for full results, please see http://www.shibaclassic.com/ClassiccatResults.pdf

I drove to Ohio to attend the Shiba Classic on May 13th, arriving in the late afternoon. This year the event was held at the Baymont Inn & Suites in Maumee (never have I been so close to Cedar Point and not ridden a roller coaster!). Anyone staying here without a shiba was in for a surprise as they were EVERYWHERE. Had a nice dinner with Pat Doescher and Pam & Leah Crowley at the Italian place just steps from the entrance of the hotel. There was also a Mexican restaurant within walking distance and I’m pretty sure some people went there at some point during the weekend as well.

Judging began at 1:00pm on Friday, May 14th with Sweepstakes after a short demonstration of how to show a Japanese Dog. There were a total of 18 shiba puppies entered in the Sweepstakes, along with some Kai and a Shikoku. Unfortunately the Kai arrived too late for actual competition, but the judge, Yoshikuni Tanozaki, was kind enough to do an evaluation of them later on.

It was a warm day, but the puppies took it in stride.

This is the way the judging went:

Judging at a Nippo show is quite different from AKC. Each dog is brought into the ring individually and there is little “handling” involved. The judge spends a great deal of time observing each individual dog after the initial examination, which included patellas. There was no measuring done on the little puppies.

After the individual exams were done for all the puppies, then we moved into the class judging stage where the dogs were placed 1st through 4th and were presented with beautiful rosettes. Trophies were awarded as well for certain wins.

First class was Yochiken, Dogs (2 months to 4 months).

1st: Hi-Jinx Black Robe – Patricia Doescher
2nd: Daiko No Tendou – Yori Green
3rd: Red Wings Xerxes the Great – Patricia Hartman
4th: Kimi Ki Tomi No Gen Go Fanfair

Next class was Yoken, Dogs (4 months to 7 months)

1st: Shakori Give It Up For Kringle – Gladys Mueller
2nd: Hi-Jinx Oujin – Patricia Doescher
3rd: Topaz’s Masarro

Then it was time for the puppy bitches!

Yochiken, Bitches

1st: Daiko No Canna – Yori Green
2nd: Red Wings Xeno Warrior Princess – Patricia E. Hartman
3rd: Hi-Jinx Black Habit – Patricia Doescher

and finally Yoken, Bitches

1st: Fairwyn’s First Edition with Fanfair
2nd: Fairwyn’s Givamousakouki From Fanfair
3rd: Hi-Jinx Ouka
4th: Topaz’s Kimiko – Nick Tracano

Best Puppy was Hi-Jinx Black Robe

Best of Opposite to Best Puppy was Daiko No Canna

One Shikoku was present and was Best Puppy: Yamato Go Nidai Iwahorisou – Margaret Graham and Katja Weber.

This was the end of judging for the day. Many people were still arriving that were not competing in the Sweepstakes, and Bonnie Gibbons was one of them. One of my memorable moments was trying to talk her to the hotel using landmarks that I could see from the ring area … one word for dog show folks … GPS! She finally did make it though, although I was wondering for a while!

I have many more photos from the Classic that can be found at Facebook, I’ll put the public link (meaning you don’t have to be a member of Facebook to view them) at the bottom of this report.

That evening is a bit of a blur to me right now (writing this up in May instead of July might have helped, eh?). I can’t honestly remember much of what happened, although I think I might have had chinese takeout with Bonnie and her mom! I also remember I had to run out and find a battery for my camera as it had gone dead as a doornail! All I remember is that I didn’t get much sleep!

On Saturday, judging began at 8:00 am (zzzzzz, that’s 7:00am for me because I’m in a different time zone, I’m not sure how Bill or Yumi managed it!)

Scott Wolfe, an AKC judge, was assistant judge and he measured and checked teeth on all the dogs before they entered the ring.

Here are the results for the various classes:

Waka Inu I, Dogs (12 months to 18 months)

1st: Kobushi Justa Draco Rosso – Katrina Nielsen
2nd: Royal’s The Ring of Fire – Pamela Peterson
3rd: Koku Ryus Shadow Dragon – Leah & Pam Crowley
4th: Sullo’s Kuro Kuma’s Cub – Nicholas Tracano

Waka Inu II, Dogs (12 months to 18 months)

1st: Daiko No Kyoutenmaru Go – Yori Green & Aaron Hilt

Soken, Dogs (18 months to 2 1/2 years) 9 competing

1st: Ch. Kobushi Swords of the Samurai – Katrina Nielsen & Rachel Kennedy
2nd: Kuranishiki Go Ichikawa Zaousou – Laura Payton and Mark & Debra Peterson
3rd: Ch. Kumi One Ten Soldier – Pamela Peterson
4th: Tobishi’s Rough ‘N Ready – Tammy & Alex Szabo

Seiken, Dogs (over 2 1/2 years) 11 dogs competing in this class

and since I was drafted to show Daku and Mimi, any photos from those two dogs and their respective classes were not mine, but probably Katrina, or possibly Bonnie or Tammy. I was passing off my camera in a hurry, giving vague instructions and not paying that much attention!

