Showsight Magazine presents Showsight Express - featuring articles, tips, and information from today's dog show community, alongside some of the the world's current top dogs.
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*AKC ALL BREED STATS AS OF 12/31/23
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date: January 30, 2024
Contact: B. Hunter Munden
Phone: 212.696.8220 Email: bhm@akc.org ‘NFL DOG PLAYS OF THE YEAR’ TO AIR ON ESPN
New York, NY- The American Kennel Club (AKC®) is pleased to announce our newest made- for-television special, “NFL Dog Plays of the Year,” which will air on ESPN on February 2nd at 9:30 PM ET as part of Pro Bowl weekend (check your local listings). This show highlights NFL players and their admiration for canine competitors who demonstrate incredible athletic feats. Hosts Jesse Palmer (ABC’s ‘The Bachelor and ESPN college football analyst) and award- winning reporter Carolyn Manno interview NFL players from the past and present, including Cris Carter, Tony Richardson, Santana Moss, and Durham Smythe (Miami Dolphins), and introduce them to the action-packed canine competitions of Agility, Diving Dogs, Fastest Dog, Disc Dog and Flyball through the AKC on ESPN Dog Sports Series. Throughout the program, viewers will be introduced to the nuances of each sport, how dogs play a big part in the lives of NFL athletes, and how football and dog sports are more connected than viewers may think. “We are thrilled for sports fans to get an in-depth look at some of our most action-packed dog sports,” said Gina DiNardo, Executive Secretary, AKC. “Introducing these stellar professional athletes to high-level AKC canine competitors at the top of their games will be fun and exciting to watch! AKC Dog sports rely heavily on the human-canine bond that forms through training your dog, and we hope dog owners will aspire to train and compete with their own dogs.” “We are excited to collaborate with the AKC for the first time to showcase the incredible bond between NFL players and their pets,” said Charlie Lovering, Director, Media Distribution with the NFL. “Dogs play such an important role in the lives of our players, so we are thrilled for the opportunity to merge NFL fandom with the love we all have for our pets.” AKC National Agility Champion Jenn Crank and her dog Bee will demonstrate how Agility Dog Sports work, and give former NFL player Santana Moss a tutorial on the similarities between dog agility and professional sports.
For more on AKC Sports visit www.akc.org/sports. ### About the American Kennel Club
Founded in 1884, the American Kennel Club is a not-for-profit organization which maintains the largest registry of purebred dogs in the world and oversees the sport of purebred dogs in the United States. The AKC is dedicated to upholding the integrity of its registry, promoting the sport of purebred dogs and breeding for type and function. Along with its more than 5,000 licensed and member clubs and its affiliated organizations, the AKC advocates for the purebred dog as a family companion, advances canine health and well-being, works to protect the rights of all dog owners and promotes responsible dog ownership. More than 26,000 competitions for AKC-registered purebred and mixed breed dogs are held under AKC rules and regulations each year including conformation, agility, obedience, rally, tracking, herding, lure coursing, coonhound events, hunt tests, field and earthdog tests. Affiliate AKC organizations include the AKC Humane Fund, AKC Canine Health Foundation, AKC Reunite, the AKC Museum of the Dog, and the AKC Purebred Preservation Bank. For more information, visit www.akc.org. AKC, American Kennel Club, the American Kennel Club seal and design, and all associated marks and logos are trademarks, registered trademarks and service marks of The American Kennel Club, Inc. Become a fan of the American Kennel Club on Facebook and follow us on Instagram @americankennelclub
THE PERFORMANCE
BY LINDA WOLF, OKAMI AKITAS Akita
T he Akita Breed Standard states, “Large, powerful, alert, with much substance and heavy bone.” As a judge, handler, or exhibitor at a dog show, you have many times watched the Akitas in the ring; the power- ful male or beautiful bitch making their way around the ring or creating a breathtaking stance for their handler. Now I would like for you to meet another side of this breed: the Performance Akita. Yes, I said “Performance.” This breed can be seen in Rally, Obedience, and even Agility rings. Akitas are also competing in Barn Hunt, Scentwork, and Fast CAT. Many are earning the three levels of Canine Good Citi- zen, Temperament Test titles, and Farm Dog. The special ones are also Therapy Dogs! Training an Akita for performance is not an easy feat. This breed bores easily. Teach them something, they pick it up fast. Repeat it more than a few times and the Akita is ready to move on—do it, move on. When you see us take the leash off at a trial, that Akita is ready and their owner/handler is confident that their Akita is of great temperament and ready for the task. Not all of our Akitas can compete at higher levels in Rally or Obedience, however, due to the requirement for off-leash heeling. While our Akita may be able to complete the task, the dog’s owner may not feel confident without the leash. It happens. We simply move on to another performance activity that our Akita can suc- cessfully compete in. We adapt and continue to have fun with our well-trained Akita. Many of us have trained multiple dogs from puppyhood and have had success in many areas of performance. The Akita National Specialty was held this year in Mesa, Arizo- na. Rally and Obedience trials were offered two of the days. There was also the first-ever Scentwork Trial held at an Akita National. Numerous Akitas qualified! For the balance of this article, you will hear from the owners of some of those special Akitas. One such Akita is “Gabby,” a nearly 12-year-old who is the most-titled Akita in the history of our breed. She has quite a following and brings a smile to not only her owner, Barbara Sikkink, but also to all who meet her. She is one of the “special” ones.
