Showsight - May 2018

ShowSight Interviews: Cindy Cooke, Anstamm Scottish Terriers

BY ALLAN REZNIK continued

specialty winners and good-producing offspring. I have also had wonderful success using an outstanding Filisite Brash dog from Valentina Popova in Russia, and two excellent stud dogs from Al and Jeanie Jennings in Califor- nia. My bitches include Hillview ( Janet Bartholomew), Benscot (Elizabeth Hernandez), and of course, Maryscot (Mary O’Neal) bloodlines. I travel more to the UK and Europe to see what lines I might like to incor- porate in the future. The primary prob- lem with shopping out of the country is that the dog culture outside of the United States is, for the most part, much less inclined to openly address genetic health issues. There is still a tendency for foreign breeders to attack anyone who acknowledges a problem, so few are brave enough to speak out. Last year, just before Crufts, there was a wonder- ful international conference of Scottie breeders and I believe that events like these will help the overseas breeders see that there is life after acknowledg- ing a health problem in your dogs. 6. How many Scottish Terriers do you typically keep at Anstamm? Tell us about your current facilities and how the dogs are maintained. We normally keep between 15 and 25 dogs. Buffy Stamm and her hus- band Anthony built the house/kennel in 1952. Buffy insisted that she did not want a separate kennel building. Being very short-statured, Buffy told her hus- band that she did not intend to trudge back and forth to the kennel through deep snow in the winter. As a result, they built a quad-level house with a basement below ground, a partially earth-sheltered kennel above that, the great room and kitchen on the third level, and finally, the bedrooms upstairs. The kennel consists of 12 indoor/out- door runs. The covered outdoor runs are concrete and canted downward to a drain so they dry quickly. The floors of the indoor runs are elevated so that you don’t have to reach down to your feet in order to pick up a dog. The males and visiting bitches are kept in the kennel. Grooming and bathing and treadmill workouts (dogs, not me) are done in the kennel.

The kitchen and great room have slate floors and, after weaning, puppies grow up in pens scattered throughout the living area. Puppies are whelped in the upstairs guest bedroom. The back yard consists of a fenced acre where the house dogs can exer- cise. Beyond that are 22 acres of wood- land that serves as a sound barrier. 7. Who were some of your most signifi- cant dogs, both in the whelping box and in the show ring? Anstamm kennels had a multitude of great dogs in the three decades before I came on the scene, so I will limit my list to the significant dogs after 1977. My first truly great dog was Ch. Anstamm Heat Wave. After winning the Mont- gomery sweeps in 1987 at six months of age, she finished in 1988 by going BOW at the Chicago and New York special- ties, and Best of Breed from the classes at Montgomery County under breeder- judge Jim Reynolds. Thirty years later, this was still the best day of my life. Tempest went on to be the No. 1 Scot- tie all systems in 1989, winning my first Best in Show and two more national specialty Bests of Breed. She was my first all-systems No. 1 Scottish Terrier. Ch. Anstamm Low Commotion was my next big special and my second No. 1 all-systems Scottie. To give you some idea of what that means in my breed, since 1969, only two owner-handlers have earned that status—Buffy Stamm and me. Both Heat Wave and Low Commo- tion won the STCA’s most prominent trophy, the Lloyd Memorial Trophy. In 1994, I won the Lloyd again with Ch. Anstamm Back to the Future. Sadly, none of those top winners went on to become great producers. Our top sire during those years was Ch. Anstamm Summer Lightning with 51 champions, almost all of which were owner-handled. Our top-producing bitch of this time was one that we co-owned with Mary O’Neal of Maryscot. Mary worked for George Ward and she positively hat- ed to step in the show ring. She bred almost exclusively with Anstamm dogs and we agreed to co-own her dogs and that I would show them for her. I saw

a young brindle dog at a show in Mary- land and suggested that Mary breed her bitch to him. Together, Helen Prince’s Ch. Princescot High and Mighty and Mary’s Ch. Anstamm On The Rebound produced five champions. One of them would become our top-producing bitch, Ch. Maryscot Painted Black. “Cla- rise” produced 13 champions. Most of them finished with specialty wins, but the most famous of her offspring was the great Ch. Roundtown Mercedes of Maryscot. At the time Sadie was born, Mary was working for Amelia Musser and Amelia spotted Sadie’s potential at an early age. After finishing her champi- onship, Sadie moved to California to be shown by Gabriel Rangel. Sadie won 112 Bests in Show, the second highest in breed history. She closed out her career by winning Best at Montgomery County Kennel Club in 2009, the National Dog Show in November, the Eukanuba Invi- tational in December, and Westminster Kennel Club in February 2010. Our top-winning male in recent years is Ch. Anstamm Wild West, win- ner of 11 Specialty Bests of Breed and Best of Opposite Sex at three National specialties. 8. Please comment positively on your breed’s present condition and what trends might bear watching. One of the biggest problems we have today is that so many of our judges don’t have a strong background in Terriers. Too many are rewarding grooming and showmanship instead of breed type. Worse, those that come from square breeds are rewarding Scotties with backs too short, shoulders too upright and heads way too short.

178 • S how S ight M agazine , M ay 2018

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