The show, the third annual American Kennel Club/Eukanuba National Championship, features the top 25 dogs in each of the AKC-recognized breeds. What makes this show different from most of the canine events in the country, besides the invitation-only entry, is the top prize of $50,000 and a 2004 Suzuki XL-7 SUV to the Best in Show winner.

“We thought we might have pretty good luck with a shot at Best of Breed because we knew the judge liked him,” Conroy said. The “official groomer” also whelped Toby, formally known as CH. Tri-K’s Jet Setter, for owner/breeder Kriss Griffin of Wilton. 

By 11 a.m. on December 3, Conroy and Griffin were ringside in the Long Beach Convention Center to watch as handler Jerilynn McClure of Illinois strode into the ring with a confident, well-coiffed Toby. 

“I always hold my breath when I watch him. I hate to look. But I’m always full of pride,” said Griffin, who was in town attending the AKC Delegate’s meeting as the representative for the Silky Terrier Club of America (STCA).

At last year’s Silky Terrier National Specialty Toby won the first Award of Merit, the equivalent of the first runner-up prize in the Miss America contest, to the Best of Breed winner, CH. Kharah’s Tawny Mist Revin’ Up.

“At the national it was between Toby and Revy and the judge kept going back and forth between the two of them,” Griffin recalled. “He’s the king of the first Award of Merit.” In 2002, Toby captured his first Award of Merit at the national specialty. He did, however, win the STCA’s Top 20 competition that year.  

As fate would have it, Revy won Best of Breed under judge Peggy Hogg and Toby received the first Award of Excellence in Long Beach. With that win, however, Toby gets an automatic invitation to the Crufts Dog Show in England.

“We are going to try and get him there,” Griffin said. But they will pass on Westminster this year despite Toby’s ‘Top Five’ ranking in Silky Terriers in America for the past two years.

When Toby isn’t in the show ring he lives with owner/handler Jerilynn McClure’s niece Kelli McClure of Illinois where he spends his weekdays as a normal pet and then it’s off to the shows on the weekends.  

 

Purebred Passions

Conroy didn’t start in the conformation show ring with purebred dogs but hunting with her step-father and their Labrador Retrievers in Weston. As a young adult she competed successfully in field trials with her field hunter Pip. 

“As a child I first fell in love with terriers from this woman who had Welsh Terriers down the street. I would always go over and play with the puppies,” Conroy remembered. That ‘woman’ turned out to be award-winning author and breeder Bardi McLennan, now a Newtown resident. 

“But once I move to St. Louis and my kids came along, I had no time for the daily training requirements for field trials so I decided to get into conformation showing,” Conroy said. Her early exposure to terriers convinced Conroy to get Pete, a Jack Russell Terrier, for the show ring.

With Pete in tow, Conroy set out to find handling classes for her new puppy, and discovered Toby’s handler, Jerilynn McClure. Conroy said McClure was a great mentor and they became good friends.  

“There really is no way to learn this on your own,” she said. “I became her gopher and learned the ropes about grooming and showing.”

Conroy’s first experience in the show ring wasn’t with Pete but with her first Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy Yankee.

“I was sick to my stomach” she said about showing under a big name judge known for being stern. “I didn’t do anything right, I think I got a fourth out of four.”

Conroy stayed with it and by 1997 she was handling her Norwich Terrier Desmond at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

Joining Conroy today at her Yogananda home, besides 15-year-old Pete, are four Norwich Terriers – Desmond, Winston, Sara Lee & Charlotte – and a Labrador Retriever named Tom.

 

Enter Tom the Black Lab

Going back to her hunting roots, Conroy, whose family is from England, purchased Tom an English Field Champion. By the way, Tom is also the name of Conroy’s husband.

“I couldn’t change the dog’s name because he was already named and trained when he arrived from Wales,” she said.

Conroy and Tom (the husband) and Tom (the dog) belong to the Newtown Fish & Game Club where they hunt pheasant and compete in the club’s field trials held off Osbourne Hill Road in October. Team Conroy also travels to Virginia several times a year to take part in shoots that resemble those portrayed in the movie Gosford Park.

“It’s a lot of fun. We dress in period costumes and act British. I’m the dog handler and my husband is one of the shooters,” she said. Others play the ‘common people’ and go through the woods making noise to flush out prey. “Then basically you shoot anything that comes at you. Then the handlers send in the dogs to retrieve.”

It appears Conroy has gone full circle in her purebred passions.