English Springer Spaniel Ch. Chinoe’s Adamant James, a
son of Aristocrat and Top Dog 1971, was the last dog to win
BIS at Westminster twice (1971 and 1972). He was shown by
Clint Harris.
German Shepherd Dog Ch. Covy Tucker-Hill’s Manhattan,
Top Dog in both 1984 and 1985, was handled by Jimmy
Moses to BIS at Santa Barbara KC under judge Anne
Rogers Clark. Manhattan was BIS at Westminster in 1987.
Standard
Poodle Ch. Lou
Gin’s Kiss Me
Kate, Top Dog
1979 and among
the Top 10 in
1978, was the
first dog in 20
years to reach
100 Best in
Show wins. She
was handled by
Robert Walberg.
remember as far back as the swinging ‘60s is, in fact, pretty
remarkable. There is a lot of talk of the “five-year turnover”
in our sport, but once you’re seriously bitten by the dog bug,
it seems you stay involved forever. Whenever I go to a dog
show today, I meet people I remember from the first AKC
dog shows I went to in the 1960s. We all seem to enjoy our
involvement in dog shows as much as we ever did. I wonder
how many activities you can say that about?
48
DOGSinREVIEW.com
Setting the Stage
So many dogs have won so much in the last 55 years that
it’s impossible to feature all of them. In any case, the
stage must be set for how the numbers of dogs, shows and
entries have developed over this time. The picture that
emerges is not totally encouraging, but it’s important to
know the facts, especially if we hope to be able to turn
around the downward trend in recent years. Lots of figures,
so brace yourself…
In the 1960s, the sport of showing and breeding purebred
dogs increased even faster than it had done before. In 1960
CONTINUED ON PAGE 54
ENGLISH SPRINGER SPANIEL: GILBERT PHOTO; GERMAN SHEPHERD: VICKI COOK
Scottish Terrier Ch. Braeburn’s Close Encounter, Top Dog
1983 and runner-up in 1984, BIS at Westminster 1985 and
among the Top 10 dogs for a record five years. She was
handled by George Ward.