Tunbridge
Hosted by the Woodstock Dog Club on Thursday and Friday and the Green Mountain Dog Club Saturday and today, the American Kennel Club-sanctioned events draw visitors from across the country. At about 900 dogs a day, the shows drew roughly 150 dogs a day more than last year’s, officials said.
“This is the biggest it’s been in years,” said Kathie Moulton, Green Mountain Dog Club’s obedience and rally chairwoman.
The result is a small town that pops up within the small town of Tunbridge, said Moulton, who lives in Plainfield, Vt. More than 100 RVs were parked across the grounds — up from the mid-70s a few years ago — with each of them transformed into a miniature grooming parlor bustling with dog-washing, brushing, petting and primping.
“Just for four days,” Moulton laughed, as a nearby woman wearing a shirt with a bedazzled Yorkshire Terrier on it walked a Yorkshire Terrier. “And then it’s gone until next year.”
The increase comes even as the overall number of purebred dogs being registered with the American Kennel Club continues its years-long decline, down 66 percent last year from a high of 1.4 million in 1993, according to a June 2015 article in the Canine Chronicle, a monthly dog show magazine. The publication attributed the decline to “a change in American values,” including people not bothering to register dogs that they don’t plan to breed or show, and the “effectiveness of the animal rights movement (as) people now speak more proudly of owning a rescue dog than an AKC-registered dog.”
In Tunbridge, though, the focus was on the success of the shows put on by the Green Mountain and Woodstock clubs, which brought their events to Tunbridge a few years ago after decades of shows at the Champlain Valley Exposition. Moulton said cost was one of the driving factors in that decision.
Longtime participant Megan Brendel, of Norwich, said the show’s quality has increased every year.
“The show has consistently gone up,” Brendel said, shortly after she led her Rhodesian ridgeback named Changa out of the judging ring. “I think it’s because it’s a destination.”
In addition to the allure of Vermont charm — beautiful scenery and a brook for dogs to cool off in — Bendel and others, such as Ed Hall, of Merrimack, N.H., said people are drawn to the show by its reputation for having good judges.
“You want them to know your breed,” Hall said.
Hall, an American Kennel Club judge who was not judging on Saturday because his sister, Laura Lewis, was showing a dog, said judges at this year’s show came from as far away as Australia and Ontario.
“They’re quite experienced,” he said as Lewis brushed her Norwegian elkhound named Echo nearby.
Lewis, who also showed last year and is making the four-hour round trip from Merrimack all four days, said she chose Tunbridge over a simultaneous show in northern New Jersey this year in large part because of the scenery.
“We’re like, no, Vermont’s much prettier,” Lewis said, nodding her head toward the forested hills surrounding the fairgrounds. Echo, who sat on a table in front of her, smiled and occasionally pawed at Lewis’ shoulder.
Lewis said dog owners and handlers — some owners, like Lewis, show their own dogs, while others pay a professional to do it — get to know each other at the event and on the dog-showing circuit in general.
“When we see each other, even the dogs — it got to the point where other dogs, other breeds, become friends,” Lewis said.
For example, she said, Echo’s canine friends at dog shows will show interest in Norwegian elkhounds until they realize the dog isn’t Echo.
Back underneath the judging tent, Brendel, the Norwich resident, waved hello and goodbye to dog handlers at every turn. Standing next to Deborah Mattern, of Cornish, Brendel said she had showed Mattern’s ridgeback on Friday. They met through Facebook and echoed the idea that the dog-showing circuit is a small traveling community.
“Everybody who loves their dog always thinks their dog is the best,” Mattern said, laughing. “It’s nice to try to show them off.”
In addition to drawing competitors from near and far, the shows also drew operations large and small. In the hall for obedience and agility competitions, Pam Woodes, of Farmington, N.H., sat on a metal folding chair, while her lone dog in the show — a beagle named Simi — napped on a fabric folding chair set up next to her crate, occasionally opening one eye to check out passersby.
They were waiting for their turn in the novice obedience competition.
“It’s always a crapshoot going into the ring, and especially with a beagle,” said Woodes, who has been showing off and on for 28 years. “I’m never going to get the perfect scores (like) the border collies and the golden retrievers. I do it because it’s fun. … When I’m heeling, I hope that they’re still with me.”
Across the fairgrounds, Heidi and Howard Huber were organizing their crew, including four people, “eight or nine” dachshunds, a half-dozen English springer spaniels and a Labrador.
They were all transported seven hours north from Oxford, Pa., by a 45-foot RV retrofitted with kennels and a 22-foot trailer transporting supplies.
The owners of last year’s best in show dog — a spaniel named Cerise Blindside who goes by Timmy who they said is the nation’s second-best hunting dog and fifth-best dog overall — the Hubers started showing full time after Howard Huber retired from the Air Force in the early 2000s.
Like Brendel, Hall, Lewis and others, Huber said his career in dog shows picks up on a tradition started by his parents. The Hubers have transformed it into a living by showing dogs for other people and doing some breeding, as well.
The nearby brook is a big plus for the dogs on hot days like this weekend’s, the Hubers said, and the green scenery beats the indoor conventions that they often go to.
“It’s Vermont. We love Vermont,” Huber said. “It’s beautiful country. We love the hills and the mountains and the nice, friendly people. They have a great show going for us.”
Maggie Cassidy can be reached at mcassidy@vnews.com or 603-727-3220.