Editorial: October 7, 2022

Fifty years on, and there is still the excitement of attending one of the most unique and coveted dog shows, which will take place this Sunday. The all-breed Montgomery County Kennel Club only offers breed classes and group for all Terrier breeds. So that group win at Montgomery is considered an all-breed Best in Show and second in the group is considered a Reserve Best in Show. Our first time exhibiting at Montgomery brought a Best of Winners win with our first Airedale Terrier. In those heady days there were two judges for the exceptionally large entry. That win stands among the most memorable. It compares to your first Westminster Kennel Club and National Specialty Best of Breed win. This event brings together all the bold-face names in every Terrier breed; they are either exhibiting, judging, stewarding or just observing the proceedings. No one wants to miss Montgomery. Like every other show, the entries are slowing building back to pre-pandemic numbers. Every year a memorial service started years ago by Lydia Coleman Hutchinson begins the day by remembering those who have left us. A somber but reflective start that remembers those to whom we owe a collective thank-you for this undertaking. The names associated with the show since its start in 1929 are legend. Some founding members from the first club: president Russell H. Johnson, who went on to become president of the American Kennel Club; Thomas Harry Lamb; Jerry O’Callaghan; Eland Hadfield, and G. Harrison Frazer on whose estate the show was held following the second world war. Moving to more recent years when Dr. M. Josephine Deubler as club secretary saw to every last detail with such precision that it could never be duplicated, to then club president Walter Goodman, Helma Weeks, Eve Ballich, Billy Kendrick, Jack and Bea Marvin, Dan Shoemaker, Suzanne Hampton, Missy Wood, Patsy Wood, Marcy Zingler, Ida Ellen Weinstock and Jim McTernan. Moving onto the present day with club president Bruce Schwartz, vice president Ken Kauffman, Kathy Ferris, Emily Holden, John Constantine-Amodei, and Todd and April Clyde. It's one show that shouldn't be missed, whether you own a Terrier or not, with multiple breed clubs holding their specialties and supported entries on the same day at the same location under the Montgomery County Kennel Club umbrella. (And sometimes you do need an umbrella.) Throughout the years and with all the changes and challenges, it’s one of the great dog-show experiences. So put it on your calendar to attend and create your own Montgomery memories.