BU Editorial
IT WAS A
GREAT ABC...
Virginia Zurflieh, editor
The ‘99
ABC National Specialty had it all: a natural-eared special was shown in the Top
Twenty, to enormous applause; a perfectly stunning - and perfectly plain - 6-9 puppy was
Winners Bitch and Best of Winners; and a nearly eight year old dog won Best of Breed,
looking as fabulous and showing as electrically as he had when he won the Top Twenty in
1994. Judge Rick Beauchamp has written a terrific article for this issue of BU on the
importance of awarding top wins to dogs with a high degree of breed type over those with
only "generic show quality" ("THE HIGHER THEY GO,
THE LESS THEY NEED"), which, speaking as a longtime breeder/exhibitor, is right
on the money. However, anyone who attended this show would surely have to acknowledge that
from the Futurity to the final Awards of Excellence, the top winning dogs and bitches at
the ‘99 ABC were some of the best, and typiest, Boxers in the world!
Although BU accepts no paid advertising, we
do try to feature a different "exceptional" Boxer in each issue. We think you
will agree that this month’s BU Feature Dog - "Dream" - is an
"exceptionally exceptional" Boxer.
On a sad note, this issue also features
tributes to two recently deceased and especially notable members of our close-knit Boxer
community - handler Dick Baum, and Obedience enthusiast Marilyn Krejci. Goodbye and Godspeed, Dick and Marilyn.
