A Poignant Obituary to America’s Sweetheart
Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 10:28 AM
Subject: from Leon Goetz-Ch Bayshore’s Russian Rhoulette “Judy”
On Saturday August 2, I had to say goodbye to my beautiful Judy.
It was quick and rather unexpected and I was grateful to be home and with her when she needed me most. Please bear with me as I briefly outline her life and what she meant to me and her many friends and admirers. This loss is deeply personal for me, but I feel a responsibility to somehow share this news with the many individuals that appreciated and loved her as much as her “immediate family”.
I know I will leave many people out, so feel free to share this with anyone that might be interested.
For the past nine months my heart has ached with the knowledge that this day would come sooner than it should. In late November 07 we found a mammary tumor and immediate surgery found and removed four more. A visit to an oncologist suggested further surgery and chemotherapy, but due to the type of cancer, the Dr could not offer any kind of percentages in terms of recovery and remission. After much consideration it did not seem worth putting her through more surgery and treatment if it wasn’t going to work. At her age (11) my decision was to give her the best life possible for the time she had left.
In April, we took her and TJ to the National Specialty in Colorado. I kept them at the motor home all week and a few people recognized them and came by to say hello. On the last day for Best of Breed judging, I brought both into the building and had them ringside while showing their daughter Justine. When people recognized them, it was almost like a receiving line for royalty!
I spent 1999 and 2000 campaigning TJ, Ch Silverwoods Texas Justice. We had much success as he was my first Best in Show winner and my first real attempt to “campaign a special” and learn the ropes involved that go with that effort. He won the breed at Westminster twice, and became the first Australian Shepherd in breed history to place in the herding group there. His first big win came in 1998 at the National Specialty in Carlisle, PA where he was awarded Best of Opposite Sex. It was at that show that I first saw Judy. She was not yet 18 months old and was BOS in Puppy Sweepstakes. Everyone was talking about breeder Frank Baylis’s new young bitch. When I saw her I could only dream that I would have one like her some day.
Soon after that show, Judy finished her championship and I think it was the next year that Frank put her out with a handler. Since we lived in different parts of the country I only saw her at the National or Westminster, but when I did, she was the competition that worried me the most. She was gorgeous and I always felt she was the dog to beat. The last year TJ won Westminster, she was Best of Opposite Sex to him, and I always felt she came really close to taking him out! That was 2001 and she spent the remainder of the year being campaigned in Canada by Kelly Comrie. She won 10 or 12 Best in Shows there.
In May 2001 I retired TJ at the National in Connecticut where he was Best of Breed. John and I had finally bought a place together and had been renovating the house and property here in Argyle. We moved onto the property in March, but lived in the motor home until the house was completed in October. Being on the road so much with dog shows the previous year had taken its toll, and we were looking forward to finally building the place of our dreams and spending lots of time there!
We hadn’t been in the house 6 weeks when I received a call from Frank Baylis.
Frank had become a good friend and mentor to me while I was showing TJ. He was the breeder and owner of the famous “Flapjack” that set records for the breed when Australian Shepherds were first accepted into the AKC. He knew and understood the dog show game, and was a source of inspiration and support when I was campaigning TJ. He also knew that after several months of not showing, I was probably itching to have another special. I could hardly believe it when he called in those last days of 2001 and asked if I wanted to co-own and show Judy. John and I knew it would require serious commitment from both of us, but realized we couldn’t say no to Frank’s proposition.
She came to us in December 2001 and within a few weeks we were on a plane to Portland OR for the first shows of the New Year. The first time in the ring together she was Best of Breed over an entry of 60.
By the time Westminster rolled around even John was in love. He was concerned that we were getting too attached to her to ever let her go back to Frank. We came home from New York without a prize that first year, but instead had a promise from Frank that if we made her the #1 Aussie, we could co-own her and she could live with us for the rest of her life. We were up to the challenge!
She got her first all breed Best in Show in April under Christina Hubbell. May brought another Best in Show and at the end of that month she won the National Specialty in Carson City, NV under Houston Clark. By mid-summer she had broken the Best in Show record for bitches in the breed. A total of six Best In Shows that first year, #1 Aussie all systems and nearly squeaked into the top ten Herding group at #11. The first weekend of 2003 she was Best in Show under Dorothy Nickles. We were off and running again it seemed.
Going into Westminster 2003 as #1 dog our expectations were high but for the second year it was not to be. She added a 
couple more Bests before attending the National Specialty in Michigan. Both Frank and I had concluded there was no way she could do it again. I already had back to back wins with TJ and Judy. It seemed a complete impossibility that I could win the National for a third consecutive year, but win she did. She showed that day like never before. I guess it was impossible for Judge Pamela Levin to deny her! To date she is the only dog to win our National Specialty twice.
We continued to travel the country together throughout 2003. By now she had a national reputation due to her advertising campaign and occasional television appearances on Animal Planet’s dog show series. She won the herding group two years running at the prestigious Reliant Park Series of Dog Shows. The second year she was a featured contender throughout the broadcast. “America’s Sweetheart” was gaining quite a reputation and I began to realize that the world was falling in love with her just as John and I had.
