Fran Crigger Colonna, CH Bayard la Manon and me
Download this page in PDF formatAfter the 84 DCA Show in Pennsylvania, Fran Colonna and her husband Gary settled into their digs in Kansas and both were kept busy by their schedule and Fran’s children (who we all loved but who drove her crazy). Fran started out showing the new dogs she kept from Mary Howell’s Bayard Kennel and most finished easily, but there was one, a B&T bitch, that she could not get a point on. Her name was Bayard la Manon and she was a big bitch, but had a great coat and could move like a dream when she was loose and not touched. I think Fran, after showing her at nine point shows and not even winning a point, was ready to give up on her. However, my friend Wally Jones saw her at a Specialty (which she, of course, lost) and was wowed by what he saw.
Wally was talking with Fran after the Specialty and said that she should send her out to me and that I could ‘possibly’ finish her. They decided that is what was going to happen and yet no one told me this. Anyway, at the next Specialty which was in St Louis during the first of May of 85, Fran showed her again and she lost and then told me that Wally said I would take her and finish her. Normally, that would have upset me, but I did see her in the Show Ring and fell in love with her. She basically was what I always wanted to add to my Boondox line as Manon was bigger and rangier, but with true Dachshund type with a lot of long B&T coat which was exactly where I wanted it to be. In spite of the differences in Dachshunds, I always wanted to breed rangy ones to shorter legged ones and longer ones to cobbier ones and breed the moderate ones to whichever one caught my eye and would reproduce the type that I liked which is basically what I was breeding for and improving it (hopefully) with every breeding.
CH Bayard la Tartare ROM
She was a big bitch and she was strong and I knew that she HAD to get that head up and, when she did, she could out move anything in the Show Ring. The reason she was losing was that Fran could not get that head up off the floor and every time Manon stopped, she would almost lie down in the Ring. She totally ignored whoever was trying to show her and acted like she had never seen a person in real life. This could probably take awhile so I took her home from the St Louis Specialty knowing I was going to have my hands full teaching Bayard la Manon that she was, indeed, a Dachshund. Fran and I decided that, after Manon finished, I would breed her and keep a puppy if the right one came along in the litter…and, remember, nine shows and no wins. When I saw her pedigree and saw all those crosses back to CH Bayard le Tartare ROMX and a touch of CH Delldachs Rolls Royce ROM, too, I was very pleased and my mind was racing as to who to breed her to,
CH Delldachs Rolls Royce L ROM
I took her to Mecca and hoped we would have some progress in making this girl move like I knew she would. I started immediately going for long walks with her and my goal, just like with all my dogs, was to make them think they were out gaiting and looking around. Manon was so big and full of herself that I knew I had to really make her enjoy our walks together. First thing, she could NEVER lower her head. When we started out walking, I got the lead in my hand and set it so she could NOT lower it EVER. I walked her and walked her with Manon trying to kill herself and my hand would never give her an inch. That hand stayed at my belt level and she could flail and twist and have a fit, but she could never get that head down. After a couple of weeks, she actually tried to gait a little. She was sort of maybe responding to me and I, of course, was totally focused on turning her into the best version of a Dachshund that I could show.
Remember when I said she was full of herself and totally into her version of owning the ground she stood on, that is exactly what I meant and that, to me, was the idea of really being a Dachshund-when they were out, they were the boss. They decided where they went and who they decided to play with. They set the tone and it was always up to us to never let them lose that spirit, because that outlook is something you cannot get back. That is why I always like the way I got them ready for the Show Ring. I wanted them to THINK they were calling the shots, but that I really was. I wanted them to think that I was just along for their ride.
By this time, it was Memorial Day weekend and so I entered her in some shows in Michigan the last weekend in June and decided then that I really had to work even harder to get her ready to show. It was going to be a long haul to get ready for them, but they were small shows and I always liked showing there as it is outside and the dogs always had fun. The question this year was will Manon have fun there?
Then, I started to decide about entering DCA as it was coming up the July 4th weekend and Dee Hutchinson was going to judge Smooths. Since I had won so much at DCA in Pennsylvania last year, I thought it would be safe to show Longhairs as I was never going to win in that Variety for a while and also I was not going to enter a Special in Longs so that I would not be showing to Dee if she did get Intersex. I made my entries and wound up taking PJ and Pumpkin (as puppies) and threw in Manon to just get the practice in those big classes and, since I had never shown Manon before, I doubted that she would be a contender as she had so much to learn starting with teaching her how to walk briskly around the ring.
