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Show Every day's a dog day for Pam Walston r ' 1,1 was little, I 5 everyone who that when I i n wanted to be a i "lit now that Mf business, for f.J she has turned to lid love-dogs. In- keeping horses, i "too big and too rve " according to Tie 'owns andoper- i?; home on 4th East. Not only does Pam board others' pets, she also breeds, trains, grooms, and shows dogs, besides just loving them. She owns an assortment of purebreds representing the Irish Setter, the Poodle, Poo-dle, and the Smooth Fox Terrier breeds. Best Show Breed Of the three breeds, the smooth fox terriers are her special pride and joy, as far as show dogs go. In 1977, Tabitha, a recent ,; ' i. i r A. : i ' ' ' i 1 i t i ' - - , V ; J ! ! ; , k -. a 1 : , t. i ' , ; " A. i V - - c Walston, owner and operator of Canyonlands 1 els, raises dogs to show, as well as being just a sold dog-lover. Chip, a six-month old puppy of the Kth fox terrier breed, is already on his way to giaing a champion. Here, Chip performs his show alto demonstrate his good qualities. The slope to ii back, the lift in the tail and the very straight front f area few of the points that the judges examine. (Photos by Beth Heggeness) mother ot three, was named nam-ed the 2 Smooth Fox Terrier bitch in the nation. Tabitha has attended many ma-ny shows with her professional profes-sional handler and although al-though still young, has reaped great honors. Pam hopes to show her at the famous Westminster Dog Show in Madison Square Gardens, New York City, next February. Pam explained that there is more to showing dogs than just proving "my dog's better than your dog." "The real purpose of showing is to improve the breed," she commented. She and other oth-er breeders who are striving striv-ing to be responsible dog owners are also trying to eliminate weak or undesirable unde-sirable traits in their animals. ani-mals. Show and Field Standards Each breed of dogs is judged according to standards stand-ards set by the American Kennel Club. It is every breeder's dream to obtain the most perfect offspring possible from a match of two outstanding dogs. Today's To-day's show trend also sustains an effort to retain in each breed the characteristics charac-teristics for which it was originally developed. Smooth fox terriers, British in origin, were at one time used as fox or ferret hounds. They were trained to go down into the foxes' dens after other dogs traced the animals to their lairs. Field trials for the terriers consist of a carefully arranged fox or rat hole. Trails are scented, scent-ed, and the prey are placed in cages in order to protect them from the ferocious terriers, for the dogs are judged at this particular moment upon how much aggressiveness they display toward the pursued animals. Scoring Points As Pam showed off her other young male smooth fox terriers, she explained that one of them had already earned points toward to-ward his championship. The scoring and point system is complex; however, how-ever, briefly, in order to be classed a "Champion" male, the dog must be shown and beat other dogs in competition. All are judged against each other and against breed standards, with some of those standards being dis-qualifiers. dis-qualifiers. In any one show the dog can earn from 1 to 5 points. Three, four, or five points earned in one show is called a major. To win 1 point, the male must be judged better than at least 2 other dogs; to win 2, he must beat 5; for 3, nine others; for four, 12 dogs; and to take 5 points, the dog must beat at least 15. Fifteen points earns the dog a championship title. Of those 15 points, the male dog must have at least two majors. Began With Setters Pam first became interested inter-ested in showing dogs when she was attending BYU in Provo. She trained as a groomer with a lady who had graduated from the very top school, New York School of Dog Grooming. "Of course, like many others," she said, "when I became interested the first step was to purchase a puppy." pup-py." That puppy was her rangy Irish Setter named (what else?) Irish. Pam through the help of friends, asking lots of questions, and books such as Frank Keohler's Dog Obedience Method, trained train-ed Irish for obedience classes. She and Irish went to their first show in 1973 and Pam has been developing her own dogs ever since. Although Irish is not conformationally a show dog, Pam has bred other Irish setters that were built for the show ring. Setters have a reputation for being high strung and hard to manage, but when carefully bred, that trait can be avoided. And, Pam has ribbons and trophies to prove it. Setters, too, are often tested in the field. It is the dog breeder's wish to have a top dog, both in beauty and in usefulness. Irish setters are judged in the field for