December 15, 2015

 

What a week we’ve had during The Eukanuba National in Orlando Florida. The Catskill Pumis and their close cohort, Kaffogo Agyag have entered five shows and collected three BOB, one BOS, five BBE, five Best 6-9 months old Puppy Dog, three Best 6-9 months old Puppy bitch titles and several additional placements. Yay…!

We’ve been coming to show in conformation to The Eukanuba National for four years. This year we had the largest Catskill Pumi turnout, with seven Pumis and we are proud of them all, especially the three pups from our C-litter, Csobanka, Csinszka and Csoma aka Badger.  By the time the Pumi enters the herding group next July, they will be the sharks of the conformation ring.

What has changed for the Pumi at Eukanuba over the years? Honestly not too much. Still inconsistent, sometimes substandard judging (I am simply puzzled why a judge need to ask the handler at the table, “how is the correct tail setting…?”) This is not to take away anything from the winners’ achievements, however, after ten years it is obvious that judges have lots more to learn about the Pumi.

Another thing I noticed that some handlers kept initiating chit-chats with the judge while stacking their dogs on the table.  I could never figure it out for what reason? I wonder whether they have had an ulterior motive…? Also, there have been some friendly fires in the ring (what happened to sportsmanship…?) and  of course the usual ringside tackling.

 

After ten years of Pumi history, in the United States, I am still not sure why dogs with obvious disqualifying conformation need to be shown. Trust me, I love them all equally, but some just do not qualify for the conformation ring. In my opinion, it reflects bad on the breed and all  breeders. If you remember my blogs from Finland two years ago, I noted that reputable Finnish breeders would rather not show if they do not have show quality dogs to enter.

The judging during the actual Eukanuba National, I think, was quite disrespectful to all Pumi exhibitors in the Miscellaneous Breed’s ring on Sunday. The judge, Mr. Murphy, showed up 45(!) minutes late and then sorted through the breed in seconds without properly examining the dogs. He did not allow time for stacking the dogs on the table and did not look most dogs’ structure,  barely the bites. He did not let the dogs show in full circle and on the diagonal in the ring in order to catch up with the time. (Even if he has the right to do that  according to the rule book, hey this was The Eukanuba National where each dog who showed up there deserves its “fifteen minutes” to have a fair chance to be fully examined and judged.)  Another annoying surprise and significant delay was that in the “Open Bitch Class” where there were only two bitches in the judge’s book out of the five entered the show. It took additional long minutes to sort out the entry list.

 

The highlight of the chaotic judging was, when entering the ring for the 6-9 months Puppy Bitch Class, the judge walked up to me during the first going around before even reaching to the table to stack Csinszka(!) and declared her as the winner of the 6-9 months old “Puppy Dog” Class.… (!?!?!) He looked quite confused when I told him that this was the 6-9 months Puppy Bitch NOT  Puppy Dog Class. He did not care too much, simply brushed it off saying, “I guess I am a bit confused…” I wonder what the other handler felt behind me in the ring.  Those of you who missed it, Mr Murphy was also the center of discussion last year on FaceBook when judging the Pumi at one of the open shows here at The Eukanuba National.

But enough of the drama and congratulations to last day’s winners, Aida Dungan with Pushkin, BOB and Ginger Butler with Lyric BOS!

The week went fast and I think we did not realize how much we worked to groom the dogs for the shows and properly exercise them daily at Cocoa Beach and Lake Baldwin Park  to pull through the week. We also visited our Orlando Florida Pumi, Catskill Csaszar aka “ZEKE” and his family.

 

Our weeklong nightly culinary adventure has also been a wild ride. Korean food scored the lowest on Tuesday. It was extremely hot (spicy) and relatively tasteless food, we had a long wait at the table and an awful waiter. Dining at the“Outback”  on Wednesday, was a great testament to everything that is wrong with chain restaurants. I was also disappointed with the Turkish restaurant when comparing it to other Turkish places from the past. Even though the veranda of the restaurant was cozy, some smokers certainly “smoked” our experience. The Thai and Indian dinners were our default cuisines Friday and Saturday. Our “last supper” with almost all Pumi people present was a final and long awaited big bang at the cozy Cafe TuTu Tango. We got together to celebrate Marylin Funke’s birthday and the closing of Eukanuba week in Orlando. We got great food, great atmosphere and fast and pleasant servers. TuTu Tango was simply a nice hip restaurant with music and art works by new and emerging artists.

Over the week, we have tightened our friendship with Marilyn Funke, owner of Catskill Csobanka, who has shown Kaffogo Agyag and won BOB at the KCUSA Open show on Friday. She also showed Catskill Csinszka on two occasions and she was also very helpful in changing dogs, and entry numbers between the different classes.  Thank you Marilyn!

Marika Foreman has also been there for us helping whenever she could each moment of the week, just like family. Thank you Marika and congratulations to Bikfic’s two BOB wins!

Paul Foreman’s faithful photographing of the five days, provided all Pumi aficionados here in the U.S. and abroad a chance to sit at the virtual ringside and experience the shows each day.

One of the nicest persons we got to know closer this week, was Aida Dungan who won BOB of The Eukanuba National” with her Pumi, Pushkin on Sunday. She is funny, pleasant and always cheerful. Hope to see you soon Aida.

I cancelled Direct TV last year because I barely watched it. Staying in Orlando, I could watch my favorite show again, put up by Nurse Jackie. Boy, I did miss her…  Did I really…?

Next year this time, the Pumi will already be part of the AKC “major league,” in the herding group. Hopefully it will be judged accordingly.