Page 424 - ShowSight - December 2019

Patricia Princehouse continued
the entire dog “globally” with all its parts in place and typey, with the correct temperament and attitude as well as style, movement, head, head carriage, let down of hock, etc working in harmony. All of it must be taken as one whole dog. The individual parts are of less concern. Great producers have this and pass it on. You can part out a dog all you want but once the harmony is gone, the symmetry is broken, you’ll never get it back. Type is precious.
From my very first bitch, I was bequeathed a genetic legacy of stunning, sublime dogs. I didn’t create this bloodline, I inherited it from the breeders who went before. My job has been to not mess it up, and I’m one of the few who has managed not to thus far. I try always to bear in mind what Mansencal once said “This breed is not the work of man. It was made from the wind, and the rain, and the mountain.”
For handling, it was Lou Schnegelberger. Among many other things I learned not to be afraid to let a dog gait at its own pace. It has to be engaged, feeling its power. For that you have to share the dog’s enthusiasm. My dogs win on movement more than anything else. To win on movement, you have to let them move.
The best and toughest thing about being a breeder? 1) The pup- pies! Watching them grow up from birth to eight weeks is very spe- cial, something only breeders get to experience. 2) The challenge of trying to refine the image of the breed I have in my head and work to see it emerge in the real world. The toughest thing right now is seeing dog sports, and especially breeders, maligned so badly in the popular imagination.
Do I work outside of the home? I’m director of the Evolutionary Biology program at Case Western Reserve University, and Associ- ate Director of the Institute for the Science of Origins. Having this as a day job helps me keep up on all kinds of things that make my breeding program better. For example, I got tired of waiting for a vet school to decide to take on the project of a rare recessive in my breed, so a colleague and I got some funding to run the study ourselves and in a way that will make future studies easier, cheaper and more effective.
Dog Tours are another contribution my job has made. The Insti- tute runs science tourism trips -including to the prehistoric painted caves in the Pyrenees Mountains and my dog friends said “Why don’t you take us!” So we set up the dog tour and every September I take a group of fanciers, judges, breeders and even their not-so- doggy friends on a trip through prehistoric cave paintings, goat cheese farms, mountain vistas, hiking with flocks of sheep on the transhumance trail, horseback riding in the National parks, and all kinds of other amazing experiences, culminating in the combined National Specialties for all four Pyrenean breeds, held in a pictur- esque mountain town.
Is my family involved? I dragged my parents to shows as a kid and now as an adult, my husband!
Am I involved with a breed club or all-breed club and held posi- tions within the club(s)? I helped find the Pyrenean Shepherd Club of America and was president off and on for 20 years. Also longtime member of Great Pyrenees Club of America. And some years back I was honored by the French parent club, the Reunion des Amateurs de Chiens Pyreneens with an honorary lifetime membership.
My kennel/exercise areas described: all my dogs live in the house and I have acreage for them to run on during the day.
How did I come up with my kennel name and is it registered with AKC? It’s French for the breeze. Not registered.
Do I co-breed and co-own with others? Yes, my breeding pro- gram is as much a consortium as an individual kennel.
Is my breed easy to place? I’m spoiled by having a reputation not only for show dogs but for performance dogs and pets (I’ve bred over 100 AKC conformation champions and more than 50 MACHs with five dogs that have made world teams in three countries, often
multiple times, including one who took two gold medals at the FCI World Agility Championship; and they’ve won top honors at numerous AKC agility nationals and USDAA Cynosport, WKC and Eukanuba). So, with a lot of repeat owners and word of mouth I don’t have too much trouble placing them. But as a breed it’s hard to place. And you have to keep in touch with the owners for at least the first year. The breed is not easy, but they’re very rewarding in the long run. I have a website, two Facebook pages, and occasion- ally run an ad on AKC marketplace.
What can AKC do to help breeders attain great results? Train judges to appreciate type. They need to see through coat and show- manship to the real dog underneath. It’s heartbreaking to take a stunningly typey dog in the ring and have it dismissively ignored. They need to appreciate the whole range of variation present in natural breeds and not look for the cookie cutter generic American show dog all the time. And not reward extremism—especially in bone and coat. There’s so much more to the dog. Thick bone is sim- ply not stronger than thin, hard bone—like a Greyhound. Structur- ally, they need to understand how the dog is put together. You can’t have a nice neck without a good shoulder, a good tail set without proper slope of croup. A dog whose front is dead straight stand- ing will move pigeon-toed. You can see this all the time in Boxers and Dobes. The metacarpals and feet are made of many bones and joints; to put that complex down straight means over rotating the shoulder assembly with either a straight upper arm or a loaded front. A front that stands dead straight is unsound and faulty.
Any hint or trick I can share with fellow breeders? Get to know people in other breeds. Study their pedigrees. See what works for them or help them figure out where something is coming from. Becoming a neutral observer like that can give you the critical dis- tance needed to make decisions about your own breed.
Do I show my own dogs? I show many of my own dogs but also have some shown by handlers, friends, juniors, etc.
The most amusing thing I’ve ever witnessed at a dog show? I heard George Rood tell a joke to a very back-of-the-bus type crowd many years ago at a dog show. I will not repeat it.
NANCY RICKERSON
I started training and showing dogs as a 4-H dog club member at age 14. I started with a mixed breed (Cockapoo) which was my first dog. I trained and showed her in 4-H competition, achieving multiple awards over three years in obedience and mixed breed fit- ting and showing. A few of my most prized achievements included a perfect obedience score of 200 in Novice A and Champion and Reserve Champion in fitting and showing. I also showed dogs owned by other 4-H families (Toy Poodle, Sheltie), as my family did not have the resources to purchase a purebred dog for me to show. As a 4-H kid, I was completely invested in training and show- ing dogs. My Cockapoo “Ruffles” was my best canine friend and lived 20 years! After University and establishing my own home, I purchased my first purebred, a Malamute and trained and showed Malamutes for eight years. Later, I showed and bred Pembroke Cor- gis, a breed chosen by my daughter. Through my young adult years, Malamutes were my running and skijoring partners. My Malamute, Thunder, was closest and dearest to my heart and he ran count- less miles as my marathon training partner. Fast forward years later after Thunder passed, I looked to the Sporting Group for my next breed and selected a Wire-haired Pointing Griffon and a Chesa- peake Bay Retriever. They were both outstanding partners in my outdoor activities including running, hiking, hunting, as well as showing in Conformation, Rally and Obedience. I fell in love with both breeds and started my successful dog business, “RiversEdge Sporting Dogs”. The Chesapeake in particular, stole my heart and
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Breeder Q & A