Summary:  Journée du Beauceron -USA - 2000 

by Margo Brady, President

La Troisième Journée du Beauceron - USA took place during the weekend of September 23 -24, 2000, again in the region of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota.  Twenty-five dogs participated in a variety of events. The Animal Inn Training Center had proven last year to be an excellent site for this type of show and the Midwest had not yet had a French judge for Conformation, not to mention that the club's insurance had not yet expired for this facility. Although the weather was much cooler than normal, we did not experience any rain despite the clouds on Saturday, and Sunday turned out to be sunny and beautiful, yet cold, for the outdoor conformation show. A complete list of the dogs entered in the Journée follows this article.

Saturday's events started with the French Critique and Confirmation of the dogs by Club des Amis du Beauceron judge M. Renaux with assistants Roland Collignon and myself. Each dog was brought into the ring and was thoroughly examined by M. Renaux who commented on every aspect of the dog's conformation both statically and during locomotion. As Roland marked the critique form, I translated the judge's comments for each owner. (I later had severe laryngitis which appears to be common during translation at dog shows, right Claudia?) M. Renaux was an excellent judge who really took time to examine each dog very carefully. He was gentle with the dogs who were nervous and also helped some of the owners feel at ease with their first time at a dog show. A copy of each dog's critique was given to the owner.  (An interesting note that I would like to add is that all the dogs who were bathed before the Journée were faulted in having too soft of a coat. The dogs whose owners were embarrassed by the fact that their outside dog had not been bathed in months were given an excellent rating on their coats. M. Renaux explained that the Beauceron is an outside, working, herding dog and that the coat must be hardy and tough in order to repel moisture and keep the dog warm. This was very interesting for some of the experienced show people since most American judges would have frowned on the ungroomed animals).  

During the Critique, the Canine Good Citizen Test was taking place in another ring. The evaluator was Janis Liukonen, certified 4H judge and experienced dog trainer (English Setters) who was assisted by Mark Brady with his trusty Pointer for the "Reaction to Another Dog" exercise. Nine dogs participated in this event. Congratulations to the following four Beaucerons (not in any particular order) who passed all the exercises and earned their CGC certificates:

• Paladin with handler Amina Snider

• Nero with handler Debra Brown

• Gypsy with handler Greg Kinler

• Pillar with handler Rebecca Fouts

Toward the end of the French Critique portion of the show, a dog got loose which generated a tremendous amount of effort, on everyone's part, to catch her. This dog is named "Lazy," because she doesn't like to run! (Her brother, Loup, is one of the dogs on my dogsled team and obviously has the opposite desire.) Lazy is owned by Franck and Jennifer Gillard, my good friends, and is a spayed female house pet. She has never been away from her property, since coming to the USA from France, except to stay at my house from time to time. Well, I thought Lazy would like to go to a dog show?  When Mark was taking her out of the truck to come in for the Critique, Lazy must have heard that the Endurance Test was cancelled and decided that she would hold one herself. Endurance Test for me that is!
Since Animal Inn is situated on a county highway, several people were running (and running and running) all over the place to try to head her away from the busy road. Well, Lazy was running down the middle of it anyway and when finally got close enough to call her name, with laryngitis, in the wind, she didn't even recognize me! Although not normally a shy dog, she was very spooked by the whole ordeal and was running back into the woods when a wonderful person appeared on a four-wheeler and started herding her toward me. Several people were standing on a hill telling me which way to go to intercept her. I had taken Loup out so she would hopefully recognize him and it worked! Her eyes softened as she went to her brother and then she saw me, "There's that crazy woman again, see ya!" "Not so fast, Lazy," I said as I tackled her and finally caught her. Once leashed, she returned to her normal, friendly, calm temperament and the excitement was over.  

Despite the limp from her arthritis, caused by a freak accident when she was young, which was certainly aggravated by her escapade, M. Renaux critiqued Lazy as "Excellent" and said that she was the original herding type of Beauceron that was seen in the last century, a true shepherd's dog who could work the sheep all day! I'm sure she was very happy to hear that and now I'm not so sure that "Lazy" is the appropriate name for her.  

Saturday afternoon's events started with the Test de Caractère (French Temperament Test) which took place outside. M. Renaux judged while I marked the scores and Roland Collignon shot the pistol (.38 Special with blanks, of course!) and also threatened with the stick. Twelve dogs participated in this test with 9 scoring Excellent and 3 scoring Très Bon. For the Meilleur Test de Caractère Mâle (Highest Scoring Male in the Temperament Test), it was a tie between Pillar, owned by Susan Bass, and Ragnarök, owned by Susan Bass and Rebecca Fouts. To break the tie, M. Renaux judged these two dogs together in conformation and overall temperament and character and gave the trophy to Ragnarök and his handler Rebecca Fouts. For the Meilleure Test de Caractère Femelle (Highest Scoring Female in the Temperament Test), the prize went to Revin and handler Sherri Shivers. (Interesting note: Ragnarök and Revin are littermates.) Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Temperament Test.

