May 4 – 10, 2003

Purina Farms
Gray Summit, Missouri

2003 National Specialty Wrap Up; or, What's a Few Tornadoes Between Friends?

Well, the 2003 ABTC National Specialty has come and gone. It's hard to believe that after the past couple of years of coordinating and fund raising, it's now a thing in the past. There are still a few loose ends to wrap up over the next month or so but then we can put this one to bed.

I can only say “Thank You” to all of you who helped make the event a success. My Show Committee was great and they all worked very hard to produce a quality event for everyone to enjoy. And those of you who entered a dog, bought or sold a specialty items, stewarded, made a donation, helped build courses, or performed any of the myriad of tasks can take pride in the fact that you also helped to make this an enjoyable specialty for all. I had asked in one of my pre-specialty articles for those present to offer their time even for one hour to make someone else's burden lighter and many of you did just that. I thank you one and all.

So here it is from my perspective. John and I and our hotel limit of four dogs arrived on Friday, May 2, at the Ramada and moved into what was to be our home away from home for the next 10 days. Soon our car was unloaded and the 75 pounds of frozen bait was tucked into the hotel freezer; the hotel staff never batted an eye at my three coolers full of liver.

We began meeting ABTC members almost right away. People were already arriving since Saturday was a plotting day for the VST Test. Dutch and Diane Schultz had come in Thursday. George Byrkit arrived with a trailer full of grounds equipment for the two hotels and the Purina grounds. By the way, Friday and Saturday were gloriously sunny days with warm comfortable temperatures; just the kind of days that might make you want to stay in Missouri forever. What a tease!

Saturday we made a trip to Purina Farm to meet the Onofrio superintendent and to make arrangements to obtain all of our catalogs and all of the ribbons for the tracking, agility, and herding events. We also met with Brock Fitzgerald who is the boss there at the Farm. There was an all-breed cluster at Purina that weekend and it drew a very large Tervuren entry. We stayed and watched Tervuren being show before returning to the host hotel to meet with the staff there and make final arrangements for meeting rooms and other events. It might have been Saturday that a few of us went to Super Smokers for a down home barbeque dinner; many exhibitors would make that drive before the week was over. Lots to do. Late to bed. Actually who could sleep? Too many things to think about! Sunday I awoke and peeked out of the curtains only to see rain, actually pouring down rain. All I could hope was that Mother Nature got it out of her system on Sunday. All I could think of was the tracking judges and tracklayers who were out there plotting tracks for the Monday tests. They were going to have a long wet day. I hoped that they all had good rainwear! Well, off we went to Purina at the appointed hour to pick up our goods from Onofrio. Mother Nature continued to become more cantankerous as the day wore on. By the time we arrived at Purina the skies had opened up with thunder, lightening, and high winds and the show rings were under 2 to 3 inches of water. But to my amazement, the show continued. The Onofrio trailer was parked in a back lot across a creek which by now was impassable by my van. George Byrkit came to the rescue with his Jeep and we loaded all of the catalog and ribbons and headed back to the hotel to stuff the exhibitor bags. Karen and Mike Rech were ready with the bags and other goodies and with several volunteers stuffing away we were ready to open the registration table around 5:30 PM. Sunday evening there were lots of exhibitors on hand as all three tracking events were on Sunday evening and Monday and the agility crew had begun to assemble the agility course obstacles on Sunday for the Monday/Tuesday trials. Many of the herding exhibitors had also come in on Sunday as they planned to spend Monday building the herding courses. Even though the weather was crummy, we were all happy to be there and to see old friends once again. We had hoped to see Joan Smit's smiling face arrive with the trophies but as the evening wore on it became apparent that she was not going to make it. On returning to my room I found a phone message from her that she and her husband had nearly been blown off the road in driving through the storms and had decided the better part of valor was to go home and try again on Monday. Fortunately she and Tom arrived safely on Monday with all of the beautiful trophies. The VST test was also likely affected by the storms; the rain and wind combined to drive the scent about three counties away! Alas, no VST passes.

Monday dawned clear and sunny. I drove out to the tracking site and watched the five TD dogs run their tracks. Bob Willoh had found beautiful land for the tracking tests and, although it was pretty wet, three of the five dogs passed. After the TD test I returned to Purina to check in at the agility trial. Agility was high on a hill at the front of the Purina property and hence was at the driest area. It was quite a pretty sight. Karen and PJ were hard at work running the trial. They had organized and planned down to the smallest detail and things were going well. Back to the hotel for the evening stint at the Registration table. We had lots of helpers to check people in and see to it that they got their Welcome packet and any Specialty items that had been ordered. I checked in at the Annual Board meeting to give my report.

