Elaine
05-23-2009, 08:33 AM
Back in 1995 I co-owned Ch. Debussy v. d Noorderink. Brucie won the Breed at the GSCA Eastern Regional and the National that year (and went onto win the Breed at the National again in 1997 and 1998). Don’t get me wrong here, Brucie’s 1995 National win was a thrill, as was Dave (Ch. Logres Outabounz) being first AOM at the Eastern Regional and his littermate Steffy (Ch. Logres' Midnight Motion) going BOS at the Garden that year, but those are really not the moments that stand out as all time favorites in the ring.
One of my favorite memories was when Lance Deloria was showing for us just a few years ago.
Doberman people will likely not know Lance, but Great Dane people and Terrier people will. Last I heard, Lance is no longer showing dogs. Arthur and I loved him (and his wife Tracy). They made showing fun. We miss him in and out of the ring. I doubt he will mind me telling the following story.
Lance was all Terrier… feisty as all hell, but deep through the heart… a fierce competitor who never backed down.. all Terrier. When Lance was in the ring, he was showing every single moment. He always had an eye on the dog at the end of his lead, an eye on the judge, and his third eye on the competition. Lance’s dogs always looked great every moment they were in the ring. And god forbid something pissed him off, 'cause Lance could blow.
Some poor owner handler ran up on Lance in the ring with Brentina once. I saw it happen, the woman did it twice, but she was a total novice, nervous and simply not paying attention. It was truly a mistake, that happened twice in the span of a few minutes. I knew Brentina and knew that she loved being run up on. LOVED IT!!! Truth is, Brentina hated showing, she thought it was just plain stupid. When that bitch ran up on her, Brentina lit up like a ball of fire, “Finally, a game she loved.” Brentina’s one true joy in life (other than me and eating) is to be chased by her brothers Titan or Brentano while she has some toy or stick they want. To this day she lives to be chased… she’d play the game 24/7 if I allowed it. She has run race tracks around some of our trees and bushes in the game of “chase me.” There were times when she was younger when she would not come in for dinner (let me repeat this, Brentina would NOT come in for DINNER), because she was still running around some bushes with her purple ball in her mouth. She’d poke her head out of the bushes from time to time to see if anyone would come chase her, but the boys would be inside in bed asleep.
Brentina thought that the bitch running upon her in the ring was the start of a new game of chase. She was thrilled, “Finally, there’s something to like about being in the ring.”
Lance did not see it that way, and stormed out of the ring yelling at the woman. He continued to yell at the woman all across the Exhibition Hall. Lots of fun words were flying, the “b” word, the “c” word, on down through the alphabet. Eventually Mary Dukes, the Field Rep was called, Lance probably should have been benched, but at one point the woman responded that he was gay, so that evened out the lunacy from both sides. Mary Dukes wisely assessed that both parties were at fault. She simply took Lance by the shoulder and walked away with him, to get him to calm down. One message that came through loud and clear was that no one runs up on Lance in the ring; Terriers absolutely do not tolerate that kind of thing!
Sometimes when Titian did not win, you could see the steam rising in Lance. We’d watch his face as he was collecting a red ribbon and fear that he might blow right there in the ring.
There were times when we’d be discussing what Lance thought of upcoming judging panels where Lance would say, “That guy is a moron, and I’ve told him so” … or “She is an idiot, and I’ve told her so.” It got to be a bit of a joke about which judges Lance had not told where to put it. :o Truth is, we may have been a bit cautious about which judges to show to with Lance on our dogs, but we never feared that Lance was playing games in the ring. We never feared that Lance was not fiercely committed to winning with our dogs each and every time he stepped into the ring.
We miss him and the fireworks. He was passionate about our dogs, our dogs always looked good with him… and we knew he was out to win. Lance and his wife made showing fun. We have won more with other handlers, but it was always fun with Lance and we miss him.
One of my favorite memories was when Lance Deloria was showing for us just a few years ago.
Doberman people will likely not know Lance, but Great Dane people and Terrier people will. Last I heard, Lance is no longer showing dogs. Arthur and I loved him (and his wife Tracy). They made showing fun. We miss him in and out of the ring. I doubt he will mind me telling the following story.
Lance was all Terrier… feisty as all hell, but deep through the heart… a fierce competitor who never backed down.. all Terrier. When Lance was in the ring, he was showing every single moment. He always had an eye on the dog at the end of his lead, an eye on the judge, and his third eye on the competition. Lance’s dogs always looked great every moment they were in the ring. And god forbid something pissed him off, 'cause Lance could blow.
Some poor owner handler ran up on Lance in the ring with Brentina once. I saw it happen, the woman did it twice, but she was a total novice, nervous and simply not paying attention. It was truly a mistake, that happened twice in the span of a few minutes. I knew Brentina and knew that she loved being run up on. LOVED IT!!! Truth is, Brentina hated showing, she thought it was just plain stupid. When that bitch ran up on her, Brentina lit up like a ball of fire, “Finally, a game she loved.” Brentina’s one true joy in life (other than me and eating) is to be chased by her brothers Titan or Brentano while she has some toy or stick they want. To this day she lives to be chased… she’d play the game 24/7 if I allowed it. She has run race tracks around some of our trees and bushes in the game of “chase me.” There were times when she was younger when she would not come in for dinner (let me repeat this, Brentina would NOT come in for DINNER), because she was still running around some bushes with her purple ball in her mouth. She’d poke her head out of the bushes from time to time to see if anyone would come chase her, but the boys would be inside in bed asleep.
Brentina thought that the bitch running upon her in the ring was the start of a new game of chase. She was thrilled, “Finally, there’s something to like about being in the ring.”
Lance did not see it that way, and stormed out of the ring yelling at the woman. He continued to yell at the woman all across the Exhibition Hall. Lots of fun words were flying, the “b” word, the “c” word, on down through the alphabet. Eventually Mary Dukes, the Field Rep was called, Lance probably should have been benched, but at one point the woman responded that he was gay, so that evened out the lunacy from both sides. Mary Dukes wisely assessed that both parties were at fault. She simply took Lance by the shoulder and walked away with him, to get him to calm down. One message that came through loud and clear was that no one runs up on Lance in the ring; Terriers absolutely do not tolerate that kind of thing!
Sometimes when Titian did not win, you could see the steam rising in Lance. We’d watch his face as he was collecting a red ribbon and fear that he might blow right there in the ring.
There were times when we’d be discussing what Lance thought of upcoming judging panels where Lance would say, “That guy is a moron, and I’ve told him so” … or “She is an idiot, and I’ve told her so.” It got to be a bit of a joke about which judges Lance had not told where to put it. :o Truth is, we may have been a bit cautious about which judges to show to with Lance on our dogs, but we never feared that Lance was playing games in the ring. We never feared that Lance was not fiercely committed to winning with our dogs each and every time he stepped into the ring.
We miss him and the fireworks. He was passionate about our dogs, our dogs always looked good with him… and we knew he was out to win. Lance and his wife made showing fun. We have won more with other handlers, but it was always fun with Lance and we miss him.