their ability to point, to track birds after they fall, and to retrieve birds without further damaging dam-aging them with their teeth. Poodles Perform The third breed for which Pam has a soft spot is the poodle. She has one who is especially good in the obedience ring, Joey. Joey ran through his paces pa-ces in great style while Pam explained that any dog could be obedience-trained. obedience-trained. She feels that all dog owners should train their dogs to obey basic commands such as heel, come, stay, sit, and be quiet. Although it takes about a year to train a dog to show in obedience, a pet could be adequately trained in about 10 weeks. Pam showed off some pictures of Joey after he had been clipped and groomed to his "show coat," which for poodles, is quite elaborate. She stressed that not only are dogs groomed to bring out their good points and disguise dis-guise their faults, but that it is necessary for the health of the dog to groom them. "How would you like to not have your hair brushed brush-ed for a month?" she asked pointedly, in order to illustrate her meaning. " ' ' i " ' . i " . . i ' s f ' . i y - ., -. ii' . ,: . v:' ' . ' ' ' ' . V - . .v.: ' - . i aW : -.V ,. .v i x y v ; t. A : 1 . ' ' ' '' ' . . . ! "Do you love me, Shadow?" asks Pam, and she gets a very touching reply from her S very talented poodle. Shadow is Pam's special pet among her many dogs. She is very well-trained to do many tricksboth the standard variety and one such as this. Besides tricks, Shadow is trained to heel, sit, stay, etc. MY v" ; ' i " ' V ' ' I- . .. . . Shadow, the poodle is showing off again at Pam's command. Acting as a very well-put "fence" is Irish, Pam's first show dog. Irish has often entered the ring in obedience shows and has a parcel of ribbons to show for it. The setter was purchased as a puppy in 1972 when Pam was at BYU in Frovo and became interested in showing dogs. Pam added that particularly particu-larly in Moab, dogs with longer, unkempt hair often of-ten run into bad problems with sand burrs or thorns. If the hair becomes matted, mat-ted, it often contains objects ob-jects which might irritate the skin. Also, with proper grooming, the dog is less likely to carry fleas, ticks, and lice. A Special Dog Another one of Pam's poodles, Shadow, holds a special place in Pam's heart. Of all her dogs, Shadow is particularly Pam's pet. She is a spritely little poodle, with bright eyes,- and she has an endearing repertoire of tricks. Pam does not show her too often, except as a trick dog, but Shadow has produced some fine poodle poo-dle puppies. This little poodle has good conformation and an excellent temperament. When she poses, she almost al-most makes a perfect square. Her legs are as long as the length of her back. Pam explained that she was carefully bred to eliminate the undesirable hereditary traits of poodles, poo-dles, including a tendency toward nervousness and runny eyes. Shadow is also unlikely to develop a common eye disease which causes many poodles poo-dles to become blind. Shadow is certainly a charmer. She can jump like a little kangaroo, either eith-er through arms held in a circle, or over Irish's tall back. She speaks, "whispers," "whis-pers," begs, shakes hands, walks, and cuddles upon command. She can also be very useful to Pam. When Shadow is wearing wear-ing her harness, which includes pockets of various vari-ous sizes, Pam says that if she has left something small at home that Shadow Sha-dow can carry, the dog can go to get it. All Pam has to do is call someone at home to tell them what she forgot, say "Shadow, go home," and Shadow will go to get the forgotten item. The intelligent dog is given the item at home, told "Go find Pam, Shadow," Sha-dow," and shows up with the billfold or keys or whatever in her harness. Responsibility With all her dogs, Pam exhibits a caring attitude and she says that she thinks it is very important for people to become responsible re-sponsible dog owners if they have a pet. She believes that every dog should be trained and cared for properly, and bred only if the results are predictable and stable. It's not fair either to the dog or to people who don't have dogs if your dog is uncontrolled or unkempt, according to Pam. She expressed her willingness to help anyone interested in learning o-bedience o-bedience training or about grooming their dog. She welcomes sincerely interested inter-ested people and is well-qualified well-qualified to help them. Her experience includes teaching many 4-H dog training and grooming groups. Even if Pam is not a "silver horse," she seems to have found her vocation in the dog kennel business. busi-ness. She readily agreed as she said, "I love being in business for myself and I'm doing what I really want to do." And, she's enjoying herself at the same time. |