The Fourth Annual AKC/Eukanuba National Championship Show...For the third year in a row, a foreign-bred exhibit has been awarded the coveted title of Best in Show at the American Kennel Club's conformation extravaganza. This time, however, the foreign country was Canada and not Great Britain! Close enough historically, that's for sure, but no cigar for the U.K. either, that too is for sure. This American-owned and American-campaigned Bloodhound, Ch. Heather's Knock On Wood, is a liver Bloodhound owned by Lyn Sherman of Topanga, California, and bred by Heather and Peter Whitcomb. Great credit must go to Mrs. Sherman and handler Ken Griffith for the manner in which this great achievement was accomplished. First of all, Knotty, as this dog is called, was number one Hound and number seven all-breed for 2004. This alone is a height rarely, if ever, achieved before by a dog of this breed.
 That his color is liver can be a problem in certain circles. This is less true today than, say, the acceptance of liver was 20 or 30 years ago within bloodhound circles. Candidly, the color has never ever bothered me and was generally accepted in America for years prior to even being tolerated in the U.K. I fell in love with this dog when I first saw him as a young pup. He had and continues to have one of the finest and proper bloodhound heads I have ever seen. His magnificent occiput, his flews and wide nostril, his fine eye and low-hanging and low set ears personify the bloodhound head. And his skin is silky to the touch.
As a youngster, he was both gangling and shown by his owner Mrs. Sherman. Within bloodhound competition on the West Coast, he was unbeatable as far as I was concerned. An opinion that was not shared by every judge, I may add. As he matured and lost his gangliness and bodied out and became more and more show wise, Lyn, most sensibly, decided to hire a professional handler. What better choice than Ken for this dog. It took a while for this team to pull together, but as I followed their career, I could see the two of them meld into one. Now that this dog is close to five, he has totally come into his own. The truth is that this is the true test of a Bloodhound's worth. Frequently, when bloodhounds mature too soon at age two or three, by the time they fully mature at five or six they are over the top, and that's but another reason to admire this dog so much. In fact, he is just coming into his own!
But I'll tell you something else, even when he was immature, it was most difficult for me to find a bloodhound to beat him in the breed. I was delighted Michelle Billings selected him for Best, as were the millions of people who watched the proceedings on TV as he was named number one in the Iams Company's Viewers Choice. That is among the BIS competitors. Within the Hound Group, it was the 13-inch Beagle that received the majority of those 22,891 votes cast.
As for the Best in Show line-up, there was no denying the quality of the exhibits involved. The regular Variety Groups began on TV on Saturday at 8 p.m., with the first group being adjudicated by the well-known and popular Argentinean judge Enrique Fillippini. His selection was the Toy Poodle, which was number one All-Breed for 2004, Ch. North Well Chako JP Platina King, bred in Japan by Chako Kitai and owned by Toni and Martin Sosnoff and Tochi Kazu. The handler, of course, is Poodle handler supreme Timothy Brazier, who has done the most incredible job with this little toy dog. Next group was the Hound group adjudicated upon by Everett Dean, Jr., one of the more respected judges in the country, and his choice was the bloodhound discussed earlier. Then came the Breeder of the Year presentation, with Cathy Nelson of Pennywise Dandie fame being singled out among the seven group winners. Thence onto the Non-Sporting group judged by Maxine Beam, who, of course, is known throughout the world as one of America's premiere judges. Her selection was the Tibetan Terrier Ch. Kimik's Bare Necessities, bred and co-owned by Mikki De Mers with co-owner Sheryl Rutledge Schultis, and shown by Mikki's sister, Lois. He was the number one dog in his breed for the year 2004 in both breed and group points, and the number seven Non-Sporting dog All-Breeds.
The last group of the evening was the Sporting Group, judged by noted sporting authority Marjorie Martorella. I did speak to Ms. Martorella after the judging, and she was disappointed in the condition of many of her exhibits. Particularly with the lack  of muscle in the thigh area; however, she spoke most highly of her number one selection, the Sussex Spaniel Ch. Clussexx Three D Grinch Glee, known to us all as "Stump," who was the top Sporting Dog All-Breed and number four dog All-Breed. He is owned by Beth Dowd and Celia Ruggles, and shown by Scott Sommer (both Ceil and Scott combined to have the only American dog ever to win this event, which was in its first year with the Bichon Frise JR). The breeders of Stump are Doug Horn, Doug Johnson and Dee Duffy.
Onto Sunday evening, where Bob Stein judged the first group and found for his top dog the Giant Schnauzer owned and bred by Mickey Low. This was the first bitch to win a group at the show. She is Ch. Lowdown Jacqui Frazier-Lyde, and, with the Herding Group winner, were the only bitches and coincidentally the only owner-bred winners to have won groups. Jacqui,  of course, was shown by Gabriel Rangel, who guided her to number one Giant in the breed and number six Working Dog All-Breed. Next came Best Bred By in Show, which carried with it a $25,000 stipend for Best. The magnificently but understatedly dressed Jane Forsyth, who I make one of the top five judges in our country, selected for this honor Ch. Carier's Noble Shaka Zula, owned by Keith Carter with co-breeder Nancy Noble. This dog was number five Working Dog for 2004. The Terrier group was next, and Dandie breeder and terrier group judge Betty-Anne Stenmark selected as her winner the Colored Bull Terrier, which ended the year as number four Terrier All-Breed, Ch. Rocky Top's Sundance Kid. He is owned by the Pooles, B. Bishop, N. Shepherd, R. Poole and Mrs. Cherry. Handled by Kathy Kirk, it is rare that this breed receives the form of recognition this dog had in 2004, which is indeed a tribute to the quality of this animal. The ACE Awards were then awarded by AKC, which brought a standing ovation from the packed spectators at the St. Pete Times Forum. Our good friend Eileen Pimlott was the adjudicator for the last Group, which certainly presented the biggest upset of the two nights when the homebred Old English Sheepdog bitch handled by co-breeder and co-owner Jere Marder (along with Lynn Levine) swept to victory. Jere was last year's Herding Group winner as Best Breeder and has through the years conquered the travails of showing this most difficult breed. Both hers and the dogs' performances in the groups and Best in Show were flawless. The bitch's name is Ch. Lambluv's Desdemona, and she was ranked number eight in the Herding Group for 2004 and number one in the breed.
 As for the show, I found it merely spectacular. Sure conformation got a mite shortchanged space-wise, but I understand that will be corrected next year. Certainly the rings themselves were absolutely perfect in size, so there could be no complaints whatsoever on that score. Furthermore, the Tampa spectator acceptance rate was absolutely phenomenal! The attendance totaled for the two days a little over 35,000 people. Of this number, 18, 500 were paying attendees. The attendance both nights exceeded expectations and broke every record for both arenas. Caught off guard by these numbers were not only the sponsors but the Tampa police department as well. Agility proved a huge favorite, as did the obedience, but there is no doubt in my mind that the “Meet the Breeds” was a great hit and highlight of the two-day event. Juniors are reported upon by Mari-Beth O’Neill following this article.
All in all, anyone who had doubts—as certain people were known to have had—about continuing this event and/or the importance of this event to the dog world had to have had them dispelled this past weekend. These days are much more than a dog show—it is a dog convention and gathering of tremendous import and impact for which AKC in general, and Ron Menaker in particular, must be congratulated and applauded for the success of the venture. •
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