Even though the catastrophic rains that hit most of California never directly interfered with the series of dog shows held in Palm Springs, those who anticipated the potential problems did one of the most outstanding jobs in changing the original show site ever accomplished in the sport of dogs. As many of you know, the Palm Springs venue on the grounds of the Empire Polo Club is one of the best show sites in the U.S. Moving the show to another area of the Polo Club for fear of ruining the original dramatic and glorious grounds—with just 72 hours warning—seemed a Herculean, if not impossible, task. Somehow not only was this done, but for people who never saw the original grounds, the secondary grounds were as good as anything anywhere. They were much more than merely acceptable—they were downright fantastic! Parking for spectators and exhibitors was a bit of a problem, but with the shuttle buses provided and the fact that entries close to 4,000 dogs were involved, minor inconveniences had to be overlooked. Motor home parking, with close to 500 reservations, was redirected under the very able hands of Ron Matson, who too had the same 72-hour window to turn things around. That this club was so fortunate in having alternate grounds on the same premises available is a luxury few other clubs have. Matter of fact, I can't think of any other club which has this kind of advantage. Advantages notwithstanding, it still took a yeoman's job to pull this off and the gratitude of fanciers everywhere to the people involved must be fully recognized. I will name those I know to thank and if I have left anyone out, I apologize in advance. First of all, the shakers and doers of this club are Kathy and Vince Grasso, who along with Charlotte LeVecque, Marylou Harris, Lilian Barber, Katrina Bravo, Sandy Rust and groundskeeper extraordinaire Keith Revelle, accomplished this seemingly impossible feat. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you for this great service to our sport.
The shows with Specialties began on Thursday in good weather, and while Friday was the worst of the four days, the Specialty and Group shows truly did not suffer too badly from the weather. It was reminiscent to many Easterners of a cold Cherry Blossom, if you get the picture. Which, of course, to the Southern Californians was unthinkable, much less bearable at all. Saturday was, in fact, the best day weather-wise, without a drop of rain and not quite as cold either. Saturday's Best was awarded to the boxer handled by Gary Steele and owned by Jeff Bennett, et. al., in as tough a line-up as I have seen in quite a while. Of course, this show has a reputation for having many judges who are not seen with the regularity that other shows select. I mean, you can walk up and down the rings for quite awhile before you see anyone you know, much less have heard of. While this may be the focus of criticism from some, the fact is that in a sense, getting the opinions of people who do not judge as often as others can be valuable. This presumes a competency and performance level that in some instances exists and in others does not. But the fact of the matter is that many of the names which one sees on panels on a daily if not weekly basis can be as questionably rated as judges of livestock as those names with which one is unfamiliar. I know that in my own experience in watching several unknown adjudicators (to me), I was impressed with some and not so much with others. The same is true with the lucky “accepted” adjudicators as well.
As for the second night, we left prior to Best, which was awarded to the showy and dramatic Pomeranian shown by Billy McFadden for Jean Heath et. al., and I can't comment about the line-up since I did not see all the winners. After Best—actually before the judge pointed—I hear the skies opened and Palm Springs finally got the hit suffered by the rest of California. Up to that point, though, boy, were we lucky.
In Leslie Boyes' old “10 Questions,” a great majority of people used to say the one breed they wouldn't want to show or win was the Neapolitan Mastiff. That answer always bothered me since I have long liked both the look and attitude of the breed. I guess that's my quirk. Anyways, we did run a “Letter to the Editor” on this point from the President of the Club, who was irked by these replies and with whom I more than sympathized. Interestingly, at the show in Palm Springs were some people pretty heavy into the breed. They had with them the cutest, most adorable 11-month-old bitch puppy you ever saw. I wanted to take her home. Can you imagine Gene's reaction to that? In addition, I saw in the Toy Group a Toy Fox Terrier of such quality and showmanship, soundness and balance as I have ever seen. This I still would like to take home, and I must say it did not escape Gene's eye either; he commented to me about it afterward—as I must say did other people as well. It's nice to see a new breed like those two have exhibits on the grounds and to discover them both in and out of the ring. You know, sometimes it's not only an approved judge's opinion that counts but observers as well. And on the subject of observers, if Palm Springs is an example of how that system operates, it should be “rethunk” forthwith! •
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