Recently in American Kennel Club Category
The South Bay Kennel Club will present an AKC-sanctioned all-breed match and Canine Good Citizen test Sunday (Oct. 18) at Arthur Johnson Park (formerly South Park), 1200 W. 170th St., Gardena (that's north of Artesia between Normandie and Vermont).
The CGC Program was started in 1989 as a way to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. The program stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for all dogs. All dogs who pass the 10-step CGC test receive a certificate from the American Kennel Club. Entry fee is $6.
The program is foundational for obedience, agility and therapy work.
The day's events also feature conformation, junior showmanship and adult handling competitions.
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. with judging at 12:30 p.m.
Call Toni Woods, match chair, at 310-323-0811 or email SoBayKC@aol.com.
Photo by Carol Beuchat
Meet CH Maplecreek Back in Black, the 3-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi who won the Best in Show titles both Saturday and Sunday at the All-Breed Dog Show in Torrance. Those in the know are saying he is a dog to watch. Best in Show is the dog that has won in his breed category, group (herding in this case) and then over all the other top group winners.(What a cutie, no?)
And this special note from dog show watcher/blogger Billy Wheeler: "The corgi beat the number one dog in the country, the Scottish Terrier, CH Roundtown Mercedes Of Maryscot (call name Sadie), to win the BIS. Saide and handler Gabriel Rangel are from Rialto CA."
Our winning corgi is owned by Les and Ginger Veik and Bill Shelton. The two-day show at North High was sponsored by the South Bay AKC and drew more than 1,500 dogs to compete in breed conformation and obedience trials.
Our special thanks for permission to use this photo goes to photographer Carol Beuchat of Mission Viejo (check out her galleries of beautiful dog photos in natural, outdoor settings on her web site) and to Billy Wheeler of the the "Dog Show Poop" blog site.
And congratulations to all the winners at the show. Keep your eye out for that corgi at upcoming dog shows.
Read related posts.
I had a chance to stop by North High in Torrance this weekend where the 66th annual All Breed Dog Show was being presented by the South Bay AKC. Something like 1,500 dogs along with their owners and handlers -- and dozens of vendors selling everything from specialty dog beds to leashes to supplements and toys -- converged on the school grounds for the two-day competitions.
Of special interest to me this year was the rally obedience course supervised by San Pedro dog trainer Barbara Millman.
We'll post the winners here when we get them. Meanwhile, here are some photos I took:
This is VanDyke, a Lhasa apso, getting ready to go on.
Below are some scenes from the obedience "rally," a contest that has owners take their dogs through various obedience stations off-leash. Dogs sit, stay, lie down, walk backwards and jump hurdles.
There are always plenty of vendors set up for the show each year:
More photos on the jump.
It's that time again.
The South Bay Kennel Club will present its All Breed Dog Show and Obedience Trial Saturday and Sunday (that's Aug. 8 and 9) at North high School in Torrance. And it's free (you pay only for parking, but you might want to bring some cash or a card for the many dog-related vendor booths and lunch).
I've attended the show in the past and posted about it last year.
It's great fun to see all the breeds up close, watch them being groomed, and get a real-time view of how these shows unfold and all the work that goes into showing a champion dog. You also can chat with owners, handlers, breeders and judges if they have a few moments in between shows.
Judging begins at 8 a.m. both days and group judging (for the various breed 'groupings' such as working, herding, toy, etc.) begins at about 2:30 p.m. Best in Show is
judged following the groups.
The schedule can be found at www.jbradshaw.com where you can link to the Judging Program to find out when and which ring number your favorite breeds will be showing.
This just in: The poodle wins.
You may recall that the American Kennel Club has been asking Americans to cast their vote for what kind of dog the Obama family should get.
Barack, you see, is sans a dog -- a genuine faux paw, as it were, for anyone running for the nation's highest office.
A poll conducted this summer, after all, discovered that pet owners favored John McCain (who has a menagerie of pets) over Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners strongly in McCain's corner.
Win or lose, Barack has promised his kids their first family dog. But there were complications. The candidate's two young daughters, for one thing, have allergies. And, should he win in November, any dog living in the White House is going to have to be really, really well behaved. No biting or jumping or barking at visiting dignitaries.
More than 42,000 people cast their vote over the seven-week campaign. The Poodle clinched the nomination after the breed battled it out with the Soft Coated Wheaton Terrier in a race almost as tight as the Clinton and Obama run for the Democratic nomination for president. The poodle won by a (dog) hair, with just a few hundred votes separating the top two contenders.