1st:  Kurokoma Go Fuji Hachimansou – Yumi Hagiwara
2nd: Ch. Fanfair’s Without a Trace at Glenchester – Mark & Debra Peterson and Jack Dirksing
3rd: Kyuudou Go Minato Kouzansou – Yori Green & M. Sato
4th: Ch. Katai’s the Tenth Doctor – Mary Anne Vogt

Now onto the girls!

Waka Inu I, Bitches (7 months to 12 months)

1st: Kanani Hauoli Shiba – Bill & Kim Fletcher and Katrina Nielsen
2nd: Kimi Ki’s Katsuko of James Bond – Sharon Shulick
3rd: Tobishi’s Hot Topic at Regal – Lynea McDonald

Waka Inu II, Bitches (12 months to 18 months)

1st: Royal’s Tease Me Please Me – Robert J & Paula Norris and Pamela Peterson
2nd: Ch. Katai’s Screamin’ Mimi – Bonnie Gibbons

Soken, Bitches (18 months to 2 1/2 years)

1st: Glenchester’s Bombshell at Fanfair – Debra & Mark Peterson
2nd: Hi-Jinx Bouquet – Patricia Doescher
3rd: J-Ann’s Topaz – Jane A. Chapin
4th: Ch. Kyree Reap the Whirl Wind – Nicholas Tracano (Leasee)

Seiken, Bitches (over 2 1/2 years)

1st: Ch. Epic’s All American Girl – Carla Ross & Jennifer Eley
2nd: Hirose No Tamatsubasa Go Enshuu Hirosesou – Yori Green & M. Sato
3rd: J.A.P. Jewel Pearl Buttons – Cynthia Strehle

Shiba Inu Saikosho (Best of Breed) was the very handsome black and tan dog Kurokoma Go Fuji Hachimansou owned by Yumi Hagiwara

and Jun Saikosho was Katrina Nielsen & Bill and Kim Fletcher’s lovely Kanani Hauoli Shiba – Bill & Kim Fletcher and Katrina Nielsen

The day ended with the Kai & Shikoku judging where the results were as follows:

Shikoku Saikosho was O-Ikon’s Legends of the Fall owned by Margaret Graham.

Then the Saikosho for all three breeds competed for the Supreme Award:

Supreme was the Shiba Inu and Reserve Supreme was the Shikoku.

I actually had meant to send these reports from the hotel while I was there but the internet access didn’t seem to be very happy with all those dog people there trying to use it, so I had to wait and I’m trying to do everything in order so… here it is for historical sake anyway

Photos from the Classic can be seen at

Classic Photos Part I

Classic Photos Part II

Classic Photos Part III

Classic Photos Part IV

Classic Photos Part V

Feel free to share these links and photos, there is no charge to use them, but if you really like any of them please consider a donation to rescue if you use one. Also, if there is a photo shown that is not to the owner’s liking, I will remove them upon request.

Thanks for reading!

If anyone has seen Copper, please contact the numbers at the bottom of this article.

http://www.state-journal.com/news/article/4863825

A little lost dog named Copper is in the middle of a bureaucratic snafu stemming from a mistaken identity that involves city and county governments, Frankfort police and others.

“We don’t take coyotes,” a Frankfort Humane Society employee told a Frankfort police officer, who brought an animal later identified as Copper to the Kentucky Avenue shelter.

“If it’s a coyote, either shoot it or release it back to the wild,” Wildlife Solutions told a police sergeant who called the business for advice after Copper was turned away.

Animal activist Trudi Johnson summed up Copper’s dilemma: “This story just goes downhill and at the bottom of that hill lays the Humane Society’s inability to recognize a dog from a coyote.”

“People would say when Copper was young, she looked like a fox with her pointy ears and red coloring,” said Copper’s owner, Lori Goodlett, about her Sheba Inu, a female officially registered with the AKC.

“But no one has ever mistaken her for a coyote.”

The debacle, which could end badly, began Saturday, July 3.

Goodlett said she returned to her Cloverdale home around 3 p.m. after being away for the night to find Copper gone from her fenced yard. A veterinarian friend told her to call the Humane Society to see if Copper had been turned in.

