A Good Doer

Nancy Shaw, of Fredericksburg, Texas, is a breeder of French Bulldogs and supporter of top show dogs. She is the kind of person who makes good things happen.

Things like paying for nearly 4,000 complimentary box lunches served at last fall’s Morris & Essex Kennel Club show at Colonial Park in Somerset, New Jersey. In the traditional hospitality of founder Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, at precisely noon the lunch bell rang and all judging stopped. Exhibitors enjoyed a scrumptious, beautifully designed box lunch included as part of the entry fee, courtesy of Nancy.

Another good deed was to establish in 2020 at Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medical & Biomedical Sciences an Endowed Chair in Small Animal Clinical Sciences in honor of her local veterinarian, Dr. John D. Clader, whom she considers a friend and someone she can rely on to care for her dogs and deliver her litters. Meanwhile, Nancy’s input on the Dean’s Council Advisory Board at Texas A&M helps the school shape the direction of its veterinary medicine program.

Noteworthy contributions include Nancy’s annual donations to support the AKC Canine Health Foundation and serving as a past member of its board of directors. She also supports Take the Lead and the Penn Ridge Kennel Club Foundation. Nancy has served on the AKC Museum of the Dog board of directors and is a member of the Morris & Essex Kennel Club.

Most of all, she is a good friend to many in the dog fancy.

 

Her legacy of support to the purebred dog fancy, as a breeder and exhibitor of Frenchies and an owner or co-owner backing the campaigns of top winners make Nancy the befitting recipient of the 2025 Anne Rogers Clark Hall of Fame Award. 

Humble and kind, gracious and compassionate, Nancy is the Lone Star State’s brilliant light, always fixin’ to do good things.

 

A Promise to Show Her First Frenchie 

A late bloomer to the sport of showing dogs, Nancy went to her first dog show in 2007 and fell in love with the competitive gist of the game. Frenchies were her heart breed but doubling her chances by backing another breed became her ace in the hole. 

Since she began supporting nationally ranked show dogs in 2012, Nancy has become a prominent owner or co-owner of record-setting breed winners, Show Dogs of the Year Group Winners and Westminster Reserve Best in Show and Group winners. Her success in highly competitive French Bulldog rings has been likewise impressive. In 2021, she was behind two Westminster Best in Show competitors, the French Bulldog, Mathew, and the Whippet, Bourbon. 

The story began in 2003 when Nancy babysat a French Bulldog bitch named Bette for her son, a college student at UCLA, while he went on a trip. Smitten with the breed’s cuteness, playful antics and cuddly nature, Nancy was hooked. 

A dog lover and owner of Mastiffs, though not yet a dog fancier, Nancy got a fawn Frenchie bitch puppy named Millie (Ch. Starcreek Calee Milliondollar Baby) in January 2006 from a show breeder, the late Kathi Liebe, of Loveland, Colorado, and promised to show the dog. 

“Millie was a great show dog with attitude,” says Nancy, who handled her to Winners Bitch at a show in Rosenberg, Texas. “She had a lovely head with beautiful bat ears and wonderful movement.” 

Nancy’s immersion into the sport began with Liebe, who became a mentor and took her to her first show in Greeley, Colorado, and with the handlers she hired to show Millie. In 2007, Millie finished her championship at shows in California and went home to Texas with Nancy to eventually whelp two litters under the Tx Star prefix. Five of eight puppies from Millie’s litters became champions, making Nancy an AKC Breeder of Merit. 

“I got into dog shows right away,” Nancy says. “I had been showing horses, and I am a very competitive person. If I am going to do something, I do it to win.”

Her affinity for the competitiveness of dog shows stemmed from competing in Hunter Jumpers with Thoroughbreds. Showing the powerful, jumping horses also gave her a foundation in how an animal’s structure impacts its movement. 

After Millie, Nancy bought a crème male Frenchie named Griffin (GCHP Ch. Bandog Bayou’s The Warrior) from the late Luis and Patty Sosa, of Mandeville, Louisiana, breeders under the Bandog kennel prefix, and agreed to special him. 

“Part of the deal was that their handler, Larry Cornelius, would handle him,” Nancy says. “He agreed to take us on.”

Nancy quickly gained an appreciation for professional handlers. 

“They work so hard to keep the dogs in shape, to make sure they have the right attitude and just simply, all the driving that’s involved,” she says. “I am thankful for their dedication.

With Cornelius at the end of the lead, Griffin became the No. 1 all-systems French Bulldog in 2011. His gorgeous movement, large, square Frenchie head and sweet temperament wooed judges, Griffin earned four Bests in Show from 2010 to 2012. He took Non-Sporting Group Three at Westminster in 2013 and was the first Frenchie to earn the Platinum Grand Champion title. 

