CLUB FOUNDING – 1997
In 1997, the French Bulldog Fancier’s Association (FBFA) came into being as a Regional Breed Club (Ontario and all points East) under the sanction of the Canadian Kennel Club. In the Spring of 1998, the FBFA held it’s first Sanction Match which took place in Eastern Ontario. In October 1998, the Club held it’s first French Bulldog Regional Specialty in Belleville, Ontario, with an entry of 53 French Bulldogs, the largest entry of French Bulldogs in Canadian history. In December of that same year, the FBFA set up and operated a Breed Booth at the prestigious Royal Winter fair in Toronto as a public awareness into the ownership and companionship of the French Bulldog.
1998 – FBFA FRENCH BULLDOG SPECIALTY SHOW
On October 24th, 1998, history was made in Canada, when the first ever French Bulldog specialty in Canadian history took place in Belleville, Ontario. 53 French Bulldogs were presented to Judge Derek Hyde from Australia for his scrutiny. This was, up to that point in time, the largest entry of French Bulldogs in Canadian Kennel Club history.
This wonderful Frenchie weekend started on Friday night at the FBFA Welcome Banquet, Raffle and Auction where the action was fast and furious for the many items up for auction and there were many happy faces seen leaving with their treasures. It continued on Saturday morning when Charlotte Creeley handled Bullmarket’s Sumo LeBull Pelshire to a qualifying score of 182 to win the High Scoring French Bulldog in Trial. That evening in the Belleville Arena was the Best of Breed competition where Karen Cram’s dog BIS/BISS/Am./Can/Ber. Ch. Karendon’s Joyau De France (Phoenix) took top honors as the Best of Breed.
Results
Winners Bitch
Marianette I’m All Smile Edwina
Bred by Nanette Goldberg
Owned by Donald Smith and Nanette Goldberg
Winners Dog
Mystic Major Force Marianette
Bred by Tammi Saccoman
Owned by Donald Smith and Nanette Goldberg
Best of Winners
Marianette I’m All Smile Edwina
Best Puppy in Specialty
Bullmarket Nasdaq
Bred by Carol Taylor
Owned by Charlotte Creeley and Carol Taylor
Awards of Merit
Ch. Behold Tickle Me Elmo
Bred and Owned by Sherry Yuhas
Ch. Fancibul’s Boot Scooter
Bred by Karen and Robert Fore
Owned by J & S Perrin and K. Fore and Melanie Merritt
Best of Opposite Sex
Ch. Platinum Belboulecan Babalou
Bred by Dr. Chris Heagle
Owned by Dr. Dorit Fischler
Best of Breed
Ch. Karendon’s Joyau De France
Bred and owned by Karen Cram
High Scoring Frenchie in Trial
Bullmarket’s Sumo LeBull Pelshire
Bred by Arlie Toye and Carol Taylor
Owned by Charlotte Creeley and Carol Taylor
1998 – ROYAL WINTER FAIR
In December of 1998 the French Bulldog Fanciers Association was invited to Breeders Village to follow the dog show at the Royal Winter Fair at Exhibition Place in Toronto. For three days Carol Taylor and Gary & Marie Brown manned the booth along with Budha, Chicky, Tessa, Guy and Babette against overwhelming odds as drove after drove of people descended upon them! The dogs had a great time greeting all the visitors and a lot of people learned a lot more about French Bulldogs over that weekend.
The FBFA booth was selected by the comedy troupe, Royal Canadian Air Farce as the Best Booth representing Group 6, the Non-Sporting Group. The club received their prize, a years supply of dog food and donated it to the Dalmatian Rescue folks (DAR) who were very appreciative of our windfall. I think the French Kissing Booth helped!
The dogs of course were totally wiped out and I think thankful for Sunday to come! They slept ALL the way home and beyond!