Tuesday was another agility trial and the herding trial/test. The weather was overcast but the rain and storms would hold off until late afternoon. Agility finished and had the equipment loaded before the rain hit. The only glitch I was aware of was when PJ's computer lost all of one class' entries and she had to re-enter all the data. She has such grace under pressure! When we stopped at the Herding Trial, Cathy Modica was pleased that dogs had qualified in each of the classes to that point. We watched herding for a while and I remembered why I don't herd. Sheep. I don't really like sheep. Herding was not as lucky with the weather and they had to suspend the duck trial due to the storms that whipped up in the late afternoon. Fortunately, Terry Wilson was in attendance. Terry is an ABTC member and an AKC herding judge. She offered to judge the remainder of the herding events on Wednesday morning so all was not lost.

Tuesday evening brought the first round of tornados as well as Russ Beach's Grooming and Handling Seminars. Linda Robey collected the RVers at Purina and told them where to go in the event of an emergency; then she announced she was off to the seminars! We kept a watchful eye on the weather and many people came to the hotel from the RV park to get away from the storms. Russ's seminars were taped by Debbie Boehm and Norm Freeman as potential fund raisers for Canine Health Foundation. A big thanks to the three of them!

Wednesday morning dawned with bright sun. All that rain combined with sun and heat equals humidity and humid it was. Now it was time for obedience and sweepstakes. Sharon Redmer, Mike Mayo (our superintendent for the show), and myself had walked the rings on Tuesday afternoon and moved the obedience rings to the driest areas we could find. We were looking for the best conditions for the dogs and handlers. Sharon's crew was out early and the show got underway. Most obedience rings had finished by the time Sweepstakes judging commenced. Michele Capparelli-Lally had her work cut out for her as she had many beautiful puppies from which to choose.

Wednesday evening we had our Welcome Party hosted by the Sunshine Belgian Tervuren Club and the Belgian Tervuren Club of Southern California. It was a great place to meet and greet. The party was followed by a presentation to the membership by Edeltraud Laurin of the Judges' Education slide show on judging the Belgian Tervuren.

Thursday morning looked pretty iffy as I looked out our hotel window. Gray skies. Is there a pattern emerging here? I silently hoped that Janina had brought good rainwear. Janina Laurin began her assignment with the Dog Classes. I crossed my fingers and prayed that we'd get through the day without getting drenched. And we did. There were a few showers but nothing awful and the really bad weather continued to go north and south of us. A few tornados to our south one day, a few tornados to our north the next. After dinner Dr. Libbye Miller treated us to a very informative seminar on sports medicine as it relates to our K9 friends.

Friday, May 9. The bitches are to be judged. Guess what the weather is doing today. Yep, clear. This pattern isn't looking good for BOB day tomorrow. Our judge efficiently sorted through her bitch entry and left us all with plenty of time to clean up and eat dinner before the Annual Meeting back at the Ramada.

Well, right on cue, Saturday comes up gray and threatening. The Weather Channel is broadcasting from our host hotel. Now you know that's not a good thing! Tornados are in the air and the Weather Channel is looking for them right over the Ramada. Undaunted we head for Purina. There are storms all around us; most of them are due to blow through by noon and then reform in the late afternoon. Can we fit it all in between the raindrops? Around 11 AM we have a huge thunderstorm blow through and decide to suspend judging and take our lunch break in the hopes that it will clear off in a half hour or so. The rain stopped and Ms. Laurin got right back to work making her cuts right down to her Selects and her BOB. BW, and BOS. The rain held off until we were done and all of the pictures were taken.

Back at the hotel Mike and Annie Evarts had a great Annual Banquet planned for us. Good food, good friends. It was a most enjoyable evening. In spite of the weather, people were in high spirits and everyone had a good time.

Congratulations to all the winners. You can get a complete report on our website and/or in the TNT Specialty issue.

Thanks to everyone who helped in any way. You're all winners in my book.

I am looking forward to many months without any Specialty obligations.

Thanks to everyone who made it possible!

— Maureen Foley
2003 Specialty Chairman

Specialty Deadlines

Note: Premium Lists for all events will be mailed to all ABTC Members by Onofrio Dog Shows.

March 15: Catalog Advertisements.
April 1: Honor Parade picture & write-up to Helen Hittesdorf.
April 7: Agility & Herding Events (Note early closing date).
April 11: Tracking Events (Note early closing date).
April 16: Entries close for all other AKC events as well as all Pre-Orders and all Registrations.

Hospitality

Snacks will be available in the Raffle & Silent Auction room.

Belgian Tervuren Triathalon Award

The Triathlon Award will recognize that Belgian Tervuren who exhibits and / or excels in at least three of the five categories being offered at the ABTC 2003 National Specialty: Conformation, Agility, Herding, Obedience & Tracking. Exhibitors must apply for this award during the National. There is no additional fee to enter. Application forms will be available at the National at the Trophy Table and the ABTC Annual Meeting.

Points will be awarded for each class a dog is exhibited in, with additional points being won for qualifying or placing. The dog with the highest number of points will be the winner. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the Annual Awards Banquet.

You could have the first Belgian Tervuren to win this award, so be sure to fill out an application form at the National!

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