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Breeds |
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Feature of the Month Scottish Terrier |
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My Life with Scotties
As
is true with most terriers, the Sottish Terrier
comes from the British Isle, specifically
Scotland.
They were bred to go to ground and rid
castles and homes of rats and other rodents.
As
with many things in life, my involvement with
Scotties happened somewhat by chance. As a
child, my father had a friend who owned and bred
Cairn Terriers. When I was 5 years old, we
acquired a 10 week old male from a litter f 5.
We named him “Whiskers” and he was my
friend and companion for 16 years and died
shortly before I got married. After about a year
of marriage, I really wanted to get a Cairn
puppy to be part of my new family.
My wife, pregnant at the time agreed. One
weekend, we went out to look for a puppy. Young
and not knowledgeable about dog breeders, we
went to a few pet shops, but could not find a
Cairn or even a Terrier.
Finally, at our last stop, there was a
little brindle Scottie girl with pleading eyes
and aging out for a pet shop at more than 3
months old. The
pet shop waned to move her, offered us a
discount, and we took her home.
She became our
“Dame Duffie”, eventually had a liter of
6 puppies in our little apartment and lived to
be 16 ½ years old.
It
was another chance meeting with two men, who
became my mentors,
that
propelled me into the dog show world.
However, before that meeting happened, I
was told about the existence of dog shows by
Duffie’s dog groomer, a Westie breeder and
exhibitor.
My wife and I were curious and decided
that we would like to attend a dog show.
We lived in Queens at the time and wanted
a nearby show. It was March, and the groomer
suggested the Saw Mill River KC Show at the
Westchester County Center. On Sunday morning, we
arrived at the show with our baby boy tucked
into his stroller and little Duffie, with her
plaid lead walking beside us. In the early 70’s,
Saw Mill River was a benched show where you
could walk around and visit with all the dogs
set up on the benches and talk to the owners and
handlers.
As we passed through the Terrier section,
we were stopped by two young men with Scotties,
who complimented our beautiful baby boy and
asked about our Scottie. They showed us their
two Scottie boys, one a champion, who were
entered in the show and provided lots of
information about Scotties and dog shows.
They further stimulated my interest to
learn more and get involved. These two wonderful
men, Tom Natalini and Don Massaker, became my
earliest, most influential mentors and
lifelong dear friends. I showed Duffie a
few times, without much success, but I enjoyed
the experience. I still had a lot to learn about
grooming and exhibiting, and Duffie, although
cute and not bad looking, was not the best show
dog. Eventually, Duffie was bred to Tom’s
champion male and had her 6 puppies. At
this point I needed a kennel name to register
the litter. I came up with Duff-De, combining
Duff from our beloved Duffie and De from our
last name. I kept the best bitch from this
litter, but she was still not championship show
quality. Then in 1973, I bred her to a handsome
young male owned by Ron Schaeffer, a very
successful breeder-owner-exhibitor. This litter
produced my first Scotties to get points and my
first champion. The bitch, CH Duff-De Fireworks,
became a multi group and specialty winner. She
was quite lovely and a real show girl, always
fired up in the ring. Her growing reputation
among Scottie fanciers got me noticed as a
formidable young breeder-owner exhibitor. This
led to me being asked to judge sweepstakes at
Scottie specialties in Washington D.C. and
California, which in turn stimulated my interest
in judging. In 1983, I applied and was approved
to judge Scottish Terriers by the AKC, and that
was the beginning of my judging career. I
continued to exhibit in
the 1980’s and 1990’s with two males who
would both become #1 owner handled Scotties in
the country. At the same time, I continued
learning about the other terriers, applied for
and approved to judge breeds, and completed the
Terrier Group in 1991.
I continued from there, until this day,
to pursue and learn about other breeds and
groups.
From two chance
meetings to a passion in life, it has been a
great ride that I do not want to end.
Bill deVilleneuve
Dix Hills, NY |
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