HOW I SEE IT
GRETCHEN
BERNARDI
18
Getting Acquainted with
a “New” Old Breed
I
n the world of dog shows, and possibly in the wider
world including all dog lovers, there are those who
are attached to all breeds or at least several, having no
particular alliance to one, and happy to move from breed
to breed and sometimes back again. And there are those
who are forever devoted to one breed, who can’t imagine
life without at least one of those dogs, who came early and
stayed late. I belong to the latter group. I bought my first
Irish Wolfhound without ever having seen one in the flesh,
because I fell in love with a dog featured in a magazine arti-
cle found in an airplane seat back on my way with my family
to Disneyland. That was it. I wanted one of those! Forty-five
years later, and I still do.
But people are as different as the purebred dogs we love,
and not all of us fall in love so easily and stay in love so
long. I recently had the honor of stewarding at only the sec-
ond National Specialty for the Lagotto Romagnolo. Held in
Ft. Worth, Texas, it was an interesting experience, but also
informative in a number of areas. Although the breed can be
traced back to at least the 18th century, it was only brought
into the AKC through the Foundation Stock Service (FSS)
program in 2001 and fully recognized in 2015. Mingling
with the guests at the specialty dinners, I expected to meet
people who were new to the entire sport of AKC dog shows.
Instead, I talked to no one who was new to dog shows,
most having come from another breed. Some had left their
former breed, or sometimes more than one, to continue
showing and breeding with the Lagotto.
This, in itself, was a revelation to me, involved as I am
in a breed to which people are unbelievably loyal. Most say
they couldn’t imagine living without one. People tend to
abandon Irish Wolfhound ownership mostly due to age or
illness, when handling and caring for a giant breed becomes
overwhelming. Curious about these people who were old
hands at dog shows but new to this breed, I contacted
several and asked: “What breed(s) were you involved with
prior to the Lagotto? What caused you to branch out to
another breed? What about the Lagotto attracted you?”
In addition to being interested in seeing a breed about
which I knew very little, especially an Italian one, I agreed
to be part of this event as a favor to my friends Jeff and Debi
Fischer. Debi is an officer in the Lagotto parent club, and
Jeff was show chairman. I have known them throughout
their 33-year involvement with Irish Wolfhounds. Respond-
ing to my questions, they said that the switch was mainly
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due to changes in their lives in general, “when going down
to the kennel to feed and maintain the IWs was more of a
chore than a calling.” They spent a lot of time looking into
other breeds and were drawn to the Lagotto because “they
were relatively compact house dogs; had low-maintenance
coats; had upbeat, cheery dispositions and did not require a
15-passenger van.”
They also like the breed’s energetic enthusiasm, quite a
change from Wolfhounds. In the “no breed is perfect” cate-
gory, Jeff and Debi had been warned that they liked to dig;
but, as they say, “nothing prepared us for this order of mag-
nitude.” That shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise,
since the breed is renowned as the only purebred dog in the
world recognized as a specialized truffle hunter.
By her own admission, Melanie Steele of Grand Cru
Greyhound fame is not the typical Lagotto owner, com-
ing to the breed in a slightly different way. She has been
involved with Scottish Deerhounds, Weimaraners and
German Wirehaired Pointers, in addition to her Grey-
hounds. But Melanie had sent a Greyhound to a friend in
the Netherlands who also had Lagotti and who wanted to
send a good specimen to this country. Melanie had enjoyed
being around the breed, so the inevitable happened. It paid
off for both the breeder, Katrien Van Gemert, and Melanie,
because her dog, GCh.S Rozebottel’s Mack At Grandcru,
was awarded Best of Breed. The dog is co-owned with
Julie Bailey, B. Chase and M. Wood.
Robin Morehouse exhibited several dogs at the special-
ty and came to the Lagotto after being involved with other
breeds, including English Cocker and English Springer
Spaniels. Her mother showed German Shepherds and she
got a Papillon for her eighth birthday, but she dropped out of
showing altogether. She rejoined the dog show world with the
Lagotto because she “liked being involved from the beginning
of the Lagotto club … liked that they were rare.” She also
was attracted to the breed because, she writes, “what health
problems they have are manageable,” unlike other breeds she
has had experience with. She is attracted to “the hearty, rustic
look, the super trainability, the size and the athleticism.”
Doug Johnson, well-known judge and breeder under the
Clussexx name, judged the specialty and has himself suc-
cessfully bred and shown several breeds, including Clumber
Spaniels, Sussex Spaniels, Welsh Springer Spaniels, Peking-
ese and Englis