“Into the jaws of the dragon and into the valley of Death flew the sexagenarian,” to take liberties with Tennyson. And like the great winged darkness that soared in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” the menace of SARS was to threaten me in April of 2003. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, the latest viral killer to …
Revised December 2011. It was an honor and a pleasure to be invited to again judge in the Caribbean country of Trinidad & Tobago, this time by the German Shepherd Breed Club of T&T, the previous assignment having been sponsored by the Rottweiler Club. But in both cases, these two breeds, being the most populous, …
Revised December 2011. It seems that every-other trip I make to Taiwan coincides with renewed national (or nation-to-nation) turmoil. That island country was once known by foreigners as Formosa (“beautiful island”), and I still catch myself using that name, a holdover from the days I was a star geography student in the 1940s. In the …
Revised December 2012. Sometimes the seasoned exhibitor fails to remember how long it took him to get the hang of things when he was first going to dog shows. To the first-time spectator and for some time afterward, the activity at a show is confusing. After a few discussions with someone who knows the ropes, …
Revised December 2011. Every day seems to be summer in Jamaica, and since I retired from regular hours in the chemicals business, every day is like Saturday or a summer vacation to me. Still, when the Jamaica GSD club called me to fill in for an ill judge, I had another judging job I was …