Goodlett says the person who answered said, “We haven’t gotten a stray dog today,” and that ended the conversation.

Goodlett phoned again to leave her name, number and Copper’s breed.

“I was able to get out the breed of the dog, but the person reiterated they didn’t have one and once again hung up.”

Goodlett says she’s unsure how Copper could have escaped since the gate of the chain-link fence has a clip that has to be released to open it. She also checked to see if Copper had wiggled under the fence but found nothing.

“I’ve had her 11 years, and she has never jumped the fence.”

On Sunday, Goodlett posted missing signs along with Copper’s picture around the west Frankfort neighborhood.

Monday, Goodlett said she was gone with her children to King’s Island for most of the day.

A Frankfort Police officer patrolling Cloverdale saw Goodlett’s posted signs and took one to the downtown station.

According to Maj. Fred Deaton, Copper was indeed the dog picked up by a police officer.

The veteran officer and his captain drove to the Goodlett home and related the chain of events.

“Honestly, if the police had not come to my house I would have not known any of the events,” Goodlett said. “They have been so forthcoming and offered so much help.”

A Frankfort police officer had been summoned to a Gramma Drive address on Saturday morning to take a dog from a woman’s yard. The officer put the dog in his car and waited until after noon when the Humane Society opened and took the dog there.

According to Deaton, the dog did not wear any identification or a collar. However, he said he doubted if the animal were a coyote it would have gone peacefully with the officer.

Animal Control Officer Mark Pardi, who normally responds to calls, was on vacation that weekend.

The officer left the dog at the Humane Society only to be called back and told the animal had to be removed from the shelter because it was against the law to shelter a coyote.

The police officer, currently on military leave, refused to take the dog back.

His captain, Ray Kinney, was called and was told by the Humane Society Director Regina McDaniel that the coyote had to go, according to Deaton.

In the meantime the police, since the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources was closed, contacted Wildlife Solutions, a private business, and were told a coyote was considered a nuisance and could be shot or returned to the wild.

The officer took Copper to the open fields behind Home Depot, removed her from her carrier and let her go.

According to Goodlett, the captain and the veteran officer at her door were upset with the chain of events.

“They continuously apologized, and they gave me a computer disc with all the pictures that had been taken to document the event.”

“Fortunately,” Deaton said, “The officer had the foresight to photograph the dog.”

On Tuesday, Goodlett was joined by several police officers in a field search behind Home Depot. Pardi, back from his vacation, also went looking for Copper and set cages in hopes of capturing her.

Deaton says Kinney returned a second time “off the clock” to continue looking for Copper.

“I in no way blame neither the officer nor the city police,” Goodlett said. “The officer tried to do the right thing. Throughout this whole matter, the police department has been forthcoming, honest and deeply apologetic.”

Goodlett does blame the Humane Society.

“How anyone there could have mistaken Copper for a coyote is beyond me. If nothing else every employee needs training in breed recognition. They also need training in responding to the public; the handling of my two phone calls was totally unprofessional and inappropriate.”

Goodlett said she has also made a trip to the Humane Society in hopes of at least getting an apology.

“That visit went about as badly as my phone calls.”

As it turns out, according to a police report on the matter, Goodlett’s calls to the shelter looking for Copper fell into the same time frame that the police officer was there with her.

There’s another dimension to the story. Copper was purchased years ago as a friend to Goodlett’s other Sheba Inu, Trigger. He’s now 15, with a serious heart murmur and, according to Goodlett, mourns for his little lost friend.

“Both dogs split time between being inside and outside. But when I leave for just an overnight, they remain outside, since Trigger has grown incontinent. Neither of them has ever left the fence unless a gate has been left open.”

Goodlett has since talked with the woman on nearby Gramma Drive who called the police. She told Goodlett she had no idea how the dog wound up inside her fence. She also told Goodlett because she too was leaving town, she did not want to leave Copper fenced in her yard.

Second District Magistrate Phillip Kring says there’s a breakdown in the system.

“Normally if Mark (Pardi) is out of town, the county’s animal control officer is called,” Kring said.

According to Kring that officer is attached to the sheriff’s office.

“Plus we (Fiscal Court) pay an assistant. Someone had to be on call.”

Kring said to his knowledge Fiscal Court does not have any oversight of the shelter nor does it require accountability from it.

“We pay the animal control officers and give the Humane Society roughly $50,000 a year to take the animals that are picked up in the county.”

Otherwise, according to Kring, the Humane Society is a private non-profit that has its own board of directors and hires its own manager.

City Commissioner Sellus Wilder said the city provides $55,000 to the Humane Society out of its police budget.

“The city needs to hold the Humane Society more accountable for the public funds they receive,” Wilder said.