No matter where I was in the country, people would gather around her… all complete strangers to me, but they all knew her. I was only along for the ride, her escort so to speak…and she soaked up the attention.
She ended 2003 as the top winning bitch in breed history, #1 Aussie all systems and the #5 Herding Dog. Her career total for Best in Shows was 12 over the old record of two. That year three of the top five dogs all breeds lived and were shown in the Texas area. I often felt she would have had many more Bests had it not been for the famous Sussex Spaniel, Pekingese and Ibizan Hound, all group winners at Westminster that year.
2004 found us back in New York and this time the Westminster purple and gold was hers thanks to Judge Pat Laurans. 2004 was also the first year American dogs could travel without quarantine to England for Crufts, the biggest dog show in the world. Frank had long attended the show and wanted Judy to go.
I was apprehensive about traveling so far with her, but had done the required advance blood work and she was clear to go. It seemed important to have her there as the representative from the breed’s country of origin, the USA. The day she was scheduled to show we made our way to our assigned set up and I slipped away to get coffee. I returned to find her on the grooming table surrounded by cameras and a reporter from the BBC. I asked John what was happening and his bewildered reply was, “they didn’t want you, they only wanted America’s Sweetheart!”
Judy conquered Crufts by winning the breed and ultimately becoming the first Aussie in breed history to win the Pastoral Group after coming in second to the Old English Sheepdog disqualified for being incorrectly entered.
Upon our return home she came in season and at age seven I was concerned that she would not conceive. Breeding her to TJ could be a test, and of course a sentimental dream litter for me if it happened. After showing her in early April where she won a regional specialty, she retired (in whelp) with a Herding Group First under Houston Clark. She was never in the show ring again. The litter produced 6 puppies and 3 became champions.
The black bitch “Judy in Disguise” aka Justine, was Reserve Winners bitch at the National Specialty and ironically, moved up to Winners Bitch when it was discovered that the WB was entered in the wrong class and was disqualified. She continues to follow in her famous mother’s paw prints and has two all breed Best in Shows to her credit making Judy the only Best in Show winning Australian Shepherd bitch that has produced an all breed Best in Show winner.
After motherhood she seemed to know she was retired and sort of reverted herself to farm dog status. As a show dog she was such a Princess and meticulous and always clean. In these later years, she had a favorite hole dug under a big shade tree and I could always find her there happily dozing away the days. She could have very untypical-Aussie moods, acting almost cat-like in her independence.
She never really clung to us in the house like the other dogs, instead preferring a certain chair in one of the bedrooms, or a cool spot on the concrete floors of our living room. We could be in the den and she would tiptoe out occasionally making sure we were still there and ok, only to go back to her spot for the evening. During her career I rarely showed other dogs, but if I did happen to have a class animal, she would stand ringside barking her head off, furious that another dog had my attentions.
She used that same piercing bark everyday at feeding time. It was her way of reminding me that royalty is always served first!
She was a cover girl too, appearing on the AKC Gazette for its featured article, The Dog in America: A Celebration. She even got me in the Dallas Morning News (the first and last time that will ever happen!) with a feature article about her second year at Westminster. She was often criticized for being small, but had a giant presence that could fill the biggest Best in Show ring. I often joked she was 18″ in high heels.
She was an ambassador and a star, a legend and an icon, profoundly impacting her breed, the sport and especially my life, position and involvement in the world of purebred dogs. Even though she’s been out of the limelight for well over four years now, strangers stop me today asking if I am the man that showed Judy. I’ve always thought truly great dogs possess a quality that make the pet owner and professional dog person alike appreciate and desire that particular breed. She clearly possessed that quality in spades.
There had been little change in her daily routine these past few months. Early last week, I noted a slight decline and even emailed Frank about it, telling him I had no cause for concern, but things were obviously progressing toward the inevitable with no idea of a time frame. She got a bath on Thursday and was brushed out and beautiful for the weekend.
Saturday morning she was the first out, and I noticed something was different. Later in the morning it became clear that she was uncomfortable and in possible stress. I knew I would never get her through the weekend and finally realized she needed my help. I gave her a sedative and held her in my lap until she relaxed and dozed. By the time we were in the vet’s exam room, she was asleep in my arms and never woke up.
Judy was and always will be my ideal, and I will probably spend the rest of my days trying in vain to find another like her. I was proud to introduce her to the world and am thankful to Frank for breeding such an extraordinary animal and allowing me to play a part in her life.
In the end, Frank’s promise of letting me own her the rest of her life was unnecessary. She never really belonged to either of us, but instead to all the world that loved and admired her.
She lived out her days here, and I am so grateful for that…Hopefully, her memory will live on in those hearts and minds that were as moved by her exquisite beauty and physical presence as I was. From that first time I laid eyes on that beautiful face in Pennsylvania, until those precious last seconds when I felt her slip away, she never, ever failed to take my breath away.
Rest well my sweet Girl. I will never forget you.
BIS BISS Ch Bayshore’s Russian Roulette
“Judy”
December 17, 1996 – August 2, 2008