QUESTIONS
1 . Name , kennel name , city and state , breed for which you are best known . 2 . When and how did your involvement in rare breeds begin ? 3 . Did you have prior experience in breeding and showing an AKC-recognized breed ? 4 . What were / are the greatest challenges in working toward AKC recognition ? 5 . What were / are the greatest rewards ? 6 . How difficult is it to guard against generic judging ( e . g . rewarding dogs with
TRAD , overgroomed exhibits ) and have judges abide by your breed standard ? 7 . What are the pros and cons of having total novices come into your breed vs experienced exhibitors from other breeds ? 8 . Do breed club politics ever hinder rather than help a breed move forward toward AKC recognition ? 9 . Is the AKC ’ s process of moving breeds from Miscellaneous to full recognition too fast and superficial ?
others . For the Pumi , we had measured dogs for years at our national and other occasions where Pumik were gathered , and we had an extensive list we could consult when we were deciding how big was too big ( or small ).
For the owners , we are all getting to know one another . Each new person getting a Pumi brings their background and experience , and we have to learn to blend everything together . There are two main fronts in getting fully AKC recognized . One is having the required number of dogs , which is a catch-22 because if the breed is basically unknown , there is no market for puppies , yet you have to have the “ magic 300 ” registered dogs . Of course that “ 300 ” number can include dogs from 50 years ago if you happen to have a breed that ’ s been in the country that long . In our case , we were one of the first importers in 1999 , and almost every dog of the 300 we needed is still alive and kicking . Even our veterans classes at the national are very small — one or two dogs .
The second front is growing the club . As always , the majority of owners are not club-oriented or are not workers . There ’ s always the 10 percent who do the majority of the work . My husband and I had lots of club experience holding almost every office and show committee position in multiple clubs at the national and local levels . So you find the members who are willing to work and train them .
5 . Our biggest reward is having this wonderful breed ! The
second biggest reward was walking into the ring on July 1 , 2016 and getting a blue ribbon and a purple-and-gold ribbon , and then walking into the Herding Group ! We are no longer the “ step-children ” at AKC shows . The next greatest reward is placing a puppy in a home where they also come to love and appreciate this great breed .
6 . In the last 5 years , we have given 19 judges seminars
with over 150 total attendees , and we have three more seminars scheduled for 2017 . That being said , the majority of the judges we have been under since July 1 have not attended any seminar , and there has been a decided amount of generic judging and lack of understanding of our breed . On the other hand , there have been a lot of judges who are still eager to learn and use the judging as an opportunity to find out more about the breed . We can sort through which type of judge it is pretty quickly . I use one first criterion for evaluating a judge when showing our dogs . The standard says “ a full complement of well-developed , white teeth ,” so if the judge only “ flips the lip ” to check the bite , we have a pretty good idea that he / she didn ’ t care enough to read the standard the previous night . It ’ s the same for examining for the proper coat . We ’ re hoping the judging will improve as the judges see more Pumik in the ring .
We have another interesting problem that I hadn ’ t anticipated . There is currently a dog out that I consider to be one of the best Pumik I ’ ve ever seen ( worldwide ). But the judges don ’ t know that because , without having seen many Pumik , they don ’ t appreciate it when an outstanding one walks into their group .
We are fighting the overgroomed part now , and I ’ ve had to adapt our Judges Education to deal with it . We ’ ve changed the message so that the characteristic curly coat with locks of hair is the second-most important breed characteristic after the ears . So , in response to the judges ’ typical statement that “ it ’ s just a man-made problem , so I ’ ll put up the best dog even if it ’ s blown dry ,” our response is that without the characteristic curly locks of hair , the Pumi is missing one of the most important breed characteristics and should never be advanced to winners or breed .
One of my biggest pet peeves is the number of Canadian judges we ’ ve had since July 1 . Since the breed is not recognized in Canada , and there are less than 10 Pumik in the entire country , how can they be a good judge of the breed ? If they judge internationally , we can at least hope they might have seen a Pumi in Europe . ( There is only one Pumi in Australia , and none in Asia that we are aware of .)
7 . The majority of the Pumi owners who compete are
primarily into agility . It ’ s been very refreshing , as they are totally committed to the mental and physical health of the dogs . Now that conformation exhibitors are getting into the breed , we ’ ll see what happens , but I am concerned because we will get people who are more intent on winning in the show ring than making sure the dog is mentally and physically a good specimen . Because of the intelligence of this breed and it needing a job to do , we prefer to place puppies in show homes where they will also compete in other dog sports . They also need to be challenged mentally by having new experiences from 3 to 6 months old , or you ’ ll end up with a dog that doesn ’ t like shows .
We ’ re spending a lot of time educating novices , but that ’ s a good thing . It ’ s great to have experienced people come in , too , as long as they are willing to learn about this breed and are willing to work .
8 . What does “ politics ” mean ? Typically I see it as members ’ interactions negatively affecting the workings of the club . As President of the parent club , my role is to coordinate the efforts of the club through the members who work . It ’ s like being a supervisor , but with volunteers who can get
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