According to Joe Johnson, a board member of the Humane Society, to his knowledge the board is totally unaware of the situation that occurred in early July.

“We just held a board meeting Saturday and none of this was brought to our attention.”

John Forbes, board president, said he stands behind the decision made by the manager.

“If our manager (McDaniel) assessed the animal to be a coyote, then it is against the law for it to be at the shelter. We rely on the people who work there,” Forbes said.

Trudi Johnson, the animal activist, sent a letter to the county judge, fiscal court members, mayor and city commissioners advocating that both bodies request a designee be placed on the Humane Society board to provide accountability.

“I advised them of the latest incident that has occurred and hope they will be responsive to this latest situation,” Trudi Johnson said.

“There was no reason for this situation to occur, except someone did not recognize a dog from a coyote. That is a stretch for people who are supposed to be professionals.”

Johnson said there is a local group organizing who will do another search in the area behind Home Depot.

“I know in my head Copper is gone for good, but in my heart I would like to think some nice family found her and took her in,” Goodlett said.

Anyone who might have any information about Copper may call Goodlett at (502) 226-2580 or Frankfort Police.

A lot of shibas were headed toward the Nippo Classic (separate report on that to come) in Ohio, so it’s not surprising that there isn’t much news to report here.

However, on May 15, 2010 at Macon KC (2) Judge James Frederiksen awarded a Group IV to Ch. Mo’s Grand Thunderstorm who is only part-way through one heck of a streak of at least one placement every weekend.

I love this photo of Jeremy and Storm in the BIS ring getting good luck pats and kisses from Jeremy’s daughters.

And from Patricia our reporter to the North in Canada wrote: On May 14th at the Medicine Hat Canine Association show in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Ch. Tanasea’s Starbuck O’Timberfox got a group 4th under judge Cheryl Meyers Egerton.

Dare I mention that both these boys go back to Mickey in their pedigree? Hey, it’s my blog I can guess I can

Congratulations to this week’s winners and as I said above, I will have a separate report on the Nippo Classic!

These shows could have been so nice with some better weather … Showsite is a typical older fairgrounds in Jefferson, Wisconsin. What I really didn’t like (because it was affecting MY movement) was the fact that the rings were very uneven. The building was pretty dark too.

Anyway, Friday was Badger KC, judge was Mr. Ray Filburn. We actually had some points which is pretty unusual for a Friday show. Best of Breed was Tammy Szabo’s Rowdy, Ch. Tobishi’s Rough N’Ready, Best of Winners was Trouble, Katai’s Trouble with a Capital T, Winners Bitch was Karen Drentlaw’s Bred by girl Te-Shi Desirae. Holli Levine’s new B/T boy Edward, Hi-Jinx Black Sirius was Best Puppy. Needed to hang around all day so that I could show Edward in Puppy Group, and despite it being quite a huge (and full of nice NS puppies) group, Edward managed a Group III! I do not know who the group judge was for puppy group.

 

 

 

 

 

The following day was Janesville KC and our judge was Susan St. John Brown, a basenji and ibizan hound breeder originally. She is a provisional judge I believe and did a nice job of sorting through a major entry in shibas. BW, WD to finish his champion was Monica Flynn’s Finn (say THAT fast three times) also known as Hi-Jinx Kenzou. Now Monica can train him in obedience and agility!  Also receiving a major from the BBE class was J-Ann’s Exotic Beauty, a lovely black and tan girl that I haven’t seen since she was just a little thing. She really is a beauty but I can’t remember her call name, I think it has something to do with a television show Thank goodness for Facebook, I looked at Jane’s profile and found her name is Ziva. Ziva also placed in the BBE group, a 4th place. Tammy’s Rowdy was once again Best of Breed, Rowdy is aka Ch. Tobishi’s Rough N’ Ready.

 

 

The last day was also Mother’s Day and a beautiful day so no coats for us and it seemed like Pat Doescher’s whole family was there, and maybe they were! It was a nice day for Pat as her Orange, Hi-Jinx Clementine was WB for a major. I really like her, and I was very worried that Trouble would not manage BW (oh yeah, he was WD) over her, but our judge Norman Kenney gave him Best of Breed, so no worries there.  I might have been even more nervous if I had known that Orange was also in season! Pat generously offered trophy baskets for BOB & BOS and the other shibas have enjoyed helping Trouble eat the biscuits.

We stayed for group, but unfortunately there no placements for shibas anywhere around here on this weekend as far as I could tell, but at least Edward and Ziva did us proud in the Puppy & BBE groups earlier.

 

 

 

 

 Photo above is Trouble, couldn’t get the captioning to work!