Campaigning Griffin brought Nancy more learning about dog shows and offered a higher echelon view of how things are done with a top winner.

“It was the Sosas who sold me Griffin, my first Special,” Nancy says. “They were good mentors to me for a long time and helped me a great deal. Most of all, they trusted me and were willing to sell me a dog.”

As to her handler extraordinaire, who had won Best in Show at Crufts in 2007 with a Tibetan Terrier named Willy, she says, “Larry taught me the rules and how to be a nice competitor. It’s a whole different level when you are trying for a national ranking.”

Importantly, Griffin initiated Nancy’s connections to breeders and co-breeders with relatives of his that she could support. A succession of French Bulldogs that carried forward the virtues of Griffin would follow.

Crème males became Nancy’s trademark with few departures. 

“When you picture a French Bulldog, you picture the style of a male,” she says. “You see a stocky, compact, muscular dog with big bones and a big head. Males are more competitive as a special, partly because they mirror the mindset of most judges.”

A turning point came during Griffin’s campaign with Cornelius. Nancy took notice of the terriers, hounds and toy dogs that Cornelius and his then partner, Marcelo Veras, were handling and wanted to know if she could help back their campaigns.

 “I decided if my Frenchie didn’t win, it would be fun to have another dog that could win in a different Group and give me something else to put my hopes on,” she says.

Just like that, Nancy became a partner in 2012 supporting an Afghan Hound named Rachel (GCHG Ch. Criston Enchanted), who was bred and co-owned by Christine Pinkston of Virginia Beach, Virginia. A gorgeous black mask red bitch, Rachel was the No. 2 all-systems Afghan Hound in 2012.

Starting with Griffin and Rachel, the many show dogs Nancy has backed have won significantly. Their achievements have embedded Nancy in the sport that she has come to love. Her journey with prominent winners includes the following dogs.

After Rachel, Nancy supported a lovely, dainty and elegant Papillon, Greta (GCHP Ch. Wildfire On The Record), as co-owner with breeders Angela Pickett, of Sugar Valley, Georgia, and her daughter, Cheslie Pickett Smithey, of Sugar Valley, Georgia. Ranked as the No. 2 all-systems Papillon in 2013, Greta won Best of Breed at Westminster and at the Papillon Club of America National Specialty.

Overlapping Greta’s campaign, Cornelius handled a Griffin grandson for Nancy named Mickey (GCHP Ch. Bandog’s Major League Homerun At Tx Star), ranked as the No. 2 and No. 1 all-breed French Bulldog in 2013 and 2014, respectively. She co-bred the litter with the Sosas and was co-owner with Craig Stephens, of Mandeville, Louisana, and Amy Phelan, of New Orleans.

An invitation to become a co-owner on a Skye Terrier named Charlie (GCHS Ch. Cragsmoor Good Time Charlie) opened a door to a record-setting winner. Joining co-owners Victor Malzoni and Cragsmoor Kennels in the third year of Charlie’s campaign, Nancy took part as Charlie won Reserve Best in Show at Westminster in 2015. The top-winning Skye Terrier in history with nearly 80 Bests in Show, Charlie was the No. 1 Terrier in 2014 and 2015. He also won Terrier Group First at the Garden in 2014 and 2015.

On the Frenchie side, Cornelius campaigned a Griffin son named Banner (GCHP Ch. JCRV-Klasse Warrior Raising The Banner), the winner of 11 Bests in Show and the No. 1 all-systems Frenchie in 2015 and 2016. Nancy owned Banner, who was bred by Jim Crandle, of Ocala, Florida.  A sweet, energetic Frenchie, Banner won the French Bulldog Club of America (FBDCA) National Specialty in 2015 and the FBDCA Independent Specialty in 2016. 

The next Special of a different breed was a Norfolk Terrier bred by Beth Sweigert and Yarrow Kennels named Winston (GCHG Ch. Yarrow Venerie Winning Ticket). Cornelius handled Winston the first year and a half of his campaign, and Ernesto Lara became the handler when Cornelius went to work for the AKC in 2017, handling him to  Terrier Group First at the Garden in 2018.

Nancy stayed on as co-owner throughout Winston’s three-year career with Pam Beale. Victor Malzoni supported the campaign the first two years. The spirited terrier won 41 Bests in Show and was the No. 1 all-breed Norfolk Terrier in 2017 and 2018. 

Similarly, Nancy’s Frenchie named Babe (GCHP Ch. Bandog’s A League of His Own At Tx Star), whom she co-bred with the Sosas and co-owned with Craig Stephens, started out with Cornelius. Nancy transitioned Babe to Michael and Michelle Scott when Cornelius retired from handling. A Mickey son and a Griffin great-grandson, Babe won five Bests in Show in 2017 and 2018.

