The Morris & Essex Show USA - Trivia

[tasha]

I'm going through a batch of magasines that I've just received and came across this article which might be of interest to those with a longhair. As you know the longhair is not recognised in the states and the breed standard has it as a fault in the breed.

The magasine is dated September 1952 and the article is part of a regular Weimaraner write up called 'Gathering Gray Gold' by Yvonne Goldsmith in the WCA magasine...

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW. The Morris & Essex Speciality Show had only 28 dogs present. A longhair was placed in one of the classes. Last year, 52 dogs were present. A black dog (or blue as it is sometimes called) was exhibited but not placed. Mrs Dodge insists that there should be a minimum of 50 dogs present in each breed, or the breed will not be invited again. I am truely sorry about the lack of interest that was shown in this year's Morris & Essex Show.

Sadly it doesn't say who the longhaired dog was whether it was a bitch or a dog but it is nice to see that there is a mention for a longhair in the the states being placed as far back as 1952. ;D I have made an enquiry to the clubs historian though so will let you all know if they manage to find any details.

The Morris & Essex Show is a very famous one in the states mainly because of its original owner, there are some lovely articles about Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge & the show itself but this site is the best I have found so far:

www.morrisandessex.com/

If you click on M&E 2000 and then the article in the box by Capt Haggerty you can read a little of the history of the show.

Its a pity that we aren't a spaniel breed there is a lovely couple of old videos on the site that show a small part of the showing in the ring

I'd also rather fancy her car for her dogs... a 1936 maroon and gold cadillac!! Big enough for 12 dogs... Mrs Dodges own breed was the german shepherd and is a focus for the site.

[Steve Graham]

tasha said:

As you know the longhair is not recognised in the states and the breed standard has it as a fault in the breed.

The AKC standard (as provided by the WCA) lists long hair as a disqualification in the show ring, but longhairs can participate in any other AKC event.
Although the AKC is the 1,000-pound gorilla when it comes to shows, there are other organizations, both show and field, where the longhaired Weimaraner is perfectly acceptable.
Note also that as of July 1, the Canandian Kennel Club will remove longhair as a fault and establish it as a separate variety (or however they call that there). For that I congratulate our friends in the Weimaraner Association of Canada.
That leaves the United States as the only country in the world where the principal showing organization rejects the longhairs. As far as I can tell, that bothers the élites in the WCA not a bit.

[tasha]

thanks for the correction... The historian has been in touch and asked me to send a copy of the article so hopefully he will be able to help us track which dog was placed. Mrs Dodge often invited German or European judges to judge her show so it will be interesting to see who this particular judge was

It seems that she was a formidable character