Page 252 - ShowSight - September 2019

Terrier Q & A
Theresa Goiffon continued
Klein. That same year her sister Lydia was awarded Best of Breed with her bred by dog, MBIS GCHG Dunham Lake Unanimous Decision “Jake”.
At what age do I pick a show prospect? I evaluate them from birth on, but generally have a good idea at eight weeks which might be prospective show/breeding dogs but make my final decision at 11 weeks old. There have been a couple dogs I thought would be great show dogs, that did finish their championship but clearly showing for them was more for me and they would rather do other activities, like hunting vermin. I have also seen a few puppies I have placed as companions that turned out better than I expected. So yes a few mistakes, but not too many.
How do I choose a Stud Dog? I consider both phenotype and genotype. I health test and DNA test for breed specific markers and I look at type and personality traits as well. Health and tempera- ment is something I never compromise on. It has to be a stud that compliments my bitch and adds value to areas in which could be improved upon in said bitch. Sometimes it does come down to gut, after considering phenotype and genotype. I have breed multiple Best in Show dogs, #1 Ranked in breed and all breed but breeding to a top show dog that doesn’t fit what I am looking for, just because it’s a top winning dog, has never been a consideration for me.
How do I place my pups? I have always had an on-going waiting list for my puppies. People find us through referrals, our website, social media or at dog shows. Our puppies come from health tested parents, are very well socialized and I pick the puppies for each family based on the puppy’s personality and the individual families seeking a puppy. When I have a litter, because so many of my puppy families and breeders live far from me, I set up a puppy cam that runs 24/7 as well.
I have never had any difficulty finding good families or other breeders to place my puppies with. I require an application to be completed, with references and I do not ship. Families or breeders fly or drive to my home, even those from other parts of the world. The families or breeders stay with our family and then fly back with their puppy, on the plane, not as cargo. We get to know each other quite well by the time they receive their puppy. Their visit also gives me an opportunity to teach the new family more about the breed, practice grooming with them and in some cases, what it’s like living with Australian Terriers. I am here for all my families for the life of their dog. I have several FB groups dedicated to the breed, one for my Dunham Lake Aussie family, specifically for my puppy families and other more general FB groups I administer for anyone inter- ested in information about health, grooming, nutrition, behavior, etc. for our breed.
Is a win at a Specialty more important to me than a win at an all-breed show? I believe both are important and I guess it would depend on the entries at an all-breed show. It also depends on the judges and how well they know our breed. A significant win at a Specialty with more dogs entered can be a more meaningful win.
Are there any overall trends in my breed that should be addressed before they get out of hand? In the Australian Terrier at the moment I am seeing dogs awarded that are either too square or too big. Having competed in the 2014 World show in Finland, finishing in the top 7, with over 100 Australian Terriers exhibiting, the feedback from the Australian judges was the breed is getting too big, watch your size. We are a medium boned breed, not fine bone, nor large boned. Their length should be 1 to 11⁄2 inches longer than their height.
I am also finding movement is being compromised because in some dogs they have poorly laid-back shoulders, shorter upper arm and or lack of keel. These are area’s in my opinion, that breeders should be working toward improving upon and judges should be aware of these shortcomings in our breed at the present time.
Who was our mentor? When we were new to our breed, we didn’t know anyone, so we didn’t have a mentor in the breed.
There were little resources available about the breed and in order to gain access to resources from the breed club, at that time, you needed to be a member. Our foundation came from a breeder that didn’t mentor and was not a member of the breed club, therefore, we did not have access to those that would have gladly mentored us.
I did join our local kennel club, the Cambridge Minnesota Ken- nel Club, and I did find a great mentor, his name is Wayne Harmon. He is an AKC judge, club delegate, show chair, with years of experi- ence and is well versed in many breeds, in particularly at the time Terriers. He provided us with great advice, was kind, supportive and encouraging. Wayne taught us the importance of knowing your breed very well, stay true to yourself and your goals and you must have thick skin. All great advice I might add. I am now and have been the kennel club’s secretary, webmaster and newsletter editor for many years.
We learned how to groom and show by watching others, includ- ing handlers at shows and even had a couple kind enough to offer us some very helpful tips. Most of our breed mentorship came from breeders outside of the USA who in some instances have become close breeding partners with us.
What terriers of the past have impressed me the most? There are several dogs in the past that were nice representatives of our breed. One dog that comes to mind in the USA, in our breed is CH Crestwood’s Con- tender “Cody” owned by Marge and Michael
Reignier. I recently used some of his frozen semen to bring back some of his qualities I believe the breed is falling short on and bred him with my bitch. They are young dogs now, but I see promise in three out of the four in that litter. As I mentioned we have bred some of the top ranked best in show dogs in the Australian Terrier breed. We handle our dogs ourselves and have been quite successful. That being said, seven years ago we made the decision to no longer dock our breed, even though the breed standard still states docked. This decision was made after much research and consideration. Currently, we have concerns about the sustainability in our breed, therefore, we must work with other breeders outside of the USA to expand our limited gene pool. Many of those breeders live in parts of the world where they cannot alter their dogs.
I appreciate the many judges who do understand and recognize that an undocked dog, in a docked breed, is a man-made fault and that the whole dog must be evaluated. However, there are some judges that still do not and will not award a natural dog. I under- stand it’s the parent club that set the standard and the judges are to adhere to the standard. However, it is quite easy to see where a tail would have been docked, it’s only one part of the dog, a minor part at that, and judge the dog accordingly.
While we have finished over 25 Australian Terrier’s AKC cham- pionship with our natural tailed dogs, it’s very difficult to special a natural tailed dog, in our breed at this time. This subject also speaks in general a bit to the decline in dog show entries and exhibi- tors having to be more selective when choosing to enter a show or not with their natural dogs. I’d like to see any bias toward a natural fault within any standard change and that the best over-all dog be awarded without prejudice in this regard.
The most humorous thing I’ve ever witnessed at a dog show? Well, I will share a little story about our very first dog show we participated in. Two of my young daughters, Ellie and Lydia ages nine and 13 respectfully, were going to show for the first time their two Australian Terriers. They had a bit of conformation training
250 • ShowSight Magazine, SepteMber 2019