"Most of our presidents kept purebreds in the White House," said AKC spokesperson Lisa Peterson. "When times get tough -- during a bad economy or when presidential pressures are at their peak -- these dogs serve as personal companions and give much relaxation and laughter to our leaders."
I was rooting for the Wheaton terrier myself, but the AKC says the poodle isn't a bad choice. And not a surprise win, either: "Poodles are currently the eighth most popular breed in the U.S.," Peterson said.
They come in three sizes and are "exceptionally smart and athletic," the AKC says.
But most importantly, there's that pet-owner vote up for grabs.
Related posts: Vote for (maybe) First Dog; Barack and the dog; Campaign going to the dogs?; Presidential pets
Meet Luc (pronounced "Luke").
Luc's not exactly a South Bay dog, he lives in Tehachapi.
But Luc really wowed the judges at this month's South Bay AKC show at North High School in Torrance. He was the highest scoring dog and highest combined scoring dog in obedience trials.
Next stop: the AKC Agility Invitational Dec. 13-14 at the Long Beach convention center. That's a pretty big deal -- it's national -- and open to the public if you want to go watch.
Owner Louise Fox Meredith's former border collie, Twister, won this event in 2003.
At six years old, Luc competes nearly every weekend somehwere. So far, he's earned 11 perfect scores which is really quite amazing. But it doesn't come easy. Meredith works with him for about an hour five days a week.
Meredith said coming to the South Bay is a special treat since this is where she lived up until about eight years ago (Manhattan Beach and San Pedro). But when she and her husband, Mike, got their first border collie, they headed for the country.
"We could see there wouldn't be enough room (in San Pedro) when the dog began bringing the garden hose all the way upstairs," Meredith told me.
Now they have about 100 sheep and seven border collies on about 20 acres. Sounds like an ideal life to me!
Her husband focuses on sheepherding skills and also competes.
As for Luc, he's pretty much your normal dog when he's not competing.
"In Luc's spare time he loves to play and run, but is also a very devoted companion who loves to cuddle with you on the bed or sofa."
Mike and Louise are headed north pretty soon, for three weeks of shows and sheepherding trials.
Lucky couple, lucky dogs.
The fur flew earlier this month (and that's a good thing) when nearly
1,500 dogs competed at North High in Torrance during the annual dog show sponsored by the South Bay American Kennel Club.
If you've never been to one of these shows, it's a great opportunity to get a peek behind the scenes: owners and handlers doing the last minute grooming and preparations before the dogs go into the ring, the judges as they check the dogs and make their final calls. (This show will be back again next year, but in the meantime, if you missed this one, there are schedules for other local dog shows listed online.)
There were dogs of all breeds, sizes and colors, from Welsh terriers to Great Pyrenees to greyhounds to dalmatians to bull terriers to border collies. You knew you were getting near the Old English Sheepdog station by the clumps of groomed hair seen skittering along the ground like tumbleweeds.
The overall Best in Show winner, as Josh reported in his Daily Breeze coverage of the Aug. 9-10 event, was a black standard poodle named Champion Randenn Tristar Affirmation -- from New York, no less.
Saturday's program was devoted to breed conformation where judges choose the best of
breeds and then the best in a group of breeds, such as this judge at right who's ready to make a final call in the sporting group.
I missed the Sunday program due to church, but that was the day the dogs competed in obedience and "rally."
Barbara Millman, a San Pedro dog trainer (Rocket's trainer, in fact) who has raised and trained champion Shetland sheepdogs, was overseeing much of that part of the show.
She told me later that a border collie, Highland the Next Generation UD (OK, so the name was really a lot longer but, as border collie people like to say, "That'll do") owned by Louise Meredith of Los Angeles earned a perfect score -- 200 out of 200 points -- in the rally competition. The dog earned 199 out of 200 in the utility obedience portion of the show.
To put it mildly, that's really quite remarkable, Barbarba said. And she should know, she's been the obedience trial chairwoman for the Lomita Obedience Training Club for more than a decade now.
"It's one amazing dog," she said of "Highland." But it doesn't come without top breeding qualities in a dog and lots and lots of work, both by the dog and owner.
As for Rally, that's fairly new to dog competitions in which owners work as a team with their dog to navigate a course with signs posted at various obedience stations.
If your dog knows basic obedience skills -- sit, stay, down and come -- you can sign up for the rally class offered at 7 p.m. Fridays by the Lomita Obedience Training Club. They have lots of other great classes as well.
But back to the show.
While I was there on Saturday, I snapped some pretty random pictures you can see here and on the jump to get a feel for the event if you missed it.
Here's a handler giving a blue merle shetland sheepdog a final once-over before heading into the judge's ring.
About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.