The Doberman
Ch. Rancho
Dobe’s Storm
and the Bulldog
Ch. Kippax
Fearnought both
won Westminster
(Storm won
twice) and were
big winners
despite the
fact they were
not heavily
campaigned.
90
well one’s own dog had done in a certain kind of competition.
a consistent contender for several years, even after being
The fact that Chik T’Sun was officially ranked as No. 1
temporarily retired to raise a litter of puppies.
dog of all breeds for three consecutive years (1957-1959) is
Patzie was the star of Eldomar kennels owned by Mrs.
therefore impossible to argue with. Gossie, as he was called,
E.L. Doheny III in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was handled
had been imported from England by Nigel Aubrey-Jones and
by Porter Washington, who remains mostly remembered
Bill Taylor, who first showed him to No. 1 dog of all breeds
for the Flakkee Keeshonden that were owned by Mrs.
in Canada but then sold him to Mr. and Mrs. C.C. Venable
Doheny’s sister-in-law and continued winning well into the
of Atlanta, Ga. His handler was Clara
1980s. After winning BIS with a whole
Alford, who piloted Gossie to a total of
series of champions from the Wisto124 all-breed BIS during his three active
nia kennels in England — and marRingside at
years at AKC shows. He then added the
rying her handler — Mrs. Washington
Westminster was
only honor that had so far eluded him,
achieved even greater success with
much more unruly in
BIS at Westminster, as his 125th win in
homebred BIS winners in the follow1960 and retired to a well-earned rest.
ing decades. The only non-Keeshond
those days; booing
in the kennel was the Pomeranian
after BIS happened
Ch. Rider’s Sparkling Golden NugBooing at Westminster
on several occasions. Far too many great show dogs of the
get, who won even more than Patzie
( more than 40 BIS). Unfortunately for
1950s have not been mentioned. There
him, however, the Pekingese had then
was the Doberman Ch. Rancho Dobe’s
started his groundbreaking career. Nugget was No. 2 Toy
Storm, who won BIS at Westminster in both 1952 and 1953,
Dog after Chik T’Sun for three years in a row, and although
and there was the Bulldog Ch. Kippax Fearnought, who won
he placed among the Top 10 dogs in the country twice, he
Westminster in 1955. Neither Storm nor Fearnought were
was never Top Toy.
heavily campaigned and must have been among the last dogs
ever to win big in spite of very limited show careers. Storm
was reportedly shown only 25 times, won 24 BOB (he was
Birth of the Rankings
defeated once as a puppy), 22 Groups and 17 Best in Shows.
Until well into the 1950s, there was no such thing as official
Fearnought’s total record is a little more hazy; he was shown
rankings for the top show dogs. On occasion, beginning in the
“a couple of dozen times” but also won 17 BIS.
1940s, there were compilations of the year’s “most winning”
Neither was without his detractors. Storm was reporteddogs, but these were always based simply on the number of
ly roundly booed after at least one of his Westminster wins
all-breed Best in Shows won, and perhaps Groups — not on
(ringside at Westminster was much more unruly in those
points or other placements.
days; booing after BIS happened on several occasions). It
All that changed in the mid-1950s. Irene Castle Khatoonian
was felt that Storm’s owner, advertising executive Len Carey,
Phillips (later Schlintz) devised the system that’s basically used
himself a Westminster BIS judge in the ‘60s, had gotten his
to this day of allotting each dog points that equalled the todog prominently and unfairly featured at pretty much every
tal number of competitors defeated by winning Best in Show,
PR opportunity prior to the show. Fearnought’s win at WestGroup 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th at an AKC show during each calminster was, by contrast, hugely popular, but at least one
endar year. With some modifications, this is the system that all
competitor bragged publicly that his dog had defeated Fearpublications, even AKC itself, has been using ever since. For
nought “three times out of four” in the breed. This was, to be
better or worse, it introduced consistency in a previously rathclear, a time of tremendous competition in Bulldogs: Dogs
er unruly world of show records, where many different types of
like Ch. Banshee of Beechly, Ch. Poncy Jim, Ch. Sir Reilly of
“top dog” systems could be used, most of them based on how
DOGSinREVIEW.com
88x92_FirstBIS.indd 90
8/16/16 7:25 AM