ASTC
National Report
Day 4
We awoke early in anticipation
of an exciting day to come...first up were the Juniors
and two young talented stars gave a handling clinic
with their expertise. Chelcee
Myer and Kailey Smith competed with each other for
the honor with Kailey coming out on top today. The
decision was very difficult as both girls were so
evenly matched and proficient.
The 'Main Event"
for us is the regular classes at the National. Judge
Jacqueline Stacey who handled many top Shih Tzu
during her career gave us a very competent assessment
of the dogs. Her technique was instructional for
the Judges Study Group doing ringside mentoring
with her efficient judging, ring control and examination
of the dogs. She proved that you can do a thorough
examination of a long haired breed without destroying
the coat. Our crew had a fantastic day winning several
large classes including Wendy Howard owner handling
her bitch to Best of Winners and Best Puppy, Jody
winning one of the larger and 'favorite' classes
at the National which is the 6-9 puppy bitches and
Wendy P. showing a beautiful black and white bitch
co-owned with Tracy Murray to and Award Of Merit.
Sandi Martin also went Reserve Winners Dog with
a 6-9 black & white puppy male co-bred by Wendy,
Richard and Jody. We also won both the Stud Dog
and Brood Bitch Class with a father daughter combo.The
complete winners are listed in the winners section.
The trophies were lovely
hand painted plates for each placing as well as
figurines for the major awards. Dan also presented
Richard with a thank you gift of a Shih Tzu figurine
holding a microphone in his paws and gavel in it's
mouth in appreciation of his being the auctioneer
at the dinner. This gift along with the trophies
for Stud Dog and Brood Bitch and a plate are pictured
below. The trophies were done by 'Originals by Yvonne',
Yvonne Badoni from Texas.
After the necessary
photos we finally returned
to our room to celebrate a very productive day.
Richard was off to the 'Ballroom' to set up for
the Awards banquet as he had prepared a 'first ever'
for the ASTC power point presentation of 240 slides
with photos of "Dogs and People from the Past"
as well as a slide presentation of all the Annual
Award Winners for 2004.
Cocktails were set
to start at 6:30 pm and the dinner at 7:00 pm. Richard
began setting up the generally reliable lap top
and LCD projector but unfortunately was having no
luck getting the projector to display the slides....At
6:50 pm Richard hopped in his car and drove over
to the local Office Depot, bought a new projector
and returned, set it up and had it running by 7:10
pm. This was to be the only major challenge of the
week and Richard gave a great sigh of relief when
everything was up and running. The attendees thoroughly
enjoyed watching the photos of the great dogs and
people of the past flash up on the screen. After
the typical banquet meal of either chicken or beef
President, Sally Vilas began the awards portion
of the evening with a welcome to all, followed by
comments by Pat Martello who made some positive
remarks about the dogs exhibited to her. Unfortunately,
Judge Jackie Stacey had to fly to the Affenpincher
National and was unable to attend....she did leave
a written commentary which was read by Sally. This
was followed by a roll call of participants from
all the local clubs across the country and those
visiting from other countries.
Next the Awards for
the 2004 dogs were given out as well as the Register
of Merit (ROM) winners. This was followed by the
presentation of a new Award to be awarded at each
National called the "Wenrick Award", which
was offered by Wendy, Richard & Jody Paquette
for the Most Sportsmanlike Participant at the National.
The award will honor the participant who best demonstrates
sportsmanlike behavior at the National. The person
should best exemplify conduct most becoming and
illustrate the ideals of sportsmanship, including
fairness, civility, honesty, unselfishness, responsibility,
respect for judges, show officials and fellow exhibitors.
The winner should accept their wins and losses with
grace and humility. Ballots were distributed at
the National and the winner voted on by their peers.....this
years winners was none other than our show chair
person Dan Haley.The new slide presentation of all
the winners added more significance to the wins
as each of the dogs were featured in the slide show
as they received there awards.
The next part of the
evening was the Annual Auction with proceeds going
towards the Charitable Trust. Auctioneer Richard
had collected 12 'Baby' photos of members and dressed
up the evenings festivities with a Baby Guessing
Contest. Everyone was given a ballot with the baby
photos and had to guess who they were with the winner
receiving a free full page ad in the Bulletin. The
entertaining evening was enjoyed by all with Troy
Dargin winning the Baby Guessing contest and a hugh
sum of money being raised for the Trust. Anyone
wishing a disk of the 240 slides of the Dogs and
People Of The Past, The Award Winners and The Baby
Contest can purchase one from the club for $15 by
sending a cheque to Bonnie Prato.
