judging at the
Willamette Valley Basenji Club
Specialty, 2005
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| MRS. PENELOPE C. INAN judging at the Willamette Valley Basenji Club Specialty, 2005 |
||||||||||||||||
| I became involved in purebred dogs as a child. One of my aunts bred Pomeranians back in the '50's and '60's and my sister (Sandra Bridges, currently approved for 8 breeds and juniors) and I loved to spend time at her house. We went to our first dog show in the late '50's - it was an outdoor benched show, possibly Pasadena Kennel Club. My dad had his own dog and bred a litter, which we got to handle when they were puppies. Later on in my teen years, I helped with my aunt's dogs at matches. I had my own Pomeranian, not a show dog, but dearly loved. She is one of the few things I brought with me when I moved to Northern California from Los Angeles. | ||||||||||||||||
| While on my own, and later during my first marriage, I got involved in rescue (I worked near the pound and visited often). At one point I rescued a greyhound, bringing it home in a taxi - I didn't drive yet and it wasn't allowed on the bus! After my divorce, I ended up moving in with my sister and her husband, bringing with me the Basenji dog I had bought as company and a show bitch I had been given by his breeder. I didn't want to handle - so Sandy was drafted. She and I went on to breed Basenjis - first together as JATO (my late aunt's kennel name) w hich stands for "Jet Assisted Take Off", a rocket term - and then later as Jato South (Sandy in San Jose) and Jato North (me with my new husband in Hayward). Ch. Jato J'Mira, from a litter we co-bred in 1983, is the third top producing Basenji bitch of all time in the US. Our last Basenji litter, in 1998, produced a National Specialty winning bitch and her brother, the youngest Basenji to date to place in a group at an AKC show. | ||||||||||||||||
| When my son reached a certain age, he refused to go to any more dog shows - so my showing and breeding was put on hold. My husband retired and we moved to Turkey (his native land) where we had a lovely four years - including judging several dog shows for the burgeoning kennel club over there. He died in 1996, and my son and I moved back in with Sandy and her husband. We began breeding togther again, and have now moved into Chinese Cresteds (we're in our 50's - and soemthing smaller is a lot easier). | ||||||||||||||||
| I personally have done very little conformation handling, but first Sandy, and now my niece Jennifer, have a done a fine job for me. I did some obedience training of my first Basenji - ending up with a CD (after two years of training) . . but he refused to do any open work, so he was retired. I did lure coursing before Basenjis were accepted by ASFA, but it was one of Sandy's dogs that acquired the first ever ASFA points on a Basenji - my dog interfered with a kennel mate and was disqualified! In the 1980's I owned and coursed a black and white Basenji who became the first Australian Champion/ASFA Field Champion of any breed. Also I had a German Shepherd with whom I did some protection training. He was a very special dog - and one of the first casualties of the Parvo virus. | ||||||||||||||||
| It was a long time dream of mine to become a judge and I am thrilled to be reaching my goal. I have always been a student of dogs - collecting and studying old dog books is my passion. My first purchase at the age of 18 was a copy of the 1903 version of "British Dogs" - put on layaway with my very first paycheck. The history of each breed and their development fascinates me - I have old dog magazines and catalogs, including one from the Oakland Kennel Club Show where the first two Basenjis were ever shown in California. I researched and clarified the history of those two dogs (Kindu and Kasenyi, direct African imports) and my article was published in Elspet Ford's book "The Complete Basenji". | ||||||||||||||||
| I plan to use the knowledge I have worked on for the past 40 years to become not just a judge - but to be able to judge each breed as though it were my own. I am approved to judge Basenjis and currently provisional for Pekingese - my favorite breed since childhood, although allergies prevent me living with one. I am continuing my study of dogs and increasing the size of our "dog" library is my favorite hobby! | ||||||||||||||||
| I am a member of Santa Clara Valley Kennel Club, the Basenji Club of America, the American Chinese Crested Club, the Chinese Crested Club of Greater Los Angeles and the Gold Empire Chinese Crested Club. | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||