The rest of June, I worked with Manon, again, never letting her ever get the upper hand and always thinking she was out for a walk, having a great time. I gaited her and gaited her and always encouraged her that my way was going to be the most fun for her if she just sort of went along. I never gave her a day off and it was finally time to go to the All Breed Shows in Michigan.
I know I took some Wires, a couple of puppy longhairs and a couple of Smooths to those All Breeds, but all I remember is that Manon finally came through and won two sets of points. That was a great feeling and it made me happy to think that MAYBE I could finish her. I am not sure of who the Judges were in Michigan, but I am pretty sure that Bob Stein was one of them. Anyway, Manon showed alright, but still acted like she had never seen another person before. This was odd, because she had no temperament problems at all and, in fact, loved everyone she came in contact with. However, she was probably still mad at me for trying to change her into a dog and so we all had to suffer whenever she had to run around the ring with her head up. That was NOT in the cards as far as she was concerned. As I said, Manon was not scared of new people like Judges trying to touch her, but, as far as she was concerned, she was having nothing to do with them at all. She wasn’t afraid of these people, she just did not want to have any connection with them at all.
Talking to Fran after these Michigan shows, I told her that Manon won two sets of points and she was thrilled. Then I said I was taking her to DCA in Seattle and I believe she was puzzled, I explained that, with my big wins there last year, I was not going to be winning and I believe I said that, since Ann Gordon was judging Longs, I was absolutelv not winning anything in them because, while Ann admired my Smooths and put them up regularly, she just did not like my Longhairs and, in all my length in the breed, she never once even gave me a Reserve. I always wanted to win under her so every breeding I did, I tried to change things so that she would like them and put them up, but I had never been successful. With Dee Hutchinson judging Smooths where I would not enter and Ann Gordon judging Longhairs with me only showing class animals in Longs, I felt we were not going to have that successful of a weekend on the 4th of July in Seattle.
I left for Seattle in a couple of weeks and I took my cousin, Melanie Maurey, along who co-owned last year’s DCA WB, CH Rose Farms Hannelore Boondox L ROMX who went on to produce the incredible CH Boondox Chaps L ROMX who himself was twice BV at DCA. We had all the dogs with us and we shared a room with Wally and Mary Jones. We were all great friends and spent all the big weekends together. Despite being great competitors, they were also the best of friends and Wally and I were on the phone all the time comparing dogs and determining what we had to have in our own lines. Remember, when we share so much information, we are both mentoring the other especially when we do like the same things in our Breed. Wally and Mary Jones and myself got our first Show Dogs the same day back in 1976 and both used Hannelore Heller to show for us and we always were there asking her questions about structure and type. We got so much info from her that we still use what she taught us as our foundation and, I believe, we are very glad we got that info from her.
Another thing is that like so many DCAs, this had a full boatload of friends from all over the USA and many places to visit. We all had a great time and a lot of fun was spent being with our Dachshund friends. One thing, and I will mention it here since most don’t read it, was that Nancy Lockhart was a very close friend and she shared her room with Arvilla Simcic (later Mayhall) who was coming to Seattle alone. When Arvilla got there, she told Nancy that a couple of changes had taken place. First, she had left her first husband, Bill Simcic, and they were divorcing and that she would bring her new boyfriend with her to the Hotel (and would be sharing Nancy’s room!!). Needless to say, Mrs Lockhart was kind of a prude (HA!) and was really upset sharing a room with two hotties that couldn’t keep their hands off each other. Dare I say that we heard MANY complaints about that new living arrangement during our Seattle stay.
We all had a great time there and all got along great. Finally, the shows started and as luck would have it, I had another great show in Longhairs at that Seattle KC Show which was hosting DCA that year. I brought my two new puppies, Boondox Panama Jack and his sister, Boondox Pumpkin (who was co-owned by me and Wally and Mary Jones), and they both won their classes under Judge Bob Wlodkowski (this was the first time we ever showed under him and we had a great time) and Pumpkin was named best Longhair puppy and Best Puppy in the Dachshund Breed by esteemed Judge Heck Rice. I was overjoyed. However, in the bitch classes, I showed Fran and my bitch, Bayard la Manon, to Mr Wlodkowski and soon wound up at the head of her class. I was thrilled and then looked up and saw that he was going by and approaching each dog and touching them to check their temperaments. I really panicked and hoped she didn’t look spooky going around the ring as she really was not that way. I made up my mind that I had to do something to make sure she stood there for her touch and to show him that she was not scared and loved strangers touching her. (BTW, she hated it!). Mr Wlodkowski started with last place and moved forward and, just before he reached for Manon, I pinched her side like there was no tomorrow and she was so startled by that maneuver that she totally forgot that a stranger (shudder) was going to touch her. After that we won the class and went Winners Bitch and Fran and I celebrated at such a great ending to our week. First, Fran saw Manon move and it was exactly as she remembered it was and now we had nine points towards her AKC title and felt like celebrating as it looked like we would finish her.
