Buongiorno, Bullyganza

Thirteen years ago, during the Santa Barbara weekend, I got a call from Franne Berez of Action Bull Terriers.

Franne was judging Bull Terriers somewhere in Europe. They asked her to judge a competition that included Staffordshire Bull Terriers, American Staffordshire Terriers and the Mini Bulls, besides Bull Terriers. She called me for a crash course in Staffies and Am Staffs.

About a week later, I thought it would be interesting to have a competition for all the Bully breeds at Santa Barbara. It met with some resistance from the powers-that-be, but my passion got them to approve the concept. Since the Breeders Showcase at Santa Barbara had become so successful, it helped to get the Bullyganza approved.

What makes the competition so unique is that it consists of breeds from three different groups: Working, Terrier and Non-Sporting. It was the first of its kind anywhere in the world. In 2012, the first Bullyganza was held at Santa Barbara and was an immediate success. Because of the wonderful reception, our president, Abbe Shaw, decided to do a Sighthound Spectacular. Because there are so many Hound Group shows, it did not become a truly unique event. But it still is one that the Sighthound people enjoy, and is very competitive.

After several years, a couple of all-breed shows decided to also hold a Bullyganza. We now have the competition being held in Phoenix, Arizona; Greeley, Colorado, and Edison, New Jersey. They have all been received so well, and I imagine more clubs will also hold the event.

After much thought and extensive planning, Blair Aguillard and her husband Giuseppe Commisso, along with Lacey and Luisma Benítez, staged the first Bullyganza show in Italy in 2023. Blair and Giuseppe travel back and forth between their homes in Rome and the States, which provides them all the details to stage the show.

In 2023, the date had to be delayed by one week because of the resort having an issue. I was supposed to judge all the Bests: Best in Show, Best Junior, Best Puppy, Best Baby, etc. But I had a commitment here at home that I could not miss. Luckily, Cindy Vogel and Peggy Beisel-McIlwane were available on the new date.

As it turned out, it was better for me to go this year because the show was nearly twice as large as last year. It was held at the Spiaggia Romea Club Village & Hotel in Comacchio, near Ferrara, Italy, on September 21 and 22. This year they had a limit of 500 dogs, and had to turn away some entries. I believe the plan is to raise the limit for next year, and still make sure none of the judges will have long days.

Each day we were finished around 4 p.m. Judging started on Saturday at 8 a.m. since when all the breeds were finished, there were all the different Bests to judge. On Sunday, there was no group judging; it stopped at the breed level, so we did not start until 9 a.m.

The panel consisted of five judges from the U.S.: Stuart Cairns, Meghan Barnes, Jacqueline Fraser O’Neil, Kameron Sheppard and myself. Completing the panel were Bev Harrison from the U.K., and two judges from Spain, Joaquín Bernal and José Antonio Alonso. By far the largest entry was Am Staffs, with 140. The breed was split each day between Jackie Fraser and Stuart Cairns.

Being an FCI show, the Am Staffs were divided between cropped and natural ears. So for the Bests on Saturday, two different Am Staffs competed. Jackie has never been a judge, but was a leading breeder more than 50 years ago. Kim Rudzik is still carrying on her famous Fraja kennel name. Many people came to the show with the book Jackie wrote on the breed many years ago to get her to sign it.

Jackie and I both flew into Rome. I arrived at about 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning. Immigration went quickly, but then I waited around 45 minutes more for my luggage. After I cleared customs, Blair was waiting for me. A driver took me to her home near the airport, where I enjoyed fresh, strong black coffee. Blair waited at the airport for Kameron and Jackie to arrive. The driver brought me back to the airport before noon, and then we all started the drive to the resort.

It should have taken about four hours, but we stopped for lunch. We arrived around 5:30 p.m. at the beautiful resort. We all met for an early dinner at 7 p.m. The restaurant had a huge buffet of hot and cold varieties of quality offerings. Being in Italy, I enjoyed all the different pastas offered. Red and white wine was on the table to just help ourselves.

Friday morning we were scheduled to leave the resort around 8 a.m. to go touring. Meghan and Stuart had been staying in Venice. They took a train to meet us at a station near where we would be touring. Our first stop was the Ferrari Museum. We had prepaid tickets, so we did not have to wait in line. We enjoyed a coffee at their lovely café. The museum consisted of several floors, and we saw many antique Ferraris. Some were at least 80 years old.

After the museum tour, we drove to Bologna to have lunch at a top-notch pizza restaurant. It offered many types of pizza and was in a beautiful setting in the city. Having had a late lunch, we met for dinner at 8 p.m., which gave us time to meet and enjoy drinks in the bar.

Saturday I had to be at the ring at 7:45 a.m. because all the judges were introduced before the start of the show. Since I was not judging Am Staffs, I spent all day watching the 140 Am Staffs, 108 of which had natural ears. I was so pleased to see the vast majority had very nice natural ears. I did not see any with big, hound-dog ears. The European breeders have to be congratulated for breeding good natural ears.

