The royalty of loyalty

The reasons man chooses a particular breed for his best friend are as varied as there are breeds of dogs.

“Every person that shows dogs loves the breed he owns and is completely loyal,” said Marianne Sullivan, a longtime member of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Kennel Club. “I have only ever had collies. I have been attracted to them because of their intelligence, and they are a herding breed, so they are bonded to their humans.”

Sullivan is bonded to 10 collies.

Buddy Voshell inherited his love of Labrador retrievers.

“My wife was the original Lab owner,” 84-year-old Voshell said. “She showed every time there was a show. Unfortunately, cancer took her away three years ago.”

Voshell, however, will continue to play a timely role in the Charlottesville-Albemarle Kennel Clubs’ back-to-back all breed obedience and rally dog shows on Saturday and May 31 at Foxfield.

“I’m the guy who plays the national anthem,” he said.

A charter member of the club, he also is in charge of keeping the shows running on time.

“I will be busy,” he said. “But I might sneak away to watch the Labradors.”

One of his five Labs — his champion Digger — will be shown by 11-year-old Katie Sheaves.

“I can’t gallop around the rings like I did in my young days,” he said with a laugh.

But it was a galloping pack of strange dogs that caught Suzanne Hills’ eye.

She didn’t know it at the time, but the lion hunters from South Africa would become her best friends.

“I had seen them way back in the ’60s running in a field,” Hills said. “Their people weren’t really in attendance, so I had no idea what they were for several years.”

Then one day she saw an article about Rhodesian ridgebacks in the New York Times.

“I remember saying to my husband that I would really like to learn more about these dogs,” she said. “I thought they looked like just what a dog should look like. They are athletic, they are strong, they are sleek, and they don’t need any body parts cut off. So he was very keen on that part of it.”

Noted for the distinctive ridges down their backs, the Rhodesians were bred by Boer farmers as hunting dogs in South Africa. It wasn’t until 1955 that the breed was recognized by the American Kennel Club.

“We found a couple of breeders who were the nearest to us,” Hills said. “In those days, they were kind of few and far between. One was in Maryland. One was in New York state.

“We ended up hearing from both of them. They had bred back and forth, so their dogs were pretty much the same ilk.”

One day they made a trip to New York.

“I remember my husband sort of reluctantly saying, ‘We will go up and take a look at them,’ and, of course, we came home with a puppy,” she said. By 1971, the Hills had bred their first litter of ridgebacks.

“I’m kind of an occasional breeder,” she said. “I don’t breed them a lot because I don’t keep a whole lot of dogs. I really like them to be in the house with me, so it limits how many you can have.”

They are pretty large. The ridgebacks stand about 24 to 27 inches tall and can weigh anywhere between 70 to 90 pounds. The males tend toward the heavier side of the scale.

“They are a wonderful breed,” said Hills, who will be showing one of her three girls, Marla, at CAKC’s 52nd and 53nd dog shows.

“I wouldn’t call them popular dogs, but certainly they have gained a lot in popularity in the last 10 or 15 years,” Hills said. “Interestingly enough, and I have no idea quite why, but they are one of the most showed breeds. You go to a lot of shows and you will see a lot of ridgebacks, and I think that would lead you to believe that they are even more popular than they are.”

They are fun to watch in a field. They love to run and, Hill said, participate in their favorite sport — body slamming each other.

“At one point we had — and this was when we were living in New Jersey and had a bigger house and a bigger kennel — we had eight, and a couple staying with us. It was a pretty big group.”

After moving to Charlottesville in 1991, she keeps fewer dogs now and only attends shows in a radius that includes Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

“I have been fortunate enough to finish their championships without going all over the place,” she said. “Granted, it sure takes me longer than some people, and people who send [their dogs] out with professional handlers, but it does get done.”

Hills’ Marla will be working on finishing her championship in the ring at Foxfield.

“This is such a beautiful show site,” Hills said. “We have big enough size rings to stretch out and move in, which can be the biggest problem with this breed. “They are big movers, and if you give them a little postage stamp of a ring, it’s hard to show them to advantage.

“So this is really a nice show, and I understand we have a pretty decent entry this year, which is wonderful. It’s looking good.”

According to Sandy Lady, the president of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Kennel Club, there will be more than 950 dogs in 170 breeds competing in next weekend’s all-breed, obedience and rally dog shows.

“For people interested in dogs or getting a dog, this is a great opportunity to come out and see some purebred dogs,” Lady said. “We have some of the top handlers in the country coming and some of the top dogs in the country.”

So what is the “top dog” for the show chairman?

“Great Danes,” she said. “We used to have multiples, but we only have one right now.

“We got our first dog in 1963 … and we lost our last one last year. We didn’t think we were going to get another one, but we couldn’t do without one. So we went and got a puppy and he just turned one year old.”

Her puppy weighs 190 pounds.

“We can’t show him yet … we have to wait until he grows into himself,” she said. “But they are great dogs.”

Come judge for yourself.