Evening star., 1939-04-09
Dogs Needn't
Be Pedigreed
For Bench
How to Enter Your
Pet Is Described
In Detail


Kennel Club at Pikesville. Md.
Ahead of it in total entries were
only Morris and Essex, the largest
in the country; Westminster, in New
York, the largest indoor event; Chi
cago, North Westchester, in the
New York City area; Cleveland and
Boston.
Two Local Shows.
Though not yet approaching the
895 entries which made Detroit the
lowest of the Big Ten. two very
healthy and popular shows in the
Washington area are the National
Capital. which this year will be
held at the Meadowbrook Country
Club on April 80 and the Old Do
minion. which will lure its enthu-
siasts to the Alexandria ball park
grounds on April 90 An entry OF
500 dogs is considered very respect
able indeed. and if each show does
not top this figure, the clubs WILL
be badly disappointed.
The teaming of these two major
events in one spring week end Is
new and most profitable arrange
ment, especially for the exhibitor
who comes from a distance. The
! committees, working together for
mutual success only regret their in
| ability to clinch large out-of-toWn
attendance by making special ar
rangements to defer the cherry blos-
SONS until the last week end OF
I La,
are accustomed to travel north.
south and west to bring home rib
| bons and trophies, it is not to be
expected, however. that the visitors.
so cordially invited. will be permit
| ted to do much winning. Hospital
| ity must not be carried too far!
So Marienhof and Jonedith and
| Delakay and Ruffcote and all the
nearby kennels are polishing up
their various champions Mrs. Mon
roney is bringing six OF her shaggy
West Highlanders from their Ver-
mont quarters. The Dalmations OF
O. H. Kessler are if not exactly
changing their spots, at least IN
tensifying their dizzy patterns, and
all the Cairn terriers, Dandle DIM
monts, Shetland sheepdogs. collles,
bulldogs, chow chows, Boston ter
riers, great Danes, st. Bernards,
Irish terriers and poodles within
5O-mile radius are being plucked
and combed and trained to pose and
stand and walk and trot, to obey
twitch on the leash or a spoken
command. and to thank the Judge
prettilv when the blue ribbon Is
handed out.
Entry Procedure.
To those who wish to enter their
dogs but never have, the commits
tees explain that dog need not be
highly pedigreed-need not even be
registered-to appear on the bench.
Full information on entering one
may be obtained from the secretary
of either club-Mrs. Jere B. Mackle,
24O9 Tenth street NE, of the Ma
tional Capital, or Mrs. Raymond
L. Scaggs. Upper Marlboro, Md. OF
the Old Dominion K. G. Blanks
are now ready and may be secured
from any pet shop or veterinarian
office. AS entries close finally a
week before the shoWs-April % for
both-no time should be lost IN
filling out the necessary information
and sending the blank to the Foley
Organization of Philadelphia, which
benches both shows.
But for those who would rather
let some one else do the work, the
shows will provide days amuse-
ment. In addition to the regular
Judging. which begins at 10 am,
there will be children's classes
often a small-sized. good natured
riot-and the always popular obe-
dience tests. At Westminster the
gallery saw cocker spaniel, a
poodle, a pointer, an Irish water
spaniel, a collie and a German
shepherd lined up silent and mo-
tionless, almost touching each other,
with their owners outside the ring,
and not one dog so much as flicked
an ear to break the perfect disci-
pline. At Alexandria several years
ago a schnauzer, trained for only
10 days by an exhibitor who had
never competed for the tests before,
turned in an absolutely perfect per-
formance to win over far more sea-
soned entries, guided by more ex-
perienced owners. There is always
color and drama in the obedience
tests!
So New York may have its World S
Fair, opening on April 30. but Alex
andria and Washington have their
equally important Spring Dog Show
Week End" The properly dog
conscious hereabouts have hardly
even heard of the rival event, little