Our Shiloh Shepherd Specialty was scheduled for 10 AM on Saturday morning. Lisa arrived early to set everything up. Karen and I arrived later because I thought that I was just going to visit with everyone--surprise! I was immediately roped into stewarding! Ouch! Talk about being out of practice and tripping over my own feet.  Thankfully I managed to immediately locate a great assistant--my three year old grandson! He did a great job of "running" the right ribbons out to the judge.

We had a total of 18 ISSR Shiloh Shepherds in attendance, but a few of them didn't get there in time to register for our show. Jan Lutsic did not arrive with her three Shiloh crew until it was almost time for the NCA show to start but even so everyone had a great time of fellowship under the shade trees! Although most of the dogs preferred to visit the little kiddies pools!

Everyone had a great time during and after the Specialty, just like we do at all of our shows. Betty was even kind enough to provide the participants with a free handling class, in the shade, after the show was over!

Due to the horrendous heat that day, hardly anyone wanted to spend all of their time in the sun snapping pictures but here's a few that Karen managed to take. Be sure to note the large field the ring was set in--with no shade! You may also want to notice the "set up area" (again, no shade) that our participants were directed to.  IMHO this is a good example of poor planning, especially when there was a wonderful shaded area available.

Newbies in the ring get pointers from the judge!
While the rest of the group is waiting for their turn to run-run-run!

Then it was time to get back to the pool--or get your winner's pictures taken! While the kids ran for the ice cream truck!

Manny	Hans	Meg

While everyone waited for the NCA show to start, we all stayed close to the creek, enjoying the nice shady area!

Then it was time for the big event! I had expected hundreds of dogs to start arriving after our specialty but it was becoming obvious that we had almost as many Shilohs there as they had with all of the other breeds combined! No wonder Col. Pede had chosen to betray the ISSR by allowing the slivers to attend his shows! He wanted the entries! Well, even though two of them did show up, he lost a lot of potential ISSR entries because many of our people chose not to attend after that announcement! Those that had already pre-entered (prior to his change of heart) came just to support the ISSR, while others traveled extremely long distances just to attend our specialty and refused to enter the NCA show even though they stayed long enough to observe their first (and I think for most)  their last NCA show!

Meg and my grandsons chose to watch this "show" from a nice shady spot! While Charley's comments will just remain private between us!

Judge Mona Shaw was finished judging the all breed dogs and then it was time for the Shilohs to line up.  Please note the "non" Shiloh dog at the end.

Even though it was extremely hot, our dogs ran amazingly well!

Samson Zeus Storm

While the sliver dog kept his tail up and hooked as expected!

Yet whom do you think the judge picked?

Samson--the biggest mature male with the nice small ears and solid structure and no disqualifying faults ..... or?

Well, I guess she didn't have too many choices left by then! She had already eliminated all of the good ISSR Shilohs when choosing her BOB!

	What a shame! To have an unregistered dog representing our entire breed at the first NCA show that our group attended! Worst yet, as per our Breed Standard, this dog should have been disqualified, not given a BOB ribbon! Don't get me wrong. I liked this dog when I saw him at Cherry Blossom last year, because he reminds me a lot of Pax, but, as a breed we have to focus on trying to minimize
major genetic faults and the gay-hook tails are clearly a "biggie" that must be monitored carefully! I guess that judge didn't bother to read my tail article!

Obviously the "dark side" aka "slivers" don't care about genetic faults because they are raving about this win on their forums. Oh well, just proves that they don't share the same vision as we do for this breed! Thankfully Sunday morning's judge was much wiser and chose Storm (a smooth coat) over the sliver dog, after she explained the faults that she discovered while judging him.  Three cheers for Judge Debra Dayton! I am sure there will be more wise judges like this in our future!

As a final note, Saturday did not end without something good happening! Since we were already there, Derek and Josh both wanted to compete in the Junior Handling class. This was Derek's first experience in the ring, and I have say that I was super impressed! I love to see kids handling their dogs at shows--it makes for a much nicer weekend! The only problem was that Josh could not handle his dog (Meg) because she was still in heat and Derek's dog was already acting like a love starved teenager begging for her attention. This could have led to an unexpected event occurring right in the ring! At the last moment Mike was kind enough to offer his dog Storm for Josh to handle, and off they went!

Great job, boys! 

Sunday's reports came to me by phone.  Most of the ISSR people had not pre-entered the NCA show after they heard that the slivers might be coming, so those folks chose to go home! The heat was just unbearable, and none of us wanted to support the NCA after the shabby way that we were treated! We made our stand by not putting any more money into their pockets!  Col. Pede made his call, and he got 2 slivers to enter, but he lost a LOT of the ISSR Shiloh Shepherds that were willing to enter the Sunday shows!

Nevertheless, Mike (from Ohio) still competed in the morning show, and Sheila (from Rhode Island) chose to stay just to give the sliver dog a run for his money with her 6 month old pup ... and boy did she show him up!!  Can you picture a young bitch like Joy beating a fully matured male??  Well she DID!!  The sliver dog went home with his head hanging low, and his tail tucked as it should have been!!

WHAT A GREAT VICTORY FOR THE ISSR SHILOH SHEPHERDS!!!!!!!!! YeeeeeHaaaaaa!

I would like to thank all of the great folks that came from a variety of states, in this brutal heat, to support the ISSR!!  Your dedication to the future welfare of this breed will not go unnoticed!!   Please note: All names are alphabetically listed.

Lisa, Josh, Matt Barber (from NY) with Megan
Wendy and Dan Barcus (from NY) with Outlaw
Chris and Laura Belair (from CT) with Hans and Titan
Anne Codman  (from MA) with Shane
Raymond and Pam DuRussell (from MI) and Samson
Corinne Filipski with Charley
Joyce Galonski (from RI) with Hope
Mike Kerr (from OH) with Storm
Jan and Dave Lutsic (from NY) with Garth and Trish
Sheila Masse (from RI) with Joy
Rachel Meyer (from CT) with Shilo
Pat Natale with Sierra
Stephanie and Derek Schad (from CT) with Zeus
Lyn Segee (from NY) with Willow
Sam and Terry Trombino (from VT) with Manny
Paul Van Scott (from NY) with Smokey
 

We would also like Marcia and Diane for coming to give us an extra hand and Judge Betty Peplin for the wonderful job she did at our specialty!

This article, written by Tina M. Barber, exclusively for the Shiloh Shepherd Learning Center, was published in June 2005.