Page 197 - ShowSight - February 2020
P. 197

                  1. Where do you live? How many years in dogs? What do you do “outside” of dogs? Any other hobbies or interests?
2. A brief overview of your experience as a breeder.
3. Describe your breed in three words.
4. How does your breed rank in popularity among other Toy breeds?
5. Does your breed get its fair share of attention in the Group? Why or why not?
6. Males vs. Females: how do bitches (coat, size, etc.) fare when it’s down to the wire?
7. What’s the largest health concern facing your breed today?
8. Any trends you see in your breed that you believe need to con- tinue? Any you’d like to see stopped?
9. What can your parent club do to increase awareness and popu- larity of your breed?
10. To whom do you owe the most? In other words, which mentor helped you the most as you learned the ropes?
11. Biggest pitfall awaiting new/novice judges?
12. Biggest pitfall awaiting new/novice breeders?
13. Anything else you’ d like to talk about?
14. And for a bit of humor, what’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen at a dog show?
15. And of course anything else you’d like to share would be welcome.
PAT BULLARD
I am a retired ballet teacher, songwriter, music publisher, PR and advertising executive and private foun- dation manager who lives in Nashville, Tennessee and has been breeding and showing Maltese dogs since the early 1980s.
Originally from South Hill, Virginia, I’ve made my home in Nashville, Tennessee since the mid 1970s. My breed
has always been Maltese and, like many others, my first was a pet. I purchased my first show puppy in the early 1980s when I was also a young mother with a new ballet school and a founding board mem- ber of The Nashville Ballet. Like a dream, that puppy became a top special for several years and I was hooked. My second show Maltese was a top winning Maltese bitch and she knocked my socks off when she won a group two placement at Westminster in 1989. Sur- prisingly, breeding was not first and foremost on my mind. Passion and patronage came first for me. Looking back, I think it was for the best I spent my early years studying, researching and learning. The very few litters I bred in the early years did produce champions and one group placing special. In 1991 a tragic car accident slowed my dog show career down to a crawl. I only finished a few Maltese during these years and focused on healing. I threw myself into the other areas of my life: gardening, writing, music publishing and PR while my children grew up. But, I don’t give up easily and the best was yet to come.
My beginnings in the 1980s was a fortuitous time filled with dogs and breeders whose influences are still resonating in the Mal- tese breed. Among them were Glynnette Cass, Bill Cunningham, Miriam Thompson, Mary Day, Kathy DiGiacomo, Daryl Martin, Michelle Perlmutter, Carol Frances Andersen, Elyse Fisher, Barbara Bergquist, Frank Oberstar and Larry Ward. These are the people who formed my goals as a breeder. One piece of advice I still car- ry with me with each litter I plan came from Miriam Thompson who told me, “Always breed forward”. The other piece of advice I also ALWAYS follow comes from my “non dog show” husband, George, who continually tells me, “We don’t farm dogs”. Every lit- ter produced at our house has to be WELL planned and full of enormous hope.
The Maltese breed in three words: Silk, floating and harmony.
How does my breed rank in popularity among other Toy breeds? Because of the grooming needs of Maltese I don’t find it to be one of today’s more popular toy breeds. Today’s world is so fast paced that hours of daily grooming don’t seem to fit into the lifestyles of our young people. Additionally, our breed has always been so elegant that it has appealed to the celebrity crowd which has caused enor- mous greed within the breeding community. This kind of appeal has attracted many pet breeders to produce Maltese which means we see them offered more often as scams on social media and they are showing up far too frequently in rescue. Unscrupulous breed- ers are now buying from foreign sources as pets with contracts but boldly breaking those contracts and breeding since they know there is little chance of contract enforcement internationally.
Does my breed get its fair share of attention in the Group? You can imagine being the only breed in seven groups who wears a flowing white, silken gown of hair to the floor on a body only 4-7 pounds that the playing field has rarely been level for the Maltese in the group or Best in Show ring. In the old days the show sites were far more civilized than most are today. Showing in an equestrian facility on a red dirt floor is not the same for a Maltese as it is for any other breed in the show. I remember showing at a site I’d never been to before in January. It turned out to be an equestrian facility with a WET freshly turned red clay floor. I showed in breed and it took until time for group to brush out the clay. I showed in OH group and was totally unable to get enough mud out before regular group and could not show. I’ve regretted that I showed at all since it took a couple of months for the red clay stain to finally come out of her coat. The Maltese faces obstacles in the ring faced by no other breed and, no, I don’t think they get their fair share of attention in today’s show ring so on the days when the Maltese rises to top honors it is cause for a standing ovation.
Males vs. Females: how do bitches (coat, size, etc.) fare when it’s down to the wire? Coat is a huge issue when campaigning a Maltese and there is no question it is much easier to campaign a dog than a bitch. Size is also a tremendous factor in Maltese. There is a huge difference between a four pound Maltese and a six to seven pound one. Many judges seem to have a prejudice regarding size when our standard does not present any prejudice at all. In fact, it asks the judge to disregard size in preference for quality. The perception in the breed ring is different for a judge than in group since a six pound Maltese may appear to be much larger than a four pound in breed competition. Additionally, size is not always a good judge of weight. A taller dog can have far less substance than a shorter dog with more body.
THE
TOY GROUP
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