THE RITUAL HAS BEGUN
Over a year ago calendars marked the date. Travel plans were starting to take shape. Who were the judges? What type of dogs do they like? Who will
I enter? Ratchet up the training, the grooming. Above all, the excitement starts to build and doesn’t stop until you walk into the ring. For all attending…
the breeders, exhibitors, judges and spectators, it’s all one and the same. It’s our Super Bowl and World Series all rolled into one.
Our annual showcase for St. Bernards. The St. Bernard Club of America National Specialty has been going on since 1935 when the first BIS was won by the
great Ch Rasko vd Reppisch. Except for a couple of years during WWII, one year of no show in ‘62 and recently for a stubborn virus, this event over time
achieves our Breed’s history.
As a breeder you bring your best. It’s the annual measuring caliper we use to show progress in our breeding programs. You attend with eyes open looking
for that next key stud dog to breed your all-important bitch to. And even when you don’t win, as Lou Mallen would say: “You won the crowd”. That helps
on the drive home. Our Breed’s progress or lack of, is on center stage and under the spot lights.
This year we have a very hard working, experienced, show committee led by Doug Fisher. A great show venue and another beautiful logo by Marty
Thurman because there is no one better. It’s always amazing to see all the club members that volunteer to make the show a success.
A Special Note: This show will be dedicated to Horst and Winnie Vogel of High Chateau Kennels, who spent so much of their lives studying, improving
and loving this great breed of dogs. Historical fact…Horst judged this grand event eight times - more than anyone in history. One more than his mentor
Arthur Hesser.
There will be a program scheduled on Thursday evening that will hi-light just some of the influential breedings coming from the High Chateau mountain
top in New York. Plenty of pictures and memories from those that made those breedings and why. Space will be limited so sign please up early and hope
to see you there!
And so the ritual goes on… a French writer once said “the more things change - the more they stay the same”.
Bob Sykora
