#Chatterbox sports live professional#

As a curious, self-motivated, active listener and observer, I would consider myself primarily self-taught. Sarah Lawrence : From a young age, I wanted to know everything I possibly could about breeding, conditioning, and showing dogs. Who were your mentors in the sport? Please elaborate on their influence.Ĭhatterbox Shih Tzu | L.

#Chatterbox sports live professional#

Over the years, I have finished more than 200 Maltese champions and, as a professional handler, conditioned and showed a wide variety of other coated breeds, including Lhasa Apsos, Bearded Collies, Tibetan Terriers, and Yorkshire Terriers. When Jane Fitz returned with a dog from Europe, I began showing Shih Tzu as a professional handler in the Miscellaneous Class in 1968, one year prior to their AKC breed recognition. The first dog I ever finished was a Japanese Chin for Kate Cross. I could no longer pursue a career in dance so, I turned to showing dogs as my future profession. Upon returning to California, at age 16, I suffered an accidental injury involving a skeg while surfing. I earned a dance scholarship to a boarding school in Austria. Although I confronted resistance and skepticism from my grandmother, I trusted my instincts, and ultimately produced a Best in Show dog from my first litter of Maltese.Īs an adolescent, I loved to dance and surf. From an early age, I was drawn to the unconditional love of dogs, and formed a deep, everlasting emotional connection to them. Growing up, I was always present at the dog shows and, at age seven, was thrust by my grandmother into showing her Maltese in the ring. Subsequently, she phased out the Poodles to pursue Maltese exclusively. For the first time, Miriam bred her Maltese bitch to a dog in the Midwest, producing two females, one of which became a Best in Show winner at nine months old. My grandfather would routinely drive me to her dance studio in Hollywood, 30 miles away.Īt that time, Miriam was renowned for her winning Poodles under her kennel name, “Sun Canyon.” One day, after watching Maltese in the show ring, she commented that hers at home was better than the winner, and was thereby encouraged to prove it. When I was five, a woman who came to purchase a dog from my grandmother noticed me playing in the yard and suggested to my grandmother that I become involved in dance. As a child, I was clever, physically coordinated, and adept at puzzles and problem solving. It was not until after high school that my dyslexia was discovered, requiring me to retrain myself and memorize words. Miriam was a member of the second graduating class of The University of California, Los Angeles, whereafter she became a teacher still, she was intolerantly perplexed by my learning difficulties. Resentful that I was forced upon her and frustrated with my learning disability, which we now know to be dyslexia, my grandmother treated me with wicked cruelty and called me “stupid” daily. Living with my grandmother was pleasant until I entered school and began to demonstrate difficulty with reading. Sarah Lawrence : By the time I was two months old, my father had joined the Air Force and my mother had permanently abandoned me at the home of my paternal grandmother, Miriam Thompson, a notable figure in the dog fancy. My grandfather raised American Saddlebreds, while my grandmother raised show dogs.ĭo you come from a doggy family? If not, how did the interest in breeding and showing purebred dogs begin?Ĭhatterbox Shih Tzu | L. As a young girl, prior to the development of the San Fernando Valley, I would ride my horse to and from school each day. I remember fields of strawberries at the front of the house and avocado groves in the back the scent of the hay, and mornings spent watching the horses run in the pastures. Sarah Lawrence : I grew up in Southern California on a small ranch in La Tuna Canyon.