Local owners, breeders do well in canine competitions
By Michelle Knight knight@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn NewspaperCLEARING THE HURDLE—AKC/Eukanuba National champions Quick, a Border collie, and trainer owner Kate Moreaux practice jumping at Freedom Park in Camarillo. The duo appears on the Animal Planet Channel tonight at 9 p.m.

Kate Moreaux is a champion.

The Ventura County resident and her Border collie Quick won the top award in agility at the 2005 American Kennel Club/Eukanuba National Championship in Florida, which has been airing on the Animal Planet Channel all month.

The next airing is scheduled for tonight at 9 p.m.

The win makes 19-year-old Moreaux the youngest handler to take the championship title in AKC history.

“It was awesome,” she said. “It was a great way to end a long year of competition.”

Moreaux and Quick entered 45 agility competitions last year to be eligible for an invitation to the nationwide event.

About 700 dogs competed in the national competition in five height categories: 8-, 12-, 16-, 20and 24-inches. Quick bested 200 dogs in the 20-inch division to take the national title.

Agility competitions test a dog’s speed and the teamwork between handler and animal. The handler directs the dog through an obstacle course that includes a seesaw, weave-poles, jumps and tunnels in a race against the clock.

Moureaux has been at the nationally televised event before. She competed in 1999 with Heisey, a Shetland Sheepdog. Moureaux was 13, and a seven-year veteran of dog agility contests. They won fifth place.

Now at the ripe old age of 19, Moureaux and her two Border collies—Quick and her 3-year old daughter, Driven—have a string of national wins. Between competitions in the AKC and the United States Dog Agility Association (USDAA), both dogs raked in nine first-place awards in 2005 and seven the year before. Driven is the USDAA 2005 world champion jumper in her height category.

Last year, Moureaux opened her own agility training school, DrivenDogs, with four training grounds throughout the county. She trains dogs and their handlers. It doesn’t bother her that she may be training her future competitors.

“The reality of the sport is every one has different goals,” Moureaux said. “A lot of people are just out there to have fun.”

She said just about any willing dog—from Great Danes to Chihuahuas—can run an agility course. She prefers Border collies for their speed and smarts.

But after a competition this spring in the Netherlands, Moureaux plans to scale back on competitions. The California State University, Northridge business major wants to concentrate on school.

On the road to dog glory

On the other side of canine competitions are dog shows.

Maureen Kenton, a 37-year breeder of Norwegian elkhounds, has had 35 champions. To wear the title, dogs must earn at least 15 points in American Kennel Club shows in a one-year period.

Of the seven elkhounds she keeps at her one-acre Simi Valley home, 18-month old Sunny is the one she’s grooming as the next title holder. He’s on track to compete with the big dogs at the AKC/ Eukanuba National Championship in Long Beach this December.

The road to the national event is paved with scores of smaller competitions throughout the country. Most recently, Kenton entered Sunny in a three-day dog show at Seaside Park in Ventura. Although the show may appear to be a canine beauty pageant, it’s not. Judges are looking for how closely the dog conforms to the official standards or characteristics of the breed. They run their hands over the dog, checking eyes, ears, teeth, muscles, bones and coat texture in comparison to the standards.

The judging process, though somewhat complicated, is essentially a process of elimination. Dogs compete according to their breed. The one named Best in Breed advances to one of seven group categories: sporting, hound, working terrier, toy, non-sporting and herding. The first-place group winner then competes for Best in Show, the highest award.

At this competition no other Norwegian elkhounds participated. However, Sunny was still eligible to perform for judges since they’re comparing him against the breed’s established standards.

He won Best of Breed at the show, but failed to place in the hound group trials.

Kenton, however, isn’t discouraged. She said at each show she learns something new and becomes more polished for the next. This time around, he learned to stand still as Kenton sprayed the pads of his feet with water before for the show. The water keeps the animal from sliding in the ring. It takes over an hour of combing, brushing, spraying and blow drying of Sunny’s thick coat to prepare him for each show.

Kenton enters her dogs at an early age, just for the practice. Sunny won a title at 6 months; and now after several shows he’s more experienced and less distracted than before. Kenton expects him to improve even more with time. Norwegian elkhounds hit their prime between 3and 5years old and can still win at 9, Kenton said.

How does she recognize a budding champion?

“It takes lots of experience raising several litters, getting familiar with your blood lines . . . understanding the standards of your breed,” she said.

Sunny’s father is a champion, who qualified last year for the national AKC event, which is being televised this month on the Animal Planet Channel. But Kenton didn’t take him, believing he needs more refinement for competition on that level. She’s had a dog qualify for

Norwegian elkhounds, bred to hunt moose, have good temperaments, Kenton said. She keeps the litters to one every other year and only when she wants to perfect her breeding program.

Reputable dog breeders, as opposed to those who run puppy mills, stand behind the puppies they sell, Kenton said. They generally have an open-door policy, which means they want first chance at getting the dog back if the buyer can’t keep it. Should the animal develop a hereditary health problem soon after purchase, a breeder likely will offer a replacement dog or a partial repayment. A puppy miller says tough luck, Kenton said.

“We like to keep track of the dog,” she said. “It’s a life-time commitment for the breeder; I have the responsibility to the puppy for its life the moment it hits that ground.”

For detailed information on AKC dog shows, visit www.akc.org.