BREEDER INTERVIEW—MARK & BONNIE GOODWEIN, KOPPERTONE VIZSLAS
Dior
Dior
Aaron and Tosca
The sport has changed greatly since you first began participating. What are your thoughts on the state of the fancy and declining number of breeders? How do we encourage newcomers to join us and remain in the sport? As the world has changed economically and politically, and with the evolution of social media leading to the expectation of instant gratification, the dog show fancy has also changed. We live in California, and in our early showing years it was easy to find a show every weekend to go to within California, and traveling to other states was usually not a requirement to have a top dog. Now, showing a dog seems more cost prohibitive as the price of gas, hotels, food, airline transportation, and handling fees/expens- es makes it difficult for young newcomers to this sport to get involved. Also, the decreasing number of venues to hold events and the aging out of the people with “Club Tribal Knowledge” leave very few volunteers to hold events. We try to encourage people to join parent clubs or regional clubs, be active members on commit- tees as well as doing activities with their Vizslas and Wirehaired Vizslas, whether it be Conformation, Field, Agility, Obedience or Junior Showmanship. Where do you see your breeding program in the next decade or two? We have not changed our breeding philosophy, which states that our goal is to produce puppies that are sound in temperament,
health, and show abilities in the field with correct conformation. We will continue to review pedigrees and we will strive to produce versatile dogs that can compete in all arenas. We try to constantly plan ahead so as to not box ourselves into a corner, and are always trying to improve from generation to generation. We will continue to use past and present pedigrees for the future betterment of the breeds we hold so dearly to our hearts and lives. Finally, tell us a little about Mark and Bonnie outside of dogs… your professions, your hobbies. Bonnie has retired from the workforce. She spent over 25 years in the packaging lab at Mars Petcare, where she was able to travel to dog shows as part of the Pedigree team. Mark works in the Defense & Aerospace industry as Senior Manager, Manufacturing Operations Finance. At home, we both enjoy sharing our lives with our families, two moms, three adult children (and Steven) and, of course, the Vizslas and Wirehaired Vizslas. We have fun cooking and baking, and spending some quiet time together. Outside of dogs and work, Mark is a sports-a-holic, whether watching on TV, checking the Internet or going in person. Bonnie is more of a homebody, taking care of her plants, flowers, and gar- den when the elements allow or when the dogs don’t destroy them. Life is just boring without family and dogs.
122 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2022
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