Long time no speak

It is interesting how one can become silent when a goal is in sight. For me the goal has been to finish Jura's AKC championship. Some call the "CH" a beauty title, some call it certification to breed (as the dogs are supposed to be judged against their breed standards with the ultimate goal of judging fitness to breed - which is why the dogs must be reproductively intact) - in my case, more than anything else it was fulfillment of a promise.

First of all, Jura finished his CH in Santa Rosa California with me showing him to a British judge on August 20th. At a later date I will write about that experience (but I had to share the photo from the experience - that is GRASS that we are on - no wonder California can experience such nasty fires! It looks like a berber rug.)

Second let me go back to the promise.

Back in April of 2003 I travelled to Scotland to fetch a springer puppy from a breeder I had met some two years earlier.

Sometimes we have to wait for the things we want - Jura was worth waiting for!

At 10 weeks he was a ball of skin with huge paws, a beguiling face and loads of spots (ticking). And he looked REALLY different from the show springers in the US. Before I drove away with this "wee pup", the first of my breeders dogs to leave the country she asked me whether I was planning to show him in conformation. To be honest, the whole conformation world bothers me. The whys and wherefores can wait for a later time. I took one look at her face and I heard the tone in her voice and asked if it was something she wanted me to do (with a sinking feeling inside). She said, yes, that it would mean the world to her if the dog she was sharing with me and allowing to be taken so far from home were to be shown in the US and if he were to get his American Championship. I suspect I sighed audibly and I told her that she was giving me a tall order as the British bred Springers look very different from the Show Springers in the US and differences are not features that are favored in the dog world - that it would take finding judges who would judge the dog relative to the standard rather than relative to what they saw most often in the ring. I knew that my statements were not penetrating when I looked at her face. So I made the promise that I would show him and that I would try to finish his American CH.

Well his first show was as a puppy right before the English Springer Spaniel Specialty at Purina in September of 2003 and we were told that he looked like "an Import" (duh) and that I would never finish him. Uh Oh. Fighting words. His first point towards his CH did not come until December of 2005 when taken into the ring by a professional handler, Santiago Pinto. After periodically going on the road with Santiago, Jura "pointed out" by the end of 2007 (a dog must earn 15 points; of those wins at least 2 must be 3, 4, or 5 point "majors"; the number of dogs to be beaten to win 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 points is a function of the region in which the dog is shown and the history of breed entries in the past year). Santiago thought that Jura needed a better known handler to obtain his "majors" so Jura went on the road for 4 months with a well known Springer handler. The stay was short because it did not work out - they put weight on Jura trying to fill out that skin and all that happened was that he looked fat and different. I took him home, helped to get the weight off, recondition him and he forgave me for sending him away (thank goodness). We showed periodically but had trouble finding shows with sufficient entries to have a "major". Our first break came a year ago at the Kansas City Royal when Gloria Geringer gave us our first major (yea). You'd never know from the show photo that I was elated because I have a great frown on my face (concentration). Over the time hunting for those majors I had put the full 15 points on Jura without earning the CH. I saw that there was a set of shows in August in California that was slated to have 2 British, 1 Finnish, and 1 Australian judge. I thought OK, I will travel to CA and give it one last chance - he has his 15 points and I have given it my best, but it is time that Jura gets on with the rest of his life and performance career.

So August came, and my friend Patti, a repro vet from the Chicago area and co-owner of Jura's love child, Colin, and I loaded up 5 springers and drove to CA. It took 3 days on the way out - day 1 took us through KS and CO to Denver; Day 2 we went north to WY and crossed the salt flats of UT; Day 3 was NV down to CA. Colin showed first on the Thursday with Patti and he was the puppy through & through having a blast in the ring - maybe 3 steps with 4 paws on the ground but who cares! He got a blue ribbon :) Patti's tri-color Springer and Jura were in the open class and when we took first I found myself holding my breath. We stayed in the ring for winner's dog and I really only remember the judge pointing to us and while I knew it was that we had won, I dared not think positively! Even taking the picture did not make it sink in; nor did the next 3 days of shows.

Only when I was entering Jura in agility at the ESS National and going to the AKC website to get his registration number did I get the thing that made me smile: on his data page it said CH Berkenbar Bysanze RN NA NAJ. It was official. The results had been tallied and the second major was acknowledged. We had done it with a win under a British judge, Mr. Robert Jackson. I fulfilled my promise.

My breeder was indeed over the moon, she now has a dog of her breeding that has finished in the US. In fact, the unofficial count is that Jura is the 7th full import dog to finish his CH in the US - and more amazingly, I, a novice conformation person, was there at the end of the leash when he won his majors. When the show photo comes, I'll share (see above- kept another promise :) ).

In the meantime, Jura seems to know that his show career has wound down. We will show at the Springer Spaniel Specialty again at Purina on Saturday in the Best of Winners Class as a finished champion. We won't win, we will still look very different from the other show dogs, but he is still an English Springer Spaniel and a finished dog even though he "looks like an import" (duh).