The overall quality was very good, and Jackie and Stuart had some large classes with very good quality. The breed is not as popular since cropping has been banned in many European countries. I remember not that long ago at the World Dog Show in Budapest there were around 500 Am Staffs.

On Saturday, shortly after Am Staffs finished, the two rings were made into one large ring, where all the Bests were judged. It was scheduled for 3:30 p.m., and was pretty much on schedule. Between all the different Bests they offered 6,000 Euros in prize money and great trophies.

Best Junior handler was first and judged by Kameron Sheppard. It was more like our Pee Wee competition. It had a lot of very young kids with a parent leading the dog and child around the ring. Kameron did have a few older kids who were good handlers.

Next, Joaquín Bernal judged Best Baby in Show, and then Best Puppy in Show. Stuart Cairns then did Best Veteran in Show, followed by Joaquín judging Best Junior in Show and Stuart judging Best Bred-by in Show. I judged the final Best in Show, and had 11 very nice dogs at the end. Besides the two Am Staffs, the Bull Terriers were divided by color on Saturday, so two were in the final. For the Bests, we placed them one, two and three. I was sorry I had only three placements because some very lovely dogs went without a ribbon.

In Europe, you place them backwards. My third BIS was a lovely red-and-white Am Staff bitch. Second Reserve Best was a young brindle male Frenchie. The handler was from southern Spain, and it was a three-day drive to the show. Apparently I had seen the dog at the World Dog Show in Croatia and said how nice he was.

The Supreme winner was a very exciting Dogo Argentino. I believe this one-and-a-half-year old was bred in Serbia. It appeared the handler was quite new to showing. The dog did everything for himself to look his best. I have always admired this breed and have given one a BIS in South America. Now in the U.S. we are seeing several really nice ones. The prize was 2,500 Euros and an outside dog house. The young handler was so excited when I said the Dogo is Best. He jumped in the air and hugged the dog.

Saturday we all gathered for dinner at 8 p.m., and several of us met in the bar earlier for cocktails. The resort reserved quite a few tables labeled “Bullyganza” in a separate large dining room. All the exhibitors were treated to a free dinner on Saturday in appreciation for their support of the show. There were exhibitors who traveled great distances to show their dogs. The committee did everything they could to make the exhibitors feel appreciated. The entry was limited to 500, and they had turn back some entries. The show this year was nearly double the initial show. I believe the entry will grow year each year. The resort is large enough that they can have several more spacious rings.

My assignment on Sunday was 39 Bull Terriers, four Bostons, 14 French Bulldogs, 18 Mini Bulls and 20 Staffies. My 91 dogs to judge went quite easily since we had several breaks because of getting ahead of schedule. This enabled me to go to my nearby room to use the bathroom and have a coffee break. There was a food truck very close to the rings so people did not need to walk to the main building for refreshments. It even had a full bar. There were a lot of picnic benches close to the ring. Some people even had barbecues. I wish we had a venue like this resort in the States.

I felt the quality in Bull Terriers was very good. My breed winner was a lovely white bitch. She was very feminine, and had a beautiful head with a super stunning eye. She had lots of class and made the most of herself. She also won the breed under Stuart the day before.

For some reason only one Boston showed up and was of very nice quality. It could do well in the U.S. The Frenchies, like everywhere, were mixed. The breed winner could compete well anywhere today. He was my easy winner. The Mini Bulls were quite consistent and most of proper size; most had good mouths. High-set gay tails were an issue with a fair number of them. I really enjoyed the Staffies. I am sure having a renowned expert from the U.K. was responsible for such depth of quality with the Staffies. I was pleasantly surprised at the great depth of quality from start to finish.

The dog Bev Harrison put up the day before impressed me a great deal. He could win big in the States. I ended up giving a different dog the breed. After the judging Bev informed me that my choice had gone BOB at Crufts and had two CCs in the U.K.

Monday morning we were scheduled to leave the resort around 9 a.m. for the drive back to Rome. We were on the road by 9:30 a.m., and halfway to Rome we stopped at a highway rest area to have lunch. I decided to have McDonald’s just to see how it compared to the States. It did taste the same as any McDonald’s here.

We had prepaid tickets to see the Coliseum. Our tickets did not allow entrance until 6 p.m. When approaching the Coliseum, across the street was an ancient fortress that was very interesting to explore. It certainly was such a fascinating experience to see the Coliseum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Our last dinner was at a lovely restaurant near the area close to the airport. Another meal of gourmet pizza and great wine. We stayed at a nice hotel about 10 minutes from the airport. United was having trouble with the luggage at the check-in counter so the check-in process was extremely slow, even with Premier Access service. Immigration went fairly quickly, but I was glad to allow extra time, especially for international flights. I got a light snack before boarding, knowing the food might be rather poor in economy.

This trip was truly one of the most memorable assignments ever. I am so proud of how the committee has turned the Bullyganza into a world-class event.