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Old English Sheepdog Club of America Centennial Celebration Week:
19 – 25 September 2005
SHOW MEMORIES
by Jenni Niittylä, Finland |
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It was a spectacle that everyone wanted to see, there was no way I would have missed it either. Lancaster Host in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania was just ideal place for the celebration. When we got there, I was first surprised to see that
the show was held indoors as we were surrounded by the most beautiful big areas of green lawn everywhere. In my view
show would have been taken indoors only in case of rain. We Finnish bobtail people are always afraid of rain, we enjoy
summer shows outdoors with sunshine and fresh air but it’s a nightmare when the rain gets to you. Just imagine it, your
clean, blown dry, groomed oes taken to a wet, mud sand field. It’s so unfair. But obviously it was very unlikely to rain
in Lancaster.
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I was totally completely astonished of the weather, sunny and HOT. Still summer heat in September, how could it be?
Without a doubt it was better for the dogs inside, it was much cooler in the hall with the air conditioning. And what a
great hall it was. It was a sight never to forget when first stepped into the hall. Huge ring, huge hall, lots of space
and lots of hairy bobtails, lots of grooming and many vendors around the ring. Decorations all over the place from the
floor to the ceiling. I knew the Committee would work hard, but the place was just full of details, beautiful items on
sale, trophies, awards, auction items and raffle wins, Centennial catalogue…. they were all great! I’m sure we all
honour deeply the diligent, hard-working members of the OESCA. Thank you for everyone for this outstanding production,
we sure loved it!
And now to the main point – the bobtails at the show. It was a wonderful surprise to see the quality of the dogs. Some
super structures, movements and coats! When the 60 Champions marched to the ring one by one, it must have been an oes
heaven for a while. There was tension and sighs in the air. In my opionion type is more stabilized in America than in
Europe. Some lovely, strong, square dogs. It is rumoured that the coats there are brown and of poor quality and the
white markings in the back are numerous. True or false? Not quite so. I didn’t see any brown coats, qualities mostly ok,
besides saw some real quality coats and it wasn’t as much white markings as I was prepared to see. Coats were thick with
lots of underwool.
What amazed me was that even though there must have been about 200 oes at the hall, there was no barking nor noise, it
was all quiet. Interesting detail was that the exhibitors had to rent a table/cage place by the ring (so I was told,
still can’t believe this is true and wonder when the Finnish show arrangers find out about this and start to collect
money as well as now it’s irritating that in some shows you are not allowed to have your cage by the ring side or close
to the ring). Yet the exhibitors were able to hire electricity and some of them blow dried their oes there. All new for
me!
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Rolling Gait’s Emma Blue |
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At the National Specialty was happy to see Rolling Gait’s Emma Blue to win. She was beautiful with super movements and
well deserved to win. I found myself admiring her by the ring side and soon noticed others whispering around me too,
“who is she, she’s so nice”, so Emma seemed to have lots of supporters and it was great to see her win. I also loved
Best of Winners, it was nice to see them win too, Winners Dog Masquerade Megabucks and Winners Bitch Auriga’s One of a
Kind, both with exceptional breathtaking movements. Overwhelming show indeed. |
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Masquerade Megabucks |
Auriga’s One of a Kind |
The next day we headed for some shopping and sightseeing at Harrisburg. The original plan was to go to Philadelphia, but
as Gulf Coast was slammed by the Hurricane Rita, there was evacuation going on to Philadelphia and it created a highway
horrow, so there was no way we could have risked ourselves getting involved in that bad traffic. They just suffered
Katrina and were still picking up the pieces so I never thought the hurricane would reappear so soon. We were in safe
but followed the second hit closely on the news and the events without a question were shocking.
On Saturday we had the pleasure of enjoying the most wonderful Centennial Show which was as extremely successful and
impressive as the National Specialty. We are filled with gratitude to all parts who made this Centennial Show the kind
of Celebration it was. Day was busy and there was no time to eat at all as there was so much going on in the ring all
the time. During the lunch break we saw the most touching rescue parade. These charming rescue fellows moved me to tears
as they brought to your mind the true deed of charity. Once again we had the pleasure of watching 60 beautifully
presented Champions gathering and performing the floor. It was a pity Emma could not enter the ring at this show. Happy
winners of the Centennial were BOB Lambluv the Devine Miss M and Barkshire’s American Dream.
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Barkshire’s American Dream |
Lambluv the Devine Miss M |
It certainly was American Dream! I consider myself very lucky to have been able to be part of this American Dream and a
piece of History. What can I say, it’s a Great America! Yes, it’s a land of contraries, but on a Celebration like this
you are privileged to see and enjoy just the Great side! And in any case, I’m hooked and hoping to be able to get back
to the Nationals next year again! Thank you OESCA for the wonderful Celebration!
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