Page 3 - Le Magazine Summer 2014
P. 3
From the Chief Le Mag Wrangler

It was a great summer in the Northeast this year, not too Marsha Clamp did a super job showing her for me. She
hot, plenty of rain (read that as never had to water the garden took Drifter and Zelda in the rass exam too, and she got a
since it was planted!) and plenty of Briardly goings on. May- lot out of them both. Zelda’s an old pro but this was Drifter’s
be a little too many! We are an aging club and it has become first time in any formal ring at all. He handled it very well
very expensive to travel and show dogs these days. Neither of with Marsha guiding him along. Thanks, Marsha!
those issues were of concern when the mid-west regionals were I had one more Briard along with me, he sort of
approved. The entry certainly lost at least a few dogs due to the came along to keep Dan from losing his sanity while we
scheduling. I knew my aging bones would not survive easily were away. The pup was Jimmy Mac, a 6 week old unholy
going 5 hours west to Ohio for 4 shows, then spinning around, terror. He certainly had everyone who exxed dogs in the
doing laundry and tossing everything back in the van to head back of the hotel laughing a lot. He seems to know a lot of
east to the National in eastern Massachusetts 7 hours away. canine curse words too, as in ‘if you don’t get over here and
Our nationals have become 8-9 day events so multi- pay attention to me right now I’ll ...’ fill in the blank. Jim-
plying that by the cost of the hotel room, adding the expenses my went to the herding instinct test with the big dogs and
to do Canfield and for me it was a no brainer, didn’t want to be the wonderful owner there decided he should herd ducks.
exhausted BEFORE I ever hit the National, and could NOT jus- Which he did very nicely. The hard part was trying to stop
tify the expense to go west then east overlaying my own tracks. him! Even as he was handed back to me he was trying to
So my guys got some rest before we went to the most important scramble over the rail to get to the ducks again.
show, the National. It hurt. I definitely wanted to put an entry Then we moved on to the non-time scheduled
in for Phil McNelis who judged sweepstakes in Canfield, so lost health clinics. Thanks to the Linda’s and my roomie, Don-
that opportunity. Hopefully some common sense will prevail na for help. I think we’d still be waiting there without their
and guidelines will once again matter in approving regionals. assistance. Terry Miller and I were the last ones done that
The National was sad, tragic, exhausting, fun, frustrat- night (I let her go in ahead of me).
ing, maddening, exciting, entertaining, depending on what was When all was said and done, my instincts about a
happening and what day it was. The worst was the beginning. winner was pretty close Haarlem’s litter brother, Ronan,
Meg Weitz called me from home (when she should have been was Winners Dog, Best of Winners, and Best of Breed! I’m
driving north) to tell me Haarlem had died. He was her young sure black Bro was up there at the bridge smiling at him.
lovely black male that I’d admired in the spring. My running There weren’t many dry eyes as Margaret Shappard pointed
joke was that Haarlem would take Winners Dog at the Nation- to Jonathan & Ronan for the win. It’s been 46 years since a
al and I was willing to bet my bank account on it. I felt he was class dog has won the national. In 1968, Janus des Elfes de
exactly the kind of dog the judge would fall in love with. ( I was Malouse took top honors. He repeated his feat in 1969 after
certainly on the right track!) he finished his title. In ‘68 the BCA held 3 Nationals across
The next night, I talked with Dan and thru tears he told the 3 regions. The other 2 winners were both Specials.
me our nearly 13 yr old male, Slate had a stroke and died the After the Nationals we did the 4 Wine Country
eveningbefore. What was going on? Were we jinxed this year? It shows---camping. Sorry Regina, it was sunny EVERY day!
got worse when Odile told me she’d just lost Calice, a previous Cool at night to camp, though. Definitely they were one or
National Winners Bitch! This was an awfully sad way for us to two dogs in the tent nights.
begin what is suppose to be our annual Briard celebration. This issue is jammed packed with National pix,
Eventually, Meg did decide to drive up to make it to the results, Canfield collages, results; the Springfield shows after
Rass under French specialist judge Jackie Dillies. It was worth the National results are included. We have 2 themed photo
what had to be a trip with too much time to think about what collages and 2 photo essays. The Briard eye candy is to gorge
had happened with her young dog. on!. We have a great re-print article on grooming from Ter-
I’d entered 3 dogs in the Rass too. One was kind of a ry, that should be mandatory reading for those with a new
ringer and he got a higher grade than I would have given him, Briard. There’s a story on an alternative method for getting
but hey nice things happen sometimes ! My 4 month old puppy puppies to new homes and one on Ronan and his family. We
dog is a lovely mover, and he was appreciated to the point of go- have info on the 2015 National to check out, as well. I think
ing Puppy Select. He made his show ring debut in the 4-6 mos this issue should keep you happily paging thru it for repeat-
class which was my first time trying out this class. It’s fun -- we ed views until next issue!
didn’t win but it was a fun time and I’m proud of this little guy Barbe Lynch
so didn’t mind hobbling around the ring with him. My 12-18 PS: Remember to send in your holidays’ past pix to share!
mos bitch is a handful of exhuberance, so thankfully, Marsha

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