Deland Fall 2009
Wonderful Weekend
Wonderful Weekend In Many Ways Deland Fall 2009
I am writing this memo to most of my owners to congratulate each and every one of you for a job well done.
In addition, in order to bring you up to speed of the latest developments at the dog shows I have added some history and some behind the scenes information. Since most of you are still relatively new to the ins and outs of the dog show world and in particular to the Labrador ring, I felt that I needed to share some of the in-depth goings on of the Florida 2009 Labrador Retriever ring.
First and foremost the level of competition going back to 1985 has never been keener!!!!!
The stalwart of the breed, those that have been around 15 years or more have gone out and invested heavily in outside lines to be able to compete against Chambray. They have changed their methods of operations in order to keep up with our winning ways of the last 15 years, so their dogs have gotten much better and more competitive.
- These Florida kennels include some that have been around as long or longer than Chambray has been showing, names like Signal Hill, Sandledge, and Birdsong breeding Labs since the early 70’s
- with others such as Brighton, Cornerstone, Tailwind, Feather Downs, have been around since the 1980’s
- then we have the newer breeders & exhibitors that came in the last 10 years, Tecate, Millstream, Middlebury, Impulse and others
The biggest difference is not the old timer breeders mentioned first nor the second ones having been around since the mid 80's, the biggest difference and some of the most competitive exhibitors in Florida are the relatively new owners that have gone out to the top breeders in the country and have bought their way to the top. Never, ever before had this been so wide spread, to have half a dozen individuals acquire dogs from the top kennels in the country and bring them in as full grown adult dogs to compete against the local Florida-bred dogs such as ours.
So not only are we competing against well-known Florida breeders, we are competing against the current fad of purchasing full-grown dogs from the top kennels in the country so that the level of competition has risen exponentially. Looking at this past weekend’s catalog you will find the following recognizable national kennels represented.
· Devonshire
· Wiscoy
· Rockycreek
· Silronray (European)
· Mar-Moye
· Louberry
· Centrecourt
With dogs sired by these top kennels as well.
1. Chabalis
2. Boradors
3. Valleywood
4. Blackthorn
5. Sylvan Meadows
6. Bonaventure
7. Brookland
8. Lobuff’s
9. Sandylands
10. Gateways
11. Paradocs
12. Belquest
13. Wilcare
14. Talimar
15. KaiDens
16. Hyspire
17. Blackwing
18. Ghoststones
19. Oseys
20. Aquarius
The ante has been raised to levels never seen before in the Labrador ring in Florida. The competition is keener and the number of professionals handling dogs has doubled in the last 3 years!
So where do we stand with Chambray Labradors and the Labrador Retriever Owner’s Community?
For a breeder, exhibitor, handler and even an owner, the measure of success at a dog show is winning! There is no two ways about it, when you win you are considered successful. If you constantly show up at a dog show with dogs in tow and seldom win a class, then the opposite is the talk of the town.
This past weekend at Deland Florida was a very successful weekend for the Chambray Program in many ways. Of course having 2 of our dogs win points, major points at that was awesome, however we have had weekends where our dogs won everything point to be won and of course I was thrilled as thrilled could be then.
So how can this past weekend begin to come close to some of those blowout weekends of last year and years before? Well, it has more to do with the overall quality of all the Chambray dogs showing. It has to do with the promise for the future that each and every dog that is part of our training, conditioning and handling program has to offer for the up and coming shows.
For the very first time in 25 years of competitive showing, I believe that any of our dogs is capable of winning on any given day! I honestly think that every dog that was there this weekend that is part of our program can and will win points at most of the remaining shows in 2009.
The quality of the dog is something that the breeder takes credit for, however it is up to the owners to provide the correct environment of training and conditioning for the dog to be presented to the absolute best at a dog show and that is where all of you come in.
I use the shows to gauge where each dog is at in conformational quality and if anything can be done to make the dog look better in the ring through training, conditioning and through proper diet. I then share that information with each of my owners and it then becomes their job to achieve those goals that I set for each dog.
So, it first starts out with me as the breeder to produce the very best in conformation, then it passes on to the owners to provide the proper show training and the conditioning to make the dog competitive against all those other dogs that may be in a total show environment with professional handler/trainers. Once each owner has done their part of training and conditioning of their dog, it then comes back to us to take that dog and handle it to the very best presentation possible.
I can tell each of you that is receiving this email “Mission accomplished”.
Yes, if you are receiving this memo in addition to the individual ones that I have already sent most of you a huge “CONGRATULATIONS!!!!” is in order.
I was totally blown away by almost every one of our dogs this past weekend. We had 11 weeks off from the West Palm Beach shows back in July to work with our dogs and work most of you did!
The difference was night and day for most of the dogs, both in conditioning and in behavior.
What an incredible job was done with Cher and Scarlet!!!! Although each had won points in the summer shows, we kept getting comments from the judges about how “plump” each was, including the judge that gave Scarlet points at WPB. Boy oh boy did each of them look like a different dog at Deland!!
