Showsight - April 2018

BY MICHAEL AND CATHY DUGAN continued

The Seven Secrets of Show Success: Have a Great Dog

in this crazy, yet beautiful environ- ment. If anything, Christopher Guest’s epic isn’t nearly as goofy as the real dog world. In the seven article of this series, we’ll look at what it takes to succeed. This article kicks off the task with the first thing you must have: a Great Dog. The future topics will include what else it takes: • Be a Great Owner • Find a Great Handler • Have Lots of Money or know where to get it • Be a Kennel • Understand the Game • Be Lucky SO, WHAT IS A GREAT DOG ANYWAY? For every breed in the AKC, there are written breed standards. Some are pretty simple and others are more detailed and comprehensive. We’ve attended many judging seminars for multiple breeds and have found a wide range of comments; but the stan- dards are, or should be, the blueprint of what a great example of a breed should be. While we can start with breed stan- dards to help define a great dog, like most things, one size does not fit all. In any show ring, we can see many dogs that could be said to meet the breed standards, but not all display great breed “type”. This word is thrown around a lot about whether one dog is “typier” than another. To us, a great Portuguese Water Dog is the one that conforms to the breed standards, but then goes beyond it. Judges and fellow exhibitors refer to it as the “IT” factor. Even the untrained eye can pick up the reality that some dogs simply look better and compete with more enthusi- asm and style. At several of the judge’s training seminars, we were told that a good experienced judge should be able to pick out the top three or four dogs in the ring as they go around for the first time. As a bitch, Ladybug also changed the context for femininity for her breed. A big, powerful bitch, Ladybug could fly like the wind around the ring much like a thoroughbred racehorse. As big as many of the male dogs, she still exhib- ited a sense of being a girl. During her three-year campaign as a special, the comments of many judges testified to how well she met the standards, but also how “typey” she was and how much she went beyond the plain words of the standards. When Ladybug was competing in 2008, her first year of campaigning,

standards both moving and stacked on a table. We take photographs of the pups being stacked from the front, rear and from the side. This allows us to com- pare the puppies through the photos and creates an archive of our puppies over the years. We appreciate input from fellow breeders both inside and outside our breed and have helped oth- er breeders evaluate their litters. On an ongoing basis, we like to look at show prospects every four to six months until they are mentally and physically ready to compete. Every dog matures at a different rate. We have had some dogs like Lady- bug coming out of the gate like gang- busters winning Winners Bitch, Best of Opposite and BOSS Sweeps from the Bred by Exhibitor class at the PWDSC specialty associated with the AKC/ Eukanuba National Dog Show in 2006. Other successful champions, though, had to wait to grow up enough to win in the ring; some not ready until they were three–years–old. Because we work very closely with our co–own- ers, we never want to put a dog in competition before the dog is really ready. That just creates the opportu- nity for failure, potentially hurting the dogs’ chances and show temperament and disappointing co-owners for no good reason. We’ve watched more than one dog in the ring that is obviously not ready to be there. We work with other breed- ers and owners to try to evaluate when dogs are really ready to compete. Even before we put a dog in the ring we like to take young dogs to dog shows to give them a chance to acclimate to the noise, crowds and other dogs. That gives us an opportunity to observe and evaluate whether a dog is ready or no. The really good ones exhibit natural curiosity about what is happening and watch the dogs in the ring very care- fully. Like any young pup, they look to older dogs for examples and guidance. This is a critical step to finding that “great dog”. Next month’s article: How to be a great owner! BIO MIKE & CATHY DUGAN Michael and Cathy Dugan are AKC Breeders of Merit who have been pure-bred breeders since 1987 as Aviatorkennel.com. They have produced over 75 Dal- matian and over 110 Portuguese Water Dog AKC Champions all over the world. Michael is a law- yer and Cathy is a hospice nurse. They live in the Sierra foothills in northern California.

she won the Best of Opposite Sex at the PWDCA National Specialty in Rhode Island. After she put up Lady- bug, Judge Kimberly Meredith–Cavan- na, commented about her winner. She said, “This bitch is proof that you can have the breadth and mass of head and muzzle, robust, substantially built and muscular body, a deep chest with front fill and strong striding movement all in a feminine package. Her substance fills your hands and is not grooming and hair. She is a really, really good one and I hope is that she stays in the ring to teach judges and fellow breed- ers that outstanding bitches can and should win.” At the 2010 PWDCA National Spe- cialty in San Luis Obispo, California, Ladybug won the Best of Breed. In her comments, Judge Karen Arends echoed Kim when she said, “My BOB was an outstanding example of the proper balance between correct Portuguese Water Dog type, strength, femininity, athleticism and grace—all of these traits blending beautifully with a true ‘Here I am’ PWD attitude.” HOW DO YOU FIND AND IDENTIFY A GREAT DOG? For any litter, identifying the great pups from the good ones is more art than science. We’ll talk about formal breed evaluations in a minute, but nothing beats years of breeding and years of competition. While Ladybug was one of several standouts in her lit- ter, she was always the one to make eye contact and “ask for it” even as a five–week–old puppy. Once we got the pups out into the yard, Ladybug went everywhere with intention and never put a foot down wrong. Always confi- dent and curious, she watched us out of the corner of her eye, even the other pups crashed about like, well—pup- pies. We knew we had a good one and Cathy showed her from the Bred By Exhibitor class. Litter evaluation is an ongoing pro- cess, and we try to reserve judgment about pups until they’re up on their legs and interacting with one another. This allows a general impression to form as the kids grow up. For us, the easiest part is to pick out the pets based on issues of structural soundness, attitude and temperament along with breed- specific characteristics. These would include correct bite, correct coat, and coloration, density of bone and muscle and eye color. The first cut is based on fault judging! We try to do more formal evaluations between the seventh and eighth week, looking at each pup judged against the

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