At 3:00 everyone went inside for Susan Bass' presentation on Assistance/Service Dogs and their Training. Debra Brown and Nero gave an impressive demonstration with Nero picking up everything from curlers to pop cans from the floor and putting them in a basket, after which he dragged to his owner and would hand her any object she asked for! This dog also demonstrated pulling his handler in her wheelchair. When commands were given to this dog, they were always given in a very soft, almost inaudible voice, like a whisper, and the dog responded instantly. The other demo dog was Pillar who is in training for Service Work. His brother Phlashe, an audience participant, impressed all of us with his instant learning of "give me five." This is taught after the dog knows how to "shake hands," and is useful in Service Work for the dogs to touch things to turn things on or open doors. After the demonstration, Susan worked individually with people on specific training matters which everyone enjoyed. Due to Susan's experience as a Service Dog trainer, she knows a lot of training principles that cross over very nicely to training the pet dog to have good household obedience.

The last event of the day on Saturday was the Pet Class Show. This was only open to spayed/neutered animals. Although not regularly seen at National Specialty type shows or Journées, this class allows people with no experience whatsoever, who want to show their pet in front of an experienced judge, to have some fun and participate in the Journée. This event was well received last year and again this year and will become part of our future Journée schedules here in the USA.

 
Saturday night was the Barbeque at my house with 16 people attending. Since it was too cold to be outside, most people ate inside. We had plenty of food and the entertainment was my four year old son playing his violin, of which he has only had three lessons. Since I didn't have enough to do to get ready for the Journée, I had made several homemade pies just before the weekend. Everyone enjoyed them and had a nice evening. 

Sunday morning started bright and early with the Obedience Trial, Novice Class, judged by Chuck Anderson, certified AKC Obedience Judge. Three dogs participated with none qualifying. The saddest moment, for me and I'm sure for his handler, Marion Karhatsu, was when Janus sat up in the last 15 seconds of the Long Down. Had he qualified, his score would have been a 194/200! Judge Anderson was also disappointed to see this, and even commented on the excellent team work shown by these two, but dogs will always humble you in competition.

At 9:00 the Tracking Test and the Agility Seminar both got started.  Participating in Tracking was one dog, Marcus, and his handler, Tim McLaughlin.  Although they did not pass the test, their tracking skills were excellent and this dog was flawless for over 100 yds. A young dog, he is well on his way to his TD!

The Agility Seminar was given by Terry Smorch, a certified AKC Agility Judge who has been a trainer and instructor at the Animal Inn for the past 7 years. He owns 3 Keeshonden and 1 Border Collie and competes in AKC, USDAA, and NADAC trials with all of his dogs. He has trained two dogs to the USDAA Agility Dog Champion Title (ADCH) and "Pixie," a Keeshond, has not only earned the ADCH, but also the NADAC Championship title (NACH) and the AKC Master Agility Championship title (MACH). This dog has also won the 16" class at the AKC Nationals for the past three years in a row! Assisting Mr. Smorch was Beauceron owner, Christopher Murray, with his competitive agility dog, Rupert. Rupert competes in USDAA trials and is looking forward to a spot on the "Animal Planet" Agility Special which is coming out soon. Christopher and Rupert provided a very impressive demonstration which literally "wowed" the crowd. It was unbelievable to see a dog of Rupert's size, on the larger end in the Beauceron world, to go through the weave poles! Terry and Christopher then worked one on one with the entrants and everyone enjoyed either watching or participating in this seminar.

The afternoon event was the Final Conformation Show. Here the dogs are shown in the following classes and are divided by sex: Bébé (3 - 6 months), Puppy (6 - 9 months), Débutant (9 - 12 months), Jeune (12 - 24 months), and Ouverte (2 - 7yrs.). Here the dogs were called into the ring by class and examined as a group both statically and during locomotion. Here is where the proper attire for the handlers is jeans and hiking boots because you may be moving your dog for a while and you need to be comfortable. Also, unlike many American shows,  the judge is looking at your dog, just your dog, so fancy attire is not required.  Another important note: the dogs are NOT stacked, but shown naturally on a regular chain collar with a normal, leather, obedience type leash.  

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who participated in the Journée for coming and helping make this show a success and for all those who helped me catch Lazy! I am very thankful to Aaron Scholl and Marion Karhatsu for all of their help during the recent months in preparation and, of course, to Karen Scholl who made the wonderful lunches. I am especially thankful to Claudia Batson for all of her communication with the Club des Amis du Beauceron to help iron out the details. I am deeply indebted to Roland Collignon who came all the way from France, during the weekend he was to be at a Regional d'Elevage, to assist M. Renaux in the Critique and the Temperament Test and to assist me with the interpretation. And, most of all, I thank M. Renaux for his excellent judgment of our Beaucerons here in the United States.