Judge Bob Wlodkowski, Manon and Dan Harrison -WB at the Host Show
The next night was free as DCA started on Friday and we all needed to get to bed early. Since Dee Hutchinson was here, Wally, Mary and myself decided to go out with her to dinner as none of us were entered in Smooths or had a Special in the other coats so we knew that would NEVER happen. Anyway, we all went out and had a great dinner and, as you can imagine , we talked and laughed and enjoyed our free time together. I never told I had won WB in Longs so was good in that way, but we were bad perhaps just a little bit. After talking all evening, Dee made some comment about who she would put up in Smooths on Saturday. We didn’t tell her who won but said the temperaments were kind of sad in what had won today and that we hated for those to get accepted as what is correct, because they really were not the ones to win at that level. We sort of hinted around that Hannelore had one that we would take home in a minute and said that one should please everyone. That was as the dinner was ending and so we went home and we all got ready for the start of the Seattle DCA Show which started that next day.
I was astounded in that I was having an amazing show under the great Ann Gordon and won the puppy class again with PJ. I was stunned and actually quite pleased by winning these classes under her at DCA. I always considered Ann Gordon to be the Standard by which i measured other Judges’ qualities in picking the best of the best. I always wanted to win under her and so always changed my look with every litter to finally get her approval as, along with Mr Cook’s, that was what I was going after, I never decided not to show under her, but each loss made me more eager to win the next time she was judging,
Finally, Open Standard Bitches came in and I showed Manon who was relaxed and happy and absolutely ready to move. After Ann moved them all, she placed Manon first and was almost crying as she gave her that ribbon. I stayed in the Ring and showed her for Winners Bitch where Mrs Gordon quickly gave her that Class, too. I was literally stunned in that I won both five point majors at this Show of Shows and that this bitch was almost finished in four shows and just needed one point to be an AKC Champion, Fran and I were pinching each other as we realized what we almost have accomplished, especially after showing her so long and never getting a point. All I can say is that it did save Fran a lot of work training Manon where she had to move with her head held high…that was no fun.
Judge Ann Gordon, Manon and Dan Harrison giving her a second major!
We decided to go out for a quick dinner that evening because Intersex competition started tomorrow. Before we went to dinner, I thought I should take the dogs out to my ex-pens outside our Hotel which was right by the very busy Interstate which was always incredibly busy. I first took Manon and PJ down and put them in the ex-pens and I could tell that she was getting uneasy about her surroundings. All of a sudden, Manon stopped, looked around and, while standing still, jumped right over the high ex-pen and then took off running down the road in our Hotel. Remember, this Hotel was busy with all sorts of traffic and now I am thinking how to save this bitch. By this time, Manon felt like my bitch and I could not imagine losing her. I was watching her run away and suddenly someone came out the Hotel side door and Manon saw them and she ran over and tried to get through the door, but hit the closed one instead and luckily knocked herself silly. She hit the ground unconscious and just lay there which gave me a chance to run over and pick her up. I could not believe how incredibly lucky I was and that she was saved. No one was as happy as I was then as I just knew she was going to the Interstate and, with all that traffic, she would not last long as those cars went whizzing by. With Manon, even taking the dog out was just as dramatic as this. When I got her back in the room, I checked and she seemed to be back to normal, but maybe a little slow. I decided to put her in her crate and we all went out to dinner.
The next morning, we watched the Intervariety and saw Dee Hutchinson give Hannelore the best Smooth with the Chuckie daughter, CH Apothecary Black Rosey Rose and John Cook give Michael Zollo Best with CH Solo’s Seafarer W and so, to us, those choices were pretty damned good. Then it was time for Longhair Variety and I went to get Manon and she still was acting a little off, She was happy though and was running around with her head up and actually looking around and (just barely) wagging her tail a little. We had told Fran about her getting out while we were exercising her and we were all checking her out, but we decided that she was fine to show that day.