1999 – CLUB BOOSTER
Although we only had a small turnout for our Club Booster held at the Credit Valley Kennel & Obedience Club Championship Show on Dec. 11, 1999 there was a lot of quality. Dr. Dorit Fischler cleaned up when Judge James Frederiksen from Tennessee handed out the ribbons and trophies. BoB winner was Ch. Belboulecan Hungarian Zsazsa while BOS went to Ch. Belboulecan American Graffiti and WB went to Belboulecan Domino du Champagne for a clean sweep. It was a super day spent one the top sporting venues in North America. The atmosphere was electric with activities going on in every corner of the building at one of the largest dog shows in Ontario.
1999 – WEST COAST SUPPORTED ENTRY
At the huge Lower Mainland Dog Fanciers of British Columbia Show in Abbottsford, BC on October 29, 1999 out of an entry of 1107 dogs there were 25 French Bulldogs for the FBFC Booster. That is a lot of Frenchies for a show in Canada! Three of them even made it to the Group level, with BoB, BoW winner Ch. Seeonee’s Ultimate Miss Milly owned by Cheryl & Ernest Blumke taking Group IV while Karen Churchill’s dog Anwyll’s I’m a Believer Domlea took Best Puppy in Group and Frenchies belonging to Cheryl & Ernest Blumke also won the Group Brace. BOS went Monet’s Just a Gigolo belonging to Karen Cox and Shirley Stephenson and WD was Smokey Valley Babyface Nelson owned by Jan Schreiber, John Schreiber, Richard Shannon & M.. The breed was judged by Mrs. Joan Frailey from California and Group was judged by Mr. Enrique Filippini from Argentina.
2000 – NATIONAL CLUB RECOGNITION
FBFC’s 1st Annual National French Bulldog Specialty Show
On September 18 and 19, 2000 the French Bulldog Fanciers of Canada held the first National French Bulldog Specialty Show in Canada. As the FBFA we had hosted 53 Frenchies for that show in 1998 but this time we had almost that many entries in our Puppy Swwpstakes on the Monday and almost twice that number for the Best of Breed competition. There were 49 enters for Sweeps and 95 for Best of Breed. This is the largest gathering ever of Frenchies in our country.
We had visitors from Japan, England, Mexico, the Netherlands, Belgium and from all over Canada and the United States. This was to prove to be quite a show.
At high noon on September 18 things got under way with Dr. Richard Meen judging the Puppy Sweepstakes. The competition was extraordinary and Dr. Meen had a lot of tough decisions to make before he finally chose Fabelhaft Flower Power, owned and handled by James Dalton, as the Sweepstakes winner.
That evening Arlie Toye and the French Bullytin hosted the first ever Bullytin Silver Cup outside of the United States. This event was very well attended and everyone had a great time and full stomachs by the time it wrapped up! The nights judging was done by Nanette Goldberg. I might add that the evening had a lovely sound to it with Arlie serenading all the dogs and guests on a Grand Piano that had appeared in the middle of our show ring. We hope to make this a regular event at the Canadian Specialties. Thanks Arlie, it was a great time.
Day 2 had a little earlier start as Breeder/Judge John F. Peddie had 95 Frenchies to sort through to select his Best of Breed winner. He carefully picked his way through the dog classes and then the bitch classes and finally after scouring the classes he chose his winners.
That evening the show wrapped up on a very positive note with Banquet, auction and raffle. Dinner was very nice and that was followed by Kathy Dannel’s hilarious antics in a very busy auction. Then it was time to claim your winnings in the raffle and silent auction.
Although this was our very first National Specialty in Canada we were very pleased with the outcome. There were things that we would have done differently but overall we consider this a huge success. There were no major shortcomings to mention and generally everything ran very smoothly. We look forward to visiting British Columbia in 2001 for the West Coast Specialty and we will be thinking ahead to 2002 when the Nationals returns to Ontario. Thanks to everyone who helped out with this huge undertaking and especially for all our gracious guests who attended and made this event something special.