Welcome!

Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting of the ABdFC will be held on November 5th via Zoom. 

Usually this meeting takes place at the National Specialty. According to the Bylaws, it must be conducted between the 10th of September and the 15th of November. We were unable to confirm an acceptable venue for the specialty during those dates.

Details for time and connection process will be sent out closer to the meeting. 

Please mark your calendars!

ABdFC Members,

Another Regional and National Specialty is now behind us.  Cheyenne Wyoming at the Archer Center ended up being a very long weekend with three All-Breed shows followed immediately by our Bouvier Specialties. 

I want to thank our Show Committee headed by Susan Upcraft with the help of Bronwyn Bauer for their hard work.  Putting on a National Specialty is indeed hard work and the show did go with some glitches but those were quickly resolved with Susan’s expertise. I also wish to thank the judges we had for both specialties…Debra Long Gschwender, Robert Shreve, Kathy Lake, Robin Casey and Marlene Groves.  A BIG congratulations to all the winners and continued success to all as they continue their show careers in both the USA and Canada. 

This year I was able to help at the Scent work events.  I have never done this before but having been convinced by Frank, Dreyfus, Susan and I participated for two days in the Scent Work Trials.  It was sometimes difficult as a timer to just sit there and watch the handlers and their dogs work the scent.  At times the dogs were giving the indication and the handlers were not acknowledging the scent detection.  Brought a big smile to my face just watching. 

Another highlight was the Glaucoma fund raising.  The mission was to raise $10,000 dollars for the study of a DNA marker in our Bouvier breed. While in Wyoming, Nancy Macklin and her group were able to do so thanks to many of our fantastic Bouvier members.  More information will come as this study moves forward. 

I want to speak about the Purebred Preservation Bank for the storage of our breed’s frozen semen.  This is being proposed by the AKC.  This is a very important undertaking and we as a club should be doing more to support this.  It’s about frozen semen that can be stored and used by future breeders under the guidelines that the ABdFC set.  This will help preserve our breed down the road. The development  of this program is ongoing and the guidelines are being developed by each club.  If you have an interest in this activity, please contact me directly so I can answer any questions you may have. 

After our National I have had questions from our membership about the selection process used to elect our Specialty judge.  Our breed judges are voted on by our membership as set out in our By-laws.  Per the judging ballot that you have all received in the mail, you are to vote for 3 judges from the list of submitted names.  We ask that each member rank their votes 1, 2 and 3 with your TOP CHOICE being #1, your second at #2 and your third choice as #3.  The votes are tallied using an Excel spreadsheet. Each judge has a column. As the votes are tallied, the judge you select as your first choice will be awarded one point, second choice two points and third three points. Any judges on the ballot but not selected as one of your choices will be awarded four points. When all the individual ballot choices are added to the spreadsheet each judge’s points are totaled. The judge with the lowest total is the winner. We use this preferential method because it means that the “winner” is among the top two choices of the largest percentage of voting members (usually about 73%). Which means, if you only vote for one judge as your #1 and NOT continue your selections as #2 and #3, you have altered the selection process in choosing the judge. Selecting only one judge will not increase the chances of your top choice.  The ABdFC Board has reviewed alternate ways of selecting.  Perhaps what we need to do is that any ballot that is NOT properly completed be declared as an invalid ballot.  This will allow for more concise balloting and selection of future judges.

The next item I want to discuss is the educational part of our breed.  We have a Judge’s Education Committee headed up by Mo Hieronimus-DiMercurio and she is doing a wonderful job providing information to our future judges.  But we do NOT have a Membership Educational Committee  This would be a committee dedicated in helping those in our breed understand many aspects of the Bouvier…structural issues as well as breeding information.  I am asking those members who are interested in helping with this Committee to please contact me directly.  My cell phone is:  719-661-7036.  Here are some suggestions for reading material that I have found to be helpful in both my breeds:

• Practical Canine Anatomy and Movement For Judges And Breeders

• ABC’s of Dog Breeding, What Every Breeder Should Know

Both of these books are authored by Claudia Waller Orlandi, PhD 

My best to all,
DOUGLAS JOHNSON

FROM OUR PRESIDENT

Wanted!

Longtime Bouvier journalist and show dog handler, now once again your AKC Gazette breed columnist , is eager to replace breed materials lost in the N.C.floods so I can research the best new columns. Want to buy all 9 copies of The Bouvier des Flandres Annual 1993-2002, all copies of The Dirty Beards and the Southern California Bouvier Bulletin. Members, please let me know what I can do to bring you more happy tales about our beloved Bouviers.

Thank you, Debbie Goldstein
storybookbriard@gmail.com
Cell (336) 657-7997                  

My long awaited book, Boo and Rags, the story of the famous Bouvier littermates I reunited ,without knowing they were a brother and sister, after they bounced between seven homes will be released in the next few months. Beautiful color illustrations by famous dog artist Mary Kummer (The Christmas Collie). Publishing Information forthcoming.