DOG NEWS and headed by the marvelous Liz Cartledge, was a huge success. Between the OUR DOGS booths and the one in the Visitors Lounge, all the DOG NEWS and D magazines were sold out, as per usual.
One last thought… Ron Irving and Rosemary Smart team up to make the Kennel Club and Crufts the dog event of the year for the world dog show enthusiast. Everyone involved in the sport owe them a vote of thanks and enduring gratitude. See you next year at Crufts in 2008—God willing.•