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BIS/BISS AM/UK Ch. Paray's
I Told You So ROMX
UK Top Winning Bichon Frise
of All Time Record Holder
BIS/BISS Ch. Sterling
Rumor Has It ROMX x
Ch. Prancing Full of Cuddles ROMX
Owned by: Lori Kornfeld,
Michael Coad & Phyllis Sewall
Bred by: Paul Flores, Raymond Pittman &
Linda Blue
DOB: 10/05/98
Presented by: Michael
Coad (UK) & Paul Flores (US) |
Right out of the chute, "Buster" was a
star. He became a champion in four shows which
included a Best in Sweepstakes and Best of
Winners award at the Bichon Frise Club of
Northern New Jersey Specialty, Best of Winners
award at the Greater New York Bichon Frise
Fanciers Specialty and attained his Championship by
winning a Group 1 from the classes over several
top ranked specials.
In his career in the US, "Buster" has won
49 all-breed Best in Shows, 201 Non-Sporting
Groups Firsts, was the Pedigree Award winner for
2001 and 2002, was named the Non-Sporting Show
Dog of the Year in 2002, won Best of Breed and a
Group 2 at Westminster Kennel Club in 2002 and
2003, and won the Bichon Frise Club of America National
Specialty in 2002. In his US career, he has
defeated over 100,000 dogs.
Upon his US retirement in 2003, he took a trip across
the pond to the UK to expert breeders and
handlers Michael Coad and Geoff Corish that fall. He won Best in Show at his first
two UK showings and delighted us all by becoming
the first American dog to ever win the Toy
Group at the prestigious Crufts Dog Show! He became one of
the seven finalists out of a total entry of over 23,000 dogs.
Buster continued to shatter records during 2004,
finishing the year as the first American dog,
ever, to place as the #1 dog, all-breed, in the
UK with 18 championship certificates, 18
Best of Breeds, 18 Group 1's, 6 Best in Shows
and 3 Reserve Best in Shows! He now holds all but one of the UK Bichon
Frise records - and he's still going strong!
We are so very proud of all of his
accomplishments and the impact on the breed both
here and abroad. We thank Paul Flores for his presentation and conditioning while in
the US and Michael Coad and Geoff Corish for
loving & spoiling "Buster" so
much while he's abroad in the UK, to continue to
let him be the couch hog that he is and to love
him as much as we do. All this while keeping him
in tip-top show condition. Cheers, mates!
"Buster" ends 2005 as the #1 Toy Dog in
the UK. He also won Best of Breed, once again,
at the prestigious 2006 Crufts Dog Show in
March.
As of August 2006, "Buster" sets the
record of 39 CC's and is now the top winning
Bichon Frise of all time in the UK. Our thanks
to Michael Coad and Geoff Corish.
"Buster's" son, "Honor" wins
Winners Dog at the 2010 Bichon Frise Club of
America's National Specialty as his first dog
show. He won from the Bred by Exhibitor Class
show by co-owner and co-breeder Kathie Vogel.
"Honor" then went on to finish his
championship in one weekend. His record: 5
shows, four major wins, one Best of Breed over
two champions; undefeated - all from the bred by
exhibitor class. Thank you Kathie and Danielle.
"Honor" is out of Mulitple BIS/BISS UK/US
Ch. Paray's I Told You So ROMX[Buster] x
Mulitple BIS/BISS Ch. Pillow Talk's No Secrets [Carly].
His sire also owns every Bichon Frise Record in
the UK at this time. Both parents are National
Specialty Winners.
Photos © by
Lisa Croft-Elliot &
Tracy Kornfeld
By Gina
Spadafori
Pet
Columnist
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The owners of a sparkling white
American Bichon Frise might want to send
Elizabeth Hurley a thank-you note after
their dog fared so well at the 101st
staging of the world's biggest dog show,
Crufts, held the first week of March in
Birmingham, England.
If it weren't for Hurley's passionate
advocacy for the end of the United
Kingdom's draconian six-month rabies
quarantine laws after her own dog died,
the American bichon frise, Champion
Paray's I Told You So, likely would have
stayed home. And that means he wouldn't
have been named the best of the toy
breeds at Crufts, giving the British
dog-show establishment a bit of a scare
that the show's top honor would go to an
American dog for the first time ever.
In the end, an English whippet was
named Best in Show, and the empire was
safe from Colonial invaders -- for
another year, at least.
Still, it was difficult not to notice
Americans and their dogs at the show,
the first one held since the U.K.'s new
no-quarantine import laws were expanded
to include U.S. and Canadian dogs.
While the Bichon, informally known to
his admirers as Buster, came over months
ago to launch a successful U.K. show
career with his new British handler and
co-owner, other Americans left just a
few days before showing. One of these,
Christina Wistrom of Perris, Calif., saw
her top-winning Rhodesian Ridgeback
sealed into a container at the Los
Angeles airport four days before she was
to compete. She was reunited with the
dog in London a day later. It was a long
journey, to be sure, but much easier
than a six-month stay in a quarantine
kennel.
"They drilled a lot of holes in her
carrier, and then sealed her up inside,"
said Wistrom, looking pretty relaxed for
someone who'd just taken her dog halfway
around the world. The dog, Champion Deer
Ridge Blixen of Afrika, simply looked
bored. "I'm Swedish," said Wistrom, "so
the travel isn't a big deal for me. And
Blixen's traveled before, too."
Blixen, whose grandfather was a
best-of-breed winner at the prestigious
Westminster show in the United States,
didn't do quite as well against the
Brits as did Buster the bichon. "We're
here for the experience," shrugged
Wistrom, when asked about her chances
before she and Blixen went into the
ring.
And what an experience it was. The
four-day show draws almost 22,000 dogs,
including more than 600 from 22
different countries. In the massive
halls of the National Exhibition Centre
-- a complex so large it surely can be
seen from space -- hundreds of vendors
hawk everything from dog toys to human
raincoats to the 130,000 visitors.
In the end, though, all these numbers
came down to just seven dogs -- the
group winners -- and then one Best in
Show. Caught before the finale, one of
Buster's co-owners, Lori Kornfeld of
Ridgefield, Conn., there with her
husband Tracy, seemed more exhausted
than excited.
"We're numb," she admitted, before
lighting up when prompted to talk about
Buster, who loves his toys, sleeps on
the bed paws-up and never fails to come
alive when it's time to show. The dog
was bred in Orangevale, Calif., by Paul
Flores and Tray Pittman, who were also
on hand to root for Buster.
"We knew early on he'd be special,"
said Lori Kornfeld. "He knows when it's
time to show."
But it wasn't enough on that night.
Tracy Kornfeld, who'd put in a call to
his sister the minister for a little
extra help, nonetheless was able to keep
things in perspective. Even without a
Crufts Best in Show, the dog had done
splendidly, he pointed out, not only as
one of the top show dogs in two
countries but also as a dad, siring 13
American champions already.
"We win, great," he said. "But at the
end of the day, it's just dogs." |
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