1. My name is Dr. Michelle Wiberg. I am a breeder-veterinarian from North Branch, Minnesota. My husband, Christopher, and I began breeding German Shorthaired Pointers under the kennel name Chrishelle in 2016. We’ve owned Shorthairs since I graduated from vet school in 2012. I grew up with Lhasa Apsos, as my mother bred and showed Lhasas since the early 1980s. I was primarily an equine veterinarian for over 10 years before transitioning into small animal medicine with a focus on canine reproduction.
2. I am evaluating my puppies from birth for structure, temperament, and drive. Sometimes we end up with an obvious pick of the litter or a few top puppies that catch your eye from the beginning. I try to place my best-structured puppies in show homes, my best bird-drive puppies in hunting homes, and my most athletic and biddable puppies in performance homes. Sometimes it’s hard to wait until that “golden period” of 7-8 weeks of age to make a final structural decision, but most often, we already know who will fit best in each home based on the structure and behaviors we’ve seen in the weeks prior. It always seems to work out that each puppy ends up in just the right home after careful consideration.
3. I do believe there are still many good GSP breeders out there who are breeding for form to function and are not losing track of the purpose of the breed—a versatile hunter. It can be easy to get caught up in the latest fad or partaking in the popular sire syndrome, but I truly believe there are many others like myself who can see the flaws in their own programs that they want to improve, see the positives in other programs and what they bring to the gene pool, see the importance of preserving the proper biddable temperament and bird drive, and continue to produce quality dogs that can compete successfully in all venues of Conformation, hunting and performance. Trends I see that concern me are the divide between the strictly field and strictly show lines. The field lines can have conformation deviating far from the Standard, and the show lines are losing the natural hunting abilities. Conformation trends of concern are over-angulated rears, prominent forechest, straight fronts, loose elbows, and oversized dogs. We have a beautiful Illustrated Standard for breeders and judges to study.
4. Every day is a different day at the dog show. I’ll win and lose under the same judge and I’ve gotten to the point of just enjoying showing my dog and am thankful when the judge points to us. I always take notes on what a judge does that day, but even if we fall out of the ribbons I appreciate it when I can follow what a judge is looking for based on the placements. Most of the time, the judges are finding the best dogs for the top placements in my breed. Being a wash-and-wear breed, we have a lot of owner-handlers showing and succeeding against the professionals, which is fabulous. The best judges should be able to overlook the handler and solely judge the dog. As far as the number of shows, I love having the option to travel to a couple of dog shows within a few hours of home a couple times a month. Some months are busier than others, but our breed often draws good entries at most larger shows and clusters and is always sporting quality dogs from a variety of breeders. We’ve started to have a couple of shows in the region end up on the same weekend, and that can be frustrating when you enjoy both shows and like the judges on both panels. This seems to lower the entry numbers for one or both clubs, and I do hope in the future that shows can coordinate their dates better so as to not overlap in the same region/area causing a divide of entries.
5. Social media is a great way to communicate, spread the word about events, ask questions, and gain knowledge. Of course, there are always people out there pessimistically spreading negativity or complaining, but the nice thing about social media is you can choose what to read and engage in. I enjoy pages like the Judges Report Card to read about people’s experiences with certain judges I have not shown to before. I also enjoy breed-specific conformation critique pages, and pages dedicated to building majors at shows. I rely heavily on Facebook for keeping up-to-date about many AKC events and our National Specialty shows.
6. Some of the biggest challenges I see as a whole are bringing in new people to the sport, keeping new people in the sport, getting people involved to help put on events successfully, and accepting new people who want to get involved. Breeders should be encouraging their puppy buyers to get involved with their local clubs and events. Getting people to volunteer and become involved in a club can be challenging, as everybody is balancing a multitude of things in their daily schedules. Gratitude and appreciation can go a long way. The worst thing a group can do is to not allow an eager newbie to help or get involved, or to tell them they are doing things wrong because it’s not the way they want things done. I’ve noticed occasional clashes between the older and the younger generations, usually because the newer generation wants to try something new or change something and the older generation is stuck in their ways. The sport and people within, as a whole, need to be flexible, accepting, encouraging, and spread positivity to keep the sport alive and growing.
7. I have enjoyed the addition of the National Owner-Handled Series, and now, the new levels of recognition within the NOHS. More and more clubs are stepping up their level of ribbons and awards for their NOHS Groups and it is certainly appreciated.
Showsight Magazine–the world’s most influential purebred dog publication since 1992. Each issue reaches a global audience dedicated to preserving the history and health of purpose bred dogs. Filled with award-winning editorial focused on news and insights from the dog show community, top breeders, handlers, AKC Judges, and more!