Finally, the Longs went in and I was last as Winners Bitch always was and the bitch was actually looking around and watching things around her. Could she be snapping out of it? Was it a brain injury from last night?? Who knew, but I was enjoying myself. Waiting in line, I was being watched by Paul and Monika Martin’s young son who was about a year old and he was fascinated by the coat I wore. He literally could not take his eyes off of it as it was a very loud blue and white Madras jacket and he was just loving it. We talked about it then and were all laughing and enjoying his wanting that jacket and I hoped he got one to wear some day.
During this time, DCA drew who was doing Best of Breed and Dee Hutchinson won that and she was very pleased. Since we had no Specials entered, that choice would not affect us at all. While showing the Longhairs, Ann Gordon loved to move them and move them she did. The class animals were behind the Specials and, for some reason, Manon decided that she was maybe, just a little, enjoying her time out with me or whether she was glad NOT to be loose in the parking lot or perhaps just a little silly from that hit on the head when she tried to sneak back into the Hotel but instead bonged her head on the closed door instead. Anyway, she was full of herself and was eager to run around the ring with her head held high and seeing how fast she could go and, trust me, she could race really fast and make the others look like they were standing still. She could really cover ground and, if you saw her without her show coat, you would see how long her legs were and how much ground she could scamper across. She really owned the Show Ring when she took it over and, on that day, she managed to draw every eye to her and, I noticed, that she was really drawing the crowd into her movement. The more she moved, the more the crowd roared its approval because, actually, she moved better than most did and, since she was shown rarely, she was still enjoying her time in the Show Ring and I was loving the way she covered ground.
As this Variety went longer and longer, with Ann Gordon making cuts along the way and Manon still in there with the best the country had to offer, that line-up grew shorter and shorter and I suddenly though that I could win this Variety…and just as suddenly felt that Dee would faint if I walked into her Best of Breed Ring. Anyway, Ann Gordon was moving Manon and the crowd kept roaring for her and suddenly you could tell that even Manon thought that this was fun. We were getting close to the end and Ann pulled out Hannelore’s Special and Manon and sent them both around together with Hannelore leading the way and then put Manon in front and she literally just plain out moved the dog. We went back to our places in the line and Ann Gordon pulled out Hannelore and then called me up and put me at the head of the line, really, the crowd went wild and roared its approval. She sent us around and pointed to me for Best of Variety and I threw my comb across the room. Literally, I was in Heaven and Fran was first to hug me after that award. It was amazing.
Judge Ann Gordon, Manon, Dan Harrison and Trophy Presenter Larry Sorenson awarding Manon the big plaque
Then, we realized that Dee was not in the room and didn’t know what happened so Fran, Wally, Mary and myself agreed to not mention it and just show up in the Ring for Best of Breed. So they called in Best of Breed and I was first with Manon, Hannelore was second with the Rosey Rose bitch and Michael was last with Seafarer. Needless to say, Manon was on her best behavior, she was fast on the move and was even wagging that tail of hers which was really getting into it for her. The other two dogs were campaigners who loved to show but after seeing them all, Dee surprised everyone and gave Manon Best of Breed. I was amazed and happy and realized that Mary Howell just had her second Best of Breed in two years at DCA and was not here to know it. It was so heartwarming, but, damn, I had to work so hard for. it, but it was worth it. I still feel so happy with that win and seeing the picture makes me smile to myself.
Judge Dee Hutchinson, Manon, Dan Harrison and Larry Sorenson awarding Best of Breed
Then, while we were taking the Best of Breed pictures, Dee Hutchinson looked at me and said, “Well, I guess I need to go turn myself in when I get home!” meaning she had to go to to AKC and tell them what she did, but, luckily, the AKC bigwigs had heard the reports about the dog and so nothing was done to her. It was quite a weekend for all of us and we all just sort of basked in the glow of those wins.
When I got home, I realized we needed one point to finish her, so I entered her under Mrs, Lynwood Walton at a show around Chicago and went up there, finished her and so I called Fran and it was a celebration. We did it!
Fran and I then had to decide whether to campaign her or not. This was sort of a hot spot for Longhairs and there is always a lot of competition so it would not be easy. We did special her once at the Badger DC Specialty the last of August and she did win BV under John Cook, but she was in the process of losing her coat and looked naked in her picture. Since the ending of DCA, the hair loss would keep her out of the ring for a while so we had a little space to get her back on track, but, unfortunately, at that time, as you all may have noticed, I had the litter that included PJ, Pumpkin, Pandemonium and Promise who really were sort of changing the look of Longhairs.
With that, I will end my story about finishing Manon and, in the next chapter, move on to breeding her, who to breed her to and getting Danielle into the Show Ring, I wonder if anyone is reading these posts?