P
GRETCHEN BERNARDI
his keen eye and integrity and travels throughout the United States and abroad judging. Best known for his expertise as a handler with Hounds, Gene won the Hound Group at West- minster Kennel Club in 1973. He also handled the Top Win- ning Male Saluki of All Time, owned by his partner for the past 40 years, Julie L. Mueller. Julie has over 50 years dedicat- ed to pure bred dogs, starting in Wisconsin, with her mother Arlene V. Mueller, where they bred and showed top winning and producing Poodles under the Aurora prefix. Since 1980, Gene and Julie have been breeding and showing top Winning and top Producing Salukis, continuing on with the Aurora Kennel’s tradition of excellence. MIKE CANALIZO POLLY SMITH I reside in St. Stephens Church, Virginia with my husband, Bob. I showed my neighbors’ Chow Chow as a child in How- ard County. While attending college at Mary Washington Col- lege in Fredericksburg, Virginia, I both rode and foxhunted. After marriage, I returned to showing dogs in 1962 with a German Shephered Dog in both conformation and obedi- ence. The German Shephered did much better in obedience. Later I aquired an American Foxhound for my husband. From this hound, we developed our line of American Foxhounds. We produced three generations of Best In Show hounds and had the Top winning Foxhound for over seven years. I began my judging career in 1978 and became an all-breed judge in 2007. My top assignments have been the judging of the Hound Group at Westminister Kennel Club Show, also the judging of the Working Group, Best In Show and Best Bred By In Show at the AKC/Eukanuba National Dog Show and Best In Show at the National Show in Philadelphia. I have enjoyed judging shows of all sizes both in the states and abroad. I have also co-authored a book on American Foxhounds. When not judging I enjoy being a Master Gardener in King and Queen County, Virginia and working with Heritage roses and other heirloom plants and animals. ROBERT STEIN
I acquired my first Irish Wolfhound in 1969 and bred my first Berwyck litter in 1977. Our hounds have won the nation- al specialty, several regional specialties and high honors at the specialty and all- breed levels—mostly owner-handled. More important to me personally, are the number of dogs gaining high honors at our specialties that carry Berwyck dogs
close up in their pedigrees. In the early 1970s. I helped estab- lish the St. Louis Sighthound Association, founded at a time when group clubs and Sighthound coursing were regarded as exotic pastimes. I am currently approved to judge 12 breeds and have judg- es several specialties both here and abroad. I have the great honor of being one of only three living people to have judged our national specialty twice. In 2011, I was named Hound Breeder of the Year by the AKC. In the last 48 years, I have been involved with all-breed clubs, Sighthound clubs, humane organizations and wild- life preservation organizations and this year will mark my 30th year as a delegate to the American Kennel Club. Addi- tionally, I have been an officer of the Irish Wolfhound Club of America, serving as editor of Harp & Hound. I authored, “Longevity and Morbidity in the Irish Wolfhound in the United States—1966 to 1986,” which has been translated into “eight languages. In the years that I have lived with Irish Wolfhounds, I have tried hard to keep two principles foremost in my mind: first, to leave this wonderful breed in at least as good a shape as I found it. Second, to always give credit to the great breed- ers who came before me and whose dogs live on in our present-day pedigrees. EUGENE BLAKE & JULIE MUELLER Eugene Blake has devoted over 60 years of his life to the sport of purebred dogs; first as a professional handler and now as an AKC licensed judge. As a judge, he is sought out for
I live in Chapel Hill, North Caro- lina with my wife, Helen, Tiki Sue (Affenpinscher) and two champion
186 • S how S ight M agazine , J uly 2017
Powered by FlippingBook