‘Heston’
My “special” one, “Heston,” has sadly left us. He never met a stranger and he loved all people. He was also a Therapy Dog. He loved it. Once, he was even a Show-N-Tell for my grandson’s kin- dergarten class! Heston had a lot of “try.” We might not have quali- fied each time we entered the ring, but we had fun. Heston’s favorite performance activity was Agility. He disliked sitting—he really did. Imagine a Rally/Obedience dog that did not want to sit. That was Heston. He did grace me with a sit on most occasions, but other times he just looked up at me and smiled. Anyway, Agility did not have any sits. Watching this boy fly over jumps with a smile on his face was amazing. Other times in the ring, I watched him make his own course and just followed along. Heston is the most-titled male in the history of our breed. Heston was a Performance Akita.
THE PERFORMANCE AKITA
ROXY & TRACY WEST
Let’s meet some other Performance Akitas, according to their owners. FOREST & DOROTHY CARROLL-MOORS “Forest” is best described as a
“Roxy,” as a Veteran, earned her Rally Advanced Title at the 2023 Akita National. Roxy has always loved to show and go to Meet the Breed events, like at the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival. She is also a certified Therapy Dog. It never occurred to me that she would love to do other things like Rally. Obedi- ence isn’t as fun to her (although she earned her first leg of Beginner Novice Obedience at the National), because she loves the verbal interac-
part-time working dog. In other words... when he feels like it. We made our first attempt at the Mission Circuit shows where the judge was unfortunately deeply concerned about the Akita in his ring that was about to be taken off-lead. This was despite sit- ting outside the ring for an hour
tions Rally encourages. Because she seems to really enjoy going to class and working towards different titles, we will keep at it. Our next big goal is earning a CD. CORRA & KATE MANGUBAT
and a half, and Forest was graciously greeting anyone who approached. It was a warm afternoon and it was naptime. He decided he liked the center of the ring so well that he would just stay there. Not a qualifying round. The next try, at the Akita Pre-National, Forest again sat and stayed beautifully for his recall. When called, he slowly sauntered over as if he was very busy, and sat too far away to qualify. The third try at the National was a charm. While he was busy looking for girls, he still heeled adequately, actu- ally came (no one said he had to be speedy), sat right in front of me, and put his paw up as if to say, “Am I done now? And a treat would be good.” The challenge is to both the exhibitor and our special dogs. They are as smart as they have to be and as dumb as they can get away with. I look forward to our new adventure
“Corra’s” journey to obtaining her Scent- work HD Novice title is a typical Akita train- ing story. She asked why she had to do this thing, then did it when she felt like it. We were mentored by ACPS Vice President Tom Knoe- bel, watched a few YouTube videos, and tried to make it as exciting as possible. Convincing Corra that finding my smelly sock would result in a treat was not the hardest part— that was keeping her from destroying the scent boxes! It
took about three tries for her to learn this activity. She completed her Scentwork Handler Discrimination Trial 1 at Monroe, Washington (2nd place), Trial 2 (1st place), and Trial 3 (1st place) at the Akita National. Key takeaway: make it exciting and trust your Akita. YETI & ILKA WAGNER
together in Obedience and Rally. BUDDY & ANITA PALMER
The 2023 Akita National was the venue where I decided to take the jump into Rally with one of my Akitas. “Yeti” received a score of 93 and 1st place in our first attempt at Rally Nov- ice. I could not have been more proud of him! Two years ago, at the Akita National, he earned his CGCA, CGCU, and TKN, and I realized how much fun it was to work as a team with him in something other than Conformation. I have been contemplating doing performance work
“Buddy” is our fourth male Akita and our third champion. Buddy is working both sides of the dog show world; he is a champion in Conformation and is now start- ing to compete in performance events. He is very enthusiastic and we look forward to learning and
working together as a team. At the Akita National, Buddy qualified in Beginner Novice Obedience as well as Rally. He also earned his Urban Canine Good Citizen (CGCU) title. DEVYLLE & HEATHYR AGUILAR “DeVylle” happily competed in
for years, but just didn’t quite have the right Akita to do this with... or maybe, I just didn’t have the gumption to try. I chose Yeti to start work- ing in performance because he is so biddable. If he knows what you would like him to do, he will do it, and he will do it with enthusiasm! He is just happy to be doing something with his mom. Treats are great, but praise is just as good. He is so willing to try new things and I love seeing his big smile when we get it right. He seems to know when we are spot on with a trick or a new Rally sign. In true Akita spirit, after we have done some- thing three or four times, we have to move on to another challenge; but I like this about the breed. They are easily bored with things, so we have to keep on our toes to keep them engaged and enthusiastic. Yeti makes this easy for me. Something new… let’s do it, mom! I have the performance bug now and plan on getting some of my other kiddos out as well.
