Page 256 - ShowSight - August 2019

Foundation Stock Service Q & A
JAMIE MORRIS
I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, near the base of Mount Rainier, in Washington. As for what I do “outside of dogs” that rules out just about everything as I live and breath dogs, but I am a special needs school bus driver to help pay for my dog passion.
My Foundation Stock Services (FSS) breed is the Drever. It is very much in its infancy on this quest for full recognition. I started this process in 2015. We have a very long road ahead of us but last year we had our first US born AKC FSS registered litter. We started this quest with only a handful of Drevers known to be in the US. Where as many breeds start off in FSS with an already established population, here in the states, we did not. This is a huge hurdle. We have accepted the responsibility to follow through with this quest while still being true advocates for the breed. Our goals include full recognition without having the breed ending up in rescue situations. Responsible education of potential homes is a priority. We owe the breed, and those in Scandinavia that have entrusted the breed to us, to protect it. We will not breed litters just so we can increase our numbers to rush through the recognition process. So, we have our first litter registered, the second on the way. We have our first dog with a Certificate of Merit (actually he has three CMs). We have Drevers participating in Conformation, Scent Work, Cours- ing (CAT & Fast CATs), Barn Hunt, Hunt Performance Tests and starting training in Agility and Tracking. We have Drevers in five states around the country. So, the quest has a good foundation and through hard work and perseverance we hope to move forward towards full recognition before the rules change again.
Do I expect a surge in popularity once we’re in the regular show ring? Most definitely! In my adventures around the country, educat- ing the public about the breed, the common comments I hear are all variations of, “I LOVE these guys! Let me know when you go full recognition because I can’t wait to get one and _________ (insert show, trial, compete, etc) with it!” If AKC is about registrations... it seems that holding breeds back that are very well established in their country of origin (under an AKC recognized registry) is detri- mental to their (AKC’s) goals.
Do I believe there are enough workers to go around to get my breed recognized? YES! It IS hard work and expensive to get recog- nition! Enough workers?? Are there EVER enough worker bees? I think that in just about every aspect of our lives...you always have the hard working few that do the work so that the rest can enjoy the benefits. But, in all seriousness...right now? Not really. However, that is changing. As we move forward and get more people involved and enough time goes by...we are getting people that we can rely on, with the same preservation goals, to help with the workload.
Would I breed more litters if we were fully recognized by AKC? To a point, yes. However, that said, these puppies still need to go to good responsible homes...regardless of if they are fully recognized or FSS. That is a lot of responsibility, time, money, etc. And as responsible breeders...we only breed when we are ready to keep a puppy. Drevers live a long life and we owe it to our current dogs to be able to provide them with the best life possible. They aren’t kennel dogs...they are part of our family. So, the difference is that maybe we only keep one puppy instead of two or three if the homes are there.
The funniest thing I’ve experienced at a dog show? Oh, wow! That is a tough one! With Drevers, I do not have as many years to pull from as I do with my other breed. But, my first Drever is very much a dignified show dog. He is very clean, proper and disgusted by things like dogs peeing on doorways, etc while we are at dog shows. We were in the Best in Show ring and the dog in front of him proceeded to pee in the ring. (This was on a hard polished floor, so easy to clean.) My dog was so disgusted that he would not step on the area where the dog had pee’d even after it was cleaned up. And this went on for the entire eight shows! It got to the point
where everyone waited for him to see if he would jump the spot or go around it. To this day he looks at that dogs as if he is disgusted with his behavior. Not necessarily a hugely funny moment...but gives me a good chuckle whenever I think about it.
STACEY PESTEL
I live in Columbus, Ohio and work for an electronics supplier as an international customer support rep.
How is my breed faring in its quest for full recognition? For my breed, Kai Ken, it is going slow but we are not really trying to rush for full recognition. One step at a time. Once we reach Misc, then we will look toward full recognition.
I do expect a surge in popularity once we fit the regular show ring and I am not looking forward to it. We need careful preserva- tion to prevent so many of the health issues that appear in other breeds once they become popular. The Shiba is an example of that.
Do I believe there are enough workers to go around to get my breed recognized? We are a small group right now, but we are slowly encouraging more to get involved in the breed. Again, we are not in a rush.
Would I breed more litters if we were fully recognized by AKC? My breeding practices would not change. I am breeding to pre- serve the breed true to its form in Japan. I have a long waitlist for puppies and all homes are very closely screened to make sure the correct puppy is getting matches with the correct family. Every lit- ter is raised in our bedroom and we only have one litter at a time so we can focus our attention on raising those puppies with a strong foundation.
The funniest thing that I’ve experienced at a dog show? This actually happened at a UKC show. It was the very first time I took my male into the ring to be shown. I had no idea how he was going to react because I had gotten him as an adult. As the judge approached him for the exam, he plopped down on the floor and rolled over so the judge could give him a belly rub.
TAIN ROSE
My name is Tain Rose. We have a couple different breed clubs for Kai Ken in the US, and I am with the Kai Ken Club of America (www.kaiclub.org). I live in Graham, Washington. Right outside of Seattle.
Currently I have the only Kai Ken with a CM. She has won three Best in Shows (December 2018 in Ridgefield, Washington, Febru- ary 2019 in Del Mar, California, and March 2019 in Seattle, Wash- ington) and was the first Kai Ken to get a BIS and a RN rally title. I am now showing her daughter who this past weekend won Best in Show at the Washington Cluster last weekend (July 6-8 2019). She also won reserve best in show at IABCA’s Evergreen Sieger in June! She is the first Kai Ken with international titles with the IABCA. In March we attended a show hosted by the Shiba Club where they flew in a judge from Japan with the NIPPO registry and we were awarded a rating of excellence and invited to the NIPPO grand nationals in Japan.
I just started showing in December 2018, where we got our first best in show with my five year old bitch. It has been so much fun traveling to shows and getting different judges opinions and meet- ing new breeds and people. These dogs are so versatile and moti- vated to work with their owners, just a dream to own. Definitely team players and wanting to be involved and engaged but having wonderful off switches if you’re needing a lazy day. They’re quite subtle in presence and not ever extreme in their reactions, usually someone in the middle and remaining quite neutral until you’re excited about something. That is when the fun really begins!
Our breed has a long way to go to get fully recognized. We lack motivated individuals that want to title and sport with their dogs.
254 • ShowSight Magazine, auguSt 2019