As Babe’s campaign was ending, Nancy asked Justin Smithey to special a Banner son and Griffin grandson, Bang Bang (GCHG Ch. Fierces Mission Critical For Tx Star). She was the sole owner of the Frenchie male, bred by Bridget Webb of Brooksville, Florida, who captured a Best in Show in 2019. 

When Justin Smithey’s wife, Cheslie Pickett Smithey began showing a Whippet he co-bred named Bourbon (GCHP Ch. Pinnacle Kentucky Bourbon), a littermate sister to the No. 1 Hound in the country in 2018, a male named Whiskey, Nancy joined the team backing the red-and-white bitch. Graceful and elegant, Bourbon excelled to become the top-winning Whippet in history.

Bourbon’s record of winning more than 108 Bests in Show is punctuated with prestigious wins, such as Best in Show at the AKC Nartional Championship in 2020 and Reserve Best in Show at Westminster in 2020, 2021 and 2025, the latter which she won at 9 ½ years of age after having two litters. The No. 1 Hound in the country in 2019 and 2020 and the No. 2 all-breed dog in the country in 2020, Bourbon won the American Whippet Club National in 2018.

During Bourbon’s campaign, Nancy became co-owner with breeder Chad Howard, of Damascus, Maryland, of a male Frenchie named Mathew (GCHP Ch. Chaselands Mathew Moss). Justin Smithey handled Mathew to Best of Breed at the 2019 FBDCA National Specialty and 14 Bests in Show. They also won the Non-Sporting Group at the Garden in 2021, when Bourbon won Reserve Best in Show to David Fitzpatrick’s Best in Show with the Pekingese Wasabi. Nancy was the owner of two dogs in the Best in Show lineup, something that doesn’t often happen. 

After Mathew, Nancy joined good friends from dog shows and breeders Michelle Lewis, of Tacoma, Washington, and Kevin Patton, of Auburn Washington, as owners of a crème male named North (GCHG Ch. 2Stars Cold As Ice At Damari). The Best of Opposite Sex winner at the 2023 FBDCA National, North won two Bests in Show. 

Nancy departed from a crème Frenchie in 2024 when she supported a brindle male named Kiluo (GCHG Ch. Mokaode Kiluo St Honore At Tx Star) bred and co-owned by a good friend in Venezuela, Diego Cells. The male was ranked No. 2 in all-breed and No. 3 in breed. 

“Kiluo was only shown a year,” Nancy says. “He was a great little show dog.”

Most recently, in 2025, Nancy became an owner of Ivy (GCHP Ch. Pinnacle Garden Party), with breeders and co-owners Justin and Cheslie Smithey. The No. 1 Hound and No. 9 all-breed dog in the country, Ivy has earned 33 Bests in Show and over 170 Hound Group Firsts through 2025. She also won Best of Breed and Hound Group Second at Westminster and at the AKC National Championship. Ivy’s maternal grandsire is Whiskey, and Bourbon is her grand-aunt. 

‘The Right Dog at the Right Time’

Nancy Shaw is a native of Houston and proud to call the Lone Star State home. 

She lives on 40 acres in Fredericksburg, Texas, in a home built in 2022 that was designed with her French Bulldogs in mind. Knowing that Frenchies love to devour wood, Nancy had the home built with beautiful polished concrete floors, plaster walls and steel windows and doors. Artificial turf exercise yards are ideal for cleanliness and reducing allergens and mud. 

Among her honors through the years, Nancy is particularly pleased with the two Longevity Awards she received from the FBDCA for dogs that lived to 14 years of age. Griffin, her first male Frenchie and first Special, died two months shy of turning 15, and a dog named Hooch from Millie’s first litter also lived to old age. 

When it comes down to it, Nancy says, “There is no perfect dog. A lot of winning is about having the right dog at the right time. Some years are so competitive, yet others are not.”  

As to her Tx Star French Bulldog bloodline, Nancy says, “The thing about Frenchies, they are kind of heartbreaking at times. Sometimes there isn’t one show dog in a litter.”

Breeding her females to Griffin, her first male and first Special, Nancy produced “at least six champions,” she says.

“There is no recipe for a top Frenchie,” she says. “A lot may be able to finish as champions, but they are not necessarily a Special. There’s a huge difference.

“I have owned Best in Show Frenchies, but I’ve not had any in my whelping box.”

Nancy breeds about a litter a year and keeps working toward producing a Tx Star Best in Show winner.

It is a goal that keeps her going.

By the way, she says, “I am still babysitting my son’s French Bulldog. He and his family have one of my girls. I always love to get her back for a while.”