Both girls had the “Wow factor”! Great job to the Jakeways and to the Ottos to step up to the plate and do what it takes to get them where we need them to be! They were given an assignment and they came through with flying colors. What a pleasure it was for us handlers to walk in the ring with dogs that are already winners and that now have an added winning factor!
This puts these 2 girls in the Top 10 out of the 30+ females currently showing that make up the Florida female’s roster from all those Florida breeders and from all those that have been purchased to show down here.
Also in that Top 10 tier is Ellie and Stella. Although they looked very competitive back in July, both owners have done their jobs in conditioning and training as prescribed and this weekend they both were in the mix for the points at the top. Although Stella came in second both days to Scarlet, the ringside comment from handlers and breeders alike were hugely favorable for her as well, so a big high five for Dave and Deborah and for Val too is in order. Keep up the awesome work you guys are doing as the fruits of your labor are on their way.
We saw 1 year old Hanna win the Bred By Class on Saturday and then take the points, so we know that conformational-wise she is up there with the best. Rosie and I know that with a bit of enthusiasm and spunk she could be in the Top 10 tier on any given day.
Nikki has been showing well from the very tough Open Black class and I feel that she too is in the mix of the points at any given weekend. Although we don’t handle Nikki, she comes to Chambray Acres very frequently for training with her owner Lydia.
There was a huge difference in Little Bella from July to this weekend. The work that Jessie did while she stayed with us, the week that Rosie took her home and worked with her and the work that Geraldo has been doing with her lately showed up well at this past weekend at Deland. There is no reason that this little star can not be in the fray for points in the months to come.
What a great comeback for Lola and Prissy! They both looked like they belonged out there with the 30+ show females. At one point in the recent past I felt that neither of them would make it to the show ring. What a great job that both Chapman families have done for taking both as projects and converting them into dogs that I am proud to claim as a breeder. Prissy had been placed as a show dog, but was abandoned after 6 months and came back to us with some issues. Matt & Kathrine Chapman decided that they wanted to take her in and work with her. Lola needed to be placed for other reasons and John and Karen stepped in and took her in. Together both families have pooled in their resources and have brought both of these lovely ladies back to the spotlight. I feel that both will have their day in the ring as they become more confident and show off their great attributes.
Our only chocolate showing is Penny owned by the Galli family and it was very evident that her owners have been working with her and attending classes with her up in Satellite Beach. Penny is also showing as 9-year old Avery’s junior handling dog.
Although Jewel has come back rather well from maternity duty and showed well, she will be called upon again to produce another litter for the Partners Program, so Deland might be her last show for the next 6 months.
The boys also showed leap and bound improvements taking some of them into contention in the Top 10 tier of the males.
Bailey, Cadbury, Cane and Louie are the front runners of our males at the moment. Each made huge improvements in development from the July West Palm beach shows. Bailey had suffered through most of 2008 with poor coat and was not in the mix for a large part of the year. Cadbury, Cane and Louie are at that awkward age of development (22 months old) where they no longer are teenagers, but have not yet filled in as true adults. All 4 were very competitive in their classes, with Bailey winning a first both days. Cane took his class one day and Cadbury and Louie each placed high in the tough Open Yellow class. With continued training and conditioning we expect all of them to continue to push for top honors and start to bring in the points at the up and coming shows.
We also showed Chief this past weekend and he came home with us to stay for a while. Sadly, Ralph’s health has forced the Stroups to part with him and he will be re-homed with one of our newest owners Humberto Calvo. I will be working with Humberto to train and condition Chief and hopefully keep him as part of our handling roster in the future.
Cash is now showing from the tough AM Bred Class and has come a long ways in development. He is really in the most awkward stage as a teenager, yet has to compete against much older dogs in the AM Bred. With some more maturing and show training, we feel that he should be in the mix of things by the end of the year if not sooner.
A big surprise is Sunny, as he has grown rather quickly, yet has stayed together exceptionally well for a large-boned pup. His performance in the ring has been excellent so far, yet because of his size we have decided to up the ante with him with his training and conditioning which we normally hold off until they reach at least a year old. All this in anticipation of his moving up into the very tough Bred By Exhibitor class upon his first birthday in December.
This past weekend many of you met the Hedrick family with their black male puppy Salty, who came from Centre Court Labradors in Tennessee. They joined us at the training class and now are part of our Labrador Owner’s Community. Not only does Salty come to the Thursday night training classes, they also bring him to Chambray Acres for private training. Great job on Salty guys!
We look forward to those of you going to the International shows coming up in Orlando on October 17/18. This will give us a tremendous opportunity of hand’s on, in the ring training, plus to implement new techniques to make the presentation better.
The next AKC show will be the November 1st Boca Raton show, remember that this is a Sunday only show.
Keep up the great work on your dogs, I promise each of you that it does payoff!!!!!
Back to
Reference Library
Back to Home Page