Page 253 - ShowSight - January 2020
P. 253

                  THE
NON-SPORTING GROUP
  1. Where do you live?
2. How many years in dogs?
3. What do you do “outside” of dogs?
4. How did you get involved in this sport? What made you decide to become a breeder?
5. A brief overview of your experience as a breeder.
6. Describe your breed in three words.
7. How does your breed rank in popularity among other Non Sporting breeds?
8. Does your breed get its fair share of attention in the Group? Why or why not?
9. What’s the biggest misconception about the breed among the general public*? *This can include other people who breed and show dogs, too!
10. What can your parent club do to increase awareness and popu- larity of your breed?
11. What’s the largest health concern facing your breed today?
12. Any trends you see in your breed that you believe need to con- tinue? Any you’d like to see stopped?
13. To whom do you owe the most? In other words, which mentor helped you the most as you learned the ropes?
14. Biggest pitfall awaiting new and novice judges?
15. And for a bit of humor, what’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen (or heard about) at a dog show?
DIANE BURVEE
Diane Burvee is an inter- nationally-acclaimed French Bulldog authority who has authored several breed arti- cles, including one on ‘Judg- ing French Bulldogs’ that has been circulated worldwide and translated in 19 different countries. She has presented seminars and judge French Bulldogs in more countries than any current American Frenchie Judge/Breeder in recent times. On the home-
front in America, she has bred, shown and owned more All Breeds and Specialty Best In Show French Bulldogs in the past decade than any other kennel including winning the National Specialty, Regional Specialties and Westminster, to name a few highlights. Her current special is not only the #1 French Bulldog bitch and #2 French Bulldog overall in the country but also the top-winning breeder-owner-handled French Bulldog in history with 8 All Breeds Best In Shows and countless BISS! Miss Burvee is currently work- ing on a new PowerPoint on Judging French Bulldogs.
I live in the middle of the great county of United States in Kan- sas City. I’ve been in dogs since 1993 when I came to America to attend college (or university as my foreign pals would call it). Out- side of dogs, I enjoy traveling to explore new destinations, and love discovering the gem of various ethnic cultures. I’m a self-proclaimed foodie who enjoy different cuisines.
How did I get involved in this sport? My uncle was a huge Ger- man Shepherd fancier, so I started to attend dog shows in different
parts of the world as a kid, which is something I still do regularly today. My first breed was the aristocratic Afghan Hound, then the imperial Chinese Royal Dog, the Pekingese, and currently the French Bulldog.
Animal Husbandry and Theriogenology have always fascinat- ed me, along with Biology and Reproduction being some of my favourite subjects in school. I have found that there is something unequivocally fulfilling to bring your vision to fruition through planning and carrying out breedings. It is however an aptitude that not everyone is gifted with.
I started breeding while I was in college so in a good way, I was lucky to start young, and hence, I was able to make mistakes, have time to rectify and learn from them. A young open mind is a sponge that can absorb and hold knowledge. Afghan Hound was my first love, and my foundation Afghan bitch was a typey blue bitch (of full American bloodlines) from Australia. I was so deter- mined to breed her to what I considered to be the best dog for her that I chose to attend university in America so that I can be close to that stud in mind! Crazy things we do for love, or in my case here, the love of dogs! Upon graduating from college, I decided to have another breed, and the Pekingese was the chosen breed. At this stage, I was getting a bit more ambitious and self-confident (the beauty of youth!). My very first Pekingese was not only the Number One Bitch in the country, I also became the first breeder in Pekingese to utilize chilled semen hand-carried from England to successfully have an all-champion litter. I made my mistakes in Afghans, tested my breeding theories to great success in Pekingese, and then I apply them to further practice in French Bulldog, my current breed. I am the first documented French Bulldog Breeder in the whole wide world to have successfully bred a multi-sired litter utilizing imported frozen semen from two different countries. With breeding comes the highest highs and also the lowest lows, but I am a staunch believer that bitches are the backbone of the breed, and I never leave any stones unturned when it comes to seeking the most suitable studs for my bitches. The ideal studs can be in Timbuktu or Casablanca, and trust me if he’s the right one, I’ll be there to harvest his semen to bring his genes back to breed my bitch! True hard-core Breeders take breeding extremely seriously, and each lit- ter is all tenaciously planned after much deliberation and research, without cutting corners or leaving things to chance. Why put our precious bitches through the stress of pregnancy, parturition, and motherhood expecting them to deliver the goods, unless we have done the homework on our part as Breeders and given them the best chance to deliver the next generation that we envision. This is where true breeders segregate away from the less serious ones. Real breed- ers never stop studying and aiming for progress, and their ‘proof in the pudding’ is evidenced by the type and consistency they produce generation after generation.
My breed described in three words: the French Bulldog should be comical, curious and affectionate.
How does my breed rank in popularity among other Non Sport- ing breeds? The French Bulldog is ranked the highest in popularity among the Non-Sporting breeds. Unfortunately with this popular- ity also comes the dark side of people breeding fad coloured ones for pure monetary gains. Or show breeders (including some supposedly top names) selling substandard and unhealthy specimens to Asian and Latin countries for quick big profit.
Does my breed get its fair share of attention in the Group? No breed gets the attention or wins in the Non-Sporting group like the
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