As is the tradition with our show, we were once again blessed with a lovely day, allowing us to enjoy the large outdoor ring.

Peggy Schmidt officiated the sweepstakes, which, this year, consisted of only junior dogs and bitches, and chose as her winner Pat McCormack’s 6 to 9 month puppy dog, Troika’s Escape Velocity (who was also Reserve Winner’s dog). This made not only Pat happy, but Michelle Markoff and Suzy Hughes also – the breeders of the dog, and both of them present at the show.

Mary Miller judged the regular classes.

Her winner’s dog came from the 9-12 mo dog class, Rockstar’s Reconsider Me, shown by Pam Fisher and co-bred and co-owned by Pam and Suzy Hughes.

Winner’s bitch was Troika’s Serendipity, owned and shown by Michelle Markoff, bred by Michelle and Suzy. Interestingly, her littermate, Troika Synchronicity, was Reserve.

And that brought us to Best of Breed, where we were blessed with a lovely lineup of nine champions, including three nationally ranked Dals. Mary took a long time to decide, and, at the end, took a deep breath and pointed to her Winners Dog for Best of Breed, and Sue McCord’s and Jim Smith’s bitch, Ch. Amera’s Picturesque as Best of Opposite Sex. It was a lovely win for the young dog, who beat his dam in doing so – Stevie, who, less than two months later, won the National Specialty.

With this win, her third as a breeder, Suzy Hughes retired the lovely challenge trophy offered at the start of out club’s shows by Tina Thomas.

Everyone came away from this show with a sigh of relief about the state of Dalmatians in the country. After several years of ho-hum, the feeling is now that the breed’s quality is well on its way back up. We all hope it continues, and we are looking forward to seeing even more of you at our April 6, 2007 show.

Respectfully
Kim Blutreich