Susan Thibodeaux
1. My name is Susan Thibodeaux and my kennel name is Kallmee. My husband and I live in Florida on the Space Coast. I began showing Cocker Spaniels in 1978, but I grew up with dogs. My dad used to raise Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and my mom had Poodles. After my dad died, going through his things we found his ribbons from the 1950s carefully stored in wax paper. Thirteen years ago, after decades in the Sporting Group showing primarily Vizslas, Cockers, and English Cockers, I decided to go smaller so that we could travel more, and I began my journey with Toy Fox Terriers and Toy Manchester Terriers.
I am currently President of the American Toy Fox Terrier Club, on the Board of the Brevard Kennel Club (BKC), Secretary of the Florida Association of Kennel Clubs, and a member of the American Manchester Terrier Club and the Toy Dog Club of South Florida. Besides a full-time job to pay for my dogs and horses, when I have “free” time I write magazine articles, make TikTok videos about my breed, and, in addition to Conformation, compete with my dogs in Rally, Fast CAT, and Barn Hunt. I enjoy stewarding, teaching handling classes for BKC, and judging Sweepstakes and Matches. After all these years I finally decided last winter to take the steps to become a judge and am provisional in Cocker Spaniels, Vizslas, Toy Fox Terriers, and Junior Showmanship.
2. In addition to the beautiful head and those amazing upright ears, everything on a Toy Fox Terrier balances. Length of head equals length of neck, front and rear angulations are similar, height equals length, floor to elbow equals elbow to withers; you get the picture. This lovely, balanced, graceful, elegant, and agile dog has a beautiful slick coat, which is at least 50 percent white and the head is mostly solid. On top of all of it is their amazing personality—these are not robots, and they are the best of toy and terrier—comical, animated, and intelligent.
3. I wish I could say yes, but many of us have struggled this year to sell puppies—especially male puppies. I don’t think it’s just my breed either. I recently saw, for the first time in my memory, one of the most well-known, highly regarded breeders post that they have puppies available. I really think the AKC (American Kennel Club) needs to revise their marketing to put perceived value back into purebred dogs in the minds of the public. Before doodles and “adopt, don’t shop,” the public viewed purebred dogs, especially with Champion parents or Champion bloodlines, to be desired in the selection of a pet. It’s the opposite now, and added to the constraints of restrictive ordinances, zoning, HOAs, and the public’s negative perception of breeders due to the “adopt, don’t shop” movement, being a breeder and finding puppy buyers can be difficult. This is especially true for breeds that are not well known and not in the typical puppy buyer’s mind.
4. It’s no surprise to the folks who follow me that I am very conversant with social media. A lot of what I do is to introduce the public to Toy Fox Terriers. I had one recent video of two cute puppies playing, which, across my platforms, has been viewed nearly a million times. That’s a lot of people who never heard of Toy Foxes before being introduced to them. It’s a wonderful breed, but the public just doesn’t know they exist and always misidentifies them. I am trying to change that.
5. Unfortunately, it’s always the bad news that gets the buzz. Hoarders, dog bites, bad breeders, breeds with devastating health issues, and other negative stories get the play in the news. Even our local police departments are more likely to get a dog that’s not purebred when they are purchasing a new “K9 cop.” Our good purebred dogs just aren’t visible enough. We need to do more than just go to dog shows; we dog people need to get our dogs out at local events and host local “meet the breeds.”
6. Looking around, it appears most of us at dog shows are north of the half-century mark. We need to get new people into the sport. I don’t just mean Juniors. I think the most untapped group are the people whose kids are now adults, they have a little more time and disposable income and are in their upper 30s to low 50s. AKC should look at that demographic and target marketing about purebred dogs to them, and if we sell someone in that age group a dog, we should try to guide them to try out a dog show. Get them to take their puppies to a 4-6 Month Beginner Puppy Competition (BPUP). I think BPUP should be changed to allow puppies with limited registration; if they turn out nice it’s easy to reverse the limited and change to regular registration. If they played with their puppy in BPUP, they might get bit by the show bug. That could give us a broader group of new puppy owners to try out our sport.
7. I think the most positive change is the National Owner-Handled Series (NOHS), but not for why most people would think. I like it because it has led people who used to “show and go” to stick around all day. This has led to many friendships between people who don’t have the same breeds, because they kept meeting in, and waiting at, the OH rings and became friends and each other’s cheerleaders. They started setting up near each other in the grooming areas, parking RVs near each other, going out to eat, shopping, and having fun together. While I don’t show in NOHS anymore, over the years that I showed in NOHS I made lifelong friends, and we continue to hang out at shows together. They have other breeds, and we probably wouldn’t have met each other and become friends were it not for NOHS Groups. Having a “show family” makes dog shows a lot more fun and the place to be on weekends.
