Best in Show!!

We got Leo's Best in Show photo in the mail and I managed to take a decent digital pic of it. You can tell we were tired because the silly dog kept shutting his eyes!! And the photographer must have thrown something because he was leaning back, too...oh well. :) It's still a good photo and we got the judges in this one!

Speaking of judges, I thought I would post here my synopsis of the judges for this show and what they seemed to like in the show ring. I first posted this on our Shiloh Shepherd forum. You can see the entire discussion from the show here. I would also like to THANK all our judges for their great advice, encouragement, and feedback!!

Okay, here were the judges for our show, for future reference because I know they judge IABCA shows elsewhere (and one of them was a licensed FCI judge too).

Show #1: Ms. Judy Bennett, who made sure to tell me "you have done amazing things with this dog in only three shows" and was one of the judges who awarded us our BIS! Future reference: She likes to see our dogs GO! Trot 'em as fast as you can with as much lead as you can. She was the one who said "To the Shiloh with the REACH!" with a big smile!

Show #2: Ms. Luane Williams, who reminds me so much of Tina it was funny! A real no-nonsense, down to earth type, she made me run Leo a couple times to get it right...or at least better! She was the one who asked me if Leo was the same dog she had noticed in the other ring, and who shored up my confidence by telling me he had run better with me--without her comments I think I would have been much more "down" on myself after my first show with Leo. A very amusing thing is that she lives near us, and used to teach at the Obedience club we are taking Kyrie to right now (for Kyrie's blog you can look here) For future reference: She countermanded the other judge and asked me to take Leo around a little slower so I could keep better control, which worked to override the "top secret kangaroo genes"!

Show #3: Ms. Jane Roppolo, the UCI-licensed judge, the one who gave us our third place in Herding Group and one of the ones who gave us our BIS! She was soft-spoken and was very thorough and hands-on--she ran her hands down over Leo's back, sides, and flanks and spent a lot of time feeling for the structure beneath the fur. She's an old hand at the dog game but she seemed plenty charmed by Leo and Bruno's shameless flirting with her! When she was writing us up after the breed judging Leo nudged her pen hand and she said, "Look what you made me do!" and held up the clipboard in front of him with the scribble on it. And got a big nose print on there for her trouble! For future reference: This is another judge who wanted me to give Leo his head so she could really see him move. I think she's co-owned show dogs from more breeds than the AKC even recognizes!

Show #4: Ms. Julianne Kowalsky was THE Shiloh enthusiast among the judges! She was the one who took Christi aside to tell her how lovely Bruno was, who awarded Leo his Herding Group first place, and who REALLY wanted to give us another ribbon in the final round of show four (but Leo was just about pooped at that point). Of all the judges she gave me the impression that she just really honestly loved the dogs. She put endless energy into her judging and still made time to encourage the newbies like me. When she was writing her notes after our breed judging Leo decided to flirt and got his face right up next to hers and started giving kisses and I apologized--she put her arm around his neck, gave me a big smile and said "Oh, no, he's just fine!" She was the one who was sad there weren't more Shilohs at the show. Smile For future reference: Another movement judge. She made me re-run at least three times every time we came under her, with the "give him his head!" every time!



We hope you've enjoyed the story of Leo's 2009 IABCA Winter Sieger! What's next? The Tucson show--later this week!! Wish us luck!! :D