Beginner Novice Obedience and Rally Novice. She earned her Rally Novice Title at the Akita National, and on the same day she went on to be awarded a 5-pt. major as Win- ners Bitch and Best of Winners at the Pre-National. We couldn’t be prouder of this young girl and look forward to a bright future.
THE PERFORMANCE AKITA
I HOPE THAT JUDGES, HANDLERS, EXHIBITORS, AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC WILL LOOK AT OUR AKITAS AS MORE THAN A GORGEOUS SHOW DOG.
GABBY & BARBARA SIKKINK
“Koko,” who is 11 years young and still as patient and deliber- ate as always, passed nearly all of her runs at the highest Scent- work levels and even earned her penultimate leg of the 10 required for her Handler Discrimination Master Elite. One of my favorite experiences with Koko was competing in the AKC West Regional Championships, where Koko earned a second place overall in the Master HD division against some very experienced teams. She also earned her Rally Master 2 title and the new Rally Choice title in Mesa, with her 20th Master Q and 10th Choice Q. Koko regularly competes in Shed, Carting, Obedience, FCAT, and rat sports. Thank you all for sharing your stories with us about your Per- formance Akitas. I hope that judges, handlers, exhibitors, and the general public will look at our Akitas as more than a gorgeous show dog. They are so much more!
“Gabby” earned her Rally Championship 2 (RACH2) at the Akita National along with her Rally Master 7 (RM7) and Rally Advanced Excellent 5 (RAE5). She was High Triple and High Combined at the Pre-National and National. She also Q’d in three of her Scent-
work classes at Master level. She is just one Q from earning her overall Scentwork Master title. She will be 12 years old this month. Gabby is the most-titled Akita in the history of the breed: ACH NNCH ALCH NHD EN UCD ROM RACH2 Minda & Midnite The Gods Have Spoken CDX BN GN RM7 RAE5 FDC OAP NJP CA BCAT SWNE SCAE SIAE SCM SIM SEM SHDE TT THDX RATM CZ8B DN CGCA CGCU TKE ATT VHMA VSWE FITS SPOT-ON SD-1 VAX9 HOF-Rally HOF-Barn Hunt. DUBLIN & KOKO & SUZI ALEKSANDER “Dublin,” at seven months
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Almost 29 years ago,
Linda Wolf brought home her first Akita. Performance is her first love—not easy with an Akita but so very rewarding. Over the years, Okami Akitas has had numerous champions and, so far, three ROM Akitas. Titles on both ends of their names has always been a goal. Pictured with her boy, “Heston.”
old, blew me away by taking a High in Trial at the Novice level in Scentwork. Meaning, he passed all offered elements. It was only his second trial, so clearly, Akitas have a lot of natural ability in Scentwork. It’s a great sport for Akitas, as
it lets them work independently and at their own pace. Dublin also passed two Trick levels to earn his Trick Dog Advanced title and his CGCU as well as earning his third Rally Novice leg for a Rally Novice title.
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WEEKLY WINS…DELIVERED WEEKLY!
SHOWSIGHT EXPRESS | WEEKLY WINS… DELIVERED WEEKLY! | THIS WEEKEND’S SHOWS
02/02 KC/TEXARKANA Texarkana, AR 02/03 KC/TEXARKANA Texarkana, AR 02/04 KC/TEXARKANA Texarkana, AR 02/01 SPORTING DOG ASSOCIATION AZ Phoenix, AZ 02/01 COUNTRY TERRIER CLUB Phoenix, AZ 02/01 WORKING DOG CLUB/AZ Phoenix, AZ 02/02 SAHUARO STATE KC Phoenix, AZ 02/03 SAHUARO STATE KC Phoenix, AZ 02/04 LOST DUTCHMAN KC Phoenix, AZ 02/05 LOST DUTCHMAN KC Phoenix, AZ 02/01 GRIFFIN GEORGIA KC Atlanta, GA 2/02 GRIFFIN GEORGIA KC Atlanta, GA 02/03 CONYERS KC/GEORGIA Atlanta, GA 02/04 CONYERS KC/GEORGIA Atlanta, GA 01/31
DANVILLE IL KC Indianapolis, IN 02/01 BLOOMINGTON IN KC Indianapolis, IN 02/02 DANVILLE IL KC Indianapolis, IN 02/03 HOOSIER KC Indianapolis, IN 02/04 HOOSIER KC Indianapolis, IN 02/03 SPORTING DOG CLUB/IN Indianapolis, IN 02/03
G.BARRINGTON KC W. Springfield, MA 02/04 G.BARRINGTON KC W. Springfield, MA
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