2000 Conformation

Breed Evaluation & Conformation Handling Workshop
with Bill & Susan Burrell, York, Maine
April 8, 2000

Chinooks New England! had the great pleasure of sponsoring a workshop with Bill and Susan Burrell. Bill has been a dog trainer, evaluator and handler for years. Many breeders in New England use him to evaluate their litters at 5 days and 5 weeks. Bill has a wealth of information about dogs and is quite insightful about structure and training. Susan is an accomplished handler, showing dogs in Westminster and World shows. She makes those dogs just glide around the ring. It is quite something to see! To top it off, they are fun as a pair.

We received one heck of a learning experience. To start off, Bill gave an overview of dog structure and the Chinook breed standard. He presented this in the context of his historical knowledge of the dog. After the overview, Bill provided each of the participants with an evaluation of their dogs conformation. We started with the Chinook Crosses and as much as possible, had the dogs evaluated in their sibling group. It was not an evaluation where Bill reviewed the dogs and we watched by quietly. He challenged us to look at the dogs and assess what we saw. This interactive method of teaching gave us a chance to apply what the standard that he had just reviewed.

Sixteen Chinooks and one Catahoula Leopard Dog participated in the evaluation. The sixteen Chinooks were representatives of six different kennels (WoodsRunner, Hurricane, Rain Mountain, Intervale, GreatMountain & White Mountain) and three different cross lines. It was a great learning experience about our dogs and about how to assess their conformation to the breed standard.

Lest you think that was it, we also were treated to training in how to handle your dogs in the show ring. It was late in the day and 11 of the dogs stayed for this. There is so much to learn and practice and feedback are so vital to this learning. We all appreciated Bill & Susan's patience and expertise.

Bill shows Penthea Burns how to use one hand to show the bite while holding the collar with the other.

Bill shows Penthea how to use her fingertips to keep Trav'ler from moving during the examination.

Connie Jones shows off Duncan's wonderful show stand - he is already a Champion, after all!

The youngest Chinook, Tahoe, at just 17 weeks, shows off his beautiful gait with handler, Shirley Jackson.

David Bradbury and Becca shined their first time in the conformation ring!

During one of the breaks, we held a brief raffle with fun items that participants brought in. The best was the t-shirt that Nancy Bartol had made, with an old photo of Walden and Chinook. There also were dog beds, dog books, dog toys and treats, as well as other items.

For a slightly different twist on food, we opted for a potluck dessert. Our guests and members rose to the challenge. Fresh fruit, breads, squares, cakes and other yummies adorned a nearby table. It was invaded intermittently throughout the day. The chocolate peanut butter, whipped creme cake was so good!