west highland terrier Q&A WITH LINDY BARROW, SANDY CAMPBELL, BERGIT COADY KABEL, MELINDA LYON, GERRY MEISELS, LISA PACHECO, JAY RICHARDSON & MARJORIE UNDERWOOD
make them stand at attention, up on their toes, alert and ready for what- ever. This attitude of curious intensity—without initiating a confronta- tion, but ready to take it on and finish it if the other dog starts it—is what I’m looking for. That confident Westie attitude and outline is a beautiful sight to behold. LP: Sparring is a spine tingling sight. A wonderful tool to assess Westietude and temperament. MU: When sparring is guided properly it is awesome to observe these Westies pull themselves together, exhibiting their attitude, just daring their competitor to make the first move. This is not the time for growls, grinding of teeth and leaping at each other. Again, when sparring is done correctly it becomes another very useful tool for the final evaluation and decision. 9. And, for a bit of humor: What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever experienced at a dog show? LB: In my early days showing, a friend and I went to a large show in the US. Our RV was so far from the rings, we had to drive over. One day we diligently were grooming our dogs. I sort of noticed it was very quiet and had not noticed a shuttle bus. We, totally focused on our dogs, got them ready and drove over to the tents. Again, you would have thought we’d get it, when no other cars were there, but we again being focused on the dogs, got out. Only to then realize no one was there and that the tents were falling. There had been a large storm the night before and the show had been cancelled. BK: Locally a group of us had a very good thing going. We had a handler-cli- ent-friend relationship. We set up together, helped each other and often brought lunch. One year at the Del-Mar fairgrounds. We had a crock-pot plugged in with a chili and sausages, after the 1st day’s lunch, we decided there was enough chili left, all we had to do is add more sausages. That we did the next morning with two packs. At some points all of us were out of the setup at the same time. Came lunch time, to our surprise all the sausages had disappeared , The Chili was still there . First we thought of course someone did this as a joke, but to this day no one has come forward to claim this prank. SC: I once had a judge comment on the chalk that was still around my fin- gernails. I told him, “I have been baking.” One of these days, I will need to bring him a pie just to prove that I do bake! MU: I was on my way to the Westie ring at a Chicago show. My walking route to the ring took me past an obedience ring. There in the corner of the ring was a Scottie and a Westie side by side in a very long down exer- cise. Their owners were out of sight. One could almost hear the nonver- bal communication between these two Terriers, each daring the other to start a ruckus. Neither could tolerate this exercise any longer. Both dogs broke rank and the fun began. There was a lot of excitement. No harm was done and yes, I was late arriving to the Westie ring.
346 • S HOW S IGHT M AGAZINE , N OVEMBER 2017
Powered by FlippingBook